What Linc's Been Up To

I'm Perfectly Normal...

QUIRKS

Natalie tagged me, and I haven't done this one yet, so I thought I'd give it a go.

♥ Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
♥ Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.


#1 I have food issues. For example, I very much dislike mashed potatoes, I know you're thinking that's not so weird because everyone has foods they don't like, but even the thought of mashed potatoes or making mashed potatoes makes me gag. Also, I'm not a picky eater but I'm picky about they way I eat food. I can't have any food on my plate touching. And I'm really not in to sauces of any kind, I don't like gravy, ketchup, mustard, most dips, and not many kinds of dressing.

#2 I do not own, nor do I desire to own a television. I've never been much of a TV watcher, it makes me bored. I don't know, I'm not really anti-tv and I don't think other people are the devil for watching TV or anything, I'm just not interested. And I don't feel as if I'm missing out because I can't quote the Office or because I have no idea who just got voted off So You Think You Can Dance. People ask me all the time how I can live without a TV and the answer is: very contentedly.


#3 I am not a phone person. As in I don't really like talking on the phone. Actually that's not true, I have no problem talking to friends and family on the phone, it's the people I don't know. I hate to make appointments over the phone, or call and ask questions, or anything like that. Maybe it's just because I hate the run-around that you always seem to get..."Press 1 for English"...etc. but I just don't have the patients for it. I leave all that stuff up to Aaron. He's a lot better at it than me. :)

#4 I'm a picture/memory freak. We have no less than six large photo albums chuck full of photos to document our lives since we've been married. We've only been married 2 1/2 years. I keep a decent journal, I like to have our family picture taken as often as Aaron will allow, and I plan on turning our blog (which is usually pretty up to date) into a family history book at the end of every year. Obsessed? You bet! But the reason behind this obsession, at least I think, is because after my dad died we could only find one, that's right one, photograph of my entire family (Dad, Mom, Me, Kyle, Jackson, and Tanner), and it wasn't even a professional one, it was one a friend took of our family on a camping trip (and thank goodness she did!). And the only real written records we have of my dad are his mission journal, and a box full of letters he sent to my grandma while he was on his mission. That's it! And there is so much more I would like to know about him. So, I'm obsessed with leaving some kind of a memory of our family.

#5 I have this things with my finger nails. I can't stand them to be long. If there is more than a tiny part of white showing I have to cut them. Maybe this comes from my days as a catcher (it hurts really bad to have nails broken from a softball), who knows? It's funny too, because I can have fake nails and they don't bother me as long as my real nail underneath is still short. The few times I've had fake nails on, I do just fine with them until the nail underneath starts to grow out, then they have to go.


#6 I don't like sheets. Seriously if it were up to me I'd have a fitted sheet on the mattress, and then I'd sleep with a huge snuggly warm quilt and that's it. Unfortunately, Aaron is a sheets person...his only flaw. So every night it's a battle, he pulls the sheets up all nice and tidy, and throughout the night I proceed to ruin all his efforts by kicking the sheets to the bottom of the bed so I don't have to deal with them.


And now that you know the strange truth about me, I tag: Dawn, Tami, Tindy, April, Amber, and Tanner. But only if you guys want to...no pressure.

It's not Christmas without the CANDY!!!!

Yesterday my mom came down to Provo to help me make Christmas candy. This is one of my very favorite parts of the Christmas season. I love baking anyways, but the things you make a Christmas time make the whole house smell like the holidays. Plus, my other favorite thing is dividing up the goodies onto paper plates and taking them around to all our family, friends, and neighbors.

Anyways, yesterday my mom and I tried a new recipe: ginger bread cookies. My mom's friend used to make them and give them to us every year when I was growing up, and I remember sneaking into the kitchen to snitch them off the plates. I couldn't get enough of them. For some reason she stopped making them. But my mom got the recipe, and this year I was bound and determined to have ginger bread cookies. I thought they were going to be really hard because they taste so wonderful. I was really surprised though because they were SO EASY! And didn't take any longer than making normal cookies.

We also made Million Dollar Fudge, which is to die for, and takes all of 15 minutes to make. It makes 5 pounds. That's a lot of fudge. But I love it. We had just enough time left before my mom had to go back to Hooper to make pretzel rods. Normally we just dip the pretzels in chocolate and call it good, but this year I wanted to try my sister-in-law Lisa's recipe. In her recipe you dip the pretzels in caramel and then in chocolate. I wasn't disappointed. YUM!

A few weeks ago my mom and I went up to my Aunt Michelle's and learned how to make Pecan Logs. They are a little trickier to make because it requires two people to do it. But they were worth the effort and also made a ton. I got to take an entire batch home with me.

So those were all the things we had to put on plates this year and take around. I bought too small of plates, so it didn't make for a very need or orderly looking goodie pile, but I figure the taste will make up for it. We had fun visiting those we took candy too (mostly Aaron's family that live in the area, and a few of our good friends).

We were so busy with the candy making that I didn't take any pictures. I know! But you'll just have to trust me that everything looked and tasted delicious. :)

Our Poor, Neglected Blog

Aaron and Lincoln playing outside in Hooper over Thanksgiving Break

It's about time we update the blog. The weekend before Thanksgiving break I got sick with what was probably a sinus infection. But it totally kicked my trash and left me devoid of all energy. It was so bad that Lincoln and I had to go live with my mom in Hooper the week of Thanksgiving because Aaron couldn't miss anymore class or school to stay home and take care of the two of us. My mom was happy that she got to see us two days earlier than planned. Too bad I wasn't feeling well most of the time though. But she was a lifesaver, and Lincoln enjoyed all of his time with Grandma.

Lincoln and Aaron playing on one of the scooters in the driveway in Hooper

On Wednesday BYU let out of Thanksgiving break so Aaron was able to come up to Hooper and join us. Lincoln was so happy to see his dad. They played outside and had a great time.

One half of the Thanksgiving dinner table: Steph, Kirk, Aaron, Lincoln, me, Jackson, and Tanner

Thanksgiving Day I still wasn't feeling that great and I slept most of the morning. But I felt bad that my mom and Kerry were doing a huge dinner all by themselves, so I woke up from my nap long enough to cut the rolls into circles for my mom.

The other half of the table: Jack, Tanner, Mom, Kerry, Steph, and Kirk

Dinner was excellent! We had all the normal stuff. Lincoln got to eat his first Thanksgiving dinner (last year he was still on formula). I think he liked the jello salad the best. And surprisingly he didn't like the mashed potatoes. He kept spitting them out. I guess he takes after his mom in that regard.

After Thanksgiving Dinner, Aaron, Nelson, and Steph playing Rockband while we wait for pie

I was feeling a ton better after dinner. We put Lincoln to bed and then everyone helped clean up and put dinner away. Then some of the family went into the living room and played Rockband on the Wii and others sat down at the table with the paper to check out all the ads and see if there were any great deals happening on Black Friday.

Aaron being the lead singer on Rockband

Ever since a long time ago, my mom and I have always had a tradition of getting up early and going shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. We aren't even all that into the shopping, but we always go to Burger King and get Cini-Mini's and enjoy watching all the crazy people out there. We end up buying pajamas or something minor usually, but we always have fun together. Since I've been married we haven't gone because either I've had to work, or it was our turn to be in Vancouver. So this year we had big plans to go, and I was afraid they were going to be ruined because I wasn't feeling well, and I didn't have much stamina.

Mom and Kerry searching the Black Friday ads

Well, we didn't get up early to go, but by about 11:00am Friday morning I felt well enough to venture out for a bit. We put Lincoln down for a nap, and Steph was kind enough to offer to watch him when he got up so that Aaron could study for the GRE. Then my mom and Tanner and I headed to the Layton mall. Mom bought Tanner some new soccer cleats. Tanner bought a new shirt for himself. I got Lincoln some new clothes that will be Christmas presents, and I also found an awesome present for Aaron that was originally $80 but I got it for $25. I'm pretty happy about that, and I hope he likes it. After that my energy was depleted so we headed for home.

Stacey, me, Whitney, Sydni, Lisa, and Jeremiah at Whitney's Bridal shower on Saturday.

Really this Thanksgiving holiday Aaron and I had the best of both worlds because all of Aaron's family came to Provo for Thanksgiving. Since it's our turn to have Thanksgiving with my family we still spent the holiday in Hooper. But Friday afternoon we headed back to Provo. Aaron's sister Stacey and her husband Rob, and their three kids Audrey, Bennett, and Jeremiah came up from Arizona and stayed at our house while we were in Hooper. Aaron's sister Sydni and her husband Jake and their son Zac, came down from Idaho and stayed at our house too. Aaron's sister Lisa, and her husband Jared and their four kids, Jordan, Carter, Spencer, and Aneya drove from Washington to spend the holiday with Jared's parents in Minorsville, UT and because of that Aaron's parents didn't want to be alone in Washington for the holiday, so they came to Utah too. Aaron's two brothers Ryan and Kelly both already live here. Wow, that was a mouthful. So, when we got back Friday afternoon, Stacey and Rob and kids went to stay with Rob's sister who lives in Provo. So in our apartment were Aaron's parents, Sydni & Jake, and us. We had a great time together, even if there was a lot of chaos.

Aaron's dad, Chuck, opening his birthday present . Everyone went in together to get him a new laptop.

Saturday morning was Aaron's cousin Whitney's bridal shower. She's getting married December 27th in Seattle, WA. Lisa's family came up from Minorsville and stopped in Provo on their way back to WA. It was fun to have all us girls together again.

Saturday night Aaron's Aunt Debby and Uncle Richard had the whole Swan side of the family (yep, all of Aaron's brothers and sisters, and their families all in one place for the first time since Jeremiah was born in October.) over to their house. We were having a giant combined birthday party for Aaron, Kelly, and Chuck, who all had birthdays in November. All the siblings and Aaron's mom had gone together to buy Chuck a new laptop. He didn't suspect a thing, and it was great that we all got to be there to watch him open it. Thanks Richard and Debby for letting us have dinner in your house.

The entire Chuck and Debbie Swan family as of right now (there are currently two on the way)

The more spread out the family becomes the harder it is for us to get a family picture with everyone in it. So of course Saturday night we took advantage of everyone being together. Kelly set up a mini photo studio in the living room. He has a really nice camera, so he took the picture.

Chuck and Debbie and all the current grandkids

We also had one of the grandkids taken. I thought the picture turned our pretty good for as many kids as we had to try to hold still, look at the camera, and be happy all at the same time. What was even funnier was the number of adults (myself included) jumping and dancing around and talking in funny voices trying to make the kids look and smile. Now that's what we should have gotten a picture of!

Lincoln and Zac in their church outfits

Sunday morning was a bit of a challenge trying to get 6 adults and 2 toddlers ready for 9:00am church. The boys look adorable in this picture. Too bad neither of them stayed happy for very long. We all ended up leaving church early because the boys were just too cranky for anyone to get anything out of the meeting.

Lincoln and Grandma and Grandpa Swan at the duck pond

The good news was that both boys had a much longer nap that usual and allowed almost all of the adults to have a nap too. We all woke up feeling much happier. To let the boys get some of their energy out before dinner we took them up to the BYU duck pond. We went to the north one, because I usually like it better because it's harder for Lincoln to fall into the water there. But this time the water was really low and there were no ducks to be found. The boys still had a good time running around in the grass, and to make up for no ducks, we took them to the park afterwards. The evening ended with another wonderful family dinner at Richard and Debby's.

Krystal at the duck pond

Sunday night Chuck and Debbie decided to get a head start on the drive home and drove to Treemonton. Then Monday morning Sydni and Jake packed up and left too. Our house felt really empty after that. Luckily Stacey and Rob were still in town because Rob had some work training. It was fun spending time with them and having them over for dinner. By the end of the week I finally felt well enough that I was allowed to hold Jeremiah (the new baby)!

Lincoln was on again off again sick all week, probably with the stomach flu. And yesterday Aaron went and took the GRE and came home and felt miserable. Kelly and Uncle Richard came and gave him a blessing and then Kelly took him to the instacare. Aaron now has stomach flu. Yuck! Hopefully he gets over it quickly, since finals are coming up. But anyways, that's the story of why our blog has been neglected.

Aaron's Birthday Extravaganza!

Today we celebrated Aaron's 25th birthday! Above is the homemade birthday sign I made for him. I wish you could see it better, because it's pretty sweet. My favorite letter is "H" with the hula-dancing hula-hoopers. The first half of the day was pretty much just like every other Sunday. We went to church and wrestled Lincoln for three long hours. Then we came home, ate lunch, put Lincoln down for a nap, and then we got a small nap, and Aaron got a slightly longer nap (because I got up with Linc). Then our hometeachers came over.

After that we decided to go outside and have a nice walk together as a family. Lincoln was feeling a little cooped up and was making his feeling known vocally by screaming/shrieking a the top of his lungs. Needless to say we were all happy to get out.

It was kind of chilly out, so Aaron let me wear his leather jacket. It was his birthday present from Kelly. We had a nice walk, Lincoln let out some energy, and then we headed back to the house.

For Aaron's birthday dinner he picked to have chicken enchiladas with spanish rice. I would have loved to whip up this meal for him, but unfortunately I have been sick the last few days, and we were having dinner guests, so we decided it would be best if Aaron made the food. Aaron says, "Thanks Mom for the spanish rice recipe, everyone really liked it!" I did make the brownies (don't worry I washed my hands lots of times in the process).

We invited Kelly over for dinner (of course), and also our very good friends Danny, Suzy, and Nathan Park. Dinner was great. Especially considering this was a first for making the enchiladas and the spanish rice. Since there were a lot of us we moved our kitchen table out into the living room so there would be more space, and so we could use the couch for seating. Lincoln enjoyed his dinner and having lots of company, but that didn't stop him from throwing rice on the floor when he was finished. (We're still working on that one.)

Next we had Fracine Cowie Brownies (a lady from the ward Aaron grew up in, it's our favorite brownie recipe because it's not overly sweet) and ice cream for dessert. Amazingly, there were no brownies left of Lincoln's tray for him to throw on the floor. Aaron did a great job of blowing out the bonfire. He got all 25 in one breath! Way to go. We're thinking we might have to switch to the numbered candles next year to avoid the fire hazard. :)

After dessert came THE PRESENTS!!!!! Kelly had already given Aaron a leather jacket. I gave Aaron a shopping trip to Best Buy to pick out something of his heart's desire. I would have actually bought him a gift, but the guy is a pain in the neck to buy for, and he doesn't give many ideas. But I love him anyway. My parents gave Aaron some money yesterday when they came down, and Aaron's parents are waiting to give him his present from them for when they are here for Thanksgiving. So the best present of the night was from Danny and Suzy. They gave Aaron a new pair of prescription glasses to help bring out his true self. We all tried them on. And if I do say so myself...WE LOOK GOOD!

Aaron says he had an excellent birthday and he really enjoyed spending it with me! And the rest of our family and friends, of course. He also enjoyed getting all the phone calls from everyone. He feels loved.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Aaron, Lincoln, and Kelly

Today is Aaron's identical twin brother Kelly's birthday. Doesn't that make it Aaron's birthday as well, you ask? No. It does not. Kelly and Aaron were born a half hour (I think) apart, Kelly on November 22nd, and Aaron on November 23rd. So they each have their own birthday.

Since Aaron's birthday is on a Sunday, my mom and Kerry and Tanner, came down to Provo today to celebrate Aaron's birthday by taking us all out to dinner! Aaron picked Chinese, and that was just fine by me. It was delicious. Thanks Mom and Kerry!

Aaron, Kelly, Tanner, Lincoln, Kerry, Mom at the restaurant

Uncle Kelly giving Lincoln a straw full of root beer, which he loves!

Lincoln thoroughly enjoying his chopsticks

This is the candy bar poster Aaron, Lincoln, and I made for Kelly for his birthday. We thought it turned out pretty good. In case you can't read it, it says,

"Kelly, Sorry we "Kat" give you a bigger present. Our bank got "cremed". But if you'll drive your "car" we'll take you to the "Symphony"! Happy 25th Birthday heart: Aaron, Krystal, Lincoln"

We gave him tickets for him and a date to accompany Aaron and I on December 14th to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. So hopefully he likes it.

Stay tuned for tomorrow and all of Aaron's birthday adventures.

Sweetheart Tag

I got tagged by Lindsay, so here it goes:

1. What is his full name? Aaron Michael Swan

2. How old is he? He'll be 25 on Sunday

3. Do you have any nicknames for him? What are they? I have two nicknames for Aaron that I use pretty regularly #1 Aarnon, I call him this because Aaron has a twin brother named Kelly and when they were little every one would say Aaron and Kelly, but if you say it really fast it sounds like Aaron 'n Kelly, well Kelly I guess (any family members feel free to correct me) thought Aaron's name was Aarnon and called him that because that's what he always heard. Anyways, regardless of all the exact details, I thought it was cute, so I call him Aarnon sometimes. #2 I've always hated the pet name Babe, it's fine for other people, but to me it just sounds so possessive, like you are an object instead of a person, anyways, so that one was out right away, and I always felt weird saying honey and sweetheart, and I can only say Dear when I'm being sarcastic, so coming up with a good pet name for Aaron was kind of hard, but eventually I just started calling him Love (I think it's because I had a roommate from England and she always called everyone Love and I thought it just sounded so quaint with her British accent) and that feels comfortable so that's what I call him.

4. What color are his eyes? Hazelish, greenish, brownish, blueish (oh wait, isn't that what hazel is?)

5. What color is his hair? dark brown, and he has curls that I love when he lets his hair get just a little bit long.

6. How tall is he? 6 feet even

7. What is his favorite color? I'm gonna say navy blue, because that's the color of the majority of his T-shirts. But then again, most of his T-shirts are BYU shirts, so that could be it.

8. What is his favorite food? I think chicken enchiladas, and taco pie...but we have this running joke that Aaron is a bottomless pit...he'll eat anything.

9. What are/is his favorite past time(s)? homework, studying for really hard tests, living in the Clyde Building....oh wait, that's just how he passes most of his time ;) Aaron likes to be outside, hiking, camping, etc. He also really likes to problem solve and build things. And of course his family...where would he be without us?

10. What is his favorite sport? Aaron isn't really a sports guy. He likes them well enough, but I wouldn't say that he cares for one more than the other. Maybe like, Frisbee, or biking would be the ones he's more inclined to participate in.

11. What does he want to be when he grows up? Grow up...Aaron? Naw! j/k He's going to school to be an Electrical Engineer. He most likely wants to work with digital communications, and if you want more info than that you'll have to ask him, because it all goes way over my head!

12. What does he do that surprises you? It actually really surprised me at first, how willing he is to help with all the "dirty work" involved with having a baby. But if I say Aaron I changed the last 5 poopy diapers it's your turn, he steps right up and does it without complaining. And that's just the beginning of the "dirty work".

13. What's your favorite feature about him? I always tell him the first thing I noticed about him were his broad shoulders. I don't know...but I like 'em!

14. What's your favorite quality about him? He's kind to everyone. I don't think I've ever heard him gossip, or say a mean thing about another person. He really helps me to be better about that too.

15. What do you admire most about him? He is a very hard worker and honest to a tee.

16. What's a hidden talent that he has? He's a good cook. He gives fabulous shoulder massages. He puts up with me (no really, it takes talent!)

17. Where did you meet? In the parking lot of Crown Apartments in Provo. I am good friends with Aaron's cousin Whitney, and I was trying to set her up with my step-brother, and she thought she'd set me up with Aaron while we were at it. I had invited Whitney to little get-together one Sunday evening, so she could meet my bro, and she brought Aaron along. We met in the parking lot so I could show them the house the get-together was at.

18. When, where, and what did you do for your first date? Date-schmate. Aaron didn't even ask me out on our first date, he just took me! We were meeting as a group of friends and going to Comedy Sports in Provo. It was a pay-for-yourself kind of a thing, but Aaron stepped right up and paid for me, so then of course I felt obligated to be "his" date for the evening. I guess it worked out.

19. When and where was your first kiss? Aaron took me to BYU's homecoming dance. So it must have been like Octoberish. After the dance we went back to my place and watched Phantom of the Opera. After the movie Aaron kissed me on the couch. (ok, so he kissed my lips! But we were sitting on the couch.)

20. What first caught your eye or attracted you to him? Well, I already mentioned that his shoulders caught me eye right off, plus he was good looking too, but I was waiting for a missionary at the time, so I didn't think much more about it. We became really good friends, and I think what I became attracted to was just the way he treated people, including me, with so much kindness and consideration. He never had to put anyone down to build himself up. Plus, he was just as goofy as I was.

21. Who said 'I love you' first? Well, he told me that he wouldn't kiss me until he could tell me that he loved me. So, I thought we had awhile before I had to worry about either of those things. Then he kissed me. I kind of panicked, until we agreed that the kiss meant something, but not everything. And honestly, I really don't remember when he said I love you for real the first time.

22. How long did you date before you were married? We met at the end of August, "dated" on and offish until October, then I think we decided to date for real, for good. Engaged in February, married in May. So ya, you do the math.

23. How long have you been married? Two and a half years. Wow!

24. Does he have any nicknames for you? What are they? He calls me Love too. Uh...sometimes when we are playing around he calls me Wifey or Wife. But other than that no. Oh, I guess he does call me Sweetheart.

25. What are your favorite things to do as a couple? Cuddle, it's so nice to have a permanent cuddle buddy, I take advantage as often as possible. We used to go swing dancing a lot before we had Lincoln, now it's a little harder to get out and do. Go for walks. Daydream about our future (ok, this is more something that I love to do, but Aaron is a good sport about listening and participating most of the time). We just like to be together.

Not to Be Outdone

So Monday Aaron came home and told me a very sad story that went something like this:

"*Sigh* I was in my quadrotar lab today and the TA (teacher's assistant) had a whole bag of fresh, home-made chocolate-chip cookies that his wife had made for him. And I thought, man those look good."

NOTE TO AARON: This is my version of the story, if you'd like to tell a different one, please feel free.

So today I decided that it just wouldn't do to let some TA's wife out do me :) Ok, actually I'd been wanted to make cookies for awhile now, I just hadn't gotten around to it. So Lincoln and I spent the morning in the kitchen baking cookies. We used crushed up Andies Mints though, instead of chocolate chips, because I had them and needed to use them.

Lincoln, I think, really enjoyed watching/"helping" me make the cookies. Probably because I kept letting him sample our work as it progressed. But I pulled up a chair for him to stand on next to me, so that he could see what I was doing, and he stayed on it for the entire process.

After Lincoln got up from his nap we packed up the stroller (we decided to walk to campus because it was such a beautiful day outside) and put the cookies in a bag, complete with gushy love letter and headed off to surprise Aaron at work.

Stew Lemmon Day

Aaron and Lincoln enjoying their stew and lemonade while watching the DVD

Today marks six years since my dad died of Leukemia. That seems like such a long time. It's hard to believe I was a junior in high school then, and now I'm married with one and a half kids. It kind of seems like my dad missed the biggest parts of my life, and I missed him at each of those events as well.

The year after he died our family friends, the Ropelatoes, started an awesome tradition that Aaron and I uphold still. Every year on November 13th we eat stew for dinner and lemon pie for dessert. Well, except last year Aaron and I decided we didn't really like lemon pie, so this year we did lemonade instead. We also watch a DVD I made for my mom for Christmas about 6 years ago. It has all the video clips I could find of my dad in our family home videos, and I put them all together to music, and also interviewed some friends and relatives and had them tell their favorite memories of my dad. All this is in the DVD we watch every year. Today is also a day for thinking about and sharing memories of my dad. I thought I would put a few on here.

The first memory that came to me today was kind of a random one. It was when I was in Jr. High, right after he hurt his back but before his surgery. My mom was at the gym, and I needed a ride to school early because I had an intramural basketball game. I remember going in to his room and asking for a ride, and so he got up and started to get dressed, but his back hurt so bad that he couldn't pull up his pants. The pain was so bad that tears came to his eyes. And I remember thinking how strange it was to see my big strong dad cry. I'd never seen it before then.

I remember at family parties, my dad wasn't the most fond of social events really, but he was always sociable in his own way. He'd come out and sit in the same chair at table and he'd stay there almost the whole night and let people come talk to him. While they were talking to him, he always told the same few jokes, and the same stories over and over. Everyone always laughed and thought he was funny, but my brothers and I probably heard them a million times. One of his favorite jokes "It's like I said to the one-eyed girl with the wooden leg...Keep and eye out for me, will ya Peg?" Most of his jokes were one liners like that. And a lot of them were not appropriate to repeat on the blog (swear words typically).

Every year at Christmas time my dad would take me shopping. This was a huge deal because normally my dad's shopping motto went "Get in, get what you need, and get out." But when he took me we spent a whole day together, looking at all the things I wanted to look at. The purpose for the trip was always to buy me a new Christmas dress. We always went to Nordstroms and my dad spared no expense. Not only did I get a dress, but shoes, tights, a dress coat to match, a hat if I wanted, gloves if I wanted, jewelry, the works. We shopped for my mom too, and my dad spared no expense on her either. I remember a lot of years we bought her duck purses. I'm sure that the purses have a brand name, but the logo on them was a duck, and so I always called them duck purses. They were leather and had all the accessories to go with. Why my mom needed more than one I don't know, but she got one every year for a few years in a row. And we always went to lunch afterwords at the restaurant of my choosing. Looking back it seemed that my dresses were too fancy to wear anywhere, even church, but I did anyways. It was great to spend that time with just me and my dad.

My dad always had some project going, and usually he started these projects while my mom was out of the house. I remember one year she took us trick-or-treating, and when we came back my dad had knocked out a wall and decided to turn one of the upstairs bedrooms into an office/library. Another time, my mom took me to a softball tournament down in St. George and when we came back my dad had purchased a huge new big screen TV. This was after he'd been diagnosed with cancer, and the contract on the TV said if Dad died before he paid for the TV (I think he had set it up to make payments on it) then he didn't have to pay for it. As it turned out, we got that TV almost for free. There were other projects too, and when my dad was really in to something he'd go buy a whole bunch of book about it and then start his project. One such project was our 95 gallon salt water fish tank. We had about 800 books on salt water fish. He got the tank all set up the way he liked, with the filter he wanted and the lighting and on and on, and then he thought it would be cool to bring back some real ocean corral from Hawaii and have in the tank. So he did, and it was a big ordeal getting the coral in a cooler and carrying on on the airplane (which would never fly today) and got the coral home and put it in the tank. Well, come to find out, living in the coral was a spear shrimp. It killed all the fish within a month. That was pretty much the end of the fish tank after that. Other on-going projects included landscaping the back yard, pruning the trees in the front yard, the cabana (aka the hut for the sauna and hot tub in our back yard), the boys' pinewood derby cars, and on and on.

Here is a video, actually it's a video of a video, so sorry about the quality. But I think this video shows a pretty decent sketch of my dad's personality (at least the fun part of it). Ok, maybe I should explain a tiny bit more before you all think my dad is a pyscho. My mom and dad had a dinner group with 5 other couples, and once a month this group gets together and each month one of the couples is in change of planning the activity. Well, the month this video was taken, the couple in charge decided to do a "dinner and a movie" theme, and each of the couples had to bring a home-made commercial to play and whoever had the best commercial got a prize or something. This is what my parents came up with. Pretty clever if I do say so myself. I think they won too.

So, those are a few of my memories this year. If you have any memories of my dad you'd like to share, please feel free to comment, I would love to hear them, good or bad! :)

Picture Tag!

I got tagged by Dawn, so here are the rules:

1. Go to your pictures.
2. Upload the 4th picture from the 4th folder
3. Post, and explain what the picture is of
4. Tag your friends

This is a really old picture. It was taken in December 2005. Aaron and I were dating, but not engaged yet. Aaron's birthday is Nov. 23rd and I had planned to take him out to the Mayan in Sandy for his birthday, but on his birthday was the only day all of my family could get together to take family pictures. We were meeting at Target in Riverdale. So, I thought I'd take Aaron with me, and then on the way home we'd stop at the Mayan for his birthday dinner. Well, things kept happening and we waited at Target for our pictures for over 3 hours, and by the time we finally finished both Aaron and I were starving and didn't want to wait to drive all the way to Sandy to eat, so we ate somewhere else, but I promised him I would take him out for his birthday at another time.

So a few weeks later, I got this "brilliant" idea that I would dress up really nice, pick up Aaron without telling him anything, blind fold him, drive to Sandy and surprise him for dinner. I got all dolled up, then gave Aaron a call and asked casually if he wanted to go and do something with me that night. He said he was hanging out with his twin brother Kelly and could Kelly come along. Right then I should have just explained the plan, but I didn't want to ruin my "well thought out" surprise, so I had Aaron put Kelly on the phone, and told him he could come but he had to blind fold Aaron and bring him to my house, and Kelly had to bring his camera. Well Aaron had no idea what was going on, and I was a little upset because my surprise wasn't going as planned but I was trying to act like nothing was bothering me, and Aaron was worried about what I was angry about and complaining because he didn't want to be blind-folded all the way to Sandy, and the whole thing was kind of just a big ordeal. But once we finally talked everything over and I explained to him what I had been trying to do and why I was upset, then he was ok, and the three of us went and had a really fun dinner at the Mayan and had a lot of cool pictures since Kelly was there to document the event. I put in a couple more pictures of the night.

And now I tag: Sierra and Tami K.

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For...

That's what little boys are made of... and a little boy is exactly what we are having! Yay! Lincoln is going to have a little brother. They will have so much fun together, at least I hope they will. The nurse also said that all the bones and organs look fantastic, and that we are right on track for a March 24th due date. Currently Shark Bait weighs one pound. We did get some pictures from the appointment, but we don't have a scanner and I couldn't get any good pictures of the pictures with our camera, so I have to wait until Aaron gets home and he can work his electronic magic and then we'll post them.

If you are like me as soon as you know the baby is healthy and that he's a boy, you move right along to the naming part. The following is a list of the current (Aaron approved) possibles. We have decided not to decide on anything official until this little guy is born, but we'll probably be narrowing it down out of these:

Tucker

Levi

Owen

Oliver

Asher

Ryder

Duck Pond

This afternoon Lincoln desperately needed to get out of the house. It was a little cool out, but we decided to take a stroll down to the south duck pond on campus. We took bread to throw at them. These are just about the most well-fed ducks in the whole world, I'm sure they eat better than most of the students. ;) But Lincoln really enjoyed throwing the bread into the pond at them. He even nailed a few in the head. Don't worry, I'm sure it wasn't hard enough to hurt. Aaron or I had to stay by Lincoln every second or

else he would have taken it upon himself to have a little dip in the nasty duck water. After all our bread was gone we took him to the other side of the park and let him run around in the leaves. His favorite activity was pushing the stroller. It was fun to spend the day together as a family.

"Oh Rise and Shout, the Cougars are Out"

Today was gorgeous weather, perfect for a football game. And it's a good thing too, because we just so happened to have tickets to the last BYU home football game of the season. We bought them for my step-dad Kerry for his birthday back in June and have been anxiously anticipating this day ever since. Above is Papa Kerry, Gramma Tam, Lincoln, and me. Aaron and Tanner were also there with us, but Aaron was taking the picture and Tanner is at the age where he doesn't want to be captured on film anywhere near his family. :)

I was a little worried about how Lincoln would do at the game, especially because he missed his nap to go, but he LOVED it. There were so many things for him to look at. He really liked the marching band the best of all (a son after my own heart!) and would start dancing every time they played a song. Lucky for Lincoln BYU clobbered San Diego State, and so the band got to play the fight song quite a few times.

Here are my boys, watching all the action in the sold out stadium. Lots of blue.

And Lincoln and Mommy! We had so much fun going to the game and hanging out with my family. Afterwards we met up with my step-brother Bryan and his wife Emily and their baby girl Penelope. Mom and Kerry treated us all to lunch/dinner at the Brick Oven. YUM!! I love that place.