The boys...

This is just a random blog about the boys, but both Koby and Lincoln are at fun ages and I would be sad if I didn't document their little big personalities at this age.

LINCOLN (13 months):

Linc sure is showing his personality lately...

Linc has become obsessed with shoes. The moment he wakes up, he waddles over and gets his favorite pair of flip flops. I put them on...he is content... he marches off to play. However, if one should fall off, it is the end of the world as he knows it!

He still loves to play all by himself...but he sure loves to get snuggled. Oh but not by you...he definately has stranger danger.

Linc loves to play Peek-a-Boo and sweep the floors...or just try to eat the food I sweep into my pile. Little stinker! 

Even though he is a chill kid, he has a big personality.  

Taking after his big brother, he too loves the water...which definitely makes summer fun:) 

KOBY (3 1/2):

Koby is getting so big! Well kind of, he still wears 2T shorts. Linc is wearing swim shorts that Koby wore just a few months ago. haha. He is a smart little guy. We pretty much have real people conversations all the time now. He can write many letters of the alphabet. He is constantly asking us to spell things...."dad, spell stop sign", "mom spell puppy dog". Maybe that is why he is so good at spelling too..."mom, L-i-n-c spells Linc. D-a-d spells dad..."  I love his imagination. He sings all the time. He is a fun, social, crazy, active, loving kid. He gives us kisses and hugs all day long:)

There is this nice little boy, Xander, that lives down the street. Xander is 8 1/2. Koby is 3 1/2. They are pretty much best buddies. Xander comes over on a daily basis to play with Koby. They both like Wipeout and had a Wipeout party last night. I should have got a picture it was cute.  Yesterday Xander said he didn't really play with one of his neighbors because the kid is only 4. I said you know Koby is 3 1/2. He looked really surprised and said, "what? He seems much older-He talks alot! And he's fun!" haha. Koby can play with kids of all ages.

Koby is a swimmer! From the moment we saw his little webbed toe we knew he would be. He can hold his breath for about 6 seconds. In fact he has been "rescued" twice already because people don't know he is just holding his breath and "swimming" underwater. He goes down the kid water slides at 7 peaks all by himself over and over and OVER again. He doesn't even want us to catch him or anything. His water skills sure make it alot easier taking 2 kids to the pool!

On another note, we sure have had a fun time Skyping with family in Japan lately. We can't wait to see everyone in 2 short weeks! I need to hurry and learn some appropriate Japanese, not the stuff James thought it would be funny if I said. 

He's so Asian:)

We are so mature.

We discovered how to photoshop. Haha. It is very entertaining.

He's Back!

James took the GMAT this morning and he ROCKED it!! Woohoo! He said he almost cried leaving the testing center. Haha. He will kill me for posting that.

We are proud.

Evacuation

I posted the previous blog about an hour before our neighborhood was evacuated. Friday morning we got ready and hopped in the car at about 9:30ish to head down to 7 Peaks with our neighbor friends. As we were leaving our house I noticed it was beginning to smell like a campfire. When we were getting in the car we also noticed the sky was completely smokey and there were helicopters really close to our homes. We kind of got a little worried and decided to pack some extra clothes and stuff just in case...I grabbed us each a couple outfits, toothbrushes, and pajamas. We left.

We made it to 7 Peaks at 10:30, right as the evacuation order was made. I called James. His work was very nice-they let him leave work for the day and go get some more things from our house- Koby's polka Dot blanket he can't live without, binkies, wipes, diapers, baby food, phone chargers,  more clothes, Linc's monkey he can't live without...We thought we were just being evacuated for the smoke so we decided our computer could stay. Did I mention my phone was dying too? Try being evacuated without a cell phone! Luckily I got a hold of James before my phone completely died.

I am so grateful James was able to get the rest of the day off because being out with a 2 young kids for the day, with nowhere to go was rough. James met me down in Provo and we headed to his Aunt and Uncle's house to kill a few hours before our friends were home from work. They let us swim and fed us some food (we were starving). Thanks Diane and Norman! It was really hard to enjoy the day at all with the fear of the fire.

We had so many offers for us to stay with friends and family-THANKS everyone! Our friends, Amy and Cole told us Friday we could stay with them if we were evacuated. They have a finished basement that they let us stay in. Koby even had his own room! Linc and Koby only woke up once and slept in until 8:15-awesome!

Friday evening we headed to Cole and Amy's house where Amy fed us some delicious BBQ! We kept checking the news and getting texts from our neighbors all day/evening. My friend called me at about 9 pm and told me she had just talked to the fire person...apparently they were really worried about our neighborhood through the night... That kinda freaked me out, I thought we only had to worry about smoke. We thought about getting escorted back in for a few things, but then made the decision that we could live without everything and from then on I didn't worry much.

You know when you are asked that question, "If your house caught on fire and you had to grab stuff and run, what would you grab?" It's nice to know that I don't need to stress over that answer anymore. We live a pretty simple life and it's nice to know that our family is all we need to be happy:)

This weekend was kinda crazy, but we managed to make it fun. Friday night we watched probably the dumbest movie ever-Apollo 18, but when you watch a movie with friends at 1 in the morning...spider rocks can seem just a little bit cooler- haha. Saturday, we were all entertained by playing Xbox games- Koby especially enjoyed the Wipeout game! Since it was 97 degrees we also hit up the Lindon Pool.

About 5 pm we got a flood of texts saying we could go back home! We were having so much fun at Cole and Amy's though we decided to stay for a bit. Logan brought over his old toys from when he was little-Construx. Koby enjoyed them, but I'm pretty sure the men enjoyed them more.

As Koby was saying goodbye to Amy Saturday evening, he began to cry. It was the saddest thing. We are so blessed to have good friends around.  Thanks Amy and Cole for making our stressful weekend fun!

Today, we were at the park by our house and I saw the mountain catch a blaze again! I was a little freaked out, but we were told it would do that and they are watching it closely. I guess that's why we are still on high alert.

See the black mountain? I took this picture at the park today. That is the mountain that I saw blazing again.

All in all we are grateful to be home, grateful to have wonderful family and friends, and grateful no one lost their home in this 6,023 acre fire!

Fire Scare

 This sure had me for a scare...

See that church? Ya, that's our church! Ahh!

The fire burned 750 acres as of 10 hrs ago! There are airplanes and helicopters going back and forth from the lake to the mtns. by our house. Some of our neighbors packed there cars too.

Lets be glad the winds haven't changed...

Bathroom Fixups

I have been wanting so badly to frame our plain bathroom mirrors. I saw the idea forever ago on this lady's home improvement blog, The House of Smith's.

My awesome cousin, Laura, lives here in Eagle Mountain and she can do great things with wood/molding. Laura was so kind to take on the framing project with me. It was fun and easy. It took no time at all too. I love my frames. My bathroom is getting a makeover so I won't post that picture yet, but here is the boys' bathroom with the frame...

Before Mirror

Mirror with the frame

Only cost like 20 bucks. I think it makes a big difference:)

Our house was vacant for a looong time before we moved in. Because of that fact, our toilets have always had these nasty rings inside. I tried getting rid of them, nothing worked. Laura told me she had Jas take sandpaper to their toilets. Look at what a little sandpaper can do for the toilet! I don't know why I didn't think of it before...

NASTY rings

After the Sandpaper...Oh ya!

I can't wait to take on another wood project ...Thank you Laura!

Happy Father's Day

Today began with me being woken up to the smell of a delicious breakfast after sleeping in an extra hour and a half longer than usual.  It was quite a pleasant way to wake up.  Megan and the boys made me an awesome breakfast!

I got a few work shirts for Father's day, but Megan also surprised me with a few extra treats and probably the coolest card I have ever seen.  I think it made me laugh for a good 10 minutes.

After church we came home and hung out for a bit and I got to take a nap.  I love Father's Day!  Again I was woken up by the smell of delicious food.  This time it was a pork roast.  Mmmmmm.

After dinner we went out for a family walk.  We ended up at the park and we played with the boys for a bit.  It was a pretty hot day, so when we got home, the boys and I decided to run around in the sprinklers.  We got soaked, but it was a blast!  All in all, it was a pretty awesome Father's Day.

It's still weird thinking that I am a dad.  Sometimes I feel like I am still 14 years old.  Crazy how time flies!

Anyway, I also wanted to say Happy Father's Day to a couple of great dads.

Dad, thanks for being one of my best friends.  Thanks for all the hours you spent teaching me how to play sports.  It may have not seemed like it at the time, but I treasure all those afternoons we would go out and hit balls.  Thanks for being a good example to me in everything you do.  Thanks for showing me everyday what kind of dad I want to be.

Randy, you are the man.  Thanks for being a great father-in-law.  I couldn't have asked for a better one.  Thanks for teaching me how to shoot 22's, shotguns, and bows.  Thank you for all the love and support you give our family.

We love you guys!