March

I can't believe March is almost over.  The past couple of months have gone way to fast!  

Jordan has been applying for a lot of jobs lately and had a few interviews with other cities.  He's looking mostly for government accounting, treasurer, and finance director jobs.  There aren't a ton of government jobs in Utah County which is where we want to stay so it might take some time for him to find something. 

Jordan's work schedule just recently changes so he gets every other Friday off now.  It's been really nice having home on that day but the extra hour he works everyday is kinda hard.  It is nice to have an extra day to do house work and just have fun.  

He's doing really good healing from surgery. He still has braces on but he'll probably only have to wear them for a little while longer.  He starting to get all the feeling back in his face finally and most of the swelling has gone down.  

I've mostly just been working and hanging out with the kids.  I cut my hours down to one day a week and then I occasionally pick up extra days.  I love it!  I have missed staying home with my kids.  Only working one day a week has been so nice.  It's still a little extra money and it's enough for me to keep my license but I'm home a lot and it doesn't really interfere with anything and mostly we don't have to plan around it that much.

The boys are getting so big!  The last few weeks they've become best friends. They've always liked each other but were never really close enough in their development to really play together.  They use to fight a lot.  Since Link started really talking they've been able to play together a lot better.  They love each other so much.  Jacks says that Link is his best friend.  Yesterday when I put Link down for his nap Jacks was so mad at me!  He stood in Link's doorway with his arms stretched out so I couldn't pass and yelled "No mom I don't want him to sleep I want him to play with me!" 

Jacks is a really clingy kid he always has to have someone there with him.  He hates being alone and always wants a friend to play with.  He's never really been the kind of kid to go in his room and play by himself.  It's been so nice that Link can entertain him now.  It's so hard for me to get anything done because he's always asking me to play with him.  They disappear into one of their rooms for a long time now and can entertain each other.  They chase each other through the house screaming and laughing.  It's so fun.  I wanted two boys close in age so they'd be friends and they finally are it's been so fun.  

Jacks is getting so big.  He'll be 4 in June which just blows my mind I can't believe he's getting so big.  He loves preschool.  He does some really fun activities and learns a lot.  I kind of worry about him though.  He has a really hard time concentrating on things.  He still can't count very well. He knows shapes and most colors but he even struggles with colors sometimes.  He's really smart he just has a really hard time sitting and concentrating.  I've been working with him at home a little more lately and he just has a hard time.  I don't really know if it's just his age or if it's ADHD.     

Preschool Project

Jacks is really into Transformers right now.  He always wants to play transformers which is basically pretending to transform into a car and crawl around then transform into a robot and run around.  He loves the show Rescue Bots.  He loves Bumblebee, Heatwave, and Blades.  Link loves transformers too and he always pretends that he's Wheeljack.  He yells "I'm Wheeljack!"  He'll jump around and say "Watch this transformer!"  It's really funny.  

The boys also really like Batman and Spider-man right now.  They have a little batman toy that they love and play with together for hours!   Jacks likes Spider-man and pretends to swing on webs.  He tells whoever is playing with him that they are the Hulk.  He has such a great imagination.  

Jacks is turning into a home body.  He hates going anywhere.  Once we get there he's good but getting him out the door is a nightmare it takes forever.  He doesn't even like to go to the park most the time.  If i can get him out the door he's really good and has  a lot of fun he just hates leaving.  

Link is getting really big.  He's still physically tiny but he's so smart.  It's hard not to treat him younger than he is because he's so small but he's so smart that I know he knows what's going on.  He talks so well.  He's so funny he seriously has some serious attitude. He is the king of dirty looks.  He's not afraid to put you in your place he'll yell at us to "Stop it" or tell Jacks "Don't do that Jacks." He holds grudges!  It's funny my dad kind of got mad at him for something and Link was offended and didn't like my dad for like 3 weeks after that.  He doesn't forget things.
Link loves Ninja Turtles, transformers, batman, balls, cars, and playing outside. He would be outside all day if I'd let him.  He loves to dig in dirt.  I've already planted some peas and lettuce in my garden and he thinks it's hilarious to go pull them up.  We might not have anything grow this year thanks to Link but he has a lot fun doing it.

    

St George The Homecoming

My aunt and uncle just recently came home from their mission, so we went down to St. George for their homecoming.  A lot of my family were able to make it down and it was really fun to see everyone.  We really missed Sue and Dale while they were gone.
We left Saturday morning and the boys were really good on the way down.

Jacks loves his game boy

While we were down in St George my parents were awesome and watched our kids while Jordan and I went to Zion to attempt Angels Landing.  We were both so excited to do this hike.  I've seen a lot of pictures and heard that it is beautiful.  Before we left my cousins and uncle told me some horror stories about people slipping off the edge and falling 1200 feet to their deaths. They made me a little nervous but I thought they were mostly trying to scare me.
The weather was really nice and Zion was beautiful.  We started our hike in good spirits until I discovered that Angels Landing is a ridiculously hard hike!  I seriously thought I was going to die. Parts of the trail were covered by ice and snow and really slippery.  It's really steep and there are 2 areas of switch back and then the last half mile is on a really narrow fin with chains that you can hold onto with a 1200 foot drop on each side.  There are areas that are only 2 feet wide with only a flimsy chain to hold you up and who knows how long that thing has been there!  Those chains are just waiting to give out!  In short it is a death trap and once I realized this I was having no part in it!  I made it up the first set of chains then kind of flipped out like a 4 year old child before the second.  Jordan kindly tried to convince me to go farther and reassured me that it would be okay.  I sat there almost in tears desperately trying not to have an episode of B&B incontinence from fear of falling 1200 feet to my ultimate demise.  To make matters worse there was a group of 4 girls (sitting in the middle of the trail after the first set of chains mind you putting everyone at risk of death) and they starting telling me not go.  They told me that it was icy and there was snow on the trail and they had seen someone slip and fall and had to grab onto a tree to keep from falling off the treacherous cliff.  After that I was done.  I sat down with my new friends and became a part of the trail block and convinced Jordan to go on without me.  I got some looks and laughs from strangers hearing our whole exchange.  It's okay though it was terrifying. Jordan didn't make it that far without me.  The trail was really snowy and icy in places and it really just wasn't safe to hike that day. Most people that started didn't end up making it all the way up.
Okay so the danger of this hike was probably exaggerated in that last paragraph.  They've only had 6 people die since 2004 on that hike and thousands of people do it every year.  The snow and ice though really was dangerous and I'm scared of heights.  I had no idea that it would be that thin.  I had seen some pictures but they seriously don't do it justice and I didn't even make it to the really scary part.  I really want to do this hike someday I think the view would be worth it but I just might be to scared. I mostly just feel bad that Jordan didn't get to finish it because I'm a baby he really wanted to. Maybe someday.

Notice the snow on the trail behind Jord.  And the terrifying sign warning of imminent death up ahead.

 

The easier of the two sets of switchbacks.

This part of the trail was covered in snow and really slippery.

While we were gone my parent's took the boys to Snow Canyon to the sand dunes then back to Sue and Dales house.  After our Angels Landing fail we headed back to Sue and Dale's house.

At Sue and Dale's we had dinner and spent the night with my family which was really nice. The kids were both tired and kind of nightmares. Kara and BJ there from Cali so we spent some time catching up with them.  Link was really scared of Kara and when he was naughty time out was sitting in Kara's lap.  Maybe not my nicest move to Kara or Link but it was kind of effective.  Kara had to ruin it by pulling out some candy and winning him over with sugar. He loved her after that.
Link had a really hard night at the hotel.  He has a really hard time sleeping anywhere but his own bed.  We slept in a little bit then went to the golf course by Sue's house to feed the ducks.  Link loves the ducks!  He got so excited about it.

After the ducks we went to Sue and Dale's church to hear their homecoming talks.  They both did a great job and it was a lot of fun. We spent some time at their house afterwards.  We had a lot of fun on our little mini vacation.  Jacks had so much fun with my cousins kids.  He loves playing with other kids so it was heaven for him to have so many other kids around his age to play with.

They love Mike and Claudia

On our way home the boys both took a nap and were really grumpy when they woke up.  It was definitely a long ride home.  Then when we got home the kids wouldn't go to bed because they had such late naps.  Going on vacation with kids is fun but also really exhausting we were definitely ready to be home.  It was so good to see all my family and we're so happy that Sue and Dale made it home safely and enjoyed their mission.    
 

Lincoln 2 Years Old

My little Linky just turned 2!  It seems like time has gone way to fast.  Link is such a fun, cute, sweet little boy.  He isn't a baby anymore and it makes me so sad!  He runs around like a wild man and talks like crazy.  He talks really well he says a lot of word better than Jackson.  He's still little but he's shifted a little on the growth charts.  He weighs 25. 57 lbs (34.92 %tile), height 34.25 in (40.94 %tile). He wears 18-24 month cloths.  They drown him but any smaller is to short.  He has kind of long arms and legs but he's really skinny so it's hard to buy cloths for him.  I think he'll always have the problem buying cloths.  

Link definitely has a mind of his own, he knows exactly what he wants and usually how to get it. He knows exactly how to play me.  He'll give me hugs and kisses randomly and it's kind of hard to tell him no after that.  He hates going to bed at night.  He'll run up to me and say "Mommy I cuddle."  It's hard to put him to bed after that.  He's so sweet.

Link is a climber. The boys have a little plastic step they use to reach the sink in the bathroom, Link carries it all over the house and uses it to climb on everything.  We can't have a meal without Link climbing onto the table.  He pushes our kitchen chairs around and climb up on the counters.  Jacks and Link love to jump off things.  They jump off all our furniture and climb up their bunk bed ladder and jump off.  I'm just waiting for one of them to break a bone,  They're little dare devils. It's one of their favorite things to do together.

He found the candy.

Crazy kid thinks he's going to jump off

Link loves Jackson.  They fight like crazy but they also play together really well.  They disappear into their rooms or to our basement together.  They usually get into trouble together.  They love to make messes and do things they know they get in trouble for.  They love to go into the basement and get into our food storage.  They rip open boxes of mac and cheese and scatter it all over the basement.

Little Link is turning into a huge mommy's boy.  He's been really sick for the last couple of weeks and he's being so clingy.  He wanted me to hold him all the time!  He never wanted anyone else.

Things Link likes:

-Ninja Turtles

-Tigger

-Playing outside

-Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove: He asks me everyday "Castle park?  I go to the castle park?"  

-Baths

-Playing monster

-Milk

-Treats:  The kid is still a junk food kid.  He loves junk food and it's a fight to get him to eat anything healthy. 

-Movies: Wreck it Ralph, Duck Tales, Scooby Doo

Things Link Hates:

-Sleep- Link kind of hates going to bed.  He's still takes a nap every day usually an hour and half to 2 hours. 

-Holding still

-Church: He hates sacrament meeting.  He's really good in nursery and loves it.  Sacrament is just frustrating he just runs around the halls

-Taking medicine: Every time he's sick I have force feed him medicine.  It's so hard he just spits it out and screams.  

-Brushing his teeth. 

Turtle hat

Link's Birthday

Link was really sick on his birthday.  Both boys had RSV and then Link got an ear infection on top of it so they were both really sick.  We didn't really get to do much for his birthday.  We just went to my parents house and hung out then had pizza and cake and ice cream. 

A few days after Link's birthday we had a party with Jordan's family.  The boys were finally starting to feel better so they had a lot of fun.