Monday, July 15, 2013

3 1/2 months later - no big deal

Blogging has definitely been put on the back burner for a long time now.

We bought our house the middle of March, and moved into a whole lot of great new things in life!
1. Our own house!!! We Love It. We love that the kids have their own rooms. That our parents have all stayed here, slept here. As well as lots of other family. We love that we have two guest rooms and beds for any and all that come to visit.

I especially love the backyard. A big tree with an awesome tree house that shades over half of the yard. It's pretty big! The swing set, the horse swing (from Seth's parents), a kiddie pool. A great patio with room to grill and have friends over for BBQ's.

I don't like weeding though. I wouldn't mind weeding if it was for a garden/flowers. But we need to weed the stuff that's growing over the gravel drive way. and through the a few cracks on our round about driveway.

2. April was really busy, hosting. My sister and her family came and stayed with us for 5ish days. It was so fun to have cousins for Scarlett to play with. We loved going to Lowe's Xtreme sports, in Provo.

Seth's cousin got married in Idaho. So a lot of extended family came to visit, which was so much fun. Lots of the aunts and uncles, grandparents got to check out our place too. We had enough room and chairs (barely) for us all to sit around and visit. Those are the best times. Anyway, so we went up to Idaho and had a really fun weekend swimming at the hotel, being with family, and celebrating a new sealing for Eternity.

3. Seth's parents stayed with us from a few days before the wedding until the very end of April. Since Brother in law Davin was graduating at the month, they were here for the whole festivities. We were very lucky to have so much time with Steve and Sandi. They helped us paint our living room wall, which took me forever to decide the color, but we got the perfect one and I'm in love. Next time they come hopefull Seth will have some more time he can spend with them.

4. Seth is full force in the middle of his Internship for grad school. He is crazy busy right now. Going to work from 7:30 - 3:30ish and then driving up to Salt Lake to counsel clients at University of Phoenix's Counseling Center. He usually is done around 8 or 9 , so we I get to see him for a few hours before going to sleep. The kids don't see him much, at all, Monday through Thursday. (The center closes early on Fridays) Sometimes he doesn't even see Lincoln for days, so sad! Scarlett will stay pu late here and there to give him a hug before going to bed. It's difficult for him to be away from us so much, but he really enjoys it, so that's a plus. He'll be done next May, It's going to fly by! i hope...

5. May - We went to Iowa. I went to Iowa with the kids middle of May, to help prepare for some big celebrations. Kara, the youngest of the 7 Hartley's, graduated from High School the end of May. Which is a big deal since it's the last of the Hartley's to graduate from City High school - where my mom's siblings all graduated from. I assume some of my future nieces and nephews will graduate there, but that is years and years away.  So! We went to help my mom prepare for Kara's Graduation, ALL of my Aunts/uncles and their families coming to the occasion, and a family reunion for the Hartley and Unsicker side.

My mom had surgery on her shoulder the beginning of April. Her Rotary cuff needed desperate fixing! She was unable to move it, at all, on her own until mid May, and then they started moving it for her in Physical Therapy. She's slowly making progress, but with all the parties at the end of May, she really needed any and all possible help.

We got a lot done before the troops arrived. I'm so glad Seth could make it for the events. We missed his birthday though, and I'm glad at least his co-worker's wife made him some brownies to enjoy :)

City High has a tradition at their graduation ceremony, A representative alumni carry their respective "Class of YYYY" banner. So My mom carried her 197?, and the aunts/uncles carried theirs. And then my 6 siblings all carried their's, mine was 2001. There were 12 of us total carrying our banners, it was a neat experience! My mom has had it in the works for years now, it's crazy it's over, really.

I had a really great time being with so much family and the reunions were really fun. It was surely a highlight of this year.

JUNE - almost caught up now, right? Lincoln turned 1 on the 15th! Holy Cow, that went fast. A Lot Has Happened Within This First Year of His Life! It really feels like he has been with us longer. We had a BBQ with friends in our backyard, So it was a great time some yummy food with great company.

It was the day of Orem's Summerfest. I had never really considered entering one of my kids in a baby contest, but I knew Summerfest had one, and since it was on Lincoln's birthday I thought it might be just a fun thing to do in the morning. I had thought about it for weeks leading up to it, contemplating it if was worth the $15 to get the free contestant photo, etc.  So at Wynco, the night before his birthday and the contest, literally 3 women either told me how cute he is or I saw them motion to their friend to look at Lincoln b/c he is so freaking cute. And then I knew - yea, lets just give it a try.

Lincoln's  Birthday - Started with getting to the baby contest at 9:20ish. Got registered, Found our judge table for the 10-12m boys/girls. Waited in line (later found out 32 boys were in his age group)... And then it was our turn, we visited with the two judges and got to know them a little bit. Lincoln was tired and kind of grumpy so he didn't do his tricks. Like "Sooo big" and pat a cake or even high fives. But it was a good time.

Then we waited in line FOREVER to get his photo taken and then wait for it to be printed. I was really anxious to get home and get his party ready so we could enjoy the day at the carnival. But - I met a very cool lady, We became instant friends and she actually served her mission in Iowa. I loved getting to know her while we waited for our little boy's photos.

Got home... we got to go to the carnival and Scarlett and Lincoln went on some fun rides. The car show was fun, and Scarlett couldn't get enough of riding the carousel. The Baby contest awards were given at 3:30, I was really nervous I wouldn't make it home in time for Lincoln's birthday party at 4:30, but it went pretty fast. About 4pm They announced Lincoln's age group. I was thinking Mayyybe he got 2nd or 3rd. And I was soooo excited and surprised when they named him as 1st place for Boys 10-12 months old!!! YAY! It was just me and Lincoln there, Seth and Scarlett were back home making last minute Party arrangements.

Lincoln and I went up, got our photo taken and a basket of prizes. We rushed home and got the party started. Lots of dear friends came, it was a really fun time with really great people. We got to even ride in the parade! It was going to be a juggle, but I figured it's a once in a lifetime to be in a parade with your baby contest winner.

So After Lincoln had dug into his smash cake a bit, and with frosting still in his hair, Lincoln and I made our way to the Parade float. Lincoln loved it! He waved and blew kisses for the first half, and was getting tired half way through. Luckily, the parade route goes right in front of our house! Seth was able to run up and give us a sippy of milk and a stroller to make it easier to get back. At the end of the parade, we walked the 4 blocks to our house, and got to watch the rest of the parade with the family and friends. Since the baby float was the 4th entry in the parade, we got back for the majority of the fun. I'm glad we got to fit it all in!!

Now he is 13 months! Time is just going by so fast.
Likes: "Talking", EATING, Playing peek-a-boo, Pulling Scarlett's hair, and giving high fives.
He especially likes fruit, but really will eat almost anything. He loves to sleep and steam roll over Raja! He's got a great pouty lip, which usually comes out when he registers us telling him "no" to climbing up on furniture, etc.