Doug, Hillary, and Linkin

Oops!

2011-06-28T14:52:00.003-07:00

So..... Doug and I took Linkin the other night to get his hair cut. Linkin started freaking out and Doug decided he could just do it himself. I said no lets just hold him down and let the girl cut it, but Doug said he had it under control. Well....you know this doesn't end well right.... At first it looked great and than Doug decided he could do a fade and make it look really cool. I begged him not to and said just to leave it, but he said, "I got this!" While he was trying to fade Linkin's hair, Linkin made a quick movement and got half of his hair taken off! AAAHHHHH!!!!!! After that we had to buzz it. (we buzzed it at a size 1)

Here is what it looked like after! For the first week any time I looked at Linkin I couldn't help but bust up laughing! He has decided he likes it short. He will sit and watch tv and just rub his head. It's pretty funny to watch! It has grown out a little bit now and doesn't really look so bad. The first day it was short I brought him to preschool and one of the teachers asked who the new kid was. bahahahaha!!! Doug is never allowed to cut Linkin's hair again!!! It's a good thing I have a good sense of humor huh?!

Golfing Fun

2011-06-28T14:51:00.003-07:00

Like father like son! Doug has Linkin brainwashed to think that golf is fun. I guess I shouldn't complain because he has me brain washed to think golf is fun too. haha. The great thing about this is we get to all go golfing together! There are a few small 9 hole golf courses that let us bring Linking and let him ride in the cart. The rule when he comes with us is he has to stay in the cart until we get to the green and than he is allowed to play put put on the green. He loves to go golfing! Another great thing about Linkin's love of golf is that him and Doug can go together with out me!!! How cool is that! Doug gets to play his favorite game and mama gets a break. Now that there is a win win folks! (I have decided though I am going to go take some lessons by a golf pro and learn to kick the butts of all the boys in my life who play golf! good idea I think!) :)

Waterworld

2011-06-28T14:45:00.002-07:00

When Kayla had Linkin in Arizona while I was sick she and Malynda took him to Water World. Linkin had such a great time I took him back once I got there. I took my sisters littler girls with me and Krissie brought her little kids and the family she had in town. We were there ALL DAY LONG!!! It was so much fun! Krissie and I snuck off once to go do a few big kid rides with her older nieces and it was great! They have added a bunch of newer cool rides since I went as a kid. It was great! Linkin thought he was pretty funny wearing Krissie's hat in this picture. Silly boy!

This is a picture of the little kid play area! Yep! I said little kid play area!!! These slides are made so that even Linkin can go down them! Crazy huh?! He wasn't really into it this time he more wanted to play in the splash pad next to the slides, but the other kids loved this! They had some other fun slides that were pretty tall and even little kids could go down them. I took Sotera and Monterey on some big slides that were so fun! I am hoping to get back down to Arizona again this summer so we can go back to Water World. If we still lived their we would totally have a season pass! So jealous right now!

6th Anniversary

2011-06-28T14:31:00.004-07:00

Doug took me out for a night on the town for our 6th anniversary! We went into San Francisco to a place called Teatro Zinzanni. This place is so freaking cool! It's a 3 hour dinner theatre. They people who perform here have some pretty amazing resumes. Most all of them have worked for circus sole or something of that nature so it has a very festive circus type feel to it. The acts were absolutely amazing! The actors were absolutely hilarious! It was fun to sit for 3 hours and be absolutely entertained. My favorite act was the guys that did this acrobatic type fighting/tumbling. It was awesome! They stood 3 people high on each others shoulders and fell belly flop style to the floor and at the last second fell into a summer salt roll and jumped out of it. I don't know if that sounds like it makes any sense, but it was incredible! I would recommend this to anyone coming to visit San Francisco. Amazing night!Here is my boyfriend of 8 years and husband of 6. They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside the performance tent, so this is us outside the performance tent. It has been an amazing 6 years and I am lucky to have such a great guy like Doug. We have gone through so much together in the last six years and we have only gotten stronger in our love for each other and gotten closer together. I love you so much Doug I am lucky to have you! You are an amazing husband and father. I don't know what I did to get to be so lucky, but whatever it was I'm glad I did it. I would be lost with out you!
*** Special thanks to Vanessa Walker who drove out from Pleasanton (1hr away) to come watch Linkin for us so we could go out! You're the best!

Grateful

2011-06-28T14:21:00.003-07:00

This post is kind of personal, but I would feel extremely ungrateful if I didn't talk about this. I have been so grateful for an amazing family and amazing friends this last little while. The cookie basket above my sister sent and the flowers were sent by Jenny and Krissie. This was just a small example of the service people have given me in the last little while.

Let me start by explaining a little bit. I was 8 or 9 weeks pregnant when I had a miscarriage. Doug and I went in to get an ultra sound and they couldn't find a heart beat. This was extremely hard on Doug and I. We had been trying for 6 months to get pregnant and had finally succeeded when I lost the baby. We were both really emotional and had a hard time. Doug's mom flew out the night we found out and I went into surgery the next day for a D and C. Everything went great and Doug's mom went home a few days later. The day after she left I went to the ER and they found 3 blood clots in my right leg. I also had some other infections and complications. I was a mess!

I tell this story only to say that we had some amazing people come out of the wood work to help us in our time of need. My mom and dad were in Africa at the time and all of our other family members live in Arizona. Doug and I were on our own. We had a bunch of ward members bring us dinners, send us cards, and just drop by to give us treats and talk. We had others friends who watched Linkin while I tried to rest and get my leg better. Doug's mom even flew back out a second time to get Linkin and bring him to Arizona for 5 days so I could rest and get my body healthy again. I don't think I would have healed as well if she hadn't done this. She had it all planned so each one of Linkin's aunts and uncles could spend a whole day with him and show him love. He had an absolutely wonderful time! Doug and I came down to AZ after that and spent some time with family and picked Linkin up and brought him back home.

I have to mention a few people by name for their thanks: Kayla my mother in law of course, Emily Batitta, April Standring, Haven, my sister Britany, Jenny, and of course Krissie! I love you all so much and thank you for your help and support during this time. Especially those of you who got the crazy phone calls with me crying! haha. :) Love you all!

Mother's Day!

2011-06-28T14:12:00.002-07:00

Linkin's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea Party. It was sooo cute!!! Linkin got a little confused at first because they had all of the kids on one side and the mother's on the other and the kids were going to sing for us. Linkin didn't really understand and he started freaking out because he saw me and he thought I was there to pick him up. He thought for some reason that I would leave him or something. He started FREAKING out! So the show ended up being a bunch of kids singing to their moms and than me sitting in the middle of a bunch of little kids. I think I added a little something extra to the show, don't you?! haha. After he realized I was staying he calmed down and we had a great party.
Here is the cute little gift they made for the mother's at preschool. I love this and have it hanging up on Linkin's Wall of Fame wall clips I made at MOPS Mothers Group. (I don't think I have blogged about MOPS but it is a Mother's Christian group that meets 2 times a month to do fun stuff and has cool speakers. They even have people watch your kids for you! One of the meetings we made cool wall hanging things you can clips your kids artwork onto.)

The Mother's Day Tea Party was tons of fun! The funny thing about this present was Linkin kept trying to tell me days in advance about this art project. I asked him what he did at preschool and he kept telling me he painted his hands. I didn't really understand what he was getting at until I saw this present. The teachers did an amazing job making it all very special! I love his preschool and he really enjoys it to. He asks to go every morning! =)

My Sister's Wedding

2011-06-28T14:07:00.003-07:00

My sister got married! We are all so excited for the happy couple. She married a great guy named Cameron. He has 2 cute little girls that are 3 and 4 years old. Their ages fit perfect with all of the other cousins and we are so lucky to have them added to our family! I am pretty bummed we didn't get a picture with my parents in it too, but this is all we have for family pictures at the wedding. I hope Jess doesn't get mad I put up a picture of her pregnant. I think she looks adorable pregnant! So cute! (I'm about 8 weeks pregnant in this picture so that explains my rounder face and sickly complexion. haha)

Here is me and my man at the dinner after the wedding.

This is the story of my life! There were cameras and flashes going off EVERYWHERE at the wedding. People were taking pictures with everyone left and right. Doug thought it would be funny if he posed and got a picture with the Waiter. That's my Dougie for ya! I can't take him anywhere! (But that's why I love him right?!)

Easter 2011

2011-06-28T13:58:00.003-07:00

Our ward did a really fun Easter Egg hunt this year for Easter. Linkin remembered doing all the hunts we did last year so he grabbed as many as he could and sat down and started eating them with in a few minutes. It was so funny! I had to get the eggs out of his basket and hide them for other kids because he was way to fast for the other kids. By the time the other nursery age kids had they eggs found Linkin had already found and eaten his candy. Smart boy I say! :)

The ward Easter Hunt also had fun games for all the primary kids. This game was so funny to watch. They had golden eggs the kids had to hold with their legs and run from one side of the field to the other. If the egg dropped they had to start all over again. It was so much fun to watch Linkin try to play the game. I have some pretty funny video tape to prove it!
Here are the two main men in my life! Love you Doug and Linkin! (Yes, Linkin is sticking out his tongue in this picture. To his defence he is just trying to show me the color of his tongue from all the candy....so he said anyways!) ;)
Linkin's Easter loot. The eggs have cute Thomas the Train trains in them and candy. The Easter Bunny was kinda sick this year and pretty lazy. haha. She promises to do better next year!

Linkin did love his toys though. That guitar is one of his favorites. When he's watching tv and there are shows with music, he gets his guitar and starts rocking out and singing with his favorite tv shows. That kid has always loved music! I see a big future ahead for him in the music business. jk

Disney on Ice

2011-06-24T10:43:00.002-07:00

When I was in Arizona for my birthday Linkin and I got lucky enough to go with all of our friends to go see Disney on Ice. There was a group of 6 families that all went and there happened to be 2 extra tickets so Linkin and I got to crash the party and come along. I am so bummed I didn't get a picture of everybody, but here is me, Krissie and Jen. I think we had more fun their our kids did! We were singing and rocking out to all of our favorite childhood songs! (and yes we sounded just like them! just picture me as Ariel...aaaaa aaaaa aaaaaa! Like an angel!)

The show was actually Disney Princesses on Ice, so Linkin didn't really know a lot of the movies. He knew Aladdin and the Little Mermaid, but not much else. After the ones he knew were over he got kinda bored. Hence the light up spinney toy he is holding. He got a little bit scared during some of the songs and the dark auditorium didn't help. This was his night light for the evening. He LOVES this toy. (right now this toy is in the naughty box, but that's neither here nor their... haha)

Here are all of the princesses skating. It was a really amazing show! I enjoyed myself!

This has nothing to do with anything other than it was an awesome picture. I guess when I came to Arizona I brought the San Francisco rain with me because it actually rained a few days. This picture is taken from my parents patio after one of the rain storms. (it's an Arizona rain storm so it wasn't really that much rain compared to what we have here in San Fran but still a pretty picture, huh?!)

Birthday Trip to Arizona

2011-06-24T10:31:00.002-07:00

I have to start out by saying my husband is absolutely amazing! For my birthday we flew down to Arizona and had a birthday extravaganza!!! It really was one of the funnest birthdays ever. It was like a week long celebration. (I know I know I am totally spoiled) ;)
Doug went a little over board this year with making it special for me. A few months back Doug got an Ipad for his work. At first we kind of 'shared' it and than I kinda took control over it. His work started developing an Ipad ap so they needed the Ipad back. It was the saddest day of my life! A few weeks after that the Ipad 2 came out and I TOTALLY wanted one soooo bad. Doug got up at 5 o'clock in the morning on my birthday and went down to the mall to stand in line for 3 hours to surprise me with an Ipad 2 for my birthday!!!! He was the first guy in line and the store only got 2 in that day and Doug got one for me. Can you believe how awesome he is? I am really lucky to be married to this guy all of eternity. Love you baby!

A few of my girlfriends in AZ all have birthdays with in a few days of each other so we always do a fun birthday celebration. This was our dinner out at Macaroni Grill followed by a movie and late night gab fest at the Desert Ridge fountains. These girls are way to fun! (pictured: me, Jen, Dani, Mindy, and Krissie)

I have said it once and I'm sure I will say it many more times but NOBODY DOES PEDICURES LIKE ARIZONA!!!! I have gotten my toes done in many other states, and Az does it best my friends. Nobody else does as cute of designs on your toes as Arizona does. I always have to get my toes down when we go down to Arizona. Here is all of the girls going to get their toes done. My nieces are even getting in on this! I love it!

How's this for a sexy pic? My mom was taking pictures of each girl in their chair. I am not one to just sit and smile.... you are proud aren't ya mom!? haha

Linkin spends a lot of time with his girl cousins when we go down to Arizona. He pics up some funny interests....such as feeding the baby in this picture. I came in the room and saw him watching a show and feeding the baby. It was the funniest thing EVER! You can tell by his eyes he has so much fun when we visit he gets crazy tired. Look at those tired eyes! He will be a great big brother! (no I'm not pregnant but some day he will be a good big bro!)

Preschool

2011-04-13T10:12:00.003-07:00

Today was the start of Linkin's first day of preschool! I have been looking into preschool for the longest time to try to find the best fit for him and I think I found it! I was so excited to find this place and to be lucky enough that they had a spot open up. I know Linkin will be really happy at his new preschool! I started him mid year and I will also be doing it through the summer. I was going to wait until next August to start him, but I realized that he was so extremely ready for the social interaction and the structure and routine preschool would provide him and I couldn't hold him back because I wasn't ready to see him go out into the real world. I signed him up and he is thrilled! Today I went to drop him off and I was getting all the papers turned in and putting his stuff away and he ran away from me faster than a bullet! He was so excited to go run and play with the kids. When I went out to tell him I was leaving he was like, "okay." He could care less I was leaving he was having too much fun and he was annoyed I was getting in his way of basketball! haha. I'm glad he is so well adjusted! :)

As soon as I got in my car to drive away I started to cry a little bit. I couldn't believe it. It was such a weird feeling to leave your kid and send him off in the world when for 3 years I've tried my hardest to shield and protect him from it. I ran through and got me a coke (yes I fell off the wagon and occasionally indulge in a few cokes :) and than I went home licking my wounds. jk. I am so glad he is happy and loving preschool! I will miss you little buddy! (but I will say I am excited to get some things done like going to the grocery store and not bringing along my "helper"!)

Poptarts are the NEW breakfast of champions in our house! He thought he was so big with his backpack and his 2 different rain boots! As soon as we walked into the school yard he yelled to all the kids, "look! I have a back pack!" (I had to bribe him to smile for the camera in these pics. HE was giving me the evil eye until I said hey Link I will give you a marshmallow if you smile! Than I started getting the GQ pics! Now I know the secret weapon to get him to take good pics!!!)

San Diego

2011-03-29T10:15:00.003-07:00

Here's me and my boyfriend on our trip to San Diego! We had a lot of fun. Doug won a trip from his work and we got to go for a get away weekend to San Diego and stay in an amazing hotel. Doug is such a good daddy and hark working man, how did I get so lucky?! Thanks for the trip Dougie I love you! =)

We went to the aircraft carrier in San Diego that's now a museum. It's the Midway Air Craft Carrier. It was gigantic! I couldn't believe the size of this thing. It really was a city on water. Above is Doug and I in a flight simulator. We each got to take turns operating the controls and trying to shoot down migs. We should both keep our day jobs. We didn't crash once, but we sure as heck didn't shoot down a mig either!

Of course I am living my Top Gun dream here. Who else is breaking into song right now?... Highway to the danger zone..... Gonna take a ride into the danger zone..... am I singing alone here? ;)

Doug had to work for parts of our vacation, so this is a picture of us one night coming home from dinner after the conference. We were leaving dinner and there was this rickshaw driver who was trying to get us to have him take us back to our hotel. He told us it was gonna be like $15 bucks a person so immediately Doug and I start haggling with this guy. Brittany was like let's do it! Doug and I had to give her a hard time later for not haggling with the guy. We did talk him down to $15 for all three of us though so I think we did good. :)

This is the view from our hotel room. GORGEOUS right? To the right of the pic you can see the air craft carrier from our room. It's huge!!

Thanks to my mom and dad for watching Linkin so we could do this trip together. It really was nice to get away and be adults for a weekend! I have never left Linkin that long before so I was very grateful to have my parents there watching him. Thanks mom and dad!!! Here is my dad doing yoga with Linkin. He's been asking me to do yoga, but I don't now how! I told him when we leave for AZ in 2 days him and papa can do all the yoga they want than! Yeah for a fun trip to San Diego!!! =)

Tunnels and Trucks

2011-03-21T12:04:00.003-07:00

Ever since we moved to the Bay Area Linkin has been completely obsessed with tunnels and bridges. He knows the difference between all of the bridges and definitely prefers the Golden Gate Bridge compared to the Richmond Bridge. The other day we got on the Richmond Bridge and he asked me if we were going to the Airport. (that's the way we go to the airport) I could not believe that he knew the way to the airport! It was crazy! He is so smart these days and VERY aware of what's going on around him. He loves going through the "rainbow tunnel" too. I don't now the real name of the tunnel but it has a rainbow painted on one side of it so that's what we call it. Linkin set up his books and made tunnels for his cars and trucks to go through. (it's been raining like crazy here so we are coming up with any activity we can to pass the time! This he did all on his own and I was pretty impressed so I had to post it!)

Scripture Power

2011-03-20T12:35:00.004-07:00

When we were in Utah a while back we got some scriptures for Linkin. It's the New Testament, so it's all the stories of Jesus. The pictures are absolutely amazing and Linkin will not go to bed until you read him his scriptures and says his prayers. It's so cute and it's a great habit to get into while you are young! (good job Link) Anyways, we have had some funny stories while reading scriptures so I thought I'd share them.

Doug was reading Linkin about when Jesus got baptised by John the Baptised. Linkin was very worried about Jesus getting baptised in the river. Linkin said he didn't want to get baptised because "the whales will come up and bite you. chomp. chomp. Like that!" Those were Linkin's exact words!!!! BAhahahaha!!!! I was cracking up laughing! Now each night we go to read he says we already read the baptise one let's read a different one. That one scary. We have to re address this issue and teach him baptism is good! :)

Linkin was saying his prayers and Doug was explaining to him that Jesus hears him when he says his prayers. Linkin was a little bit confused by this so he asked Doug where Jesus was. Doug told him that Jesus is in Heaven. Linkin didn't accept this as an answer so he asked Doug if Jesus was downstairs. Doug said no so Linkin asked if he was in the car. Doug said no so Linkin asked if we could go visit Jesus. Doug told Linkin that we would be with Jesus again one day and Linkin decided that was a good answer.

It is so cute to hear the gospel from the perspective of a small child. It is definitely strengthening our testimonies to hear Linkin learn these stories for the first time. It is such a blessing to get to raise him and teach him the stories of Jesus. Thank you Linkin for reminding us to read scriptures each night and for saying your prayers. WE love you!

Rain Doesn't Stop Me!

2011-03-20T12:29:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Doug and I were in the family room hanging out and I heard Linkin doing something in the other room. I didn't pay to much attention to it until I heard our back door unlock and the door slide open. I went to investigate and I realized that Linkin went in the kitchen, got his boots on, got his basketball and went outside to play even though it was raining like crazy! He decided to take matters into his own hands! No rain will stop this boy!!! It has been pouring like crazy the last few days and is suppose to continue for the next 10. Glad we are heading to AZ soon! Linkin even woke up the other night because the rain was so loud that it scared the crap out of him. I had him jump in bed with Doug and I went to sleep in his room. Poor kiddo was pretty scared. He said we needed to say our prayers to feel all better so we said prayers and than we went back to sleep. Sooo cute!

Not my best moment

2011-03-10T19:37:00.002-07:00

So Today Linkin and I were at the mall for a quick play date with some friends before we had to run over to the East Bay to visit with our friends from AZ who also moved to Cali. (Vanessa, Isaiah, and Carter) At the mall Linkin kinda missed the potty and peed all over his pants and underwear. I didn't have time to go home, so I figured I'd run into Gap Kids quick and grab some undies cuz I had pants in the car. I am trying to buy a quick pair of underwear and Linkin is going CRAZY running around the store. Usually when I shop with him he is strapped down in his stroller and has a DVD player, so he didn't know what to do with himself running wild and free. He was running behind the cash register pushing buttons and all sorts of junk. I finally got him to stand by me and he started pulling all the socks off the hangers and throwing them down. I squatted down to his level so we could have a face to face chat (aka. I could tell him to knock this crap off or we go home and he goes to his room :) and I couldn't believe what happened next. The dude seriously jumped at me full force and knocked me on my butt! MY KID TACKLED ME TO THE FLOOR IN GAP KIDS!!!!!! I did not expect it, and the heels I was wearing definitely didn't help, but seriously, what 3 year old can tackle his mom to the floor???? I was laying there thinking, "If I wasn't so seriously pissed off at you right now this would be pretty funny." So glad I could have such a "memorable" day today in Gap Kids. Thanks Linkin! You will never again be unleashed on the mall without your stroller!!! haha =)

Hog Island Oysters

2011-03-06T19:03:00.004-07:00

(not our best family pic, but it's what we got!) On Friday, we got to go to Hog Island Oyster's with Doug's work. We had way too much fun! It was fun to get to meet Doug's coworkers and their significant others. It was the first time I've actually shucked, grilled and eaten oysters. They weren't bad as long as they were grilled and covered in sauce! What can I say, we had a shuckin good time! (hahahahah) Couldn't quite get the raw ones past my gaggers though. :) The location was absolutely beautiful as you can see in the background of the pictures. We were right on the water. It was gorgeous!

Here's a pic of the crew. Here is my try at a picture with everyone, but it looks more like a candid shot. :)

Linkin was putting on quite the show for our friends. He was dancing on the table tops doing his best impersonation of Tommy Boy's "I'm a maniac, maniac!" I don't think Linkin stopped playing or dancing the whole time we were at the picnic.

Occasionally, he would stop and lay down saying, "I'm so tired I need a rest." This would last for all of 3 seconds before he'd jump back up and dance again.

Linkin was taking turns playing with everyone all day long. We are the only people at Doug's work who have kids, so I think they thought it was fun to get to play with Linkin. I think it was one of Doug's friends who said, "kids are like boats, it's always better if your buddy has one!" haha. I thought that was pretty funny. We love you Linkin and are glad you are our "boat."

Linkin especially loved playing with Brittany. She taught him some pretty cool break dancing moves later on in the evening too.

Thanks everyone we had a great time! Hope to get together with everyone again soon!

My Girls!

2011-03-02T15:07:00.004-07:00

(Mindy, Jen, Tiffany, Dani, yours truly, Krissie, and Vanessa. We were missing a few others namely, Megan Rizley, Erin Thompson, Christina Mahoney, and Brittney Thirston)

These are my AZ girls!!! This was the last girls night we had before Doug and I moved to California. I miss these girls so much! You have all made an amazing impact on my life as a wife, mother, and friend. You girlies are so awesome and I had to give you a little shout out today to tell you I've been thinking about you! There will never be another group quite like this one! Love you all and I'll see ya soon!!! =)

Blasphemy!

2011-02-25T13:03:00.003-07:00

If you know me than you absolutely know that one of my favorite things in life is a diet coke. Specifically, I enjoy a nice iced diet coke from McDonald's. I have been doing all of this stuff lately to try and get myself more healthy. I am cutting a bunch of junk out of my life and I can't believe I am actually going to say this, but I have quit diet coke!!!! (gasp here!) I know this is total and complete blasphemy but it must be done! I was seriously drinking at least 8 cokes a day. That ain't healthy no matter who you are. haha. Since I have absolutely no self control and can't limit myself to doing less I have to get rid of it completely. Bye bye diet coke.... you've been a great friend. (wipe a tear..... sniff, sniff)

Forts

2011-02-22T13:50:00.001-07:00

Mommy had lots of laundry and cleaning to get done today! Nothing that a quick fort and some popcorn couldn't solve! Linkin entertained and mommy able to do work! Not one of my better forts but I'll take it! =)

Utah

2011-02-21T16:53:00.002-07:00

My mom and I flew up to Utah for a few days so I could do this detox thing with my uncle Troy in Bountiful. (It is soo cool and I would totally recommend doing the detox thing. Youtube him and see what he does. His name is Troy Giles. You don't have to live in Utah to do it either.) Anyways, we went out for ice cream one night and it started snowing!!!!! I was so freaking excited I couldn't believe it! Linkin didn't really understand he kept saying it was rain so we had to convince him it was actually snow. David did a really good job convincing him it was snow by pelting him with a snow ball. Way to be there David! Big help! :) During the time we ate our ice cream the snow started to pile up outside on the roads and it started snowing harder. What I thought was so fun at first ended up scaring the crap out of me later! I had to drive in snow for the first time ever and it was in the middle of a snow storm! I couldn't hardly see anything. The lines on the road were gone and the cars were barely visible. Linkin was "helping" me out by screaming in the back seat that he wanted to go play more with his friends (David, Kate, and Annie). Everything was fine and we made it safe, but It was my 1st and hopefully last time of driving in snow!!! This is a picture from our hotel window. It was so cold!

Stinson Beach

2011-02-21T16:49:00.003-07:00

Doug's mom came up to San Francisco to visit us this weekend and we had a great time! On Sunday we took a drive out to Stinson Beach. It took us about an hour to get there and can I just say that the road was soooo crazy windy I am surprised I didn't puke! It was the craziest road I think I've ever been on! Even Linkin started getting sick in the back seat. The views were absolutely amazing, so that helped with the carsickness at least. :) Wish we could have stayed longer but it was waaay to cold! We stayed for about 15 minutes and than got right back in the car to drive home. Some CRAZY people were actually getting in the water but they had to have been just pure stupid! ;)

Hall Family picture at the beach.

Linkin taking a quick picture with grandma!

It was so stinkin' cold at the beach. Linkin knew just what to do when we said we were going to go to the beach. He ran upstairs to his room and grabbed his bucket and his shovel! haha. The kid is smart! He held them the whole way to the beach to make sure he could make his sand castles.

This is the view of Stinson Beach from above. Look how beautiful this beach is!!! AMAZING!!

This picture doesn't do that crazy road justice, but you can kind of see the road winding in and out of the mountain. Insane!

Birthday Boy Goes Bowling

2011-02-09T14:28:00.005-07:00

Recently, we celebrated Linkin's 3rd birthday with some great friends! Linkin and his friend Margo are only a few days apart so we combined their birthday parties and had it at the bowling alley. It was so much fun! Linkin had a hard time at first figuring out that he couldn't just bowl on anybodies lane he wanted. He didn't understand we had to stick with the lane we were assigned. He got away from us a couple of times and ran up to another persons lane, grabbed their ball, and rolled it down their lane before Doug or I could get there to stop him. That little man is FAST!!!! I was still kinda down and out with my back, so huge props to Doug for all his help at Linkin's bday. There was no way I could have done it without him. I didn't even try to bowl for fear I'd blow out the rest of my back! haha

Here is Linkin giving bowling a whirl. Doug had to be right by his side at every minute because there was always a chance of a Linkin escape and those are never good! That's when he would get away and start bowling on somebody elses lane. Our bad!

Linkin and Margo (the birthday kiddos) blowing out their candles! Linkin ate 3 cupcakes. He just kept helping himself to more cupcakes before I figured out what was going on. To my defense he did only eat the frosting so it doesn't completely count! (let's not mention that I finished his cupcakes and at the actual cake. hehehe)

He got a little over stimulated a few times and had to take a quick break playing some race car games. He thought since it was his birthday it was always his turn to bowl. That wasn't the case. The best part about him "playing" these race car games is that he doesn't understand that it's the computer playing and not really him. hahaha! I don't wanna waste my quarters teaching him how to play! :) I wonder how much longer I can get away with this trick?

The Hall family picture on Linkin's 3rd birthday. Ahhh!!! =)

Linkin has been talking about a "Cranky" toy for 3 months. I could not find a Cranky toy anywhere so I was getting a little bit worried! (Cranky is the crane from Thomas the Train) On the day of his birthday party Doug and I found Cranky at a little ma and pop toy store by our house. We soooo lucked out on this one! It could have been bad! He slept with it for 4 days and it still hasn't hardly ever left his hands. Thomas the Train is a huge deal at our house right now! I am getting pretty talented at setting up train tracks. What can I say, it's another one of those amazing mom skills that you will never use anywhere else! :)

I'm a mess...

2011-02-05T09:44:00.003-07:00

So this week was going to be an absolute crazy busy week for me, so what did I do about it? I THREW OUT MY BACK!!! That's right, I am once again down and out with a messed up neck and back. I have to give a shout out to some of my friends for being absolutely amazing. I called my friend to see if she had a good doc I could go to and with in minutes she not only had a good doc, but she also had planned babysitting for Linkin for the entire day!!! My friends have been so generous with watching Linkin this week and even coming over to my house to play with us here so I could lay down and heat my back. I ended up going to the urgent care and all they did was give me meds and send me on my way. Thanks girls for helping me this week! I seriously couldn't have done it with out the help! You girls are awesome!

I also have to say that Doug and Linkin have been amazing this week as well. Doug picked Link up from my friends house on his way home from work the night I got hurt and they stopped at the store to pick mommy up some presents. Linin was absolutely set that he had to get me yellow tulips and a football balloon. Doug was trying to convince him that roses and maybe a get well balloon were more appropriate, but Linkin would not budge so Doug just went with it. haha. It was so funny and adorable to watch Linkin come running inside with the balloon and the flowers. He got a little excited giving them to me, so during the exchange the balloon popped and the flowers got a little droopy. haha. All in all it was a great surprise from my two favorite boys on earth! Love my guys! =)

Who put the puffy in the puffy jar???

2011-02-02T14:23:00.005-07:00

For the longest time I have felt like all I ever do is tell Linkin, "NO!!!" Do you know how I feel?? I follow him around making sure he's making good choices and help redirect him when he needs some correction. I finally decided I have had enough. Linkin and I just seemed like we were arguing so much and I didn't feel like my house had the feeling in it that I wanted it to. I decided it was time to put that Education Degree of mine to work so I got thinking on some positive reinforcement ideas.

Here's what we got:

(this is the Puff Jar and the extra Puffs. It takes about 30 Puffs to fill the jar)

We now have a Puff Jar! The Puff Jar is absolutely amazing! When Linkin makes a good choice or does something nice he gets to pick out a Puff and put it in the Puff Jar. When the Puff Jar is completely full he then gets to pick a prize out of the Grab Bag! He was a little confused at first because he thought if he got a Puff he also got a toy. After some modeling and explaining, he now has the idea down. It has been lots of fun because now instead of saying, "Linkin don't do that." I can instead say, "Linkin if you do (insert something here) you can put a Puff in the Puff Jar." This has already worked great with having him share with others and play nicely. If we have friends come over I tell him that if he is nice he can put a Puff in the jar when they leave.

(This is the Grab Bag. He gets to pick out one of the things from the box.)

A few weeks back we started the Naughty Box. (Dun Dun Dun...) The naughty box is exactly as it sounds. When Linkin makes a naughty choice such as throwing a toy at mommy, that toy is put in the naughty box. I felt like time out had completely lost its punch and he didn't care if he had to sit in time out, so we installed the naughty box. Loosing toys definitely effects him more so than time out did. I still do time out when it is required, but the naughty box has been a huge blessing for us. He can earn the toys out of the naughty box, but he has to do something really really good to get them back.

I did a discipline box and a reward system separate of each other because I didn't want him to get the two mixed up. Once he earns a Puff and puts it in the Puff Jar he can not loose that Puff. It stays in there until he earns a toy. I DO NOT take them out. I think that is so important for him to see a physical representation of all of his good choices. The naughty box is the same idea to see his naughty choices but it also shows that you can make those naughty choices into good choices by fixing your mistakes. This is my new system, so I hope it works!!! Hopefully there isn't so much frustration in our home! :)