Our Trip

Linc and I got back after about 7 hours of traveling on Wednesday night around 11 p.m. . I was exhausted and it has taken me this long to answer emails and phone calls, unpack, clean things up and get back to something close to normal. There is still a mound of laundry and I must say that even though Levi aren't big Valentine's Day people (last year I forgot and scheduled one of our good friends birthday party's on V-Day) this year is particularly relaxed.

Our trip was excellent and thank you SO much for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts while we traveled. God was faithful to you all and both plane rides and car rides were perfect. Lincoln took naps in my arms on both planes , those of you who are familiar with Linc's sleeping habits know how big of a deal this is! He isn't super snugly and he has NEVER been a cuddler when he naps. I can count on my fingers, including these two times, the number of naps he has taken while being held. So I was relieved to say the least. My sister was SUCH a big help and played baggage shuttle for us the whole time, grabbing our bag and helping us with all of the gear. Thanks Amber!! Linc was SO good while we visited everyone and let me tell you I have a social butterfly. At the airport he smiled at EVERYONE and said "Hi". He found some nice old man to play grandpa with and crawled right up in his lap, he found a fellow one year old to play and yell with at the play area while we waited to board and he flirted with every stewardess that crossed his eye line. On the way home we rode the bus back to our long term parking lot and there was a nice lady that boarded sitting a couple seats ahead. She intently typed on her blackberry but as soon as Linc said "hi!" and flashed his pearly white front teeth she was love bitten. They continued the rest of the ride to pass smile after smile while Linc wooed her with his elk and pig impersonations! This kid gets me SO far out of my comfort zone I don't even know how to respond :0) I told this sweet lady that Levi and I are not what I would call outgoing and somehow Lincoln has taken on the world in his short 16 months. He makes friends everywhere!!

When we got to New Mexico we stayed with GG (great grandma) and great grandpa. Boy did GG enjoy her great grandson. She played and played and tossed and tickled him until he couldn't breathe! They were both in heaven! Lincoln's learning light turned on again big time and on this trip alone he probably said 30 new words or more. He now says "agua" for water, he had every one's name down by the time we left and he mimicked with amazing clarity. It is so fun to watch these little leaps in his learning. After visiting with all of my mom's family we headed up to Farmington where my parents live and he again did great on the three hour trip. What a trooper! We settled in and Linc enjoyed every minute of the spotlight. He performed his little heart out the entire time, soaking in the attention of at least four people at all times. He showed off his tractor sounds and singing ability, performed wonderful feats of balance (haha!) and stole every ones heart. On Saturday of last week we had all of my dad's family over and we all had a great day playing horse shoes, eating great food and watching Linc play with cousin Naomi who just adores him. He has a way with the girls, his cousin Kendra just dotes on him too :0) My brother got to come down for the weekend and that sure was a highlight. I miss his pesky little brother ways an awful lot. On Sunday we were able to go to my mom and dad's new church and enjoyed meeting all of the new people that God has placed in their lives to fill the gap's from those they left up here. It is a great church, very warm and welcoming and such passion for reaching the community. Monday was just about the best. We took Lincoln to the "tractor factory" (Dad is a shop manager for John Deere). He "drove" a wheel loader, spun in the excavator and graded the back lot with grandpa Justin all the while staring and smiling in amazement. He mimicked the tractor noise and was in absolute heaven :0) It was SO fun to watch him move the levers and see the bucket go up or the tracks turn. He loves his grandpa and grandma and I just hope this trip was wonderful enough to stick in his memory just a little. If not I guess that is what pictures are for. We headed back to Albuquerque on Tuesday and took off on Wednesday afternoon. Again I can't thank you all enough for the kind emails and wonderful prayers, we sure did feel them and the trip couldn't have gone better! Thanks family for making our trip easy and fun and a great memory!

On to the pictures! You will all be amazed to know that I didn't snap a single picture this whole trip (I just haven't felt like pulling out my camera lately) so these are from my mom's camera and hopefully I will get some video and more pictures from my sister soon;

Grandpa helping Linc learn the Cumiford Hair-do

Linc trying it out for himself :0)

Tickles

LOTS of tickles (my mom's parents)

Linc the performer - he has this funny trick he does with a straw :0)

Uncle Jeremy

Auntie Amber

My Dad's family Dad's dad

Naomi and Linc playing telephone

On to the TRACTOR FACTORY!

Warming up before hitting the real deal

Linc knew exactly where to go :0)

Working hard

An excavator cab can literally spin in circles on top of the tracks. It was fun to reminisce about the silly things dad would let us do when we were kids, particularly to story about dad hooking Jeremy up to the safety harness and strapping him to the buck of the excavator and swing him around!

happy boys

Grading the back lot... I think Linc could do a better job than the guy that does our road :0)

Well that's about it. It was a great trip :0)

-Updates about the baby to come.