Merry Christmas to All

Lincoln got to meet Santa! We thought he would scream like crazy but Lincoln just looked at Santa a little funny and then smiled for the camera! Thank you to Brad and Carroll for inviting us out to their ward party so Lincoln could have the experience of meeting Santa in his PJ's!! Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season...

What were we thinking? Oh, that's right... we weren't!!

Yes- we are having a baby. No- we weren't planning it. Let the nervous breakdown begin...

The Zoo

It took us a year but we finally took Lincoln to the Zoo and he loved it!! He loves animals, he will sit and stare at them as long as we let him. So here are the cute pictures of Lincoln at the Zoo. Sorry, my posts have been a little boring lately, nothing exciting going on around our house!


Not quite as big as a gorilla (although sometimes it feels like he is)


Getting a better view of the Flamingos


Daddy and the arangutang


Mommy and the Elephant

Lincoln's One Year Pictures

He really is the cutest boy ever (although, I may be biased)

Pictures, Pictures, and more Pictures!!

I have been meaning to post all of these for awhile but haven't so now they are all getting combined into one giant post- hope you enjoy! We had a really fun time with the Reid's during their visit to California, our trip to Yosemite was great! Halloween went well, Lincoln was a golfer since I am secretly hoping he will grow up to be one! We decorated our trunk for the ward's trunk or treat and Lincoln really enjoyed going around to everyone's trunk (even though he really had no idea what was going on!)

Digging into his candy- we only let him have the sucker...

Lincoln in his golfer costume

In the wagon with his new pumpkin

At the pumpkin patch

Our family in Yosemite

The cousins in Yosemite

Lincoln's friend Andrew

Loving the swings

Happy Birthday Part Deux

Just wanted to again thank everyone for coming out to Lincoln's birthday party. Especially, AUNT MARCIA, aunt susan, grandma, chelsea, and whitney who all endured a very long car trip and multiple stops in order to be here for Lincoln's big day. It would not have been the same party without all their hard work and input. A big THANK YOU from all of us!! ;)

Adventures in a box

Checking out the box

Climbing in the box

Taking a nap in the box

Don't you just love boxes??

Happy Birthday Baby!!

Lincoln turned 1 this past Saturday and we were so excited to share his birthday with many of our friends and family. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to attend his party! Especially my mother who flew all the way from Chicago for a whirlwind trip. We had too much fun shopping, cooking, and having sleepovers. So our baby is now a toddler and is doing so many fun things.
Lincoln can now:
- RUN, mostly away from me
- wave bye-bye
- give kisses, mostly open mouthed (we'll have to nip that in the bud before he starts dating)
- shake his head NO
- clap his hands when you say "YEA"
- get into everything!

So those are all his new tricks, don't expect to see them anytime soon though- he doesn't like an audience. We had a jungle party to celebrate his birthday and it turned out pretty well. Other than Mom and I buying WAY too much food and my minor panic attack when Lincoln fell and hit his head on cement 10 minutes before the party started!! Here are some pictures for those of you not lucky enough to be there in person :)

Another cake for one of my boys

Pre cake

Post cake

The Party Scene

Landscaping: Before and After

So it took about six weeks but we finally finished landscaping our part of the yard and now Lincoln has grass to play on (although it is still too hot here to play outside). Here are some pictures of the whole experience:


The Before


Nate laying sod


The boys pouring the cement driveway


More cement


The finished product

Cousins, haircuts, and trips to Utah

We had so much fun seeing Jeremy, Holly, and Peyton a couple weeks ago. Lincoln just loved playing with Peyton and it was nice to compare notes with Holly over our Devlin babies!! We went to Utah last weekend for the BYU game- we won 59-0!!! It was a great game and we had so much fun with the Atwoods and Reids. We finally took Lincoln for another haircut, he was starting to look like a girl! But now he looks like a big boy, almost one year old! So here are some pictures of our last few weeks...

Having fun with his cousin Peyton- we were so excited to have them visit.

Pre Haircut

Post Haircut- can you tell he doesn't like to pose for pictures?

How he slept for the entire cartrip to Utah

Our cute boy

And we're off...

So we are leaving tommorow morning for our annual trek to Provo, Utah for the BYU-UCLA game!! Here's to hoping that the Cougars kick Ben Olsen and Norm Chow's butts back to SoCal (a part of me will always love Norm for his years at the Y but now I consider him somewhat of a traitor :) I am looking forward to almost every aspect of the weekend, everything except the 12 hour car ride with our 11 month old baby! When did I decide this would be a good idea? I think Nathan secretly waits until I'm half asleep to ask if he can do crazy things (like pack up our whole family and take a 12 hour rode trip to see a football game) just because he knows that I will go along with whatever he says just to get him to be quiet and let me go to sleep!! Tricky husband... GO COUGARS!!

What we do while Daddy is away...

playing with the umbrella

playing in mommy's new fountain

playing with the broom

trying on new shoes

Nathan started his masters program last week so Lincoln and I now have three nights a week without daddy. We have been coming up with some very interesting activities to keep ourselves busy...
P.S- It has been over 100 deg here for the last three weeks, hence our naked baby!!

Family Camp (what were we thinking??)

We attended the Peachwood Ward family campout a couple of weekends ago and I now know why people do not take 10 month old babies camping! What a nightmare!! The campout went well and I think everyone else enjoyed themselves but after two days of no sleep and running around trying to make sure Lincoln didn't eat half the forest- I was EXHAUSTED!! I had spent a day and a half packing and then another day unpacking and washing everything- definately too much work for one night of camping. I made Nathan promise that we would not go camping again until Lincoln understands that he cannot eat dirt and sticks! We did get some cute pictures from the experience...



Enjoying another stick
Banished to the stroller after eating one too many sticks

It's your birthday...shout Hooray!!

So as of yesterday, I have made it another year! Now that I am the big 26, I am officially on the downward slope to 30!! We had a great day, I got to sleep in and Nate took care of Lincoln for most of the day. We had an ice cream cake (my first) with Nate's parents and Brenna's family. I thought that for my birthday I was getting a water feature for our front yard (yes, I realize that's kind of a dorky gift but it's what I really wanted). So how suprised was I when my husband handed me a small wrapped package and it turned out to be...



I sat there for at least ten minutes- unsure of whether or not Nathan was just playing a cruel joke on me. I do realize that I am probably the last person on the planet to own an IPOD but I just couldn't ever justify the cost. But my loving husband somehow realized how badly I wanted one (that- and he was sick of me stealing his!) So now I have my own to go running with- this is the best birthday ever!

For Uncle David and (soon to be) Aunt Kelly

David and Kelly bought Lincoln this adorable Chicago Bears jersey for Christmas and Kelly even embroidered his name on the back. It only took him 8 months to fit into it! He looks so cute but now I'm afraid that Nathan is having grand illusions of our child growing up to be a football player... after watching both my brothers seriously injured playing football I think I would rather have my baby boy play something a little safer- like Tennis or Golf!!

Our Summer

We had a very busy summer- two trips to Chicago, a road trip to Ohio, and a day at the beach! It was fun to see so many people and places.

Lincoln was so happy and smiley for the entire trip- even when we were dragging him from one place to another, completely ignoring naptimes!

Lincoln with his great great grandfather's grave (I'm not exactly sure what the relation is but he's the one who came to America from Ireland)

Lincoln and Nate at the Devlin family farm in Ohio

Lincoln and Aunt Brenna at the theater in Ohio where we watched Oklahoma on the big screen!

Lincoln enjoying the beach- he ate about a pound of sand!!

Lincoln enjoying the company of several beautiful girls

All of us at the beach

Lincoln and I with my cousin Chelsea and her little boy Logan