Campfire Cake

At our reunion last week, we got to celebrate Evan and Levi's birthdays. For Levi's cake, I made a campfire! I used two cake mixes spread out among four jelly roll pans and rolled them up in towels to cool. I gave two of the 'logs' support with biscuit wrapping to they wouldn't fall in the middle. Fork tines made the wood grain, assorted donut holes for charcoal, and twists of fruit roll ups for flames! Huzzah!

Happy Birthday Levi!

Beware the Bite

Aww, look at those adorable two front teeth! Awww... But beware. When you least expect it, he may be cuddling on your shoulder and casually bite your arm. And then casually bite your other arm hard enough to make it bruise! Awww, what cute teethmarks, right? And this was from biting me through my bathrobe! Yikes!

Family Vacay - Part 3

Thursday we rented a double-decker pontoon and chilled out on the water all afternoon!

As you can see, Lincoln just loved wearing his baby life jacket!

Add white water rafting on the last day, and that makes for one entertaining and exhausting vacation! Thanks mom and dad!

Family Vacay - Part 2

Wednesday we spent a few hours at Sir Gooney's Fun Zone to satisfy the younger crowd. My mom did an incredible job arranging a vacation to entertain ages 7-24, plus an infant. Roommates of mine can tell you how putt-putt was my #1 least favorite date in college :) Its a lot better with your siblings! That evening we went on the Southern Belle dinner cruise! Delicious, scenic, relaxing...perfect.

Family Vacay - Part 1

Last week we rented an adorable house with a pool and hot tub, close enough to Chattanooga so we could go out and see things everyday. We drove the 8 hours there on Monday, swam, ate Papa Murphy's and played games. Tuesday, we rode "America's Most Amazing Mile", up to a look out where you can see six states at once. Very steep, very cool.

Later that day we walked through some sweet caves to see Ruby Falls--America's highest underground waterfall. Link did NOT want to be held by anyone but me for the first few days and I couldn't even walk to the fridge without him freaking out. It was getting exhausting, but eventually he warmed up to his grandparents, aunt, and uncles.

4th of Jello

We had a fabulous 4th, didn't you?! We met up with some friends from our old ward and put on a barbeque at the MIT housing playground, along the Charles river. The hit this year: strawberries and jello on bottom, cubed pieces of cake, then whipped cream and berries. SO easy, and one of the first things to go.Then we put baby to bed only to pull him out again at 10:30pm to see the fireworks! Turns out you can watch them from this Piers Park that is about 2 blocks walk away from us, overlooking the water with a perfect view of the lit up city. Beautiful!

Red White & Blue

Me and Lincoln got to spend a week with my family at a cabin in Georgia all last week! It was simply a perfect vacation (except that Jason wasn't there), and a rare occasion to have all the family together (again, except for Jason).

This was Day 1, where a huge bout of separation anxiety was about to ensue.

Un-pictured highlights:

before and after weigh-ins

"dam" jokes every time we crossed one

push up contests

$300+ worth of junk food

'address everyone by their middle name' day

'talk with a southern accent' day

the whole family singing in church, and no one complaining about it, except my dad from the pulpit

C|A Summer Outing

We went to the Cambridge Associates Summer Outing today and enjoyed the free food, entertainment, clowns, and charactures: And even though the artist gave me a man-jaw, we think he got Link exactly right.We couldn't get his balloon animal out of his mouth! (He was highly supervised) I think he loved the chewy squeaky sound it made as he chewed it up and down. His top two front teeth are in! It totally took us by surprise!

Since we were at a pier in Charlestown, we walked over to tour the U.S.S. Casin Young, a navy destroyer used until 1960. The most interesting thing to me was the kitchen and its beasty appliances :) Holy kitchenaid.

Strong Man

Groupon had a sweet deal a few weeks ago: $24 for 24 days at this Womens Healthworks gym in Cambridge. I used it for the 3 1/2 weeks before we moved to East Boston and absolutely loved it. I'm trying to decide what was the best part about it: losing baby weight, getting to watch "Dancing with the Stars" live while busting it on the treadmills, or getting to use the sauna every night.

The Lincoln Smolder

Fridays they held a "Mommy & Me" class, where we could bring our non-crawling babies to the class with us. As I predicted, while all the other sweet babies sat content in their carriers watching their mommas, Lincoln wanted to be held and swung around and lifted and bounced through the whole thing. Not satisfied to sit on the mat with toys, no. He had a perpetual grin on his face during the entire (extra) strenuous workout. When we would pick up our babies for some arm work, the other moms would lift their tiny girls like loaves of bread, while I would use everything I've got to hoist my chubby baby above my head.

How many rolls can you count?! That is one well-fed baby.

What a Loafer

I've had my eye out for wide and roomy baby shoes since my baby has some fat feet that won't fit into many normal baby shoes his size. He needed something cute for meeting all his relatives last week, and a few days before we left I fell in love with baby Grayden's shoes at church.My ward friend gave me her pattern for some adorable baby shoes, and I found these scraps in a 'free' bin at a fabric store in Cambridge. I love that the soles are two different patterns of gray. Best part: I made them reversible, so now he has a black pair as well!

Rock Lobster

Well, we're moved! Despite being unable to fit our box spring and our couch up the stairwell, everything went great, and we had lots of help from our old and new ward. Our house is still in boxes and a huge mess--perfect time for company, right? My brother Derek and friends showed up the next day on a week-long senior year road trip. Staying with us are Tony, Duffy, Chris and Derek for a few days. A few weeks ago, I found a groupon for a Boston Lobster Tour, so Bachelors #1-4 joined us on an afternoon excursion. We learned about lobstering and got to keep the catch of the day!And they made a delicious dinner! We were going to keep them as pets in our bathtub for a few days, but the boys got hungry.

Scooper Bowl

We tried it out, loved it, and think we have found a new family tradition. 

All-you-can-eat ice cream.  I know, right? We went all 3 days :) With our kitchen packed up and all, it was fun to get out and meet up with Jason downtown for "lunch".(This middle picture was in the Boston Globe last Wednesday!)

We downed 52 scoops between the two of us! My favorite flavor goes to Baskin-Robbins "Gold Rush". I brought mashed carrots for Lincoln, and maybe he was tricked into thinking he was also eating ice cream, but then again, we shared the same spoon, so maybe he did.

Grandpa Jay

My Grandpa Jay Richardson passed away last Monday after several years fighting Alzheimer's. First signs of it showed up in Nauvoo in 2006 when we were serving our missions together. I especially loved getting to spend one-on-one time with him that summer.

Lincoln and I were able to fly out to Mesa where my grandma got to meet Lincoln. She used to work for an airline, and was so sweet to find a buddy pass we could use, since we were coming the farthest. The porkchop was great on the plane ride there, but the 6-hour flight home was the worst. experience. ever. It was really great how so many of us could gather to honor such a great man. My grandparents have 13 children, 64 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren and though many of the little kids stayed at home, most everyone else was able to make it there.

Even Braden!! My brother made a surprise appearance just minutes before the funeral. Me and Travis hadn't seen Braden since he got back from his mission, and he hadn't met Lincoln yet. Happy reunion. We had some good late night chats about life.

After the funeral, we all drove to Virden, New Mexico, where my grandpa grew up. This was his high school, abandoned for over 50 years. We buried him next to two of his sons who died as babies, with a beautiful desert sunset behind. My grandpa was a very kind and gentle man who never raised his voice, brought up a large and righteous family, and always led by quiet example. We're all so happy that he is freed from physical pains, up in heaven doing some amazing things already. I love you grandpa!

Egg-stra Late Bloomers

I had this project idea in mind to grow some flowers in egg shells and have a mini-garden for Easter. However, I drastically underestimated the time it would take for them to bloom. After eating a lot of omelets, I planted these little guys in February.By Easter, I had little sprouts, which were cute, but clearly, not flowers.Look at Jimmer grow!By April, I had some healthy looking greens... And now, in June, just as things are getting good, I have to throw all these out because we're moving in two days! Project: fail.

Ain't She Tweet

Sorry there's been a desert of posts--my Grandpa passed away last week and Lincoln and I flew out for the funeral. More on that to come.

Well, I've been begging Jason for a bird for months now, and at Easter, he finally gave me permission to get one. I've been researching canaries, but this pretty young thing showed up for free on Craiglist, with a free cage, toys, food, and treats! And oh I love her! She's around 6 months old, sings when the faucet is running, and is hand tamed! She already lets us pet her!

I'm still thinking about names. In the running are "Peetwee", "Ursula", and "Edna Mode" (from Incredibles).