Bristol

Backing up some more...

Michael, Matt's best friend from Utah, and his Dad came to visit at the end of August! He and his Dad are NASCAR fans and after talking about going someday, it ended up being a Father-Son outing - Matt & his Dad included! The four of them piled into the car and drove to Bristol (located at the far north-eastern tip of the state) Saturday morning and came home Sunday night. They had a BLAST at the race and even spent some time checking out Gatlinburg the next day. It was a quick trip, but we loved having them and hope we'll get together (w/Tara too!) again sometime soon. Miss you guys!

Give me an F, give me an L, give me a O...

I cant believe it is nearly 3 weeks later and I am just blogging about our trip to Florida! It was my Gram's 80th birthday so we took a deep breath and drove the 730 miles down on Friday, stayed two days, and drove 730 miles back on Monday. And, even though we were really dreading the travel aspect, the boys did amazingly well! Well enough that we'd definitely do it again. Thank goodness for good experiences!

We had a BLAST on the trip. Seriously. We hadnt been to Florida for two years and it was a long overdue trip. It is great that we're living close enough that it is feasible for us to drive now!

The trip included partying with family, running errands as a family, a huge birthday lunch, family hang-out time, a family outing (and DATE for us - THANK YOU MELISSA!) to see SAK comedy club, a nice walk on the beach, another family party, and getting to see some friends! Can you tell we had a jam-packed fabulous weekend? Well, we did :)

And now.... some pictures, of course!

*Note Lincoln's face... he was sooooooo not thrilled that I plopped him down in the sand. :)

The Birthday Girl! + my adorable second cousin!

*Note the sweet faces Mason makes now-a-days when you ask him to smile. Family pictures should be fun this year!*

Simple joys

I try to keep Lincoln's blanket as 'bed only' (like Mason's "woobie"), but occasionally he manages to reeeeeeach between the crib slats and snatch it. And as much as I want to take it and put it back... he just looks too cute as he is SO elated he managed to get it! That face = joy.

the ZOO!

Mason (& Lincoln) had their first trip to the Zoo in July when Kailyn came to visit! Mason walked in 100 degree weather from 10-2 and still managed to not fall asleep in the car on the way home... and Lincoln stayed awake the entire time until we got into the car. Way to keep running, kids! We had a blast checking out the Gibbons, Lorikeets, Meerkats, Elephants, Zebras, etc etc etc. The Nashville Zoo has a cool Lorikeet exhibit where the birds land on you and eat nectar from little cups. Lincoln DID NOT like that birds were landing on me - apparently he thought I was being attacked! Mason had one bird land on him and he wigged out a little bit :) Maybe in a few years!

Here are a few pictures...

Surviving the heat...

Lorikeet Adventures

Lovin' the lake

Let it be known, I am not a lake swimmer. Yuck. However, the state park nearby has a swimming area where they've dumped sand and we had a grand time swimming there (for free!) this summer! They have a beach area and a nice grassy hill. We discovered it when going to use a free paddle boat ride (who knew they had paddle boats?) - and immediately planned a return trip to check out the swimming. We went back and went on the paddle boats again and went swimming a few times! We'll definitely be going back next year!

Funny Tid Bits To Share

Have you seen this? I appreciate a good laugh!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Yahweh or No Way? - Mormons & God's Poll Numbers
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

And following the DC area Earthquake this photo really tickled me:

"Thanks to all of you for your kind words of support,

as we look to recover from the devastation of today's quake!"

MSPI update

Mostly for my record keeping, Lincoln has been doing great on yogurt and has had some small amounts of soy (in cooked/baked foods) and so far so good. He even had some tidbits of cheese yesterday with no noticeable reaction. Wahoo! We're on our way... last foods to try will be ice cream and straight milk. Here's to hoping we're in the clear!