Utah Arts Festival

Lincoln has visited the Utah Arts Festival twice now. Once with Grandma Lori and then once with us. It was so much fun! Dozens of outdoor art 'galleries', tempting food smells, and so many cool people. I fell head over heels for this artist's work. Taking a break on a shady bench, we tried to snap a few family photos.

Poor Tyler, it's difficult getting us all in there.

Here, I'll scrunch. That's better. :-)

Minus the munchkin.

Don't ever minus me! Hug?

And... back to skeptical.

One last pose with Mommy. Aren't we adorable?

Back at home, Lincoln has his first encounter with raspberries. Mmmmmm!

This guy is

AMAZING.

RIP

Our wonderful TV (given to us by the even more wonderful Mike and Traci!) is dead. Last week it started to cut out for a few seconds at a time. Then the image started to slither back and forth ever so gently. Fascinating at first glance, but sickening if you were actually trying to watch something. Now it won't even turn on. Poor, beloved flat screen. We will miss you.

Now what? I'm not sure. For the time being our living room is quieter, which, on the bright side, makes it a lot easier for me to do homework.

Homework. All I can say is that I'm looking forward to December when I graduate! School is intriguing now that I'm in the midst of the 'real' classes. I love the lectures and discussions, it's just that homework kills me. There are so many others things to do at home! Writing papers so far has been extremely tough. I honestly spent three hours on one single sentence! My crippling self consciousness has extended into the one field where I should have the most confidence. I can write, gosh darn it! I'm sure this is just a phase I have to push through. It better be, otherwise my plan to be a freelance writer is shot.

In other news, Lincoln is six months old. His ever-present frown brightens into a smile more often. It's easier to conjure up a laugh, and oh do I love the sound of my baby's laughter. I think it's the most beautiful thing I've heard since little Evan's giggles! My baby brother's laugh was contagious. Nowadays he's a serious teen (at least around me), so I don't hear the kind of full-blown guffaws that come straight from his gut.

Anyway, I am going back to my studies. Until Lincoln wakes up from his nap.

All growed up.

I love right now. I've been waiting for right now ever since Lincoln was born. I couldn't wait for him to grab his toes and munch on them. To start sitting up on his own. To reach for me when I bent to pick him up. I love his sturdiness. I love how I can tote him around on my hip without worrying about holding his head. Tyler tosses our baby up in the air and I just grin, because it looks right and safe. He's a big boy. And yet he's still my baby. He's still cuddly and wobbly. He's strong but not yet mobile, which means I'm not running after him every other minute. He'll stay put, entertaining himself with whatever rattle is within reach. I love the look of recognition that turns into instant joy when I peak over the edge of his crib in the morning. I love how I can see intelligence on the tip of his tongue... how he's figuring things out to tell me later. I love right now.

I love it enough to appreciate every moment, until now changes. I can see it happening. He wants to do what we do, to hold the remote and to sip through straws. He grabs for my cell phone and tries to mimic my facial expressions. Here are a few videos of Lincoln practicing to grow up.

One of these days I'll film him crawling. Then his little chubby feet will be toddling down the hall. He'll start to talk, to count, to spell. He'll be watching his daddy and trying to imitate his every move. He'll crawl into my lap and ask me to read him a story. That's so amazing!

I think I'll always be loving right now.

(until he's a teenager)

Tick tock

Tyler and I escaped this past weekend for our first anniversary. We stayed in a hotel on Park City's Main Street, above the Coda Gallery. I don't think I've fully returned. Part of me is still jumping on that king sized bed, stretching my legs in front of the fireplace, sipping wine in every room. I had both flat screen TV's going at once and secretly devised plans to steal the two person jacuzzi. (At the time anything felt possible.)

I lack endurance on the shopping front, but I do love some of Main Street's boutiques and galleries. We toured our favorites, spending the most time at Dolly's where we searched for our next novel to read together. A year ago on our honeymoon we bought Chocolat by Joanne Harris. Many books followed, and over hundreds of pages we have discovered what works for us and what doesn't. This time it was a toss up between The Hound of the Baskervilles (who doesn't love Sherlock Holmes?) and Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. We chose the latter and I'm glad we did.

Despite my phoning home every five minutes, I was extremely relieved to feel somewhat "free" for a time. I had hours on end to cuddle, laugh and talk with my husband, about whatever we wanted. For the moment, it was just us. And I think we needed that. I had a fantastic time and the relief has stuck with the both of us. There's a renewed tenderness in our conversations, an extra spring in our step.

Anyway, I'm home now. Linc did great on his first overnighter with my mom. I'm heading to the gym soon and Tyler is going to attend a job fair tonight. And so life continues.

Grandma to the rescue!

I'm liking school. I love what I'm studying, which makes it easier to read the required material and put my best effort into assignments. My social skills are a little rusty; but honestly I think that's to be expected of a mom who's spent several months at home with an infant. (Especially when she's a little reserved to begin with!)

What I really want to say, though, has to do with what's going on back at the apartment while I'm away. As I said before, my mom has babysitting duty this summer. But whenever she needs a break, or has scheduling conflicts (like the few days when her school was still in session and mine had already started), my mother-in-law is more than willing to use up her ample vacation time at work and step in. I just want to say that moms are awesome. Even though I am one now, I think I am still justified in praising them to the utmost! I get home, Lincoln is smiling from ear to ear, dishes are washed, laundry is done and folded, food has miraculously appeared on the counter and in the fridge... and I have to bite my lip not to ask them to just move right in! Whether it's Lori or my own mother holding down the fort, I love chatting for awhile before I reluctantly let the wonderfu l woman go.

Lincoln is a lucky little guy to have two adoring grandmas readily available.

And yes, these two hot young women are actually grandmothers!