Almost Famous

Sometimes I realize I don't have any pictures of Lincoln sleeping and I have approximately 4,128 pictures of Eli sleeping and I attempt to minimize the gap a bit. 

Lincoln is developing a bit of sass. And a bit of spunk. And a bit of goofy. And a lot of fun. 

He still has his obsession with accessorizing. We often have a pint sized Iron Man with a case of the giggles roaming our house. 

The older boys really got into the BYU/Utah game. Jeff spent the morning prepping the boys on what team we'd be cheering for and that we love BYU and that Utah is basically the worst. The boys were instant BYU fans and frantically drew pictures to show which team we wanted to win before the game began. 

I liked to tease them and pretend I was cheering for Utah. I drew a picture of a U and colored it in red, but quickly turned it into a less offensive acronym. 

The boys are so converted to BYU since that game, that when they see a car with any type of Utes paraphernalia, they will not let me park next to it, and they will animalistically boo the car until it is out of sight. 

Speaking of animals, Lincoln is of the climbing variety. Have I already posted this picture? He kills me! This kid is chasing the highest accessibly point of the house at any given time. Let's all take a moment to appreciate that Lincoln proudly stood on this chair, on the table, and then began to excitedly pull and push on the chair once he got up there, causing it to inch closer and closer to the edge of the table (all in the time it took me to snap a quick picture and then run to grab him), and yet Eli's the one with the cracked open chin and Lincoln has somehow escaped the brutal effects of gravity despite his relentless taunting. 

I was so worried we'd have no preschool options for Carson and we ended up with 3! Carson is doing online preschool, and then we were invited into a neighborhood joy school, and then I found out his school has a totally free preschool as an extra perk because they're a Title I school. He's been loving all his different learning sources and is really thriving in every way!

Except for that one time he licked a fellow mom's rear end and then full on grabbed a different mom's rear end all in the same take-your-mom-to-school-day with an unexpected side of try-your-best-to-embarrass-her. That was weird, but he knows all his letters and the sounds they make, so we'll take what we can get I guess. 

I thought we had overcome the whole my-kids-don't-wear-pants thing, but here's this. 

I took Carson to the dentist less than a year ago and the dentist said, "Yes! His teeth look great! Swell! You're awesome! Can we use his teeth on a billboard to advertise the amazing results of twice a day brushing and *occasional* flossing?" ...or something like that. 

Then we moved. Jeff switched jobs, so our insurance was cut off and we had to wait a minute to get insurance again. It was LESS THAN A YEAR from our gold star appointment and BAM. We were hit with a mouthful of cavities. Silver capped, drill through the tooth, knock the kid out, fix 'em up cavities. We went through this with Eli. I was so diligent with Carson and we still had the inevitable 4-year-old dental visit of doom. Bleh. 

Anyway, while the dentist was in there, and while Carson was knocked out, we decided to go ahead and get his more snaggley of his 2 front snaggleteeth pulled as it was allegedly infected (but probably had been for the last 3 years, so I wasn't totally convinced that was an issue). Anyway, he lost a front tooth, silvered up the back teeth, and turned into an emotional wreck somewhere along the way. 

When Eli got put under anesthesia, he said a lot of funny things and acted a little goofy. Carson on the other hand, was a sobbing mess for a solid 24 hours after being put under. He didn't say too many funny things, but he had big feelings. One of those feelings was hunger. He was supposed to take it really slow on eating after coming off the medicine, but he insisted on Ramen ... and then ate 3 bowls of it without issue. 

Showing off his new look! I'm still not used to his gap-toothed smile!

Linker Lou enjoys getting ready with me in the mornings. He always seems to find this cute boy in the bathroom that he likes to smile at. 

I tried my voice at the ward choir a few times. Eli was intrigued about the choir and would ask me questions when I would get home. On General Conference Sunday, Eli set up a family choir and led us all in a few primary songs, complete with props, before conference began. 

The boys have been enjoying having unlimited access to Grandma's legos. They spent conference making scenes under the piano light. 

It was particularly fun to watch conference this go round because I felt like I had an insider's perspective of the Quorum of the Twelve! I had met Elder Anderson! He told us face-to-face that he was in the process of preparing his conference talk for this conference! I had sat in the room where the Quorum meets! I felt like I knew all of them, and I just kept waiting for one of them to mention me by name. 

Especially my good friend, Uchtdorf. My parents had told me they had occasionally seen Uchtodorf roaming the streets up by their house. My #1 goal while living in my parents' house was to catch a glimpse of my famous neighbor in his natural environment. 

A few weeks before conference, I went on a run early in the morning. I was in the zone and staring down at the sidewalk when I saw a couple approaching me. I glanced up and reflexively said, "Good Morn-"

Noticed it was PRESIDENT UCHTDORF and his wife halfway through my greeting!!! and then finished with a bit of a star struck trail off.

He smiled. And said back, "Good morning."

I was so excited! All my dreams had come true! I was sure he had peered into my soul and we were now the best of friends. My sister began calling him my exercise accountability partner. We were tight.

But then. As if that wasn't enough. As if 2 months into living in my parents' house, my #1 bucket list item had already been crossed off, it happened AGAIN!

I went on a walk one evening, now constantly on the lookout for my BFF. I was strolling along when I noticed far ahead, a couple, walking the same direction as me, with alarmingly similar characteristics of President Uchtorf and his wife.

Cue speed walking.

I made my way up to them just as I reached the corner for me to turn down, they abruptly turned around and BAM!

I nearly RAN INTO my bucket list dream. I tried to give him a smile like, "Hey. Remember me? We're friends now. And I know who you are. And good talk in conference BTW."

While my smile said that, my mouth said, "Hello."

He said, "Hi!" pause.

Then he continued (probably after picking up on the nonverbal cues from my knowing smile). "How are you?"

HOW ARE YOU, guys. President Uchtdorf now knows I'm good. Because he asked. Because he cares. Because we're best friends. Because we work out together. So don't be so surprised next conference when he does a shout out, because it's inevitable, and just wanted my faithful blog followers (hi grandma.) to have heard it here first.