Looking for the Good in Christmas

I loved this talk given by Pres. Uchtdorf during the Christmas devotional this past Sunday. 

"Christmas is a time for remembering the Son of God & renewing our determination to take upon us His name. It is a time to reassess our lives & examine our thoughts, feelings & actions."

"When we prepare for Christmas by pondering its real meaning, we prepare to experience the Christ & His message."

 -Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I am so thankful to have these righteous men in my life. They point me in the right direction & remind me of what & who I need to focus on. When I follow their teachings, I am truly happy & am able to enjoy life to the fullest.

Guess What?

I've been saving this picture that we took months ago for THIS post. This was in Lincoln's fortune cookie...

I will now take the fortunes that I find in my fortune cookies much more seriously, because:

LINCOLN IS GOING TO MEDICAL SCHOOL IN MEXICO!!!

When we found out the news, we just happened to be having lunch at the park with Lincoln's cousin Thomas & his wife Jenn and their kids...who are currently living in Guadalajara, Mexico while Thomas attends medical school there. They were the ones who brought this whole idea up to us in the first place! They started snapping pictures as we found out the news & I'm glad they did, because these pictures are priceless! :)

Getting the news...

 Me freaking out in the corner of the picture after Linc mouthed to me that he got in. :)

 Shedding some tears...

(Such a happy moment!)

Probably the dorkiest picture ever, but me with my hands on my face, exclaiming "I can't believe this! I am so happy! This doesn't even seem real!" I told you...priceless! :)
(This was not posed!)

 "Guess what Kylee? We are moving to Mexico!"

 Lincoln looking like his mind is still reeling from the news, while I am grinning from ear to ear & Kylee doesn't know what is going on...

 It's true...WE ARE GOING TO MEXICO!!!

We may leave before New Years, depending on when Thomas & Jenn leave to go back to Mexico. Now I'm off to pack!!! :)

Temple Lights

On Saturday night we met Brad, Melissa & Nixen at the Mesa Temple lights...

My dad was in charge of security there that night, so we got to see him too.

Kylee loved riding on Linc's shoulders & giving him hugs...

Enjoying time with my girl...

Steering Linc in the right direction...

Love this picture of Meliss & Nixen!

Kylee was SO excited to see the temple lights this year. I'm guessing we will go back a few times this month, especially on nights that Lincoln works late. (We're always looking for new, fun ways to get out of the house & pass the time when Linc is gone. :) ) Thanks for the fun night guys!

A Few Things That Make Me Smile...

Kylee & Lincoln watching football together.

Kylee resting her feet on her Daddy's.

Daisy & Duke playing tug-of-war with my sock.

The simple things in life are probably my favorite.

Cousin Love

KYLEE

+

NIXEN

=

TRUE LOVE ALWAYS

Kylee adores Nixen. And when Nixen isn't afraid that Kylee is going to clobber him, he adores her too. :)

Kylee 16 Months

Kylee hit the 16-month mark at the end of November. I think she is starting to look a lot more like a little girl now, rather than a baby. I always heard that it was crazy how fast your kids grow up, but I never really understood until recently! Time really does seem to go by more quickly as a parent.

Kylee has learned a lot this past month. She knows how to say some new words, including the phrase, "What is that?" I thought she had said it a few times, but decided I was just imagining things, until multiple people told me that Kylee had asked them that as well. She uses it in the right context too...it's kind of crazy. 

She loves copying sounds, especially cars, motorcycles & ambulances. She is really afraid of the garbage truck. She has started trying to say "Thank you" but leaves off the "k" & the "you" ("Than!"). Her favorite food right now is bananas (she asks for one at least twice a day) and she is in love with the "Pillow Pets" commercial. Kylee has discovered how to run & jump and injures herself a lot more now. :) She loves music, & she dances on command, she brings books to me during the day & asks me to read to her, and she likes sitting on Lincoln's shoulders & rubbing his short hair.

Kylee blows on her food when it is hot (& blows on the fire in my parents' fireplace), says "Cold!" whenever she is cold or when she sees water outside, and tries to copy the "BRRR!" sound I make with my lips when I am cold.  When I change her diaper, she waves her hand in front of her nose & makes a sound, letting me know that it smells. She also does this when she lets out a burp (or anything else)...it is hilarious. Since Kylee was about 10 months old, she has been going to nursery with Linc & I every Sunday, because we are nursery workers. Kylee loves playing with the older kids & loves the fact that she can play with toys & eat snacks during church! It used to be so obvious that she was a lot younger than the nursery kids, but now she is starting to blend in with them & does pretty much everything that they do. It's awesome!

We've also started implementing "time out" & it seems to be working so far. I do have to hold Kylee there because she isn't old enough to stay there herself, but she understands that she has done something wrong & is good about saying sorry to whoever she hurt or upset. We'll see if it works...she is such a good girl but has a problem attacking other kids sometimes. :)

Now that I've written almost every detail of what Kylee is doing at this stage of her life, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

Kylee FINALLY has enough hair to put in pigtails!!!

She also loves digging in the trash can! I usually have to stick it in the bathroom, so she can't get into it.

Eating pizza at Grandma & Grandpa's house...

Oreo cookies are one of her favorite desserts...

This picture shows off her mullet too. :)

She gets SO excited when Daddy lets her pretend to drive the truck!

This picture cracks me up...we may have a future blogger on our hands!

Kylee is OBSESSED with shoes. She brings me fancy church shoes to put on her during the day. This time she wanted to wear her pink & white Sunday shoes with her thermal pajamas. Cute huh?

Lincoln was cleaning & packing while I was gone one day, & he gave Kylee some stickers to entertain herself with. It worked!

Kylee loves having Linc home on the weekends. Every Monday, when Lincoln goes back to school & work, Kylee asks me multiple times that day where Daddy is. She sure does adore him! Maybe because he lets her do whatever she wants to him...like stacking books on his stomach & sitting on his head!

Kylee is a girl with a strong will (which I keep telling myself can be a really good thing!) and is so affectionate, funny & friendly toward those around her. We love you Kylee!

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly...

...But apparently Kylee didn't get the memo!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Linc's Medical School Interview

Well, Lincoln interviewed this morning in San Antonio, Texas. Kylee & I dropped him off at the airport yesterday afternoon & will pick him up tonight. Daisy & Duke camped out on the stairs until about 1am, until I think they finally realized that Linc wasn't coming home for the night. (He hasn't been gone overnight for almost a year.) I woke up almost every hour last night thinking, "Only 3 hours until Lincoln wakes up & gets ready for his interview!" and things like that. I told you I get excited about things. :)

Linc said that his interview went as well as it could have gone. He felt comfortable with the way he answered the questions & really liked the people he met at the interview. Lincoln's case will be taken to the admissions board, & we will know by Monday afternoon what they have decided. His case is abnormal, since he is still taking his prerequisites for medical school & we are applying for a semester that starts in 5 weeks! We will see if the school will look past that & accept him. I've said before that we've felt really strongly that we NEEDED to apply for school in Mexico & that we NEEDED to apply for this semester. I have no idea why. We've put a lot of effort into our plans & have tried to make them work out the way we think that they should, so now it is out of our hands! 

If Lincoln doesn't get accepted this semester, we will figure out where to go from there. If he does get accepted, we are going to leave on or around January 3rd, just over 4 weeks from now. 

I'll definitely post when we find out! Thanks so much for everyone's support, prayers & love. It has meant so much to us!

Christmas Gift

My Aunt Elizabeth just came out with her second cookbook. I'm definitely asking Santa for a copy for Christmas! Aunt Liz is an amazing cook & puts so much heart into her recipes & food.
(Trust me, I've tasted a lot of of her food & desserts. She feeds me every time I go to her house!)

Click HERE to check out the cookbook.

(And with Mark Mabry's photographs on the pages, the recipes look amazing too!)

Farewell Elder Allen!

Aaron was set apart as a missionary on Monday night...

Kylee will be 3 1/2 when he gets back! Crazy!

Here's Nixen saying, "Aaron's going on a mission tomorrow? Whoa!"

I don't know where Nixen gets that face from...

Yesterday, Kylee & I drove with my parents & Megan to take Aaron to the airport. Unfortunately, Linc had to work that night, so he said his goodbyes earlier that day.

Here we are hanging out before Aaron had to catch his flight...

Kylee had had enough of the airport by the end...

Family picture...

The "saying goodbye" part was pretty horrible. I felt like I was going to throw up that whole day & was absolutely dreading saying goodbye. I was the least emotional of the group, which says a lot! Although watching Aaron walk away was not fun, we are extremely happy for him & the choice he has made to serve a mission...even though it doesn't really sound like we are. :)

All of us walked toward the elevator crying, while Kylee got a ride on Grandpa's shoulders...

Shawn & Ashley picked Aaron up at the airport in Salt Lake City & kept him company for the night, then dropped him off at the MTC today. Ashley took this picture of him when they dropped him off...

He totally looks like a missionary & he looks so happy. I really am SO happy & excited for him! 

Where do I even start when explaining my feelings about Aaron? I have so many great memories with him. 

One time Aaron & I decided that we both wanted to read more books. So we set a goal together to read 10,000 pages combined, & gave ourselves a deadline. We'd report to each other when we finished a book & would tally up the pages. I loved setting goals with him.

Some of my favorite memories come from the nights when he would sit on my bed & talk to me about boys. He wanted to make sure the boys were treating me well & that I chose a good one. So cute.

When Lincoln & I came out of the temple after we got married, Aaron immediately grabbed my arm & walked around with the two of us (Lincoln with his arm linked in one of mine & Aaron with his arm linked in the other), until I had to finally ask him to let go so that the photographer could take pictures of us. :)

Aaron visited me after my hysterectomy, when I was incredibly lonely & bored & sad about my grandma passing away. He totally brightened some dark days!

I love Aaron so much. I honestly feel like I could make a huge mistake & Aaron wouldn't think any differently of me. People like him are so hard to come by. He is hilarious, outgoing, confident, smart, and loving. He is going to be the best missionary ever!

Farewell Elder Allen! I love you so, so much!!!

My Thoughts On Our Crazy Life

As I said before, Lincoln has his medical school interview on Friday. He only applied to one school: the University of Guadalajara. We feel so strongly that this is where we are supposed to go. Obviously things could work out differently, but we have high hopes that he will be accepted & that we will move to Mexico in the next 4-5 weeks.

We've been working on paperwork for months, and I still don't feel ready to move. At all. We still need Kylee's social security card & passport, we need to decide what to take with us to Mexico & what to leave behind, we need papers for the dogs, we need to switch phone plans, and a million other little things. Add to that the fact that we have no idea what we are going to do with our townhouse or where we are going to live once we get to Mexico & you can imagine how crazy things are getting around here!

Lincoln has finals in two weeks, he is in the process of training someone at work to take his place (his company asked him to...I guess they are confident that he will be accepted), & he is trying to help me with things here at home when he can. We are also trying to spend time with family & friends, because we know that we might not have that opportunity in the near future! Plus, my brother is leaving on his mission tomorrow. And everyone knows that the weeks between Thanksgiving & Christmas are super busy anyway.

During the days when Linc is gone all day & I'm trying to clean & pack & work on finances & figure everything else out, I wonder what in the heck we are doing. Seriously, why do our lives seem so extreme? Having multiple surgeries, losing a baby, having more surgeries, adopting a baby 2 days after we meet her, having a hysterectomy, & moving to Mexico (one right after the other), with Lincoln working full-time (mostly nights) & working toward medical school during most of it...is a lot to deal with.

But honestly, when I really stop & think about it...I'm so thankful. I am thankful that the Lord trusts me with these plans & that He has helped everything to work out exactly as it should. When we got the feeling that we shouldn't try to get pregnant & we acknowledged that answer, a beautiful baby who I swear was made for our family, fell right into our laps. When we got the answer to have a hysterectomy & we followed through with it, my health completely turned around & I am completely pain-free & I don't notice any negative side effects from the surgery at all. Almost 2 years ago, we realized that we needed to work toward applying to medical school in Mexico. The answer hasn't changed over time. We still feel like this is where the Lord wants us. I can't wait to see what comes from following through with this answer.

I wrote this post so that I can look back on it in the days ahead & remember why we are doing this. I've learned that when I get an answer, I need to listen...even if it doesn't make complete sense to me. The Lord sees a lot more than we see. His ways are perfect. He is loving & wants what is best for each of us. I am so grateful for that knowledge!!!

Will's Baptism

Today we drove to Tucson with my family to attend our friend Will's baptism.

Aaron gave a talk at the baptism & was the one to baptize Will. It was so neat to see Aaron be able to baptize one of his best friends, four days before he leaves on his mission. They both looked so happy!

The baptism was awesome. Kylee loved the baptismal font & kept calling it a "bath". It was cute. :) After the baptism, we went to Will's house for dessert, then headed home. We are so glad that Will has made this important step in his life. It was great to experience this special day with him!