May, June, and July 2016.

What a crazy couple of months!

In April I started my LAST semester of my undergraduate degree. Thankfully, it was my easiest semester and how grateful I was for that. I also got another round of straight A's bringing my final GPA to 3.76, I can be proud of that.

May
I also started working again at the beginning of May. The company is called Contract Laboratory and I am doing their social media marketing which is fun! I've also just started getting into a little more of their web development. I am only working 2 days a week in the office, and then 5-6 hours from home a week. I am really enjoying that I still get to be home with Spencer!
For Memorial Day we went fishing with my dad in Caldwell. I caught a fish, then my dad caught a frog, and then Nate caught a fish all within 5 minutes.

he wasn't too sure about holding the fish.

Nate also had a run in with the neighbors' basketball hoop above the mailbox. He ripped his bike right off the roof rack on the truck and had to replace the fork. He wasn't so happy about that.

June

In June we took a couple of trips to Meridian Speedway with our friends which Spencer loved! We spent a LOT of time at Lakeview pool with and without our friends, its the perfect pool for little kids and its close and only costs $4 for me and Spence to get in.

at the speedway.

watching the races, the Barnes' were nice enough to share their cotton candy with him, though we wasn't sure what to think of it.

I also took a quick overnight trip to Utah for my best friend Kelli's wedding! It was so fun and I stayed the night with my friend Melissa from high school and it was so great to catch up with her!!
The next day I even got to do some quick shopping by.my.self!

July
July was another fun and busy month! We went to my grandmas in McCall to pick huckleberries with Nate's sister and her family, and his newly married brother and his wife. It was a quick trip and even though we got rained on we still had fun. We love McCall and can't wait to find more time to go back!

hanging out in McCall

For my birthday this year....we got new floors! Last year for my birthday it was new floors in the living room and hall, this year it was the bedrooms getting recarpeted! This was the last "major" thing we wanted to do inside so it's looking good!

when your mattress is as big as your living room...

I ran in the Boise Women's Classic 5k and didn't train nearly as much as I s







hould have. Though I PRed at about 35 minutes (slooooow) I puked as soon as I crossed the finish line.

And lastly, on July 20, 2016 I graduated from college (but that deserves a separate post)!


A final note I just want to add for my own memory's sake...before we left for graduation/Yellowstone at the end of July I had taken a pregnancy test and gotten that faint positive line. It was still a little early so I didn't get too excited and we went on our trip. Part way through the trip I had some spotting and assumed it was just signs of my upcoming cycle. When we got back to civilization (if you can call Rexburg civilization) there was more spotting so I took another test, it looked negative. By the time we got home I was 3 days overdue and had a "feeling" similar to when I knew I was pregnant with Spencer. I took another test and this one was clearly positive. We were beyond excited! I calculated that I was probably about 5-6 weeks. The next morning I woke up to a lot of blood and clots. The disappoint that I wasn't pregnant was heavy. I don't know if it is considered a "loss" as it was so early and technically just a chemical pregnancy, but it was a little heart breaking to go from extreme excitement one day, to the exact opposite the next.

So a little depressed, but ready to enjoy the rest of my now homework free summer and the last few trips we have planned!!

April 2016.

I keep thinking "once life settles down I'll get caught up on the blog, I'll get back in shape, I'll clean my house top to bottom..." and it just isn't settling down!

April was yet another busy month, I finished my second to last semester, Nate's youngest brother got married the weekend school ended, we planted trees, we did a lot of yard work, my little brother and his wife visited for the last time before they graduated from BYU and movd to California en route to South Carolina for 4 years of dental school, and we had family pictures taken.

I've pretty much become the worst photographer because I never take pictures of anything. Which is funny considering I have a camera with me all the time.

Highlights from Jake's wedding weekend include:
- lunch at the park with Allison, Dallin and Lizzie while we waited for grandma and grandpa.
- going to the zoo!
- getting up extra early to drive to Twin with Aaron and Alyssa
- Spencer having so much fun with all his cousins he never gets to see enough, he talked about them for at least a week after. And still does.
- meeting "baby" Tim!
- witnessing the sealing of Jake and Emily who I just love, Jake did well :)
- the beautiful and wonderful luncheon and reception
- Nate refusing to dance with me at the reception, Spencer on the other hand would!
- Spencer trying to drown in the hotel pool
- watching base jumpers off the Perrine bridge in Twin. Spencer called them "poppers"
- going to the fish hatchery and Spencer calling the giant sturgeon a dolphin
- Box Canyon Springs, seeing the alligators (though way less exciting than the last time I was there)
- filling the entire restaurant we stopped at for lunch
- seeing Emily's brothers as we drove back to Boise
- getting to eat Costa and Arctic Circle to please pregnant Alyssa
- having a FULL house for one night, but sure loving getting to spend time with family
- going to church together
- not wanting the weekend and fun to end!

And a few pics from our photo shoot the other week:

Blue eyed boy.

Today I had 2 people at church comment on Spencer's wide vocabulary and how clearly he talks. So I wanted to write down some of my favorite things he's been saying before I forget. (Someday Nate and I won't be so busy and when that day comes, I'll get back to updating this family journal of ours)

Spencer's in LOVE with dinosaurs right now. He loves to walk like a dino and roar like a dino all day long. He loves the shows:
Dinosaur King
Dinosaur Train
The Land Before Time (all of them)
DinoTrux

When I take him to the indoor playground (Jabbers) he loves to commandeer the t-rex and another smaller, t-rex looking dino (I really should know what it is by now). He calls the Farmer Pickles and Sue.

At home he only has one dino and then a little car dino. When he knocks over the car dino he will say "You alright little guy?" And it's pretty adorable.

He knows what a stegosaurus, pterodactyl, triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex (though he calls it a "towey rex") and long necks.

Spencer also likes to sing. He knows his ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Your Boat, Once There Was a Snowman, Old McDonald, Bingo, and I'm sure more. My favorite thing about him singing is if I join him, once the song ends he'll say "nice, job singing, mom!" And even though I'm terrible, he is so serious and sincere.

My favorite part of ABC's is "...h, i, j, k, m, m, m, o, p..."
He also makes Old McDonald have about 5 dinosaurs.
Bingo is also a dinosaur and not a dog.

He watched Toy Story for the first time the other day, he was loving it until it got to the part with Sid and his toys. He came running to find me and had his hands over his face like he was pretending to be scared. He said "I'm 'fraid of the 'pooky 'pider!" And it took me a minute to realize he was talking about Sid's toys spider that has mechanical legs and a doll head with a missing eye.

Spence loves to "nuggle" when he's falling asleep. He'll also ask, "mom, wanna pet me?" which is code for rub my back.

He asks "can I hold you?" when he wants to be held.

So long 2015!

2015 was a BUSY year.
A LOT happened.
So here's 15 highlights from 2015, in no particular order:

1- bought a house!
2- got a dog.
3- ran very first half marathon. And a month later ran the second!
4- Nate turned the big 3-0!
5- started back to school to finish my bachelors I started almost 10 years ago!
6- my brother got married.
7- started working 25-30 hours a week.
8- went to Disneyland!
9- Nate started back to school for his masters.
10- pulled up carpet and put down new floors in our house.
11- had our first garden that overflowed with tomatoes!
12- Nate got a new job with the Bureau of Reclamation.
13- made my first baby quilt!
14- Spencer ran a whole mile.
15- Nate got his second elk in 2 years.

Here's some more reviewing of our year:

The most memorable moment...
Lindsey: buying a house!
Nate: signing the paperwork on our house.

The hardest part was...
Lindsey: going to school full time and working was hard for me, especially having to leave Spencer with a babysitter.
Nate: Starting my graduate program.

I will miss...
Lindsey: Watching Spencer reach new milestones (before he learned to throw 2 year old tantrums)
Nate: Spencer's growth.

The happiest moment...
Lindsey: 2 weeks off work and vacationing in California for Brayden's wedding was pretty awesome. Eating Rubios 2 days in a row was pretty happy.
Nate: There were tons, finishing our races, fishing at Hanson Lakes with your dad and Jake, going to California for Brayden's wedding, getting Callie.

The best thing I did...
Lindsey: Ran a half marathon and started working on my bachelors again.
Nate: Finished 3 half marathons...and shot an elk.

Most looking forward to in 2016...
Lindsey: GRADUATING!!
Nate: Elk hunting!

There was a lot going on for us last year, we are looking to things slowing down a bit in 2016, we think it's going to be a good year and we can't wait to see what's in store!

Bob the Builder

Can he fix it?

Spencer was Bob for Halloween. Of course he loved his toolbelt and hard hat up until it actually came time to wear them. Then he threw a fit and really wanted nothing to do with them. Fortunately he let me get one picture (though I wouldn't call it good), before my parent ward's trunk-or-treat.
Then on the REAL Halloween we went to an afternoon trunk-or-treat at a burger joint by my office. Lunch and trick-or-treating which was perfect. He refused to wear his toolbelt there, but everyone still knew who he was! He loved walking up to all the different people and looking at the "pooky" decorations and costumes. He especially loved when they let him pick his own treat. He favorite this year is definitely "sticker" (suckers).
One of my favorite stories from this Halloween season is that there is a house decorated on the way to his babysitters. They have a pretty scary looking werewolf along with some spiders, spiderwebs, a witch, and some pumpkins. Well everyday on the way to the babysitters Spencer would get so excited for "the pooky werewolf!!" We would slow down and look at him every day. We're gonna miss seeing that "pooky" werewolf!
After that, everything became "pooky". "pooky" spiders, "pooky" ghosts. Spence also loved passing out candy on Halloween. Trick-or-treaters are still alive and well in Nampa and we loved passing out candy and seeing all the "pooky" costumes.
It was so fun to see Spencer get the idea of collecting candy this year, and see him in awe at all the decorations. He was always the one pointing out the "pooky" things to me.
I love this age, I can't believe we almost have a 2 year old, I really can't call him a baby anymore!

July & August

This summer was a very busy one for us! I finished out my tough semester with straight A's! Along with working 25+ hours a week, it made for some late nights.

Nate still worked a ton, and tried his best to get in mountain biking and archery practice.
Spencer did very well with his summer babysitter. They spent a lot of time at the park and playing with Callie.

At the end of June he had his first real sickness. He had a really high fever, lots of puking (mostly on dad) and then a weird rash. I diagnosed him via Google with having roseola and the doctor said I was right. It took a few days to recover and he got a nasty rash but after that he was back to his good old self!

Spencer also got very independent this summer and will climb through the dog door to go play in the backyard by himself whenever he feels like it. He also helps himself to anything he can find on the table or anywhere else he can climb up to or reach.

His talking exploded and I've had many people comment on what a great talker he is. He has started putting together 3-4 word sentences and most of the time I can understand what he's saying. He loves to wear shoes and for a while loves wearing mittens too. He spent a lot of time in just a diaper this summer when it was over 100 for 9 days straight.

For my birthday in July we decided to redo out living room floor. The carpet was pretty worn when we moved in, and Spencer getting sick and puking on it multiple times just expedited the process of tearing it up. Nate and my dad spent about 3 or 4 days working on it and we couldn't be happier with it, it looks great! Now if we could just find some time to finish the molding...

After that we decided it was time to upgrade some of our furniture. We spent many Saturday mornings at the auction in Boise and got a new couch as well as a roll of carpet and plan to someday redo one of the bedroom's carpet (we also got a weed eater, a coffee table, and some other things at the auction. We've created a monster).

At the end of July we had a fun little visit from Nate's sister Allison and her little family on their move from Tennessee to Washington. Jake also came by to see them on his way to Arizona for his off semester.

Spencer and Lizzy had a lot of fun together and we crammed a lot into the 2 days they were here!
I had a 7 week "break" (I still took one class and worked) between semester so Spencer and I tried to live it up as best we could. We went to the fair, went hiking with friends and lost our dog, we went on lots of walks, played at the park and just soaked in the last bit of summer we could before me and Nate started back to school.

Spencer got a new babysitter who has a little boy a few months older than Spencer and we have really appreciated her taking such good care of Spence. She takes them to an indoor playground, has taken them blackberry picking, on lots of walks and to the park. He has a lot of fun with them and we love knowing he is in good hands.

In the middle of August, Brayden brought his girlfriend up and we took the whole family camping at a yurt. It was a short little trip but lots of fun. Brayden got his car stuck, Spencer beat his smore into the dirt, Porter tricked Nate into eating a smore full of dirt, and we didn't all kill each other.

 Summer quickly came to an end when Nate started school on August 24. In 2 weeks we with both be full time students again and Nate will still be working full time, and me part time. We have already determined that we won't see the light of day until the semester ends. But we are looking forward to a little break over Thanksgiving, and a big vacation for Brayden's wedding in December!
See you all then!

April, May and June

To say this year has gotten crazy is a bit of an understatement. I started a pretty hard semester at the end of April and about 2 weeks later I started working for a web development company in Boise which added a little commute to my day. My schedule is pretty flexible, but Nate's and my schedule still overlapped a few hours a few days a week so Spencer also started going to a babysitter.
I had called around to daycares (7 to be exact) and NONE of them were accepting toddlers. I even called a couple of at home daycares I saw on craigslist and none of them could take toddlers! I was seriously at a loss! So I posted a question in a local cloth diaper group about where to look, a really nice mom of 4 girls responded and said she would be willing to watch him. We met her and her family and felt like it would work, after working through all the details, she started watching Spencer 3-4 days a week for 3-4 hours. We have LOVED her and appreciated her taking such good care of Spencer, plus I know her girls love him! Every morning I drop him off they run out to meet him and give him hugs. They are moving at the end of the month and we are SO sad and going to miss them so much! They really have been great to him, he loves going to play with "the girls".
I also made my first baby quilt for my good friend Paige in PA. She is due any day and I can't wait to see her baby girl, we sure miss the Stewarts!!

this and the next pic are from Easter at my parents house.

my mom bought her grandsons matching Easter suits, the boys were adorable!

In the middle of May, Nate and I ran our second half marathon. I knew it was going to be tougher than the first as I had been so busy and hadn't been running in a few weeks. I walked way more than I would have liked and ended up 7 minutes slower than my first half's time. Nate didn't even try to stick with me and he beat his previous time by 10 minutes! We got cool medals and that's what really matters :) At the end of May for all Nate's future birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries, fathers days, etc. he got a dog. She is a german short haired pointer lab ;) she is 6 years old and luckily she is a very good dog. She doesn't care much for Spencer but we're not at all surprised since he tries to drag her around by her tail. We're working on that. She holds down the fort pretty well and my biggest complaint is that she's fairly picky and sometimes won't clean up Spencer's mess off the floor. And if we leave her dog food down low, Spence eats it. Yuck! Oh, and we named her Callie (she was previously known as Kaylee so we needed something fairly similar).

Our garden is looking like its going to be fairly successful, that's been fun! We have tons of tomatoes on (the ones that Spencer doesn't pick) our snap pea plants are getting big and taking over but no peas yet. And our corn stalks are getting big too, as well as pumpkins and watermelon. We have a few random plants we aren't sure what they are, or maybe they're weeds? I suppose we'll see in time!

yes, those are tomatoes from my garden ;(

The good news for June is that I registered for my fall semester of school which means I then only have 8 classes left to take! That makes it feel like there is an end in sight! Also in June (though it hasn't happened yet) a YW from our ward started babysitting for us. She seems very responsible and mature and we're excited to have her play with Spencer!

he loves to pretend to talk on the phone. 

he walks around the house with it saying "bye grandma, bye grandpa"

my parents drained their pool for the first time ever!

his first sno cone- he loved it.

we're trying to get back into running