Thanksgiving

There is so much to love about Thanksgiving.  Just to name a few:

 Going to Aunt Connie's for a wonderful feast and getting to see my 89 years and 11 months-year-old Grandpa and wonderful cousins...

 Getting to stay at my parents and watch lots of movies, play lots of games, eat lots of yummy food, hang out, and shop....

And watch this little guy enjoy his first Thanksgiving turkey. :)  Hope your Thanksgiving was as fantastic as mine.

1. my little turkey.

2. family.

3. great weekend.

Quack Quack

Today Linc and I went to the park and it was so fun!!!  The leaves were everywhere and it was so gorgeous. This time we took bread with us so we could feed the ducks.

 I can't believe he is already 10 months!

 It was a struggle to get some pictures while he was trying so hard to eat all the leaves....everything goes in his mouth these days...

 Cheeser...

 "Give me the camera, mom!"

 He absolutely LOVES to swing!

 As he was swinging he would look at me and just make these little happy sounds, it was so so adorable.

Then we went over to feed the ducks.  I got the piece of bread out and all the ducks came flocking over SO fast!!  Lincoln just went silent and watched in amazement...as you see...

 I love that little face...

 Pondering Lincoln...

 Ha ha ha...

 CHEESE!!

 As we were walking home I had to take a picture of him like this.  I love when we go walking.

 Oh....little hands....

Fun day mom :)

And to top it off he almost crawled today!!  Brett and I were playing with him and that "funny" bouncy ball and he wanted it so badly he almost crawled to it....any day now he will be a full-on crawler.

1. ducks.

2. fall.

3. walks to the park.

Bouncy Ball

Today as I was eating lunch Lincoln started to laugh and I turned to see what was so funny....see for yourself what Linc found so amusing...

1. Going to the park with Lincoln and feeding the ducks.

2. Thanksgiving this weekend!

3. Love that I cleaned my car today.

ramblings

Today has been awesome.  We woke up late and enjoyed a lovely morning.  Lincoln was so happy.  We let him cuddle in bed with us and he reacted as though he was in heaven.  He is the light of our lives.  I adore him. I declared today cleaning day because while snuggling in our warm sheets Lincoln decided to puke, and once I have to clean the sheets, why not the whole house?  Lincoln doesn't like it when I vacuum though.  As long as he can see me it's okay, but once I disappear around a wall I think he assumes I'm being eaten by the loud machine and he cries, tears and all.  After getting ready we heard a knock on the front door.  It was my dad!!  I opened the door totally surprise (although he did call me twice and text me but my phone was on vibrate).  It was a great surprise.  He stayed and talked with us and then went to a job he has today in Orem.  We live in Orem, have I even mentioned that on here??  We moved in May and we love it.  If you ever pass a big aluminum can looking building called Uncle Sam's, you're very close to us.  We live in a great spot and we love all the room we have now.  Life is crazy, but also crazy good.  Next year is a total mystery to us and it's so fun to be mystified.  I'm so excited to see what happens.  Right now Brett is just working hard, as always, and I'm home with Linc.  I love being home, I really do.  Lincoln is so much fun and I feel so honored to be his mother and take care of him.  He goes with me to clients homes sometimes for skin care and they love him so much.  Yesterday he went with me to Salt Lake to do some peels and waxing and my clients love him.  He was backwards crawling all over the place and getting stuck all over.  They laughed and laughed and commented on his huge head.  He gets that head from the Dustin side.  My head is huge, a Dustin noggin for sure.  Lincoln loves music.  If he is sad in the car I'll turn on Norah Jones or Coldplay and he goes silent and falls asleep. Speaking of Coldplay, their new cd is amazing and I want it.  Christmas is coming up and that is so exciting to me.  Yesterday I was talking to Holly and my phone lost her call 4 times.  It was really annoying and I can't wait to get a new phone next week.  I washed Lincoln's blankie this morning and he couldn't sleep without it.  He is so darling.  I made homemade pizza last night and I'm already craving it again.  I have never made good pizza.  The crust always turns out weirdly under-cooked or burned or just plain tastes bad, but it was really good.  Time to get ready.

1. pizza.

2. dad.

3. blankie.

...

'Tis true...

Power of the Priesthood

Josh is on a mission in Texas right now and yesterday we got a letter from him.  I just wanted to share it.  It made me cry and strengthened my testimony in the priesthood.  It's so incredible to me that my little brother holds the priesthood and was able to bless this woman.  This church is truly the true church that God wants all his children to be a part of.  He can bring the peace we desire into our lives and bless us beyond what we are capable.

"I had a tender Mercy this last week.  We had a rough week but after

the DLT meeting wednesday, we were going to head out and teach Roy and

his family.  On the way, we were battling a fierce headwind that just

felt like the Spirit didn't want us to go that way.  I received a call

from a Sister Freeman in the ward.  She said "Elder Dustin, I'm

extremely sick and I'm going to the hospital right now.  Can you come

and give me a blessing."  We said yes immediately and turned around.

We flew with the tailwind and arrived at Sister Freeman's home to find

her with a Severe Migraine.  She was crying, bloodveins bulging in her

eyes.  She was crying and said that the pain was So bad.  The light,

sounds and everything brought her more pain.  She laid down on the

cough and Elder Bybee annointed her head with the consecrated oil and

I was able to give the blessing.  The spirit was very strong and I

knew exactly what to say before the blessing.  I asked her before the

blessing "Sister Freeman, do you believe that your Heavenly Father can

take the pain away right now?"  She said "Yes!" with a look of pain in

her face.

I began the blessing and could feel her head shaking.  She had a

temper and was sweating profusely.  The first words that came to me

after sealing the annointing were "Sister Freeman, May you be healed

in this moment according to your faith."  Immediately, her head

stopped shaking.  She became still, and fell to sleep.  It was

incredible.  I went on to give a short blessing.  I ended the blessing

and she was sleeping with a look of relaxation on her face.  We left

quietly, to let her sleep.

The spirit testified to me of the power of the priesthood.  The

importance of why we're here and what we've been called to do.

Directly after, I had many little trials of my faith that day.  But

the experience with Sister Freeman stayed on my mind.  I kept

reflecting on it.  Faith is real.  The priesthood is real.  Our father

in Heaven lives and he desires to bless us if we will have faith that

he can.  I know these things are true."

Park City

On Saturday Brett and I went to Park City to stay the night at my parents timeshare, Westgate Resort.  It was so fun to get away just for the night and not have Lincoln with us.  That morning I drove to 72nd south in Salt Lake and met Claire so she could take Lincoln for the night.  Then I drove back home and told Brett that Lincoln was at my cousins house playing.  We got in the car to go "get" Lincoln and we drove to Park City.  Brett was excited but not totally surprised ha ha.  He thought that I had been acting really weird and knew that something weird was going on but was definitely surprised that we were staying the night too.  I was excited to take him up to Park City because he has been working so hard and under so much stress so it was nice to give him a much needed break.  We got up to Park City and went to the outlets and went to dinner at Bandits Grill, which was really yummy.  It was fun to not have Lincoln, but funny that we basically talked about how cute he is the whole time.  

1. Fun weekend with Brett.

2. Our babysitter, Claire!

3. Hubbs.

Back'n Up....

Lincoln is a funny little man.  

Yes, he does know how to get around but that usually only includes rolling or crawling backwards.  This morning he crawled backwards to the front door and then cried because he couldn't go backwards or roll over.

Love that boy.

1. My little mover man!

2. My cousin Hannah is pregnant!

3. Had a fabulous lunch today with Alaina, Andrea, and Deven.