The Jessi James Gang

Company! - September 30, 2011/October 5, 2011

We had some very last minute company early this morning. Kim and Deven and family stopped at our house on their way to New Mexico. They arrived at about 1 a.m. and left again at 6 a.m. McKayla and Carter and Lincoln woke up long enough to say hello and take a few pictures but it was a quick visit. So glad they could stop by!

Aunt Kim and McKayla and Lincoln

Carter and Lincoln - birthday buddies. Carter turned 7 on 9/9/11 - the day of Lincoln's birth. Next year, they'll celebrate their first and eighth birthdays.

Where do you put four extra munchkins? Lincoln slept in the port-a-crib in our room. McKayla, Carter and Bree shared the air mattress. Ellie started out on the couch and ended up on the futon with her parents in the guest room.

Come again!

And they did - October 5, 2011.
We met up at the mall for a few minutes.The McCalvys (Dick, Sharon and Kathleen) were shopping for missionary clothes for Kathleen. So Lincoln and I went to the play area and visited with the Davis' family. The kids enjoyed their play break from their drive up from Albuquerque and Lincoln was introduced to Bree and Ellie (they slept through the last visit).

Aunt Kimi, Ellie and Lincoln

Bree and Lincoln

Carter and Lincoln

McKayla "interviewing" Carter at the News Stand. There is a camera that plays on a TV screen so the kids can see themselves doing the news.

Bree and Ellie climbing on some of the play center features.

Thank you for making an extra stop at a random place to visit for a few minutes. And thank you for staying a few more minutes than you meant to! Love you guys!

Come again! Stay longer!

McCalvys! And Baby Grace - October 02, 2011

A fabulous busy day! Today Lincoln got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa McCalvy and Aunti Kathleen. So lucky that the McCalvys are able to come down for a two week visit. We plan to do some mission prep shopping for Hermana McCalvy (Nashville Tennessee Spanish speaking!) and do a lot of spoiling of the newest McCalvy. Lucky!
Here's Grandma McCalvy at the airport. We were standing at the baggage claim, waiting to see if Grandpa McCalvy's bag of frozen fish were going to show up on the carousel or not. (It never did).

And Aunti Kathleen and Grandpa McCalvy.

James, Lincoln and I left the travellers at home to watch conference (and get a nap) for a bit while we drove to Ogden. Jordan and Danielle Monson blessed their youngest - Grace - between conference sessions at Aunt Lynnette and Uncle Rogers house. So Lincoln got to meet a lot of family today. James likes to call it the SHOCK AND AWE method of family introduction. Congrats Monsons! She's adorable.

Danielle and Lincoln and Grace and Jessi

Amazing how much difference 2 months can make! Will Lincoln ever be that big?

Salt Lake Temple - September 30, 2011

Today is Jennifer Price's wedding to Tyler Neal. James and I were late for the ceremony, but we still enjoyed visiting with family. Lincoln was babysat for the first time, for about half an hour, by my cousin Chelsey. Thank you Chelsey for coming to play with Lincoln - we really, really appreciate it! And James ran into one of his mission presidents - President Cannon - who lives in the Rexburg area and was in Salt Lake for a wedding!
Tyler and Jennifer Neal

After the wedding and pictures and visiting (James went straight to class), Lincoln and I wandered around temple square. A beautiful day and a beautiful place for some light exercise.

Bath time - September 28, 2011

Lincoln actually doesn't mind taking a bath. He doesn't cry, even when we wash his hair. His hands and feet turn a little purple when he's cold and he loves to snuggle into the dry towel. But I couldn't resist taking a few pictures - he makes such funny faces!

Millcreek Canyon - September 26, 2011

The weather is incredibly warm for September and we've had some record highs during the past couple weeks. The leaves are finally starting to turn colors up in the higher country though and James wants to go mountain biking a few times before winter. So today, we drove up Millcreek Canyon. I have not explored this canyon at all because it charges a fee for use. $3 to drive up the canyon. For a family outing, I thought it might be worth it.

Even though it is warm in the valley, it might be a little cold for our Little Bandito up the canyon. He's so cute!

And here's James on The Slayer. He had to fix a flat tire before he could begin his ride.

See the little bit of leaf color (mainly yellow) on the hill?

And up the trail he goes.

It took him an hour to ride up to Dog Lake and then the ride down was much, much quicker.

Lincoln and I explored a different trail. The trail was plenty wide enough for the stroller and I didn't have any problems pushing it up the uphill stretches. I only got concerned when the trail got really, really rocky. Then I worried about Lincoln's head bouncing around while he snoozed in the stroller.

We took the "Old Red Pine Road Trail" and went up for about 30 minutes and it took almost as long to go back down - holding the stroller back and I was wearing flip-flops. Whoops.

And here's an extreme close-up of one of my favorite photography subjects:

Oktoberfest - First Moose - September 24, 2011

We took our 2 week old baby to Oktoberfest up at Snowbird. Just an excuse to drive up the canyon and enjoy the fall weather and buy a bratwurst and German Apple Strudel. The brat was good, the strudel was so-so. The leaves are beginning to turn colors, the temperature was perfect and Lincoln was a fantastic traveller - he slept the whole time he was in the car. And he enjoyed his first outdoor picnic.

Way down at the end of this tent are some horn players. The Oktoberfest entertainment is really fun!

After Little Cottonwood Canyon, we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to check out the leaves and we saw two moose. Lincoln slept through the excitement.

So far, our Linc is a good traveller. I hope it lasts!

Field Trip with Daddy - September 21, 2011

James' Aviation Maintenance Class had a field trip today. They met up at the Hill Aerospace Museum in Roy and they invited the student's families to come along. So we had a fun afternoon with Daddy at the Air Force Museum.