Little Monkey Bizness/1 Month Old

Jared decided we needed a fun family night out when he got home from work on Friday. So we talked about going to the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, out to dinner, or just somewhere fun. We finally decided to go to Little Monkey Bizness. There is a Monkey Bizness here in town that is full of inflatable slides, bounce houses, and obstacle courses. Its a little much for someone Cayden's size. So they opened up Little Monkey Bizness that is perfect for toddlers to age 5. It is only $5 from 5pm-8pm on Tue and Fri. so it worked out perfectly. Cayden (and Jared) had a BLAST! Here are some pictures from our play time.

Jared and Cayden coming down the slide.

Playing basketball in a bounce house.

Ready to come down a slide.

Playing on a rope swing.

Chillin' on a jump hammock.

Enjoying our night out.

They even have a dance floor and costumes for the kids to play dress up.

After we played for a good hour we headed to IHOP for some all you can eat pancakes. They were so YUMMY. We had a great night and decided to have a Fun Night Out at least twice a month.

So yesterday our little Jacob hit his one month mark. I can't believe it has already been a month since he joined our family. Its amazing how fast time goes by. We love him so much and are thankful to have him as a part of our family.

Hope everyone had a fabulous week!!!

~Love To All~

Mt. Fuji

So the 4th was Mikey's last day here in Colorado (until February when he comes again). He was planning on going to the movies with Timmy but instead we all went to Mt. Fuli. Its a yummy Japanese restaurant here in town. It was my first time eating there and I was pretty excited. My brothers and parents have gone a billion times but this was my first. Cayden has even eaten there before me. Anyway, we sat at the Hibachi table so we could watch our food be cooked. After all, that's part of the fun of a Japanese restaurant. We all had a blast and the food was excellent! I can't wait to take Jared there.

Cayden, Mikey, Timmy, and Chris
Our Chef
Onion Volcano (Cayden jumped every time the chef lit something on fire.)

Cayden and Uncle Mikey; Happy after a yummy meal.

So whenever you may come to Denver make sure you save your pennies to go to Mt. Fuji!

~LOVE TO ALL~

Christmas 2009 and New Year's

We had a wonderful Holiday. It seemed to go by a little too quickly but we sure did enjoy it. My whole family was able to be together.(minus my little brother Matt who is serving his mission in Honduras) It was so fun to be together. It was especially fun to have our new little addition, Jacob, to spend the holiday with us in person rather then in my tummy.

We spent Christmas morning at home so Cayden could enjoy what "Sandy Daws" brought him. He was SUPER excited when he saw all the presents under the tree as he came down the stairs. We opened stockings, Jared started the fire, ate breakfast, and then we opened presents. Cayden needed no direction to open his presents. He didn't really stop to play with toys he just wanted to unwrap everything. We had fun making a mess with the paper and tinsel. Jacob slept through everything but Cayden happily opened Jacob's presents and then would hand them to him to enjoy.

Opening up his stocking

Helping Daddy start the fire.

His tools and his basketball hoop were two of his favorite gifts.

"Baby Jake" with his loot

Playing with Tinsel

Cayden thought it was pretty great that he got more presents at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house.

We anxiously awaited a phone call all morning from my parents to let us know that Matt had called. We got a call around 10:15. It was perfect timing. We had just finished opening presents and were starting to play. We packed up some new toys, hurried and got ready, and then headed over to talk to Matt. It was so wonderful to hear his voice. He is doing well and is loving his mission. He told us some pretty funny stories and let us know he was making a name for himself on p day when they play soccer. All the natives and impressed that a gringo plays as well as he does. We also had a treat and saw some pictures that he had sent home. His living conditions are pretty crappy but its good to know that he is now trying to make the best of it. I miss him so much and just want to give him a great big hug. I am so proud of him for serving a mission and setting such a good example for my boys. If you ask Cayden where Uncle Matt is his reply is "Mission".

We spent the rest of the day opening more gifts, playing games, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner that my mom and dad prepared. It was a wonderful day spent fantastic people.

Our New Years was pretty standard except for the fact that my sisters and I had a girls outing and went for pedicures before we headed to my parents house for the rest of the evening.

Our pretty pedicured feet (I think feet are so GROSS!)

Then once at my mom and days house we celebrated 3 birthdays. My brother Mikey (12/1) and my sisters Kimmy (1/2) and Bethy (1/3). It was a fun birthday/ New Year's Party.

Spencer helping his mommy blow out her candles. (all 30 of them!)

So my mom got a cake for Bethy and Mikey to share. Apparently the cake decorator thought the cake was only for one person.

My mom and dad had all sorts of YUMMY treats to keep us snacking all night. We played some fun games and some that got a little competitive. We put Cayden to bed around 10:00 and then played more games until midnight. I laid down with Jacob around 11:30 and fell asleep. Jared came and woke me up in time to watch the ball drop. However, the clock that they all were looking at was slow so we all missed the ball drop. We gave our hugs and kisses to everyone and then headed out for the night.

Jacob sound asleep on new year's eve.

We are excited for the many wonderful new adventures that 2010 may bring. Happy New Year to everyone!

~LOVE TO ALL~

Pictures of Jacob

Here are a few more pictures of our little Jacob. Sorry its taken me so long to post them. Enjoy!!!

Coming home from the hospital 12/18/09

Chillin with Daddy 12/23/09

~Love to All~

Jacob Nevin Linton

We welcomed our second precious little boy into this world today. He is so sweet and wonderful. We are so grateful that he was born heatlhy and is doing great. He was born weighing in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. He has a beautiful head full of black hair and has a beautiful smile. We can't say how thankful to our Heavenly Father we are for this tiny little miracle. We will post more later, but for now here are some pictures to enjoy. Hugs and love to all!!

Just minutes old.

Mommy and baby - both doing great!

What a pose!

Brothers

Family of four now!

2 YEARS OLD!!

I honestly have a hard time believing that 2 years have gone by since Cayden joined our little family. Sometimes it seems that he hasn't been with us all that long and other times it seems as if he's always been around. He is such a sweet little guy and brings so much joy into our lives. (He brings many frustrations too, but that's all a part of growing up right?)

He has grown so much in the past year. He is counting, recognizing colors, singing parts of his ABC's, and putting together sentences. It is such a joy and a treat to watch him learn and grow. His newest phrase is "I do it." He is at that point in his young life to where he doesn't want help. He wants to be a big boy and do things on his own. He also is saying "not yet" and wanting to do everything in his own time. He is still a Daddy's boy and I think he always will be. They have such a special bond that I hope and pray NEVER goes away.

We had Cayden's birthday party yesterday. When he woke up from his nap he saw his pile of presents by the fire place. He got a big smile and wide eyes and said, "Me." He was very excited about his presents. We invited family over and had dinner, watched the Christmas Devotional, and enjoyed cake and ice cream. Cayden had a blast opening presents and needed no help getting into them. It was a fun evening.

Tonight we decided to take him to Red Robin for a special birthday dinner. He was allowed to have a soda and he chose what he wanted for dinner. He got 2 balloons too. He was in awe of the atmosphere and loved the white horse on the wall. He kept saying "White horse! Yay!" What a treat it was to see his excitement.

We are so thankful to have such a special boy as our own to teach, care for, and love. We truly are blessed.

~LOVE TO ALL~

Whobilation!!!

Jared and I were called to the activities committee 2 weeks before the Christmas party. They said they needed more people to help out and since we were "new" in the ward they chose us. OH BOY! We were so excited!!!

Anyway, the theme was "A Whobilation". It was all centered around How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And by the end of the evening Cindy Lou Who made sure that everyone understood what the true meaning of Christmas was. It really was an AMAZING party. It just took A LOT of work to prepare. They asked Jared (and me) to make signs for each of the activity rooms that people could roam through for the first hour. Well, if you know Jared at all then you know these could be no ordinary signs. The party was last night and I'm glad its finally over. We had to make 14 signs. 1 week and many sleepless nights later this was the final result....

Each child had a package in the post office

Water gun game shooting a snowman ping pong ball off a tee

Balloon dart game

Anyone could go in and get a "whoville" hair style

Make a Grinch Christmas ornament

Pick a present- they gave a small gift to everyone

A game of "toss" using garbage and throwing it into a trash can

Take a photo with the Grinch

"Operation" giving the Grinch his heart that grew 3 sizes (my dad gave us the x-ray)

Each person got to go into the candy store and fill a candy bag with homemade candies

They served hot cocoa and funnel cakes in this room

This room was set up as a cafe. Anyone could go in and read "poetry" from a Dr. Seuss book while a band played behind them.

Last but not least...The Nativity room. Members of our ward brought their Nativity scenes to put on display in the chapel.

It really was an excellent activity and everyone had a blast. They ended the program portion of the activity with a live nativity and then had everyone circle around the Christmas tree and sing Silent Night. It was really neat. Jared stayed to help clean up and I thought it would take HOURS to clean up the mess. But there were so many people in the ward that stayed to help it only took about an hour to get everything put back to normal. Here are a few more pictures from the night.

Making Grinch ornaments

Last year's Cheermiester-The Grinch

Cayden enjoyed watching the dancers, band, and singers, but his favorite was the Grinch

~LOVE TO ALL~