Mini Man

This little man is heaven. He is happy, snuggly, in love with everyone (especially his Daddy and siblings) and it is hard to imagine life without him (even though I do dream of being alone on a beach every once in awhile :)). I just had to share this heaven baby with the world.

Stray Snapshots

Here are some of the random/favorite photos that have been taken recently...

I haven't seen wax lips in years... still a hit


Dallin, Claire and the Lowe boys at the San Diego Wild Animal Park

Dallin's St. Patricks Day leprechaun trap


This photo sums up Claire right now... little mama in love with bubblegum (look in her pockets)


Um, I love him


Dallin's tribute to Dr. Suess' birthday


Claire in her favorite place... dance class!

Dallin's interpretation of the 70s for Disco Day at school

Jedi Junior

There is something so amazing about dreams coming true. There is something so empowering about overcoming a fear. There is something so wonderful about an incredibly happy child.Dallin has been so scared (and excited all at the same time) to take part in the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland. Over the past couple of years, we have sat in the audience of this Star Wars show where they take volunteer kids from the audience to learn the ways of the force and then duel with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Each time we try, Dallin decides that the "Darths" are much too real and much too scary to fight.

This past week, however, he overcame his fear and did it! We arrived at the show early to get good seats, he sat and waited anxiously in his Star Wars shirt and eventually was chosen to take part and become a Jedi. He was in boy heaven. First he went through lightsaber training and then used his new knowledge to fight DARTH VADER...

He is so proud to officially be a Jedi and has even taught some of his little buddies the ways of a Jedi in our backyard... oh yeah, he's that ligit. Such a fun memory and experience for my happy little Star Wars fan.

Random side note: one of the Jedi trainers was a girl that I went to high school with in Washington. Crazy, huh!

Dancing Date

Tonight goes down in history as being one of the most fun evenings ever! I went on a date with my "little" boy, Dallin, and we had some serious fun.

We started the evening with some dinner at the Olive Garden... Dallin's all-time favorite restaurant due to their Zuppa Toscana soup and breadsticks. Dinner was full of wonderful conversation, the 20 questions game and some creative art made with Bendaroos.

We then headed to Dallin's elementary school for a mother/son dance. The theme was sports based playing on the idea that moms are our son's #1 fans (hence the soccer jerseys). We had our pictures "professionally" taken in the library and then jetted out the door to get our groove on in the cafeteria. We had a BLAST!! The DJ was fabulous and Dallin was in his dancing zone... we got our crazy groove on. We were hot, sweaty and in Mom/Dallin heaven.

At the end of the dance, the DJ played a slow song. I got on my knees, Dallin put his cute hand on my shoulder and the other hand in mine. We danced, he smiled, I smiled even bigger, he kissed me on the cheek and I knew that moment would forever be with me. I don't know how long Dallin will think I am the coolest, but tonight I made him promise me that he will always dance with me no matter how uncool I become.

After the dance, we decided to get some incredible dessert... Dallin chose The Melting Pot. He has never been there, but all I had to say was "strawberries to dip in melted chocolate" and he was sold. It was another special moment on one of the most special dates.

The elementary school puts this dance on every year and I think that next year's dance date has a lot to live up to. Thank you Dallin for making me the most happy mom around... I am most definitely your #1 fan.

Tiny Tooth

Hi! This is Spencer.

I just grew my first tooth!
Wish me luck on the others.

p.s. this is not a picture of me

Just for the record, I grew another one the very next day!

Bus Buddy

The other day, Dallin went on his very first school field trip.

On the bus ride home, he was apparently very tired and ended up falling asleep on his buddy, Gavin's shoulder. He slept there the whole ride home. The only thing his sweet little friend Gavin had to say was that Dallin's hair tickled his neck. What a great buddy... I am so grateful that my son has such wonderful friends.

Heavenly Hike

Every Wednesday, Dallin's elementary school has modified day (they get out at 1:15 as opposed to 3:25). A group of us moms decided to take turns each Wednesday hosting the Kindergartners, doing something fun. My first week "hosting" these cute Kindergartners, I let them run around the backyard and we did a Valentine's Day craft... it was all actually quite a disaster. The combo of all the kids, my whining 3 year old, a screaming baby, and my rapidly deteroriating house was enough to put me over the edge. I decided for my next hosting week, I would get out of the house and let the kids run free.

We went to this great hiking spot about 10 minutes away called Santa Rosa's Plateau. It has a trail that my little ones love. The kids were fabulous and we all had the best time. Here are the Kindergartners and some memories from our super-fun hike:

The Boys (Dallin and Jake)...

The Girls (Avery and Ella)...

The Happiest Tag-Along (Claire)...

One of the many bridges we crossed (we even saw "troll" tracks underneath the bridge)

The break/snack rock...


The fun climbing rocks...


Wonderful, sweet, happy, and silly hiking buddies...


Guess what we have planned for our next Wednesday activity? The vote was unanimous while we got milkshakes on our drive home...

HIKING!!!

Hinckley House

We had a house full of Hinckleys over President's Day weekend and it was wonderful! The Hinckley clan consisted of my parents (Papa and Nana), my brother Dave and his wife Erin, and my sister Jen. My sweet mom flew in on Tuesday to help me survive the week and can I just say that an extra set of mother's hands is heaven.

Dave, Erin and Jen drove in from Provo late Friday night and my Dad flew in from Seattle on Saturday night. It rained the majority of the weekend (and of course stopped the moment everyone left), but we had fun none-the-less. Here are some highlights:

GAMES...


VALENTINES DAY (lunch at Harry's Pacific Grill, St. Valentine ding dong ditch)...


LOTS OF SNUGGLES...


BOWLING...


DANCING...


SAD GOODBYES...

What a wonderful weekend and oh, how we miss having a house full of Hinckleys!

Mane Massacre

There is always a great debate in my head that goes something like this:
"Do I vacuum the upstairs and let my baby scream his head off, or do I hold my little one while walking across a potato chip, lint thriving floor?"
Hindsight is 20/20, but this past Sunday I should have asked myself this question...
"Do I stay here and finish the dishes, or should I wonder why my 3 year old is silent in the next room with a pair of scissors?"
Unfortunately, I didn't catch the scenario until my sweet little golden-haired girl quickly put the mommy-scissors back in the drawer and stood in front of it, guarding it with incredible guilt in her eyes. It wasn't her eyes, however that caught my focus... it was her unevenly massacred hair. Claire had some yogurt with her dinner, got some in her hair and decided the most efficient way to get it out was to simply chop it out of her hair.

Where did I go wrong? Don't we take enough baths to know that washing your hair is the best remedy for sticky-yogurt hair? I am taking her in tomorrow to get her hair fixed and she is scared that she will look like a boy... she might. Goodbye beautiful goldie-locks... please come back soon (and steer clear of any yogurt)!!!

Here is Claire's new hairdo, chopped short with layers on "the side" and she is thrilled that she didn't come out looking like a boy.

Talent Time

This past Friday was our ward's 2nd annual primary talent show. If you were not fortunate enough to see Dallin break dancing in last year's talent show, sneak-a-peek in our blog archives under February 2008 (Napoleon Dallinite).

To keep with tradition, Dallin and Claire danced... interpretive danced, that is. Dallin and I choreographed this number together and Claire learned it through osmosis (osmosis releases energy and can be made to do work... that's Claire). We hope you enjoy watching them (as well as a few other kids from our ward that apparently wanted in on the act). This one's for you Aunt Jen, my original interpretive dance partner...

(push pause on our playlist at the bottom of our blog to hear the video music)


Dallin also performed in the talent show with two of his buddies, Ethan and Blake Lowe. We spent the past couple of days teaching them the choreography (after quite a bit of "Thriller" research). Here is a cute little boy tribute to Michael Jackson...



See ya next year!

Radical Robot

This is a "Claire creation" made while I was blogging. She pulled down our binder of kid DVD's and started removing them and organizing them into this creative shape. All of a sudden I hear:

"Mom, look what I made... it's a robot!"

Super-cool robot, Claire...
now go put all of those scratched DVD's away. :)