The Kincher Family

Boomers and Dinner

2011-10-31T16:29:00.000-05:00

Our last day in Santa Maria we went to Boomers with Dad and Cat, basically it's like anyother miniature golf/go-cart place. We had a great time in the arcade, Dad and Cat played air hockey and skeetball while we took Rachel to do some of the "kiddy" games. Then we tricked Dad and Cat to go out on the water bumper cars. They had a great time getting eachother soaked and Rachel loved it!! Afterwards, we went to dinner at Cool Hand Luke's with Dad, Cat, Brad and Jessica. We had a great time!! Thanks Dad and Cat!!

Beach Day

2011-10-31T16:12:00.000-05:00

After the 4th we decided to spend the day at Avila Beach!! Rachel LOVES the beach!! She had a great time playing in the sand and burying Mark and being buried herself!! She loved playing in the water! I wish my video would download of her playing in the waves!! Also, on this fine occasion, Mark thought that it would be a good idea to swim alllllllllllllllllllll the way out to the bouy and back!! Seriously!?! And I was stupid enough to go along with him!! It took us what felt like 20 years to get there and on the way back I was sooooo tired!! My Dad thought he was funny and gave us a whole $1 for doing it, worth at least $20 next time!! We had an awesome time!!

4th of July 2011

2011-10-31T16:03:00.000-05:00

We had an awesome 4th of July at Pismo Beach this year. Thanks to my brother's wonderful girlfriend Jessica and her family!! We had a BBQ and did fireworks with the kids. Rachel had a great time playing with Jessica's nephews, especially Jamison. It was great to watch 4th of July fireworks from the pier! We love the 4th of July and we LOVE the USA!!!

Good Times

2011-10-31T15:39:00.000-05:00

While in Santa Maria we spent some good times with some great friends! Carolyn, Rick and the boys!! Always a blast!! Thanks for everything guys!! And thank you for spoiling Rachel with a ridiculous amount of everything she could possibly be spoiled with!! We love you guys!!

California Family

2011-10-31T15:33:00.000-05:00

We went back to Santa Maria after our awesome time at Disneyland/California Adventure (thank you Dad and Cat). We were able to hang out with Mom and Frank and take Rachel to Waller Park. That's always fun because it's the park that I grew up playing at! We also went with Dad and Cat to another park in Orcutt where we had taken Rachel last year. It's fun to see how much she has grown, she did the monkey bars for the first time all by herself! We also made it up to Aunt Su's in AG for a family BBQ and of course poker! It was really cute when we saw CeCe reading to Rachel, just like how Amy use to read to me when we were little. And I had to add the little picture of Rachel with "Silly Goofy" (which is what she calls my Dad) coloring one morning.

2011-07-12T03:31:00.001-05:00

We took Rachel to Disneyland for the first time with my Dad and Cat, who Rachel calls "Silly Goofy and Grandma Cat". We had an amazing time! We went on every ride she wanted to go on. She was great about being patient and waiting her turn in line. She loved the fireworks and the rides. She loved the tea cups, the rides and the shows. This is just one of at least 3 total posts from Disneyland. I am so excited she was able to enjoy this so much. She yelled out at the end of the day her favorite quote from the movie Tangled, " BEST DAY EVER!!!" We are so lucky to have such an amazing little girl!!

California Adventure

2011-07-12T02:36:00.000-05:00

We were so excited to take Rachel to Disneyland for the first time. We started by taking her to California Adventure and she had a wonderful time! I couldn't believe how happy she was to wait in line and be patient to ride the rides. We went on everything!! She loved it and it was amazing!! She was picked to go up and help with the "Superheros of Tomorrow" and the Incredibles. She had fun and she loved waving to us, but she was really nervous and she got really shy, it was cute. She was able to meet Mickey and Minnie, Sully, Mr. Incredible and Frozone, Lightning McQueen and Mater and Hopper from Bugs Life. We went to the Aladdin show, a mini broadway play and watched the 3D interactive movie in Bugs Life, she loved it! She was wonderful all day and she didn't even have a nap. On the way back to the hotel she crashed!! The best part is that her little umbrella stroller that we got specifically for this trip was a little short for her so her head hung out the top!! Dad and Cat met us that night for dinner at the ESPN in Disneyland before we headed back to the World of Color at California Adventure. It was amazing and Rachel had a wonderful time, so did we!!

Phoenix, AZ

2011-07-12T01:54:00.000-05:00

Driving to Arizona we stopped at the Continental Divide, which was really not that exciting, but memorable. We were in Phoenix, AZ for 5 days and 4 nights. Mark had meetings for work and Rachel and I spent time with my grandparents. Rachel and I drove over to Nana and Granddaddy's house and went swimming and to Peter Piper's Pizza. It was basically like a Chuck E. Cheese, but with great pizza! Rachel played all the games and won more than 730 tickets. She won the jackpot at every game she played! I have never seen anyone win so many tickets in such a short period of time. She insisted on playing the Terminator game and shooting the bad guys with the giant machine gun and going on the carousel (5 times). Rachel and I were able to spend a lot of time at the pool while Mark was in meetings. They had 3 pools and a lazy river and a water slide and we took complete advantage of it!! I took her to the Phoenix Science Museum and we spent all day there. It was a lot of fun and she was even chosen to help at one of the shows! On Saturday we were able to go to dinner wtih my grandparents in Mesa, AZ called Organ Pizza. It is an amazing place where they have the largest organ in the United States. I will try to post a video of it soon. It was pretty amazing all of the different instruments that the organ controlled! We had a great time with my grandparents. The vacation has been great so far!

WCWS 2011

2011-07-01T02:15:00.000-05:00

From June 2-June 8 we were lucky enough to have family come to OKC for a week for the Women's College World Series. Grandma, Aunt Su and Aunt Tommi came to OKC and we had a BLAST! We watched the WCWS from behind the home plate and it was awesome! We shopped and played and goofed around and laughed and ate, it was wonderful! Aunt Su and Aunt Tommi were even able to come see Rachel at her gymnastics class! We played "dress up" at Bass Pro Shop and enjoyed goofing around while managing to not get kicked out! We made sure to go to Cheesecake Factory and get the best cheesecakes! We had so much fun just having girl time! I am so glad I was able to be a part of everything this year and that Rachel and Mark were able to come to a couple of games too!!

Rachel's 3rd Birthday

2011-06-26T02:15:00.000-05:00

This year for Rachel's 3rd Birthday, we had a backyard BBQ at the Walker's house. (We don't have a backyard and it poured the night before. So, the family that I nanny for let us use thier backyard. THANK YOU WALKERS)!! I made Rachel's cake, which until April was suppose to be a Hello Kitty cake until she decided that she NEEDED a Rapunzel cake, AWESOME!! I was going to do one of those barbie cakes where you just stick a barbie in the cake and then decorate it, but I thought with all the little kids a cupcake cake would be much easier! I got the idea from another blog I saw online while Mark and I were trying to plan her party. And thanks to our friend Becky for the idea of the Pascal cupcakes!! We spent too much time and effort on this 3 year old party for sure! We made Pascal party blowers and Mark made a "Pin the nose on Flynn Ryder" poster and then little ovals for all the kids to make thier own noses and paste them on. Then Mark thought of putting all of the beads for the Rapunzel necklaces into frying pans, pretty cleaver! All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and the families too! I hope they really did. I know Rachel loved having all of her friends at her party, so did we.

We also went as a family for her birthday to a place called Dynamo Gymnastics. They have this really fun little obstacle course for the kids and it's only $5/2 hours and adults are free! We ran and jumped and played for about 90 minutes and then we were exhausted! Rachel really had a great time and it is a place we will go back to for sure! After she wanted to go to "Cheesecake", which is the Cheesecake Factory, obviously we said yes! We had a great time there and she loved that they all came and sang to her.

I can hardly believe she is 3 years old! What a beautiful little girl she has become. We are so lucky to have her. She brings so much joy and laughter into our lives. Lately, when she has been a little too crazy and she can see that she's about to get into trouble for something, she will stop and come up to one of us and snuggle and then say "I love you soooooooooooooo much!" Oh yeah, she works it. We are suckers and she knows it! I am so excited to see what we are in for in this next year with her.

Pops

2011-06-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from one of our favorite places in Oklahoma. It's called Pops and it has more than 500 flavors of bottled soda. Everything you can think of, they have it. From all over the world. From floor to ceiling and in 8 coolers Pops is covered in different flavors and colors of soda bottles. (Brilliantly the ones on the windows are glued down and not for sale, because my child, like many others I'm sure would break many of those glasses). We have been here for both breakfast and dinner, the food is great and reasonably priced. It is also a working gas station, which is great for the buses carrying loads of people who come in and buy tons of bottled soda! If you are ever in OKC we will be happy to take you!

8 years

2011-06-24T02:57:00.000-05:00

Gymnastics 2011

2011-06-24T02:30:00.001-05:00

Prague Kolache Festival

2011-06-24T02:10:00.000-05:00

We were able to go to a parade and festival about an hour away from our house in Prague, OK in April. We had fun and enjoyed our extra long corndogs and the Polish Dancing. Rachel insisted on taking a picture with this year's queen. She also had fun playing on the one playground in the whole town. We had a great time and after, of course, we went to the zoo.

2011-06-24T01:57:00.000-05:00

Most Days....

2011-06-24T01:26:00.000-05:00

I know that this is way behind, but I really wanted to post Easter pictures. Rachel had a really GREAT time this year coloring eggs and going on the Easter Egg hunt. Unfortunately, Mark was not home for Easter because the hockey team played in Hamilton, Ontario for a playoff game. Yes, that's right, on Easter Sunday. (Also annoying, they lost that game and that ended their playoff run for the year). But he was home to color Easter Eggs and Rachel had a great time doing that with him, so life is good.

Day One Cadillac Ranch TX

2011-06-22T01:38:00.001-05:00

On our first day of the road trip we stopped in Texas at the "Cadillac Ranch". It is 10 cars buried 1/2 way in the ground to show the different fins on the Cadillac car. We found some spray paint and went to town. We got in the cars and had a great break after driving for 5 hours. Rachel loved that she got paint on her hand just like Mark and I. It was so fun to watch her light up as we spray painted her name on the cars. These are the moments that I hope she will always remember. And it is just the beginning of the trip!!

I loved this picture and thought I should share it with all of you!

Day 1- OK to TX and NM

2011-06-22T00:49:00.001-05:00

Carefree!

2010-12-15T14:31:00.001-06:00

Nothing better than being 2 years old and carefree!

OU Football Game

2010-12-12T22:15:00.002-06:00

We recently went to an OU Football game with the team, the Barons. It was a great time getting to know the guys and thier families better. We were all dressed in our red, I'm pretty sure we would have been beaten up if we wore anyother color! People are crazy down there!! Parked out in the parking lot as soon as the sunrises. They have anything and everything OU that you could imagine! We had a great time and enjoyed hanging out with the Gerber family especially. Rachel loved the football game, and we stood almost the whole game. It's just the thing to do there, no one sits, it's crazy! Rachel really liked yelling, "Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo-U!" everytime we kicked off, and chanting "O-U! O-U! O-U! O-U! O-U! O-U!" We had a great time and are really looking forward to going again next year!

Oklahoma City Memorial

2010-12-12T21:36:00.003-06:00

We had a rare free Saturday with Mark and decided to go to the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. It was very surreal. Where the reflection pool is, use to be a main street downtown and all of the chairs represent the lives lost during the bombing, the small chairs are for the children. Behind them is part of the actual building that fell, reebar and all, to help everyone remember all that was lost on that tragic day. The tree is a thank you to all those who helped in the aftermath, around it reads, " To the Courageous and Caring who Responded from Near and Far". There are two black walls, one on each side of the reflection pool, one reads 9:01 for the time that the city was last "itself" and the other reads 9:03, the time of the bombing.

Oklahoma City Zoo and Science Museum

2010-12-12T21:05:00.003-06:00

We got a yearly zoo pass and love taking Rachel to the zoo! She loves feeding the parakeets and looking at the Grizzly Bears and Gorillas! It is open year around so we try to take advantage of the warm days in winter and take her there too. (Which is conveniently located in the same parking lot as the science museum).

Rachel LOVES the Science Museum here and we love taking her! It is so much fun that we forget to get the camera out half the time. We've decided that we need to go on a date there one time, there is just so much to do and Rachel's little 2 1/2 year old attention span is just not enough to let us finish playing while we're there. We were lucky enough to get a pass for 60% off, thanks to Groupon!! She loves playing in the "Tree House" and with the airplanes, especially the marbles and the toy cars. We have literally spent an entire day there before and we still have to "drag" her out! Come visit and we'll take you too, it's great!!

Carrie Underwood Concert

2010-12-12T20:33:00.005-06:00

Mark and I were able to go to the Carrie Underwood Concert in October. Very last minute and thanks to some wonderful friend we were able to leave Rachel AT HOME! We had a great time on our date and she was a great concert! She even came out in a truck that "flew" over the crowd and sang a song, it was a wonderful time! I love when Mark and I get to have our "dates".

Cows

2010-12-12T20:25:00.000-06:00

Rachel's decision for being a cow may have been a little bias, once she saw that I had a cow costume! She awkwardly pulled on my utters all night at the church's trunk or treat too!!

More Halloween Fun

2010-12-12T20:23:00.000-06:00

Rachel and I went to downtown Edmond on the 30th for their halloween party. Everytime I told Rachel to smile for the camera she would turn and say, "MOOOOOOO! I'm a cow Mommy!" She was absolutely thrilled that there was another cow at the party. And everytime we drive by a Chick-Fil-A now, she says, "Look!(while pointing) Eat More Chicken!" I was even super nice and let her have a candy of her choice and of course she picked the bright blue sucker. Which she was proud to show her tongue off to anyone who would look at it! It was great and she got waaaaaayyyyyyy too much candy, most of which has gone to my thighs!

Halloween 2010

2010-12-12T20:20:00.002-06:00

We were able to go to Edmond, Oklahoma for Halloween with the family. We had a great time going through their "haunted forest" where they had the theme "Once upon a time" and they had different mother goose stories where they handed out candy to the kids. There were so many stories, The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, Humpty Dumpty, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Sword and the Stone and so many others. She loved being a COW for Halloween, completely her choice! At the end of the trail there was an open area for the kids to play games and meet a couple of characters. She threw a bean bag through a hole and won some purple vampire teeth. She loves wearing them and "scaring us". We had such a great time and we are so glad Mark was there to enjoy it with us!!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-11-30T11:30:00.000-06:00

I couldn't get this one to post before and I just love her little voice! I hope you all had a good 4th of July...we did!

Cocroaches

2010-11-25T15:16:00.005-06:00

While in California, we had a girls night with Auntie Jessie. She made us an amazing chicken dinner, it was so much fun to hang out with her!! I wish I would have taken a picture of all of us eating, but of course I did not. What I do have is this video of Jessica and Rachel looking at the roaches that she and Brad feed to their chameleons. Rachel really wanted to play with them, so Mom, Jess and I got a good laugh out of it! Enjoy!

Chuck E. Cheese

2010-11-25T15:07:00.001-06:00

Where a kid can be a kid!! Carolyn has every other Friday off and decided that on this Friday Rachel should experience Chuck E. Cheese first hand, so we went. Rachel loved when Chuck E. Cheese came out to take pictures! She also loved this ridiculous "sit in a chair and spin around" ride. Literally, that's what you did, sat (buckled in of course) and rode in a really slow circle...then you paid another token ($1) to do it again. She also went in the car with Barney like 50xs, although she's never actually seen that show and has no idea who he is she really enjoyed that as well. Ethan and his friend Nick came along and were happy to entertain Rachel. She enjoyed the super slow horse ride much more than they did. But the trip was for her, right?!? Ethan did have fun climbing in the tubs with her and pretending he was a gorilla trapped in a cage! This was a ton of fun and everytime we go by a Chuck E. Cheese's, Rachel wants to go!

Paso Fair

2010-11-25T15:00:00.001-06:00

Rachel and I had so much fun when we went to the Paso Fair with Dad and Cat! Rachel loved seeing all the animals, the snake, the sheep, the goat, the horses and feeding the cows! We even made sure to get some ice cream while we were there! Rachel loved that part too, of course. And when all of her ice cream was gone she thought that it was only fair if Grandpa shared with her too! It was a blast and we're so grateful that we were all able to go!!

Fun Times with Carolyn and the boys

2010-11-25T14:49:00.002-06:00

Rachel loved playing at Carolyn's when we were there and I loved enjoying the time "off"! Rachel was completely entertained while we were there!! She loved playing in the cars and getting her nails painted with Carolyn and the boys loved playing with her until they all got worn out! We were even able to go to the pool one day with Rick and the boys in Lompoc. It was a really neat pool, all indoors, nice warm water and tons of fun things for Rachel to play with, on and in! After we went to eat at an awesome little pizza place, that has the best bread sticks in the world! Although I cannot remember the name of the place, it's amazing!!

Family and Friends in Cali

2010-11-25T14:48:00.001-06:00

We had a lot of fun while we were in California too! We spent time with Rachel's new friend, known as "The Other Lilly", Brad, Carolyn, Wes and Ethan, and the parents. We played in the pool, at the beach, on the slides and just hung out at home! It was so much fun!!

Playing with Grandpa and Gracie

2010-11-25T14:47:00.001-06:00

Rachel LOVES dogs, as most kids do, but she really loved playing with Gracie! Gracie loves to play tug-a-war and hide-and-go-seek, so they were a perfect match! Dad and I had a blast watching these two play together! I have a cute video of Rachel and Gracie playing tug-o-war, but I can't get it to load, so these will have to do! I love Rachel and Dad's "Cheese" faces!!!

Making a Stepping Stone with Grandma Cat

2010-11-25T14:46:00.003-06:00

We were able to making a stepping stone with Grandma Cat! I helped Rachel make a couple of these in Utah for the traditional "grandkid garden" for Granny and one for Auntie Peaches. But, Grandma Cat, being the fun lady that she is decided that because Rachel loves green so much that we should do a green stepping stone, so she dyed the cement green! We picked out some really cute little beads and some stone and put them in the stone! Grandpa loved the stone and it looks great in their garden. It was such a fun project and Rachel loved it! We can't wait for what project Grandma Cat wants to do next time!!

Grandpa and Gramdma Cat

2010-11-25T14:46:00.002-06:00

It was really great to spend some time with Dad and Cat while we were home! Rachel loved playing at the park and Grandpa and Grandma Cat loved anything she wanted to do. They were so wonderful with her. We went to the park and for a walk around the park and then we went to the beach and the art fair. Rachel loved playing in the dinosaur park and in the big egg. At the beach Grandma Cat found a old fish skeleton and Rachel wanted to take it home. Again, I am so glad that Rachel loves the beach as much as me! She's going to love it even more the older she gets! And with this family, the beach is a must!

Family Time in Cali

2010-11-25T14:44:00.001-06:00

We were able to spend some time with the extended family while we were in town too, which was wonderful! Rachel and I rode bikes one day to Avila Beach with Aunt Su. We played in the water, made a sand castle and then even got some ice cream! Rachel loves the beach, I can't wait to teach her how to surf! I did take her boogie boarding and she went out in the cold Pismo Beach until her chest, then I put her on the board and she rode it all the way into shore! I was so proud of her and she kept telling everyone about it, "...all by MYSELF!" We had a BBQ at Aunt Su and Mitch's house later that day with Randi, Amy, CeCe, Cahill and Logan. We made sure to all admire Uncle Mitch's new pond that he built and he made sure to point things out to Rachel! It was so great to see everyone and let Rachel get reaquainted with everyone.

Later we went to see Brad and Jessica at thier place. Rachel loved playing with "Lenny", Brad's camilian and making sure that no one touched "Angry Man", Jessica's camilian, because "Angry Man bites!" It was so good to spend time with them. I know they are super busy, so we were glad they were able to spend time with us!

After Surgery

2010-11-25T14:40:00.002-06:00

The day we got home from the hospital Mom was so much easier than any of us expected. We had the hardest time trying to get Mom to just stay still! She just wanted to play with Rachel and run around, when she should have been doing nothing but laying down and sleeping! So I finally gave in and we went the 1/2 mile down the road to Waller Park for a picnic. It was so fun taking Rachel to the park that I spent so much time at when I was a kid. We brought a whole loaf of bread and she loved feeding the ducks. But she was not expecting the "Waller Park Ducks" which are the ducks that run right up to you and will literally grab the bread out of your hand if you do not feed them fast enough! She got so mad at one of the ducks for eating her bread that she threw her sunglasses at it! Unfortunately for her she threw them at the ducks in the pond and lost them! She told me to go in the water and get them, and I just laughed at her! She loved going on the swings and having Nana Ging push her!

We had such an amazing time with her in California. We are so grateful that we were able to come see her and spend some time with her during this time. She and Frank spoiled us with everything...DVDs, clothes, food, bubbles, a giant pool for Rachel, etc. and we used the truck the whole time we were there! Thank you Frank! We miss you guys!

Surgery

2010-11-25T14:39:00.001-06:00

Mom had surgery in Santa Barbara and the whole family was there...Me and Rachel (of course), Brad, Nana and Granddaddy, Chris, Tricia and Frank. Rachel really enjoyed "helping" Nana Ging and the nurses prep for surgery. After surgery we were able to go see Mom and she looked GREAT! (Unfortunately they wouldn't let Rachel come see her because she was too young to be in the ICU and she was devistated! Thank goodness for the family, who kept her entertained while Brad and I got to go back and see her)! The tumor was much much smaller this time. (Last time it was the size of the palm of your hand and this time is was only the size of the tip of your pinkie)! During the couple of days in recovery the family made sure to make Mom laugh and smile and we even went for a walk with Mom. Rachel and I passed some time by swimming in the pool at the hotel. You can only contain a 2 year old to a quiet hospital room for so long before she needs to let out her energy! We are so grateful that the surgery went so well. The night after the surgery the rest of us went out for dinner and Rachel HAD TO play in the water fountain, so of course Uncle Chris joined right in with the fun!! We're so grateful to have been able to be with Mom for the surgery and that she is doing so well!

Before surgery!

2010-11-25T14:34:00.003-06:00

Rachel and I were able to go to California in July for 3 weeks to spend some time with my Mom before her surgery. She had another brain tumor, luckily it was smaller than the first one! Before the surgery we spent some good time with her at the beach and with all the family that came to visit in Santa Barbara before the surgery. Rachel loves the water and had a great time playing with Nana Ging.

Kincher Family 2010

2010-11-10T23:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks again to our wonderful friend Kami, here are our 2010 Family Pictures. It is so nice to have Rachel's birthday at the same time as our anniversary. That way we get family pictures and Rachel's yearly pictures take at the same time. Hopefully our next kids follow suit. These are only some of our favorite pictures... and we chose 11 of them to post on here. We hope you enjoy them too!

Nauvoo

2010-11-10T22:41:00.001-06:00

Again this year we were lucky enough to go to the Nauvoo pagent. This year we even had two friends in the pagent! We decided to spend the night and just sleep in the car, BAD idea! It of course was a record breaking heat wave while we were in town, the heat index was at 114* during the day, the humidity alone was killing us. We slept in the car for about 20 minutes before sweating to death, then we moved into the tent with our friends Andy and Allena (who were in the pagent). And if you look closely to the picture of all of us in the tent, yes, that is a fan in the background, it was plugged in and blasting full speed all through the night and it was still hot!! The next morning when we went to get dressed and ready, I realized that I had forgotten to put Rachel's clothes in the overnight bag, I got them out and ready, I just didn't pack them! Good thing she's so tall, she just borrowed a dress from Allena! We went on a covered wagon ride, let Mark pull us in a hand cart, walked on stilts, played backwards baseball, went to the Red Brick House, saw Joseph Smith Jr.'s house and the grave sight of him, his wife and brother. It was a wonderful experience and if you have never been to the Nauvoo pagent, I strongly urge you to go!! I have seen it 3 times now and I ball my eyes out everytime! Uncontrollably, and you all know that I am not a crier!! The Spirit is strong there...it is wonderful!

4th of July

2010-11-10T22:14:00.000-06:00

Okay so here are the 4th of July pictures from this year. We went to a wonderful concert in the park with our friends Julie Steinberg (as Rachel likes to call her "My Julie") and Marilyn Mapes. We had a couple of friends in the concert so it was very exciting to watch. Rachel made sure to sing along as they sang the Star Spangled Banner, it is one of her favorite songs. She knows all of the words, she should she has heard the song about a million times with all the hockey and baseball games that she has been to, she even hold her hand on her heart and stays quiet! It's so cute!! After we went to the Ringers house and the Jacksons joined us as we all went over to watch the fireworks on the top of a hill. We then came back for root beer floats and sparklers for the kids. We had a wonderful 4th of July. God Bless America!!

Utah in June

2010-11-10T22:05:00.001-06:00

So this summer we were lucky enough to go back home in June, even though Mark actually had a summer job working for the Normal Cornbelters professional baseball team. We spent a lot of time with the family. We were able to go the the Salt Lake Temple and do baptisms with Leslie. It was a wonderful experience and it was the first time that Mark and Leslie had ever been to the Temple together. Rachel jumped on the "jumpaline" with Papa Ron and played with play-doh with Ron and Kim. (It does make more sense to call it a Jumpaline, we are jumping. Who's idea was it to call it a Trampoline? That doesn't even make sense, we're not Tramping on it). We were able to go to Aspen's 6th Birthday (we missed being at 2-5). Went to the Gateway with Leslie and Jeremy and took the kids to see Toy Story 3, then we let them play in the fountain. And of course we worked on the house...a never ending job as a home owner. Even if you don't live in your home! It was a great time and we were so blessed to see everyone!

Fire Station Bloomington, IL

2010-11-10T21:55:00.000-06:00

It was so nice to know the fire captain in Bloomington, Bro. Leman, what a great guy! We were able to go to the station and see ALL of the fire trucks! Rachel loved it and had the best time. We could hardly get her to leave with us! She wanted to drive every truck. She even convinced Mark to put on this rather attractive plastic fireman's hat. She loves her Daddy and she is such a Daddy's girl!

Children's Museum-Bloomington

2010-11-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

Rachel loves to play at the children's museum with her friends. She loves driving the tractor and smashing her face in this giant...thing that you put your face/hand/body into and leave your impression. This cute little girl with Rachel is Chloe, her friend from Bloomington. I came across these pictures and wanted to post them, because I meant to months ago. We sure do miss them!

Harlem Globe Trotters

2010-11-06T16:56:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the Harlem Globe Trotters in Bloomington. We had such a great time. Rachel loved watching the "basketball guys" do tricks and dunk the ball. She's really loves sports, so it always makes it fun to take her to something like this!

Rachel's 2nd Birthday

2010-11-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

Here is another picture of Rachel and Mark from her birthday when she got her free balloon at Toys R Us. She has such a great day. We had pancakes for breakfast, upon request of course and went swimming the rest of the day.

Rachel's 2nd Birthday

2010-11-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from Rachel's 2nd Birthday. We had a great party in the park with lost of friends. I made her an Elmo cake to dig into and Elmo cupcakes for her friends. We also went to dinner as a family on her birthday, she loved her ice cream!

Sorry

2010-11-04T00:29:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I have been terrible about updating the blog...to say the least! But I promise to do at least...2 updates a week from now on! We do have some really fun times in the Kincher house and I owe it to our families and friends to post them. We wish you could all be closer, but now maybe you can at least feel closer. Start looking for new posts starting tomorrow!

Corny

2010-07-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

This is the mascot for the Normal Cornbelters baseball team that I am working for this summer. Every time Rachel comes to see me she has to find Corny.

Lesson on sharing!

2010-07-23T19:59:00.003-05:00

This was so funny that we had to get the camera and record it. Its too bad that we did not know what Rachel was going to say otherwise we would have gotten it the first time. Atleast she kind of understands the concept. Amber made us lunch, I was busy doing something so Rachel started eating. When I got to the table this is what I found on my plate.

Diving Board

2010-07-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

We took Rachel to the pool, and she decided that she wanted to jump off the diving board. She has no fear of water. Enjoy.

Chicago

2010-05-15T09:28:00.002-05:00

Last week we were able to go to Chicago for a Cubs game and dinner for our anniversary! We found tickets on Stubhub.com for $3.99 each!! :) We got hotel room in the Hilton Garden Inn and we had gift card to Fogo de Chao!! The hotel room had 2 queen beds, so Rachel got a bed all to herself! And still managed to fall out in the middle of the night...without waking up! We had a great time at the baseball game!! The Cubs lost, but Fukadome hit a Grand Slam and Rachel LOVED all the excitement!! After the game we got Rachel another autograph for her hat, from another pitcher, Russell #40. Dinner at Fogo de Chao was AMAZING! We ate sooooo much amazing steak and ribs and meat. Rachel loved that they kept making her whatever she wanted, banana/strawberry platefuls, broccoli salad and some sweet dessert thing that looked like French Toast without syrup. After we stuffed ourselves we had dessert too! Mark had some homemade ice cream/sorbet with berries and I had the turtle cheesecake. I was so stuffed from all the good food before dessert I didn't even finish my cheesecake!!! But we did get them to take this awesome shot of the three of us before we left. We had such a great time!!!

I can hardly believe it's been 7 years! We have lived in 5 states and 4 time zones and loved it! We have been so blessed to see so much and meet so many wonderful people that we are still friends with, and always will be. I couldn't imagine my life any other way, I know I could never be this happy if it weren't for Mark and the wonderful person he is! He makes me want to be a better person everyday, I am so blessed that he is mine for eternity!! I love you more than words could ever express!! And our beautiful little girl, I don't even know where to start. We are so blessed to have her and her wonderful personality and amazing joy for life! We are blessed, so very blessed!

More Paxton

2010-05-14T18:20:00.003-05:00

A couple of pictures of family time while Uncle Mitch was working. We nice long bike ride, again in the middle of nowhere, that Rachel loved! She LOVES bike riding!! She calls the seat on the back (or the trailer we pull), "her bike". We went to visit the horses and by the time we got back to the car she was out cold! And her new favorite pose is putting both arms around us and making us look at the camera and telling us to say "Cheese"!!

Paxton, IL

2010-05-14T18:01:00.004-05:00

My Uncle Mitch ended up taking a business trip to Paxton, IL...which ends up being only 45 min from Bloomington. We had a great time at the playground with him. (Not much to do in Paxton). And a wonderful pizza dinner to top off the night! Can't wait to see you again soon Unlce Mitch!

Snowball Fight

2010-02-02T22:28:00.003-06:00

While I was working a couple of weeks ago, Lillie, Owen and Rachel decided that we should have a snowball fight. I played fair and made sure I hit them all in the head with the snow! Here's the evidence!! Afterwards we went inside for hot chocolate...of course.

Decorating the Tree

2010-01-08T01:19:00.002-06:00

Rachel was so excited to put the tree up. And yes, we're the terrible people who have a fake tree, which I swore I'd never have...oh well. We had no where to get ornaments this year (again) so back to the mall we went. Luckily Rachel is crazy into Elmo and we were able to find her an Elmo ornament for this year and then our family one, of course. After putting the tree together she insisted on giving the tree kisses. She loves Mark's train and the "Santa hat" just not wearing the hat. The picture was taken right after I told her to smile, in which she responded, "NO." And yes, she usually wakes up with "pretty hair".

SNOWDAY!!!

2010-01-08T00:43:00.004-06:00

So we got about 8" of snow last night and Mark was able to come home early so we all went out to play in the snow. It was actually the first time that Mark has ever been able to play in the snow with Rachel. We had a great time, but Rachel was bummed that we weren't able to build a snowman (the snow was to fluffy). I can't wait til the store has more sleds and we can take her sledding!!!

I am fully aware that Rachel's eyes are closed in the picture of her and I, but Mark took 3 pictures and her eyes are closed in all 3, so I chose the one that I look best in!

Presents

2010-01-07T23:56:00.010-06:00

We were so excited for this Christmas because Rachel would really be able to enjoy it, and she did!! Every new thing she opened ("Rip It!!!") she wanted to stop opening presents and start playing with that toy or book or clothes immediately. Every person we talked to on the phone on Christmas morning was "shown" the kitchen!! Rachel would literally take the phone from us and go in her room and point it toward this kitchen so they could "see" it too! Needless to say she loves her kitchen and we love that we get to help her put all the pieces back in the cupboard and in her box of food all the time! Yeah...fun!! Notice her adorable apron and that I have a matching one...yeah, again Mark is AMAZING!! He also made her a fitted and flat sheet with a matching pillow! They're adorable and she loves them! Pictures to follow soon! She loved it all and she made sure to say "Thank you" after each present and she even gave me a huge hug after we were done opening. It was so sweet!

She was so spoiled!! Thank you to all who needlessly spoiled our little girl.

Cookies for Santa

2010-01-07T23:05:00.004-06:00

Rachel was so excited to make and then pick out cookies for Santa and that he would eat them! As seen in the Christmas morning video in the last post, she was so excited to see that Santa ate the cookies she left for him, and drank the milk!

Also, the AWESOME Santa pants I am wearing in this picture were made by Mark...yeah, he really is that AMAZING!!!! I love you Honey!

Christmas Morning!

2010-01-07T22:23:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: The video was shot by Mark, who's normally not behind the camera and it is obviously a dark video, but it's mostly for the Grandparents!! Thank you.

Rachel walked into our room on Chirstmas morning like any other morning, going straight through the livingroom without looking at anything. As she climbed into bed with us and said, "Morning!" I told her "Merry Christmas" as Mark grabbed for his glasses and the camera. It was like a light clicked in her head and instantly she knew Santa had come. I literally had to restraign her as Mark tried to turn the camera on, she was wiggling and squirming around yelling, "Santa! Santa!" We love that instead of looking for what Santa brought her (which is what we thought she was looking for because she had told Santa, all 3 times we saw him, that she wanted a kitchen), she went directly for the plate of cookies, to see if he ate them! (Of course he did)!

When she looks at her stocking she grabs out her fruit snacks (which we normally don't give her). We tell her things we don't want her to have are "gross" and she believes us...for now. Which is why when she grabs them out of her stocking she says, "GROSS!!"

Santa?

2010-01-06T00:11:00.003-06:00

So we went to a small (really small) town just outside of Bloomington to see a FREE light parade and a chance for Rachel to sit on Santa's lap. (She adores Santa)! Anyway, we got there late and missed most of the parade, but we were still able to see Santa. Rachel was so excited, until we got to Santa and he looked like this! As we are taking the picture he says, "What's going on here? Can't some one fix this beard, it's all over the place!?! This is ridiculous!!" Yeah, obviously Rachel looks less than happy in this picture compared to the one I'll post later!

I'll have to admit though, Mrs. Claus is very cute! Too bad the kids aren't there to see her!

R-A-C-H-E-L

2010-01-01T20:19:00.002-06:00

Rachel recently learned how to spell her own name. Check it out.

2009-12-05T22:44:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple of pics that we liked from this summer. They have a couple of great FREE "waterparks" here in Bloomington. As the kids play they step on buttons on the floor mats and the water continues to flow. They are great, she loves them and it's nice to get out and do something besides just play in the pool all summer!

"Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause"

2009-12-04T02:36:00.000-06:00

This is a painting that they have hanging in Winter Quarters that I've never seen before. And it just so happened that the family with us on tour knew the painter, Clark Kelley Price. It is an amazing painting that I wish the church used more. But we were told that it is a one of a kind and it cannot be found anywhere else except the Winter Quarters Vistors Center!! If you look closely you can see that he painted the Salt Lake Temple below Joseph Smith Jr.'s hand.

Winter Quarters

2009-12-04T02:03:00.000-06:00

We had another amazing day on our journey to Illinois with a stop at historic Winter Quarters. Wow, again another emotional day! So beautiful and humbling to be at such an amazing place. The Winter Quarters Temple was beautiful and we really enjoyed our tour. We were even able to walk around the cemetary, which was breath taking because most of the graves were of children. What strength and courage the pioneers had to pack up and move, again! To follow the prophet and head west...it was amazing to be there, a wonderful experience!

Martin's Cove, WY and Greeley, CO

2009-12-04T01:44:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from Martin's cove in Wyoming. It was really emotional watching the videos and just being in Martin's Cove. We really got a sense of what the pioneers did for us and their sacrafice. The fact that they were willing to use carts like this and literally walk from Illinois to Utah is beyond my imagination! We pulled Rachel around for a while with nothing but her in the hand cart and it was HARD! I could not fathom doing this in the mud and snow and the cold...WOW!! And to bathe in such a lovely bath...not going to happen! I was born in this day and age for a reason! At the end of this crazy long day we were able to stay with a wonderful friend Sara. Who cooked us amazing meals, especially after driving all day! This is her adorable little toe head, Lynden. Rachel and him really had a blast playing on the swings together!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-12-04T01:16:00.000-06:00

We had such a great time at this temple. It was so nice to be able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house as a family! We love this picture of Rachel and hope you do too!!

2009-12-04T00:55:00.000-06:00

Again, some old pictures of Rachel with her BFF Reese and Jess, Jenny, Bjorn and Rome back in June. We miss all our good friends from "back in the day, when life was simple".

Rachel and Reese in thier matching twin outfits, they are one day apart! They had a great time playing together, except when Reese literally tried to get in Rome's bouncer with Rachel. *Notice both are more than a year in this picture!!

Miss your faces!!

Way behind, but thought you'd like to see these!

2009-12-04T00:25:00.000-06:00

So here are some pictures of Rachel from her first birthday back in May! She really liked playing in her cake, but didn't eat much of it. I (the the help of the AMAZING Kami) made Rachel a Little Einstien cake. It looked good, but it was a pain to make and it took a lot of time! Next year we're thinking Elmo, should be interesting!

Rachel in the Fall

2009-11-27T15:03:00.000-06:00

We have some beautiful leaves out here in the fall and one day we took advantage of them! There is a park close to our house and tons of leaves. I asked a little old lady who lives by the park if we could steal her bench for some pictures and this is how they turned out!! I can hardly believe how big she is!!

Better Late Than Never!

2009-11-27T14:38:00.000-06:00

So we haven't posted in forever and we have a lot of catching up to do, but this will have to do so we can try to squeeze as many photos of Rachel as possible! These are all from when we went to the apple farm and the pumpkin patch with some great friends!

Pumpkins

2009-10-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

Here is Rachel's first pumpkin carving experience. She wasn't as big of fan of the guts as we'd hoped she'd be, but she liked it! She really really loves pumpkins, so we'd have to give them a hug and say good night to them everynight and was devistated when we finally threw them out!!

Carthage Jail 7/25/09

2009-09-09T20:41:00.000-05:00

One of the nice part about being in Central Illinois is that we are close to Church history. This day we traveled to Carthage Jail. For those that don't know, this is the place that Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were shot and killed. In the door, you can see two bullet holes. The one in the middle of the door, is the one that killed Hyrum. Joseph fell out the upper window of the building when he was shot. The prison cell (where Rachel is desperatly trying to get into) is where they keep Joseph and Hyrum, along with others before moving them into the other room because of the extreme heat.

Rachel's 1st Cubs game at Wrigley Field 7/24

2009-08-24T22:21:00.000-05:00

We took Rachel to her first game at Wrigley Field and it wasn't quite what we had expected. First off, I had been to over 5 games at Wrigley this year and had never had a problem getting tickets. Add in that they were playing the Reds and that they were giving away stuffed bears, we were in for a treat finding tickets. I walked around for over an hour trying to find tickets, only to find nothing. We ended up buying standing room only tickets. We moved a lot that game until the 4th inning when we saw two ladies leave with 2 kids. Come to find out, one of the ladies was returning and those were the season tickets of her father who was still sitting there. After seeing Rachel, he allowed us to sit there the rest of the game. Rachel loved the game and her cubbies.

Back Online!

2009-08-24T22:01:00.000-05:00

We are officially back online thanks to a neighbor who has unsecured wireless. It has been forever since we updated our blog. We will try not to overwhelm you all with what we have been doing. We love you all and miss you a ton.

First snow, trip to Cali

2009-03-09T19:14:00.000-05:00

So here we have SNOW in HOUSTON!!! Rachel's first snow and then days later on our way to Cali, she had a seat all to herself and she loved watching her Little Einstien!

2009-03-09T19:06:00.000-05:00

Another generic post, but we had so much fun with Rachel feeding the ducks back in TX. She loves being outside and thinks the ducks are so funny to look at and laughs when they are chasing her around trying to get bread from her.

2009-03-09T18:36:00.000-05:00

So we are a little behind on our blogging, obviously...here are a couple of pictures from Christmas time. Rachel was great with Santa, no tears, I even took 4 pictures!! The ones of the family are from random pictues after church and one is just a family shot in front of the Christmas tree!

Bloomington Prairie Thunder - Update

2009-02-14T16:13:00.000-06:00

Most people know by now, but our family has not been together since Christmas day when I returned to Houston and drove to Bloomington, IL to start my new job. A week before Christmas, while Amber and Rachel were in California, I was fired and had to find a new job. I won't explain everything that happened, but I believe I was given the short end of the stick. Determine to not let it get me down, I turned to an old friend, Jarrod Skalde, who was working with the Bloomington Prairie Thunder, as the head coach. He offered me a job as his equipment manager. Due to the timing of everything that happened, Amber and Rachel returned home to Utah after their stay in California and are living in our house. Amber is watching our neice and nephew to help make up a little for our change in income, while I work in Bloomington.
This has been hard for all three of us, but it is a challenge that we have to go thru at this time in our lives. Thanks to all you our family and friends we are able to get by.
I spend lots of time at the rink keeping myself busy. Our team is currently in 5th place out of six teams. The top 4 make the playoffs and right now we are 12 pts back. We just ended a stretch where we went 8-0-3. We hope to continue and make the playoffs. The game has become fun again and I enjoy working with such a great coach. It is great to feel appreciated again. We have had our struggles as does every minor league team. Here is a picture of our locker room on a game day taken from my phone.

I am determined to work my way back up and eventually land in the NHL. I am grateful for Amber and all the support that she shows me. She is such a great wife and mother. Happy Valentines Day!

Speed Racer... Are you funny?

2009-01-25T21:16:00.000-06:00

Here's Rachel crawling across the floor like a speed racer! She's playing in her duck that we use in the bathtub! If you listen when I ask her if she's funny she responds by saying, "Ha!" It's so fun, I ask her if she's funny and ask her to say Daddy all the time and then she gets excited at herself!! We've yet to find the stairs so we should be okay for at least another couple of weeks...hopefully!

Da-Da

2009-01-25T21:08:00.000-06:00

Mark here's your little girl saying Da-Da! She's really cute now and when she wakes up in the morning she looks at your picture and waves and says, Da-Da! We miss you so much! Yes, at the end she almost rolls off the bed!!

SOOOOO Big!

2009-01-12T11:30:00.000-06:00

Mark this video is for you, sorry it took me so long to get it posted! This is Rachel's latest and greatest. You can hear Rick on the video asking Rachel how big she is and then you can see her response with her arms straight up in the air! She is so funny, she loves doing this, but sometimes she's tired or "lazy" and only puts one hand in the air. Which always changes my reaction from, "SOOOO Big!" to "Oh, only a little big!?!" She's been so much fun, it's crazy to see how much she's grown in just the five weeks since we've been here!

SLC layover

2008-12-15T00:41:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of pictures from Pappy that we took at our SLC airport layover on the 11th. It was so good to see him! So nice of him to still come at 930am even though he got off work at 7am! We miss everyone in Utah and we wish we could spend more time with them!! I can't believe how happy Rachel is in these pictures! It seems as though no matter how tired she is, if there's an audience then she's ready to perform! We got her up at 430am to get to the airport on time after our snow fall in Houston! (I'll post those pictures later)! She only slept for maybe 45 minutes on the flight to SLC. She was way excited to see Pappy and obviously he was equally excited to see her!

Spanish - Espanol

2008-12-05T13:04:00.000-06:00

Just so you all know, thanks to facebook I have gotten back in contact with some of my friends from my mission. Going forward I am going to try and translate the posts that Amber and I make so that they can also know what is going on in our lives.

Para que sepan, gracias a facebook he reconectado con algunas de mis amigos de mi mission. Adelante yo voy a tratar a traducir todo que Amber y yo escriben para que ustedes puedan entender lo que pasa en nuestros vidas.

Big Girl Food

2008-12-01T16:11:00.000-06:00

Rachel, as discussed before, is huge! Here are a couple of pictures with her eating "Big Girl Food"!!

Bananas

Eggs and Toast

Spaghetti

Macaroni

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T15:58:00.000-06:00

Another year of Thanksgiving, another year to reflect on all I'm Thankful for! Obviously my family, Mark is such an AMAZING husband and all around man; Rachel lights up my world, every day is a new adventure; both of our families are such a blessing; our friends are wonderful, we have been so blessed by so many of them. Most importantly, for the gospel, the restoration of the TRUE church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! I'm so grateful for the Prophet, the Apostles and the leaders of this church, we are sooooo blessed!

This year for Thanksgiving we headed over to our friends house, the Jones'. We had a great time and there was NO FOOD left when we were done!! It was all of Julie's family and it was a ton of fun!

Mommy giving Rachel kisses, while she says hello

A family Thanksgiving

Me and Julie

Mark and Grant playing video games

Still Loving the Bath!!

2008-12-01T15:34:00.000-06:00

Rachel is way too big now for her little bath tub, but she's still a litte small to be in the 'big' tub. So, we found her this giant rubber duckie to sit it! She loves it and she has plenty of room to sit up in it and still play with her toys!

I love this picture, it looks like either Mark pushed Rachel over or that she has a duck for a head!!

6 Month Appointment

2008-12-01T15:22:00.000-06:00

Okay, the doctor told us after her 1st month that she'd even out to around the 75% or so at about 6 months. (She's been in the 95%-97% at every appointment)! At this last appointment our giant weighed in at 18 lbs 12oz and 27 1/2 inches!! Putting her in the 97% still!! We love it though, there are much cuter clothes now that she's so big!! It is funny to see 'average' 6 month old babies next to her, she seems HUGE! But we wouldn't want it any other way. We love every fat roll she has! (Just like Mommy)

Laughing, Waving, and Clapping

2008-12-01T14:56:00.000-06:00

So I have been trying to capture Rachel on video waving and I ended up getting WAY better! The other day we were playing and I grabbed her teething toy with my teeth and she thought I was hilarious. We played for a while and I figured I should probably be getting it on video. (Our camera no longer makes any noise. Rachel was so used to the "on" noise that she'd stop doing whatever it was she was doing and just stare at the camera, it seems to have worked!) I turned the camera on and then put it on my leg so that she wouldn't see it. Hince the reason I made a "funny face" at the camera. Obviously, it worked out well. I got her laughing, waving and clapping!! I know it looks like she's trying to grab the camera but that's her waving. She opens and closes her left and and waves her right hand, who knows why!?! And when she claps at the very end, yes she spits up too! Apparently she got herself a little too excited!

Team Halloween Party

2008-11-08T15:07:00.000-06:00

After Sunday's game we all headed over to Ryan Hamilton's place for the Team Halloween Party! It was a ton of fun, Julie and Grant stayed at our place to watch Rachel and we dressed up as White Trash!! It's nice because everyone dresses up, we had: The Flintstones and The Rubbles, The Jetsons, a LD nurse and her pregnant husband, Mrs. Claus and Tiger Woods, Micheal Phelps, a pirate, police officers, even a couple of bums. Just as we were leaving the real cops showed up for a noise ordinance!! It really was that fun!

I had to put my wig on Rachel, we think she looks hilarious. And it made it even better because she just kept on playing as though it wasn't on her head!! We hope you like it too!!

Halloween at the Game

2008-11-08T14:32:00.000-06:00

Here's Halloween at the hockey game! Rachel was a little bee, so of course I had to be a bee keeper!! Julie and her girl friend were devils, Julie was a devil on roller skates, aka Hell on Wheels and her girlfriend was a devil in a blue dress. Misty and her newest edition Greyson on his first Halloween. I wish I would have got a picture of their other son Preston, who's 3 and made a wonderful pirate!!

Alligator Park

2008-11-08T14:23:00.000-06:00

Last week Mark actually had a half day off so we headed to the Alligator Park! No fences, no barriers just "watch out" for alligators! At first we were a little bummed because we didn't see anything, but we found 40 acre trail and it all changed!! We put Rachel in the stroller and headed out on our adventure. We walked out to a dock just to see if we could see anything in the lake, and sure enough there was a little gator right below us! As we walked along the lake we saw tons of alligators some in the water and some out sunbathing on the shore. They were actually kind of close so we snapped our pictures, no pun intended, and ran. We even saw butterflies, deer and a live armadillo. Neither of us had ever seen a live one before, but they're just as ugly stuffed! Now that Rachel is sitting up, we let her take an alligator ride, they promised it wouldn't bite her!!

Rachel's Ice Time!!

2008-11-08T12:25:00.000-06:00

Just before Halloween we were able to take Rachel out on the ice. It was so much fun, and it was the first time that I have been able to ice skate since Alaska.
I was too scared that I might fall so Mark held her as we skated. Eventually I gain enough courage to take her around for half a lap, but then I gave her back to Mark!
Mark even put her feet on the ice and she tried running it was really funny I wish we would have got it on video. Her are some of our favorite pictures!

Ode to Alby's

2008-11-07T21:31:00.000-06:00

To all of you who have also pushed carts through the heat, rain, wind, snow and hail, this is for you...

Since pushing my fair share of carts. I think I pushed more than most, which may have to do with the fact that I was never really doing what I was suppose to and it was typically my punishment. I have vowed to never leave the cart just next to the car and have always put it back where the carts go. That was until yesterday when I was at Sam's Club! Rachel was crying and tired and we had to park so far away from everything that I just left it next to my car in Timbuktu! I felt so guilty, especially because I always give people dirty looks when they leave their carts out! But, like I said after pushing my fair share and getting annoyed at the people that somehow managed to leave their carts over by KFC or Tony Roma's, I felt bad for whoever had to go get my cart and push it all the way back to the store in the heat!!

Sorry Sam's Club cart pushers!

Halloween pictures will be up soon!

Rachel's a Little "Roll Over Happy"

2008-10-29T09:57:00.000-05:00

So Rachel loves to play on her playmat, but lately her big thing is to lay on the edge of it and then roll over so that it falls on her! Or like in these photos, she will just pull on it until it falls on her!! The first few times she did it, it scared me. But now, I don't worry about her, she seems to be having fun!

Rachel and Hockey

2008-10-20T23:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes shen we go see Mark at work Rachel likes to help out. Obviously on this day she got lazy and ended up taking a nap while folding socks! We'll have to work on her work ethic.

Rachel and I have been to every home game so far this year, 3. Even though the games start at 735pm and her bedtime is 830pm. She does great at the games, stays awake the whole time and enjoys hanging out with all the girls. After the games she's all smiles when we head downstairs to see Daddy, especially after games like last week's 8-6 victory (the highest scoring game in Aeros 15 year history). This last game Daddy got her an Aeros jersey and it fits great. This is our first family picture at the rink!

Peaches and Rachel feeding herself

2008-10-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

Rachel loves peaches and we love these pictures of her eating them. They were a little sweet for her at first, but then she couldn't get enough of them! She also her a really cool bottle/sippy cup that is made by (Jenny you'll be happy) NUK that has handles and she loves feeding herself. Still no juice yet, but probably once she's 6 months.

Rolling Over

2008-10-20T23:04:00.000-05:00

On October 6th I was finally able to catch Rachel rolling over on video. I thought I'd have to tape her a couple of times, but she rolled over on the second video try. She is a rolling over machine! But only from right to left, back to tummy. She refuses to roll over any other way. Even if we tempt her with toys, instead of rolling over left to right she'll just scoot and turn so that she can reach her toy, then she gets all excited when she gets it and is confused when we say, "Ahhh!" She looks at us like, "What? You wanted me to get my toy, I got it right!?!" I can hardly believe how big she is, it's ridculous! She used to hate being on her tummy which is probably why she rolls from her back to her tummy (Which we've been told is the "harder" way? Thoughts?), but now she loves it and always rolls over to play on her tummy. Seriously she's either on her hands arms fully extended, elbows locked, lifting her whole belly off the ground or playing with her toys from her belly. It's been interesting finding her after her nap in her crib on her belly! And I just love that she insists on rolling over EVERY time I change her diaper!

Yeah well, it's pretty exciting and now she rolls from left to right and right to left from back to belly only. But for some reason the video is not pulling up. So, you'll just have to trust us!

First REAL foods: Sweet Potatoes/Peas

2008-10-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

We we so excited to give Rachel baby food. She loves sweet potatoes, peaches and carrots, but is really NOT a big fan of peas! She even took the spoon away from me after eating the sweet potatoes. Obviously, from the picture, she REALLY doesn't like peas! She wasn't blinking, she was just making a yucky face after EVERY bite of peas.