October and Fall is Officially Here

We have had some fun times over the last month that I can't wait to share. We went to Utah the last weekend in September for Emily's baptism (Adonia's daughter). We hadn't seen them since last November so that was fun. Kaiden and Nyah had fun playing together. Emily's baptism was very nice and we're proud of her for her decision. :)

Nyah did great in the car. We wondered how it would go but she was a trooper. We did quite a bit of entertaining with songs, coloring, reading books, etc. but she did well considering it was about an 8-hour drive each way.

We also took Nyah to Elitch Gardens a weekend during September. It was 1/2 price on the admission that weekend so we decided to give it a try. There weren't tons of rides she could go on but probably around ten. She had fun on all of them except the tilt-a-whirl and we will know not to try that again. She survived but definitely wasn't impressed as it was spinning around. She had a "death grip" on Ryan and me. They have a big play area where they can climb and go down slides and she loved that. She wasn't a huge fan of the ferris wheel because the loading and unloading process is less action than she prefers.

Nyah is 18 months old now and really starting to talk quite a bit. On the way to Utah we counted and came up with about 30 words she can say. She is running and just loves to play. She is getting to be very independent and starting to express her opinions.

Shari, Lisa, and Hallie also came and visited us last weekend. We are going to write more on that next time after we get some pictures. I did awful taking pictures that weekend and am begging Shari and Lisa to share their pictures. :)

We hope all is going well for all of you!

So Many Fun Times!

A lot has happened since I blogged last. There have been a lot of fun times and I can't believe summer is basically over.

Following is a little about the pictures I've put in the slideshow.

When Ryan was working in the yard Nyah wanted lots of wheelbarrow rides and that was really cute. Then we went swimming at the rec center so you will see some pictures of her and Ryan swimming and hanging out. We went to the rec center with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend and Grandma didn't think the water was very warm so maybe we are just a little wishful in our thinking since we had convinced ourselves it was so much warmer. It was fun to go to the pool together though.

I'm including a picture of Nyah sitting at the computer. She knows exactly how to use a mouse and sits up there like the biggest girl. It's crazy how fast she is growing up. There is also one where she is smiling a cheesy grin. If I say, "show me your smilies" she does a big old grin. I love it.

Ryan's birthday was the 31st so he was 31 on the 31st. I wrote him a list of the 31 things I love about him. Here is the list. If he tells me not to put it on, I'll hurry and take it off but it just shows how great he is. There is a picture of Ryan opening a birthday card (since he only wants money) with Nyah sitting on his lap. I had to work a bunch of the day on his birthday but he was a good sport about it.

These are just 31 of the many things I love about you.
I Love…
1. How much you love Nyah and how much she loves you
2. Your ability to learn new things (finish the basement, install the water softener, etc…)
3. Your smile
4. Your willingness to help out around the house
5. Your understanding when I have to put in way too many hours at work
6. That you’re a softy and I get to see you cry every once in a while
7. That you’re a perfectionist and type A personality and don’t see it
8. Your out-going personality
9. How you look out for the “underdog” and make sure everybody is included
10. How you are competitive and give all of us competitive Pincocks a run for our money
11. Your patience with Nyah when she does things she shouldn’t
12. How Nyah has you wrapped around her little finger and gets nearly everything she wants
13. How you humor me when you know I’m not super comfortable in the water and pull me back in the raft practically before I figure out I’ve fallen out.
14. That you ran in the Ragnar relay with me because you knew I wanted you to
15. How you support me in everything I do (running, work, church stuff, etc.)
16. Your passion for life
17. That you’re one of the first ones to pitch in and give service when needed
18. How you are about the only guy I know who is willing to ask for directions (before they’ve already been lost for hours)
19. Your loyalty to friends and family (helping finish basements even if the favors don’t always get returned)
20. That you keep your promises
21. That your young men absolutely love you and look up to you
22. Your patience with me when I run over a 4x4 in the middle of the road on the way to Idaho and you have to change a tire at 1:00 a.m. next to the freeway
23. Your open-mindedness with new ideas
24. Your knowledge of what is happening in the world around us and keeping me up to speed (when did the DNC end?)
25. All of your efforts to make me smile and laugh
26. That you are a “yellow” and can figure out how to have fun in life and still get things done (your red side)
27. Watching you read stories and play with Nyah
28. Your understanding and comfort you give me when I wake you up in the middle of the night whether it’s a leg cramp during pregnancy or just a bad dream
29. Your hugs
30. That you can do Nyah’s hair about as well as I can
31. That I’m lucky enough to have you as my husband and best friend!

We didn't do much for Labor day since I was working because we had our computer conversion at work that weekend. That's over though now so we're grateful.

Then this last weekend Grandma and Grandpa (Mom and Dad) came to Denver. It was fun to spend some time with them as they were reacquainted with Nyah. It's amazing how much little ones forget in a couple of months. It just so happened there was a grandparents' luncheon at Nyah's school so we went to that on Friday. You will see the picture of all three of them sitting on really little chairs. It was great and they got to meet Nyah's teacher. On Friday we also went to story time at the library for a few minutes and then we went swimming that evening at the rec center.

Saturday we went to the zoo and that was lots of fun. We were there for over 4 hours and Nyah had a blast. Nyah got to feed the giraffes and she absolutely loved that. She was super concerned when one of the elephants went inside. She kept saying, "oh no". It was funny. We also went on a carousel ride. She was a bit concerned in the beginning but ended up loving it. One of Nyah's favorite parts of the zoo were the peacocks that were just wandering around, she had good times trying to catch them. We're glad Grandma had the idea to go to the zoo. Good times.

Then on Sunday we went to church and then after nap time we went to the park by the library. Grandma and Grandpa saw the toys Lisa used to spin Jana until she was sick she was so dizzy. Nyah loves the slide and then you will see what happened when she went in the water. She just kept going back for more though. We were so glad Grandma and Grandpa were able to come. Nyah was saying something that resembled Grandma/pa by the end of their trip. If you ask her to say "grandma" and then ask her to say "grandpa" the result sounds the same. It was fun to spend the weekend having fun and just enjoying each other's company. You are all welcome any time!

We also bought a new water softener and Nyah has had so much fun with the box that we haven't thrown it away yet. Fun! The final pictures are of Nyah and her new trike that came in the mail today. She absolutely loves it and she doesn't ever want to get off. You can imagine how that goes. She can't quite reach the pedals but we have some ideas from Grandma....

Well that was a long update. Just think of it as being the 3 or 4 updates it really should have been.

Busy Couple of Weeks

Well it's been busy the last couple of weeks. Work has been too busy so I'm looking forward to the conversion happening in less than two weeks so life can get back to normal. :) I didn't have work today because I'm working tomorrow instead. I'm going to do a slide show since I haven't done one for a while.

So here are some explanations of the pictures in the slide show. Nyah loves her Nalgene with juice in it these days. She wants to take it with her all the time so you will see that in many of the pictures. You will also see her really enjoying her dinner in one of these pictures. I told Ryan that if we invited company over that didn't have little kids, they might actually lose their appetite seeing Nyah eat. It's quite the messy situation these days. You will also see a pink gerber daisy. They are in my front yard and just blossomed about a week ago. I tell Ryan how happy I am when I look at them. They are just so bright and cheerful. There is also a picture of Nyah wearing Ryan's hat and pushing a laundry basket. She has decided she likes his hats and she still loves pushing laundry baskets.

Nyah is being as cute as ever. She has been pointing to her eyes and toes for a long time but also knows where her nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hands and feet are now. She is also starting to correctly identify things when we read her stories. We can ask where different animals are and she usually points to the right one.

We took her swimming last weekend because it was cold and rainy all weekend and two days of being inside is a long time when you are 16 months old. :) We tried a different rec center because the one we usually goes to was being worked on. It was a good thing because we found a new favorite pool. It had a fun slide for her and a big jungle gym to climb on. The water was warmer and there was even a lazy river. We had lots of fun. We need to go again this weekend and I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

Ryan is going to be starting on a big project. He has decided to build (yes that is correct - not put together from a kit but actually build) Nyah a swingset. That will keep him busy for the next few weeks.

By the way, turns out that when Ryan got that bruise on his leg he was actually trying to flip another canoe, not help them. That's quite a different story. :)

We have been watching Olympics in our spare time. We haven't had much spare time though so our DVR is just full of them. We might be watching them for weeks to come after the Olympics are already over. There are so many events I enjoy watching.

I'll attach a video at the end of Nyah dancing for Ryan one night when I was at Enrichment night. She dances at the beginning and then gets distracted with her toys. Then I also kept the part where she gets out her legos and dumps them all out. That is one of her favorite things to do. She loves her daddy and has him fully wrapped around her little finger.

We hope all is going well for all of you!

Back from Scout Camp and the Crib Drama

Well I figured Ryan would come back from scout camp/high adventure tired and dirty but I didn't except him to have bruises and swollen ankle. The bruise on his thigh and half way down his calf is from his canoe tipping over (as he was trying to help another canoe "de-swamp" their canoe) and is shown below. I don't think I've ever seen such a big, nasty bruise. Then the swollen ankle is from playing kick ball with a football because the other ball popped. Only boys think they should play kick ball with a football. It was a crazy week filled with boys getting in trouble for carving/doodling on a hand-made wooden table and for playing game boy when they were supposed to be at activities but also the good times of "king of the dock" and seeing who can repel down the cliff the fastest. I asked Ryan if he kept in mind the fact that we don't have sufficient disability insurance as he was doing all of this and he assured me "it was good". :) The scouts love Ryan and the fact that he joins in all of the games.

Regardless, Nyah and I are glad to have him back home. Saturday night was date night so Ryan and I went to see "Hancock" and went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. It had been a while since we had a date night so that was fun.

Then there was Sunday. Church was the normal battle with Nyah giving in for about a 1/2 hour toward the end. Then when we got home she was just rested enough that she didn't really think she needed a nap. Well I put her in her crib anyway because she'll usually decide she is tired after all and go to sleep. She was just playing in there and I didn't really worry about it, but should have. When I finally gave in and went to get her up, she had chewed the top edge of her crib along the front and one side. There were little sets of teeth marks up and down our "new" crib. It's funny because when we got the first crib home, there was actually a small imperfection along the top of the crib and we went to the trouble to package it back up and take it back to the store to get a new one. Good thing we worried about that! :) I couldn't believe all the teeth marks. So then I decided to wrap the top rail in towels and safety-pinned it on the outside. Boy was I grumpy! Well I've since decided she has it fully "broken-in" and we will have stories to tell her some day. :)

Now when I say, "Mommy loves..", she says "Nyah". It's enough to melt my heart. :) Another cute thing is when we are downstairs hanging out and watching TV she will decide she wants to cover us up with a blanket. If we are on our side it isn't good enough, she pulls on us until we get the point that she wants us on our stomachs. Cutie girl. She is also answering questions with a full "yes" these days. It's cute to hear her pronounce the "s" instead of just "yeah".

Well that's about it for now. We hope all is going well for all of you!

Wearing my Flip-Flops

Well it seems like little girls usually try on their mom's high heels. However, since I don't have many of those and they don't leave the closet very often, Nyah has decided to go for my flip-flops instead. She found them the other night and had Ryan put them on her so she could try to walk in them. She can't put them on herself because she can't get the piece of fabric in between her toes. Then again last night she found them and wanted to try them on. It took us quite a while to get them on the first few times but we finally have it down and we can just put them on over, and over, and over!

Here is a picture of her wearing my flip-flops and then a short video of her trying to walk around in them is at the end. She also says a few words on the video, including "Nyah".

Then the other funny thing is last night I was watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and Nyah was deciding to dance along as well. The was dancing, doing turns, and running around in circles just smiling. It was so funny. So then I really started laughing and then she thought that was funny so she started laughing also. It was great. She is quite the dancer. I wish I could have gotten it on video because it was the cutest thing ever!

We went down to storytime at the library this morning and she did well for the first 20 minutes and then it was a bit of a struggle to keep her sitting there. I need to go down there more often because it probably isn't a bad thing for her to learn to sit still for 30 minutes and the librarian does great with the stories and songs. Plus, Nyah already loves books so we need to keep that up!

Here are also a few pictures Nyah's daycare sent out the other day of her time at day care. It doesn't look like she knows quite what to think about posing for the picture on the trike (or maybe it's just because it's so bright outside), but I still think it's cute and I love the one with her and the book.