Chris & Naomi Hathaway Home

Oof, it's been exactly a month since our last update. Well, we've been in Washington for a week now, and really enjoy the weather. People around here think it's too hot, but they have no idea. Here's our trip with Kate to the beach about 10 minutes away:

But the best reason for coming was seeing Naomi's sister, Emily, sealed to her husband Steven and their adorable 5-month old, Ethan. Here's us at the temple:

and afterwards at Azteca with the rest of the family and a few friends:

It was pretty cool because we actually had all 6 Allan kids there for the first time since Naomi and I were married 4 years ago. Thanks so much to all who came (especially Joseph :) ). We've had a wonderful time here and are sad to leave tomorrow.

Just in case you didn't believe me when I said I was going to graduate school, they mailed me some proof today (it's a Masters of Science in Computer Science, if you can't quite read it):

It's very relieving to finally be finished with school, but at the same time, it's a rather new feeling. All my life, I've had this huge goal of graduating from college that kind of guided my life at a very high level. Now that's over, and I don't have a good concrete goal in clear vision. I'm just working and growing a family and paying off a house; it's enjoyable, but I fear it will get stagnant too quickly.

Okay, enough babbling. I think my next great personal mission in life (excluding family or spiritual goals, those come first by default) is to really turn some of my projects into serious ventures that could possibly take over as our main source of income. I really feel they have the potential (especially AggData, which now gets almost 15,000 visits a month), but I just need to give them the proper attention. Good thing I have such helpful sisters-in-law!

Garage sales this morning were a bust. The only thing I managed to buy there was a baby doll to practice making smaller clothes. Lincoln of course loved it and sat with it in the car while I unloaded the stuff I had purchased at the fancy mall after the garage sales. I found 2 church shirts for him on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids for $6.97 each. I returned the mistake sandals I bought yesterday while walking in the fancy mall and bought a cheaper and browner pair. Then I bought Chris a belt, also on sale, since his other one broke. When I came back to the car to try to persuade Lincoln to come in the house instead of hanging out in the car in the dark garage all day, I saw this:

I thought it was cute.

Right now his twoness keeps us from getting in the carseat, out of the car, dressed, undressed, and especially diaper changed. For a while it worked to whistle like Captain VonTrapp from the Sound of Music, he would come marching right to me every time. Then, when that stopped working, I started telling him to smash whatever pictures were on the receiving blanket we used to change him. He would come running over to smash it with his bottom as he sat down. Today, the only thing that worked was to tell him I would change his diaper with a laundry basket on my head. I don't think I can do that every time, but it worked for this diaper.

We just wanted to wish all the mother's in our life a Happy Mother's Day. Lincoln had a special message for one we weren't able to be near, but love all the same:

We love you Moms!!

Last week I took a morning off of work and we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo on half-price Wednesday. We went about the same time last year, and we wanted to see how much more Lincoln would enjoy it. We also wanted to get some pictures that were similar to last years, to get a good comparison. Here's the best example

March 2007 (Lincoln had just turned 1)

April 2008 (Lincoln had just turned 2)

It's crazy how much he's grown this last year. Here are some more links to pictures and videos:
Photo Gallery | Photo Slideshow | Video Gallery

We went on a little trip to Washington this last weekend, mostly to see our new nephew, Ethan, but also just because it's been so long since we've been with Naomi's family (besides Kate). We've been talking with them almost weekly on the web-cam, so Lincoln recognized them right away, and ran up and gave Grandma a big hug when we got to the airport, I think making her weekend. I'm not sure I've ever seen Lincoln so happy for such a long period of time. He was just so excited to have so much attention; he loved to act very silly, and keep tags on everyone. As soon as someone left the room, he would start yelling for them. Oh, and for the record, here's a translation of all the names Lincoln has for everyone (I'll try and spell like he pronounces them):

• Grandpa Allan - 'papa'
• Grandma Allan - 'ahm'
• Kate - 'aiy'
• Scott - 'gock'
• Emily - 'ahmyee'
• Steven - 'deeaah'
• Sarah (Scott's girlfriend) - 'weah'

Oh, and he can say his own name, too, but it sounds like 'winkie' instead of Lincoln. It's very cute. Anyway, here are some good photos from the trip, with a link to them all:

Full Gallery
Kate's Photos

Naomi already mentioned one of the exciting things that happened today. We're very excited for Emily, Steven, and new baby Ethan. Here's a picture, but I'm sure you'll soon see plenty more at Emily's blog.

The other piece of pretty big news is that I got a job. A real job, like a career type job. I'll be starting as soon as next week at Tektronix, as a Web Developer for the Marketing Department. Web Developer is a pretty broad title; basically, I'll be helping with any tech-related needs of the Marketing Department, including building/administrating websites, working with mass emailings, and who knows what else. I actually received two offers, and decided to turn down a really good opportunity working for Dairy.com. It was seriously one of the toughest decisions I made. But here's why I'm excited for my new job:

• I'll be in the Marketing Department instead of the IT Department, so I'll probably actually get respect as a developer
• It's a contract-to-hire type of position, so it will be very flexible upfront while I'm going to school, but with the future likelihood of becoming a permanent employee.
• The nature of the position will expose me to a slew of other types of business experience, which I am very interested to absorb.
• It seems that the department (and their new media initiatives in general) has a real future, and I will be able to have a positive influence in that direction.
• The interview was my favorite one (I really like the people I'll be working with).

Okay, perhaps some of that was just to reassure myself I made the right decision, but we're very excited nevertheless. It's been a good day.

If you haven't seen Google Street View in action yet, it's pretty cool.  They basically stitch together a whole bunch of photos to create a 360 degree view that you can pan around and move along, as if you were walking down the street.  Anyway, they just added Dallas to the cities that have it, and they made it so you can easily embed panoramic views into a web page, so I decided to give a little personal tour of some places in Dallas.

Click 'Read more' for the whole tour: