Hello 2011!

I can't believe it's already 2011!  So much has happened this past year, and yet it just flew by!

Our little family rang in the new year in California.  Yes, we have been spending as much of this winter as we can out of miserably freezing Flagstaff (it reached -30 on New Years Eve).  Jeff and I have reached our limit of snowy winters and subzero temperatures!  We loathe the snow.  We will be making our way to a new home with warmer temperatures as soon as possible.

With all of the time we have spent visiting family out of town (and loving every second of it), we have officially become "less active" in our ward here in Flagstaff (missed 4 straight Sundays).  We may have to reassure our bishop this Sunday that he did not scare us into inactivity with the many church callings and assignments we received prior to our "inactivity."

Jeff got Friday and Monday off of work for New Years so we decided to take advantage of the time off and drive to California for a few days.  Lucky for us, Jeff was able to leave work a few hours early on Thursday (no one was there!) so we left as soon as he got home and arrived in California around 6:15pm, where there was a delicious taco dinner awaiting us.

Goodbye frigid Flagstaff.

With his trusty sidekick, Pluto, Luke was an excellent little traveler.  I'm not sure he complained at all.  He is such a sweet, happy little guy.

Check out that bubble.  Impressive, no?

The day after we arrived in California, my mom insisted that Jeff and I get out for some alone time while she babysat Luke.  We decided to go to the Irvine Spectrum, a sort of outdoor mall. We walked around, looked in a few stores, got Golden Spoon (well, I did), made a couple of purchases at Frederick's (Jeff was like a kid in a candy store), and played games at Dave & Busters.

Dave and Busters has such an awesome variety of games.  Jeff and I had so much fun running around trying them all out.  And of course he had to showcase his skills on the football game.  We played basketball too.  I didn't think I was doing too bad, but in the end, Jeff had twice as many points as me.

Skeeball.  Classic.

We had to play the horsey game.

Guess who's #8?  ME!  I totally won!  And notice in the previous picture, this was a roll balls into holes game, which Jeff normally would emerge victorious at, but because it was a horsey game, I won!

Jeff is really good at the stop the flashing light or arrow at just the right time games.  He stopped it right on the bonus on this game.

We couldn't resist giving the Gene Machine a go to see if the kid it came up with looked anything like Luke.  He doesn't.  And for some reason, he has purple lips.  Explanation for Jeff's awkward smile: the recording told him to keep his face exactly where it was and hold completely still and then, at the last second, said, "Smile!"

Our winnings.  It took us a while to decide what to do with our 725 tickets.  We couldn't afford any of the good prizes.  We ended up with a blow up golf club, a light-up rubber duck, and a big Laffy Taffy.  The golf club turned out to be huge blown up.  Luke laughs when Jeff bonks him on the head with it.  We got the squishy duck ball with Luke in mind and he was totally fascinated by it.  He laughed when my dad bounced it and the lights flashed, but he didn't really want to touch it.  He threw his head back in horror when my dad touched it to his chin.

Luke and Grandpa playing with the squishy duck ball in the dark

That night, my friends, Shelley, Jackie and Sara came for a visit. Unfortunately, Luke was in one of his rare sad moods.  But then we went to Jackie's house to see her family (I spent as much time across the street at their house as at mine growing up) and that all washed away when Luke saw Lizzie, the Pinkowitz's black lab.  He loved her.  He spent the entire visit reaching out for her and laughing when he got to pet her.  He didn't even mind when she licked his face.  She was so sweet and gentle with him.  One day I'll have to convince Jeff to let us get a dog, if not for my sake, then for Luke's.  It was wonderful to catch up with the Pinkowitz's as well.  It had been a long time and I missed them.

Jackie made this adorable blanket for Luke.  He loves to play with the little ties and look at the colorful trucks.  It's perfect for him!

And yes, Friday was New Year's Eve, but Jeff and I are old fogies who went to bed at 10pm.  However, the noise of fireworks, poppers, and screaming throughout the neighborhood woke  me up at midnight so I did get to ring in the new year sleepily from my bed.

My New Year's Resolutions/Goals?  I'll tell you...

• Bear my testimony in some form (sacrament meeting, relief society, to a friend or family member, to a stranger, etc.) at least once a month.
• Be less judgmental.  Rather than forming an opinion about a person based on the way they look or a bad first impression, I will do my best to see the best in people and get to know and love them.
• Daily scripture study and prayer, personal and as a couple.
• Weekly Family Home Evenings.  I got a new book for Christmas with great ideas in it so it's on!
• Make a blog book of the year Jeff and I dated with all of the pictures and funny, sweet, and embarrassing stories I can remember.
• Learn to sing.  I'm not sure about this one.  I would love to be a good singer.  I would love to be one of those women who are asked to do special musical  numbers in sacrament meeting at church, but I'm not sure who will teach me or if it's possible to get that good without any natural talent to speak of.

We spent most of Saturday just relaxing at the house, except for a few trips to Home Depot for Dad and Jeff, one last trip to Golden Spoon for Jeff and I, and a baby food and chocolate run for Mom and I.

For his birthday, my parents gave Jeff cash (he requested cash to get him out of the hole with his 'mad money' after he bought his fancy new TV) and they threw in an awesome remote controlled helicopter.  Jeff loved playing with Jared's and Patrick's at Christmas 2 years ago and this new version flew even better.  He flew it and charged over and over all day long.  Luke loved to watch it.  He got used to looking for it when he hears the buzzing sound it makes when it flies so when my mom took him out into the backyard and a bumblebee flew by, he looked around for the helicopter.

Jeff testing out his helicopter for the first time.  Notice my dad is covered in paint.  He was remodeling the master bathroom while we were there.  Jeff got to observe and learn a few things.  My dad does beautiful work.  Jeff and I are just hoping we get our own house before my dad gets too old to help us fix it up!

I was holding Luke while I ate an apple for lunch on Saturday and he seemed to be coveting it so I let him chew on a piece.  It was so funny to watch him scrape away at it with his one little tooth.

He took a pretty serious chunk out of it after a while.

There aren't many baby toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house yet, but Grandma found some great 'toys' for Luke to play with.  He couldn't complain.

That night, the whole family was over for dinner!  It was so fun to have everyone there at the same time!

Church was over at noon on Sunday.  We went straight over to Mamal and Papal's house and stayed there for the rest of the day.  Aunt Debi and Uncle Russ were there as well.  They are always so fun and Luke loves it when Aunt Debi sings to him.  Mamal made a tasty lunch of teryaki chicken and fried rice.  It was a day of good food, great conversation, fun games, and yummy chocolate.

Mamal had the great idea of getting the baby swing out of the attic.  Luke couldn't get enough of it!  He laughed and kicked his legs so it looked like he was running really fast.  Watch a video of it here.

We drove home Monday morning.  It was a wonderful little trip.  I wish we could have stayed longer.  I miss living near family so much!  I love always having someone to talk to and do things with.  It gets a little lonely in Flagstaff sometimes.  Hopefully, one day soon, we'll live close enough to one of our families that we can enjoy that all of the time.  Not to mention the fact that having ready and willing babysitters living nearby would be glorious.  At least for now, we can be grateful that we are close enough to visit fairly frequently.

In just three weeks Luke and I will be driving back to California to see my cousin Brooke and her family (sadly, Jeff can't come) and then Katrina will be driving back to Flagstaff with me for a few days!  I'm so excited!