Fisher Family

Milk & Cereal and a Rug Tunnel

2012-02-01T21:22:00.001-07:00

Luke had milk in his cereal for the first time yesterday morning. He insisted on having his cereal the way Mommy was having hers. And he actually did really well! Almost no spilled drops of milk! However, as time went on, there were less and less fruit loops floating around in the bowl and it got harder for Luke to catch them in his spoon. The few remaining fruit loops got a little soggy while Luke sipped spoonfuls of milk for a while. I offered to help and scooped up a good mouthful of slightly soggy cereal and guided them into Luke's mouth. He spit them right back out. I guess I can't blame him. I don't like soggy cereal either and he is used to his cereal being so crunchy and milk-free!

Milk goatee.

That afternoon, as I was sweeping under the rug in our living room, Bethany seized an opportunity...

Luke joined the fun!

CRUISE!

2012-01-31T22:16:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I went ona CRUISE this past week! We found areally incredible deal for a 5-day Carnival cruise out of Galveston and Renitaoffered to take Luke (and the girls, since I wouldn’t be there to watch themduring the day), so we went for it! The whole thing was actually Renita’s idea -talk about an amazing mother-in-law! We love that lady!

Day 1: Our cruise got offto kind of a slow start on Saturday; first because after we dropped Luke offwith Grandma and Grandpa I didn’t notice I left my laptop (with the cameramemory card inside) at their house until we had been driving for 25 minutes,and we had to go back. But also, because it was a very foggy morning inGalveston and with zero visibility, our cruise ship couldn’t dock to let theprevious cruisers off and us on. This ultimately resulted in a 6 hour delay,but Jeff and I were too excited to be upset, so we enjoyed our time waiting inline as best we could. It was a nice little perk that I didn’t have to tip the guythat took our bags because I took them by myself while Jeff saved our spot inline and the nice man was just concerned with getting the heavy bags off of thelittle woman.

We finally got onthe ship around 6pm and immediatelywent in search of our beloved TurkeySandwiches. Our first Carnival cruise was for our one year anniversary 2 ½years ago and we were obsessed with the incredible turkey sandwiches from thedeli. We ate them every day and I could honestly eat one for lunch every dayfor the rest of my life and be so happy. When we arrived at the deli, we wereridiculously excited to discover that they were still being offered there.People probably thought we were crazy, but it was for good reason, because whenwe got back to our table and tasted them, with their thick flavorful slices ofturkey, and unbelievably delicious country rolls toasted to perfection, theywere just as heavenly as we remembered! Haha, okay, maybe we are crazy.

As wecontinued to explore the food area, we were happy to find all of the otherthings we had loved about our first Carnival cruise: the good kind of ice (thekind that is like little cylinders of condensed ICEE), frozen yogurt (inaddition to the chocolate and vanilla, they had strawberry this time and it wassurprisingly amazing!), and hot chocolate (the most perfect taste and temperature– we really missed this on Royal Caribbean).

We explored therest of the ship and planned to see the stand up comedians at 10pm and 11pm,but I had taken Dramamine and I was unbelievably drowsy. I could barely keep myeyes open, so we didn’t make it to the shows. I didn’t take Dramamine again forthe rest of the week. Turns out I didn't need it!

Day 2: Our first full daywas an at sea day. We worked out in the morning and we were the first ones downthe water slide when it opened. For some reason, the ride down the slide was s-l-o-w the first time. But we tried itagain later and that time, Jeff zipped down and whipped around every corner. I,however, came to a dead stop on the third turn and had to scoot along to getmyself going again and I still had a slow ride to the bottom. I wondered if mybutt was really that big that it wasslowing me down, until I saw a woman with a bigger booty than mine cruise downat top speed! I tried at least once a day with the same results. It wasn’tuntil the last day, when Jeff pushed me that I finally had a really fast andfun ride down the slide! Ridiculous!

After lunch, we watchedthe hairy chest contest on deck, which was really embarrassing to watch withbig, drunk, hairy men dancing around, but we couldn’t look away! Then, Jeff wasreally excited to find out that both NFL games deciding which teams would go tothe Super Bowl were going to be on the big screen on deck. Jeff watched thePatriots-Ravens game while I worked out and then came back to snuggle with himfor the second half. When I came back to sit down, I was lamenting the factthat I hadn’t reached my goal weight before the cruise (far from it), so it wasreally great to hear that the friendly women sitting next to Jeff had told himthat he had the “cutest girlfriend ever” while I was gone. I need to make moreof an effort to make people’s days by saying nice things like that tostrangers.

After dinner, wecaught the family-friendly comedy show, before coming back out on deck to catchthe second half of the 49ers-Giants game, while relaxing in the Jacuzzi. Well,we tried to relax, but we were sharing the hot tub with a large and veryboisterous drunk Polynesian man, who was veryexcited about the game. Even though we were sitting about 2 feet away fromhim, every time he wanted to get our attention, he would yell, “HEY!” and thiswas usually followed simply by, “ELI!” (as in Eli Manning, quarterback for the Giants). Then he would stand up and yell to random strangers sitting behindus, “HEY! ELI! ELI! HEY! ELI!” until they acknowledged him with a wave or afist pump. Then, he would sit back down and say something like, “Eli’s afreakin’ winner!” (only replace “freakin’” with an expletive, which was clearlythis man’s favorite word, based on how many times he said “F@*% off” inresponse to bad calls or bad plays or good plays if they were from the 49ers). Wewatched the guy fall more than once getting in and out of Jacuzzi. I did notenvy what his wife would be dealing with that night.

Before bed, we went to theadult comedy show, which ended up being a little too suggestive for our taste,so we avoided those for the rest of the cruise.

Can you believe that this is the first picture I took on the whole cruise so far? Our towel animal on our second night on board: an adorable koala(?) offering us chocolates. It doesn't get much better than that!

Day 3 (Mon): On Monday, wedocked in Progresso, Mexico. Jeff and I had an early excursion scheduled. Wewere supposed to meet at 7:30am, but I made us a little late. They were waitingfor us. Crap. But they were very nice about it and let us onto the bus anyway.We had a long bus ride listening to our very interesting and personable guidetell us about the area, it’s history and the fascinating history of the Mayansand the events behind all of the 2012 end of the world hoopla (December 21,2012 to be exact).

Welcome to Progresso!

When we arrived, wechose goggles, snorkels, life jackets, and mountain bikes. We put our things inthe van and jumped on our bikes for a 10 minute ride to the first of twocenotes. The ride was a little bit bumpy and rocky. It was enough to makeclumsy me slightly nervous at first, but I got the hang of it and it ended upbeing really fun! Jeff and I rode out front and led the group.

"A cenote is a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico and Central America, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath" (thank you Wikipedia). The first cenote we went to was connected to another cenote by a kind of underground river. Scuba divers swim from one cenote to the other in the in the pitch black underwater tunnel. I'm sure they bring lights, but it still was a pretty terrifying thought to me! We could look down into the opening of the tunnel while we were snorkeling and we could see why ancient Mayans thought these were entrances to the underworld. The water up in the cenote, however, was beautiful, blue, and clear. Jeff and I were happy thatit was fresh water so we could snorkel without the taste of salt in our mouths.The rock formations in the cave were beautiful and intricate and so interesting to look at.

My camera lens was all fogged up so the picture is blurry, but this is the first cenote. Ground level is at the top of the picture.

The water was SO nice!

It was only about a minutebike ride to the second cenote, which I think was even more beautiful than the first! It wasless covered than the first one and surrounded by gorgeous scenery, althoughthe water was a little less clear. Like in the first cenote, there weren’t anybig fish swimming around, just a bunch of little guppies.

Doesn't it look magical?

Before we snorkeled in the secondcenote, we gathered nearby around a local Mayan-speaking shaman who taught usall about the natural remedies he creates out of plants in the area. He givesthem away for free to local people who are too poor to go into the city to seea doctor when they get sick. He says he doesn’t charge for his remedies becausehe knows God pays him. He was such a good, humble man. And the shaman’s grandfather lived until he was 113 years old, andhe wasn’t sick when he died, he only died because he fell, so those naturalremedies must really work!

One of the plants the shaman showed us had little pokey bulbs that could be popped open to reveal little orange berries with some serious dying power. We each got our own bulb full of little berries, which we rolled between our fingers to extract the dye and then had a blast rubbing it all over our faces, arms, and legs ...

Are you ready for some football?

I loved all the lily pads in the water.

After some snorkeling, we all jumped back on our bikes and rode back toward the place where we started, stopping on the way for a seriously tasty authentic Yucatan lunch.

My studly husband getting ready to ride to the restaurant for lunch.

Our tour guide explaining and serving our yummy lunches.

Each person got this huge plate of food to themselves! It was all homemade and fantastic!

I thought it was cool that the roof of the restaurant looked like it was made of dry palm tree leaves.

We saw this soldier on the drive back to the ship. I had to take a picture for my brothers, who love guns. It wasn't all that impressive or surprising that this soldier had that giant gun strapped to him, but it was crazy that all of the Mexican policemen we saw on our drive had exactly the same gun! I just failed to pull out my camera fast enough to get a picture of one of them.

Back at the ship, Jeff and I hung out on deck for a little while. Jeff left to go work out and since I felt like I needed to digest my lunch a little longer before I joined him, I stayed on deck and watched some of a Cher concert onthe big screen while sitting at the end of a line of middle-aged gay men on deck chairs. At first there was just one, but his friends kept showing up and filling the chairs next to me. It was pretty entertaining listening to their comments: “Oh Cher! She’s the man!”

Later, I got in a solid workout running 1250 stairs. My calves were sore for the rest of the trip!

I was a little accident prone on this cruise. At least at the ports. This happened when I tried to get my bike ready to ride in Progresso and it fell on me. I got blood on my poor Pumas. In Cozumel, I cut my ankle on a coral reef. However, I didn't slip once on the slick decks of the ship! So that's something!

That night, Jeff and I went to the "60 Seconds or Less" show (exactly the same as "Minute to Win it"). We were hoping to participate, but a lot of people put their names in the buckets for the random drawing for contestants and we didn't get chosen. Bummer. But we had a great seat up front to watch the very entertaining show from.There were three guys and three girls and they took turns trying to do different tasks in under a minute (stacking and unstacking a pyramid of 28 cups, drinking from a soda can until they could balance it on its rim, get two cookies from their forehead into their mouth without using their hands, and keep a feather in the air for 60 seconds using only their breath).

One contestant totally made the show. His name was Ted, from Katy, TX. He was super tall and thin and he cracked us all up with his dance moves every time he won a challenge. In the end, Ted and another girl tied for the win. It was fun to watch and of course, Jeff and I tried all of the challenges ourselves later. He was slightly more successful than I was.

Crab. Our stateroom attendant made the best towel animals all week!

Day 4: Jeff and I woke up on Wednesday to beautiful Cozumel. This was our favorite port on our one-year-anniversary cruise so we were excited to be back! And to add to our excitement, we were signed up for the "Amazing Cozumel Race" and we were ready to go!

We got off the ship before our excursion was supposed to start so we wandered around browsing shops and taking pictures. We also go to Skype with Luke and Renita on Jeff's iPod Touch for a few minutes! It was so great to see him! We missed our little boy! Luke was happy to see us and gave us a giant grin, but pretty soon, he got bored with us and squirmed out of Renita's lap so he could go back to playing. Apparently, he wasn't missing us as much as we were missing him!

There were the most random props all over the place just off the dock to take pictures with.

Jeff and I made our way over to the meeting place for the race and saw Ted there (from minute to win it the night before)! When he saw us walk up, he said, "I pegged you two for Amazing Racers." I guess the fact that we were both wearing Camelbaks and I was wearing tennis shoes with a skirt might have tipped him off.

Ted and his wife, Elizabeth sat at a table with us while we waited for the race to get started. Within about 10 minutes of meeting them, were about 99.9% sure that they were LDS (young couple with 3 kids, she was dressed modestly, and he was a (very) white guy speaking Spanish with one of the race coordinators - mission? probably.) We soon found out they were LDS and Ted did serve a Spanish-speaking mission (in Brazil). They seemed like a really fun couple, but that didn't mean we weren't going to kick their butts in the race.

There were 12 teams and we all got our equipment for the race (a map with numbers and locations, a little guide book to the city, a marker, and a cell phone in case we got lost and needed help from the race coordinators) and listened to all of the rules and instructions. The race started when we got our first clue: a picture of a flagpole that said, "Wish you were here." We were easily the fastest team out of the gate because we had read over our map on the drive over to the start of the race and Jeff remembered where he has seen the flagpole on the map. All he had to do was glance at the clue and we were off running!

I kind of wished I was in better shape as we ran from place to place. It wasn't a short race! But we managed to keep running/jogging for the whole race, even if we were totally out of breath. I don't want to reveal too many details of the race in case it might ruin it for others who do this excursion in the future, but it was a BLAST! We had to go from place to place looking for clues and deciphering messages to figure out our next location.

Ted and Elizabeth were never far behind us. They caught up with us when we were about halfway through the sheet of questions we had to answer in the museum (our second location). We thought we had a solid buffer, but those smartie pants's got through all of the questions lighting fast and by the end, we were searching for the last answer at the same time! Jeff and I took off running for our next location, hoping to put some distance between us!

About halfway through the race, we ended up at the ferry pier, where we stopped and waited for other teams to arrive. Each team's time so far was recorded so that each of us could start back up where we left off after we found our clue. It was really nice to have a little break from running around while we waited for the other times to arrive. Ted and Elizabeth came speed-walking down the pier in second place after a few minutes. Apparently, Elizabeth, who was wearing jeans, didn't feel like running behind her long-legged husband anymore. Enjoying the experience was a higher priority for her than winning. Jeff and I felt we would most enjoy the experience if we won.

When half of the teams were on the pier, we all jumped on a little boat and sped out to sea. I was surprised how soon we stopped and those team members who had volunteered to snorkel (Jeff, Ted and two others) were told to jump out and look for the name of the sunken ship there. The name of the ship gave us our next location. And this is where Jeff and I ran into problems. We were the first ones to our next locations and the first ones to find the next clue, but we had to find a clue in our guide book and no matter how many times we flipped through it, we just kept missing it! We knew what we were looking for, but apparently we didn't have the patience to look closely enough! Finally, we figured it out by asking a man across the street where he had told Ted and Elizabeth to go and of course, he turned right to the right page in our book and showed us! We should have started with that strategy! All of the locals knew exactly where we needed to go and gave us hints throughout the race.

Anyway, enough info about the race! I fear I have revealed too much! After a few more clues and locations, Jeff and I ended up at a little restaurant a good mile into Cozumel (far from the touristy stuff on the coast). Approaching the restaurant, Jeff and I had no idea that it was our final destination, but then, all of the people inside the restaurant started to clap and a man started playing our victory music. We won! We were the first ones to finish the race! Sweet victory!

Winners!

We sat down at a table and were served free chips and salsa and virgin strawberry daiquiris while we waited for the rest of the teams to finish the race.

Ted and Elizabeth walked in a few minutes after we did, securing second place. They were followed by another young couple and a group of three girls, who tied for third, and so on.

While we were waiting, Ted showed me an iguana on a wall outside the restaurant. They were everywhere - in Cozumel and in Progresso the day before!

Iguanas are to Cozumel as squirrels are to Texas.

This henna tattoo was a clue. It still hasn't washed off 5 days later!

The green, white, and red bracelet was another clue.

When all of the teams had finished the race, it was time for the awards ceremony. Stats: the average time for completion of the race is about 2 hours, the winning time for each race is typically around an hour and a half. Jeff and I completed the race in 1 hour and 1 minute (just 3 minutes longer than the record of 58 minutes! Gah! If only we hadn't taken so long to find the clue in our guide book! We would have had it in the bag!). Ted and Elizabeth finished the race in 1 hour and 10 minutes (9 minutes after Jeff and I). Pretty impressive, considering they mostly speed walked. If it were up to Ted, they probably would have ran. He really wanted to win. But he was a good husband to do what Elizabeth wanted.

Ist, 2nd, and 3rd place got medals. Jeff the trash talker to Ted: "How does that silver taste?"

Ted dancing while he and Elizabeth received their medals.

"And in first place, the Sneaky-tacks!" It took them about 5 tries to pronounce that right, probably because Jeff wrote it without the hyphen and it's not a real word. We were really pressured to come up with a team name fast and it was the first thing that came to mind (it's an inside joke - Jeff tried to say sneak attack, but it came out sneaky tack and for some reason that was hilarious)!

Surprise balloons for the winners!

Gold medals!

This race was seriously the funnest thing! If you get the chance, DO IT! It is so well put together and all of the race coordinators and friendly and hilarious and awesome. Seriously, you won't regret it!

Jeff and I decided to forgo the free taxi ride back to the ship because we were sure that the ride over to the the start of the race had been really short so we would have plenty of time to walk back to the ship and stop at the beach for a swim on the way.

Well, it turns out the walk was a little farther than we thought (make that a lot farther). We walked for an hour and half, leaving us just enough time to swim for 15 minutes and get back to the ship 15 minutes before we needed to be there. But it gave us plenty of time to chat and enjoy the sights. And those 15 minutes in the water were pure bliss!

We had to jump in off of some pretty rough and pointy rocks and the water was deep right away, so we hesitated for a minute, wondering if we would get cut up climbing back out.

But once we took the plunge, it was perfect! The water was so beautiful and clear and just the right temperature. And fortunately, we didn't sustain any injuries on our climb back out of the water (I did however, get a little cut on the way in).

Back at the ship, we got in line to board right behind our new buds, Ted and Elizabeth. We had a nice chat, and then parted ways as we headed to our rooms, assuming we'd see each other around the ship that night and the following day. But somehow, we never saw them again! I thought for sure, we'd run into them again so we could exchange contact info and maybe get together for a game night or something one day after we got home. They live less than 30 minutes away from us after all! Oh well, maybe we'll run into them again one day.

Still super excited to be in line for our turkey sandwiches on day 4 of the cruise.

The rolls were a little over-cooked on this day, but they were still oh so delicious!

Our gorgeous view every night at sunset.

After dinner, we snuggled up on deck to watch a movie on the big screen. It was wonderful. We really enjoyed having the freedom that we missed on the last cruise when we were held to an 8pm bedtime with Luke. We love that boy and we love doing fun things with him, but if you're going to go on a cruise, sans kids is the way to do it!

I don't understand how an elephant made out of towels manages to be this adorable!

Day 5: The last day of our cruise was another at sea day. We spent most of the day on deck enjoying the sun and ocean breeze. It was hard to believe that it was the middle of January when it felt like summer and everyone was walking around in swim suits!

Amazing ice carver! He made a beautiful, flawless ice figure in 9 minutes!

Indian chief

Jeff waited in a long line to get this awesome swan ice cream scoop, grabbed two spoons, and brought it up to where I was lying out on my a deck chair. Such an amazing (and scrumptious) little surprise!

Jeff and I brought a little plate of cookies back to our room after lunch so we could try the challenge from the minute to win it show for ourselves. I think I was a little more confident than Jeff that I would be able to complete the challenge (get one cookie from forehead into mouth without using hands and eat it, do the same with a second cookie, but just get the cookie locked into your teeth, not required to eat it) in under 60 seconds. But apparently my confidence was unwarranted and Jeff wasn't giving himself enough credit! I totally failed at my first attempt, dropping cookie after cookie, but I got better after a few tries. At least I got a couple into my mouth, no matter how ugly the process was! Jeff, on the other hand, was a machine! He was so quick. I snapped the following three pictures one right after the other, so this is exactly how it went - 1.. 2.. DONE!

Those engineers just do everything so efficiently, in as few steps as possible!

Jeff took these pictures of me one right after the other too. And as you can see, I took several more steps...

Now I understand why the chef at Bari Bari Japanese Steak House (one of those places where they cook right in front of you) said, "Wow! She has a big mouth!" right after he tossed a piece of egg into my mouth. He was right.

Finally! Success! But it came at a price...

My face was covered in crumbs and they were all stuck in my hair and eyelashes!

Jeff and I get a little stumped trying to find something we want to do on the cruise ship when we have to fill a full day on board (you know, when we don't want to shop, gamble, or drink), but we make due with the occasional show, a game of mini golf, wandering around, lounging, etc. Of course, we'd rather be at port every day, but really, how can you complain about spending the day on a cruise ship!

The two of us spent another lovely and snuggly night watching a movie (Mr. Popper's Penguins) on the big screen on deck. We brought Jeff's old quillow (a blanket that has a little pocket sewn into the bottom that the blanket folds up into, turning it into a pillow - the pocket is also perfect for keeping your feet warm) from home specifically for these nights and it was oh so cozy. Everybody else wished they thought of that.

Floppy-eared puppy dog towel animal on our last night.

The next morning, we made our way off the ship and through customs smoothly and in record time! We were so excited to see Luke! And it was such a happy reunion. Luke was so excited to see us that he started jumping up and down and laughing and he gave us the biggest hugs! We love that boy!

What an awesome vacation with my sweet hubby! I have now been on 3 cruises (over the past 2 1/2 years) and I am officially hooked! Such an unbelievable price for so much fun and adventure in so many gorgeous places! I am spoiled, spoiled, spoiled! And I appreciate SO MUCH all of the people (hard-working husband, kind grandparents, etc.) that make it possible. It is really, really nice to get away, just me and my man every once in a while!

Real Love

2012-01-28T23:28:00.002-07:00

About a week and a half ago, our family got hit hard by a nasty 24 hour flu that was going around our ward. The barfing part actually only lasted about 6 hours and thankfully, we were comfortable enough to sleep in between trips to the bathroom. Then it was just rebuilding strength and appetites for a day. So, it definitely could have been worse, but the bad parts were pretty intense.

I found out just how much my saint of a husband loves me when I passed out right after the first time I puked and spilled the bucket I had been puking in all over the bathroom floor. He cleaned it up! I told him I would do it, but he insisted I get back in bed while he took care of it. World's Greatest Husband award? I think so! I mean, I would have been grossed out cleaning that mess up! And then, the man got up every time I did so he could catch me when I passed out, which I did a total of 4 times (I have no idea when I became such a pansy), and all the while he was taking care of Luke too (Luke was sick at exactly the same time). The fun started at 10:30pm and lasted most of the night. Poor Jeff only got about 3-4 hours of sleep! He took care of us the next morning and went to work in the afternoon to finish up his responsibilities before our cruise two days later. Can you see why we love this guy?? He's amazing!

Luke and I took it easy recovering in the afternoon while Jeff was at work ...

How cute is this?? Poor sick Luke looks just like a tired parent doing a 2am feeding. He just sat there like this for the longest time!

Luke started doing this great kissy face, but for some reason he can't recreate it when asked or when I try to show him how to do it. Instead, he does a face like this...

Not quite the same.

Self-portrait.

Happy Birthday to You!

2012-01-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Two awesome little girls (Rachel and Ashlyn) in our primary class turned 5 in January! I promised the kids I would make them special treats on the week of their birthday so I broke out the cookie cutters, food coloring, and sprinkles to make some very colorful sugar cookies!

I had to stay home with Luke so he wouldn't spread his bronchitis to the rest of the nursery kids, so I didn't get to give the cookies to the kids myself, but I sent them along with Jeff and he told me they were a hit!

Notice the intricate sprinkle work on the ice cream cone. I wasted a good 15 minutes doing that! At least it turned out pretty cute and I hear Benson enjoyed it!

We have the best kids in our CTR 4 class! I can't wait to help each and every one of them celebrate their birthdays!

Not Again!

2012-01-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Luke got bronchitis for the second time in about a month! No bueno!

At least he loves his medicine! The boy thinks his antibiotics medication is candy!

Poor baby was pretty knocked out for one full day. He could barely stand so he just cuddled with me all day. I felt so bad for the little guy! Stupid bronchitis! But I'm not complaining about all the cuddling.

All cuddled up in Daddy's chair with his teddy bear and his baby watching Yo Gabba Gabba (what else?). He was actually pretty content.

We were so lucky and grateful that this time, the doctor caught the bronchitis at Luke's regular 18-month check-up before it had even really manifested yet. So we got Luke on antibiotics right away and the sickness came and went in just 4 or 5 days!

Kiddos

2012-01-28T22:02:00.001-07:00

Just some recent pictures of my favorite kiddos...

Cute Luke giving his baby a ride (That doll was mine growing up and I kept it for my kids. I didn't imagine my little boy would love it so much!)

"Look at the camera baby!"

The following hilarious pictures prove that Bethany is a very observant little girl! While I was doing the laundry one day, she told me her baby was hungry so she was going to feed her some milk. I said, "Oh good. Babies like milk." I assumed Bethany was using the toy baby bottle until I turned around and saw this:

I about died, but I tried to keep a straight face because Bethany was very serious about taking care of her hungry baby. She even said, "I have to do both sides!" and switched the baby to the other side! This sweet girl cracks me up!

"I have to do both sides!"

Watching Yo Gabba Gabba! at the "drive-in"

The kids and I went to the park on an overcast day. No one else was around because they were probably a little wary of the dark clouds, but we had a blast for the two hours we were there, even when it drizzled for a few minutes in the middle.

All three kids couldn't get enough of the swings!

This boy especially never wanted to get out of his swing! I got a work out from all of the pushing I did that day!

All three in unison!

Another fun Wednesday morning at Chick-Fil-A with Miss Marina ...

Storytime

Miss Marina brought construction trucks/tractors and a box of pebbles to play in. It was an exciting day! Becca's hair was so crazy all day that day!

Such a little doll with her kitty balloon animal

Action shot: Luke stole Becca's water and she is loudly letting me know!

Bethany was very serious about getting a good picture of her poodle balloon animal. She didn't crack a smile until after the picture was taken.

Luke and Becca got matching Elmos painted on their arms. They each chose him separately. This is the moment when they realized they matched.

Luke thought it was pretty funny.

"You got Elmo too?! No way!"

Water Boy

2012-01-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Luke loves to play in the water: the sink, a pool, the gutter, the spigot in our backyard ...

He also loves to drink water. Seriously, this boy drinks a lot of water!

He found half of an Easter egg and started using it as a cup.

"Mmm..pretty good. I think I'll have some more..."

Luke started filling up both halves of the egg and bringing them inside for me to drink over and over. Once, when he came inside, I was upstairs, so he walked to the bottom of the stairs and yelled for me to come down. When he saw me at the top of the stairs, he raised one half of the egg really fast to show me he had filled it for me and accidentally tossed all of the water over his shoulder. He looked mournfully at the empty egg for a second, but then, he quickly remembered that the other half was still full of water and happily laughed, showed it to me, and nodded with a big grin on his face, as if to say, "It's all good! I've still got one! Come on down!"

Yonanas!

2012-01-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

One date night a couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I used my new Yonanas maker for the first time. I had been so excited to try it ever since I got it for Christmas two weeks before and it did not disappoint! It takes nothing but frozen fruit, and yet the finished product is creamy and delicious! Every recipe calls for bananas (where the creaminess comes from), but you can add just about anything else after that to make for some tasty combinations. Jeff and I made a banana-mixed berry concoction and it was pretty fantastic - not quite as good as ice cream or frozen yogurt, but surprisingly close!

Driveway Party

2012-01-28T13:03:00.001-07:00

Just a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a little fun in the front yard ...

Who knew empty boxes waiting to be recycled could provide so much entertainment!

Becca would have appreciated an "excuse me."

Riding cars up and down the driveway - you can't lose!

Happy kids!

That sun is bright!

Weeee!

Three Snowmen and a Princess

2012-01-27T22:08:00.003-07:00

Every Wednesday morning we go to "The Ice Cream Place" (Chick Fil A) and the kids play in the play place, have story time, get their arms and/or faces painted, share some lunch and ice cream, and get balloons (for FREE).

In the couple of weeks before and after Christmas, Miss Marina made the kids the cutest Frosty the Snowman balloons and on this particular day, little miss Bethany got her face painted like a princess.

Why does Luke look like such a giant next to Bethany?! She is more than two years older than him!

What a face!

Cute sisters

Such a pretty princess! The cute girl couldn't stop staring at her reflection in Miss Marina's mirror after she got her face painted and Miss Marina sprinkled glitter over the the paint. She loved it!

Luke - 18 Months

2012-01-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Luke turned 18 months old at the end of December. He is such a fun boy! Jeff and I have loved watching his little personality develop, especially his sweet side and his sense of humor. Luke can be shy around strangers (although, on some days, he decides to put that aside and be incredibly friendly and outgoing), but around his family, he is a little comedian! The best part is that he knows he's being funny! He makes jokes and laughs even harder when he sees that he has made us laugh. I love his cute grin! It seriously makes my day! And as he has gotten older, he has become a little more aware of other people's feelings. He gives the sweetest hugs and although he can definitely be a self-centered toddler at times, I love the times when I see him notice someone else's feelings and try to make them happy. Here are a few facts about our sweet boy:

Stats:

Height - 34.5 in. (95%) - This is the first time since the day he was born that Luke is not >99% in height, but he's still a pretty tall boy!
Weight - 28.5 lbs. (80%) - Luke's 3(almost 4)-year-old cousin, Bethany (2 yrs, 3 mos. older than Luke) weighs exactly one pound more than Luke (she came to Luke's doctor's appointment and got weighed too). He's got some petite little cousins! Also, he's kind of huge.
Head Circumference - 19.5 in. (90%)

Luke understands a ton! I'm amazed at how much he picks up so quickly and how many instructions he is able to follow! Kids are amazing! But as much as he understands, he only says about 15-20 words clearly enough to understand: ow (when he gets hurt or pretends to and when he's pointing to an "owie"); hi, bye, light, outside, eye (they all sound like "eye," but you can tell which one he means if you listen to the inflection); love you (sounds like "low-voo" - my heart melts when he says this back to me when I tell him I love him on my way out of his room at night); no; yeah; daddy; doggie (sometimes); mama; uh-oh (his first real word); arf-arf! (dog bark); ew (when changing a stinky diaper); wa (water); mmm (does that count as a word? When he takes a bite of something yummy); my (mine - said as something between a question and a statement when he wants something someone else has); oh, oo, ee, or, eye (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); and maybe a couple more that I can't think of at the moment.
Points out just about every body part including hair, tongue, teeth, knees, belly (lifts his shirt to show you for that one), bottom, fingers, toes, hands, feet, and all of the more commonly asked ones.
Knows all of his relatives (mommy, daddy, both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) and points them out when asked.

He has a full mouth of teeth (all but the very back molars)
Luke loves cars! He loves driving cars: his Little Tykes cars, grocery cart cars (you know, when the front of the cart looks like a car and the kids sit in it and play with the steering wheel), the neighbor's pink Power Wheels Jeep (he's finally tall enough to reach the gas pedal), real cars (he is perfectly happy to sit in the driver's seat of one of our cars while it is in the garage and pretend to drive forever! He also thoughtfully repositions the seat for us.
Speaking of cars, one of Luke's favorite books is My Big Truck Book. It's just a book full of pictures of real trucks, not trucks with faces or names or story lines, just trucks. Like a picture someone took of a dirty, rusted tractor. Excuse me. Front loader. I just tell Luke that the whole page of "Construction Trucks" and the whole page of "Farm Trucks" are tractors. Anyway, for some reason, Luke just LOVES this book! He can look at it over and over again and chooses it before every nap time and bedtime. On the construction trucks page, there is a white truck and a man wearing a hard hat is about half visible inside it. Every time we turn to that page, Luke leans in, waves, and says, "hi!" to the man.
Luke's other two favorite books are Llama Llama Red Pajama and My First Word Book. He chooses Llama Llama before every nap time and bedtime (I have the whole thing memorized!). Luke likes every page except for the one where Mama Llama gets mad. He always turns that page as soon as he sees her angry face. When we read My First Word Book, Luke loves to point out each picture when I ask him to. He has learned a lot from that book! Every time he sees the picture of the little boy crying on the page about emotions, he touches his face and says, "Awww."
Luke gives the funniest and cutest hugs! He lays his head on your shoulder, gives one really tight squeeze, and then gently pats your back with one or both hands. When he accidentally (or purposely) hurts someone, he gives hugs to say sorry.
Luke attempts to somersault the way his cousin Becca does, but he can't quite do it (I think his height makes it difficult). He puts his head down and sticks his bum up in the air, but instead of doing a somersault, he just kind of twists over onto his back and lies there with a proud smile on his face. We cheer for him. We don't have the heart to tell him he's not really doing it.
Lately, one of Luke's favorite things to do (when we let him), is to ride our treadmill. He holds onto the bar on the side with one hand and we turn it on to 0.5 speed (the slowest). Luke holds on and walks for a few steps. Then, he sits down and rides the track until he has to step off the back. He thinks it's hilarious and SO fun and will do it again, and again, and again if we let him!
Jeff is so proud that Luke does some serious flexing, fist clenching, and grunting/growling when Jeff says, "Luke intimidate!"
Luke is ridiculously strong with a vice-like grip!
Luke "pounds it" and sometimes he even makes the explosion sound.
Luke loves to be outside as much as possible, playing with the neighbors, going for walks, playing at the the park, swimming, anything that involves being outside!
TV doesn't usually hold Luke's attention for very long, but there are a couple of shows that he just loves for some reason: Yo Gabba Gabba! and the DVD about cars and trucks that came with his Little People toy cars and tracks set.
Luke got a kiddie "I Spy" book for Christmas and he is amazingly good at matching the picture in the list of things to the object in the big picture! He is also very good at matching objects or people in pictures I have taken to the objects and people in real life (e.g. he points at our couch in a picture and then turns around and points at our actual couch).
He cracks us up when he gets in a goofy mood and starts running in circles yelling, "woah, woah, woah, woah" and falling on the ground over and over.
Some of his favorite toys are cars (especially putting them down tracks), balls, and baby dolls (he is so sweet with them and loves to hug them, feed them bottles or some of his snack, take them for rides in his cars, and push them in strollers).
He has a serious sweet tooth, just like his mom! Lately some of his favorite foods (that aren't sweets or salty snacks) are bananas, pizza, steamed cauliflower and carrots, noodles, cheese, and hot dogs with ketchup.
He still loves animals!
He also loves our neighbors! After he was sick with bronchitis and stuck inside for a few days, he was so happy to see them again that he gave our 6-year-old next-door neighbor, Arailya three hugs in a row, running a few feet away giggling excitedly and then running back between hugs. He has a complete melt down every time we make him come inside after playing out in front of our houses with them.
Speaking of melt-downs. Although Luke has gotten more and more hilarious and sweet lately, that has come at a price, because he is also much more dramatic. If he doesn't get what he wants (sometimes even just if he doesn't get what he wants fast enough) or he gets told "no" or he gets frustrated that he can't do something (e.g. drag his truck up the driveway or lift something really heavy), it is not uncommon for him to run away screaming and crying into a corner, where he cries some more. We can usually calm him down pretty quickly, but we are still hoping he grows out of this over-reacting phase.
When he needs his diaper changed, he gets our attention or grabs someone's hand and leads them over to the rug where we normally change him downstairs and lies down expectantly.
He loves to talk to his Grandma and Grandpa and Aunts and Uncles on Skype and on the phone.
He loves to climb ladders and will climb all the way to the top of any ladder he can get his hands on.
Luke really loves slides. All slides. Especially big inflatable ones.
When his daddy is holding him, he counts "Oh, oo, eeee!" (one, two, threeeee!) before he falls backwards and Jeff catches him.

Very loooong story short: we absolutely love our little man! He makes us so happy!

Christmas #3

2012-01-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

Brace yourself. This post may have more pictures than any other post that I have ever posted. EVER. I took over 700 on this trip and I just couldn't narrow it down more than this! (well, maybe I could have, but I didn't)

Saturday (Christmas Eve):

We had to get poor Luke up at 5am for our early flight to California, but despite being forced to wake up three hours earlier than usual, he did really well on the flight and all day!

The free video games on the flight saved us!

That, and the fact that we miraculously had an empty seat between us for Luke on our otherwise full flight!

Luke is soooo ticklish!

Playing 'Memory'

Luke thought it was hilarious when the two matching pictures jumped off the screen together.

Towards the end of the flight, Luke went crazy! He was literally bouncing off the walls!

I caught the moment when Luke climbed onto the arm rest and leaped off in my general direction. He either really trusts me to catch him (I barely did) or he didn't think that one through! I'm going with the latter.

Cant. Sit. Still.

Chowin down on a peanut butter sandwich, waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to pick us up from LAX.

Luke was determined to climb to the top of this 'out of order' baggage carousel. When climbing up didn't work, he tried walking up a few steps and then lunging for the top.

Grandma and Grandpa decked out the yard just for Luke. He loved it!

Once, my mom unplugged them while Luke was outside with my dad. As they deflated, Luke shouted, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" but before they were completely deflated, my mom plugged them back in and they sprung back to life. Luke cheered so hard!

Grandpa and Luke make such a great pair. Luke had to sit on each and every level of the bricks.

This one was a bit of a struggle.

Cute, friendly Carl welcomed us when we got to Mamal and Papal's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Luke was overjoyed!

We exchanged gifts.

Family picture (we interrupted Grandpa and Luke's lemon juggling to take the picture)

In Papal's house, if you have the dog, you get your picture taken!

Sneaking sweets

This boy ate enough junk on Christmas Eve to last him a month! Jeff made sure everyone was careful to feed him healthier foods for the rest of the week!

Sunday (Christmas!):

Church was from 9-10am Christmas morning and since Patrick and Ashley needed to join us from Fullerton and we are all adults now, we waited (gasp!) to open presents until after church!

A yummy breakfast/brunch before presents

Everyone took their seats around the living room and dug through their stockings while Katrina volunteered to hand out the gifts.

Luke got his very own throne. Grandma helped him with his stocking.

For me?!

Notice Patrick in this picture with Jared in his sights. Don't worry, it's a lighter. The boys all got gun-shaped lighters in their stockings.

Patrick and Jared combining lighter-gun forces.

Patrick and Jared were both so jealous that Jeff got the coolest gun lighter.

Luke knew what to do with that gun right away! Watch out Daddy!

My parents are the best!

Part of Jared's gift from Jeff and I was a rabbit caller, which actually makes me a little sad, but both Jared and Patrick unexpectedly decided to get into hunting after I moved away from home, so it seemed fitting.

I love this polar bears smile!

Note the kitchen timer in Luke's right hand. For a while, he was more interested in that than any of his presents! Silly boy!

Luke traded the kitchen timer for a remote control car.

My dad was going through all of his old Broncos things and thought Luke would like carrying things around in his Broncos lunchbox. Good call, Grandpa!

The lunchbox was full of toy cars! TONS of them!

Feeding his baby duck its bottle (this cute duck quacks and moves and makes little swallowing sounds when it is "fed").

Jeff and Jared were driving their remote control cars all crazy across the floor and running into Luke's duck and over his little cars. He didn't appreciate it! He turned his duck around so that the cars would just hit the cardboard and then started pushing the remote control cars away and yelling and pointing for them to leave. Jeff and Jared couldn't argue with that! It was hilarious and adorable.

Katrina got a pile of boots for Christmas (5 pairs)! She is obsessed!

Mom had the great idea of playing bingo on Christmas day, since we couldn't do our usual tradition of going to a movie on Christmas (it was Sunday and we don't spend money on Sundays). There were tons of prizes (28 to be exact), all costing between $3 and $20, and wrapped so that we wouldn't know what they were before we chose them.

We had three winners for each round of Bingo. In the first round, Jared was the first winner. Of all of the prizes stacked on the piano, he had the good fortune of choosing a raccoon-like Zhu Zhu Pet hamster - it was Luke's by the end of the day. Jeff and I were winners two and three in round one. I clearly have a talent for picking winners because I chose "The Clapper" (haha). Jeff picked a little remote control car - pretty cool. But we were all a little envious when Katrina won next and went straight for the $20 Target gift card, which she had scoped out and identified earlier.

Jared won a giant box of Fiber One bars. Ashley was so happy that Jared won this prize because Patrick loves Fiber One bars and despite the fact they give him gas and without any regard for Ashley's poor nose, he always eats at least a couple when he is at my parents house. She did NOT want a giant box of them in her own home! Unfortunately for her, Jared traded them to Patrick before the end of the game.

Ashley was so jealous when I opened a little pink, sparkly bag and nail polish (she loves sparkly things - just look at her blindingly sparkly license plate frame for proof) that she offered to trade me Kung Fu Panda 2 for it. I wasn't about to turn that deal down! We all died laughing when we noticed how perfectly the bag matched her nails!

Dad was the official number caller

Debi and Russ came over and joined the fun. Debi, of course, had us all laughing, and she won the final prize. Notice Jeff's and my haul in the middle of the table - we cleaned up (a giant gingerbread men decorating kit, two cans of macadamia nuts, Super 8 on dvd, a remote control car, the clapper, Kung Fu Panda 2, a motorcycle night light, and an awesome dragon kite)!

Patrick is the best uncle!

Katrina was cracking Luke up by letting the little Christmas tree poke her and yelling, "ouch!" He could barely breathe, he was laughing so hard!

My mom also planned a glorious gingerbread (graham cracker) house contest for Christmas day. I'm pretty sure she bought out Stater Bros.'s supply of candy and she even had little foil covered boards for us and the hot glue gun at the ready! Katrina insisted on making her house entirely edible, but the rest of us got some good use out of that hot glue gun. Patrick and Ashley judged the contest from pictures my mom sent them from her phone (they had to leave before the contest started). They chose one winner and gave out awards to the rest of the houses.

Mine: "Creativity award" Check out the draw-bridge and moat!

A close-up of the little Sour Patch men launching the catapults.

Mom's: "Most Traditional Award"

Katrina's: Winner! Isn't it the most adorable little log cabin? The fence and gate were a nice touch.

Jeff's: "Most Festive." That husband of mine is so creative! Check out the little ice skating gummy bears. I warned Jeff that if he is going to be the brilliant engineer, he needs to let me have the creativity in this relationship! No one is THAT perfect!

I was a little disappointed that I didn't win because the prize was a $25 gift card to Olive Garden and I love that place! But Katrina gave the gift card to Jeff (a.k.a. Jeff and Kira) for his birthday - everybody wins! :)

That night, we all walked up to East Lake to see all of the Christmas lights.

Until this year, all of us, except for Katrina, were oblivious to the fact that each street around the lake has a theme during Christmas time. This is the Christmas tree street.

This looked so much prettier in person!

The snowman street

Beautiful. I love the way the lights reflect off of the water.

Every house on this street had one of these cute mailboxes!

These icicles were so cool. You would have to see them in person to get the full effect. Some of the lights flashed on and off moving down the icicle really quickly to make it look like they were dripping.

Grandpa and Luke

The present street

Luke became obsessed with stomping and dancing all over the truncated domes (that's what my dad called them anyway - the kind of official term only a contractor would know) at the start and end of each cross walk.

He insisted that Grandpa do it too!

I liked the way the fire flickered on this one.

Grandma and Luke walking home

Poor Luke tripped while he was helping Daddy push the stroller. I was just trying to take a picture of how cute they were pushing it together, but I caught Luke crashing to the ground instead.

A close-up. Notice his right had still clinging to the stroller handle.

Finishing the night with Grandma, his bottle, and some Yo Gabba Gabba! What more could you ask for?

Monday:

Luke gets a kick out of the weirdest games! Like, "Let's transfer this marker back and forth from my mouth to yours."

Of course, we had to make a trip to beautiful Huntington Beach! This is what I love about California. Everyone is at the beach at the end of December!

Luke was so excited! He just loves the beach!

The tide was out farther than I've ever seen it! Before we reached the waves, we walked forever through wet sand and water that was only an inch or so deep!

Luke ran straight for the waves!

Aunt Katrina is so fun!

Katrina found whole sand dollar! You never find one of these things without at least one chip out of it! It was a miracle!

Luke saw his opportunity to make a break for the waves when no one was paying attention. Look at that determined face! Unfortunately, those little legs don't move quite fast enough to beat Daddy.

I love my husband.

Look at that little Buddha belly!

The shallow water was perfect for floating Luke's little boat.

Jeff and I played catch. I focused a little more than the last few times we have played and was catching pretty well. Jeff was excited to see my old skills return. He said, "My wife is back with the handles!" He had to explain to me what "handles" were.

One-handed!

Eyes closed and one-handed?? Impressive!

Katrina played a little catch with Jeff too.

Header?

Luke worked on filling his bucket with sand.

Luke got tired of digging, so he brought his shovel to Katrina and told her to get to work!

She listened.

Luke, with no warning, braced himself on Katrina's back and lifted his foot for her to brush off. Apparently, he thinks she lives to serve him.

Chasing the birds

Aaaaah waves. That's the one big thing missing from the Galveston beaches.

Luke filled his whole bucket .. with a little help from Mommy and Grandma.

Trying to sneak up on a sea gull

Luke thought feeding the sea gulls his goldfish and oyster crackers was the funnest (and funniest) thing ever!

This crazy bird wasn't afraid of us at all. I swear he was trained because he caught every single cracker in his beak! Even if we threw it way too high, he flew up and caught it right out of the air! It was awesome!

He was a little brave for comfort. Katrina found his boldness unsettling and my mom feared for her toes (note how close he is to them).

Flying up to make a catch!

Bird's got hops .. sort of.

After Jeff chased the birds away (meanie), Luke ran after them to feed them more crackers.

Our 18-month-old does cartwheels.

When he realized he was almost out, he decided he'd better eat a few too.

Jared played with Luke all week! Luke loves him!

I don't think I ever mentioned the following cute story about the two of them on this blog before, so I'll do it now ... When Luke was 5 months old and we were visiting California for Thanksgiving, Luke was still waking up about twice each night. Katrina is a night owl, so she was usually still awake the first time Luke woke up around midnight, and she would often beat me to him. The sweet aunt and sister that she is, I would frequently walk into his room to find her already changing his diaper or giving him a bottle (love her!).

In those days, Jared usually came home around that time or even later. One night, Jared was already home when Luke woke up for the first time. When Katrina heard Luke cry, she came out of her room to get him, but when she got to Luke's room (yes, he has his own room), he wasn't there. She walked into Jared's room to find Jared sitting on his bed, playing his guitar for Luke, who was lying on the bed next to him. Luke was just quietly listening and staring at Jared. When Katrina walked in, Jared softly asked, "How do you get him to go back to sleep?" 'The Sweetest Uncle Award' for sure!

Sleepy Luke with his little feet up during dinner

Tuesday:

On Tuesday morning, Patrick and Ashley went with Mom, Dad, Jeff, Luke, and I to Irvine Park. It's a huge park with so much to do: a zoo, a train, pony rides, duck ponds, play grounds, walking paths, and

paddle boats and bikes to rent. We had a blast!

First we went to the zoo:

Luke is always game for a good petting zoo.

Being "soft" petting the goat's ear

This was the creepiest, craziest goat EVER! I wish I had taken a video of it so you could see ..er, hear what I mean. This goat sounded like a big, gruff, human man! It was walking around saying, "Maaaaa!" in a deep, booming, belch-yell! It sounded like a person - a really scary person! And just look at it's three horns! Unsettling!

Luke drove this poor goat crazy, feeding it only one pellet at a time! The goat didn't want to leave because it was being fed, but it was swinging it's head back and forth between pellets in frustration!

Luke made Jeff's "biiiig bite!" face every time.

I appreciated the goats being careful not to bite Luke's fingers with the way he was feeding them!

"MAAAAA"

This goat waved at us! Seriously! I guess it didn't want to be left out of the feeding because it climbed up onto the fence and waved it's left hoof up and down at us for several seconds straight! It was hilarious ..and a little creepy.

The wave worked, Luke went over and fed our new friend.

This sheep might have been going for a handshake (hoofshake).

This makes me laugh.

He loves his uncle Patrick! It's crazy to think that at the rate Luke is going, he might be as tall as Patrick one day!

This goat immediately fell in love with my mom. It kept nuzzling her and wouldn't let her leave.

My mom loved it back.

Better wash those hands after playing in the petting zoo!

On to the rest of the zoo...

Luke loves all of the attention he gets from Grandma and Grandpa (and the rest of the family for that matter)! It's good being the first grandson/nephew!

Sleepy mountain lion

I just want to snuggle up and take a nap with this guy! If only he wouldn't maul me.

Love this guy

Do you see that little raccoon nose? These two raccoons were so cute napping in their little hammocks.

Our little monkey

A bald eagle has a larger wingspan than Patrick (7 feet)!

This bird looks totally like a villain in an animated movie to me. The kind that you would maybe kind of like because he's so cool.

This huge tree was growing sideways with its roots above ground!

Feeding the ducks. We forgot to bring bread, but we had mini crackers.

Luke opted for a "one for you, one for me" pattern. He didn't want to give away all of those tasty crackers!

On our way to the pony rides, I stopped to take a picture of the ponies and this one came over to say hi. He was so sweet and let me pet him and talk to him through the fence for a while.

Luke rode a pony named Rocky.

It was already past Luke's nap time so he kept a blank sleepy face for most of the ride. This may have been the only "smile" I got out of him the whole ride, but he definitely loved it because he really didn't want to get off at the end!

Patrick was trying to get Luke to look at the camera, but he was way too out of it to notice.

Train ride! Mom was behind us and Dad and Patrick were behind her...

Until Patrick moved in front of us and Mom made Dad sit by her.

This boy has loved every train ride he's been on! Even when it's past his nap time.

This boy was SO the center of attention all week long!

Uncle Patrick is a funny guy!

Luke wasn't ready for the ride to be over!

There were so many big beautiful trees in the park! And here, Grandpa is smacking Luke into the leaves. At least Luke thought it was funny!

Luke was so excited when he saw Grandma waiting at the car.

That night, Ashley and Katrina took me shopping at Kohl's and convinced me to buy two pairs of jeggings and a cute pair of boots to go with the skinny legged pair. I never thought I would get on board with the jeggings trend, but oh my gosh I love them! They look just like jeans, they can be very flattering, and they fit perfectly whether you gain a few pounds or lose a few pounds! They're magic! A pair of jeggings would have been much more believable in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Wednesday:

Wednesday, the 28th was Jeff's 27th birthday (and Luke's half birthday - he turned 18 months) and we celebrated by having my mom babysit Luke while we went to the movies to see Mission Impossible III and to the Long Beach Aquarium. We had a wonderful time, but there are almost no pictures because it was Jeff's birthday and he decreed that no pictures would be taken. He is always so patient with me and my obsession with taking pictures, so I agreed.

Luke became obsessed with playing in the sink this week. He was shocked that I wouldn't let him do it anytime he wanted after we got home.

Outside of the aquarium admiring the boats and yachts docked there. Jeff allowed one picture on his iPod Touch.

My parents took us all out to dinner at a new burger place called The Habit to celebrate Jeff's birthday. It was soooo good!

After dinner, we all went for frozen yogurt. It was a birthday miracle that they had chocolate covered raisins available as a topping! They are Jeff's favorite and up until this night, we have never found a yogurt place that has them!

My mom had the brilliant idea of entertaining Luke with beach balls floating over her fan. He couldn't get enough of it!

He even got brave enough to grab the balls as they flew around!

Thursday:

Grandma and Luke doing some early morning sidewalk chalking. Look at how focused Luke is!

Later that morning; Jeff, Luke, and I enjoyed a great visit with Mamal and Papal (they live only two blocks away from my parents).

Papal took us down to the green belt behind their house, where he often takes Cisco (his chihuahua). He pointed out the neighbor dogs on both sides of his house, who barked like crazy at us, but love Papal because he feeds them dog treats.

I couldn't believe how much Luke loved Papal! He kept hugging him and asking to be picked up.

So sweet.

Papal was very happy to know that he can still lift 28 pounds at 82 years old! He did it several times, at Luke's request!

These two make the cutest pair.

Luke kept insisting on walking to the top of the hill, just so he could run down it!

Group shot! Luke is riding the springy horse he loves to ride at Mamal and Papal's house. Impressively he can climb onto it himself!

Saying hello to the birds

The birds kept a close watch on that little short guy wandering around their cage.

Luke wanted to look at the birds again from inside.

Cisco normally hates Luke, even though Luke loves him! But on this visit, Cisco was actually pretty friendly with Luke. Shortly after we arrived, Cisco came over and gave Luke a kiss and their bonds were strengthened even more when Luke shared his grilled cheese sandwich with Cisco.

I love Mamal's laugh! And she makes the best grilled cheese!

That afternoon, Patrick and Ashley took Luke to the Santa Barba Zoo, just the three of them. Luke had a blast with his Aunt and Uncle!

Luke and Ashley checking out the birds

Luke was DJ'ing with all of the big cat sounds.

I told Patrick that Luke can hang forever, so of course, he had to see for himself!

Luke will never pass up an opportunity to drive! Even if it is just pretend.

This girl is the coolest! I'm SO happy Patrick married her! And clearly, so is Luke!

That night, Jared gave Luke a piano lesson. It was so cute to watch them play together! And every time Jared played a song, Luke would look up at him and then nod his head really hard to the music. Check out the video HERE.

Friday:

On Friday, my mom took Jeff, Luke, and I to Pretend City. It is the coolest place! It's a whole city with a grocery store, library, police station, etc, but it's all child-sized! Luke had so much fun!

Fishing

The dentist office. Notice the giant magnetic braces we put on the top row of teeth.

X-ray at the doctor's office.

Dr. Luke

Getting his blood pressure checked

Doctor's office

The kitchen of the restaurant

Fire station - more than anything else Luke wanted to drive ALL of the cars in Pretend City!

At the beach (they had a big sand box to play in)

Construction site

I hope this boys parents wouldn't mind me sneaking a picture of him. He was just so cute all decked out in construction gear and taking his job so seriously! I couldn't help it!

There was a big playroom at the back of the city.

Pumping gas

This car was Luke's favorite. He went back to it multiple times.

Picking out produce in the grocery store.

Shopping - so far for very healthy foods. That's my boy!

Picking apples at the farm

Raking at the farm

There were real baby chicks at the farm.

Adorable.

So unbelievably cute!

Just doing a little mowing

Another construction site. This one looked so fun for older kids! There were tons of PVC pipes and boards to fit together.

Quite possibly, my favorite thing in pretend city was the AAA tow truck!

Saturday:

On Saturday morning, I went to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with my friends Jackie and Shelley. Jackie and I have been friends since Kindergarten and Shelley and I met through Jackie in high school and became really good friends. They were both bridesmaids in my wedding and I love that I get to see them almost every time I visit for the holidays and in the summer. I just love them and I love catching up on each other's lives!

Jackie, Shelley, and I

Jackie came back to the house to see Luke. He fed her goldfish crackers - a clear sign that he likes her.

I had a lovely time chatting with Jackie some more while I packed to go home and Shelley came by just in time to see Luke and the rest of the family for a few minutes before we left for the airport.

Luke did well on the flight home and Jeff's parents were kind enough to drive our car and theirs to the airport so that we could drive our car straight home, getting there much sooner.

We got to our house just in time to see our neighbors shooting off fireworks in the street to welcome the new year. I had no idea that the big fireworks, seen only in public firework shows in California, are legal for ordinary citizens to purchase in Texas! Much to my surprise, they were being shot off all over our neighborhood! It was crazy! Luke loved it! We stood outside on our driveway and watched for a few minutes. Luke watched the dark sky so intently and when a burst of color appeared, he laughed and pointed excitedly.

With the flash, these pictures failed to capture the color of the fireworks, but trust me, they were there!

Luke insisted we watch for fireworks for a while longer from his bedroom window before we put him to bed.

The conclusion of this incredibly long post: I have the BEST family (husband, son, my side, and Jeff's side)! And the BEST life!

Christmas #2

2012-01-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

We were flying out to California in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning, so our little family of three had "our Christmas" on the morning of the 23rd. We had to get Luke up an hour early so he could enjoy his new toys alone for a while before Bethany and Becca arrived and he had to share.

This truck was a gift to Luke from Jeff and I. Jeff did all of the hard work of putting it together. I just put on the stickers.

There were so many parts and they were multiplied by two because my parents bought Luke the matching "Cozy Coupe!"

Waayyyy more parts than we were expecting! And it took some muscle and a drill to get them all together! No wonder these cars last so many years!

All ready for "Christmas morning"

One of Luke's gifts from Santa. We added all of the cars he already had.

When I brought Luke downstairs the next morning. He was so excited to see his truck, but when he noticed the car, he was even more excited (and conflicted). He couldn't stand the fact that when he was in one car, the other was empty. He switched back and forth a zillion times and always wanted to have a hand on the empty car.

Santa filled Luke's stocking with lots of great little gifts!

An alligator hand puppet

A football

A magna-doodle (and a couple of toys cars and bubbles)

Christmas-y shaped pancakes for breakfast

Yum! Luke loooves syrup!

Jeff with his stocking stuffers - his favorite candies: chocolate covered raisins and Werthers, and some Santa and Frosty parachuters and a "Spin-a-Santa."

Jeff also got The Unit Season 4 on DVD and some *a-hem* lingerie from me. We each put half of our Christmas money toward a 5-day cruise to Mexico at the end of January! Of course that barely made a dent, but every little bit helps! Renita is going to babysit, so it's just us! We can't wait!

My stocking stuffers and gifts from Jeff

When the girls arrived, they were just as excited about the cars as Luke had been, especially Bethany. Luke was a good sharer.

Jeff let Bethany help him try out his parachuters.

With all of the exciting new toys, the kids spent lots of time in the playroom. Jeff is in time out.

Christmas #1

2012-01-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

The first of our three Christmases took place on the night of December 22nd, when, knowing that we would be in California Christmas day, Greg, Renita, Steven, and Kyle came over to exchange gifts. Once again, Greg and Renita got us the most thoughtful and generous gifts and we had a wonderful night enjoying some of them with them!

Luke was old enough to tear open his gifts this year.

The cutest footie pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.

Some crazy, fun balls. Luke could see that there were a couple of smaller ones still inside the box and he insisted that Grandpa get them out right away.

Luke didn't really care about opening any more presents for a while after this.

Practicing for football.

The ball Luke is holding looks exactly like a dog toy. If it hadn't come in a box full of balls for toddlers, there would be no denying that that is exactly what it is!

Grandma and Grandpa got Luke the cutest, softest hand puppets!

Playing catch with Steven

Opening his giant car tracks/ramps

Jeff was really excited to get a panini press to make his turkey and cheese sandwiches (we keep it pretty simple around here). I didn't take a picture of Jeff with all of his gifts from his parents, but he also got work gloves, a level, a really nice drill, and a 3-hour discovery flight (take a short class and then fly a small plane). He may have gotten one or two other things, but I don't remember.

Excitedly opening my giant mound of gifts.

Steven helped Luke put together his car ramp.

Steven got Jeff and I a gift card to Color Me Mine. Hurray for a free date night!

What is it about empty boxes?

Kyle joined the ramp building process.

Jeff opening his birthday card from his parents, which came with a handy gift card to Lowe's.

Done!

Luke also got a cute little train set from "Bethany and Becca."

Me with all of my gifts, mostly fun and useful things for the kitchen and baking. They will be so fun to use!

My favorite gift! Renita called around for 4 hours to find me a trail ride (I love that woman)! I am beyond excited to use it!! (The scribbles are my Paint censorship skills. If you saw the numbers before I thought to black them out, please refrain from crank calling her or trying to sell her anything!)

I Love People

2012-01-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

The week before Christmas, I needed to trade my Utah license for a Texas license, so Luke and I made a trip to the DPS (We also stopped at the social security office to replace my lost social security card just beforehand, and this was after a failed attempt to do both the week before, but this story is about the DPS).

The DPS was crowded and Luke and I were looking at a good hour and a half long wait. I mentally prepared myself to entertain my 18-month-old for that long in a room full of impatient people. But I quickly discovered I wouldn't have to.

Luke and I found two empty seats at the end of a row. There weren't a lot of empty seats around, but there happened to be two more empty seats directly in front of us. Luke decided to play musical chairs between the 4 seats a couple of times, insisting that I join him. Every time he sat in a chair, he authoritatively pointed at the seat next to him, directing me to sit there.

After a couple of minutes, a woman sat in the seat on the end of the row in front of us, but that didn't deter Luke. While I stayed in my seat, Luke jumped down and walked confidently to the row in front of me and climbed into the single open seat. He just sat there facing forward with the newcomer middle-aged blonde woman on his right and an African-American man in his late 50's on his left. Both the man and the woman turned to Luke to say hello. For several minutes, Luke stayed in the chair chatting it up with his new friends.

After a while, the man's friend came over and sat on the edge of Luke's seat to have a quick conversation with with his buddy. Luke was standing against the back of the chair and the blonde woman put her hand behind his back and said, "Careful. Don't fall." Luke took that as an invitation and sat himself right down on her lap. She seemed surprised, but she helped him get comfortable and pulled out her tablet. I apologized for Luke's presumptuousness and offered to take him back. However, instead of handing him back to me, she assured there was no need to apologize and spent 20 minutes playing Angry Birds with him on her tablet, turning back 2 or 3 times to tell me that my son is a pro at Angry Birds (don't ask me where he learned it - Jeff and I never play that game).

When the woman's number got called, she gave Luke back to me. Luke gave me about 1.5 seconds of his time before turning his attention back to the man he had met in the row in front of us. The man sweetly offered, "You can come sit with me if you want." But I think Luke sensed that this man, like his mommy, didn't own a fancy iPhone or tablet to play Angry Birds on. Luke quickly set his sights on the young Masters student sitting next to me, who looked a lot like Tom from Parks and Rec and who had already kindly insisted on retrieving Luke's little plastic ball when Luke threw it across the room (another time Luke threw it into the rows of people behind us and everyone helped to pass it back up to us without a single complaint or dirty look). Luke, in his overly-friendly mood, tried to climb up onto this young man's lap. Another example of the kindness of strangers, the young man picked Luke up and took out his iPhone to play Angry Birds with him until his number was called 15 minutes later.

The last 25 minutes before my number was called were spent looking at pictures on my laptop with Luke, feeding him a snack in the car (no snacks allowed inside), and chasing him around the room while he excitedly ran a couple of laps around the rows of chairs and ran circles around a pole, and then, out of nowhere started running around on tip toe. I worried that people might be a little peeved and tried to contain my energetic boy, but through all of this, I didn't notice a single annoyed or judgmental face, just lots of smiling and laughing faces - at the DPS of all places!

Conclusion: I love people.

On an unrelated, but awesome side note: I am so proud of my brilliant, hardworking, practically perfect husband who, after just 4-5 months at GE, was nominated for an award by his boss's boss and won $100 for it! He's the coolest.

Date Night - Race Against the Clock

2011-12-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I are dorks. We frequently act like children (it makes life more fun!) and this is a prime example of that...

One Thursday a couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I were trying to decide what we were going to do for date night the next day. We knew we wanted to go out and do something fun, but there weren't any movies we wanted to see and we had used all of our Groupons. For some reason, the internet wasn't working at our house that day, but I promised Jeff I would come up with something fun for us to do without the help of online ideas. After a few minutes of thinking, I came up with the idea of kind of a scavenger hunt. But instead of playing separately and against each other (that kind of defeats the purpose of a date), we would work together and race against the clock. I made a list of really random things for us to do as fast as we could. And there were prizes (to be paid for with my mad money): if we finished the whole list in 45 minutes or less - $25 worth of lingerie; finished in 1 hour or less - $20 Blu-ray movie (for the new Blu-ray player Jeff got from my parents for Christmas); and if we just finished the list in any amount of time - a bag of chocolate covered raisins (Jeff's favorite).

Here's the list:

1. Climb a tree

2. Do a cartwheel

3. Climb a pole

4. Do a handstand

5. Jump a fence

6. Feed some ducks

We kind of cheated by feeding a toy duck at Wal-Mart, but it was too dark to find the real ducks outside so we counted it!

7. Roll down a hill (this was way more fun and hilarious than I remembered!)

8. Slide down a slide

9. Go across the monkey bars

10. Purify some lake water and drink it (Jeff used his little water purifier for the first time in the dark! It's probably a good thing it was dark because that water looks pretty nasty in the light, but we both drank the purified water and it was actually good!)

11. Leap frog across a street

12. Run to the top of a set of bleachers or a stadium (Jeff hopped a fence to run up some bleachers at a middle school)

13. Pet a dog (we may have pet a toy dog at Wal-Mart, but I didn't specify that it had to be a real dog!)

14. Ride in an elevator

We were so excited to spot this elevator outside in the middle of a bunch of doctors' offices right off of the parking lot!

15. Drink from a drinking fountain

16. Share a cookie

A day old oatmeal raisin cookie from the McDonald's in Wal-Mart

17. Get a stranger to say "thank you" (I told a 13-ish year-old girl that her Disney princess sweatshirt was cute as we were running through Wal-Mart. Poor girl looked a little taken aback, but she said thank you)

18. Throw a ball back and forth 20 times without dropping it

19. Jump off of a swing and land at least 10 feet from where the swing is when it is still

I forgot the camera and Jeff's iPod Touch doesn't do so well in the dark, but Jeff took a flying leap off of the swings at the park in front of Ben and Caitlin's house. It was a solid 12 feet!

20. Find 10 snowmen, 10 Santa Clauses, and 10 Christmas trees (we couldn't believe how fast we did this just driving through a neighborhood!)

21. Do the macarena (We did it in unison. Good thing we were in a dark parking lot where no one could see us)

22. Kiss under mistletoe

Done!

We finished every item on the list in 55 minutes (we got stuck behind a sloooow tractor on a one-lane road for about 5 minutes, but we went really fast otherwise so I'm not sure that we could have made up a whole 10 minutes!) - Inception on blu-ray it is! And we got it for way less than $20! Sweet!

Lately

2011-12-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of random pictures from mid-December...

The kids - especially Bethany - think it is so fun to walk around with Luke's laundry hamper on their heads.

Becca typically doesn't join this game by choice. Bethany insists and Becca just goes with it.

Little Luke

Becca decided to climb into the hamper right when Luke was picking it up. He didn't appreciate it.

But he made the mistake of putting his fingers near her face when he tried to push her back out. She bit him. That girl has a bit of a biting problem -at least when it comes to Luke, she does. Those two are the best of friends and the worst of enemies. Fortunately, they're mostly friends.

I couldn't believe how well Luke kept up with Bethany as they ran back and forth across the floor together! They didn't trip once!

The kids and I go to Chick-Fil-A every Wednesday morning for a free playgroup. There is face/arm painting, story time, and balloon animals. We also play in the play place and get ice cream. The kids love it! On this day, Bethany decided to be a pirate!

All that paint and glitter wasn't easy to get off. Bethany looked like she had a couple of black eyes when I washed her face before nap time!

Happy boy on an ice cream induced sugar rush

Funny girl

All three kids love to play Hungry Hungry Hippos. I love how Luke lies on his stomach to play.

Luke decided all on his own to start belly bumping Becca! He and I thought it was hilarious, but Becca didn't agree.

Yo Gabba Gabba! is hands down the favorite show amongst the kiddos!

Cute little red-nosed girl still getting over her cold.

Sometimes Christmas packages come with bubble wrap, and that means hours (okay, more like several minutes) of fun!

Luke laughed and laughed while the two of us ran, jumped and danced on the bubble wrap.

Luke's wrinkly old man foot after a long bath

My visiting teachers brought me the cutest little mani/pedi set for Christmas (my favorite part was the foot-shaped finger nail clippers). These toe separators came with the set. Luke wanted to put them on his fingers, perhaps to try and use them like brass knuckles in a fight with Daddy.

Luke loves our pretty Christmas tree.

Luke "helped" his daddy fix the dvd disc changers one Saturday morning.

Saturday, the 10th was our ward (church) Christmas party. We met this cute girl and her family there. They shared their blanket with us when we forgot ours (each family was supposed to bring a blanket to sit on).

Love that little button nose!

Luke stole the girls' goldfish and demanded we open them for him.

Luke tried out another family's blanket before agreeing to move to Ben and Caitlin's.

The decorations for the Christmas party were outstanding! All of the walls were covered with something like this. If someone in our ward painted them, I am seriously impressed!

Jeff and the babies. (Becca's foot was caught in the blanket when I took this picture).

Every event in this ward has an awesome turnout!

Dinner was delicious, but Luke refused to eat. He was so grumpy that we had to leave early (fun Uncle Ben played with him in the hall for a minute to cheer him up). That night, he threw up in his crib. Apparently, the poor little guy wasn't feeling well. That being the case, I'm surprised he laughed when Ben swung him around upside down instead of throwing up on him!

Luke still loves watching football with his dad!

The kids and I walked to a park one Tuesday morning. All of the kids love to go for walks and they love to play at the park.

Playing with the wood chips

Bethany was in a very easily offendable mood that day. Here she is outraged that Luke knocked some of her wood chips onto the ground.

This trip to the park ended in the most ridiculous crying fit. It was so crazy, all I could do was laugh. It all started when Luke knocked some of Bethany's wood chips onto the ground. She responded by shoving him and he hit his head pretty hard on the wooden playground. The poor baby started crying really hard. Obviously, Bethany was in trouble. I grabbed her and sat her down in the stroller. I told her we were going home because if she was going to play like that, we were done playing at the park and she needed to stay in the stroller the whole time (she usually likes to run in front of us some of the time). Bethany started bawling. Luke was still crying and then, Becca started to whimper. I tried giving Becca her sippy cup to calm her down, but instead of drinking it, she defiantly threw it at Bethany and hit her in the head. Bethany started to cry louder. I said, "Becca, no." Well, that set Becca off. Now I had three sobbing toddlers on my hands. I just said, "Okay let's go home and get some lunch" and started pushing the stroller with the two girls in it and Luke on my hip. Everyone quieted down after a minute, and then it was a mostly silent walk home. During lunch, Bethany promised to be nicer and not push Luke anymore. And she kept her promise. Everyone was much happier after naps. Thank goodness!

A Walk in Bethlehem

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Greg and Renita have the sweetest neighbor named Elaine (the one who's pool we have swam in on several occasions) and every year for the past 20 years Elaine's church has put on "A Walk in Bethlehem." This year we got to go and it was SO COOL! I can't believe what a great job they did with all of the decorating, costumes, and activities! When we arrived at the church, we got a map of "Bethlehem," which we were supposed to get stamped at each station, and a bag to fill with all of the goodies we would collect from each booth.

Our map (after we got it stamped at all of the booths).

Jeff helped Luke make a candle holder out of clay.

This was taken the moment after Luke tried to force Jeff's hands down and eat his the clay.

How cute is this?! We got to choose something to fill a little baggie with - we chose the peas.

Luke got some goldfish crackers at the fish market and a minute later he got a little cup of grape juice. He decided they would go perfectly together and happily ate his grape-juice-dipped goldfish. Sick.

Luke excitedly pointing at the pieces of bread at the bakery.

Check out the cute wood-burning stove at the bakery!

The barnyard

The stable. There was a real newborn baby (only a couple of weeks old) in that manger! So cute!

Candle making

Broom shop

Luke trying on his bracelet from the weavers shop with grandma

There was snow outside! Grandpa took Luke to check it out.

They made a snowball. Luke thought it was awesome!

After the snow, we had hit every stop except for the animal rides out front so Luke got a prize! A slap bracelet. He loves those!

He also got a snack, which he was very excited about.

Yum...oatmeal cookie..

And last, but not least, we jumped in line for Luke to ride the donkey (the line for the camel was wayyyy too long!). We had a pretty long wait ahead of us, so Jeff took Luke the nearby playground. Then, Grandpa took him to the playground. Then, Jeff took him to the playground again. And then, it was finally time to ride the cute, fuzzy donkey!

Luke was a little concerned at first, but he ended up loving it!

I had to get a picture of the camel even though we didn't ride it.

Luke's spoils - a mosaic cross we made, a plastic dradle, a clay "candle holder," a stamped coin in a little pouch, a tiny broom, a bracelet, and some dry peas.

This was such an awesome event! I'm so glad Elaine invited Renita and Renita invited us! I'm sure we'll go back in the years to come!

Found Dogs!

2011-12-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of unexpected visitors the first week of December. I opened up my garage one Friday afternoon, getting ready to take the kids on a walk and noticed two dogs trotting along side-by-side across the street. I said, "Hi doggies!" They were already looking at me and they took my friendly greeting as an invitation. They ran right over and came into the garage to say hello. The kids were overjoyed.

I looked for collars and found none, but these dogs were so friendly and well-kept, they had to be pets! However, without a number to call, I had no choice but to call animal control to come pick them up. I got the dogs a bowl of water and fed them each a hot dog and looked up the number.

It was 3'oclock in the afternoon and the animal shelter is located about 45 minutes away from my house so the lady on the phone told me they wouldn't be able to get anybody out to get them until the next day. I got Jeff's approval for an overnight stay and the kids and I played with the sweet dogs for the rest of the afternoon. These dogs were so good with the kids! Seriously, they quietly endured every accidental (and otherwise) whack to the face and and every hug and kiss and the reddish-brown dog even let Bethany sit on him like he was a horse - twice! Of course, I stopped the kids immediately if I noticed they were doing something that might aggravate the dogs. I couldn't be sure how they would react! But neither of them ever showed an ounce of aggression. They were so sweet and playful - playful while still being gentle. I immediately wished I could keep them. But I was lucky that Jeff, the dog nazi was even letting me keep them for one night.

That night, I bought a small box of dog food while Jeff, Luke, and I were at the dollar store and made the dogs beds out of blankets in the garage.

Well, long story short, the dogs weren't with us for just one night. They were with us for FOUR! We found them Friday afternoon and they didn't get picked up until Tuesday afternoon! Apparently, the lady at the shelter thought I was calling to report two loose dogs, not two contained dogs (even though I remember being clear that that was not the case), and if she had known that I had them in my backyard, someone would have been there to pick them up the day I called!

Jeff wasn't excited about our guests with each passing day, but he was so kind to let us keep them as long as he did. I know it was torture for him! However, on Tuesday, it came down to, "If they aren't picked up today, we're letting them go." Fortunately, it didn't come to that! I would have driven them to the shelter myself before letting that happen!

Unlike Jeff, Luke and I loved having the dogs at our house! The first thing Luke wanted to do every morning when he woke up was to go out back and play with his new friends. In fact, he begged to go out there all day long. I can't blame him. We did have a lot of fun playing with them!

Aren't they cute?!

The poor dogs were crawling with fleas (I found one clinging desperately to the little blonde hairs on the side of Luke's head when we were getting out of the car at the grocery store one night). Bethany helped scratch.

Adorable.

I made especially good friends with this sweet guy.

He was a big kisser! I could have done without that, but I appreciated the sentiment.

These dogs got lots of hugs!

There is a little pink ball in her mouth. Luke thought it was hilarious that every time he threw it, she would run and get it.

Being "soft"

Cute Becca hugs

Luke was so happy! It was his dream come true to have two dogs living at his house!

I could barely get these blankets down in the garage before Luke laid on them! I guess he wanted to make sure they were comfortable enough for his doggie friends to sleep on.

These two popped two balls during their short stay. Only one survives.

This girl got pretty attached to his ball after it was popped. She carried it around everywhere with her.

One of the many hugs Luke gave this sweet guy.

Water bowl = soaked babies.

Visiting the dogs early one morning.

A common scene when our sick boy was forced to stay inside. I'm pretty sure he would have recovered from his bronchitis faster if I hadn't given in and let him go out in the cold so much.

I hope our new friends have found their way back to their family. And maybe one day we'll convince Jeff to get Luke a doggie of his own.

Sick Boy

2011-12-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago, Bethany came over to my house with a cold. The next day, she was a lot worse. That was the day that Luke and Becca started coughing. That was also the day that Caitlin picked the girls up in the middle of the day for a doctor's appointment and Bethany was diagnosed with Bronchitis. Bummer. And no surprise, when I took Luke to the doctor, the following afternoon, he had it too.

Poor baby cried hysterically for almost the entire doctor's appointment. He recognized the office almost immediately after we walked in. It had been two months since we had been there for his 15 month appointment, but he remembered that this is the place where they stick him with needles and he did not want to be there. He started crying and pointing at the door and whenever a nurse or the doctor walked into our exam room, he cried even harder. Between visits with the nurses and doctor, while we were alone in the room, Luke just whimpered and kept an unbelievably tight grip around my neck.

And it only got worse when we got home because the doctor prescribed Luke an inhaler along with his antibiotics and since he is too little to use the inhaler, we had to get one of these babies to go with it.

We were instructed to give Luke two puffs every four hours, and for each puff, we were supposed to keep the seal over Luke's nose and mouth for 5-6 breaths. Yeah, that didn't happen. Mostly because Luke thought I was trying to suffocate him every time I put the mask on his face! He didn't seem to think it was physically possible to breathe with the mask over his nose and mouth so he honestly went into fight-for-my-life mode as soon as it got anywhere near his face. And this boy is freakishly strong so no matter how much I tried to force it while he screamed his head off and his face got redder and redder, he almost always managed to rip himself free after just one or two breaths.

Luke was sick for a about a week and started just whimperingat the sight of the inhaler at around day four or five. It was a long, sad week. Butwe got through it and lucky for me I got away with a (pretty nasty) coldinstead of full-blown bronchitis and Jeff escaped with almost no cold symptoms!

Luke never (that's right never)just wraps up in a blanket and watches TV. You know he's sick when yousee a sight like this!

Sickness and all, this restful statedidn't last long.

Working Out with Daddy

2011-12-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Jeff usually works out in the wee hours of the morning, but any time he works out while Luke is awake, Luke insists on joining him. Luke even wears his own weight lifting belt.

The 10-lb. weight was a little too heavy.

While the boys lifted weights, I made a couple of Christmas-y sugar cookies for our Family Home Evening treat.

Powdered Sugar

2011-12-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw when I turned around after doing the dishes a couple of weeks ago:

Am I in trouble?

I guess not!

Yum!

After I started sweeping it up, Luke desperately scrambled to salvage what he could.

Oh, and yes he is wearing a swim suit. He picked it out himself to wear that day.

A week or so later, Luke was very disappointed when he dipped a finger into a bag of flour.

Our New Sunday Routine

2011-12-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I have a new calling in the ward! We teach the Sunbeams! Can I just say that I LOVE that fact that all, but one calling we've had since we've been married have been together?! Back to the Sunbeams... they are the 3 and 4 year olds and we have 7 of them in our class - 3 girls and 4 boys. They are a rambunctious group, but so sweet and fun. It's quite a challenge keeping them all entertained and well-behaved for 2 hours (the first hour on a bench for sharing time and music time with the whole junior primary ages 3-7 and the second hour in our individual classroom), but we really have a great time with them. We keep our lessons interesting with charades, fishing, acting, felt boards, coloring, puppets, and of course snacks!

A couple of my favorite quotes so far:

Payton: "Stupid girls!"

Ashlyn: "Peyton, don't say that. You know I'm your friend and I love you."

Me:"And what happens when you're 8?" (correct answer: you get baptized)

Brynlee: "Baptized!"

Ashlyn: "And you get rude. My brother Aiden is 8 and he's always rude!"

We started teaching near the end of November and the day we started teaching, Luke started nursery (kids 18 months-3 years). He was over a month early, but the nursery leaders kindly took him to give us a break and he was so ready to go! He doesn't mind being away from Jeff and I for 2 hours at all and every week he comes home with a balloon. He loves it!

And to finish, just a couple of pictures from a Sunday afternoon...

Luke looking a bit like a cute little old man in his rocking chair with his blanket over his legs. He was so excited to wake up to chocolate chip cookies after his nap.

It's been cold lately! We had to teach Luke how to use his pockets to keep his hands warm on our walk.

Date Night - Color Me Mine

2011-12-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

A new Color Me Mine just opened in Cypress so Jeff and I decided to go paint mugs for date night. It has gotten seriously cold here and we will be drinking a lot of hot chocolate! I didn't realize Houston got this cold in the winter, but at least I can be grateful it's not snowing!

Jeff painted dinosaurs on his ridiculously huge mug.

I used puff paint to paint snowflakes and "Baby it's cold outside" on mine.

The (un-fired) finished product. Sadly, I think I liked it better before it was fired.

I LOVE the way Jeff painted this tree on the handle!

Done! And in plenty of time to pick Luke up before bedtime. It's hilarious how our date nights almost always end before 8pm these days!

Menchie's was just across the street so naturally, we had to stop by there before heading home.

Look at my beautiful creation!

Jeff almost always gets gummy bears on his yogurt. He's just waiting for the yogurt places to wise up and get chocolate covered raisins.

Back at home, we got in a little playtime with Luke before we put him to bed...

The explanation for Jeff's face (and Luke's): Luke tooted.

I have a feeling that as soon as he's old enough, Luke will beg to try bungee jumping.

I promise our baby is not malnourished, despite his appearance in this picture.

"Okay Daddy, time for bed."

"Keep walking..."

Our finished mugs:

Our Little Entertainer

2011-12-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

*Written 11/25/11

Luke is just a few days short of 17 months old and lately hehas been doing some really funny and cute things. I won’t post about his statsand what he’s up to for another month and I didn’t want to forget these thingsif he’s not still doing them then.

#1 Luke is terrified of slipping in puddles of water. It hashappened one too many times, I guess. Now, if he sees any amount of waterspilled from a sippy cup, tracked in after playing in the rain or sprinklers,or left on the bathroom floor after a shower or bath, he becomes very nervous,frustrated and extremely cautious. He will immediately sit down, whine and cryand point, and the clueless adults in the room usually assume he fell andsomeone will try and put him back on his feet. This only makes him cry andprotest more while he refuses to straighten his legs until he is put back downin a sitting position. He will then proceed to scoot himself along on hislittle tooshie until he is far out ofthe range of the water spots before he will stand and walk. Sometimes he skipsthe crying and panicking and Jeff and I will just notice him quietly slitheringon his stomach, scooting, or crawling out of the bathroom after one of us tooka shower. It’s hilarious!

#2 Luke is also very concerned that his food might be hot,or as he says, “haaa.” When we put something on the tray of his high chair, nomatter what it is, he immediately starts to blow on it. He will then test it’stemperature by hovering the palm of his hand about an inch above the food, saying,“haaa…haaa..” I have no idea where he learned this. We taught him to blow onhot food, but he started feeling for steam on his own. A couple of days ago,after I used the oven, Luke walked by and felt that the front of it was alittle warm. He was sure to blow on it before he walked away.

#3 Luke LOVES to have me read him stories. Any time we arein his room, he will grab a book (or 3) off the shelf, climb into my rockingchair and smile at me expectantly. I love it! I was so sad when he was youngerand didn’t have the patience to get through an entire book, no matter how longor short it was. He still turns the pages a little too quickly sometimes, but Ilove how excited he is about it. When we finish one book, he will hop down frommy lap, choose another one, hand it to me, and climb back up, laughing andchattering away the whole time. Sometimes he decides half-way through that abook is too boring. He will close the boring book and hand me another book toreplace it, usually with an excited little yell, like “THIS is a better one!”It is also adorable when he “reads” books to Jeff and I, pointing out thepictures to us on each page.

#4 Luke is becoming quite the little athlete. His dribbling(soccer) skills are seriously impressive. He gets going fast and somehowmanages to keep the big soccer ball in front of him as he runs around theliving room giving the ball a little kick every time his right foot comesforward. He’ll usually run into something or lose control after about 4 or 5kicks, but still quite impressive. He’s also got a solid over-hand throw. Jeffis pleased.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-12-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

The day after Thanksgiving, we jumped right on the Christmas decorating at our house! It was so fun to have our very own house to decorate this year! Jeff cheated death, hanging beautiful white icicle lights on our roof.

But the very first thing we did was put up our tree...

Luke was very helpful.

This kid loves anything that lights up. He plugged in and unplugged that strand of lights so many times!

Luke's decorating technique was just to get as many of the lights as possible to stay on the bottom row of branches.

The end result.

Luke was pretty stoked to find some weapons amongst the holiday decorations.

Stand back! He's dangerous!

Jeff and Luke played jump rope with a string of plastic silver bells.

Luke found the musical pop-up Christmas card Mamal sent him last year. He was so excited! The lights on the Christmas tree flash and it plays "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" when you open it.

He carried it around all day.

Luke loved the shiny Christmas ornaments. In the three weeks since this picture was taken, he has broken two and Bethany has broken one.

Helping me put the bows on the tree. Notice the three just laying on top of the branches.

All done! I love Christmas time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

...3 weeks ago. Yes, I'm a little late. (I WILL get this blog caught up this week!)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! In the morning, Jeff played football with some guys from our ward at church, while I put the finishing touches on my turkey cupcakes.

Those feathers are made with fruit roll-ups and toothpicks, in case you were curious.

When Jeff got back from playing football, he and Luke had a marvelous time playing in the sprinklers in the backyard.

Luke would push Jeff into the sprinklers first and then run after him across the yard.

Luke's water-logged diaper was weighing him down so he lost it!

Ben and Caitlin hosted Thanksgiving this year. I don't know when I'm going to have to figure out how to cook my own Thanksgiving turkey, but I'm not looking forward to it! I was very impressed with Caitlin! And grateful that she took on that job!

We played in the backyard while we waited for the Driggs (Greg's sister and brother-in-law and their daughter Emily and her husband and three daughters) to arrive.

Luke loves to "jump." He has a hard time getting both feet off the ground at the same time, but it's really fun to watch him try.

Bethany was still having king of a rough time. Her extra-sensitive self did not want to try the monkey bars by herself (even though she has done it several times before)!

The spread. It was all deeelicious!

Luke was so excited to finally get to eat one of those turkey cupcakes he had been watching me make all morning! Earlier that day, after I had told Luke that the cupcakes were "turkeys," I was telling him about what we would be doing at Ben and Caitlin's later and I asked him if he was going to eat a lot of turkey. When he heard the word "turkey," he thought for a second, and then ran over to the tray of cupcakes and pointed at them, yelling excitedly. "Yes! I do want to eat a lot of turkeys! I thought I made that clear!"

Weird kid putting inching those monkey feet up onto the table.

Dinner time set-up

The pies were so pretty!

After dinner, we played the game "Word on the Street." It was so much fun! And my team won - always a plus.

Hannah and Luke played a round after we were done.

Family pictures

Babies LOVE Uncle Allan! Luke and Becca both just hugged and snuggled him forever!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving! And I am thankful for SO much! I can't believe how blessed I am with the best family and friends, a beautiful home in a beautiful area, great neighbors, a great ward - just a great life!

Grumpy Day, Sweet Uncle

2011-12-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

One Wednesday, for no clear reason, the kids had a very grumpy day. All three of them! But especially the girls. Fortunately for me, it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Ben and Caitlin had the rest of the week off so I didn't have to keep them for what I'm told was a very grumpy weekend. I prefer their usual sweet selves, thank you!

When Jeff got home from work that day, he sat in his chair and let both girls climb onto his lap to watch some Care Bears: To the Rescue. What a sweet uncle! But just look at those faces! They were all being completely quiet and still, just watching the movie, and yet Becca and Bethany both look like they want to punch someone in the face!

A close-up

Bubble Bath

2011-12-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Luke spilled a big puddle of baby wash in the tub one afternoon. His bath that night was very bubbly...

Bubble beard...and chest hair.

Yum.. bath water

I use a cup to rinse Luke's hair. Jeff uses a boat.

It does get the job done .. really fast!

Fireplace S'mores

2011-12-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I have been LOVING having date night every Friday night! THANK YOU Ben and Caitlin for making it possible! We go to the movies - in the theater, use Groupons for places like Color Me Mine and indoor rock climbing, do really random made-up activities where we act like kids (more on that in a later post), and almost always get frozen yogurt because my husband loves me. It's FANTASTIC!

One Friday night a few weeks back, we didn't really have any plans, but we were excited about the time alone so we dropped Luke off and then stopped by the store to grab things to make s'mores in an attempt to make a movie at home a little more interesting. We decided to watch Stardust (LOVE that movie) and we were planning on watching it out in our backyard and making s'mores using the little (Texas-themed) fire pit that the previous owners of our house left behind.

Our plans to watch the movie outside didn't work out this time - I don't even remember why. It had something to do with not being able to get a TV with a DVD player outside very quickly or easily and we didn't want to waste precious date time. So we ended up snuggled up on the couch to watch it. It was lovely, but before the movie was even over, we realized it was already Luke's bedtime and we hadn't roasted a single marshmallow yet. (Yes, we could have roasted them after we picked Luke up, brought him home and put him to bed, but we were tired. Haha pathetic.)

But not all was lost! We had a blast roasting marshmallows and making s'mores with Luke the following night...

Until the house caught on fire... haha juuust kidding!

Luke wanted to help.

Luke literally pushed me out of my chair so he could sit in it.

He thought he was pretty funny.

Luke's first bite of a s'more.

He approved!

When Jeff finished roasting his second set of marshmallows (a good s'more has 2 mallows), I ran over to the coffee table to get him his graham crackers and chocolate, but I was shocked to find that the entire king size Hershey's chocolate bar was gone! I turned around to find Luke standing off to the side, face covered in chocolate, munching on the massive bar like he wasn't doing anything wrong. This boy has a serious sweet tooth!

I put the chocolate bar back and went to get the camera to take a picture of Luke's chocolate-covered face. Apparently, Luke took our laughter to mean that he wouldn't get in trouble for stealing chocolate so he didn't even try to hide it when he stole it again.

Caught!

No more chocolate face!

Blankets

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Luke loves blankets! ALL blankets (especially his little green one)! He has this crazy habit of insisting that when we get him out of his crib in the morning or after a nap, we take every blanket in his crib with him. It is on the rarest of occasions that we get out of there with just one. It doesn't matter how tired or groggy he is, after each blanket we pick up, he will grunt and lean and point at the rest of them one at a time until we have them all.

Observe:

And if he's not too hungry, he might want to snuggle up with them once we get downstairs...

Daddy's Chair

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Two cute kids watching "Yo Gabba Gabba!" from 'Daddy's chair' (uncle's chair in Becca's case).

Sunday Bike Ride

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are a family that loves walks and bike rides - especially in a place as beautiful as Fairfield!

There are lakes all over Fairfield. We stopped at one with some ducks and turtles! There were two turtles hanging out on that rock. We cracked up watching their little heads bob above water as they swam around.

For some reason, Jeff looks about 14 here.

Luke had his personal best hanging time: almost 30 seconds! He also hung by one hand for a while. Don't ask me why we're always hanging him from things! It's weird. But that boy does have some freakishly strong hands!