SWIMMING

A couple of weeks ago Lucas was able to go swimming with his friends Cooper and Parker. We had such a fun time. I know there are a lot of pictures, but Adam and Cyndi took really cute ones, so I couldn't decide what ones to put on.

This is of Lucas after going down the slide.

Adam and Cooper

Parker (Poor kid, he didn't want to get in the pool, but still wanted to play with the water.)

Cooper

Parker

Luke kept trying to crawl in the pool, which meant sticking his head in the water. This is after he choked on the water. And he was surprisingly happy for almost drowning.

Cooper eating lunch

Thank you for a wonderful time Cyndi, Adam, and Brooke. Lucas had fun with the boys, and i had fun with you!

Family VACATION

For the 24th we went to St. George with Matt’s family. We saw Les Miserables at Tuachan, went swimming, the boys played tennis, and went to X-Files. Matt and I stayed with my sister and her family. We had a great time playing with my niece and nephew and of course spending time with Michelle and Cameron. The play was awesome! And they had a firework show at the end of the play for the holiday…but I don’t know if you can call 3 minutes of fireworks a "show". We all got sunburned from swimming. It was Luke’s first time in the big pool, I don’t think he ever decided if he liked it. Then, Lucas got sick. That day was terrible. He cried all day long, with out napping, and only wanted me to hold him. It made my day really emotional as well. You don’t realize how much it hurts you to listen to your baby cry and to not know what he needs or wants. It was hard! But as a whole, we had a great time! Thank you to our whole family: Bruce and heather for driving us up, Bruce and Sandi for driving us home, and Thank you to Michelle and Cameron for letting us stay there. Now my confession: I am the worst ‘family photographer’ I forgot I even had the camera! So, I only have pictures of the way up, one at the condo and some on the way home. That's pathetic – no pictures! Anyway…here are a couple of pictures to show our adventure:

I need to give a little background to this one. Bruce (Matt's Dad) used to wear these shorts. No offense to Bruce, but they are hideous! For some reason the boys decided that they are a symbol of the birthright. The oldest boy (Joel) used to own the shorts. Another brother can challenge the one with possession of the shorts, if he wins, he now receives the birth right. Well, long story made short, they had a big basketball match (That's how they 'win' the shorts, whoever wins in a game of basketball). Matt, (who is the youngest brother) now has the birthright. He decided to wear these awful shorts on our way to St. George, just to rub it in his brothers faces that he has them. And yes, it was hard for me to look at him seriously while wearing these! This is not a very good picture of them: they are a faded gray and black speckled, with dirt stains everywhere!


While in the car Lucas wouldn't let go of the water bottle, he even fell asleep cuddling it.

Playing with Grandpa (Matt's Dad) at the condo they stayed in.

The whole way home, Lucas was doing the weirdest thing. He had to have his foot pushing up against his Daddy. If Matt pulled back, or moved, Luke would strain and cry until Matt got close enough to touch again. It was so funny.

Snacking in the car, getting very, very messy!!

Sorry, I didn't get pictures of the good stuff!

Please don't feed the ANIMALS

My sister, Michelle and her family were in town from St. George and we were able to go to the zoo with them, and all of my other sisters, and all of my nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, Matt was unable to go with us, so he spent some quality time with Lucas the next day, he was trying to start the brainwashing. You see, Matt's parents tried to brainwash all of the kids to love BYU, and they all do, except Matt...he is RED through and through!! He often puts his U of U hat on Lucas, to start teaching him the correct way of life.

Well, here are some pictures to sum up the day at the zoo.

Lucas actually fell asleep not in his crib! It was amazing. For those of you who don't know, Lucas is very stubborn with his naps. It takes about 1/2 hour-2 hours to put him down for a nap if we are not at home. So the fact that he fell asleep in his stroller, out side, with all the commotion was just amazing!

Joey loves to do things himself. He got so mad at Emily and Jared for trying to put him in the stroller, he would rather just push it himself.

This is Porter, Michelle's 6 month baby. He is wearing 18 month clothes. It is a good thing he is too young to get in fights with Lucas...he would kill him. I hate to admit it, but Lucas is small, and Porter is huge, but stinkin' cute!

While we waited to meet up with everyone to leave, the kids (including myself) played with the big wet ball! It doesn't really sounds very fun, but it was.

Luke and I just watching the animals.


Emily and Joey on the Merry-Go-Round. To be a kid would be so fun and exciting, EVERYTHING is new and fun!

The little girls were having the time of their lives singing and dancing to "Who Let the Dogs Out" And I will admit, I was actually quite frightened by Morgan (Michelle's little one, the one in the brown shirt.)

For most of the day, Lucas enjoyed the view from his stroller, what a life.

And little Joey, Emily's boy, was so funny. He has a mind of his own, He wanted to just stand on the stroller and push his own stroller. He is just a funny kid. I know the picture is sideways..but like I have said before, I am not good with computers. I have tried to rotate, but this one won't rotate for some reason.

It was so cute to see this monkey. He was just staring through the glass, it looked like he was thinking "hmm....what interesting creatures."

Kylee is such a little Mommy! She is 11 years old, and just adores her baby sister.

We tried to take a picture of all the kids on the statue, instead we got a few of the kids, and some random girl in the back. We don't really know why she thought she should be in the picture. Lucas didn't really understand what he was looking at, but he was pretty amazed at the elephants. In this picture Luke just kept staring at the elephants, and trying to back away, or push off of me. I think he was kind of scared.

Well, that was our busy day. We had so much fun, and thank you to Michelle and Cameron for inviting everyone!

And here is just an update....

Lucas is crawling!! He is still pretty slow, and wobbly, but he can definitely get around now. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I will get one. And he has found a new toy...the wooden spoons. We were putting dishes away, and Matt gave Lucas the spoons, and he started going crazy! I think he just might be a drummer one day.

Moss Ledge

We bought Lucas a baseball toy. Its really cute, the ball is on the stand, and there is a bat that you hit the ball with, and it cheers for you. But Lucas hasn't quite figured out the concept of it. He would rather chew on the bottom of the bat, and hold the entire toy by the stand that the ball sits on. We have been trying to train him the correct way, but he just gets mad. I never knew that babies could be so stubborn!

Please ignore the awkward position we are all in, and the lovely double chin I have. We were struggling to balance ourselves and Luke on a tiny sharp rock, and get Lucas to smile, and to take the picture ourselves. It was hard, but fun!

Matt and Lucas

Lucas and Mommy (and no, Lucas does not suck his thumb, he just chews it)

Today our little family took a drive up the canyon, we went to Moss Ledge. It was so beautiful. I have to take the time to acknowledge God's hand in everything. While Matt and Lucas was exploring I was able to watch birds and butterflies fly, and spiders and bugs crawl, and to watch a tiny river and waterfall. I hate bugs, and despise spiders. But watching it today, I was in awe. I believe that nature is a gift from God to us, it is a reminder of what our Home in Heaven will be. I look forward to the day when I can be there with my family.

We thought we would let everyone know, that finally at about 7 1/2 months of age, Luke has decided to sit. He still prefers standing, but he can officially sit with out help. It has taken forever! He is still not 'great' at it yet, but hes getting better everyday! Today he is 8 months old, maybe by the time he is 9 months, he will be perfect at it! :) We keep laughing at the idea that Lucas was trying to crawl before he tried to sit up! By the way, I think he will be crawling within the month! He gets so frustrated that he can't do it, but he definitely wants to.

8 Random Facts

1.Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People that are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post tag 8 people and include their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog to tell them they've been tagged, and to comment back and read your blog for the whole story.


#1- I used to have an anger problem: I tried to chop off my sisters ankle with a shovel. She made me mad, so I chased her with it, and gave her a pretty bad cut. I have since gotten it under control, but it used to be a problem.

#2- I hate sticky anything, hands, mouths, toys, anything. When I feel sticky I feel nauseous. My mother always makes fun of it, but its gross! I hate honey because it is gross, but mainly because it is sticky!! It makes me gag!

#3- I had a double wedding with my best friend, my sister. She is 3 years older and has always been there for me no matter what. I love her to death, and am so glad we were able to share that special day. Well I guess it was 2 days, she got married Wednesday and I got married on Friday, then we had a double reception. But it was so fun, and it was beautiful, a fairy-tale wedding! (Thanks to my mom-she went crazy with the planning!)

#4- I can do 'hang loose' with my toes, it is really ugly looking, but my brother Nathan and my sister Emily are freakishly obsessed with it and with the next one....

#5- I can do a perfect bobble-head impression.

#6- Sometimes during the day while Matt is gone (and he doesn't know this...) I turn the TV to Sports Center, PTI (or Pardon The Interruption), or whatever sporting game/match is on. I will never admit this to Matt or anyone in his family, but sometimes I really enjoy it.

#7- I have a major purse fetish. I used to have 28 purses, but had to throw them out due to lack of space. But I still have like 10. And I almost bought 2 this last week. It is not healthy.

#8- My favorite color is ORANGE! Most people hate it, and some shades are really ugly. But when its just that perfect color, it is beautiful. It was my main wedding color (besides my sisters main color or red.) I love it!!

Hope you enjoyed learning weird things about me! I tag: Cami Goldman, Heather Andreason, Emily Reece, Deborah Riley, and Matt (I know you won't do it, even if I begged!)
(I know its not 8, but oh well...)

Andreason Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Well I have been attempting to do a blog since December. But, as many of you know, I am not very good with computers, so my dear friend Cyndi helped me. So, after 9 months of trying, we finally have a family blog.

This last weekend was so much fun. We went to Copperton Park with my family on the morning of the 4th, we were able to eat breakfast, and participate in many races. Matt won one of them and was awarded 2 whole dollars! We are rich! After that we were able to go to Orem to Matt's Aunt Terri's house for a family BBQ and the annual softball game. This was the first year I have actually played, and it was fun! So all in all the 4th was a fun day, but we sure were tired afterwards. We also were challenged to several arm wrestling contests. I won!! Too bad for Matt though, he won, but he also lost a few. Matt's brother and his family was able to come up for a few days, and we had so much fun being able to see them and their adorable kids! Luke had so much playing with his cousins all day!

After being able to celebrate the holiday I think its important to let everyone know just how greatful we are to be a part of this wonderful country. I feel that our Father has blessed each of us to be here at this time in this country. Matt and I would like to thank all of those who have fought and who continue to fight and serve in our countries behalf. We love and appreciate all you do.