Cousin Love

We got to spend the day with Avery & Lucy today. Luke loves his cousin time, they both take such great care of him and are so sweet to him.

Was fun to have some girls around here so we could watch a girly Disney movie for once! Anastasia. Luke loved dancing with the girls during the songs, as you can tell. Love the top left picture of Lucy, booty shakin. And Luke's smile in the bottom left.

Avery hit up the hot tub for a while, and finally convinced Lucy to go in for a few minutes. Luke missed out because he was napping.

Luke climbed onto the couch and was snuggling with Avery. Precious!

We went to this lovely park behind our house toward the end of the day, because I promised. Definitely struggles a little bit but it's close and easy. Lucy said "this is the best park ever." Avery said "no it's not. it's probably the 2nd worst park ever." HAHA!! Avery is probably right, but it was still fun!

Thanks for the fun day cousins. We love you!

16 Months

16 months old and cute as can be.

Here is what we are up against at this point:

Lots of really cute smiles and generally happy/easy going days

Still lots of "bah-ball" and "shoo" (shoot, that is)

and the start to some dribbling

 fridge basketball continues

and non stop running (legs still bowed), climbing, dancing, playing, and unfortunately hitting in the face when he's excited. Any suggestions on how to break that habit?? Not a good one... and speaking of climbing, he climbed/fell out of his crib 5 days ago for the first time. we were planning on keeping him in the crib until he was 3, but might not happen that way...

 continues to play in the tupperware drawer and empties it about 8x a day. About time to childproof that one.

Loves to sing songs and any music

Especially "popcorn popping" & "Book of Mormon stories" right now with the hand motions

lots of playing outside. still doesn't have much interest in TV or movies.

He just started switching to 1 nap a day last week. He still gets tired towards the end of the day but he's been good with 1 nap so far (even though it's usually only 1.5-2 hours right now). Usually sleeps about 12 hours a night. 8-8 or 9-9. (I am treasuring my sleep each night as I know when baby girl gets here I can kiss that goodbye!) He is also communicating a lot more everyday. Loves "Signing Time" and is especially good at signing "please" and "more." Tries to say and copy lots of words, though most are still very vague approximations. He shakes his head "yes" now and it is the most adorable thing. Looks like he is bowing to his sensei or something! He loves his dad so much and runs to him saying "dada" anytime he sees him. And gets really sad whenever Chris leaves. We've started giving him time-outs (sort of) or being more firm with him ("no hitting") and he gets super sad. Makes me feel bad, but I'm happy he understands something he did made us unhappy. He is so so sweet with his tiny baby cousin Jude and baby cousin Nora. Loves to hold them, kiss them, have his face close to theirs... I hope he is just as sweet with his soon coming baby sister. He is such a fun, friendly boy and gets along with just about anyone, young or old, girl or boy...he just wants to be friends! Such a fun age he is at, hard to imagine loving another kid as much as this one!

We love you Mimi

Chris's mom Lou Ann has been having some issues the last few months. She has had many doctors visits, lots of pain, and 2 actual surgery's before her doctors decided how to take care of the problem for good. Two weeks ago she had what is called the "whipple procedure" done. This surgery is a very invasive surgery and is usually done on patients with pancreatic cancer. Doctors had found no sign of cancer in her but still believed this to be the best route to take because her gall bladder needed to be removed.  [Her bile duct was continually getting clogged, which she had surgery on the month before, so they wanted to get in there and get it out to avoid future problems.] During the surgery the surgeon actually found a mass at the junction of the bile duct and pancreas, and was able to completely remove it. Results from the biopsy of that mass finally came back yesterday and showed no signs of cancer!!! Although Mom has had a painful, but terrific recovery so far, it was hard to really be happy until we got yesterday's news. We are so thrilled that she can focus on getting better and not have to worry about what the next step would have been had cancer been found. Heavenly Father has heard, and answered, all of our prayers and we are so so grateful.

Chris was able to fly out to CA to be with his mom and dad for a few days during and after her surgery, which was done at UCSF. Really glad he was able to be there with them for support. Lou Ann's hospital stay was 8 days after the surgery, so that would be difficult for anyone. 

While Chris was gone for those 5 days, Luke and I kept ourselves busy and minds occupied, trying not to get too worried about the surgery. We saw more friends in 5 days then we have in the last month I'm pretty sure. Of course we got to hang out with Quinn (whom Luke still adores - see below) and Steve & Britt, we saw Jessica Wilde's new Sugar House home and played in the sandbox with Charlie, had a pizza/ hot tub party at our house with Avery, Steph, Charlie and Jessica, hung out and went shopping for baby girl clothes with Becky and Aislyn (who better to call when going shopping?!) and of course saw aunt Alli and uncle Derek, who took Luke to a really fun play place down in Orem. So grateful for all the good family and friends we have around that took such great care of us.

We love you Mom and are so happy with the way things have turned out. We are thankful you have such "virgin" organ placement and made it easier for the surgeon ;)! I know it is still a long and difficult rode back to your normal self, but take it a day at a time! You have been so strong and brave the last few months and we are so proud of you.

 Quinn & Luke. Cousins and BFFs.

(again, the red & blue sweats...I know what you're thinking...)

 Luke & Charlie

 Jessica and I were freshman roommates in the dorms at BYU-Hawaii 12 years ago.

It is so fun that we can now have our kids grow up as friends!

Charlie brought his sleeping bag over and shared it with Luke. They are such sweet friends.

Luke really loves his uncle Derek. And are we surprised?  What a great Uncle, getting down and dirty in the slide with Luke, teaching him how to do it. Thanks for being so great Alli and D.

We missed you a lot while you were gone Daddy and glad you're back with us now!

And Mimi, we love you more than words can say.

Backtrack - Julie's Bridal Shower

Alli and I threw Julie a bridal shower down in Provo before the wedding in Arizona. Alli did a great job hosting, as always. Was a really fun time and she had lots of good friends show up, especially a bunch of mission friends so it was a fun 'reunion' for them as well.

It was especially fun playing the question game with Julie. Alli had asked Lane questions ahead of time and Julie had to guess how Lane would answer. She had so much gum in her mouth we were all laughing pretty hard. Although she did get more of the questions right than we thought so good job Jul!

Was really fun to see all of the great gifts she got. 

And of course, she looked beautiful as always.

We love you Jul. So glad you found such a terrific guy to spend forever with!

Aunt Alli

I love you Aunt Alli. You always come to play with me and I have so much fun. 

You are the best!!

Love, Luke

Dinner's Ready

Luke loves to help his mama cook in the kitchen. A few pots and pans go a long way for this boy. All I need to do is bend down and take a taste of what he has made once in a while and he is happy!

This is him saying, "I need a little more salt & pepper please!" 

His mom teaches him all the important things....

(And btw, yes, Luke does wear clothing other than his red and blue sweatpants when we're out of the house. Just like to keep things comfy.)