Baby Boom

Congratulations to Chad's sister and BIL on the birth of their son, Seth Micah, born earlier this evening!! We can't wait to meet him!

Also, congratulations are in order for my sister and BIL...after having 2 boys, they just found out they are having a GIRL in late October!

Hooray for getting a new nephew and a new niece this year!

Finally Done!!

The bathroom, that is. Unfortunately, when our computer crashed, we lost the "before" picture, so you'll just have to envision dated pink everywhere...tile (on all the walls), on the floor, on the wallpaper. I love pink and all, but not in the bathroom! So, after approx. 4-5 months of hard labor, we have a beautiful bathroom. I can't take much credit. The only thing I did was strip all the wallpaper and pick out all the new stuff (with Chad, of course). Chad did pretty much all the labor himself, with a little help. And of course he works full-time, so everything was done on evenings and weekends (hence the 4-5 months). My brother Matt helped with some plumbing, removing/installing the tub and shower walls, my brother-in-law Keith helped with cutting and putting up some of the beadboard (unfortunately, he is not pictured below since Tanya and I were hard at work on other house projects at the time), and Chad's dad helped with laying the tile, hanging the giant mirror, and some electrical work.

Here is what it looked like for most of those 4-5 months (a super fun mess to try to keep a curious toddler away from!):

And here's the after:

The toilet and the fan are the only things that remain from the original. Yes, I said a fan. We are not sure why there is a ceiling fan in the bathroom. It may or may not stay. Jury is still out.

my cousin Gina helped me make this curtain...cute, huh?
Ta Da! My husband is awesome.

Giddy-up Cowboy

Last weekend we took Luke to his first rodeo. Nevermind it started about the time he usually goes to bed...he LOVED it! My parents have Luke one day a week while I work, and they spend a good chunk of time out looking at my dad's cattle. If Luke had his way, that's all they would do all day. ("Moo" was his first word, by the way) So, naturally, 2 1/2 hours of getting to sit and watch horses and cows run by was heaven for Luke. Mommy and Daddy were chopped liver as Luke would only sit with Grandpa all evening (except for about 2 minutes when Grandma snuck him some gummy bears *bribery*). There was not a peep out of him...he just pointed and pointed and Dad said he would kick excitedly every time a horse/cow/bull came running or bucking out of a chute. Let's just say getting Luke to sit anywhere for this long is a miracle, so you know he loved it.

My dad, as you can tell, is a bit of a cowboy himself. Back in the day, he actually competed in rodeos in the team calf roping event. My dad is such a stud, don't you think?

This pretty much sums up the evening. Point point point.

New Looks

Luke does this new thing where he gives you this awful scowl and then just busts up laughing. One day, it was like he was just playing with facial expressions, and when he did this one (see below), I could not contain myself and laughed. So, now he does it just to make me laugh.

Lookin' mean Lookin' less mean
Smile/giggle is just around the corner (nevermind the dumb picture is sideways)

He's also discovered he can imitate Mommy's fishy face.

And then there is the sweet potato 'do. I promise he styled his own hair! And please note the red spot just above his eyebrow. He took his first face dive into cement that morning. (The first of many, I fear.) He's tough though, and barely cried 10 seconds before wanting to run back and play.

In the Motherhood

Motherhood certainly isn't easy at times, but it is wonderful. Luke is a great kid and makes me smile every single day. Yes, even on the days he throws all of his food on my freshly mopped floor. The other day, I was really frustrated about something (unrelated to him) and he immediately sensed it. He came up to me and raised his arms to be picked up. The second I had him in my arms, he started kissing me profusely (open mouth, of course) and hugging and squeezing me as if to cheer me up. He gives me hugs a lot, but that was the first time I got that kind of affection unprompted. That makes a million dirty diapers worth it. Not to mention, since becoming a mother, I now get to dance every day and someone claps for me every time I sing. This is the life.

Happy Anniversary

May 6 is the day that we said "I do". It's been 4 years, and I've never been more proud to stand by my man. He's a keeper. Since we now have a child and no longer take pictures of ourselves, this pic is from our fabulous honeymoon in Hawaii...how many years do you have to be married before you can go on a second honeymoon?????

First (Real) Haircut

Luke has been in need of a cut for a while, but well, life has been busy so it just didn't happen. But the day finally came where I was sick of washing sweet potatoes out of his long locks, so it was time for a trim. He did fairly well, with some whines and wiggles mixed in, just to let me know he didn't really appreciate sitting in that chair...but did enjoy the lollipop and book for distraction.Mission accomplished.

Eigsti Farm Fun

The other Sunday, Chad's parents declared they needed their "Luke fix" of the week so we headed out to enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the Eigsti farm. Luke of course was thrilled because that meant plenty of time to play outside.

Mr. Cool just chillin' on the porch

a boy and his sticks
Mimi giving a ride in Luke's new found love, the wagon.

so. happy. Sticks-check, wagon-check, outside-check, grandparents-check check. Life is good.

Papa giving Luke the extended tour. I think our next investment might need to be a wagon.

One Year Pics

So we've had these for a while, but I'm just getting around to posting them...these are Luke's 1-year pictures. They gave us a CD of all the pics they took, which is awesome. We didn't buy this first one, and now I think it's so cute. There is so much pressure to pick and eliminate on the spot! It's stressful, people!

Luke's Life

We've been playing outside a lot lately. Luke is obsessed with being outside. Thankfully we've had a lot of nice days! His current toy of choice is his baseball. Such a boy.
In other not so fun news...it seems that Luke may have a milk allergy. Pictured below shows how his face breaks out if he drinks whole milk or has milk product. It doesn't seem to bother him otherwise. But, our doctor recommends that we eliminate all dairy from his diet and we will do allergy testing at his 15 month well visit. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I have found it seems everything I make has some sort of dairy in it. How do I cook? I often end up having to make him something different than we are eating, which is super unhandy. Check your labels...it seems like everything has milk in it! Anyone out there ever been through this? Any advice?
Just for fun...looks like we have a natural on our hands. He doesn't know it yet, but there are piano lessons in his future...