Week With Cousins

Last week my brother Eric and his wife went on a cruise so we got to stay with his two oldest girls, Sadie and Brinley, while his youngest, Hailey, went and stayed at my sisters house. We had such a fun time and I'm sure Luke is going to go through withdrawl and serious boredom this week. He will certainly miss hanging out with his buddies Sadie and Brinley. Here are a few pictures from our week.

Hanging out watching American Idol

Sadie helping Luke on the computer

Luke and Brinley enjoying popcorn and watching a show

Luke wanting to be a big kid

Hanging out in the morning before school

Luke loved tackling Brinley
On Friday my sister Karen brought Hailey up and we all went to Kangaroo Zoo

Shoveling

Last week it felt like all we did was shovel the snow. Luke loved helping out! He loves, loves, loves the snow and would just dive right into it. His favorite thing to do was to plop down right in front of where we were shoveling, but he's too cute to get mad at. We really had a great time watching him enjoy playing in the snow.

Utah Utes!

Go Utes! What a great game and a great start to 2009!

Sledding

This was Luke's first time sledding and he loved it! After being couped up in the house for a couple of days my friend Steph and her daughter Lauren were kind enough to invite Luke up to try out his new snow pants and go sledding in their front yard. When I told Luke it was time to go he just cried and cried and held his hands out to Steph wanting to sled some more. Thanks Steph and Lauren for making Luke's day!

Going with Steph for the first time making sure he didn't freak out. He obviously loved it!

Going by himself, he thought he was pretty big

Going with Lauren down the big hill (he clapped the whole way)

The Christmas Post

WARNING: The following post contains A LOT of pictures, read at your own risk!
So I was just going to insert one of those slide shows but because I'm using this as my family journal/scrapbook and plan to turn this into a book I'm just including all of the pictures. We had a busy Christmas Holiday with lots of fun party's! It started with my family on the 23rd. We all went to my brother Steve's house and had a traditional Mexican dinner:), followed by the cousin gift exchange and then the adult white elephant exchange. I always love to get together with my family and this was no exception, we had a great time. Lot's of food, laughs, and good times!

Luke chillin' with his buddy Hailey

Luke trying to say hi to his cousin Shay, I'm not sure she liked it!
Luke opening his present from his cousin A.C.

A.C. got Luke a little brother, this red Tribot (it was a big hit!)

Hailey giving the tribot a hug

Eric got the dreaded huge white elephant gift, Hailey loved it!

On Christmas Eve Day we went to Barrett's mom's house to exchange gifts and have a little gathering. Luke thinks he the king when he's at Grandma's house!

Luke checking out Grandma's present

Opening a present from Grandma
He was so excited to get blocks (that is his happy face)

After Barrett's mom's we headed to Alpine to my Aunt Tove's house to have our traditional Norwegian Christmas party where we enjoy Norwegian food and do the traditional dance around the Christmas tree. For those of you reading this that are trying to picture us dance around the tree, it is more of just holding hands, walking around the tree, singing a traditional song, and doing the actions along with song. Sounds corny, but it is a fun tradition that I'm glad we get to participate in. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from this party, I'll have to see if I can some later from my sister.

After Alpine we headed home and Barrett's dad came up along with his girlfriend, Vi. We had some snacks and opened presents and pretty much just let Luke entertain us!

Luke and Grandpa reading the instructions for his new train

Luke loved the train that Grandpa got him

Luke and Barrett in their new jackets from Vi

Christmas morning finally came. We were up late the night before putting together Luke's gifts with Barrett's mom who slept over at our house. Luke was so cute, he would see one toy and play with it then look at another and play with that one, then run back to the first. He was just so excited he didn't know what to do! This was a really fun Christmas because Luke actually somewhat knew what was going on and was so much to watch all of his reactions. By the way, all of these pictures were taken with mine and Barrett's present to each other, a new Canon Rebel XS DSLR camera (I love it)!

Luke rounding the corner to see his presents

He was more excited than he looks here

Checking out his Bounce 'n Spin Pony

First ride on his pony (that's his happy face)

Checking out his animal kingdom thing

Back to the pony for another ride

Finally checking out what was in his stocking

Opening his light saber

Trying out his tool set

Back to the animals

Taking a break to read a book

Then it was back to Barrett's mom's to for more presents and the chance to talk to Barrett's brother, Lincoln, who is on a mission in Chile. It was great to talk to Linc and spend more time with Barrett's brothers and sister.

We spent the day after Christmas cleaning up and playing with toys. It was a great Christmas and I'm so thankful I was able to spend it with Barrett and Luke!

Luke helping me unload the dishwasher