Ice Fishing

Yesterday Barrett took Luke ice fishing along with his brothers, dad and friend Cub. They headed up to Strawberry with hopes of staying warm and catching lots of fish. This turned out to be what Barrett described as "one of the best days of being a dad." Barrett and his dad had bought an ice fishing shelter in hopes of keeping Luke warm and making it enjoyable for him. They had been fishing for awhile and Luke was in the shelter with his two uncles Lincoln and Tanner. While they were in there Luke dropped his line into the hole and after a little while he said "whoa I got one, I think this is a really big one!" Well, at first Lincoln and Tanner didn't believe he had a fish on his line but he sat there and fought it and after a couple of minutes he asked Lincoln for some help. Lincoln grabbed Luke's batman fishing pole from him and realized there really was a fish on there. Lincoln helped him bring it in and it was a huge cutthroat! Luke was so excited he could hardly stand it. He was jumping up and down and couldn't contain himself. He just ran up to Barrett and gave him a huge hug and for Barrett, that moment was one of the best moments for him as a dad. So, they stayed warm and caught lots of fish!

Luke with his Grandpa and Dad, proud as ever

Luke with his uncles Tanner and Lincoln (yea not sure what that thing on Tanners head is)

The crew, minus Cub who took the picture

Christmas 2010

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa

That face says it all!

We had a great Christmas. We actually had to wake Luke up Christmas morning and we asked him if he thought Santa came. He wanted to immediately run out and see but we told him he had to wait until we could change Tessa's diaper. As Barrett was changing her diaper Luke was sniffing with his nose and said "I don't smell any coal!" All month we had been telling him if he was naughty he was going to get a big lump of coal. When he asked what that was, we explained that it was a big black stinky rock. So, he was reassured when he couldn't smell any coal!

Tessa was all tuckered out

Barrett Shoveling snow and Luke eating the snow (his favorite thing to do)

Tessa's new play pen:)

We had a great holiday and we are sad it is over, but we made lots of great memories!

Recap

We started off the holiday season by making gingerbread houses. Luke loved it, mostly because he got to eat the frosting and candy while he was doing it. I asked Luke if he ate the frosting and he said no, I asked him if he was telling the truth and he said yeah I did eat some. Yeah, I thought so!

We went and saw the Christmas lights with some friends and had a blast! We rode the train, got hot chocolate, saw the lights and tried to stay warm.

Santa came to our family Christmas Party!

All spiffed up for church

Tess in her cute dress from Grandma

(doesn't she look so big, she is growing up too fast)

Just some cute pictures of Tess

Best Friends

Luke and Tessa have the sweetest relationship, they truly are best friends. Luke adores his little sister and she adores him right back. Her face lights up the second she hears his voice and he loves to make her smile. He loves to "protect" her while I take a shower (which consists of giving her toys, making sure her binky is in her mouth and making her laugh.) She doesn't mind riding in the car but if she is in the back alone without her brother there to hold her hand she protests. Luke loves to play with her and give her big slobbery kisses. It makes me so happy to see these two interact and make each other happy! Love them.

California 2010

Us and our friends the Gonzalez's decided to take a trip down to Disneyland before Tessa got too old and mobile and would protest sitting in a stroller all day. We drove; which wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. On the way down and back we stayed with Barrett's grandparents, Nana and Pops. They are always so hospitable and welcoming. A huge thank you for letting us crash with you guys!

Tessa and her great-grandparents Nana and Pops

The first day there was a little cool but we decided to head to the beach anyway and check it out
The boys all got in the water and had a blast

That is Tess under that hat!

Luke showing his muscles

The boys running from the waves

Later that afternoon we got the kids into costumes and headed to Disneyland for a Halloween Party

Super Luke and Mickey! The party was fun, we got lots of trick-or-treat candy and saw lots of fun characters. There was a special villains parade and awesome firework show.

The next day it heated up and was in the nineties the rest of the week. Luckily, Disneyland and California Adventure weren't busy at all so we pretty much walked onto every ride.

Luke and Barrett getting ready to ride the rockets

It was worth every penny to see this look on Luke's face during the Pixar parade!

So happy to see Buzz and Woody

Family pic with Sulli (Tess was asleep)

Tess started sucking on her lip there and sucked a blood blister onto her lip, it didn't bug her one bit but it sure looked awful

On the Ferris Wheel

Luke, Jack, Mater and Lightning McQueen

The famous Tea Cups

Luke loved the magic of Disneyland and he loved meeting the characters

We were able to see all of the Halloween decorations and then the next day, Nov. 1st, we showed up and the Christmas decorations were up.

Goofy's house decked out for the holiday's

Tessa was such a good baby and was such a trooper, especially with it being so hot. Here she is with her sunscreen hair!

Luke, Woody and army guy

Barrett joined them for a pic

Luke giving hip hop Mickey a hug

I think Mickey is saying "yo yo, what's up?"

Mickey decorating the C from the California Adventure sign

We headed to the beach one last time before we left

Luke got buried!

We had a great time and it was lots of fun. The kids did great, had a blast. Luke wants to know when he can go back. In fact; the other day he found a penny and told me he was going to put it in his piggy bank so he could save his money and go back to Disneyland! Good times and fun memories (and no one fell out a window this time!)