Let the games begin...

I was able to take the girls to one of Nate's softball games last week. Usually his games are later and the girls are in bed. Of course they both were filthy by the time we left from playing and crawling in the dirt. Addy's little friend Ellie was there to watch her daddy play as well, so they had fun hanging out.

This picture cracks me up. This is Addy's new face that she makes often.. followed by a scrunchy face smile.



I didn't get any pictures of Hailey at the game.. she was too busy exploring. We love going to Nate's games. Good company, good entertainment, good times. Let the games begin...

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have a confession. I haven't been the happiest person ever this week. Let me tell you why. Reality hit, BIG TIME!

Reality check #1:
Birthdays as an adult, just aren't as fun as when you were a kid or teenager. Growing up, my mom did 'Birthday Week'. This included: favorite meals all week long, shotgun all week long (riding in front), no chores all week long, favorite tub of ice cream all to ourselves, two favorite cereals all to ourselves, birthday surprises in our lunch all week, birthday signs all over the house all week, etc. The list goes on.

Reality check #2:
I'm getting older. I realize, i'm not old, just OLDER. This concept has really never hit before.

Reality check #3:
I have kids. So no matter how much I want to have just a relaxing day and happy day, there is bound to be whining, tears, hitting, time out, bonks, messes, sugar highs and lows and tired arms from holding a two year old and 9 month old at the same time. Although, there are MORE good things that come out of that as well, like hugs, kisses, hillarious statements that usually don't make any sense, laughs, goofiness, etc.

Reality check #4:
It's just another day.

Having said that, I've been quite bitter this week. I was not looking forward to my birthday and honestly, just wanted it to pass and be done with. Mind you, I usually LOVE my birthday. I'm a HUGE birthday fan. This year, something has changed. I was bitter about it.

Well, let me just tell you what transpired today. I woke up this morning in a not very good mood. Went in to check on my monkeys who were playing in Addy's crib. In comes Nate and asks Hailey if she wants to go somewhere with him. They return about 40 minutes later and Hailey runs in with flowers in her hand yelling "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Then Nate pulls out breakfast from Kneaders.. yum!
We hung out for awhile all together when Nate gave me my first gift.. a card. Let me tell you, I was SO excited. There is nothing that means more to me than to hear how much he loves me and appreciates me. Yep.. I cried. Along with the card was money to get some new clothes which I have been wanting for awhile now. I was SO EXCITED. Then.. He had to head off to an auction in SLC. The girls and I went to a birthday party for Sol, their little friend who was turning 1. They had SO much fun. It was great for me, because they were out of my hair and having a blast! :-) Then, my cousin Rachel came over to babysit while we went to dinner at Tucanos... yum again!
After dinner, we came home, put our VERY tired and cranky babies to bed and when I came downstairs after singing B-I-N-G-O to Hailey for the 30th time today, Nate told me my present was on the kitchen counter. I went in the kitchen to find a brand new video camera. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! WHAT THE??? I could not believe how much he took care of and spoiled me today... and yes, I cried again.

Now, I feel guilty for how bitter I have been all week. At the same time, I think it helped me to be even more excited at all the surprises Nate had up his sleeve. Those of you who know my past with holidays, know how much this means to me. He is the best. I can't even tell you enough how much this all meant.. and what it comes down to, the sweet words on the card he gave me this morning.

Aside from this, I have AMAZING friends and family who have given gifts, left messages, texts, facebooks, phone calls, etc to wish me a happy birthday and I have never felt more thought of an loved as I have today. It's quite overwhelming.

Thank you everyone and i'm sorry to my birthday for hating you! :-)

I love you Nate, for making my day the best it could possibly be.

Love it.

This picture makes me laugh EVERYtime I see it. Sweet Addy makes the funniest faces sometimes and precious Hailey is so done with me taking pictures of her. This was Easter Sunday and they looked Adorable!

Here we go...

So, I woke up this morning excited to put new letters on the wall in Hailey's room. They spelled out Hailey and Addysen. I've been transforming Haileys room slowly into both the girl's room. So, new pictures on the wall include the two of them and not just Hailey anymore. Well, as i'm cleaning up her room after adding the fun new letters to the blank wall, I had a CRAZY thought....

As some of you know, we put Addy in our room and moved our bed into our office so that the girls wouldn't share a wall and Addy wouldn't wake Hailey up 6 times a night. Now that they both sleep through the night, I knew it would be inevitable that they would eventually share a room.

So... as crazy as this is.. I decided to move Addy's crib into Hailey's room. NOW.. they are sharing a room. I'm really excited, but also quite nervous. They both sleep so well right now, I hope I don't screw that up. I guess time will tell. People do it all the time, right?

Now, I really wanted to surprise Nate and he was working today.. so I went ahead and moved our bed back in our room by myself, mind you! :-)

Anyways, here are some pictures of the girls' room.

Princess Party!

Hailey got invited to her little friend Skylan's princess birthday party. Everyone was to come dressed up like a princess. It was SO cute and SO fun. Hailey has been gearing up for it all week and has been so excited. They got to play games, put on makeup, eat lots of treats, and just be girly girls! It was a blast.

Vegas Baby!

I know it's been a long time since i've blogged. To be honest, I haven't really been in the mood. Nor has there been much to blog about.

However, my girls and I took a little trip to Vegas. The main reason for going was because my little niece Marley was being blessed. She is ADORABLE! I wanted to take her home with me.


Hailey was busy doing so many fun things. Playing in my parents backyard, for one. It's a parking lot for battery powered cars.. I think they have about 10 of them. She had a blast checking out my mom's waterfalls.

Hailey and Lincoln became jumping buddies. Lincoln came over to play lots while we were there and Hailey loved it.

Addy enjoyed sitting in the cars. She was content to just be able to sit outside without freezing to death!


Addy also had some fun bonding time with Grandpa.

The girls got to meet the 'Cookie Monster'. Actually, it was my brother, but they thought it was pretty cool.

He dressed up like that for Preston's birthday party. It was a blast. The girls had so much fun playing at the park and eating treats.

At that party, some of us girls got our groove on.. haha. The spider walk. It was me, Jenna, Andrea and Becca!

I got some fun girl bonding time with Hailey and Addy.. and loved every minute of it.


Addy had some bonding time herself, hanging out with Uncle Jared in the jumper.

Last but not least, Hailey got to take a swing at an Elmo Pinata! It's not the first of pinatas for her, but she loved every minute of it.


Nate flew in for the weekend and for the blessing. It was a great time with my family. Lots going on, but so much fun. Addy fell in love with her Uncle Damon and Hailey couldn't get enough of playing with her cousins. While we were there, Matt and Kristy had their baby girl Madison.

We are so lucky to have such great families. Now, back to the snow and rain and clouds that irritate me to death! But i'm grateful for the break that we had! So long Vegas.. thanks for the great weather!

Flashback Friday: 5 Years and Counting...

What an amazing 5 years this has been. I have the best husband in the world. He has made my dreams come true and continues to surprise me every day with how much I can be in love with someone. He truly is my best friend and I cannot imagine my world without him in it. 5 Years ago today, Nate and I were married in the Las Vegas Temple. As I look back and remember the events of the day... it went something like this:

-woke up WAY too early to get ready. My mom and I drove to the temple, only a couple blocks away, we got pulled over. Yes, the day of my wedding, we get pulled over because of expired plates. My mom then informs me that they've been expired for about 3 months and just hasn't had the time to renew them. Needless to say, we were late to the temple.

-The ceremony was AMAZING! As I remember it, Nate and I just cried through the whole thing. So much for wedding day makeup. We had friends show up and surprise us that we never thought would come. It was the best day ever!

-I remember my nephew Spencer being obsessed with this snail he found that somehow made it into all the family wedding pictures! haha!

-It was GORGEOUS that day. VERY hot. We were DYING by the time we were done taking pictures.

-My friend Robyn was there to be my sidekick and help me get dressed back in my dress for the reception at my parents house. While trying to put my slip on, with all the thousands of layers of toole, we found a million lady bugs that had made their home there earlier that afternoon during picture time. So, we spent a good hour or so picking out ladybugs.

-Reception time came and the chocolate fountain we had ordered hadn't arrived yet. The girl who was suppose to bring it decided to stop off at a friends house before coming to my reception which made her extremely late, then she tried to warm up the chocolate too fast and it burnt, then spilled it onto my parents patio to which still has a big chocolate stain in the cement!

-The food was AMAZING! My mom did such a great job planning and carrying through our reception. We had lights all over the backyard, a gazebo for the food lights all over the front yard, candles everywhere, flowers everywhere.. chocolate covered strawberrie boquets... so pretty.

-Two days before our wedding, my parents had gravel delivered to their front yard, to which I was shoveling for the entire day to have it ready for the reception. The night before the wedding, I was mowing the lawn. It was quite eventful.

-On our honeymoon, I got extremely sick and was throwing up for two days. I remember laying on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night at our hotel and yelling for Nate to bring me a blanket... yeah, he never heard me or woke up. It was awesome.

-because of being so sick, I couldn't make the drive back to Utah so we ended up spending a night of our honeymoon at my parents house! Poor Nate!

-A week later, we had a GORGEOUS reception in Orem, thanks to Nate's parents. We had a waterfall backdrop, a canopy of lights, an ice bowl for the punch... amazing.

It was such an unforgetable time in our lives and i'm so glad we have this date to always remember those special moments and funny moments of the start of our family.

And Thanks to Nate for making my life such an amazing one.

Happy Anniversary!

-

What's in my Nose?

First of all, check out the adorable scarf her aunt Summer made for her. She's such a little model.

So, I have a few short and funny stories to share about Hailey. Recently, she has decided to keep me even MORE on my toes, which I didn't think was possible. Yes, it's true.

To begin, the other night, We thought we were going to be on our way to the emergency room. A normal, usual night of getting ready for bed, brushing teeth, getting dressed, well, almost, when she bolted out of my grip and into the hallway. I called after her and ran to the doorway as I saw the most horrific sight. She was running so fast and tried to flip around really fast to slide down the stairs on her tummy, feet first as she does often. Well, the momentum had the best of her. She was running so fast that when she flipped herself around, she basically LAUNCHED herself over the stairs and was about 2 feet above the stairs, perpendicular with her feet first. Next, was the scariest moment yet. Her face SLAMMED into the stair and she hit so hard that it bounced her completely up on her feet where she then fell backwards down the stairs. The thought going through my mind behind the immediate tears were either she broke her face, or she knocked herself out. Well, the scream that came from her made it evident that she didn't knock herself out, and after poking and prodding at her face and whispering in her ear and keeping her awake for awhile to make sure she was ok, she settled into bed with tears still flowing. It was so sad. Thank goodness she's ok.

Second, she stuck a freeze dried fruit snack up her nose today that I had to fish out. THEN tells me that Addy has one too! GREAT!

Third, she took a Peter Pan off the stage at Nate's basketball game last night. Luckily, I was able to catch her in-between her legs before slamming her head into the gym floor.



Fourth, she constantly repeats to us that 'we don't eat poop'! (not sure where that one came from)

Fifth, Nate woke up to her standing next to our bed the other morning and said "hey girl, what time is it?" to which she immediately replied "time to get a watch dad". (we never say that so we don't know where she picked that one up)

Sixth and so sweet, every night before going to bed, she reminds us to turn on her fan, then says "sweet dreams" and then waits for us to reply with the same words before she hits the pillow and is off to slumber land.



Seventh, says her prayers all by herself and makes sure to add "thank you for grandpa and grandma" followed by "thank you for dinosaurs"

Last but not least, I took her to the gym with me the other day and when I went to pick her up from child care, she came running to me explaining in her own way that a little boy hurt her. Her words were "boy hurt you! pushed you! hit you!" So I explained to her that she just needs to tell him not to do that anymore (when in reality, I was thinking.. GO GET HIM BACK! haha.. not really...) we went home, she explained her sad story to Nate and he told her the same thing I did. The next morning, she woke up and I was getting Addy ready, she came in my room and I asked if she wanted to go to the gym again and she got all excited and this is what she said "YAY! and play with toys! and slide! and hit somebody!" yeah, I know what she really meant, but it just came out funny. Again, we had to explain to her that we don't hit even when provoked.

Crazy and busy and insanely fearless as she is, she is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever known.

We love you Hailey Rain!

Just Venting

I just have to vent. I HATE the winter. I know I have mentioned this before in past blog entries, but it's so true.. and the more winter I have to endure, the more I hate it and become extremely bitter by it.

Reason #1.. my kids are sick.. AGAIN! Hailey had the flu last week and I just hate puke. I don't know anyone that likes it, but when your little toddler throws up all in her bed and all over her favorite blankets and tinker bell pillow case (which she can't sleep without) it makes you just want to throw everything away that got infested with puke. Who wants that put through their washing machine! Poor Hailey. She got over it pretty quick.. but even still, it's awful to watch your kids be so unhappy and yucky.

Addy, is a different story. She has pretty much been sick her whole life. I'm so tired of it.. I could scream.. which I actually have done recently. She has been in and out of the doctor, hospital and specialists and i'm just so sick of it. She threw up this past week which was expected with how Hailey was feeling and I thought that was the end of it.. well, now its something new and i'm afraid its not just the usual teething issue. I'm pretty sure she might have something else going on. But who knows.. poor thing. She wakes up from a two hour nap and is ready and wanting to go back down a half hour later. Her face is puffy, her eyes are glistened with moisture and she is pretty clingy and just miserable. I know it's not an earache and I know its different than the usual flu.. so if it's not improving by tomorrow, i'm taking her in I think.

Winter just seems to bring on illness and this reason alone is enough for me to want to move to a more permanently warm climate. Not that it will ever happen. New Carpet and a New City just aren't in the cards for me, i'm afraid.

Reason #2... I have appointmens and responsibilities that more often than I would like take me away from home and from my kids. While this may not be such an issue, who would want to babysit sick children while i'm off doing whatever responsibility I have.. like taking my cat to the vet for shots and appointments I have that Nate can't help with for reasons like work or callings.. ugh.. the trials.

Reason #3... It's just cold and I don't like it.

Marley Luke

I'm a week late on this post, but I wanted to welcome the newest memeber of the Luke Family. Marley Luke was born on Feb. 10th and weighed in at 7lb. 4oz. She is, as you can see.. Adorable and we're so glad she's here! Congrats Jared & Jenna, Gavin and Preston! Can't wait to meet our new little niece and cousin in person!