Today is my dad's 26th birthday. ;) Happy Birthday Dad! We hope you have a great day. We're sad we can't be there, but we will see you soon! We Love you!
I can't believe Luke is 1 today. Wow! Time goes by so fast. He is such a good boy, and we are so blessed to have him. Here is a look at his 1st year:
August 2008
Such a sweet baby, born on August 19, 2008 at 1:04 PM
September2008
One Month Old
October 2008
Two Months Old October 12, 2008, Luke was blessed. Luke's first Halloween was a fun one. We attended our ward Trunk-or-Treat, where we won first place in the Chili Cookoff. Even though I was the one who made it, Nate got all the glory. What? :)
Luke was a hit in his referee costume. GOAL!
Nate and I decided to join the fun. Nate was a football player, and I was a cheerleader. We also got to go the the Corn Maze with our good friends Amber and Brady. Luke slept pretty much the entire time.
November 2008
Three Months Old
On November 1, 2008, Luke got a new cousin:
Meet Faith. She belongs to Nate's oldest sister, Jessica.
Luke's first Thanksgiving could have been the most exciting Thanksgiving I've ever had. My little brother, Kade, played in a football tournament in Las Vegas, so my entire family spent Thanksgiving in Vegas/St. George. We stayed our first 2 nights at the Stratosphere Hotel and watched Kade play. His team ended up taking 2nd place in the tournament. It was fun to watch. On Thanksgiving Day, we decided to go to a buffet in Las Vegas. It was really good, but didn't satisfy our craving for Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday, we all went back to St. George to my sister, Valerie's house, where we had a real Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious.
Playing some slot machines. Don't worry, we didn't play for real. In fact, right after I took this picture a man came up to us and told us we had to leave because babies weren't allowed. :)
Go Kade!
It was a little wet at times, but we stuck it out.
It is always so fun to have my family all together. It's crazy how fast our family is growing.
December 2008 Four Months Old
All I can say about December is weddings, weddings, weddings. I won't post any pictures, but we went to Scott and Julie's wedding on December 13 in the Salt Lake Temple. Then on December 20, we had 2 weddings. Grant married Zaundra, and Jules married Nate. We were very lucky to have both weddings in the Boise Temple. It would have been really hard to choose between those two. All of the weddings were amazing. We feel very blessed to have such great friends, and we're really blessed that they choose great spouses. :) While we were in Utah at Scott and Julie's wedding, the transmission went out on our Civic. It made life a little crazy, but we ended up buying a new car just in time to travel to Spokane, WA for Christmas.
We had so much fun with Nate's family for Christmas. It is always more fun when there are a lot of kids. Luke wasn't old enough to really care about Christmas, but he had fun getting better acquainted with his cousins.
He also got to be Baby Jesus in the Nativity. Not sure he liked it too well, but he played the part. :)
All the new pajamas on Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas! This year in Spokane, they had record breaking snow. It was so pretty, but made our drive home extremely difficult. We made the drive to Idaho Falls in 10.5 hours. This could normally be done in about 7 hours. Even though I was pretty sure my life was over, Nate was a champ and we made it safely.
January 2009 Five Months Old We spent New Year's with my family in Idaho Falls. We played some WII and just hung out. Too bad Luke couldn't stay awake to welcome in the new year. But he did find his toes. On January 10, 2009, Luke tried rice cereal and HATED it!
February 2009
Six Months Old On February 7, 2009 Luke got another new cousin:This is Brock. He is my sister Valerie's son.
Nate's mom and sister came to visit us, and we got to feed the ducks. Ann Morrison Park in Boise is one of our favorite parks. There are always a ton of ducks. It was pretty cold, but Luke loved the ducks!
We also went to our first BSU basketball game. Some man was very nice and gave us his tickets, so we had decent seats that we didn't have to pay for. The game was against Idaho, which is a HUGE rival to BSU. It came down to the buzzer, but Idaho won.
On February 19, 2009, Luke got his first tooth! (the 2nd one came a week later)
He graduated to a crib in February
Yay for his mom and dad!
And he became entertainer of the year. See for yourself...
We went to our friend's, Brooke and Holly, and they have a dog, Toby. This was not the first time that Luke had seen Toby, but for some reason he loved Toby this time. He just started laughing out of the blue. I was so grateful I had my camera! The next few time that he saw Toby, he cried. Why was this time so funny? Maybe he was tired? Weird.
March 2009 Seven Months Old On March 2, 2009, Luke started on veggies. He liked carrots a lot better than the rice cereal. During Nate's spring break, we made a trip to California to visit Nate's family. Matt and Janelle came from San Antonio so Luke was able to meet his cousins Caroline and Talmage.
While we were in California Luke got his first cold. It was a horrible time to get sick, but we stll did some fun things...
like taking a ride in Grandma Genie's GoKart.
And seeing the ocean! We came home through St. George so we could be at Brock's baby blessing. I wonder what they are talking about?
And Luke won another entertainment award. He loves his bouncy chair!
This was the end result. Too funny! :)
April 2009
Eight Months Old The weather was so nice in Boise that we spent a lot of time at the park. And we decided that it was time for a haircut! On April 13, 2009, our friend Holly gave Luke his first haircut. Before
This is how much hair we cut off,
And this is the end result! So Cute!
May 2009
Nine Months Old Luke really likes to be thrown around by Nate, even though it scares me! He also got haircut #2, that was very well needed. I can't believe how fast his hair grows. At the end of May, we went to Idaho Falls to see my sisiter, Cortney, graduate from high school.
While we were in Idaho Falls, Luke developed a new love for 4 wheelers, and we got our family pictures taken. And the biggest accomplishment of the month...
On May 25, 2009, Luke finally crawled forward! YAY!
June 2009 Ten Months Old
My brother, Mike, and his family came to Boise to visit us in June. We had so much fun!
Luke is lucky to have cousins close to his age. Hudson thought it was so cool that they both had monkey pajamas. Luke got to go swimming for the first time. He loved it!
Makenna did Nate's hair; hence the little horns coming out of his head. :)
Luke developed some pretty weird sleeping habits. He moves around so much in his sleep. It's crazy! And he went from crawling, to climbing on EVERYTHING! We had to baby-proof our house pretty quickly. Big Boy!
July 2009 Eleven Months Old We spent the 4th of July in Idaho Falls. I love the 4th in Idaho Falls! We went to the parade, then to Mike and Kendra's for a BBQ. Luke really liked the slip-n-slide.
That night we went to the fireworks. In previous years we have sat at the river all day and saved incredible seats. This year, no one wanted to sit there all day so we watched them from Freeman Park. I am happy to report that the fireworks were still amazing from there. :)It's always fun to spend time with family.
The month of July was a big month for Luke.He got a new booster seat. And he graduated to a big boy stroller and a big boy carseat. On July 11, 2009, we said goodbye to Boise and hello to San Antonio, Texas. Nate had a break in school so we decided to come sell pest control again. This is the 5th summer for Nate so he is a pro. So far, it has been really good. I stay home with Luke so we play while Nate works. Sad! :(
I think we have finally adjusted to the heat, but it's helpful to have an occasional rain storm. They have been few and far between this summer though. Luke got soaked just going to our car. It was a crazy rain storm.
August 2009
One Year Old
We have really enjoyed our time in Texas. Despite the crazy pest control hours Nate has to work, we try to do some fun things. We went to Dallas for a weekend to spend time with some of Nate's buddies. His friend Tom had a baby, so we got to go for the blessing.
We've been to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Riverwalk with our friends, Scott and Julie.
Luke and I spend a lot of time at the pool with Paige and Pheonix. In case you couldn't tell by the look on his face, Luke always enjoys himself at the pool.
I love watching Luke grow, and seeing more of his personality. He loves to be involved in whatever is going on. If I leave him for one second...
I find him under the sink in the bathroom...
Or climbing into the dishwasher.
One of my favorite things that Luke does happens when he gets really tired. He will rub my arm, or anyone's arm that he can touch, until he falls asleep. I think it is so sweet.
Here he is rubbing Scott's arm AND Julie's arm. :)
All in all, we try to work hard, play hard, and then we sleep.
You can all stop sending the cards...things are looking up. I am on the fast track to recovery from my recent struggle with hypobradybloggingosis. What is that disease you might ask? The doctors say it is a rare, but serious disease. It is a type of disease that makes it impossible to blog due mostly to a very busy, growing child, but also lack of time, lack of energy, lack of creativity, and a recent move to Texas. However, things are definitely looking up. You will all be happy to know that blogging has now become my #3 priority, following only Nate and Luke. I know you have all been so worried about me, but I thank you sincerely for all of the thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We can't wait for you to get caught up on our lives.
Luke was blessed on October 12, 2008 in Idaho Falls at my parents house. I went to Idaho Falls for the week previous to spend some time with my family. (Nate couldn't miss school, so he came later.) We had such a good week and weekend.
While in Idaho Falls, Luke and I got to go to one of my brother, Kade's, football games. I am positive that Luke thoroughly enjoyed his time, and made up his mind right then and there to become a professional football player. :)
On Friday, October 10, we went to Yellowstone with Nate's mom, sisters, and neices and nephews. Nate's sister, Jessica, and her family came from Spokane, WA, and her kids had never been to Yellowstone. Nate and I went to Yellowstone last year on our anniversary (in November) and we saw tons of animals, so we thought it would be fun to do with his family. But, typical for Idaho, we had a blizzard. Being the troopers we are, we decided to brave the snow and the cold. We attempted to see Old Faithful, but it was so cold that all we could see was a cloud of steam. Nate's neice, Emma, who is 10, said, "We came all the way here for this?" It was kind of a bummer, but we did see a lot of bison so I think it was still worth it. It was definitely an experience we won't forget.
(I don't think Luke cared too much about the bison or Old Faithful:))
The highlight of the trip was, of course, Luke's blessing. Since most of my family is in Idaho Falls, and Nate's family was going to have to travel no matter where we did it, we decided to bless Luke in Idaho Falls. We blessed him at my parent's house with just family and close friends there. It is such a surreal experience when it is your own child that is getting blessed. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel in our lives, and to have the priesthood in our home. One of the biggest things that attracted me to Nate when I was dating him was his testimony. He is so stong in the church and truly honors his priesthood. I fell even more in love with him as I listened to him bless our son. It was an amazing blessing, and I am so excited for the life that Luke has ahead of him.
This was everyone in the circle. From left to right: Ryan (Nate's bro-in-law), Jason (my bro-in-law), Mike (Nate's dad), Nate, Luke, Dennis (my dad), Mike (my brother), and Bishop Cook (the bishop in my parent's ward).
Nate's dad and his wife, Genie, came from California. His mom and sister, Bekah, came from South Jordan, Utah, and then his sister, Jessica and her family came from Spokane, Washington. Val & Garrett, and Matt & Janelle, we missed you. Thank you to everyone that made the trip to support us. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
Luke is such a good baby. We are very blessed to have such a mellow little guy.
At one month...
Luke weighs 10 lbs. 5 oz.
and he is 22 inches long.
He went to church for the first time. Luckily for us, he slept the entire time.
He had his first bath in the tub and he LOVED it!!
Perhaps the biggest blessing for his parents is that Luke started sleeping through the night on September 20, 2008. He went to sleep at 10pm and didn't wake up until 5am. After the initial worry that I didn't wake up for him in the night, I was so happy that my one month old was a good sleeper. I would love to take the credit and tell you all that his good sleeping habits have nothing to do with chance, and everything to do with me being a perfect mom, but I'm sure it is just another benefit of having a big baby. :) We have had so much fun with all of these first experiences with Luke. Our favorite, though, is when he smiles. At one month, he will only smile in his sleep. They are quick smiles, so you can imagine the adventure we have had trying to get it on camera. We finally had success, and we didn't even wake him up.
So I am obviously not a pro at blogging yet, but I know you are all dying to see Luke. I am really sorry that I have been so slow. I should have just emailed you all pictures. Who knew that it would take so long to design a blog? :) Actually, I am amazed at how I have no free time these days. I guess that's what having a baby does to you. :) Hopefully I will get better at managing my time. In the meantime, here are pictures of Luke.Oh so sad! :( I'm sure he is wondering what in the heck he is doing here.
Luke was born on August 19, 2008 at 1:04 PM. He was quite a big boy, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz, and he was 22 1/2 inches long. Much to my pleasure, labor and delivery went better than I had ever expected. I had to be induced because my sister, Lindsey, was getting married. Nate and I had to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM. I wanted to know what contractions felt like, so I chose not to have an epidural right away. However, by 8:00 AM I had felt enough. (I am a baby.) Thank heavens for epidurals. I really admire those of you who have had your babies without them. Because it was my first baby, and because I had to be induced, the nurses told me to not plan on delivering until 6 or 7 PM. (Apparently those factors make labor really long.) Much to my surprise, and theirs, I started feeling really weird pains around noon. Obviously I had never experienced this before, so I had no idea what to expect. Naturally, I just assumed that my epidural was not working right, so I called the nurse to have her fix it. I felt extremely stupid when she told me that my epidural was working just fine, and that I was going to have my baby soon. She called the doctor and let him know, then decided she would have me try a push or two. After my first push, she looked at me and said, "Um...I'm going to go get your doctor." :) Then Luke was born at 1:04 PM. I consider myself very lucky that I didn't have to wait until 6 or 7 PM. He was everything we could have hoped for. It took him a little while to breathe normally because he swallowed a bunch of nasty stuff as he was being born. Luckily, the little guy pulled through so he didn't have to spend any time in the NICU. And, becuase he was a bigger baby, he had a hard time regulating his blood sugar. The nurses had to prick his heel every few hours to test his blood. It was really traumatic for him, and me. He would cry anytime anyone touched his feet for a few days. It was really sad, but luckily it got under control. We are so blessed that those were the only things that went wrong. Other than that, he was (and is) the perfect baby.
I know you have all noticed the hair. That is what catches everyone's eye. He definately has a lot!
Leaving the hospital
And finally home!
Nate is such a good dad. He'll just stare at Luke and say, "I love him!" It's cute.
Both of our moms were able to come for a few days. It was such a help to have them here. Thanks mom and Dorrie... You were lifesavers. I was really nevous to have such a tiny person completely dependent on me. Nate and I are definately still learning, but it's not so scary anymore. :)
10 days after Luke was born my sister Lindsey got married, so we made the trek to Idaho Falls. Luke traveled really well... He slept the entire time! It was really fun to see family and friends, and to be able to show Luke off. :) Lindsey was a beautiful bride, and Jason was a handsome groom. We love Jason... Welcome to the family!
Luke's clothes didn't quite fit him, but he still looked cute. (Thanks Kendra)
Makenna and Hudson were so cute with Luke. My parents have 3 grandkids now, soon to be 4. While we were in Idaho Falls, my sister Valerie announced that she is having a baby in February. YAY!
We were able to stay in Idaho Falls for a week before we had to come back to Boise and start real life. It has been so much fun to watch Luke grow. He is such a good baby. He only cries when he needs something. :) And, lucky for me, he started sleeping through the night when he was only 3 weeks. We feel so blessed to have this little guy! We couldn't ask for anything more.
It is sad to say that Luke has changed a lot since these pictures were taken. He is getting so big, and his features are starting to show more. I will post another blog soon with some updated pictures.
Nate and I have been married for 2 years, and we just had our little boy named Luke. Nate is currently attending BSU, where he is working on getting his MBA. I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home and take care of little Luke. We are adjusting to parenting, but loving every minute of it!
Luke telling everyone that he is 1!
The Boys 
October 12, 2008, Luke was blessed.
GOAL!
We also got to go the the Corn Maze with our good friends Amber and Brady. Luke slept pretty much the entire time.
We spent New Year's with my family in Idaho Falls. We played some WII and just hung out. Too bad Luke couldn't stay awake to welcome in the new year. 
But he did find his toes.
This is Brock. He is my sister Valerie's son.
We also went to our first BSU basketball game. Some man was very nice and gave us his tickets, so we had decent seats that we didn't have to pay for. The game was against Idaho, which is a HUGE rival to BSU. It came down to the buzzer, but Idaho won.
During Nate's spring break, we made a trip to California to visit Nate's family. Matt and Janelle came from San Antonio so Luke was able to meet his cousins Caroline and Talmage.
While we were in California Luke got his first cold. It was a horrible time to get sick, but we stll did some fun things...
We came home through St. George so we could be at Brock's baby blessing.
I wonder what they are talking about?
The weather was so nice in Boise that we spent a lot of time at the park. 
And we decided that it was time for a haircut! On April 13, 2009, our friend Holly gave Luke his first haircut.
Before
So Cute!
Luke really likes to be thrown around by Nate, even though it scares me!
While we were in Idaho Falls, Luke developed a new love for 4 wheelers, and we got our family pictures taken.
And the biggest accomplishment of the month...
Makenna did Nate's hair; hence the little horns coming out of his head. :)
Luke developed some pretty weird sleeping habits. He moves around so much in his sleep. It's crazy!
Big Boy!
We spent the 4th of July in Idaho Falls. I love the 4th in Idaho Falls! We went to the parade, then to Mike and Kendra's for a BBQ. 
Luke really liked the slip-n-slide.
It's always fun to spend time with family.
He got a new booster seat.
And he graduated to a big boy stroller and a big boy carseat.
Luke got soaked just going to our car. It was a crazy rain storm.
We have really enjoyed our time in Texas. Despite the crazy pest control hours Nate has to work, we try to do some fun things.
We went to Dallas for a weekend to spend time with some of Nate's buddies. His friend Tom had a baby, so we got to go for the blessing.
Luke and I spend a lot of time at the pool with Paige and Pheonix. In case you couldn't tell by the look on his face, Luke always enjoys himself at the pool.
He went to church for the first time. Luckily for us, he slept the entire time.
