Sunday Night Post

Just some random thoughts I had today:

Growing up Virginia (my mom's cleaning lady) would come every Monday, which meant Sunday night was "clean your room" night. We had to have everything cleaned up so Virginia would clean. It wasn't until I had a house of my own until I realized this logic. You see Virginia dusted, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms, etc... none of which could be done if all our stuff was lying around. Now it is engrained in my head that as soon as Sunday dinner is over it is time to get ready for Virginia. It's like, "The weekend is over and it's time to get ready for the week". I just got finished picking everything up, started a load of laundry, Roomba is going downstairs and I am making my To-do lists for the week. If only Virginia was coming tomorrow to finish up the rest of the house!

Today our primary lesson was on obeying the law. At one point (per the manuals instruction) we asked the kids "what are taxes" to which they replied, "Oh, those are the yellow cars that pick you up and drop you off when you are out of town". And why are we teaching about paying our taxes to 5 year olds? I'm just sayin... On a better note we did get the point across that We believe in obeying the laws and rules help protect us. Phew!

I always couldn't wait to be done with school so that I could focus on more "fun" things like sewing, crafting, cooking fine cuisine, and reading books I chose. The funny thing is as I was talking to my brother about what classes he was enrolled for at BYU this semester all I wanted to do was go back to class! I definitely took for granted  BYU and all the classes and opportunities it offered. Anyway, it dawned on me tonight that I don't really do any of those things except reading and an occasional sewing project. So I have decided that every month I am going to do X many projects (number TBD). So far I have come up with two Halloween decorations, a pillow, and Lucas' Scrapbook. Wish me luck!
Lucas can now pull himself up and he loves to look in on Izzy every few minutes. We took to the top off her cage so he could grasp it easily and actually see her.

Tonight Andy put Lucas to bed so I could continue cleaning. I could hear Lucas laughing and snuck in to see what was going on. I hurried and got my camera so I could capture the two of them reading stories. Andy tends to think that Lucas likes me more, but the truth is Lucas loves his daddy and would much prefer him over me any day!

Well, that's all for now. Here's to a great new week!

8 Months

Lucas is 8 Months old... My how time flies when you are having fun. 8 months is so much fun, but also so much work! If I turn my back for just one second Lucas is gone and into something else. Recently he LOVES the dogs water bowl, chewing on any remnants on the floor, and my rotary mat. We bought him some toys to help distract him from things he should not be playing with and his favorite thing is to roll his bottle and chase it. Here are a few pictures of Lucas playing on the floor. He loves to empty the container of toys, scream in the microphone, and chew on Jabba the Hutt. I love watching him just play with his toys and entertain himself.

This week we also celebrated our 3 year anniversary. My brother and his girlfriend were kind enough to watch Lucas so we could celebrate. It was the longest we had ever left him, but we had a blast! We went to Flemmings for dinner (YUMMO!) and saw Inception. This was the first movie we have seen since New Moon and we both absolutely loved it and keep talking about it. It was so much fun just being together. While I was looking for pictures of just Andy and I the only one I could find was from last year (pre-Lucas) and totally prego. So we took a picture before dinner... yes I need a tan.

I took approximately 50 pictures for the 8 month post. This was the best one. You can kind of see the 8 Month card at the bottom. 

Things I want to remember about Lucas at 8 months:

• Lucas loves Puffs and Yogurt melts
• If Andy or I start laughing he copies us in his fake laugh
• When you say "no" he pauses and waits until he thinks we aren't looking and continues doing what he was set to do.
• He is crawling on all fours, no more army crawl.
• He loves books. It is my favorite time of the day right before bedtime to read books and snuggle with my little guy.
• He is pulling himself up on anything and everything.
• When you are feeding him in his high chair he hits the tray inbetween bites as if saying, "Hurry!'
• He loves playing games- Peek-a-boo, take the binkie and hide it just to have Lucas find it and put it back in his mouth.

We love 8 months and our Lucas Henry!

3 Years today...

we were sealed for eternity... 

Happy Anniversary!

Bath Time!

My mom has the BEST bathtub. We have been waiting for Lucas to be big enough for grandma's tub. Last night we put all three kiddos in the bathtub and they had the best time. Lucas just wanted to get out of his seat and swim with the girls. He also loved the bubbles!

Lucas is now officially crawling on all fours. It is so fun to watch him explore, but every now and then we just need a little break. 

The ottoman's make an awesome baby cave.

We love Grandma Tracy's house! (And now the Larsen House :-))

Fishlake 2010

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Fishlake with the Hopkin Family! We had SO much fun playing with cousins, fishing, and just relaxing at good 'ole #5 Juniper. This was Lucas' first time at Fishlake and I think it is safe to say he can't wait to go back. Prepare for picture overload!

Daddy teaching Lucas how to fish

Uncle Dan found the best lifejacket for Lucas. He loved it... plus we are a Yo Gabba Gabba household!

Lucas loved his cousin Whiney. She was so sweet and played with him the whole weekend.

In case you were wondering... relaxing at Fishlake is very tiring! :-)

Cute little Spence

Lucas wanted to be a "Hopky" for the day and sat in their famous stroller. He cried when we took him out...

MK taught me a few tricks with my camera. Taking pictures inside with NO flash... yes, most people probably know how to do this. I was happy I finally could do it! 

Camera 101:

This is Lucas in the chairs that all the Coons' children grew up with. So cute.

And of course what is Fishlake without FISH! Andy and the boys did an awesome job fishing all day so we could have some delicious Fish Tacos. Probably the best fish tacos ever. 

Thanks Hopkins for a GREAT trip! I wish I had better/more pictures of the Hopkin Gang! 

More sewing projects...

Today during Lucas' nap I decided to make him some light-weight pants. As much as I LOVE the bloomers they just aren't the best for crawling. Lucas has some red knees after a 30 minutes of crawling in just bloomers. I think the pants are adorable... and total cost = $5.65. Perfect! We decided to have an impromptu photo op in our front yard... Lucas was the perfect model for the pants!

Love those eyelashes

On to the Family Room... I have had an image in my mind of what I wanted for a Media Unit. A 70" long and skinny unit that was about a foot off the ground. Simple right? The longest we could find was always 60" and it was big and bulky. Not exactly what I had in mind.  I finally stumbled across the perfect media unit, but it was $7000+ dollars. Back to the drawing boards. Andy was extremely patient as I searched and searched and searched for something that would work. A few more weeks went by and one Saturday Andy woke up and said, "We are going out and not coming home until we find a media center". We put Lucas in the car and began our search. We finally came across these Cubes. I thought to myself, if only they had 4x2 it would be the right length! But no, they only had 3x1, 3x2. and 3x3. Andy had the idea to put two cube units side by side. Brilliant I tell you, brilliant! 

It is perfect! Simple, clean lines and long and skinny! Now we just need to hang some pictures, put some pretty books on the shelves and it will be complete. Once we get a few more items hung I will show the rest of the Family Room and Kitchen. 

Park Time

One of my favorite things about our neighborhood is the park across the street. It has slides, baseball fields, football fields, the list goes on and on. Although Las Vegas is very hot in the summer, the summer nights can't be beat! (No bugs = no mosquito bites) Lucas loves being outside so after dinner we typically go on family walk to "our" park. Tonight we put our work-out clothes on, brought a soccer ball and worked up a sweat while Lucas crawled on the grass. It was a belated Family Home Evening.

To top off the night we got to Skype with my parents. It was AWESOME! It was so fun seeing them. My mom had Lucas giggling so hard, it was adorable. We can't wait to talk to them again!

Pictures of the house are coming....