Dicken's Festival

Bryan's Family has great memories of going to the Dicken's Festival.  For his mom's b-day we went and got pictures with what they refer to as the Real Santa Claus.  I have to admit he was the most charming Santa Claus I have ever met. 

When Bryan was starting to doubt Santa they went to see him and gave him all sorts of inside info to convince Bryan that he was real.   So this year Bryan's Dad palled up with Santa again with out us seeing.  When we finally got through the line Santa says... "Bryan welcome back it's been so long.  O my Luke come up here sit on my lap."  It was so funny.

Tis the season

We went to temple square this weekend.  We had such a fun time doing a little family Christmas activity.  The lights were beautiful.  Luke LOVED temple square,  everywhere he looked there was a waterfall.   We could have gone in the middle of July and it would have been the same for him, he thought we were just on a scavenger hunt for waterfalls, rivers, and ponds and was in heaven.

 These two pictures make me feel super short and Bryan look super tall, they are taken at the same spot.  I look as tall as Luke and Bryan looks as tall as the temple.


We also got our tree up.  Luke is convinced it is not just a Christmas Tree, but an "O Christmas Tree"  He insists we sing about it daily.   We had a blast putting up the tree together, but the funniest part was when Luke was on Bryan's shoulders adding the top piece and said "ooo so comfy"  So random it had us really laughing.

Utah...It's not a blizzard unless you need a backhoe and a rescue party

We had a really fun family retreat this weekend, to celebrate my little brother Mark's return from the Philippines.  We stayed at a cabin in the Uintahs, we didn't however pay very close attention to the weather report, and before we knew it we were in the middle of a blizzard the highway was closed, and we had to get a back hoe and a rescue team of two trucks to get us out.   We were stranded there for an extra night...but frankly if you could see this place stranded hardly seems like the right word.  It was gorgeous.  Then we get home and hear about the storm of the centery they close schools etc.  and we only get two inches of snow.   :) 

Some fun pics of our trip.

Luke had a blast...I think this is one of the many new dance moves he broke out.

Livin' it up

Doing our best to dig ourselves out

My dad and brother learning the ropes.

Making trips back through the tundra to the car for necessities like food, medicine...

and of course the xbox...while they were there.

 

Owen always with the grand entrance.

I raided the dollar store and we have had a blast playing Go Fish nightly as a family.  Luke loves to say "I Got a Match"  Sometimes it is hard to coax him to say "Go Fish"  If he doesn't have the card I'll say "What do you say, he promptly responds, "please" 

Looks like he is going to be a pretty intense card player :)

Whenever we go shopping Luke loves to say "Hi" to strangers, then he turns to me super proud and says, "I'm makin friends"


We had to get some leaky tires fixed the other morning so Luke and I made a date out of it and walked over to Burger King.  We ordered cinnamon rolls and a sausage biscuit.  I have a soft spot for sausage biscuits and figured I would eat it.  He asked for a bite.  He bit into it and said, "I LIKE this burger"   and finished it right off.   And we just sat there for almost an hour drinking water out of coffee straws, playing with a happy meal toy Luke charmed out of them.  And over and over Luke said, "This fun, right now" 

Picture Dump

So I had to give a talk on Sunday and I have been so stressed about it that every time I came to the computer I felt like I had to be researching for that.  I hate public speaking.  Anyway in the meantime.  Here is what has been happening in the real world. 

My grandparents moved from the east coast to California.  Luke has never met them.  My parents were driving out, so Luke and I hitched a ride.  It was so great to see them again.

Luke chasing the pigeons on fisherman's warf.

My Aunt and Uncle have a putting green in their back yard. Luke loved golfing with G-ma.

Waiting for Uncle Mark to come home from the Phillipines.

Mark's back....Horrrible pictures...it was late.

Luke's monkey impression

If you asked Luke what he was going to be for Halloween he would say Monkey, CANDY!  He was pretty excited about the whole idea.  He loved trick of treating, but he really wanted to go inside the houses.   He also loved answering the door and saying Happy Halloween.