Happy Birthday Luke!!

I think it is very fitting that our 100th post happens to be on Luke's first birthday. This blog was started over a year ago to keep family and friends informed of what was going on while I was pregnant with him and has since turned into much more. These pictures were taken on Sunday when we celebrated Luke's birthday. We might give him another chance to make a mess of birthday cake since he didn't do so hot last time. He has had so much fun with all his presents since Sunday. Thanks family for coming and celebrating with us.

Happy Birthday Luke!! We love you!!

Luke's very first birthday party

Luke's very first birthday party was tonight. We did it tonight to make it possible for the maximum amount of people to come... yeah, that didn't work. But it's all good. His birthday is actually Tuesday.

This was his cake. Robyn and Jill decorated it. It was delicious (though I prefer cream cheese frosting to butter cream, but hey. Not my birthday (yet)).



Luke had his own mini-cake to make a mess of. For some reason, he didn't really take to the whole first-birthday-cake-messing tradition. He of course tried to grab the candle instead of blowing it out, but between him and his mom, they figured it out.


Luke didn't want to make a mess, but he was nice enough to share his cake with Robyn...
and Rowen...

Luke favorite present was a giant blue ball. He loved it.

Luke

Luke has been taking Amoxicillin for his ear infection. Thank goodness this kid loves it. He gets mad when he's done taking it so I have to let him play with the syringe for a little while to make sure he got it all. He's even tried giving me some. Not such a good idea since I'm allergic.

Haley's "Laptop"

I think Haley got tired of me telling her she couldn't play on the computer today so she made her own laptop. Just had to share some pictures. Notice the brand...

Mmmm.... chocolate

Caleb told us about this yummy Swedish concoction... fortunately, there's a large blue and yellow Swedish store in our neighborhood that sells it. And we have to say, Caleb was right.

Jacob family campout

Last weekend was the Jacob family campout. We did this once two years ago at a campground in Springville Canyon, this year we went a little further out of the way and headed down to the Forks of Huntington campground in Fairview/Huntington Canyon. The drive down was absolutely gorgeous. Fortunately Robyn's dad lent us their Chevy Avalanche to haul our family and gear... there's no way we would have made it in our car.

A good time was had for most of the time... more on this later. First, some photos.



There were cowpies everywhere at the campsite, necessitating the use of a shovel before we had enough clear space to set up our tent. We soon discovered the source of said deposits. Apparently local ranchers let their cows wander the canyons and graze on anything they can find... like big grassy group campsites.



This of course requires real cowboys to ride around and round them up from time to time. He was nice enough to let Haley pet his horse.


But he really did his job, rounding the cows up and sending them on their way, so they have to put this sign out by the road...


Once the cows were gone, the kids could play in the river...


Including this big kid...

Sometimes you wonder how little boys can get so dirty, then you see pictures like this...


Then the kids look like this...

... makes you glad there's a nearby river to wash off in.

Or to fish in. I don't know if he ate it or not.


Lots of cute kids at this campout.





Will: "What's this stump for?"
Candace: "Jump off of it!"
Will: "Okay!"
Me: "Wait! I have to grab my camera!"


Mmmm.... Dutch oven cobbler. Twice.


It was rainy when we got there, but once the clouds parted I was able to get this nice shot. You can almost hear the angels singing.

All kinds of fun pasttimes are to be had while camping... like painting rocks.


There's nothing like camping to get one to appreciate certain conveniences we all take for granted, such as:

Hot and cold running water
Dishwashers
Dumpsters
Refrigerators
A healthy distance between relatives
Showers
Electricity
A mattress not filled with air
Swamp coolers
Doors that don't zip
... and lots of other modern-day conveniences.

Not that I don't enjoy camping, but there are modern conveniences you don't take for granted quite as much once you've been out there for a couple of days. I'm sure kids not sleeping well through the night and toddlers sharing a sleeping bag with parents probably had something to do with it.

I'm sure in a year or two I'll be up for another one.

Tuesday Activities

Last Tuesday, July 10th, we went to Kennecott Copper Mine. Because I was so busy getting ready for camping I didn't have a chance to post anything. We were at the mine for a little while and then we went to a park for lunch. After the park we went and saw Ratatouille. The movie was good but I didn't really get a chance to watch all of it. Luke didn't want to let me. Here are some pictures...











This last Tuesday on the 17th of July we went to This is the Place Heritage Park. I was really excited to go and experience it with the girls. Haley and Emmy went last year while I was stuck home on "bed rest".

There was a petting zoo. Luke wasn't too sure of the little goat at first.

Ian loved the animals. Makes me wish I had a video camera on him cause it was so cute. He was so excited.
Luke loved the goat and was grabbing for it after a bit.


Jenna posed by this freaky looking Turkey. It looked like the brains were on the outside of the head.

Haley loved the school house. She read part of a poem and did a spelling test.

We tried on hats.

Nobody thought Emmy would ride the horse cause she freaked out when one of the goats got loose and was running towards her. I knew she would do it.

Of course Haley had to ride the horse.


Luke holding his ear.

Luke was a little fussy the whole time and he was holding his ear. So I decided to take him into kidscare Tuesday night. He'd been pretty miserable off and on since we got home from our camping trip on Saturday. Sure enough he has an ear infection. Luckily that was all. They took an x-ray and thought he might have an obstruction in his bowel. So the radiologist at Primary Children's took a look at the x-ray and wasn't worried so we got to come home instead of going to the hospital.

Family Photo Shoot

Okay, so these were taken clear back in April, but since they were Father's Day and Mother's Day gifts, we couldn't publicize them until after Father's Day was over. Now that it is, here are a few. I'll post more when I'm home and have the time...




This is the one we printed and framed and gave to Ma and Pa, respectively. Came out pretty nice, I think.

Mitt Rocks

Okay, I admit it. I've had a "Vote Mitt 2008" bumper sticker on my car since long before he announced he was going to run for president. I think he's the best candidate in the race so far, and I believe he has an excellent chance of winning if he can continue to get his message to the voters. So far, I think he's doing an outstanding job. I found this on YouTube, and while I realize it's nearly a month old, I think it shows that other people like him too...

The best 4th ever!

Our 4th of July was quite possibly the best ever. It started off with Robyn and I heading to Kiwanis Park in Provo for a 5k.

Robyn and I in the pre-dawn, waiting for the race to start.

The race was chip-timed, which usually means that you're only timed on the amount of time it takes you from crossing the starting line to the finish line... However there was no start mat, there was just a finish mat. So all the chips did was automate the gun time. Kinda crazy.

Okay, Robyn really didn't want me to take this pic, let alone post it, but I just had to. I've been a "runner" for a couple of years now, having run my first 5k clear back in 2002, but really getting consistent with it in 2005. Robyn just started running a couple of months ago, and has been plagued with one injury after another. Fortunately none of them have been serious. However, I was so proud of her for sticking with it through all these tough times and ending up running this 5k with me that I had to document it. So this picture is because of my awesome wife, sticking to it and running an awesome first race!

After the 5k, we went back to Ingrid's house to shower and change and then headed over to the Provo July 4th parade. The parade was tons of fun, and really long. It had everything a July 4th parade should have, including...

fancy cars...

Horses (Which are Haley's favorite!)

Marching bands...

And floats, with Shrek!

The floats with the city royalties on them were so decked out, and the girls with their tiaras had Haley and Emmy convinced they were princesses, so Emmy insisted that I take a picture of each one.
This stroller was all decked out, I thought it was pretty cool.

Governor Huntsman was there too. Except for his backing John McCain for President, I kinda like him, as do most Utahns. He's one of the most popular governors in the nation.The reason we celebrate Independence Day is because of people like these. People who are willing to put their lives on the line and sacrifice all for the good of so many. People they don't even know. I realize this is somewhat of a romanticized view of the military and who they are and why they do what they do, but sometimes I like my rose-colored glasses.This picture seemed especially poignant to me. This particular soldier's family was right near us and as he went by in the parade, they called out to him. He came over and lifted up his little girl. It made me all the more grateful that there are men and women like this that are willing to leave their families to go and protect me and mine, so that I can be with them. This man is my hero, whoever he is.

There were also a lot of awesomely cool parade watchers... like...

Bridget, Haley, and Emmy...

Ingrid, Joey, Jacque, Dad, Cache and Ginger...

and the beautiful Shannon Rae...
We always see cousins at the parade that we don't otherwise see very often, although we are avid readers of each other's blogs...

Suzi Kelly, Spencer and Alison Box
The parade was a little much for our baby boy that didn't sleep much the night before. He's adorable even when he's napping on the sidewalk.

After the parade, the tradition is to head back to Ingrid's to have some watermelon and catch up with cousins and friends and family we don't always see. It's almost a mini-family reunion at times.

Here's an adorable picture of a couple of newlyweds.

Emmy with a piece of watermelon
Someone thought that me with a piece of watermelon was picture-worthy...

Dad thought it would be cool to get a picture of him with all of his grandsons. Unfortunately, his grandsons didn't share his enthusiasm for the idea... This was the best one of the bunch.

Here's Sean taking pictures for his blog.

After the watermelon bash, we decided to start a new tradition for our family that I read about on Doug and Angie's blog and went to Brick Oven for lunch. Tasty!

Waiting to be seated... a rare occurrence at Brick Oven.

After lunch, we came home to rest and get ready to go to the Real Salt Lake soccer game, for which I had won tickets on the radio the day before.

Luke waiting for the game to start

The noise was a little much for Luke until he got used to it...

But once he did, he decided popcorn was a nice distraction from the game.

However, he did not like the booms of the fireworks after the game.

Some folks prefer to sit around on their holidays... to take it easy when they don't need to be at work. For me, Independence Day is different. I love to be out doing things, enjoying the freedoms afforded me as a citizen of one of the united States. This country just rocks, and I love celebrating it!