Wednesday, December 31, 2008

These are a few of our favorite things...

Grandma Emery got Luke his first sleeping bag, complete with flashing lights on it. Pretty fun.
Shawna got Luke this adorable fury cat that meows and moves and all kinds of stuff. Luke hasn't let it out of his sight since he got it.
Okay, this is from last year and well...28 years ago - but these are beautiful stockings that Austin's grandmother (Grammy Williamson) made for him and later for Luke. Austin used this all growing up, but we can't use them now since we only have 2 for our family. My goal is to learn how to knit them...someday, so we can have them for everyone. Anyway, for now we hang them on our wall and people "ooh" and "ahh" at them. Who wouldn't?
Luke thought this Ironman DVD was a mask - it doubles as a great toy and great DVD.

Some people have all the talent! Austin's grandma made these for Luke, but would you let your 2 year old touch these? They're too cute.

Jensen didn't like the hot Christmas PJs we had him in - hence the unzipping of the beast. He did, however, love the rattles we gave him - well, old rattles from Luke really, but it works.

Grammy Kramer got Luke a fun puzzle and some stickers and a book of his beloved Thomas the tank engine. Guess how many times we've read that already?
Luke took a nap with this firetruck on Christmas day. I think that says a little something about his feelings for it.
Shawna was the finder of this special gift. Hilarious from the Christmas Story!
This was Luke's main gift from Santa. He, of course, loves it! He mostly likes to sit on it rather than it actually moving. We think we should give it to him again next year when we can maneuver it better, but I think he might notice that we had already given it to him.
Austin got a little more excited for Luke's toys then even Luke. We got Luke a 6 foot long hot wheels track - hours of entertainment for Luke, Austin and me. Luke and Austin love to play with it and I love to watch my husband act like a little kid using it. This is a picture of the tournament Austin put together for the cars. It took a few hours to complete this tournament (which was actually 2 full sheets of cars) and by the end of the tournament, Austin was the only one still interested in it - but boy was he interested!
Some of our hot wheels are a little obscure hence the names Austin gave some of the cars "Pizza," "Clear" and "Ol' Pup" were some of my favorites.
Austin's mom got this for me/us. It will be SO much better than what I use now which is a fuzzy radio. I can't wait to be cool using this at my half marathon.
Austin's new, sweet ride
My bike and the trailer we'll put the kids in. We used this a little yesterday and it was AWESOME! Luke cheered the whole time. I am so excited for warmer weather and lots of trips with this. Oh, and grand total for the bikes and trailer - $100!
Luke and Jensen got some really cute new outfits.
This one is just cute, Luke LOVES Jensen and kisses him all the time and holds his little, baby hand. It's so cute. He also sings to him and tries to make him laugh. Such a good boy.
Jensen on our new bedspread from Dad and Mom Flake.
Austin has spent at least 6 hours (LITERALLY) on this present. Shawna got him this board game that he's been wanting - Axis and Allies. He's actually NEVER played it, nor does he know anyone who has. He just thought it seemed really cool and became obsessed with having it so now he's spent a lifetime learning how to play it. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little about the whole thing, but seriously it takes 2 hours to set up to play the game! Oh wow.
Dillon got the boys some cute books for Christmas, not to mention that Grammy Kramer always finds the best and most fun books! They are Luke's favorite to read - or have read to him would be more accurate I guess. Austin's grandma, Grammy Williamson, got Luke a subscription to this wonderful magazine for kids called Wild Animal Baby. It's so fun and full of great pictures and games and stuff. Such a great gift!

We got some awesome gifts for Christmas - these were a few of our favorites.

Austin couldn't keep up with Luke's Power Wheel ATV, that actually only goes 2 mph. Since this incident, Austin has joined a gym.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents in Horseshoe Bend, ID. Justin and Kelsey and their kids were there and we put on a real nativity - inspired by President Eyring's talk. Luke got to be a shepherd and Jensen got to be the baby Jesus.

Aunt Ashley is a pro at taking care of kids! She has been so helpful with taking care of fat little Jensen. She says, and I think it's true, "a baby isn't cute unless he's fat." Jensen is also in agreement. As you can see, he's been working on his look lately.

Dad read the grand kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - it was really neat.

Miles is usually giggling or making the rest of us smile - by the end of Christmas Eve he had passed out.

In the nativity, Cassidy was the angel - the role fits her personality perfect (ha...ha)

Here's the full nativity with Jude as Joseph, Eden as Mary, Luke as a shepherd and Jensen as the baby Jesus.


Luke LOVED it!

Pretty sure this is what a wise man wore back in the day

A few days before Christmas, we decorated Gingerbread houses. The kids had so much fun! We will definitely be making this a tradition in years to come. I was so surprised ate how little candy Luke at versus how much he enjoyed decorating the house.
All the guys get a kick out of Luke's new ATV.

Christmas always seems like the longest day of the year to me.
Luke's bedhead and Jensen's fat cheeks makes it look like they're going full speed against the wind
Go Rays! Thanks Shawna
These guys really do love each other. Would you believe that Jensen weighs more than half what Luke weighs? When Austin makes them "wrestle" Luke screams uncle every time. Wouldn't you if some giant baby was flattening you?

We had such a fun Christmas - minus the throwing up, etc. Thanks to mom and dad Flake for inviting us to everything and taking care of us when we were sick. Poor Luke didn't get it till Christmas morning at 1:30am. Makes Christmas not quite as fun, but he was feeling a little better by 9am so we opened gifts for an hour in between frequent trips to the bathroom for him. He was pretty sick but we are all well now. We hope you all had a great Christmas too! Happy New Year.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

O Christmas Tree




Yesterday we went to cut down our Christmas tree in Boise National Forest. It's a tradition we started last year and have SO much fun doing with Joel and Melanie's family. I have seriously never seen an adult that enjoys the snow as much as Austin. He could play in it for a job - he loves throwing snow balls at people (no matter if they are his wife or his 2 year old!) and the whole bit! It's funny to watch him. He is from Floirda so maybe he's making up for lost time.
Jensen didn't play in the snow too much - he just mostly slept in the car.
It was so pretty up there - minus the two cars!
One big happy (cold) family
Austin about to pelt Ammon in the face with a snowball

Austin pulling Emery, Luke and Wesley in this sled - so much fun for only $5!

Ammon pulled these three kids down the "hill" for an hour. They loved it and laughed and laughed. Emery got a little sick of it after a while - being in the middle he had a lot of weight on him I guess. You can see in this picture he wasn't that happy.
I couldn't get Luke's gloves to stay on - he kept throwing so many snowballs they kept flying off.

One of Santa's helpers - eating his breakfast
Fat and Jolly
Chubby cheeks and all

Luke looked a little like that kid from "The Christmas Story" in all his snow gear

Luke's favorite part about the snow was throwing snowballs at his mom! He got such a kick out of it! Of course, the sledding was pretty dang fun too!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Florida Fun

Luke at the NASA shuttle launch. We staked out our seats (and sat in them) 5 hours before it took off.
About the closest seats you can get to the launch (unless you're VP's - which we're surprisingly not) are about 10 miles away.
This is what we saw at night until it took off - then we were too much in awe to take pictures or videos.
Jensen loved the beach - but it was so hot and sunny in mid-November that we didn't want him to get burned so we kept him in his car seat most of the time. He didn't seem to mind.
He's such a cute and happy baby - not to mention so dang fat!
It was a beautiful day for a trip to the beach in November! Luke LOVED it!
The water was pretty cold so Luke would run in and out of it.He practiced his swimming skills too.
Austin was the hottest guy on the beach - and he knew it! What a hunk...
The beach was perfect white sand and we buried Luke in it.
What a cutie!
Austin took a liitttle bit longer to bury.

Before we went to the beach, we stopped at the dollar store to get some beach toys - they had none! In Florida?!! Anyway, we got some tupperware and serving spoons and they worked just as well. Luke helped to bury his dad with the tupperware.
We had a lot of fun going to the Lowry Park Zoo. This monkey nurses for a few years - yikes!

This tiger LOVED the red ball he had to play with.
Luke thought it was so funny when the tiger jumped on the ball and floated in the water on it.
Austin wanted to leave Luke in the cages with the animals, but I wouldn't let him.
Luke and the bearded pigs at the Lowry Zoo park - really fun place, you could spend days there.
Mom Kramer loved to show off the boys when we visited her at work.
Luke loved it one morning when Dad Kramer took him on a riding lawn ride!
He even let him drive - Luke had the time of his life!

Jensen on his first plane ride. He was good one all 5 flights! Of course, we were so lucky that on 4 of them we got free seats for Luke and Jensen!