The Tippetts' Family

Liliana Turned 1, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.

2012-01-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

I know this post is a little late coming - nearly 3 months in fact - but things got a little busy, the camera broke, and the blog went to the sideline.

Liliana turned 1 October 1st. I can't believe how much the time flew by. She already has an affinity for clothes and so that is mostly what she got as her birthday presents. The pictures are below. Thank you to everyone who got her something. She started walking during October, steps here and there. By the time Nana and Grandad came to visit in November she was nearly a pro. She is now a toddler who loves to get into things.

Halloween was a bit of an adventure. I decided to make most of the costumes. Luke was baby jaguar from the TV show Go Diego Go! and Paul was his friend Diego. Lily and I were leopards that Diego was rescuing. All in all it turned out pretty well. We only got 1 picture since the camera got broken (thanks Luke). We celebrated Halloween 4 times this year. We had a ward party with the trunk or treat, our friends had a wonderful party, I won tickets to the local expo center's trick or treat fest, and Paul and Luke went trick or treating on Halloween night (lily was sick, so we stayed home). Surprisingly after all that we didn't have that much candy (but that might have been because i kept giving it away to other kids :) )

My parents and littlest sister, Olivia, were able to come visit the beginning of November, which was a lot of fun. My kids really enjoyed seeing them as well. Olivia was even peer pressured by lily into trying to walk (she was being a slow poke, 18 months and not trying :) ). Livvy figured it out just after she went home.

Thanksgiving was GREAT!! We always stay in Cleveland and usually have a get together with friends. This year, a wonderful neighbor and I thought doing it with as much of the ward as wanted too would be fun. We ended up with about 25 people for thanksgiving dinner at the church. It was a success. Canda is amazing and planned it perfectly :)

Here's some pictures of these activities.

Lily eating her birthday waffles

Lily and her birthday cake

During said Cake

After

Halloween

Luke and a cat at the trick or treat street

Luke's Thanksgiving decorations

Thanksgiving dinner (after most people had started eating, i forgot to take a picture)

My Handsome 'Big' Boy

My Beautiful Baby Girl

September 2011

2011-09-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had a fun month. My nana Gray and my Aunty Barbara came in for a visit. We visited some of the sites around Cleveland (including the LDS Kirtland Historical sites down the road). Nana and Barbara spoiled us rotten and we all had a fun time. It took Liliana a little while to warm up to them - in fact for the first few days she screamed every time I was out of sight, she got over it and as you can see in the pictures she started to like everybody.

Luke started school and is still liking it as much as he did the first day. He has been exhausted when he gets home, which is sort of a nice change. Luke also started in a football/soccer league. He is a little ball hog but he had fun which was the point. He is number 9 - something I was exciting about since number 9 is frequently the striker on the team :). His first day he got REALLY muddy. They had the little kids on the muddiest field in the area, it was really a mud bath - not really sure how to get cleats clean, oh well, mud is good for kids. He scored twice, they may or may not have been in his own goal but that is beside the point. He has been telling everybody about his goals so it's not important. Hopefully he continues to enjoy the game because I much prefer soccer to American football (not that I don't enjoy watching football, i just don't want my son getting killed while playing a sport).

1 muddy soccer star

Liliana has decided walking isn't too hard after all. She took several stpes the other day in order to get her binkie from me. She is a binkie kid for sure, she HAS to have it at night and she likes to have it during the day. In fact, Lily just likes things in her mouth in general. I swear there is not a thing she doesn't like to eat. She eats more than Luke and I combined. She's getting chunky but it's cute on a 1 yr old... wow she's nearly 1.

My Chunky Monkey

For me - I redid my dining chairs. So I got these chairs from a friend of mine who was moving away. They had cream seat coverings (uuhh, not good with kids) and they were REALLY dirty. So i had been looking for some material to cover the chairs with. So one day I was at a mall and needed a trash can for lily's stinky diaper. I opened the dumpster that was outside crate and barrel and found a TON!! of fabric (there was nothing in the dumpster except fabric and broken dishes). I pulled out the fabric and someone had thrown away over 6 yds of material. It was beautiful - not a mark on it - and great quality (in fact i googled the brand - $50 a yd). So... i redid my chairs in this pretty red stripped fabric... Pics below.

Before

After

Starting School

2011-09-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

So i have issues with my camera, for some reason I can't get the pictures off. When Paul gets around to it, I will have pictures on my computer to put up on the blog.

Well Summer is officially over. Paul went back to school end of August, Luke started Preschool (yay!)beginning of September, I started school again (more on this later) this last week. It's been an interesting month.

As I said, Luke started preschool. He is going 4 days a week for 3 hrs and is LOVING it! One of my friends and I carpool which is super nice. I get to spent some alone time with Liliana and I also get to do somethings in peace. Luke's first day was more traumatic for me than it was for him. He just said, "bye mom, bye dad" and walked straight into the classroom, when he got home he said "lots of other kids were crying btu I didn't". Now I did, just a little. I can't believe Luke is big enough for school and i was also a little offended (not really) that he didn't care that I was leaving him. Hopefully he can enjoy school as much in the future as he does now. He also wants to know everyday why they don't practice the ABC's obviously playing isn't what you're supposed to do in school.

Now me. I have decided to go back to school and get my master's degree in Public Administration. I am really enjoying it so far, even though it is a little crazy with Paul being gone most days and studying and a whole bunch of reading (try reading more than 50% of the federalist papers in 4 days). I plan on being done in about 2 yrs and then the plan is to work for a non-profit organization of some kind. I'm taking 9 credits this semester and love it. Hopefully I'll be able to say the same in December :)

Liliana turns 1 next month, but I'll decuss that in another post. She is nearly walking - something she's been thinking about for nearly 2 months - little chicken. She will walk with a popscyle stick in her hand as long as someone is holding the other end - like dumbo and his feather.

Here's Luke's first day of school pictures and a cute one of Lily

2 Weddings and a funer.... I mean family reunion

2011-07-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

It's been one of those vacations again.
Luke, Lily and I left Cleveland June 24th. We stopped in DFW to see my best friend, Megan, for a few hours then headed to Utah.
June 30th the 3 of us plus my mom and my little brother, Matthew, started our suicide drive to Calgary. We spent 1.5 days there for my cousin Richard's wedding, and then drove home. I did learn that Luke has no issue with strangers, he stayed with my aunt's friends and couldn't have cared less that I left him there for 6.5 hrs. We then drove back to Willard (a 12 hr drive) starting Sunday morning and got back just in time for the Willard firework show for 4th of July.

The fireworks are excellent. Willard has an awesome show. Luke was hilarious. While they did a testrun he happened to be in a porta potty. He nearly fell in and was officially scared :) He then spent the next 45 mins while we waited for the show to start hiding under a blanket in my life. He kept saying, "I don't like fireworks, they are scary". I thought I was going to have to take him back to the house. So the show starts. Luke is sitting there with hear plugs in, his hands over his ears and a blanket over his head. He then starts to watch and smile at the show, he then turns to me and says, "are there going to be any fireworks momma?". I tell him these are fireworks and he is like, "oh... these aren't scary". He climbs off my lap and starts watching on the floor. It was really funny.

After the 4th we spent the next 5 days planning and getting ready for Simon's wedding. Congrats to Simon and Chrissy. I'll try and get some pictures up of my kids, they were really cute at both weddings. We left my parents house in Willard and we are now at Paul's parents house for a week for the Tippetts' family reunion. It should be a lot of fun. Luke is currently outside wrestling Grandpa in the garden. He's going to be a dirty tired boy this entire week.

Meanwhile, while Luke Lily and i were gone. Paul moved us into a new house, across the street. I'll also take some pictures and post them once we get home and unpacked. I told Paul not to since men lose things:) (plus he had finals and I'm a nice wife)

Here are some pictures from the trip

Matthew and Luke being silly on our crazy drive

Luke is worn out

Luke fishing

Luke is fishing somemore

Liliana is worn out

Luke's Dance Recital

2011-05-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a short post but I thought you guys might enjoy these videos of Luke during his dance recital this last Saturday. He has been taking a boys dance/tumbling class over the last few years. He loves it. Here he is dancing to 2 different songs. He is the 2nd from the Left and the other boys are his friends in the Cleveland area (thanks to Jessica for the video :) )

The last video (which was freestyle dance if you didn't get that) really ends at about 2:00 but the entire group of dancers takes a bow.

This must be a record. 2 posts in a week :)

2011-04-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

So since I spent the last 45 minutes updating the look of our blog I decided it would be a good idea to actually write something.

This week Luke and Liliana had their well child checkups. They are both super happy/healthy and good kids. Luke is FINALLY 30 lbs, don't forget people he is 3. Since the new car seat recommendations say "backwards facing until 30 lbs" this is quite an achievement, mind you he's been forward facing for 2 years... oops. He's growing though so that is GREAT. He's probably never going to be that big, but that's okay, he is a little bully so he holds his own.

Liliana is quickly catching up to her brother, she is 18.2 lbs and 27 inches. It's lucky too since Luke likes to sit on her. I'm gonna have to buy that girl a toddler car seat that I can turn backwards, she is too big for the infant seat. At least I didn't buy the seat new, it was Luke's. I'm also glad that I am using cloth diapers as it means I don't have to keep changing sizes (trust me it's annoying to have a whole bunch of size 3 diapers that don't fit anyone), my cloth diapers are one-size-fits-all... we'll see if that is true for a chunky Lily-bug.

This weekend Paul went to Raleigh, NC for some job interviews. Paul and I have decided that Raleigh is where we would like to move when we are done with school - although that feels like an eternity away to me. It was difficult for him to be gone but hopefully something will come of it, and he'll have somewhere to work this summer. He loved the city and the weather, but anything is better than Cleveland in both areas - trust me. It was finally warm this weekend but then mother nature decided that was just a joke and the temperature dropped 40 degrees over night. Don't get me wrong Cleveland has some beautiful places and nice qualities about it but there are some things that drive me nuts. That will have to be another post since it might take a while.

Paul is also finishing up his semester. He takes finals in 2 weeks time and then will hopefully go to Raleigh. If not we plan on having him get a job in Cleveland and then take some classes (it will make his workload in Fall/Spring easier). He has also been elected as a Student Senator, which will take up some time but will get him involved in school more. He's pretty excited about it, but those who know Paul know that Student Government is something he likes.

I think that is all that has happened this week. I have to talk in church on Sunday so I need to plan that, anyone have any ideas what to speak on in regards to modern-day pioneers?

Wow Time flies.

2011-04-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how bad I am at blogging. I just never seem to get around to it, it's always on my to-do list but it still doesn't get done.

Liliana is now 6 months old. She's pretty much crawling, although she's much better at going backwards than forwards. She has the hugest attitude in a 6 month old that I've ever seen. She shouts at you if she doesn't get her way, her pediatrician thinks it's pretty funny. She is a beautiful girl, everyone keeps telling me her eyes are huge and that she should be a model, but I'm pretty sure that field is not worth the time involved for the pay you receive. Here's a picture of the little princess eating her first solid food.

Luke is also getting too big for his boots. He turned 3 last week and is now a "big boy" and is going to "grow tall and be just like daddy". He's a rascal but he sure is cute. We've been working on doing family home evening with him, but I didn't think anything was sticking. I learned differently today. He has informed me (after a lesson on the prophet and watching general conference) that his dinosaur is called "Thomas Monson" (That's the prophet's name to all those who don't know). I thought it was hilarious. He wants to send "Thomas Monson" a card and a dinosaur. I think he'll find that amusing :-D

Here's the boy playing with in Liliana's car seat. He thought it was great.

Paul is finishing up his 2nd year in law school and I know I'll be glad when next year is over. Law school takes up so much time and energy. There is always something to be doing so it feels like he is studying all the time or could be. Paul is currently in Raleigh, NC at some job interviews. We're hoping to move there when Paul is finished school. Let's hope and pray it goes well. Law is a weird field, the job you have during the summer before you graduate impacts your future employment which is why these jobs are so far from home. He'd be over 10 hrs away from me and the kids over the summer - sounds like fun huh.

I'm studying to take the GRE right now. FYI: it's the exam you take in order to get into a graduate school. I am enrolling in Denver University School of Law to get a Master's in Legal Administration. I will have the ability to run a law firm when I am done, and since owning a law firm is the longterm goal of the Tippetts' Family, this sounds like a grand idea. I'm pretty excited. Although fall is going to be a little crazy with me as a full- time grad student, Paul as a full-time law student and Luke in halfday preschool. We'll have fun, right?

So the last few months has been interesting for me. I've all of a sudden got onto this green/thrifty living kick. I've found a bunch of women on the message boards (babycenter.com) and decided that green/thrifty living is something I like to do. So as my best friend, Megan, says, I'm a hippy (I'm not so sure, but oh well). - I use cloth diapers, I make my own baby food, my own dishwasher soap, I buy organic laundry soap, I use dryer wool balls instead of dryer sheets, and I recycle everything, I'm going to try homemade toothpaste and shampoo and soap. It's kind of funny for those who have known me for a while, b/c it seems out of character for me. But it's fun and VERY cheap.

I've also picked up crafting. I like to make random things. I made a growth chart out of spare wood i found on the side of the road and am refurbishing a bunch of frames, and my dining table and chairs (pictures when they are all done) and I scrapbook, crochet and sew. Where did Amy Gray go?? I know that when I was at BYU I said I'd never be one of those moms. It must be contagious.

Well see you next time. Hopefully I'll get this done more often than every 6 months.

LILIANA ELIZABETH TIPPETTS

2010-10-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

SHE'S HERE!! Liliana (Lily) Elizabeth Tippetts arrived at 02:22 AM October 2, 2010. She is just perfect and beautiful (i'm sure we'll look back later and she won't be as cute but newborns are all weird looking). She weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces and is 19 inches long - so short and chubby. She has a little brown hair (lighter than Luke's was) and little elf ears (what is with my children not being able to grow ears)

Here's the story: I went into my Midwife (MW) Friday and had her check me. I was at a 3 and 70% effaced. We discussed our options since I was getting tired (I had been having contractions on and off for a week.) We decided to strip my membranes to see if that helped anything. So I went home and nothing changed, contractions were still there but nothing crazy. So I went to work (3 PM). Typically my contractions then decided to become more painful. By about 6:00PM I decided that this might actually be it and something might change so I went home - that drive was fun :).

I live about 45 mins from the hospital so we got Luke into bed and left around 7:30 PM. My contractions were 3 mins apart and getting more and more painful. We arrived at the hospital and they put me on the monitor (for only 15 mins, it was exciting) and they could see my contractions but not much had changed I was a 3-4 and 90 % effaced. My MW came to see me again and she restripped my membranes... 20 mins later my water broke (10:30 PM).

The contractions immediately got A LOT worse. It surprised me how quickley they changed between them popping and the next contractions. Unfourtunely for me they were all in my back.

I spent most of the next 3 hours on the birthing ball. I found that Paul counting out loud as I bounced really helped me control the pain and helped me focus. Lily was posterior (hence the back labour) and so the MW suggested I lay half up on my left side in the bed. THAT WAS HORRIBLE. Laying down hurt really bad and I had to REALLY focus. Paul was an angel and spent most of the time rubbing my back and counting.

There were two things, other than Paul, that really helped me. At one point Paul said, "Amy we know you can do it" and I heard my Nana (she died this past June) say, "We know you can do it Hinny". It made me feel so much better. The other thing - we were in a catholic hospital and so there was a cross on the wall. I was able to look at that cross (not something I usually like) and remember the savior. For some reason the thought that he knew what I was going through, had felt worse pain and loved me really helped. It allowed me to calm down and focus during my contractions.

Lily was still flipped and so the contractions were all in my back. Finally I decided to try using my TENS unit and as soon as we turned it on, Lily flipped over - i'm not sure if that was a coincidence or not but it made things a lot better.

I started pushing - I tried pushing on my hands and knees but since I have plates in my pelvis (from the accident when I was 15) it did not work, in fact it hurt worse than anything else so far. We tried squatting, same issue. We tried the birthing ball, didn't work. In the end I pushed in semi-sitting position with my Paul behind me and me feet up on the birthing bar. It worked and helped relieve the pain in my pelvis. I was surprised by this complication since I hadn't had a problem when I had Luke - but I suppose the Epidural with him stopped the pain from registering.

Lily arrived after about 6 hours of labour and an hour of pushing. She is prefect. It took her a little while to cry she sort of just looked at me but she did it and they gave her a 9 on her APGARS. I tore a little but only required a few stitches, they aren't too irritating thankfully.

THE BEST PARTS - I was up after 20 minutes (and in the bathroom). I had no IV or heplock, no pitocin, and no meds. We were able to nurse straight away and they didn't take her away to weigh her until I got up. She had a bath 4 hrs or so later and Lily never left me the entire 16 hrs we were in the hospital. I came home that Saturday evening and loved it.

The end.

Lily is an funny little girl. She has the Tippetts' temper and gets REALLY mad when you don't feed her fast enough or you change her diaper. She is sleeping okay, waking every 3 hours or so, but we hope that get better soon - sleep is good. Here are some pictures - she looks a lot like Luke did.

First Picture - still very slimy.

Huh?? What is going on?

Momma and Daddy

Proud Big Brother

Coming Home Dress - this is what I came home from the hospital in

MAY!! Girls, fun and sun.

2010-06-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Wow I'm really behind on this, how on earth does everyone manage to post so often?? Anywho... let's see....

May was a fun month, I had my first ultrasound and we found out that the little one is a girl!!! YAY for girls.... Paul's mom and my mom are a little excited to say the least. In Paul's family there is only one other girl and 7 boys and so this girl is something to talk about. My brother's don't have any kids and so my mum is just excited to get to get stuff for babies again :)

Luke is still calling her "sock" but I think we may be able to convince him that another name may be more appropriate. He loves to blurt my belly and give his little sister kisses... he is such a sweet kid when he wants to be. He has also started to change his teddy's "diapers" - let's hope he's this helpful when this little one gets here in 4 months. Wow... i can't believe how much faster this pregnancy has gone in comparison to Luke's. I'm now 6 months along - i feel huge and can't find anything to wear - stupid maternity stores don't sell petite clothes.. .grr...

Here are a few of her Ultrasounds - she is a wiggley one so we don't have too many.

her hand - she waved though most of the ultrasound, open and closed ...

typical profile picture

Whole body - cute, cute.. i'm just excited she's all there. :)

What else other than baby girl Tippetts??? Oh Paul finished his first year in law school - YAY!!! I was so happy to have him home for a few weeks and Luke wouldn't let him out of his sight, I thought it was cute. Paul, not so much. Paul has now gone back to work for the first few weeks of the summer, he's working at a non-profit part of a medium size law firm here in Cleveland and really enjoying it. The plan is to then go and study at Oxford for the rest of the summer which means...

We're all going to ENGLAND!! I'm so excited. Paul and I got to go and visit a few years ago but it was such a fast visit that we didn't even get to London. Paul is going to be there for 5 weeks and I'm going a little later and will be there for 3 (stupid work). It's going to be a lot of fun and we're excited to see family and friends. It's also making the time feel like it's flying by - by the time I get home I'll only have about 8 weeks until our little bump is born :)

Summer in Cleveland is amazing.. i need to take more pictures - i'm horrible at charging the stupid camera - but i did get some from this weekend, i get Paul to upload them later. We've been able to go to the beach and a few parks over the last month and it's been awesome. Not too hot, not too cold, green and pretty. I'm happy. Luke is also likely being outside more and playing with his friends - our downstairs neighbour girl and a little boy across the street and then a few more a little further away. He has fun. He even knows everyone's name and surprised me this week by telling me all of his friends' parents' names... i was amazed. Smart kid.

Well that was our month - I'll try to get better at writing more and i'll find some cute pictures of Luke and pretty ones of Cleveland to put up...

Amy XX

February 2010

2010-03-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

February was pretty fun. We were all sick of the cold and snowy weather but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Our playgroup had a Valentine's Party. The kids all decorated cookies. Luke got frustrated with me for taking pictures...
Luke got a little bored one of the days and decided to dress up in a hospital gown, take all the pillows of the couch and jump on the couches base. He had fun... I thought it was hilarious.
Couple more things we did to occupy our time...

Cooked Mince Pie....

Threw Tantrums

Did the Dishes

Put ourselves in TimeOut (it's a new past time)

Overall we had a fun month. Hopefully winter will be over soon (it's getting there) and we can play outside some.

Sorry Sorry... It's been a while

2010-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Okay... Let's see February and March...

Lots of things have happened over the last few months. The last week of January we found out that I am pregnant again. We're pretty excited about it. I'm due October 9th 2010. That means I'll be pregnant the entire summer... yuck. I told my friend Rachel last year that I thought that October/September was the worse due date since you're pregnant all summer - looks like Murphy got me there :-D This pregnancy has been more difficult than Luke 's - I've been extremely nauseous and tired. I can't figure out what to eat - it changes from one moment to the next. The weirdest one was wanting sour food - i found sour starbrusts and then I wanted sweet and sour chicken so we drove 25 minutes to get Panada Express. It was pretty funny. So far I've not gained any weight. I'm still in regular jeans which is really nice. I'm interested to see how that all goes. Luke has informed me that the baby is a "baby bruder". I think it's funny that he then told Paul that the baby is a "gil". We'll see in May.

We told our parents we were pregnant by getting Luke to wear a shirt (we sent pictures to Paul's parents and saw my parents in person) that said big brother in training... here's the picture.

Front...

And Back...

We went to Utah for Emily's (my 3rd youngest sister) baptism. It was great to see everyone. Luke had a blast with all the kids. He was wonderful on the planes. He spent most of the time playing with the armrest and tray table. Paul wasn't as impressed :-D The flight attendants were all really nice. They convinced the pilot to let us go in the cockpit when we got to the gate. We took some pictures..
Luke had a WONDERFUL birthday. He is now officially two even though he has been saying he's two for several months - hand gestures included. We got him a train set for his birthday and he's been playing with it none stop since Friday. It's cute. We had a party on Friday. That was a lot of fun. He thought it was awesome that everyone kept saying happy birthday. It was a tiring day. 7 two/three year olds is always crazy. :-D Luke also learned that he likes cupcakes... see pictures..

This is Luke's friend Stetson"giving him a hug"

Paul's mom gave Luke a bed set - it's pretty darn cute. He's pretty excited to be in a big boy bed too. I'm amazed how well he's done. He doesn't get up out of bed and stays in his room until either Paul or I tell him to get up... he's a great little boy. Here's the room pictures.

January

2010-01-24T17:20:00.000-08:00

Nothing too interesting has been happening over the last few weeks. Paul has been doing more school work which leaves Luke and I to mess around the house - emphasis on mess.

Luke's new catchphrase - "nooooo, no, no, no". It's quite funny. Especially when it is quickly followed or preceded by "yes". He has also found the joy of running around in circles until you're very dizzy. I love doing that so the 3 of us spent a lot of time running in circles.

Like I said not much going on.

Dayton/Columbus Trip

2010-01-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

Paul had an interview with the Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corp on Friday. He has put in an application to be part of that organization and part of the application process is meeting with a Colonel. We drove down to Dayton, Ohio to the Wright-Patterson Base - which by the way is where the wright brothers grew up, and then spent the rest of the day in Columbus. The drive was an adventure in and of itself since old man winter had decided to visit Ohio and drop several inches of snow. Everything went smoothly on our 3.5 hour, 200 mile drive and we didn't have any accidents but there was a lot of snow and our car is no longer black, but white with salt.

While Paul was in his interview, Luke and Amy looked around the town and played in the snow. Luke loved it and also liked the artillary cannon that was beside the building Paul was in.

Here is Luke standing in about 6 inches of snow in front of the cannon. In the background is one of the historical sites from the Wright Brothers past.

After Dayton, we stayed in a hotel in Columbus, where we swam - sorry I forgot to take pictures - and Luke found that floating is fun. He also started laying on his stomach - with help of course- and kicking his feet and arms. The kid will probably be swimming this summer. He is a very athletic child, in fact he loves to run around, play ball and do anything that requires energy. It'll be interesting to see what he is like as he gets older. The reason we stayed in Columbus, is that is where our Temple is. Since it is a 2.5 hour drive normally, we thought that we should take advantage of being so close. Our friends, the Cowden's, came down with their 4 boys and watched Luke while we went to our session and then we watched the boys while they went in. The main thing Amy learned that day - she doesn't have the energy to have 5 boys :-D

This is our temple. It is one of the mini ones and has only 1 endowment room. It is beautiful and we are grateful that we don't have to drive the 6 hours to Washington, D.C.

Here are some funny pictures of Luke from our trip and then the aftermath of being in the car all day.

Showing us where his food went

Excited for Milk

This is Luke feeding daddy Icecream and then asking where the icecream went, and finding it in daddy's mouth. It was quite an adventure. Luke has started hiding things and then asking "where'd go" and then "finding" them. It's pretty cute.

this is his shirt and sweatshirt on his head

he left it there for 10 minutes.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!!

2009 was a great year for our family. Paul got into Case Western Law School, Amy graduated, Luke grew 4 inches, and the entire family moved to Ohio. Overall, a pretty good year.

We hope the 2010 is just as great. Paul and I have nearly been married for 4 years now, we got engaged 4 years ago this past New Years. Crazy how time flies. Luke will turn 2 this year and is getting the 2-year-old temperament already. He is a little tyrant, who likes to throw things and push. Something we are all working on changing.

This is an older picture... but he does look like a little thug..

And here is another one of him being "too cute" to punish - not that he needed it, but what do you do when he looks at you like that after emptying the entire box of cereal on the floor??

Paul and I didn't do much for New Years this year. It's hard when you have children to go to a party and we weren't up to much else. We stayed home, watched Monster Versus Aliens - a cute movie actually - and watched the ball drop, live for the first time. Then went to bed. The next day we saw Avatar, a AMAZING feat of animation, if not a little predictable. We did enjoy ourselves though. Paul goes back to school next week and I start back at work tomorrow - jan 4th. Winter break was fun.

Christmas!!

2009-12-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Well we've had this blog for over a year and have never actually posted anything. So I decided it was a good idea to tell everyone about our Christmas.

After finals, Paul spent time relaxing since it had been a very busy semester. Amy had the 18th through the 27th off work and so we were able to do some fun things. On the 23rd we went to the Cleveland Metroparks Farm out in Kirtland for a sleigh ride through their Christmas lights. They had several thousand set up and it was very pretty. The Farm had also set up a "Santa's Workshop" with elves and toys to make. Luke made a little green and red train using a drill, nails and a hammer. With help from Momma and Daddy he had a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve was also fun. We went to Kirtland again and went to see the Stake Nativity display. Our stake asks members to lend them nativities and they display them throughout the entire month of December. There were over 200 of them, everything from pictures to large ornate ones to Christmas ornaments. It was extremely enjoyable.

Luke had an interesting experience with one of the Christmas trees. The ornaments happened to be made from dried flowers and fruit and so Paul and I asked him not to touch it. He tried really hard not to but as he was turning around he tripped and fell right into the tree, knocking off and breaking several of the decorations... Luckily the missionaries and mom and dad just thought it was funny so Luke didn't get into trouble.

After Kirtland we had dinner at home, Sausage stuffed Chicken and rice - yummy! After dinner we all went over to a family in our ward's home, the Ogilvie's, where we read the Christmas story, sang hymns and drank Wassail. It was a great evening and we enjoyed the spirit that was there. We came home, put Luke to bed and watched "Elf" while wrapping all the presents, over all a great day.

Christmas Day - Paul gave Amy a wonderful program that lets you create Cross Stitch patterns from pictures, clip-art or anything you want. I love it. I spent most of the day playing with it and planning how to decorate the house with cross stitches. Amy got Paul a Belgian Waffle Maker which is is extremely happy about, we had waffles Christmas morning.

Luke enjoyed opening his presents and after opening the first one (a car) proceeded to call all of the presents cars. It was cute. We spent the rest of the day at home, ate yummy food and played with our toys :)

Boxing day was more of the same, except we went shopping with the money we received from family and then had a family over to eat our leftover turkey with chips (French fries). Again, another great day.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we know we did. We're grateful to be a family and get to spent so much time together. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love,

Amy, Paul and Luke