Snow in Utah

We went to Utah and it snowed and snowed and snowed....It snowed about 20 inches in a day or two. CRAZY!! I got Luke all bundled up and he looked just like Randy on a Christmas Story. He didn't seemed too thrilled, but did seem interested to check out this white stuff outside. 

He was having a good time with Nana for a few minutes. 

 I found the little shovel I used when I was a kid. I played with that for about 1 minute. Then we tried to put him on a sled and pull him around and he didn't want any part of that. 

He did trek throught the paths for a few minutes and touched the snow a little bit. 

Then he started to get all done... 

I made him take a picture with me before there were too many tears. 

Then just one more in between tears!! Oh how I love to torture my poor child. Let's just say I am glad I don't have to deal with snow and slush and coats and hats and boots and mittens. It sounds like fun, but it also sounds like a lot of work!! 

Utah Visit

Luke and I went to Utah in November. I thought we might as well take advantage of him being under 2, we don't have anyone who goes to school and can pretty much do whatever we want whenever we want!! Oh, except for our Daddy who has to run his business! So, just me and the Lukers went on the plane. He did great on the way there and we had an entire row to ourselves so that was very helpful! 

He loved being at Nana and Poppy's house. He loved being able to explore all the doors, buttons, knobs, light switches and the piano. 

He learned how to climb up on the piano bench all by himself very quickly!

He also learned very quickly that this was a light switch that he could actually reach and boy oh boy did he love that!

He also loved sitting at the little table and getting on and off the chair. On and off, on and off. He only fell off a few dozen times! I sat at this table my entire childhood! 

Luke and Livvy having a little dance party!!

He was so happy to play with his cousins and be crazy with them. 

All the Spilker cousins!

Emma and Jordan were very cute with Lukers and he loved being with them!

They do have beautiful sunsets in Utah! This picture doesn't do it justice. 

We got to visit with Dan's family and Luke played with his cousins. Luke and Kylie loved playing on the stairs and going up and down the stairs. I am not much of a worrier with things like stairs and climbing on chairts, etc, but let's just say it was good that Daddy wasn't on this trip or he would have been worrying constantly. The good thing about all the stair climbing was that Luke learned how to safely go down the stairs on his tummy during this trip and now we don't have to have gates up at our house anymore!

 

Cheesy smile with a blinding flash!!

Luke gets SO jealous when I hold other babies! I was trying to show him the babies toes, but if you could see his face I am sure he is whining! 

 Luke and Auntie Nicole! Yes, he loves other people, can't you tell! 

On our way to the airport we hit up Temple Square and the new City Creek Mall. It was pretty cold, but it was beautiful. 

It was really neat to take Luke to see the Christus statue with his Nana and Poppy. 

They have such great food in Utah! So many great casual dining places and we went to Blue Lemon twice! Luke loved their quessadillas. He is making cheesy faces at his Poppy. 

hALloWeEN

Here is the obligatory Halloween post! We spent the day in Hillsboro and had a smashing Halloween! Luke had done some trick-or-treating at church and in Old Town Sherwood so he was already a professional!

Here is the teenage nerd! She went around with her friends this year so we didn't trick-or-treat with her, but we got to see her before in her awesome costume!

My sister made a cute candy corn fruit plate! Such a cute idea! 

She also made these amazing Martha Stewart crafts!! They took a really long time, but I think they look amazing! I might have to make some for myself one of these years! She also had them hanging from the ceiling and they looked great!

Our traditional bubbling brew. When we went to buy our dry ice at Baskin Robbins the lady said she was almost out and she had sold 300 pounds of dry ice that day!! Wowza!

R2D2 and his favorite nerd! He loves this girl so much. Every time he sees her his arms go up!

Daddy, R2 and Spidey. Spidey was definitely a fast runner this year. He pooped out early on and came home for a snack but then came back out with full energy!

The cutest R2D2 I've ever seen! We got so many great comments about his costume. I loved it because he was warm and there weren't too many parts or pieces to his costume. 

Trick-or-treating was so much fun! Luke loved chasing after his cousins. He fell a few times and then Daddy carried him from house to house so we could keep up with everyone! It was forecasted to rain, but it only rained once for a minute and the rest of the evening was dry. I think we stayed out for a full two hours. Luke was done at that point, but he loved it. We had to sneak the candy out of his pumpkin so it wouldn't get too heavy, but he didn't like us taking his candy. We actually didn't even let him eat any until the next day. 

Luke LOVES chocolate. (It must have been all those Cadbury mini eggs I ate when I was pregnant) When people let him choose the candy out of the bowl he would inevitably find the M&M's! Those are his favorite! 

GWL

We made the trip up to Grand Mound, WA to the Great Wolf Lodge. I just have to say that this trip was SO much more fun this year than last. Last fall Luke was still taking like 2 or 3 naps, he didn't really like the water and he didn't sleep well. This year he took a nap with Dad, learned to love the water and slept great through the night! 

We did the trick-or-treat trail and Luke really liked it. We trekked through the resort and collected our candy. Luke tried out the cars in the arcade.

 Smiled with Daddy

 Marched after his cousins!

Collected candy from a princess. 

 Jumped down the stairs!

And even decorated a sugar cookie. 

 Here are all the trick-or-treaters! 

Luke loved the Lodge. He was definitely a little scared at first, but after about 15 minutes he started to warm up to the water. He really liked going in the wave pool and playing in the kid area. He learned to listen for the bell that signaled the giant bucket of water was going to dump and he would point and ooh and ahh at it. We were able to do a few big slides while family watched Luke so that was also very nice. 

Here is the wave pool. I didn't take my camera into the park, but snapped this on the trick-or-treat trail. I wish the water was a tad bit warmer in the kiddie area, but I'm sure as Luke gets older and older he won't mind it as much. 

In and Out, In and Out

During the fall Luke discovered that he could open and shut the screen door! Such a great accomplishment for a young lad! He was quite proud of himself and he liked to push the door open, go out, then push the door shut. Then the cycle would repeat itself over and over again...