Valley of the Sun

The real 30 celebration happened in Scottsdale, Arizona!! I got to go all by myself on an airplane to Arizona for 4 days!! Let me just say that it was HEAVENLY!!! I got to visit my kindred spirit and her kids. It was the best trip of my life!!! 

On our first night we visited the LDS Temple in Mesa to see the Christmas light display. It was so beautiful and the nicest part was that it wasn't raining or snowing and the temperature was quite pleasant for this Oregonian. 

These little ladies are SO amazing! Funny, cute, smart and just all around adorable! 

They were getting ready to move to Texas so there Daddy got them some adorable boots!!

I had never seen such a sight!! Oranges growing on a tree that is adorned with Christmas lights!! It was astounding to me!

Me and Linds. Oh, I love this lady so much. She is amazing, truly amazing. We met when our hubby's were in Chiropractic school. We are literally the same person, except she has amazing long legs and fabulous curly hair! We love the same things and think the same way and I love her and miss her like crazy.

Such a beautiful manger scene.

Just look at that sight. Isn't it amazing. I was so glad that we made the drive out to Mesa to see the lights. It was the perfect way to start my trip.

The next day we headed out for pedicures and lunch. This was so heavenly sitting next to my dear friend and getting massaged and pedicured (is that a word?). We decided to get red Christmas toes! 

HEAVEN!!

 Christmas toes complete!! 

Right after our pedicures we got in the car to drive over to lunch. Unfortunately Dan called and answered. Usually this is not an unfortunate event, but we were oblivious to the tragedy that had just happened in Newtown, CT. Dan told us about the shootings and we were both shocked, upset, scarred and devastated  We sat and cried for several minutes and then prayed. Prayed for those families and loved ones who lost their babies that day. We finally collected ourselves and decided to have lunch and not discuss it until later. It was hard to avoid the topic, but we did have a delicious lunch. I got this piece of cake for my lunch time dessert. It was awesome!! 

We ate at the most amazing places, shopped, watched movies, talked and ate some more!! Here are the lovelies on Sunday before church! 

I have always been a desert hater. Not dessert, but desert!! (I love dessert!!) I have to say that I started to like the desert and to see it's beauty. Now granted it was about 50 or 60 degrees when I was in AZ and not 120, but I could definitely see the appeal of the AZ climate! I had to snap a few shots of the desert because it was so fascinating to me. I am surrounded by fir trees, ferns, moss and everything else that is green. The desert is pink, tan, light green and blue sky! Different and yet beautiful in it's own way.

Oh man. I did not want to say goodbye. I wish Lindsey lived next door to me. I wish all my friends lived next door to me!!! It was SO SO SO SO much fun to be with her. It was great to get away from motherhood for a few days. The best 30th birthday I could have imagined!!

Gingerbread Houses and an Oreo

I let him eat an entire oreo!! I have only given him bites in the past, but I just looked at his cute little face and decided he needed an fudge covered mint oreo all to himself. He LOVED it! 

Gingerbread time!! That means that Daddy gets to be in charge of the royal icing and Mommy gets to put a few candies on if she is lucky!! No, just kidding. Daddy let Luke put some candies on this year!

We had fun decorating our Gingy houses with the Weggelands, eating chocolate cake and having the Nutcracker on in the background. 

Our child apparently lost his shirt on Gingy night. Oh well, isn't that a cute belly?

Happy Birthday Momma

I turned 30. Yep the big  3-0. I don't really mind. I am kind of sick of being so young. I have been young my entire life! I was the youngest in my family, the youngest in my church class, the youngest teacher at work, etc. I kind of want to be old. I don't really want my body to be old, but maybe some grey hair and a few wrinkles wouldn't hurt me. 

We celebrated by having a pajama party with the Daley's. 

We got wild and crazy and did some dancing. 

Then I decided that I wanted to be really old and since we didn't have a 3 and a 0 candle I turned 738!! This Costco chocolate cake is TOO DIE FOR!! 

Festival of Trees

One of my favorite Christmas traditions in Portland. I have been going for years even before we had kids! There aren't as many trees as the Festival of Trees in Utah, but they have tons of fun activities for the little ones and since that is the phase we are in right now it is perfect for us. 

First stop, the man in red. The minute I put Luke in his lap he just kept reaching for me and saying, "mama, mama" with a little panic in his voice. I jumped, sang, made silly sounds, but he didn't smile. I thought for sure he would cry, but we just got this sour little glare instead! Everyone has a picture like this. I have one when I was 2 and I am screaming my face off. 

Stop 2: Cookies!! Luke knows all about cookies and he loves them. Yes, I am a Mom that feeds her child sugar. All things in moderation people. I don't sit him down with a dozen cookies everyday, but I do give him   treats or share with him when I have a treat. I haven't ever let him frost a cookie so this was a first. He was really cute using the knife and trying to spread the frosting on. When I gave him the cup of sprinkles he just started eating him until I showed him that they were supposed to go on the cookie! 

Stop 3: Teddy Bear Hospital. I did the cookies before the teddy bears because I knew there would be a long line for the bears so he could share the cookie with me while we waited. Am I smart or what?!

I didn't get any pictures while we were in making the bear since we were by ourselves, but he liked how the bear had bandages all over him. I am sure we will end up with lots of these bears at our house over the next few years.

This was my favorite tree display this year. So cute how they made the tree like the tornado with Aunty Em's house and a tractor spinning in ti! Very cute!

Half the fun of going to the Festival of walking through the giant halls of the expo center. I let Luke free on the way back to the car and he was so excited to push the elevator buttons and run like a crazy man through the halls.

Isn't he just the cutest little man in the world? 

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.