The Beach

The first day we were in California for Christmas we went to the beach in Santa Cruz. It was so pretty and Lucas had a lot of fun running in the sand and chasing birds. This was his first trip to the ocean.

This is when we first got there and we were still clean.

Checking out the tide pools
Look at the pretty creatures.

Lucas liked them too.
Here he is chasing the birds. I love this picture.

Here's a video of some of the stuff we did.

On our way back to the car with a sandy, wet, and happy baby.

Lucas and Bubba

We're back from California after a wonderful visit with my family. It feels so nice to be home again, though. Lucas ran around the house checking on all his toys after we got home yesterday. Just making sure everything was there. He's so silly. I'm working on getting all the pictures together for Christmas posts, but in the mean time you can look at these pictures of Lucas and Bubba. He still says "Meow" every once in a while, looking for the cat.

Winter Wonderland

Provo is a winter wonderland right now. We got about 8 inches of snow. We took Lucas outside to play in it. This was his first time really playing in the snow.

He was a little unsure at first.

But in the end he decided he loved it. He can say snow now. :)

Even in the snow he loves playing on the scooter.

Look at our poor car.

This will give you an idea of how deep it really is.

We're leaving tomorrow to drive to California for Christmas so we're hoping some of this will clear up in time. But in the mean time we're enjoying the snow and how pretty everything looks covered in it.

Grown Up Boy

And here are some fun pictures for you since we'll be busy all weekend and I probably won't be posting for a while. Lucas has been very into the laptop lately. Any time he sees it, he carries it over to the couch, opens it, and just starts typing. Sometimes I open up pictures of farm animals and he thinks that's pretty awesome. I just think he looks so grown up here.

Making Presents

I've made some of our Christmas presents this year. I've never really done this before and I have to say, I've really enjoyed it. Obviously it takes some extra time, but I'm way more excited to give the gifts to the people that I spent a lot of time making versus the gifts we just bought at the store. Whether or not the recipients like my homemade presents more than a store bought one is yet to be seen. But I have really enjoyed spending the time, it has gotten me excited about Christmas a lot sooner, and gotten me thinking about the spirit of Christmas a lot more frequently than if I was fighting traffic to get to the malls. I wish I could post pictures of some of the stuff I've made, but that would ruin the surprise so you'll have to wait.

I'm getting SO excited for Christmas. We leave for Austin today and we leave for California to see my family in less than a week. Yay!

A Taste of Christmas

I love making sugar cookies. Especially holiday ones. I did get green food coloring all over the place somehow, but that's alright. Lucas loved snacking on them all day. They are so delicious.

I bet you wish I was your visiting teacher. :)

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

I had a wonderful day at church today. For Sacrament meeting we had a Christmas program with lots of pretty Christmas songs, this is always my favorite. I love singing and listening to Christmas music. And Ryan got to come down and sit with us and he held Lucas the whole time. And Lucas fell asleep. This was the most relaxing and uplifting Sacrament meeting I've been to since before Lucas was born.

More Decorations

Lucas added more decorations to the tree. I think it looks pretty good.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

That's the song playing in the background right now while I eat some warm chocolate chip cookies and address my Christmas cards. I would have to agree.

Home Decor

I remembered seeing this cute decoration idea a few months ago and I wanted to look up how to do it but I couldn't remember where I found it. As I was searching the internet for it, I found this hilarious picture.

I know it's a little random but I thought this was just too cute not to share.

18 Months

Lucas went in for his 18 month doctor appointment yesterday. This was the last time he has to get shots until he goes to school. Yay! I hate that part. He was 24 lbs 6 oz which puts him in the 29th percentile. He was 70% for his height, and 85% for his head. He's always had a huge noggin. The doctor asked about how many words he could say. I hadn't ever counted before so I guessed somewhere around 10. Boy was I wrong. When I got home I counted and I came up with 30. Can you believe that? I sure couldn't. That does include some people's names, but still, I was way impressed with my baby considering he was kinda a late bloomer in that area. He didn't start saying mama on a regular basis till after he was a year old.

I feel like he's still my little baby but this kid is growing up fast.

The Countdown Begins

1 day down, 24 more to go. I love advent calendars. Lucas has really taken a liking to this one too. I've been letting him play with it today. He's actually really good at putting the stuff on there.
And then he just gets a little carried away.

Not yet Lucas, we have to wait till Christmas to put all of them up.

I didn't quite get my fill of turkey and mashed potatoes last week. That's the drawback to not actually making the turkey yourself, you don't have the leftovers. So I decided to make a small turkey for us for dinner tonight. It was delicious. I just love smothering everything with gravy. Although I left most of the gravy off for the picture so you could tell what everything is.

And I just love this picture so I thought I'd throw it in there. Lucas used to be terrified of being in the basket while it was moving. Now he loves it. And it's a good thing too, cause there's just no other way to get up the stairs with two loads of laundry and a baby.