29 and 27

Our birthday celebrations were a bit more exciting this year since we have friends to celebrate with. Tyler's 29th was celebrated with gourmet homemade pizzas and Cindy Ingersoll's peach pie. 

11 days later we celebrated my birthday with Pizza Hut in the park and board games.

Both days were wonderful, thanks to family and friends. We look forward to this month all year long because checking the mail is exciting. Instead of our usual bills and adds we get package after package from those we love! Happy birthday to us! Let's hope this years goes by slowly--Ty will be 30 in no time!

4th of "July"

We weren't about to sit around in the rain with no family on the 4th of July when we knew our family was together in the sun BBQing. So, we headed to a cabin in North Carolina and enjoyed the rain, cool weather, mountains and just pretended it was the 4th of February. Our Alldredge friends came along and brought the party.

Our first stop was Ashville, NC, where we took our 4th of July photo. What is more American than a graffiti wall? (Luckily Lucas had a patriotic outfit, thanks to Heather, because my orange-redish shirt and Ty's white shirt was far from festive.)

We made it to the cabin just in time to discover that all firework shows, parades and festivities were cancelled due to rain.

 BFF's

Friday morning we headed to Grandfather Mountain to experience the hanging bridge of NC, but were turned off when it cost $20 per person. Instead we went to Boon, NC, as in Daniel Boon, to enjoy a free lookout, but were discouraged when the clouds rolled in and there was nothing to see. So we ate a delicious sandwich, took a family pic. at Appalachian campus and laughed when we returned to the cabin 9 hours later seeing nothing on our list.

He was a trooper all weekend, although you would never know by his new camera faces.

Happy 4th of February!!

Drive through Zoo!

Ashley and I don't really like animals. We may be teaching Lucas to feel the same way. In our defense, Ashley is allergic to cats and probably shedding dogs as well. That will always be our response to Lucas when he asks if we can get a pet. We love to see animals in the mountains, on farms and even on visits to the zoo. The zoos in Tennessee are unlike anything we have ever experienced, they are much more hands on, see for yourself!

 Pretty sure the look on my face says it all!

 Lucas cried for the first few animal attacks but then quickly enjoyed himself after that. From the video you can see that he still is a little confused as to what a dog actually looks like! He is getting much better though. He was the only member of our family who went towards the open window when an animal was approaching. Ash and I simply raced to roll the window up before the animal could get too close. Lets hope this isn't an indication as to how much Lucas will love animals. I will have to say that after the trek through the "Zoo" our faces hurt from smiling and laughing so hard, we really loved every minute!

Summer is a bit different this year. 

We go swimming at someplace other than John and Reb's pool.

 We go to breakfast with our next door neighbor and his ex-wife, who happen to be the kindest fill-in grandparents around.

 Lucas finally gets to be rocked to sleep, thanks to our kind RS pres.

We took the boy camping for his first time. The campsite was prime, the hiking was beautiful, his sleeping was horrible.

I'm only one or two shades whiter than Tyler instead of fifteen or sixteen.

 Lucas and I have to get real creative to fill our rainy summer days.  Ty no longer only works until 2:00 and he doesn't come home for lunch. Those were the days.

But, the thing that is the most different his year is that Tyler has not played ONE round of golf. For those Utahan's who may be excited to see us at the end of the summer you know exactly where you will find Tyler.

We were there, they were here, now they're gone.

Lucas and I spent a week in Georgia with the ATL cousins and...MOM!! She took care of five kids while I tried to take care of my one. I felt like a failure in comparison to her years of mothering and wisdom, yet she complemented me, encouraged me and motivated me to be better. It was a blissful week with her.

Ronnie, Jace and Becca were patient and kind with Lucas. The twins were not impressed with his immaturity.

When Ron and Rachelle returned from their cruise and Dad, Mark, Em and Andy arrived we all trekked back to our place to squeeze 15 people into 2 bedrooms. Mom and Dad got the shaft and ended upon the floor. Mark and Em were happy as ever on the floor and Ron and Rachelle moved to the floor instead of being tacoed in on the deflated blow-up mattress. The accommodation were rough to say the least.

Fortunately we had a pool to cool off in and Grandma saved the day with Sunday cones.

Perhaps the highlight was the Dixie Stampede. A true Southern experience. Thank you, Dolly.

Mom gave Lucas a much needed haircut...

that wore him out entirely.

I hope these peeps come back. But, seeing how they slept on the floor, ate on the floor and endured the humid nastiness, I totally understand.

Thank you Dad and Mom for making the effort to be with us. We miss you already.

Pay-off

I have the sweetest baby boy and I figure I should write about it before I think otherwise. Last night he slept 12 hours. When he awakened this morning he ate his sausage and let me dress him in 10 minutes flat before leaving for church. In sacrament meeting neither Tyler or I had to take him into the hall. He sat on our laps the whole time, just as a little boy should. In Sunday school he sat on his own chair next to Tyler, just as an adult would. He didn't need a nap during church because he's no longer a baby and can last more than 3 hours between each nap. When we got home from church he quickly and happily ate his full bowl of lentil soup and a Cutie, just like an adult with fine taste buds would. After lunch I sang him 2 songs then laid him down where he fell fast asleep for 3 hours, just as a toddler should. When he awakened Tyler and I were making dinner so he played contently in the cupboards until it was time to eat. Afterwards he "helped" unload the dishwasher, played with his blocks, drove his car across the room, panted like a dog, roared like a lion, ate a snack of peas, just plain old peas, chatted on g chat with Grandma and Grandpa Standifird, ran to the door when Tyler said, "let's go check the mail, took his poopy diaper to the trash when I asked him, "Can you throw this away?", retrieved his scriptures from the basket when we told him it was time to read, pointed to Jesus and said, "Jjjjjjjj" during scripture time, ate 1/4 of a waffle, loaded his truck full of trinkets and toys, brushed his teeth then folded his arms for family prayer, laid on my shoulder as we sang him I Love to See the Temple, Tyler's made of version of The Lord Commanded Nephi, Bye-Oh-Bye, and We Love Our Lucas Boy then laid right on his pillow and is fast asleep, just like a well-trained sleeper should. He kept me smiling throughout the day and never did I get upset or feel overwhelmed. He's my baby boy who's growing up all too fast, but thank goodness he's mine. Thank goodness for days like today.

Facts About Disney

Disney World really does make all your dreams come true. At least it did for our family. Thanks to Ty's older brother, Jason, we had a week far beyond magical. 

Epcot

Tyler's favorite part of the day was watching the fireworks with Luke on his shoulders. My favorite part was the homemade sugar cone and vanilla ice cream. Fact 1: I had ice cream at 4/7 of the parks and ate a Blue Bell ice cream root beer float 6/7 nights.

 Fact 2: I have to fight for Ty's attention when Bell's around.

 One of them is the father it's just real hard to tell which one he is. Also, fact 3: the flexing brother has been working hard on this pose.

Animal Kingdom

My favorite part was watching Lucas use his pointer finger ALL day long.

Ty and Brandon have some serious moves that look even better in their matching outfits. Fact 4: these two brothers accidentally matched 3/7 of the week.

 Fact 5: Patty is the greatest mother-in-law around.

 Fact 6: Lucas is WAY more wild than his two calm and collected cousins.

 Hollywood Studios

If there had to be a bad day this was the one. It was freezing cold, I shattered my iPod screen, Lucas fell on cement stairs and scraped his chin, I didn't get to see the Fantasmic show due to cold weather and a sad, sad baby and I got the lowest score out of all the other 18 family members on the Toy Story ride. Fact 7: I was at Disney World so there really is nothing to complain about.

SeaWorld

Fact 8: This is the only picture I took on this day. 

Fact 9: SeaWorld had the best grown up rides.

Fact 10: There is no one more fun to ride a roller coaster with than Christina. I had tears from laughing so hard by the end of the coaster and she had tears from screaming. I thought it was the "little girl" behind me yelling her head off. It was tiny Christina!

Fact 11: The employees at SeaWorld are the one's who got rejected by Disney. They were not so kind.

Magic Kingdom

Fact 12: I bought this shirt at Forever 21 before the trip instead of paying 35 dollars for one at Disney. I am still proud about it.

 Fact 13: Up until that point Lucas took his most consecutive steps RIGHT in front of the Disney castle. What is more magical than that?

Blizzard Beach

 Fact 14: Luke played in the sand for 3 hours straight.

 Fact 15: These dads waited all week to take their shirts off and compare. My observations are that Ty needs to work on his farmer's tan and biceps and Brandon needs to work on his mid section.

Fact 16: No one loves being a dad more than these two.

 Fact 17: Walt Disney was a genius!