Happy 4th!

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without a parade!!! We (Mommy and Luke) love going to our city parade each year! When we first got to the parade Luke was asleep, we knew that wouldn't last long. Once the police cars came by he was awake and ready to catch candy. Luke loved standing right up in the front with his bag catching candy. It took him a while to realize that he had to be quick in grabbing the candy. Avery and Hayden were great to share their candy while Luke was still learning. Once he caught on he was collecting and eating candy at a rapid rate! The highlight of the parade for Luke was when he got to see Callie in the parade. She stopped to say hi and let Luke ride in her wagon for a minute! The weather was perfect at the parade. Sadly, the minute the parade ended the rain began. We weren't able to go to the carnival after the parade.

That night we went to my parent's house for a barbecue. Since the firework law changed this year my brothers were pumped for their firework show. We brought our chairs out to the sidewalk and got ready to watch. Luke was pretty excited. He started doing his poppers while the boys had fun with flowers and smoke bombs. Once it got dark the show began. Pat, Mitch, Andrew and Peter decided to start with a Roman Candle war. It was crazy. They stood at each end of the street and shot their Roman Candles at each other. Mark grabbed our son and was outta there. Mark and Luke watched the rest of the show from the safety of the house. I don't know if Mark will let Luke around his uncles and fireworks again!

Big Boy Pants

I am actually way late in posting this...about five weeks late to be exact. Luke has been wanting to potty train for a few months now, but with me working and just not having enough faith in him I kept putting it off. Finally, I decided to see if he really was ready and give it a try. For about two days we just stayed home and let him run around naked! He doesn't like his little potty, he will only go in the big potty. I was amazed how well he did and now I feel bad that I didn't trust him sooner. Knowing Luke's little personality I didn't believe that he could really potty train at age two! After going to the beach and Disneyland we had to take a day to retrain, but he did great! He is already able to stay dry during his naps and most nights. Changing Luke's diapers has always been battle and he is so much happier in his big boy pants! Way to go Luke! Such a big boy!

Disneyland

Mark had a one day training in LA so Luke and I decided to tag along. Luke and I were on our own most days. Our first day was spent at the beach. This kid loves the sand. I was still finding sand in his ears when we got home. Luke spent two days digging an rolling around in the sand!

I had never been to the Pacific Aquarium so we decided to give it a try. It is a pretty cool aquarium, Luke and I spent an entire day there. He loved looking at all the fish. I thought his favorite part would be the touching exhibits. You were able to touch a ton of different creatures and coral. Luke wanted nothing to do with it. I couldn't even get him to put his fingers in the water...not at all like him. His two favorite things were the Nemo and Dori tank and the splash pad outside.

I didn't think this day would ever come, but we talked Mark into going to Disneyland. He wouldn't admit it now, but I think he had a fun time watching Luke there! We were there when the park opened and stayed until it closed. Luke was in heaven. He had a hard time understanding the concept of waiting in line, and when the second the ride would end he would want to stay on and go again. Mark made a new rule that we didn't wait for any ride with more than a twenty minute wait. I think the highlight of Luke's day was seeing Mater. He was so happy to see him and just kept hugging him. We will need to go back when the Cars ride is done! Mark and Luke both enjoyed their first turkey leg at Disneyland...yum! Luke was super excited to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. When we first got on he was telling us he was scared, but when the ride was over he wanted to go again. Same thing with the Haunted Mansion, however, that ride scared the pee right out of him and all over daddy! It didn't stop Luke, he yelled again when we were done! It was a fun trip and we can't wait to do it again!

Service Carnival

Our ward had a fun Service Carnival for the primary kids. The kids (and adults) had a list of services they had to perform and then that was their ticket to the carnival. There was tons of great food and games. At first Luke was happy just playing on the swing set. Once he figured out there were other things there he was in heaven. He took one bite of everything and went down the big slide about a million times. Cute Creston kept taking him down the slide again and again! It was a fun day!

NY Stock Exchange

Mark has been working on an IPO (initial public offering...don't ask for my clarification than that!) the past few months. It has been a big job that has required a lot of hours and travel. This week the team he has been working with went to New York to finalize everything. On Thursday he was able to go to the New York Stock Exchange while the company he has been working on rang the bell. Mark said it was pretty cool to be in there and it was a once in a lifetime experience! Luke and I are glad he had fun, but we like it when he is home with us!

Tractor Shows

It's no question that Luke is all boy. His current obsession is tractors. Mark and I always get the question, "Where's my tractor show?" Since we had a hard time finding tractor shows we finally turned to YouTube. You wouldn't believe how many home videos there are of tractors on YouTube. Luke will spend hours watching tractor videos on our phones. I don't know what is more sad...the fact that Luke likes watching these videos or that there are actually people out there making them!

Anthropologie Teapot Lamp

Last night I was surfing through some old posts of Vintage Revivals and saw her Anthropologie Teapot Lamp. I thought it was super cool and I might want to make it over the summer. I quickly skimmed through her amazing directions. We ended up going to Home Depot to make some returns and I thought...what the heck...while I am here I'll just grab the drill bit and lamp kit. When we left I thought we're so close to the DI, I'll just run in and see if they have any plates and teacups I like! Five minutes and four bucks later I had an armful of teacups and plates. When we got home Mark started to bathe Luke and get him ready for bed. I wanted to just try out the new drill bit and before you knew it I had a new lamp! I couldn't believe how easy it was. I followed Mandi's directions and it turned out great! I was so happy to be able to use my poppy teapot. Luke broke the lid to it and I had a hard time throwing it out. It worked great in the lamp! I am super excited for a summer of projects now!