Tour of Park City

Mark decided to do the Tour of Park City bike race at the last minute. Since it is such an early ride we decided to just spend the weekend in Park City. When we got there on Friday Luke and I got to go and see Mark's new office at Skullcandy. Luke introduced himself to everyone in Mark's office as "Duke Jeffrey Hansen." It was fun to see their offices, not your normal office.

The race was going to take all of Saturday so Luke and I were on our own. Luckily, this was the same weekend they were doing the big ski jump event at Olympic Park. It was a lot of fun. Luke had fun watching the skiers jump into the water. When he was sick of that we went over to the children activities they had there. His favorite was the bouncy house...I had to drag him out of it when it was time to leave!

This race wasn't Mark's longest race, but it was definitely his hardest by far. The total mileage was 170 and poor Mark had a rough go. He did the race with his coworker Ron. The first part of the race everything was great and then Mark started to get sick. Then they had nonstop bike problems...Mark's chain fell off seven times and they had to fix five flats between the two of them. When they got to the finish line their hands were black from all the bike grease. Once Mark started to feel better Ron got sick for the remainder of the race. Basically, they were happy just finish! Mark couldn't get out of bed the rest of the night, he needed to recover from the eleven hours of biking.

Overnighter

Mark had to work over the 24th of July so we didn't really plan on doing much. At the last minute Luke and I decided to meet my family in Bear Lake to camp for the night. While I was packing the car I wondered if it was worth packing all the camping gear for one night, but Luke loved it. He had a lot of fun...Uncle Bob and Uncle Art were the hits of the weekend for Luke. I thought Luke would love smores on the fire, but he only wanted the hot dogs. My sweet boy is not the best sleeper, but he slept amazing in the tent. Maybe we can talk Daddy into camping more! The next day I went on an early morning bike ride and then we spent the day at the beach. Luke had fun playing in the sand with his cousins and Uncle Tom, but the hit was the ride Papa gave him on the wave runners!

Denver

Mark's cousin Alex was married a few weekends ago in Denver. We flew down for the wedding, but didn't have a lot of time to spend there. Luke was a perfect traveler as long as he had his sippy, SkullCandy's, and iPod. This trip he was obsessed with pulling the suitcase, not the quickest way to get around the airport.

There have been quite a few weddings since Luke was born, but this was the first wedding that he understood. Once he saw Alex in her wedding dress at the temple he was in love. He was determined to get married, and has not stopped talking about it. Luke asks us to take him to the temple so he can get married to Callie and Izzy. He even put the white drapes on his head like a veil and told Mark and I that he was getting married like Alex. The wedding was gorgeous and the reception was super fun. They had lots of dancing and Mr. Luke danced for two hours straight. He was soaked with sweat by the time the reception was over.

The day after the wedding we went to the coolest water park ever! Poor Luke was so exhausted towards the end of the day and couldn't hold on. We were on a pretty crazy water slide with Wade and Aubree and Luke slept the entire time. He didn't even open his little eyes when we went down the hills or water splashed on us. It was a fun weekend!

Discovery Gateway

The weather has been so crazy this summer. With all the rainy days we are having to do more things inside. The other day I asked Luke what he wanted to do today and he said, "Go to Disneyland." When I told him that wasn't an option he said, "I ride in a firetruck?" Luke figures if you're offering, why not see what you can get! Even though he didn't get his first two choices I think he still had a great time! We spent the entire day at the museum. He took his time at each station and was happy to sit and play. Right when I had decided we needed to move to the upstairs he spotted this tractor and trailer. I knew we were never going to leave. He rode that tractor around for an hour. I explained to him that if he got off to play with something else he needed to give the tractor to another kid. He would see something he wanted to play with, get off the tractor, stop and think, and then get right back on. The tractor was too cool to let go. Upstairs Luke spent a lot of time at the Duplo table. He would build a tower as high as it would go and then start all over. It was fun day and we totally forgot about the rainy day outside!

What We Love in the Summer

Since I work during the school year I feel like we need to play as much as possible during the summer. Our absolute favorite activity is swimming! We go as much as possible...sometimes five days a week. Luke is a little fish and loves to be in the water. I thought he was a daredevil last year, but this year he is nuts. He jumps in the deep end, floats to the top, and kicks back over to do it again. Luke begs me to throw him in the water, I am sure I look like a mean mom! And his favorite is the slide, he'll go down the slide over and over again. I love it when he gets to the top of the slide and there is a line of big kids waiting. Luke doesn't let them push him around, he gets right up to the front and goes down. If there is a kid sitting on the slide, too scared to go down, Luke just sits down next to them and goes. He gets too excited to wait. We love our summers and try to have as much fun before school starts again!

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!