Studying

The other day Cory and I looked over and Luke was lying on the ground with his little book called "Baby Words" opened in front of him like he was all engrossed in it. It was so funny looking, this little baby all serious about the book he was reading. Even funnier was that the book is called "Baby Words" so it looked like he was laying there studying away at his words! I had to get a picture.

Antelope Island

Cory read in the paper last week that in the winter the wildlife at Antelope Island at the Great Salt Lake is out a lot more and is really active. So we decided to take and adventure out to Antelope Island. It was fun. Luke did pretty good on the ride out. He got a little restless towards the end but then we made it to the ranch out there, this old settlement that they've kept intact, and we got out there and walked around, walked through the ranch and looked at some Bison that were really close. 

In the car driving around Antelope Island. Once we got there Luke was restless and whinning and there were no cars around anywhere, so we got him out of his carset and let him ride on our laps in the front with us. We were driving like snails because Cory was keeping his eyes out for animals.

Luke on a saddle in the ranch barn

Me and Luke in front of the old ranch

Luke and daddy

Walking!

Luke started walking the week of his birthday.  He loves walking and you could tell he was so proud of himself when he first got it down and still is. He was already walking 5 or so consistent steps before then but he never could quite get the balance down. But one day he just started going. He was more wobbly at first but now he is really steady and has even started sprint walking when he wants to get somewhere fast, which is a lot of the time! He is an active little guy and always on the go!

Luke's first birthday

I can't believe our boy is one years old. It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny newborn. He has learned so much and grown so much in the year we have had him. He is so much fun, he has brought so much joy into our lives and we really couldn't love him more! It makes me sad to think he is growing up so fast and that he will never be the little baby again that he once was, but then I remember how much fun he is right now and how much we love watching him grow and learn new things. It's a weird feeling to know he will never be a baby again. But then we have so much to look forward to with him. I can't wait to see the little guy he will turn out to be. He has changed my life for forever, I never knew I could love so much! He will always be my baby.

Now, to get back to his birthday! It was a fun day. We had a small little party for him. My parents came, my sister Jamie, and my grandma and aunt Tami were here. I made him a cake and spent way more time on it then anticipated! I bought a banana cake mix (he LOVES bananas) and at first I planned to only use low sugar Cool Whip for frosting so he wouldn't have too much sugar. But then I realized that would melt and I couldn't decorate much with Cool Whip, and I wanted to make the cake fun. So I ended up making fully loaded frosting and used a whole lot of it! The cake didn't turn out exactly how I had pictured but it was my first attempt at cake decorating so I guess that's okay. First we ate dinner, which my mom and dad were way nice to bring. Then Luke opened his presents. We gave him a toy baby laptop that makes songs and noises (he is always trying to play with our computers and gets so mad when we are on the computer and not paying attention to him!), a toy piggy bank that makes noises when you put the pretend coins in, and the biggest gift of all, chosen especially by Cory...baby Air Jordan shoes! Cory has been wanting to get these for Luke since he was tiny, so we had to special order them in and they came. Too bad Luke doesn't seem very excited about them! That's a story for later.

Next came the birthday cake. We decided to let him attack it. At first he just played around in it. I don't think he realized that he could eat it. Then he tasted it and it was over from there. He started digging in. Some would make it in his mouth, some in his hair and all over his body or on the floor or in his high chair. It was pretty funny. When he was done we had to hose him down in the sink.

It was a fun night. Cory's family wasn't up in Salt Lake on Luke's birthday but we are thinking about doing another birthday party for Luke when they are here next.

Luke holding up his finger saying he is one!
We taught him that when we say "How old is Luke?" He holds up his finger to say one!

Birthday cake

Opening presents

The first taste...
Diggin and and having a great time!
Getting hosed off afterwards

First words

Last week Luke said his offical first word! He's been saying mama and dada for a long time and now he also says "dad" really pronounced when he's looking for Cory. But other then those words he babbles and sounds like he's talking in his own little language. But last week we were at my parent's house and my mom had a banana she was going to feed him and he said it... he said "Banana"! Well, it was more "nana" then anything. But i'm sure he knew what he was saying because he said it that first time and then said it probably about 10 more times. At first it was "nana" and then we would tell him to say banana again and he would get the "bah" part out and the rest of the syllables but they wouldn't quite sound like "nana". Then he got to saying "A-nana". Since then anytime he sees a banana he will say it...usually "nana" sometimes "A-nana", sometimes "Ba...mamam".... it varies, but he says it again and again! 

Then, the next day Cory and I went out to eat and left Luke with my parents. When we came in the house after eating I went and sat down by Luke and he said really loud and clear "HI!" It came out with the "H" sound kind of soft so it was more like...."hIIII"! It was funny because neither of us said it to him before he said it, he just came up with it on his own so we're pretty sure he knew what he was saying. He doesn't say this one as much but once and awhile it will just come out. It won't always be as distinct as it sounded then, but we can tell what he's trying to say. It's so fun to see him learning to talk and trying to communicate with us. He is jabbering away and talking in his own little language, but then all the sudden little words like this will come through and it's fun to think how much he must be learning and that he is trying to so hard to talk with us.

Luke's big adventure

New Years Eve afternoon we decided to go with Cory's family to ride the new front runner train to downtown and then get on tracks to Gateway and go shopping and then go to dinner. All morning we kept telling Luke he was going for a train ride. He is really starting to like trains between some Thomas the Tank Engine toys and books he has and the train we gave him for Christmas. So when we would say we were going to ride a train he would get all excited, I'm not sure if he understood we were actually going to ride one but just the word "train" gets him excited. So we got him all bundled up and went for our big day out. Once we were there we kept calling it "Luke's big adventure" - riding a train downtown, going shopping, and going out to eat all in one day! That's a lot for a little guy :).

Here we are waiting to get on the train

Luke and his Uncle Jason. Luke liked looking out the train window.

In a store at the mall...the look on Luke's face tells how he feels about shopping
At the restaurant - we went to Lamb's Cafe downtown which is supposedly Salt Lake's "oldest and most famous restaurant". It was really good!

By the end of our adventure Luke was all tuckered out and fell asleep on the train ride home.

Happy New Year!

Cory's aunt had a New Year's party we went to. We took Luke and planned on bringing him home when he got tired and ready to go to bed. I don't know if it was being around all the people or the late nap he had, but he was in a good mood all night and never seemed tired. So by 11:00ish we decided it wasn't worth taking him home and that he would ring in the new year with us at the party! Here we are right after midnight... (we got him home to bed soon after I promise!!)

Not only did we keep our less-than-one-year-old baby up past midnight, but we let him play with pretty much anything he could find to keep him entertained at the party. Swords? Not a problem as long as it keeps him happy :).