6 Months

All is well with Luke. His stats -

Weight: 17 lbs. 6 oz. - 50%
Length: 25 1/2 inches - 25%
Head: 44 1/2 cm - 70%

I love having a new baby at Christmastime. When I had Trent right before the holiday season three years ago, it really caused me to reflect more on the birth of the Savior and of his mother Mary. I gained a greater appreciation and understanding of what she went through and the feelings she must have had. My testimony was strengthened. Luke isn't a newborn anymore, but I still have had some of those same thoughts and feelings. It is wonderful.

It really is a blessing to be a mother and to be able to bear children. I know I am lucky to have had three problem-free pregnancies and deliveries and to have three healthy, beautiful children. I thank Heavenly Father every day for the blessing of motherhood.

Missouri Loves Company...

And so we went. Luke and I, along with my Dad, Mom, Mindy, and Mailey, all went to visit our favorite Missourians back in October. They didn't know my Dad was coming and he scared Monica pretty good when he showed up on their back porch. It was so good to see their home and to see the town where they are living. Here are a few things I discovered during our time there:

1 - Aaron spends a lot of time studying, I mean A LOT of time. Text books and lectures are his life now.
2 - Monica is a great hostess. Aaron...not so much.

3 - Ben and Maggie are still just as cute as they were when they left us in July. I take that back, they are cuter. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

4 - While I was not impressed with the amount of fall foliage in Missouri, the reds, oranges, and yellows that I did see were beautiful.

5 - Gus has a evil step sister living in Nauvoo - Gertrude.

6 - Nauvoo is amazing. The spirit is strong, the people are very friendly, and the sites are spectacular. I have to admit that I never had a strong desire to go to Nauvoo, but I am so glad I had the opportunity and now I can't wait to go back. And I will be going back. Soon.

7 - While I did enjoy my one-on-one time with Luke, I don't like going on a vacation without my whole family. I especially wanted Ashlyn with me when we went on the wagon ride.

8 - Pioneer women risked having their dresses catch on fire while they made ash bread. Some even died. All for friggin' supper.
9 - Sonic makes a dang good snickers/butterfinger shake. I ate two such shakes during our six day adventure. Not to mention all the other non-Sonic ice cream I ate. I haven't ever eaten so much ice cream in my life. But that's what vacations are for, right?
10 - I think Missourians have a secret sport of hitting wild life with their cars. I was amazed at how much road kill we saw. I'm used to seeing the occasional deer on the side of the road here in Utah, but there are all sorts of small smashed, squished, and flattened creatures in Missouri. I wish I had kept track of the number. I'm sure we would have reached three digits.
11 - Some things will never change. My mom still makes one deliciously mean Sunday dinner, even in Missouri.

12 - The caterpillars in Missouri are adorable.

13 - My Dad can't sit still, even on vacation. It's just not in his blood. He busied himself with all sorts of chores from changing filters to digging weeds and mowing the lawn. He's awesome. He was finally able to sit and relax in Nauvoo since there were no chores to do. I am a little surprised we didn't catch him churning butter or something.

14 - It's a pretty neat experience to hold a human heart in your hands.
15 - I need to get in shape. Monica kicked my butt in the cycling class.
16 - Hy-Vee is the most amazing grocery store in the USA. Just ask my Dad.
17 - Almost nothing can make a kid happier than spending a morning lounging on the couch with Grandma.

18 - Collecting acorns should be taken seriously. It's a good thing we don't live in Missouri or I'm afraid we'd never see Mindy. (Pssst, don't tell Mindy that you can find acorns in Utah.)

19 - Ben and Maggie can put on one very entertaining talent show, but when Maggie says the show is over, "IT IS OVER!"
20 - The plus side to having your flight delayed is that you get free tickets! Yippee! We're going back to Missouri!

21 - Saying goodbye is always hard. But, thankfully it wasn't quite as hard the second time.

And a few more photos:

Snow Much Fun!

We woke up to a boat load of snow on Monday morning and had quite a bit of fun playing in it. It has been awhile since I have actually really played in the snow, but I did that day, and it was great. We wanted to build a snowman, but the snow was just too soft and fluffy and wouldn't pack together. So, we made snow angels, went sledding, and jumped on a trampoline. Ashlyn was a little more adventurous than Trent, especially once he fell a couple times. Luke stayed warm and cozy inside and slept through the whole thing. He didn't know what he missed. I would have stayed outside longer, but the hot cocoa was calling Ashlyn's name. It was a great morning.

Good Game!

At least we thought so. But then again, we are a bunch of classless folks ;o)

A Time To Give Thanks

It's already been a week since Thanksgiving. And only 23 days til Christmas. We have a month of fun ahead of us (along with lots of projects and a long list of "to-do"), but I can't move forward without talking about my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. I really tried to create a little more meaning to Thanksgiving this year. I mean, I love all the food and spending the day with family, but Thanksgiving should really be a time of reflecting on our blessings. And so I decided to start a couple new tradition for our family. On the first FHE in November we started our thankful tree. Each person said something they were thankful for and I wrote it on a leaf and then the kids put the leaves on the tree. We did this for each subsequent FHE, and by the time Thanksgiving rolled around our thankful tree was full. Having the tree hang on our fridge all month was a great daily reminder of all our blessings.

Then, on the night before Thanksgiving, we had a candle light dinner with take-out - Cafe Rio for Brian and I, and McDonalds for the kids - and we talked some more about all of our blessings. Ashlyn wanted to say what she wasn't thankful for, "bad guys...But I am thankful for the police who catch the bad guys...And I am thankful for some bad guys who catch all the tigers." We then each had to chose the one thing that we were most thankful for this year to write on yet another leaf, along with our signature and date. Those leafs we kept and each year we will take out all our leaves from years past and scatter them on the table to read during our candle light dinner. And we will then add another leaf to our collection.

The actual day of Thanksgiving was all it was supposed to be: great smells, time with those I love most, and delicious food. The only disappointment this year was the absence of Aaron, Monica, Ben, and Maggie. I'm still not used to them being gone.

I am mostly thankful for these guys -

Ashlyn is my girl. She's smart, she's funny, she's tough, she's sweet and she's beautiful. And I can't believe how big she is. I am already dreading next August when she will leave me for four hours a day.

Oh how I love my Trenters. He's sensitive and caring. He's all-boy with a big soft spot. I love that he still wants me to cuddle with him after a bath. It has been so fun to watch this boy grow, but I think I'd like to freeze time now and slow things down a bit.

I'm lucky to have Luke. I know several people who have struggled to have children or who have faced the disappointment of not having children. More than with my first two, I realized when I was pregnant for the third time, just how lucky I was. And Luke is a joy.

Yes, I do have much to be thankful for.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I am a month behind in blogging. Such is life these days. Aiy yai yai. Anyway, Halloween was fun. I did not, for the first time, make my kids' costumes this year. And I hate that I didn't get to make them. Oh well, there is always next year. Ashlyn wanted to be Belle, and so she was. I had great plans to put her hair in an "up-do" with ringlets and glitter - you know, the works. Well, she had other plans, involving scissors. Yep. So, on the day of the scheduled 'trunk-r-treat', there was no "up-do", but there were still lots of ringlets and glitter. However, I didn't, for some crazy reason, bring my camera to the event, so there are no pictures. On the actual day of Halloween, I did have my camera, but did not have time to do the ringlets and glitter. Oh well, she was/is still beautiful. And her hair will grow back. (FYI - I didn't actually take these pictures...they are courtesy of Mindy.)

Trent was Woody this year. He got to borrow the costume that Monica made for Ben a few years back. He looked adorable.

I guess technically I did make Luke's costume. He was a monkey, the monkey costume I made for Ashlyn's first Halloween. It was making this costume that got me hooked on homemade costumes. It was fun to get it out of the box and use it again.

So, there you have it: a princess, a cowboy, and a monkey. Quite a good-lookin' bunch.

Like I mentioned, they got to go to a 'trunk-or-treat' that my parent's ward put on. They also got spoiled with candy from Brian's work. So, by the time Saturday night rolled around, we decided to opt out of trick-or-treating. Plus, it was miserably cold and raining. So, I told Brian that we wouldn't worry about going unless they asked, and they didn't. They were completely content to stay at home and help us pass out candy. They were actually pretty excited with all the people coming to our door. And we did have a lot. I mean a LOT. So much that we ran out of candy and I had to steal from Ashlyn and Trent's stash. Now I know to be better prepared for next year.

Sunday we had a fun Halloween party at my parents, minus the Aaron Lifferth's. We ate donuts on a string, sang songs, read books, watched "The Great Pumpkin" and made ghost pudding parfaits. It was a fun night and will be repeated again next year.