Snuggly Luke

He doesn't let me do this very often, so I had Brandon quickly go get the camera and take a picture.

Crash! Bang!

Last night we returned home from a wonderful Christmas Eve bonanza at the Thomas family and after pulling into the garage, I got out to help Brandon pull forward as far as possible so that we could open the back of the car with the garage door closed.  I was holding two platters with cookies on them and I thought, "I should put these down."  So I did.  Here is the result.

Our Annual Christmas Talent

Every year for the Thomas side of the family, we prepare a talent that we can share with the family on Christmas Eve.  This short video is this year's Christmas talent for our family.  All of the pictures of the barn were taken at my Parent's house.  We hope you enjoy this little vignette, because we had a blast making it.

Snow Lady

A few weeks ago, Peter and I sat down and made this craft together.  Peter loved using the glue to put the tissue paper on this old pizza sauce bottle.  I had fun decorating this lady.  I'm half tempted to start saving jars so that I can make an entire snow people family next Christmas.

A few days ago

I was reading in the Ensign and I came across this Gratitude Challenge. Brandon and I made a late night activity out of it and came up with some pretty awesome things we are grateful for. I highly recommend this activity! I was reminded, once again, how lucky I am.

• • 
  Write 10 living people you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 people who have died you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 things about today you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 places on earth you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 modern-day inventions you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 foods you are grateful for.
• • 
  Write 10 things about the gospel you are grateful for.

By the way, a few of Brandon's favorite dead people are; Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Eddison, and Alexander Graham Bell.  Oh yes, he also is grateful for Lord Voldemort.

Cleaning and Scrubbing

When Brandon and I moved into our home in July I resolved to be a better cleaner and scrubber. You see, we lived in our last apartment for 4 years and I never was very good at keeping that place sparkling. I think it's because the apartment was filthy to begin with and I told myself it was so old I could never get it clean again.

Anyway, now that we have a new home (well, almost new - it was built in 2006) I am determined to keep it sparkling clean. For each month during the year I've assigned myself to deep clean at least one room in the house. This month the room to clean is the pantry and downstairs bathroom. This morning I finally finished and it makes me so happy. Everything is finally organized the way I want it.

Brandon was also a sweetie and hung up this coat rack for me last night. Although we have a coat closet by the front door, we rarely use the front door so I'm looking forward to having a place to put our coats that is right by the garage door. I also tell myself that someday I'm going to have a little bench right beneath the coats with a bench that I can use for storage.

1st haircut

Today Luke had his first haircut! I wanted to wait until he turned one, but last night at a family party my cousins kept telling me what an awesome mullet he had.  So we made a trip to Aunt Alli's house and off it came. Luke really wasn't happy with us and this picture doesn't even come close to showing the agony he thought we were putting him through. In fact, Brandon only got two pictures of the event because he had to come and help hold Luke's head. This kid is a fighter.

The Case of the missing Ceiling Fan Remote

A few weeks ago our ceiling fan remote disappeared. Yes, with two boys in the house things do go missing quite often. The only problem with the remote going missing is that we use it every single night. So we searched, and searched, and searched some more. I remembered Luke playing with it in the upstairs hallway and after that it just disappeared into thin air.

Almost every night Brandon would come home from work and ask me if I had found the remote. Every night I would have to tell him that I hadn't yet. Well, today Brandon finally found it. Yep, that's right - he sat down in the rocking chair in Luke's room and moments later had the remote in his hand. I literally screamed for joy.

In the process of trying to find the remote I've reorganized our pantry, kitchen cupboards, office, master bedroom closet, Luke's closet, and Peter's room. Whew, now I can take a break from all the cleaning I've been doing.

Crawling Luke

Here is a short little clip of Luke crawling. We call him our little monkey because he doesn't crawl on his hands and knees. Instead he crawls on his hands and feet. Silly kid. He is also quite fast at crawling. It's not unusual for me to put him in the family room to go work in the kitchen. However, by the time I walk into the kitchen he's right under my feet again.

A Christmas Poem

I'm not sure if I've ever shared this little poem online before. I think I wrote it up last year, for our annual Thomas Christmas Program. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. We have been having a marvelous Christmas season and I hope you have too.

That Holy Night

Laurie Ann Thomas

Mary so humble, so willing, so contrite
Was feeling so much on that holy, holy night.

Joseph so gentle, so willing, so meek
Helping to lead, to guide, and to seek.

The shepherds so astonished, so frightened, and so able
After hearing the angels, they found the stable.

The wise-men had watched for many a year
For the bright shining star they knew would appear
So, they traveled and traveled and traveled some more
To pay homage to our LORD, KING, and SAVIOR.

The animals were hushed and quiet that night
As they witnessed what was a magnificent sight.

The loving couple with their babe so small
The babe who grew up to be LORD over all.

It was then in that small manger bed filled with hay
That GOD, our creator, gave us hope of Returning someday.

Grandma

When I was growing up my maternal Grandma was a huge part of my life. We lived just two blocks away from her and we would go there often. My mother is currently working on a biography of my Grandma. As a favor to my Mom I sat down the other day and typed up some of the fun memories I have. Here are just a few of the good memories I have:

Sleepovers

When my sisters and I were young our favorite thing to do was to sleep over at Grandma’s house.  We enjoyed taking turns sleeping with different aunts or sometimes we even got to sleep with Grandma on her huge bed.  The only downside to sleeping in the bed with Grandma is that she had feather pillows which would poke us in the face during the night.  Grandma would also always watch the 10 o’clock news before going to bed.  She was especially interested in the weather report.  

Robbers

Occasionally when we were sleeping over at Grandma’s house we would get scared that robbers were going to come and snatch us during the night.  But Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Jason would always tell us that in Grandma’s patriarchal blessing it said that robbers would never visit her home.  We felt safe and secure with that promise.

Grandma’s Curlers

Grandma used curlers to curl her hair everyday.  I remember her getting out of the shower, grabbing her curler bag, and sitting down under her portable hair dryer.  Trying to talk to Grandma while she was under her hair dryer was impossible.  I suppose she used that as her excuse to get some quite time.  

Daisy
Daisy was Grandma’s silly, spoiled dog.  She would go everywhere with us.  In her older age she got so fat that she couldn’t climb up onto Grandma’s bed anymore.  So, grandma would always bend down and pick daisy up and put her on the bed.  She really was one of the family.

Halloween
Halloween was a favorite holiday because of Grandma’s dress-up box.  Over the years old clothes, hats, and costumes found there way into the dress-up box.  On Halloween, we would go over to Grandma’s and pick our favorite outfit to wear.  I will never forget the year the aunts let me use their makeup and I dressed up as a gypsy.

Grocery Trips - Bananas and Yogurt
Grandma loved going grocery shopping.  Whenever she would say she was going out to get a few groceries, we always knew it would take her at least two hours.  She would always shop at the old Albertson’s on Center Street in Orem.  All the employees knew her and would stop and chat with her while she was doing her shopping.  Without fail Grandma would always bring home boxes of Yoplait yogurt and several bunches of bananas.  That was grandma stand-by snack for anyone that ever came to visit.  It was a privilege to be able to go grocery shopping with Grandma.  She would always buy something extra special for you.  Grandma also used to talk to herself.  Especially when she was driving in the car.  I always wondered why she would talk to herself and I still wonder.

Easter

Easter was a fun holiday at Grandma’s.  Every year she would pull out her large box of construction paper and we would proceed to make Easter baskets.  The goal was to make your Easter basket as different and unique as possible.  One year Uncle Jason even made a toilet seat.  Grandma always loved our creative ideas.  The Easter bunny always filled them with candy on Easter morning.  We also used to decorate hard boiled eggs and then have races rolling them down the hill in the backyard.  

Grandma’s Stuffing
The night before Thanksgiving, Grandma would always be up all night long preparing the food.  One night I was determined to stay up as long as I could to help her.  She would always make her homemade stuffing.  The part that I remember most is ripping the bread into small pieces, cutting the celery, and chopping onions.  Grandma was a master at chopping onions.  I always wondered how she managed not to cry from the strong smell of the onions.

The Wheelchair Ramp

At Grandma’s house there was a wheelchair ramp up to the front door.  Over the years we played on that ramp a lot.  We would take dominoes and make different designs that went all the way down the ramp.  We would play for hours and hours.  We would also send marbles down the ramp and bouncy balls.  When we got older, we laced up our roller skates and blades and go whizzing down the ramp.  When some of the cousins were babies, we found it very convenient to push the strollers up the ramp and into the house.  When giving people directions, it was always convenient to tell them Grandma lived at the house that had the wheelchair ramp.

For Family Night

For Family Home Evening tonight we made Thankful Turkeys. I think Brandon and I had more fun making these, but Peter did enjoy picking out the colors for the tail feathers and playing with the tissue paper. I think they turned out pretty cute - what do you think?

1st Snowman

Peter and I made his first Snowman today! Peter really wanted to put a carrot on him for his nose, but he got too cold and didn't want to play outside anymore. At the last minute Peter decided to just put our gloves on Mister Snowman instead.

Pioneer Peter

Yesterday I dressed Peter up in my brothers old pioneer clothes and took some pictures. It was so much fun and he looked so darling. It made me really miss the time I spent being a historic reenactor. Someday, when my kids are grown and moved out I'm going to get into reenacting again. In the meantime, I'll keep dressing up the kids for as long as they fit these cute clothes.

Peter is 3

Our firstborn turned three this week! Oh my gosh, how quickly time has flown by. All week I've been looking at him and trying to decide where the years went. He loved his b-day and was happy with all the present he received. He also got a special treat-he got to go to Grandpa and Grandma Davis' ward since Aunt Lisa and Uncle Brent blessed baby Benjamin that day. It was a wonderful day.

The morning started out with Peter's favorite breakfast in the entire world - brown sugar muffins. It's one of the only breakfast foods he will actually eat.

Then, we let him open his presents. He was very adept at unwrapping the paper and pulling the gift out. This cowboy set was something he picked out himself with the coupon we had for Toys R Us. His favorite part are the handcuffs. Poor Luke has already been 'captured' more than once.

All his presents. We were hoping to get him interested in potty training with all the potty stuff we gave to him, but I think it's had the opposite effect. Now he is terrified of the toilet. Alas.....

This is one of the presents that Grandpa and Grandma Thomas gave to Peter. I know clothes aren't that exciting, but he sure looks all grown up in this new set of clothes.

Finally, here is his b-day cake. Brandon and I decided that we are going to have a family tradition where Mom makes a basic cake and the kids get to chose how to decorate it. Hence the fruit snacks. Sadly, Peter didn't enjoy the cake. He didn't even eat one bite. However, he did enjoy picking off the fruit snacks and eating them.

Advice for the person I used to be

A few weeks ago a friend wrote a post to her 16 year old self. Her post caused me to do a lot of thinking about myself and the person I've become. This picture of me is when I was 22 years old. At the time I just started attending college again (after a break of 4 years). I was working part-time for UVU and attending part-time classes. I wasn't sure at the time where my life was headed. All I knew was that I wanted to finish my undergraduate degree. I also knew that I wanted to find a great guy to marry. Needless to say, those dreams became a reality for me.

As I look at this picture I can't help but think about how I'm not really the same person I was back then. I've changed in so many ways. For instance, I'm no longer working for a paycheck. Instead I work for the betterment of two little boys. I'm their Mom and my daily challenge is to keep them fed, clothed, and happy. Some days I'm able to fulfill that challenge and other days I don't.

I also think about how I'm not nearly as self centered as I was back then. Goodness knows, most days it's all I can do to get myself showered and dressed. Forget getting my hair done or makeup on (that's a luxury I can only manage to get done on Sunday's for church). The boys keep me too busy to be very self centered.

I also think about how I was always so worried that I'd never find anyone who would love me for the person that I was. Thank goodness, that person somehow stumbled into my life. I honestly don't know how Brandon and I managed to become interested in each other. We were both unlikely candidates for each other and when it comes right down to it, we don't even have that much in common. But, he has been perfect for me. He absolutely refuses to allow me to have emotional meltdowns (last time I had one was when Luke was born 9 months ago) and he puts up with my whims of trying to be crafty.

If I could go back in time and give myself some advice I would first of all tell myself to chill out and enjoy life a little more. Honestly, I was a pretty serious person. I would also have told myself that motherhood was going to be a whole lot harder than I imagined it to be.

Well, there you have it. I've set out to do what I've wanted to do for over a month now.That, dear readers, is what happens when you become a mother. Everything gets pushed to the back burner if it's not a critical thing that has to be done immediately. For that, I think, is the sign of a mother who cares. One who has good intentions, but ends up spending all her time feeding, clothing, and keeping her children happy.

TTFN.

Last year

This is what I looked like last year at this time. Ugh! I'm so glad that part of my life is over.

Hiking the Y

A few weeks ago the Activity Day girls in our ward went on an activity to "Hike the Y". Since I am the Primary counselor that oversees the activity day activities (wow, that's confusing) I followed along and made Brandon come with me (thank you to my sister who watched the boys).

I had dreams of easily hiking up the trail and reveling in the beauty of the valley below. However, my dreams were shattered and I'm literally just glad I made it. It took me almost 1.5 hours to drag my "out of shape" self up this mountain. It was an event that I don't think I'll ever chose to repeat again. However, the girls had a blast and most of them thought it was great. Ah, to be young again....

Sisters

While looking through some old documents the other day I stumbled across this little gem. This is a picture of me and my older sister Amy. In this picture she is 2 years old and I'm just 1. Yep, we really are that close in age. Amy was born in November of '78, and I was born in February of '80. Good times for us - yes. Rough times for our mommy - double yes. I honestly don't know how she survived us, especially because our younger sister came along in April of '82. As a mother I now understand kinda what she must have went though. I don't know how she survived :-)

Fun Times

This cute little guy is being so silly today. He insisted that I take a couple of pictures of him. I think this one turned out pretty cute. At the moment I'm wishing his hair would grow out quicker then it is. I think I like it better long.

I'm also attempting to grow out my hair. Most days it drives me crazy, but I'm determined to get it long again. This is a picture of Luke and I at the nearby park. We went there as a family recently and had a blast.

 

This is also at the same park. Luke loved the swings so much! My blond little bald baby was so happy. Gotta love that.

My baby boy

Our amazing brother-in-law Shawn took these darling pictures of Luke for his 6 month birthday. I am in love with these pictures + this cute baby boy.

Singing Peter

Peter has been in such a silly 'stage' recently. He loves to go around the house singing these songs at the top of his lungs. It's pretty funny.

Growing Stronger Every Day

Luke is getting stronger and stronger every day. I am still in shock that he's old enough to do this - didn't I just have this kid yesterday?

Visiting Papa

Two weeks ago Brandon, and his entire office, moved to a new building on the campus of UVU. He was very involved with the design process of his office. He took me to see the building before the walls were even up. It looked amazing then, but it looks even more amazing now. Peter, Luke, and I took a picnic lunch up to the new office and enjoyed Papa's company for a couple of hours. While we were there we also took a walk down to the campus ice-cream shop to get a milkshake and smoothie from an amazing new machine that Brandon purchased. We had a blast and I hope we can go visit Papa again soon.

Brandon is so lucky! He has a corner office with windows on three sides. He rarely even turns on his light. No wonder he has been staying at work a little longer these days. With an office like this I would be surprised if he ever wanted to come home :-)

Peter enjoyed seeing this airplane. It's one of the hidden gems at UVU. Love it!

Home

Magically both boys are down for a nap together, so I'll get these pictures up of our new house as well as some others I think are great. This picture is of the front room which you come into directly after coming thru the front door. We've recently started having family prayers/scriptures in here every night. I love this room because it's big enough for our couches. Yea!

This is our family room. This is where we spend most of our time. In fact, if you could see in front of the couch you would see a lot of toys and ripped up magazines. Luke, for some reason, loves to rip up magazines. It keeps him entertained, so I let him do it a lot. We are very, very thankful that Brandon's parents were willing to give up their old couch and chair to us (they are in the process of getting a new set). It makes this room so cozy and nice. We still need to figure out what is going on with the fireplace (the pilot won't light), but we'll get around to that one of these days.

This is the dining room/kitchen area. It would have been nice to have a little bit bigger space for the kitchen table, but the huge kitchen make up for a small dining area.

MY KITCHEN! I'm in love with this place. I love the fact that I can be unloading the dishwasher and Brandon can be reaching into the fridge at the same time. That, my friends, is total luxury to me. I also love that the kitchen window looks directly out to the backyard, so I can keep an eye on the boys once they are old enough to go outside without me.

The office. This is Brandon's domain and he's set it up the way he loves it. I'm just grateful that we were able to fit everything in this room that we wanted in it. It's also super awesome that this room has a walk-in closet that is still pretty empty. I guess that means we have room for more random stuff.

This is Luke's room. I love that the rocking chair fits in here with plenty of room to spare. It's also nice to have him in a room of his own. Both Luke and Peter like the fact that they don't have to share.

Our bedroom. Holy cow - I could live in this place 24/7. I love all the windows and I try to uncover them every single day. It makes me happy to see the sunshine. We also have a great view of the mountains out the window on the left. I'm thankful for our new bed frame. We got it the week before we moved in. It's especially nice that Peter can climb up onto it by himself.

This is half of our bathroom. Love the fact that I have my own sink. My side of the sink is always overflowing with contact and hair stuff and Brandon's is always dirty with whisker hair. (Did you know he grew a beard?)

The bathtub is my pride and joy. Unfortunately, I've only found enough uninterrupted time to bathe in it twice, but it is heavenly. A word of warning though - go easy on the bubble bath when using the jets in this tub. It can get really crazy.

This is totally out of order, but this is the other side of our room. Since we have a closet in the bathroom for our clothes this closet is used as a 'storage room'. Brandon's Japanese flag is proudly hanging there. I would really like to display it a couple of times during the year. If only I could find the time to sit down and research which days that would be most appropriate.

This is Peter's room. He inherited our chest of drawers. It's weird because his room feels so empty right now. I'm sure that will change as he gets older. Brandon told me last night that Peter is probably big enough for us to put a flat sheet and a normal size blanket on his bed. I think I might even give Peter a pillow on which to sleep. I'm thankful for the Loy family who gave us this bed for Peter. As it was, his box springs and mattress cost us $300. At that price they better last him the rest of his life.

This is part of the moving-out crew loading up our moving truck. Honestly, we had so many amazing friends and family to help us. I've never seen anything like it. It was like a giant wave coming in and swooping everything up and taking it out into the ocean. We had our three-bedroom apartment all loaded up in just over an hour.

Okay - so we have way too much stuff. We filled a 26 foot moving truck, plus Brandon's Dad's truck and trailer, plus four cars. I don't know how we accumulated that much stuff in just over five years of marriage.

More of the awesome crew helping to load up. My Dad is the one with the dolley. He was such a hard worker that he was all ready to haul out the fridge. Thank goodness someone stopped him before he did because the fridge stayed with the apartment. Brother Wimberly (with the sweaty shirt) was assigned to be our Home Teacher the week before we moved. He was so wonderful to come and help us, even though he really didn't have to.

The empty apartment with the moving-out crew. We fed everyone doughnuts and water, so this is some of the crew taking a little break.

Moving-in crew! I can't say enough awesome things about my family. In this picture is my cousin, BIL, Uncle, and cousin's wife. We seriously were overwhelmed with everyone that came to help.

When the moving truck arrived at the house the key to the new house hadn't arrived. So everyone unloaded the moving truck while they were waiting. I bet my neighbors were laughing in their houses because our entire front yard was full of stuff.

More of the moving crew. That's a cousin, cousin's wife, and another cousin. Seriously, my cousins are the best.

Unloading the moving truck. That thing was stuffed to its gills.

More of the moving crew plus the awesome view from our front yard. That is the same view (only a little bit better) that we have from our bedroom window.

The moving crew set up a system where they would pass the boxes from one to person to the other until the box was in the right room. What's cool is that the train started in the front yard, to the front door, thru the front room, and up the stairs. It was a remarkable sight to see.

Random picture of Luke. While we were moving out of the apartment he was getting watched by my Visiting Teacher - Claudia. She was so sweet and she gave Luke this little purple monkey as a moving away gift. He loves that thing.

Brandon's cousin and his wife Vashti. They left their three-month old baby with Vashti's parents so they could come and help. Totally love these two.

Cousin, cousin, cousin's wife, and a friend of a cousin. Seriously, I was amazed that one of my cousin's friend would want to come help. Thank you Sam for bringing him. He really was such a big help.

My sister Amy and her hubby Morgan. They were the first to arrive and the last to leave. What would I do without Amy. She seriously is a life saver for me.

Aunt Laurie, Brandon's Mom, and Luke. Luke loved all the attention he was getting from everyone (except his own mother).

Another view of Luke's room. This time I am standing behind the rocking chair.

The laundry room. One of these days we're going to get cupboards to put above the washer/dryer. But until that time, I have a spare bookcase that holds all my cleaning supplies. A child lock on the door keeps the boys out of this room.

Finally, here is a recent picture of Peter. He loves these glasses so much. They are the kind that you use to watch 3D movies at the theater. He calls them his sunglasses and he is inseparable from them. What a kid.

Having a house to come home to is even more wonderful than I imagined it to be. I wish everyone could be as happy in their first home as I am in mine. I'm thankful that Brandon and I took so long to find the perfect house. It makes me happy to know that we'll probably be here for the rest of our lives. I've even daydreamed about what this house will be like when the kids are teenagers. We have met many wonderful people in our new neighborhood. There are even several kids on our street that are the same age as Luke and Peter. How awesome is that. I'm thankful that Heavenly Father directed us to look at homes in Springville because I never would have looked there of my own accord.