Celebrating ONE

We invited all of the family over to celebrate Luke's birthday.

And, of course, we took the traditional kiss sandwich picture before the fun began.

First item of business was Luke's cake.

Noah didn't hesitate when we asked him to help Luke blow out his candle. 

He also thought it was pretty awesome that Luke got a whole cake to himself AND got to eat it with his hands.

Luke had no problem taking on his cake.

It was funny though.  He just kept looking over at me like, "Hey mom, this is REALLY o.k.???"

It was a total sensory experience: tasting and seeing his first cake, feeling and smelling the sticky frosting on his hands and in his mouth, and listening to all of the family laugh and 'ooh' as he ate.

I loved how Luke just sat with his signature bounce that he does and ate away.

Sure, we were having dinner, but since the first birthday cake is practically a rite of passage in our culture, it was not being left for later. 

I could have watched him for another hour, but Nate got him cleaned up and I finished getting dinner ready.

Luke could eat his weight in pasta, so that's what the big boy, and all of us, had for dinner.

After dinner it was time for presents.

Luke had lots of helpers when it came time to open his gifts.

And he definitely kept an eye on those presents to make sure those 'helpers' weren't having too much fun with HIS presents.

Oh, how this boy got spoiled.

Literally every gift was perfect for him.

He thought it was great that Brennan wanted to give him a ride.

Kristina and Jason continue to keep the boys outfitted in their proper BYU attire.

I was sad for the night to end.  This little boy is so fun to celebrate.  I love being his mom.  I love that he's a part of our family.  I love that he is learning to show love.  And I love that I can watch him grow and change and learn every day.  We can't wait to see all of the fun changes that are ahead in year 2!

Twelve Months of Luke

Just a look at how much our Baby Luke has changed in his first year.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of repeating this phrase coined by sweet Grandma Boyce many years ago: 

We're Boyces. We don't do ugly.

Twelve Months

Luke is twelve months old!

Sorry, he wants me to say he's ONE now.

And, wow, it was almost impossible to get him to sit in that chair.  He definitely wanted to show off his 'almost' walking skills.

Speaking of walking...he's SO close.  He's holding on to everything for help, and seems to prefer walking over crawling.

A few little steps have been taken here and there, but Luke's still really tentative.  Maybe this week, he'll decide to make it happen.

Here are Luke's twelve month stats:

Height: 31.4 inches (94%)

Weight: 23 pounds (72%)

Head Circumference: 49 centimeters (100%)

I love how excited Luke gets when he's proud of himself.  And, boy is he a noisy one.  He squeals, has a deep belly laugh, and growls all throughout the day.  Luke loves it when we imitate his sounds, and he also likes to imitate silly ones we make first.  It makes for a very noisy and silly dinner sometimes.

Luke's teeth continue to come in twos.  He's now got four on the top and two on the bottom.

He's decided that bananas are not his favorite, and will rarely eat them.  I think it's a texture thing, because he'll eat them just fine if they're mixed into something.  Strawberries, on the other  hand, are definitely his favorite fruit.

While at a friend's house a few days after Halloween we also discovered that Luke is not allergic to peanuts.  He-who-finds-anything-and-everything-he's-not-supposed-to crawled off and found a stray peanut m&m and ate it with delight.  He also bought himself a little more play time while we stared at him wondering if there would be a reaction. :-)

Luke loves swimming in the tub.  He'll get on his belly, put his face in the water and kick.  There's definitely a strong protest when it's time to get out.

I don't spend a lot of time teaching sign language, but Luke can sign 'more,' 'all done,' and 'milk.'  And, of course, 'one.'


This sweet boy is a hugger.  We love when he'll lean into one of us for a hug.

He gives his stuffed animals hugs, and lately he's been pulling his books in close to give the characters in there a hug too.  Such sweetness. 

It is such an awesome thing to be the one primarily responsible for teaching our boys how to love.  I am so lucky.  And we are all so blessed that this rather big bundle of happiness is a part of our family!

Hotel Fun

We have traveled with the boys before, but this was the first time in a hotel for either of them.  Noah and Adalyn made sure to take advantage of all of the bed jumping they could. 

I loved their squeals of laughter.

Luke was in heaven once he found the tissue dispenser in the bathroom. He pretty much pulled out the entire box.

Noah had his own little room, and played so hard every day that it was almost impossible to wake him up from a nap.  We sent Luke in, but even he couldn't get big brother moving.

Other hotel highlights were blueberry waffles for breakfast, hot chocolate and swimming in the pool.  We can't wait to go back!

Monterey

Our first stop after arriving in Monterey was the Aquarium.  How cute are these little pearls?

We loved the Aquarium so much that we spent a second morning there, and, of course had to take another picture.

We made it just in time for the morning feeding at the Open Sea.  I loved watching Noah's eyes take everything in.

He's got a couple of books that have jellyfish in them, so Noah was excited when he got to see the real thing.

And, of course, one of the best parts about being at the Aquarium is getting to touch some 'sea creatures,' as Noah called them.

I can't tell you how many times I heard, "What's that mommy?" And when I answered with something like, "That's a tiger shark," Noah always followed up with, "What's a tiger shark do mommy?" That type of conversation can go on for a long time with Noah.  He's got a curious mind, that's for sure.

We couldn't hang out on Cannery Row without stopping at the Ghiardelli store and having some delicious (and overpriced) ice cream.

It was so great being there with the Armstrongs.  Noah and Adalyn are just two weeks apart in age, and had so much fun together.

I mean, how cute is their family?

We watched the sun set one night in Carmel.  And while we waited Noah drew letters in the sand.

But there's NO way he was going to look at the camera.

It's so hard to get a decent family picture these days.  A blurry one is better than none at all, right?

Luke loved being by the ocean and watching the waves.

Before heading home on Saturday we grabbed some lunch and took it to Dennis the Menace Park.  There was plenty of space to run and play.

And, before we knew it, we were saying goodbye and heading for home.  Noah is still asking, "Mom, where Adalyn go? We go to Adalyn's house?"  They both had a great time and were sad to see it end.


What a great trip! Traveling with kids is a lot more work, but I think it's also a LOT more fun.  I loved seeing things and planning to do things around what they would like and watching them just soak in the good times we were having.