Luke: 7 Months

These pictures don't really need words, but here are few anyways...  We took them on the seven-month anniversary of Luke's birthday (a few weeks ago) just before church in our backyard.  Other than sitting them close to each other and getting them to smile, these are not posed (e.g. Caleb loves to put his arm around his baby brother).  Luke is just about the smiliest baby you'll ever meet.  I wish everyone in the world could be warmed by the glow of his smile - it would heal many a wounded heart.  He is army-crawling like a master these days and now has 5 teeth!  He thinks Caleb is hilarious and never is upset by him, even when Caleb is too rough.  He's finally in his own room (rather than ours) and sleeping better, though not through the night.  He's slowly deciding to each a few more solids, but mostly he just likes my milk and any fruit mixture with banana in it.  (I know, I've completely failed with the start-with-the-veggies thing again, but the good news is that it didn't ruin Caleb so I'm not too worried about it.)

Luke is such a treasure - I am truly lucky to be him mom!  Okay, behold the beauty.  If you got to take this with you church every Sunday wouldn't you just melt too??

And for the grand finale: Pure Joy

Yes, Another Boys' Trip

It's an annual tradition now, so you're just going to have to see another set of BYU football pictures.  This time they're in South Bend, Illinois for the Notre Dame vs BYU game.  They had such a wonderful time and were impressed with the kindness and civility with which they were treated on the ND campus.  Good job Fightin' Irish for exhibiting Christlike behaviors to your opponents!  They also spent a day touring Chicago.  When Tyler left it was still summer weather here and Tyler was craving fall, and boy, did Illinois deliver!  Here are the pictures:

Thank heaven for good friends!

The Perfect Saturday

A few weeks ago we had the perfect Saturday together as a family.  It started with a yummy breakfast in our PJs and getting some chores done while we all slowly got dressed and ready.  We headed to a local lunch joint we've been told we had to try called Moondoggies.

 Our appetizer was FABULOUS!  I will go back just for that.  But our sandwiches were only average.

We sat next to these big beautiful windows so I could resist snapping a pic of this handsome baby.

This double-deck style house is so common here and made for a beautiful resturant.  The murals inside are very pretty.

Next we headed to The Sands, our closest beach, and walked the boardwalk.  We chatted with people along the way catching crab.  We climbed the observation tower which gives a great view of Parris Island where Tyler works and the surrounding area.  So pretty.

Caleb had so much fun running over the water on this long dock.  There is SOO much water around here - ocean, rivers, lakes and ponds, that while we are out driving Caleb's favorite thing right now is to spot and identify bodies of water. "Water Mommy! Water!  I see water!  More water!!"  It's very exciting you see.

THEN it was MY TURN for excitement!  I spotted dolphins!!  Just 20ish feet away from us the water! There were a bunch.  I guess right there is brackish water - where salt and fresh meet - and somehow that means lots of food for the dolphins so they like to hang out there.  So the locals don't think it's that cool, but I do!!! I've never been that close to a dolphin before, not even in a zoo.  They were so pretty and fun to watch!

The landscapes really are pretty here.

Thank you Stranger, for taking our photo.  Too bad Luke slept through it all.

Hey Handsome.

Caleb is also obsessed with jumping lately.  He hops all day long!

There is our little hoodlum - awake for the car ride home.

We made some yummy dinner and had a movie night!  I got Mary Poppins from the library and we watched with Caleb while Luke napped.  Caleb had never seen it before and he really liked it.  It really is still a fabulous movie.

Finding perfect family activities that are fun for us and our very small children, especially in this small town, is sometimes hard, but that day we did it!  And it was wonderful.  I love being together as a family.

Discovering...

We spent our first few months here discovering our new town and new life.  It was amazing how much time I had without working, any assignments at church, and without any friends!  (We are so much busier now... )  The boys and I just spent a lot of fun, calm, quiet time together and I loved it.  So here are a few of the things we've discovered:

The local library and it's awesome children's computers!

How much I like relaxing in my big bathtub.

The playground in our neighborhood!! I love that we can walk just a couple of blocks and be at a great park.  Our neighborhood is still being developed, so we also like to go watch the tractors work and the men build houses!

Luke discovered his feet!

 One of our local beaches - lovely!

 How fun Mommy Preschool can be!  More on this in future posts...

Caleb has discovered that he loves to hold his brother and imitate everything he sees us doing with Luke.

Luke is discovering teeth.  This was his first, but he now has four (almost five)!

We are discovering how to attend to two children at once.

 Both boys are discovering how much fun it is to roll around on the ground with each other.

More beach... yum.

How to skin, devine, cook and LOVE fresh shrimp bought on the side of the road, sometimes from men walking shoeless.  So delicious.

How garbage and recycling is collected in the low country - this is high class entertainment at our house.

I discovered the most beautiful, inviting looking dental office I've ever seen.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  Wouldn't you like to go get your teeth cleaned there?

The car carts at one of our local grocery stores.

How to build forts with each other!

We are enjoying our time here in the south.  I am trying to stay focused on teaching and nurturing my kids and putting my best efforts as well as the majority of my time into them.  I know this is such a precious time and it goes so quickly for me and for them.  I want to give them as much as I can before they grow up!!

Now that we are finally settled here, Tyler got out the good camera again, so nice pictures are coming... :)