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Tribute to Lukey

We went to the temple the other night (I know, aren't we spiritual?) and I had little Luke constantly on my mind. I had a good chance that day to spend some quality time with just Luke and was really enjoying his sweetness. This chance doesn't happen often since Cooper is certain to make his presence known if we're paying too much attention to Luke. I realized, again, what a sweet, pleasant, FUN baby Luke is and felt an outpouring of love for him. At the temple I was getting so, so excited to be sealed to him. Hopefully we'll be setting that up in the next few months. I got excited and anxious and just wanted to have that special moment in my memory already. I feel so grateful for Luke and the joy he has brought into our lives. He is so precious to us and we are grateful to Melissa, his birth mom, for giving us the opportunity to bring such a special person into our family. We feel as though our lives are truly touched by the hand of God! Let's not forget it is also touched by the hand of chaos--and soon to be even more so!! Anyhow, I love my Lukey so much and felt it was time to give him a bit of the spotlight!

Lions, Tigers, and Llamas-Oh My!

We had a really fun time this Saturday. We took off to this place in Griffin called Noah's Ark Rehab Center for Animals (I know, I didn't know that Griffin could actually offer something good!). This is a place for all of the drug/alcohol abusing animals to go. Haha! Just kidding! It's where injured animals go to recover. Anyhow, it was super cool made even cooler since it was super free!!!! Cooper had the TIME OF HIS LIFE since his new passion is animals. Proud little mama over here when he named nearly every animal and what noises they made. Luke had the time of his life off-roading it in the stroller. Seriously, he was just laughing and giggling with every bump. It was precious! Here is a pictoral show of our event!

Is that illegal? I don't know-but don't tell!

If you look really, really hard you can see a black bear out there.Fattest pigs I have ever, ever seen and probably ever, ever will see.Taken in front of 2 huge wolves in honor of Luke a.k.a. "Wolfie" (pronounced incorrectly as "Woofie")
Look at all them there llamas!

My Life Flashed Before My Eyes!

My adorable boys before the tragedy struck...
Okay, obviously that title is a bit of an exaggeration, but I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes when Jake took a shaver to Cooper's head. When I saw all of those beautiful curls fall to the ground. When I thought, oh my gosh, that looks SOOO bad. I admit that I came a little close too tears, but I tried to be brave for Cooper--who actually loved the feel of the shaver and was laughing. In the end, I really do think the haircut turned out cute, but I don't know if I'll allow that blade next to my baby's head again. What a shame to have curls and not use them!!!! It's like having fingers but choosing to cut them off just to see what it would be like. Don't do it!! By the way, don't we have the cutest little boy in the world? That last one is to show off his fancy haircut and those totally sweet muscles.

This is Cooper gone "Redneck"--check out that sweet man-made gap inbetween his 2 front teeth.

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP--I'M MESSY!

Those scary elf men on the front of Rice Krispy treats visited my home with a vengeance! When my boys (yes, both of them) started attacking my bowl of sticky, ooey, gooey rice crispy treats I had to take many deep breaths and remind myself to simply "live in the moment". This is my self-diagnosed therapy when my kids are making a mess but having a really good time and I just want to shout "STOP! Mommy can't handle the mess. She too OCD!!" It did actually turn out to be fun and very easily cleaned, so I was glad I let them revel in the ooey gooey!

Just a whole different kind of mess--but a very cute one!

Rub-a Dub-Dub, My Boys Love Each Other in the Tub!

I finally felt comfortable letting Luke sit up in the tubbies and the boys have LOVED tubby time ever since. I love seeing them play together and laugh together. Luke just splashes and splashes and Cooper will pour an entire cup of water on his head and he'll just keep laughing. He's such a trooper!

All Clean!

Rain and Fires

It's not often that you get to light a fire in the middle of August in the South...unless you're vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains and it's done nothing but rain for days! I took the boys with my parents and Beau and Jacob up to North Carolina to stay for a couple of days in an all-expense-paid cottage! It was really fun, if not really wet! It was probably Cooper's dream come true since we went out and played in the rain for a while..."his one true wish". He is ALWAYS begging to go and play in the "rain" (a.k.a. the sprinklers).

We had such a nice, nice time in the very quiet NC mountains. We went swimming, hiking, fishing, playing, gaming, golf carting, and all of the other relaxing -ing's you can think of. The bad news is that I pulled a muscle in my lower abdomen (I believe from carrying chunky Luke in his carseat) and it's not capable of healing since I can't sit around all day and my tummy is rapidly growing with it's weight directly on that muscle. I've been pretty miserable and letting people know it! What a grump!

Anyhow: here are some adorable pics...just imagine if I had a good camera and actually knew how to use it!

After I failed at lighting the fire twice, mom took over and told me I had to get pine wood and I had to get more kindling. I had no idea my mom was so outdoorsy!!

Look at the blazing fire!Yeah, I know it's crazy that we're going to have another baby in January! I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it! People are beginning to look at me like, Dang, that girl needs to get on some birth control! If they only knew!!!

Look at that "cheese" grin! I love it!
Grandma loves, no is heavily obsessed, with our little Lukey. He LOVES the attention! How can you not love this face?The infamous wooky loft. This was definitely the most enthusiastic face we could get out of Cooper--he was terrified!They had the MOST beautiful golf course set in the highest peak of the mountains. Loved it!