All About Luke

Today is all about my sweet little man!

Luke was born January 31, 2008 and has always been my little snuggle bug.

He has always been very curious, has a fierce imagination, and LOVES to learn about science and math.  He could build with LEGOS all day!  He is also very sensitive and can be very shy but he loves to make people laugh, just don't put him on the stage.  He is fiercely loyal to his friends and although his sister drives him crazy a lot of the time, he would do anything to protect her.  His love language is quality time.

Here are a few things he is loving at age 8

Skiing

He started skiing when he was 3 and has loved every minute of it.  He can now ski black diamonds and through the trees with his Daddy.  

Snorkeling/SNUBA

We took our first big beach trip in June (you can look back on all the details of our trip) and Luke got to try SNUBA (SCUBA but the tank is floating above you on a raft instead of you carrying it and you only go about 20 feet down).  He is now looking forward to the day he can get SCUBA certified.  He really enjoyed snorkeling too.  He would dive down to look closer and even went through an underwater tunnel.

Learning to knee board

Poppa has a boat but with the lakes being low for several years, Luke is just now getting a chance to really learn.  He would spend every weekend out on the boat if he could.

Swimming

Right now he is suggesting we sell our playscape in our backyard and build a pool.  haha - if only that would be enough sweet boy.  :)

Riding his Bike

He learned to ride his bike this past year and pretty much thinks he can now drive a car.  lol

We have been spending lots of time riding and are hoping to ride to school some this year.

Photography

This is something he has recently been very interested in learning more about.

He wants to be a scientist when he grows up and got to go to a fun camp that the gifted program in McKinney put on this summer.  Yes, he enjoyed learning about math and science over the summer break.  :)  He loves to read about space and science too.

I asked Luke a few of his favorites

(I stole these from my friend Shay over at mixandmatchmama.com)

Favorite color: yellow

Favorite movie: Star Wars

Favorite food: chicken bowtie pasta

Favorite place to visit: Museums

Favorite activity: skiing

Favorite part of school: math

Favorite part of summer: having lots of time with family

Favorite thing about Lily: she's always happy and plays with me

Favorite thing about Mommy: snuggling together

Favorite thing about Daddy: he builds things with me

What's one word that describes you best: funny  :)

So that's a little about my sweet little man.  He has been such a blessing to our family and I love watching him grow and learn.  I can't wait to see how he grows in 3rd grade!

I was challenged by a friend to do the Facebook "Love Your Spouse" 7 day challenge.  It got me thinking that I am not sure I have done a post really introducing ourselves.  I thought I might share our story.  Sit tight y'all, it's a little complicated.

Brett and I met when we were in middle school.  I am about a year and a half older than he is but only a year ahead of him in school.  We attended the same church and had a mutual friend.  While at church camp over the summer, Brett asked our friend Doug to introduce us and that's when I met this shy, skinny blonde boy who was actually a little shorter than me at the time.  :)  We hung out at church activities but seldom had the opportunity outside of church to see each other at the ages of 12 and 14. He officially asked me out on Sept 20, 1995.  I remember because when my parents were moving a couple years ago they found this calendar.

Oh, middle school love  :)

We dated, and by dated I mean we held hands at church (gasp I know) and only saw each other on Sunday and Wednesday nights, for about a year.  At this point, I was heading to high school and I didn't feel like there would be many opportunities to see each other anymore.  At our church, the middle schoolers went to one service and the high school went to another and we had different Wednesday night activities too.  As much as it hurt me to do it, I stood in a Sunday School room and broke my sweet little blonde boys heart.  I left crying and so wanted to go back in and tell him that I changed my mind.  About 6 months later he moved to McKinney, TX and I thought I would never see him again.

Well, he stayed in touch with our friend Doug and 3 years later he came back for the summer to go to camp.  It was the summer of 1999.  I remember walking to get on the bus and seeing this tall (he had gone from being like 5'2 to 6'0), handsome, blonde boy and having to do a double take because I could not believe it was him.  I was crazy nervous that he hated me for what I had done but we ended up having an amazing conversation one night and I knew I wanted to marry him.  I know, crazy for a 17 year old but I just knew.  We got to spend some time together that summer and when I went with Doug to drop him off at the airport, I did not want to let go of him.

We kept in touch through phone calls, e-mail and AIM, there was no texting or cell phones back then.  We discussed him coming down for my prom and a few other things but he was not allowed to.  We decided to take a break because it was frustrating wanting to be together but not being able to.  Then in August 2000, a few weeks before I left for college, I was followed home from a late party and shot at in an attempt to steal my car.  I escaped but at that point I knew that no matter how far apart we were, I wanted to be with Brett, even if it could only be through phone calls and e-mail.

I went to Sam Houston State my first year to major in Dance but halfway through my first year I got really sick and had to withdraw.  I moved back home and had to reevaluate what I was going to now.  I went up to see Brett in McKinney about 4 times that year.  At this point in our relationship, it didn't feel like family really understood why we wanted to be together.

This was MORP at McKinney High School

I decided to transfer to McLennon Community College in Waco the next year while Brett started his first year at Baylor University.  I was doing theatre and the next year transferred into the theatre program at Baylor.  We spent the next 4 years enjoying our alma mater together.  I joined Kappa Delta Sorority and he work for Apple as a Campus Rep.  I graduated from Baylor in 2006 with a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Brett graduated in 2007 with a degree in Entrepreneurship.  I am so glad that we share a love for Baylor and got to spend our years there together.

Frat Party 2001

Halloween 2001

Kappa Delta formal 2004

(you like that ancient camera I'm holding?!)

One of many Baylor football games together

When Baylor beat the Aggies in 2005, Brett went down and helped tear down the goal post and carried it to campus.  He sawed off a piece for us to keep.

Kappa Delta Crush event in 2005.  We had a ton of water activities - so fun!

Christmas on 5th Street - one of our favorite Baylor events

Baylor ring ceremony together in 2006

Homecoming bonfire 2006

We would have gotten married the second year in Waco together but were told that if we did we would have to get loans to pay for Brett's Baylor tuition.  We were already going to have loans for my tuition so we decided to wait.  It is hard wanting to be together and being told to wait.

Brett's family invited me to go to Taos, NM for a New Year's ski trip in 2005.  Brett carried around my ring the whole trip.  We had gone to dinner at a really nice restaurant to celebrate New Year's and everyone thought he was going to do it there.

If you don't know anything about Brett, I should tell you that he is a super private person.  He wanted the moment to be special between the two of us and not with all his family around.  We left dinner and went back to his room to watch the fireworks on tv.  At midnight, as the fireworks started and we celebrated ...

... he got up and excused himself and left the room.  I was really confused because he had made a big deal about staying up and watching the fireworks together.  He came back seconds later with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him.  I fell to my knees and I'm not sure I actually answered him, lol, I think I just nodded.  :)

Proposal

A couple of our engagement pics

We got married January 6, 2007 and it has been an adventure every day since!

This year we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary and need some ideas of places to go.  We very rarely go somewhere just the 2 of us and would like to make our 10 year special!

The next couple of days I am going dedicate to our 2 beautiful blessings, Luke and Lily.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We thought we might actually have a slow weekend for once so we could get some stuff done around our house but just like every other summer weekend, it filled up quickly.

Thursday night we spent watching the Republican National Convention.  I would not say that I am a republican but a conservative.  I want Luke to learn about our democratic process so we watched Trump's convention speech.  By the end of it he was all in for Team Trump.  He even made us signs to hold like the delegates.  haha

We will also watch the Democratic National Convention and listen to Hillary speak.  I want my children to have their own minds and make their own decisions.  I think it is important to talk with them and teach them the values we have and answer the tough questions.

Then Friday we had a Harry Potter marathon.  We watched the first movie about a year ago and they found the collection in the closet so they wanted to watch the next one.  This was Luke so focused that he couldn't eat his lunch.

We wended up watching movies 2, 3, and 4.  They really enjoyed them but Luke is so concerned for Harry.  We might have to wait a while to watch the next 4.  He wants to know if Harry defeats Lord Voldemort but he wants to know without watching so he can relax.  :)

Saturday morning was spent cleaning out our garage and reorganizing the game room.  Exciting right?  Then we got a call saying that Aunt Patti and Uncle Dale were in town for the weekend.  They would be cooking brisket at Uncle Doug's.  We headed over to swim and hang out with the family.

When we got there we discovered that Brett's cousins, Brandon and Blaine, were also here for Brandon's Bachelor weekend.  The boys decided to head to a bar to celebrate after dinner and I took the kids to see some fireworks at my parent's house.  Their community pool has a summer party every year with fireworks and we can stand at my parents house and watch.

We had to go back and get Brett and ended up being there until about 1:00 am.  Thankfully the kids had a place to play and are pretty easy going.  Lily was out within seconds of getting in the car but Luke stayed awake until we pulled into the driveway and pretended to be asleep.  (Before I get hate about him sleeping in the car like this, know that he was faking so someone would cary him inside)

Since we were up so late Saturday night, we slept in Sunday morning and then met my dad for lunch.

It was nice to be surprised with some family time on a weekend that we thought would be a little slow!

Weekend Wrap-up

The kids wanted to spend the night with my mom so Brett and I got a last minute date night.  We bought a map of the islands we visited on our trip and wanted to get it framed so our first stop was Hobby Lobby.  We also bought some beautiful pictures of the islands that we wanted to frame somehow.  We decided to buy a big frame and put them all in together.  Then we found a fun linen fabric that looks like sand to use as a mat around the pictures.  I LOVE how it turned out!  Now I just need to get some pictures made to finish out the wall.

We had dinner at P.F. Changs and talked about what we want to do for our 10 year anniversary in January.  If you have any good ideas please pass them our way!

Saturday was a slow day.  We had yard work we needed to get done and we are working on organizing our garage and getting rid of stuff.

My cousin and her husband just moved back to the states after serving as missionaries overseas.  They have nothing so we are giving them our couch from our game room upstairs and our kitchen table, along with some other things like our coffee maker, an iron, and some other things that were given to us that we don't use.  The couch and table belonged to our grandparents and were given to me when they passed away.  We were in need of them at the time but I want to be able to pay it forward and let someone else in need have them now.  Elizabeth and Josiah live by such faith and follow where they feel God is leading them.  Their story is an inspiration to me and I am so glad we can bless them too.

Sunday we worked at the welcome desk at church and as we were leaving for lunch Lily came running over saying her shoe broke.  Don't worry, Daddy came to the rescue with duct tape fashions!  :)

Sunday afternoon we went to IKEA to look at couches for our game room and to get desk ideas for Lily's room.  As we were leaving, we noticed there was a Frisco Roughriders game going on so we headed over for a baseball game!

It was fireworks night and we got to go down and watch from the field

Of course they ran around like crazy people

My love

It was a great way to end our weekend!