I love being a Mama!

Summertime is just a wonderful time of year. I love the weather and so does our little Luke. He wakes up and heads straight for the door. He knocks, points, and grabs my hand and puts it on the knob. It is so fun now that he is starting to understand some of my directions like, "go get your shoes." He'll run back to his room and gets in his drawer, bring them to me, and plop in my lap so he can get his shoes on and get going. :)
Being a mom has been such a learning experience. I am constantly surprised at the things he is learning. I seriously had no idea what I was doing when Luke was born. I still have no idea what I am doing. But at least now that I feel like we are in a good groove... but baby boy #2 is going to get me learning and growing again! I sure hope he likes to sleep as much as his brother does. I can handle lots of things, but severe lack of sleep does crazy things to me. Sleepwalking, sleeptalking, imagining things, etc. But at least I won't be in school! That fact alone makes me feel I can accomplish anything. But I am sure I will be whistling a different tune when I have two wild boys to chase! 2 boys! Yikes. I wonder how long it will take me to dare to go to the store with the two of them.
One thing I like about being a mom is that there is no right way and a little love will go a long way. Every loving mama is doing it right! I am so grateful for my little Luke. He has been such a sweet little guinea pig to let me learn on. But unfortunately all my kids will be guinea pigs! I must have short-term memory loss because I am pretty sure I will be learning everything all over again. But I am so so excited! I love knowing what is in store and the good sweet moments are ahead. One of the things that gets me the most excited is seeing the differences in my two boys little personalities and how they will interact with each other. It is going to be so much fun! And at least I have a little while before they know how to argue and fight. I just love being a mom!

What Luke has been up to lately:
* Talking up a storm! Some of his favorite words are: mom, dad, hot, car, truck, bubble, what's that?, shoes, choo-choo, bye, hi, cheese, teeth, nose, amen, and wow!
* Down to one nap. It only took me one day to know he was ready. I learned pretty quick that night when it was past 11pm and he was still fighting going to sleep!
* He loves to climb. He climbs up on his train table just so he can put all of his cars and trains in a line on his window sill and drive them.
* He has finally grown! Up until his most recent doctor check up he has always been super small and around the 10% percentile on growth charts but this time he shot up to 30th percentile for weight and 60th for height.
* He loves Thomas the Train. Loves it! I really wonder how much he understands and why he loves it so much, but all I know is that he does, especially when snuggling by me or Dustin. I know way too much about Thomas and his Friends. haha.
* His favorite foods are: bananas, rice krispies, blueberries, rice, strawberries, cheese sticks, Nutrigrain bars, pudding, popsicles, chips, cream of wheat, red vines, and anything his Grandpa Bart gives him. I need to get him back into his vegetables now that he has more teeth.
* He has teeth! 8 in front and at least 3 molars. He loves to brush his teeth and say "cheese" but he is secretive when it comes to letting anyone see them.
* And lastly he continues to be our Mr. Curious. He loves puzzles, putting lids on things, and figuring out how everything works. I love his curiosity.

I just love having Dustin back! I can't believe we made it 14 weeks apart for that internship. It feels like so long ago. Now that Dustin is back he continues to work, work, work to provide for us. He never complains. He also works with the young men and has been on camp outs and activities with them. He took 9 credits for his spring term at BYU and somehow he has managed to help around the house as well. I am definitely not as good at having tons on my plate. I tend to get overwhelmed. So I kinda like to brag about Dustin and his superman skills and I guess it is my blog so I can. ;)

Dustin and I have moved every year since we got married so if we were to keep up with that tradition we would be moving this month! Thank goodness we are in such a nice place and we have room for baby boy #2 to join us so we don't have to! I guess we can just save up our energy for the move next year because that one is going to be a killer.

A picturesque summer update about Yellowstone and other adventures is to come...

Happy and Healthy!

We are alive! haha. I have a computer now so I wonder what excuse I will come up with now when I don't blog. Something about blogging makes me tired but I like to do it at the same time. Weird. Anyway, we are back together! After 14 weeks of being apart for Dustin's internship and a crazy summer term of school, we are together and loving the summer. Dustin had a good experience interning for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Phoenix and we are counting our blessings that they liked him too! He was offered a full-time job to start after he graduates next year! We are excited to move to Arizona next year and start a new phase in our lives. :)

I probably better give a little bit of an update from the past few months. Luke had quite a few firsts! He met Santa for the first time. He didn't think he was that bad. He just wanted to take off his glasses and play with his bells. Luke is Mr. Curious! He has to figure everything out. We had a great Christmas and enjoyed every minute we had before Dustin had to leave. Luke had plenty of opportunities to play in the snow and liked being pulled around in his little sled.

Luke got to meet our mission president and his wife.

4 generations of Hanson men

January 19th came before we knew it and Luke turned ONE! Dustin was already in Phoenix and we weren't expecting to get together until the week after because I was "told" he had trainings so he couldn't make it to Luke's party. As our family and friends were arriving for Luke's big day, I went to answer the door and there was Dustin on the other side of the door to surprise us!! Well I guess just Luke and me because everyone else was in on the surprise but me! We were so excited to see him and spend the weekend together. Luke was stuck to his dad like glue just hugging and snuggling him all weekend. Luke was spoiled rotten! He got more toys than he knew what to do with! It was a Happy Birthday for our little sweetheart!

In February we took a week-long visit down to Phoenix. It was also another surprise. My brother Aaron had an interview with University of Arizona for a new job and to be in their PhD program. So he invited us to go with and stay for a week! So we jumped at the chance! We found a homeaway condo to stay in and we lived the high life! It was furnished even down to a bed for Luke and he slept great the whole time. We went and saw the Mesa Temple, visited some baseball fields, and did some shopping. It was great because it was even Valentine's day while we were there so while Luke was sleeping Dustin and I went to see Lincoln at the movie theater. It was hard to say goodbye but we did it and before we knew it Dustin was up visiting us again.

Thank goodness it worked out that we never had to go more than 2 weeks without getting together. That made it possible. Another thank goodness for technology! We were able to Facetime just about every night or at least talk on the phone and talk about the day. Luke started walking while Dustin was gone and Dustin was so anxious to see him walking in person that he drove up one weekend just to witness it! He was probably driving as long as he got to stay with us but it was sure fun for Luke to chase his dad around.

Luke's first modeling shoot

Luke is just so much fun right now. He loves Thomas the Train. Just LOVES Thomas the Train. It is the only thing he will watch or even sit down for. For Easter my parents gave us tickets to go see Thomas at the Heber Valley Railroad. He was in 7th Heaven!! He said "choo choo" the whole ride. 

And some miscellaneous pictures...

He loves dirt!

Chuck-E-Cheese

BYU Baseball Game

First Haircut!

Visiting the pet store

The petting zoo

FATHER'S DAY!

To end this monster blog update, the most exciting update of all. We are having another BOY!! Boys, boys, boys! I am getting so outnumbered, but I love it! Luke is going to have so much fun with this little guy. November 2nd is the due date. :)