Happy Halloween!

This year Luke was our little monkey.

Greg was a jedi.

And I was a mage.



He insisted on walking the whole way and carrying his bucket. He didn't trust us to give it back to him or something.



We went trick or treating with our neighbors. Their little boy Ethan is a month older than Luke and is a very cute cowboy.

Our neighbor dressed as white trash.


Little monkey wore cowboy boots because they were the only shoe that fit over his costume.(We didn't want to carry him the whole way.) He was so cute that people would give him hand fulls. We skipped lots of houses and still had a bucket full when we got back round to our house.


A couple of weekends ago was our Young Women's Fall Camp out. We had lots of fun even though there was a fire ban in our area because of the drought. We improvised our meals using electric skillets. We took a three mile hike and were super lucky to have the best weather imaginable. Can't wait for the next one!





Sometimes we go on walks as a family. If it is getting close to Luke's bedtime he might have his foot jammies on already. And if he wants to walk outside in jammies he wears boots. We think it's adorable.

Baby name

I have been thinking/hoping for a girl since we first learned I was pregnant. So I basically had a name picked out two months ago. I told one of my sisters and I kept referring to the baby as a girl to Greg. I also used brain washing techniques of saying the name I wanted over and over to him. When we found out the baby was a girl I was super excited but Greg had never said he agreed to the name so I was expecting a few more months of brain washing. We called his parents and told them the news. They asked if we had a name picked out and Greg said, "Tell them." I was like, "What, you agree to the name?!" And once we had announced to the grandparents it's pretty much final. After all that, our baby girl's name will be Caroline Paige Gessel.

It's a Girl!

So just in case any of you missed the boat. I am pregnant, due February 25th and I just found out I'm having a girl. I am super excited. I kept telling Greg it was a girl and he would say it's a boy so the boys would always outnumber the girls. So yesterday during conference when there was a talk specifically for fathers of baby girls, I poked Greg and said this is for you. He replied, "We'll see." I'm so excited! I already have started perusing baby girl items and fabrics. I did have some self control and didn't buy baby girl things before we knew for sure. Luke is really interested in babies right now and I'm taking that as a good sign. That's about it until we finalize a name.

Luke is 2!

This past week we celebrated Luke's 2nd birthday. I can't believe how big my baby is getting. He got a Thomas the train set and dvds, a jack in the box from us and some matchbox cars and a fun bath toys set from Grandma. He was pretty confused when we kept telling him happy birthday and singing to him. But he did understand that he was getting fun new toys and basically plays with only his new things right now. He's saying more words every day. We love having him in our life. Happy Birthday Luke!


I am so glad that Luke is finally wearing his cute cowboy boots!

Bear Lake

July 26th was our 5 year anniversary. Greg got me flowers and a secret souvenir from our Europe trip. He got Legos per his preference. I can't believe we have been married that long. But I am so lucky to have caught him. He's really awesome to be around, a great husband and father.
Two days later we were on a plane to Utah. We went up the canyon and stayed with the Gessels. Greg's Dad celebrated his birthday on Sunday and Monday and Wednesday. We went to the Sandy aquarium and looked at all the cool stuff including penguins and jelly fish. Thursday we headed up to Bear Lake where we had rented a cabin a couple doors down from the main relative cabin. Basically all my siblings were in this cabin with our kids. We had lots of fun at the lake and hanging out. Saturday was not as fun when Austin, Luke, and Tina started puking. Luke was stopped puking Sunday night, but we didn't really encourage eating since we were going on a plane and didn't want to clean up a nasty mess. He was so tired and weak that he slept most of the way and was very good. It easily could have gone the other way with him screaming the entire time. We really enjoyed our week in Utah and are sad it was so short we couldn't see friends this time.

Lazy?

So I haven't posted in a while. It is because I'm lazy and also because I am pregnant. So I am sure you can forgive me for not yet posting European vacation part 2 and Bear Lake Fun. 2nd lieutenant, as Greg calls the baby because he wants the boys to outnumber me, is due February 25, 2012. I am 12 weeks. So there, now you know. I am more sick than lazy.

European Vacation part 1

Greg got the opportunity to go to a conference for Exxon in Cannes, France. So we decided to take the European vacation that we'd always talked about. While Greg attended his conference, I dropped Luke off at Grandma Gessel's house in Sandy, UT. Luke had so many fun people to play with, I'm pretty sure that he hardly noticed I was gone.










Since Greg's conference was in the South of France that's where we started. We went to Cannes and Nice then to Florence and Venice, Italy; Geneva, Switzerland to Lyon, France and finishing in Paris. The whole trip was a series of train voyages besides of course the long flights to and from the States.