Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween we tried to keep our "traditions" alive, a little bit more tricky with Luke around. We did manage to carve pumpkins and dress up, but the caramel apples didn't make the final cut. We did, at least, have apple slices and dipped them in caramel sauce. :)

Luke was ecstatic to carve his pumpkin...

For our costumes we decided to dress Luke up as the sheriff and we were the outlaws. I thought for sure we would be a hit at our ward trunk-or-treat, but Luke was a little tuckered out from the day and fell asleep on the way to the church (a whopping 5 minutes away). I couldn't bear to wake him up and pull him out of his car seat, so he remained in his peaceful slumber--in his car seat. He was definitely the key piece to our costumes, not nearly as clever without him. We managed to snap a few pics of our trio before the little man called it a night.

I loved Luke's hat. Greg and Tiff (Bryan's brother and his wife) gave us the hat that made the whole "sheriff" costume complete.

I found these spurs at a dollar store to go on the boots, pretty good, huh?!?




To wrap things up, I'll include a few more pictures of Luke. He is very smiley lately and loves to coo and make all those fun baby noises. We have really enjoyed this time with him. It's quite entertaining to watch what Bryan (or I) will do in attempts to get him to smile.

Estes Park

To celebrate Luke turning one month old we headed up to Estes Park for a one night get-a-way. It was beautiful Fall weather and Luke enjoyed the trip. He even slept 6 hours straight that night! Bryan and I aren't holding our breath for that every night, but we sure thought we could get use to it. :)

Luke wanted to wave hello to celebrate turning a month old.





The elk were bugling like crazy in the park. It was music to Luke's ears and lulled him off to sleep.




We went on a little hike around Bear Lake, it was gorgeous.





Beautiful Fall weather. I hope that we are able to enjoy Fall a little longer before Winter comes along.

2 years ago...

Just 2 years ago Bryan and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! I consider myself to be the luckiest gal to have snagged Bryan. He is so wonderful to me and I have loved seeing him as Luke's father (I know mushy-mushy). Happy Anniversary!

2 WEEK STATS

A week ago Luke had his follow up visit with the pediatrician. Luke is doing rather well for himself. His stats are as follows:

Height: 22.5 inches (96 %tile)
Weight: 9 lbs 14 oz (81 %tile)

He is definitely growing so quickly! Every day brings something new. We have loved having Luke in our home, he is such a sweet boy. Here are some pictures to prove it. :)


He loved snuggling with Grandma Carrie.
Thanks so much for coming and spending time with us!


The multi-purpose binki.



After many months of planning the nursery, Luke spends zero time in it sleeping, he has a few other favorite sleeping spots...



The carseat



The floor, it is soft carpet :)




And his favorite spot??? The bathroom with the fan on. He is his father's son, and LOVES white noise. Could we be a little more white trash than putting our kid in a bouncer, in the bathroom with a t-shirt as a blanket? Probably, but it might be hard to beat. I guess we will just about try anything for a few hours of sleep. :)



Luke sported his baseball outfit to support Bryan at his softball game.



Our first family picture.

LUKE

Luke Bryan Nielson joined our family on September 15th at 1:07 pm! He weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and was 22 inches! He decided to throw a few "kinks" into the labor and delivery plans, but he made it safely. We have loved having his spirit in our home. It is amazing how fast life changes with these little ones. To say that the past week and a half has felt like a blur would be an understatement. I'll keep the words short and post what everyone wants to really see, pictures! :)

Headed in to be induced-the little stinker decided to hang around an extra week.

All smiles and thumbs ups??? I had absolutely NO idea what was about to transpire in the next 18 hours.



Proud papa




Grandma Mona made it out the day after Luke was born. We wouldn't have survived without her here. Let the anxiety build for when she leaves Wednesday... uh-oh.




Our favorite nurse, Trish. She was wonderful, not only to me and baby Luke, but also to Bryan. She even put a chocolate on his pillow, such service!




Going home.

Luke's first bath, he wasn't too sure about the whole experience...

Enjoying some time with mom , or rather, mom enjoying time with Luke.

Sweet sleep

(Bryan and I should also be sleeping and not taking pics, but how could we miss this???)

Welcome Baby Luke.

Labor Day Weekend

We went down to Colorado Springs over Labor Day. It is about 45 minutes south of where we live. Bryan ran the Colorado Springs Marathon on Monday, but we decided to go down the day before and stay overnight. That way, we wouldn't have to wake up as early to make the start time of 6:30. Bryan did awesome on the marathon course! He was running so fast that this is the only picture I managed to snap of him running. Oops.



Here he is after completing 26.2 miles. Wowzers, what a man!



Sunday night, there was a hot air balloon festival at one of the parks in Colorado Springs. The picture doesn't do it justice how amazing the balloons look at night, but it does capture my balloon belly at 9 months pregnant! :)

Steamboat Springs

As the clock continues to count down until Luke makes his presence known, we try to cram in as much as we can. We took a little overnight trip up to Steamboat Springs. It is gorgeous up there. We enjoyed some relaxing, going out to breakfast and squeezed in a little hiking. It was the perfect "mini" getaway.