So You Think You Can Dance CONCERT

We went to the SYTYCD concert on Thursday....it was amazing! I was seriously counting down the days for this concert and it was so worth it. Me, Cami, and Jakelle went and I really want to make this a tradition to go every year. :) But really, I loved it. We were able to get with Chelsi before and go to dinner at Pizzeria 712 in orem (if you haven't been there, you should go it's fantastic) Then we headed up there to the Maverick Center. The dancing was incredible, we had such a great time. Thanks Jakelle and Cami, you are the best!

LYLA IS ONE!!

I can't believe how fast time flys by...lyla is now ONE and I know it's been 8 MONTHS since I've updated our blog! Wow where does the time go?! Well... FINALLY I'm doing it and just for you Cami and Chelsi!! ha We're doing just great. We had such a fun 4th of July in Richfield. Since the whole family was there at Jake's house, it was a perfect time to celebrate Lyla's bday. My whole family was actually gone! That never happens and especially over the 4th....if you've been to Richfield for the 4th, you know what I mean! I missed them that's for sure, but it was fun to be with Jake's family. We partied all weekend and since it was Lyla's cousin, Lauren's bday on the 7th, we got to celebrate together they were SO CUTE! We celebrated on Saturday with YUMMY food, balloons, CUPCAKES, a pinata, slip 'n slide, and lot's of fun presents!
I had been looking online for quite some time, trying to figure out what to make for her cake and the whole idea for the party, so I was really excited. (I think these parties are definitely for the moms! ha I think Jake thought I was crazy!) I was so excited to make my cupcakes I had found online and I was just hoping it would all work out...and YAY thankfully it did! I made small raspberry lemonade cupcakes and my sister-in-laws helped me make these delicious oreo bon bons. They are to die for! If you know me, I'm not even a huge chocolate fan, but these chocolate yummies are heaven in your mouth! I got the recipe from my friend and they were a hit. (Thanks Kenzi!) Now the best part was making the HUGE cupcakes for the birthday girls!! I found the pan mold from a friend and I was so nervous cause it's not like we were able to practice before, so we figured it out as we went along. They turned out great, even though you'll see from the pics that Lyla didn't even touch hers!! ya, who's child seriously gags on her birthday cake!! Of course my child ha I don't know where she came from, she's definitely not a sugar lover like her mom. She was so cute though, she liked the "1" candle on top at least. :) It was an ALL day party, we went outside and the kids swam and played it was so fun. We had such a great time, we're so lucky to have such a great family. Thanks everyone for all your help! Here are pictures to show better than me describing all we did.

The decorating process that morning


The YUMMY table!





As you can see Lyla absolutely LOVED her new chair from Grandma Polly! Thanks grandma


Trying to get Lyla to eat her cupcake...ya that didn't happen, but they were having fun!!






4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION (The top left corner is when we did our annual cookie contest...ya Amanda and I totally should've won!! ha )

Thanksgiving FUN

What a FUN Thanksgiving weekend it was! We left for R-town as soon as I got off work on Tuesday night. (it was kinda late...but we couldn't wait any longer!) It was the Luekenga's turn this time so we stayed at Jake's parents' house. And WOW do we always feel like we're staying at a bed and breakfast there, we feel like royalty! :) SO FUN! Jake did his usual golfing, basketball, and being with the boys, while the girls did our "girls" things. :) Jake actually DID help this year...he made delicious mashed potatoes that he was so PROUD of. (they really were DeViNe) Jake's sister went to this cooking class at the Chef's Table in Orem and was able to get all the recipes for Thanksgiving dinner so we tried them all out...and it was SO GOOD! We were NOT disappointed that's for sure. It was fun to try new recipes (well "new" to Jake's mom...cooking is always "NEW" to me!) We ate lot's of good food and of course yummy pumpkin pie. We were able to hit the Poulson's party as well and get seconds on dessert! (Ya kinda regretting that one about now) ha I'm so grateful for such an AMAZING family and for the opportunity to be reminded of all the blessings in my life.

She sure LOVES her papa...she fell right asleep on his lap, how sweet is that.


Lyla with her sweet Great Grandma Collyer



This is what Jake did ALL weekend! This is the newest buy of RL (jake's dad)...I know you're thinking who would drive this thing, but of course only my husband and father in law would! :) Love that face



This was a couple weeks ago when I watched my friend's little girl, Afton helping Lyla go down the slide for the first time! Lyla looks almost as BIG as her! ha We love AFTON!

The tiniest, SWEETEST, most adorable Halloween FAIRY!


too bad you can't see the back of the wings, (it's cuter) I forgot that you can see this side more when i made them...oops my bad!

We had such a fun weekend in Richfield! I just wish I would've taken more pictures, dang it. As you can see we were boring and didn't dress up, I had too much fun dressing up cute baby Lyla. We watched the kids hit a pinata, Jake golfed...as usual :) handed out candy, Michelle made fun "Mummy" pizza's...YUM!, and played with family! SO FUN



The cute GRAHAM fam! They were a hit, don't they look so GREAT!





This is from last week...This is how Jake feeds Lyla...so creative...or lazy! jk ;) ha


Our Favorite JUDE!! We put them next to each other to see the height difference...isn't that so funny! Jude is 3 1/2 months older than Lyla. (I think she's going to be tall) Isn't he just the CUTEST!!

Long overdue UPDATE

Yes we are still alive! Life has been keeping us pretty busy lately...school, work, and of course the best of all...LYLA :) She's getting so big and more and more fun. She smiles all the time and is just the cutest! I'm back to working at The Happy Sumo, which is going great. It was really hard at first, but Lyla's doing tons better and I'm doing better too:) It's kinda nice to get away and get a little break. I just work 3 nights a week (it's plenty I think!) so it's not too bad. The plan was for Jake to watch her while I was gone...then Jake had a crazier semester than he thought so we got lucky that my mom could come up on 2 of the nights I work. It has seriously been such a blessing to have her help, she's so great to come watch lyla and save us! Jake get's his sweet little time with her when my mom can't come :) and our good friends Jordan and Ali watch her too when Jake needs to get some school done. They are so great and we just love them! They just got married in August so this will be a good birth control for them that's for sure! ha We're just so lucky to have such great friends, they're the best.
We're just figuring out this new parenting thing :) and so far it's a lot of fun. We're reminded how great it is every time we get that sweet smile...We love it! Here are some fun pictures




Lyla really likes to be held. She's getting a lot better as she get's older and she now LOVES her swing! (Thanks to Aunt Coll for that one!) I now can get a little more done in the day.



Another life saver...A cute girl from my work let me borrow this fun toy. Lyla loves it! She doesn't like to be on her tummy for long, so this helps a little so she's entertained for a bit.

A Little Update...

Amanda's niece Rachel and our nephew Max, who just LOVES Lyla! He always wanted to hold her, he's the cutest! We love MAX-O!!

We went to Richfield a couple weeks ago just for fun, oh and for Jake to play in a golf tournament with his dad and brothers...we had such a great time! I've wanted to go to the lake for quite some time now, since we didn't go AT ALL last summer :( so sad. Jake's brother-in-law, Dave was so nice and took us all to the lake. Sadly of course we go at a time when I can't get in...but it was a blast watching everyone else! I guess this surfing thing off the back of the boat is the new thing these days and it looks so fun. Jake of course was really good at it, being only his second time ever doing it too! Here's a video, it's awesome! Amanda and Cami tried it for their first time and both did awesome as well! It looks really hard though, even though they make it look easy. Here's a few pics...

Sorry about the cranked neck...I hate when I do that!!





Baby Lyla's first time in the boat and LOVED it!



Thanks Dave that was so much fun, you're the BEST!! I'm so out there next time!

She is SO LOVED!!



We went to St.George over the weekend for Lauren's Baptism and they also blessed their baby Benjamin Scott. Sweet little Lauren is holding Lyla in the first picture...
She was such a cutie and so ready to be baptized, we were happy to be there.

CONGRATS Lauren we are so PROUD of you!



I went over to Cami's In-law's when Cami came to visit and we took a few pictures of our kids...Aren't they SO CUTE!

24th Weekend

Wow being a mom is so THE BEST that's all I have to say! :) Every day just get's better and better and it's a lot of fun. I just feel so blessed to have such a great baby and I feel so lucky to be where we are right now. It's funny how already I can't even imagine not having a baby. I thought it would be a huge adjustment (and of course it is a little...now that she's my new schedule!) but it really just feels normal and I feel like I've been a mom for a while!
We had our first little "get away", which I was kinda nervous about (ya know just being away from home and I didn't know how Lyla would do) But she did GREAT! We had such a fun weekend and I actually took pictures! I was so proud of myself. :) My old roommate, Jenny got married on thursday so we went up and stayed with Josh and Amanda in Bountiful. Amanda watched baby Lyla for us while we went to the temple in the morning and she got a taste of what it's like to have twins! ha She has a 4 month old baby, so she was so nice to take Lyla for us. I was so nervous to leave her, luckily she was good and she slept most of the time. Yay Thanks Amanda, you're the Best! Then we went back to get her for the luncheon. She's such a good baby!



We went to the FAMOUS Bountiful 24th of July Parade! Well, we were told that it was one of the best parades...after waiting 10 mintues between each float...we beg to differ! ha Just kidding Josh and Amanda! I was just giving them a hard time at the parade because we really were waiting a while between each float. But later we found out it was because someone in the parade got ran over!! ya, I felt really bad after that! Luckily she is ok, but I guess she did break her leg though..how sad huh!

Lyla's first parade and loved it! :) (if you can't tell...) We laughed at how big baby Jude looks next to Lyla...ha THEY GROW SO FAST!


Our BIG fireworks show to end the night! The boys gave us quite the show...they were CRAZY!!


We had such a blast with everyone! Thanks to Amanda and Josh for showing us a great time and for letting us crash on their couch for a few days, sure love you guys! Oh and Michelle took some of the sweetest pics of baby Lyla...soon to come! (Hey Michelle...send them to me when you get a chance!)

SO PRECIOUS!

My sister Jakelle took the cutest pictures of Baby Lyla! Here are just a couple...more to come later! We went to Jess's store and took pics, but Lyla was having a hard night and did not want to go to sleep :( So we're going to try again next week when Jakelle comes.
Isn't she the prettiest baby! I can say that because I'm the proud mom :)

SHE'S HERE!

LYLA LUEKENGA
July 10, 2009 @ 5:50 p.m.
7 lbs 14 oz. 20 1/2 in long



Wow, we are so happy she's finally here! The last couple of days have been pretty crazy, sorry about the late update... but she's SO MUCH FUN! So here's the whole story...

We had our last doctor's appointment on thursday (my due date) and she said I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced, so everything looked great! Our doctor is amazing by the way, we love her! She said she doesn't like to induce first time mom's, but luckily she said I was an exception! Everything was looking good and my body seemed to be preparing and doing the right things. We couldn't wait to meet her of course so we were like, well can do it tomorrow?! ha She called the hospital to see and they gave the OK. So, they told us they'd call us in the morning to tell us when to come. Our doctor told us it could be 6, 7, or 9 am so be ready! Ya, I was like THANKS for telling us they could call at 6...first off of course I didn't sleep well...6 hit and I was awake and couldn't go back to sleep! ha Well, we got the call at 8:30 a.m. and they said to be there at 9:45! It was really nice to get everything ready and I didn't feel rushed at all, but WOW it was the craziest feeling of just thinking, "Oh we're just going in to have a BABY! :) That's all, no big deal ya know!" ha

I'll try and make this not so LONG...sorry. So they started me on pitocin at 11:35 a.m. I wasn't really feeling any contractions yet, BUT then all a sudden I SURE DID!! I swear they came all a sudden and they came good! I was alright for a while and I was trying to be strong...then the pain started going in my back and I WAS DONE! I then asked for the epidural and all I have to say is THE EPIDURAL IS THE BEST THING EVER! ha I'm serious though, I don't know how people can go natural. I guess I just don't understand why you'd want to make it a horrible experience when it could actually be a great one! ;) (sorry if I affend anyone) They broke my water and from then on it went WAY fast. I was so happy bc it could have gone really slow, but I was lucky and dilated quick. I had to push for an hour and a half though! ya, she had one big head! ha Everyone was betting on her weight earlier and saying she'd be around 6-7 lbs, but then when they saw her head...they were all, I think she's bigger than we all thought! It was pretty funny cause one nurse said she'd buy us dinner if she was more than 8 lbs. I couldn't believe she was even that close! Thanks to Jake's genes, I had a bigger baby! (oh sorry if this is a bit too detailed for some! ha) She was born at 5:50 p.m.

When I first heard her cry...there are no words to describe the feeling. She actually didn't cry that loud and they wanted her to belt it louder cause she had a lot of mucous in her that they were worried about. (that of course didn't last long, we know she has a good set of lungs for sure now!) It's just an amazing feeling when they put her on my chest right when she came out...aw it's just an incredible thing that she was just inside me. I just love her so much and I can't believe she's mine! She's perfect in every way and I feel so blessed to have her in our lives. I'm so grateful that everything went well, that she's healthy and I'm healthy as well. We're the luckiest parents that's for sure!

BRAND NEW!





The new LUEKENGA FAMILY





We had to see how Lyla liked her new crib when we got home! Doesn't she look so little in that BIG bed!


Lyla went on her first picnic to the park! She was such a good baby (we live right across from the part so we thought it'd be fun)


We all like to sleep with Baby Lyla! :) I love the one with my mom! I took it this morning, I just thought it looked so funny with them both in that twin bed :)


First KISS by daddy! This is my favorite, how sweet is that! Jake is the cutest dad and there's nothing like watching daddy with his sweet baby girl.