All I want for christmas.... is one of these please!

We had an amazing christmas this year! We were so busy running from one parents house to another, we had so many fun family get togethers and yummy food. My favorite was definitely watching luke. I didn't think he would catch on this year... but boy did he, he would yell santa pause and get so excited to rip the paper off presents and was actually excited at what was in the box not just the wrappings.

He would tear a peace of paper off then clap his hands and say yay!

One of his cousins got a fur real pet and luke loved walking around with the box on his head, it was super cute I would buy one of these in a heart beat if I saw it on the shelf! another blog to come on the rest of our christmas festivities.

year end summary

This has been one amazing year!! I honestly cant believe how much we have been blessed. Because I only have one child I feel like I should be able to keep up with journaling his life right? obviously we all know the answer to that is NO, which leads to my new years resolution... I am going to make an honest effort to document our life with pictures and blogging, I dont think anyone is worse than me at taking pictures... I vow to be better! with that being said here is a quick summary of the things we did this year.

The year started out very slowly in january, we worked and recruited for alarm sales like crazy... by we I mean Chris of course, He was so busy in january and february. At the first of march we took a trip to Hawaii without Luke... you would think I would be excited to take off to the tropical island of hawaii right? Nope, poor chris had to deal with me for the month prior complaining about leaving my baby, I balled the night we left I don't know why, we left him with my beyond capable parents and aunts and friends. Luckily I got totally over it after the first phone call that he didn't even notice I was gone, and completely loved the get away with chris. such a good way to recharge the batteries after the shock of having our first baby.

2 weeks later we celebrated Lukes 1st birthday, the week later he completely gave up crawling and walked like a pro.

We made the decision to rent out our house until we were done with summer sales, so we finished the back yard and moved into my grandparents town home. I know I know what a bummer to leave as soon as we finish the back yard but at least it will be done for when we move back.

Middle of April we packed up the car and Luke and headed on the treturous 31 hour drive to chicago, Luke did amazing and we moved into our apartment 2 days later. I absolutely loved Chicago. Chris was so busy this year with running the office for the first time by himself, he did such a good job, I am always amazed at how drivin he is to get things done and how hard he works. he lead the office in sales as well as everything that comes with managing, which goes to show that he never does anything half way! needless to say I am very impressed at how good he is at his job... which is probably why we are going on our 5th year of doing it:)

Luke and I made a trip to Ohio to stay with bree and tyler for a week. Luke loved having kids around at all hours of the day, he definitely made bree grateful for not having kids as extremely busy and constantly moving as our little ball of fire , ( although as Natalie is getting older I think she should have knocked on wood). We helped them move to another house... and by helped, I mean sat with the kids and watched them... man they worked hard. we had yummy bbq's, and tyler watched luke several times while me and bree got a breather (something I had not done all summer) so thanks a billion TyTy. on the drive back to chicago and chris, Luke puked all over the car from crying so hard, just thought id throw that one in.

Chris played hooky one day, at the end of june and we went down town into the city, we had a ball in the beautiful city, we took a boat taxi and walked all around, me and Luke loved having Chris with us for the day.

first of july we moved to indianapolis and into a hotel. Luke got so so sick the worst I have ever seen anyone. he had 30 kankers in his mouth so many that by the third day they expanded until it looked like his mouth and tongue was covered in one single blister, he couldnt close his mouth, eat, drink, or sleep. so Chris Flew me home to have my parents help take care of him. the plane ride was not the greatest he cried and I was sick ( for those of you who know me I get motion sick on planes during take off and landing) so if you can just picture what a sight we were on the ride. my parents gathered us up at the airport and we made it home! luke got better within the week and LOVED being with his grandma and cousins!! he was Like a new kid after only having me to entertain him during the day all summer. He literally learned 2o new things while we were there, basically he is like his mom and thrives around family. While we were there we made it to the family reunion for the first time in 3 years. and we threw Kensi a baby shower and it turned out AWESOME !! after 2 1/2 weeks mom was ready to be back with dad and Luke cried when we left grandma and grandpa at the airport. they did such a good job of taking care of us. I have the best parents ever!! while we were gone chris moved to dayton Ohio. we got back and he took us to kings island the theme park, we had a blast!! and Luke was so happy to see dad but who wouldnt be, he has the best dad ever!

We lived the rest of the summer in a hotel room, which comes with its own trials but I am glad we have that adventure to look back on in our lives, but only to look back on.... never again... knock on wood.

end of august we made the drive home.... such a long drive!! we came back with the hopes of starting a cupcake store, we had everything ready but we couldnt get the city of st george to work with us, such a "who you know" kind of city, so that has been put on the shelf for a while.

we settled back into our townhome, and spent sep, oct and nov enjoying dads time off... man we love this time of year when we have chris all to ourselves all day long.

I got called to the nursery, and Chris knows just how good my attitude wasn't about being called the week luke turned 18 months, but now I love Love it! I love seeing luke play with all the kids and all the excitement in the nursery.

Chris got called into deacons quorum and he couldnt have been more excited about it!

Now we are looking forward to Christmas and the time with family.

Chris was offered a new job and after many interviews we excepted it! he is now the national sales manager for a company in pennsylvania. which means he now gets salary along with his sales commissions, insurance and gas. after this year he wont have to go out and sale just recruit and manage the offices that do go out, I am beyond excited!

I know this is the longest post ever but I am just going to add one more thing, an update of what Luke is doing now.

Luke is 20 months and can talk like crazy, we call him our echo, he literally repeats everything we say and is getting so good at communicating what he wants. right now he Loves his best friend Mason, even though he is like 4 years older than him luke adores him!

He teases me and chris a lot now, and I am constantly laughing so hard at what he does. I love the stage he is in now, i wish he could stay at this age. he loves thomas the train! I hope he grows out of it soon. and he Loves saying prayers, he folds his arms and scowls because evidently that is what our faces look like while trying to peek at what he is doing. he gives the best kisses, it melts my heart whenever he spontaneously stops what he is doing to come give me a kiss.

On the note of children, ( no this isn't an announcement) we hope to get pregnant in 2012 and add to our little family, I thought for a while I would never be ready to go through pregnancy again, but it happened i finally put it behind me and am ready again. so stay tuned.

All in all I think the summary is that we have been extremly blessed this year. And I cant wait to see what next year brings.

Luke at 16 months

Lately luke has been trying to talk so much and it is so cute. For the amusement of future me reading this, here is a list of words that Luke says.

Dat (dad, he used to say both D's but now he slurs it)

cookie, emphasis on the c and k

bed (bird)

dog usually repeated over and over.

outhide (outside) also repeated over and over, this time 2 inches from your face with really wide eyes.

mum (mom)

pees (please)

baba (grandma)

baba (grandpa)

hi

mmm ( whenever he puts a bite in his mouth )

sot (soft) said in a soft voice as he touches or lays his head on soft things.

I just love listening to him, he is trying to copy everything I say even though alot of it comes out as garble... his favorite garble word is booga booga BOOGA!

he loves putting things on his head, playing in the toilet (I try to keep the bathroom door shut), going outside, eating eggs and waffles, laying his face on soft things, being tickled, talking, he plays by himself quite a bit, loves books, can turn on and unlock the ipad, likes word world, right now he does this really loud fake laugh that is hilarious, he has a super happy personality now i hardly see him cry unless he gets hurt. Im sure theres so many other things that I cant think of right now but he is so fun and I completly love this stage... he is so hilarious! Chris and I just love this little kid.

living out of a suitcase.... literaly

Chris Luke and I , left for indianapolis about a month ago. we arrived safely and stayed in a hotel for a week and a half. sadly though, Luke was very sick, it was called herpes simplex virus.... basically it is the first outbreak of a cold sore ( I am ashamed to admit that he inherited this from me) for children under 5 the first outbreak is horrible. He had about 35 cankers in his mouth the biggest one was an INCH!! needless to say he could not eat or drink and it made me so sad, finally me and Luke flew to utah for Mckensi's baby shower and within 2 days he was all better ! the biggest relief ever.

The trip to utah was fabulous, we stayed at my parents and Luke was absolutly in LOVE with my mom, nothing I did would make him happy it had to be from grandma. Which I must say was a welcome break after 3 months of being his number one and only one ( Chris works really long hours in the summer, but he does the majority of the caregiving when he is home) thank you mom for the help I really feel like I just got back from a long relaxing vacation, totally recharged my batteries.

While we were in stg we had a baby shower for kensi that was super fun and loved seeing everyone. after the shower we had a girls night with all 9 of us sisters and we had a blast! It was a first for us since we are not in the same state very often at the same time, but it was LONG overdue.

after 4 years I finally made it to a Borrowman family reunion. Janae and Kerri planned it and it was super fun. that being said I missed my husband very much and would have enjoyed it alot more had he been there. we did all kinds of things, parade, water park, yummy food, fun games and movies. but the best part was just being around family.

While I was gone Chris moved to Ohio and did great at selling. now im back and we still live in a hotel... at first I didnt have the best attitude about it since we will be living here for 6 more weeks, but then I read my dear cousin Miki's blog and I realized I need to make this into a fun adventure that we will look back on and have no regrets. I am loving being back with Chris, 2 weeks is a long time apart , and now I feel like myself again now that im with him :)

Downtown Chicago

Me chris and luke went to downtown Chicago the other day and it was AMAZING! I wish I would have taken more pictures but our battery died. It is by far the most amazing city we have sold in, and rivals, but doesnt pass up london and madrid. I love the way the skyscrapers are built along the river. we had to take water taxies because it was faster than the traffic. I mean how cool is it to live in a city that a water taxi is even an option. all I can say is the architechs for these buildings were gifted.

We went to see transformers a couple nights ago...(very stupid, I definitely do not recommend it) anyways the whole movie was shot in downtown Chicago and I kept leaning in to chris and saying things like.. "we walked up those stairs" or " the willis tower is the sears tower just renamed" not kidding... the whole movie. It probably would have bugged him if it had been a better movie.

Now we are moving to INDIANAPOLIS in the morning and I am sad to leave this beautiful city, it is by far my favorite from summer sales. but it will be best for the office. on the plus side we are going back to the city that luke was conceived in... now I can imagine this may be a uncomfortable statement. The only reason I say it is because we had been trying for 7 months ( which is not a long time for most people) but all my sisters got pregnant so fast, that after 3 months of negatives I was discouraged. when we saw those two lines in that teeny apartment in Indi I was soo happy. now im excited to go back because I feel like it is a lucky city for us and we will see what happens.

Ghetto

So Chris has been selling in the Ghetto and he ran into this little boy and he was like, " come and see my dads car, its so dope. you can take a picture if you want ill be in it." He was so proud of his dads car. but we just laugh because of how rediculous it looks.

yep this is his favorite seat.

Luke discovered he could pull out the drawer and sit in it to watch movies. Me and Chris both thought it was hilarious.

another owie

Luke is a very steady walker but in 1 week he had his two biggest accidents. the first one he tripped when he was running to me and hit his chin on the brick firplace. his injuries included a completly skinned chin, and he bit through his tongue. I was terrified when I saw all the blood, but it wasnt too bad once all the blood was gone. the next one is the one in the pictures, he tripped again but me and chris dont know what he hit because i was in the kitchen and chris came in the room right after he hit. both accidents happened a month ago and neither scar has gone away. hopefully people dont think we beat him.

Easter eggs

As you can tell this is a little late, but I wanted to catch up on a couple things before I kept blogging. this Easter we spent in Chicago, and we died easter eggs... i know so cliche but I love it so much, and so did luke. he carried them around everywhere and the stickers on his face came from the egg die kit.

Shave and a hair cut, minus the shave

Kensi was brave enough to cut Lukes hair ( his first hair cut) he was such a mover! notice in the pictures all the things we used to try and distract him.... including him sitting in the wagon. the kid is hilarious, always moving like he has an agenda or something. it turned out amazing. we did this about two months ago, I was reminded to post about it because I had to give him another one today and I felt Kensi's pain. he is lucky there was no blood and he still has both ears. I felt like I was sheering him because there was sooo much hair. but it turned out beautiful and I am very proud of it.

Little Cruiser

so luke has been walking off and on for 2 months now, but only the last 2 weeks has he REALLY gotten it dow. He is a pro now and goes anywhere. this is at church in his very handsome new easter shirt.
He was hilarious in church today ! there was a family sitting behind us... youngest child was 16, and they were in LOVE with Luke, he was quite the entertainer. He would sit there and do his awesome new laugh which is very hard to explain... he just lets it roll out of his throat and it is one continuous sound... anyways so they would laugh at him, which made him want more so he would duck down and explode back into view and grab his cookies and give them to his friends behind us, he would grab any object and slash it back and forth in the air while doing his victory yell, he would get his cookies .. smile at them then quickly shove them into my mouth like it was all a performance. anyways it went on all through sacrament and we all had tears coming out our eyes from laughing so hard... silently! He is getting the taste for positive attention and LOVES it!! I love his sense of humor.

home sweet bare essentials home

Here is a little sneak peek into our new temporary home here in the windy city. if you notice in each picture you will see that yes I am living in a house with NO decor and nothing to please the eyes... however I am perfectly content so long as I am with my family. Chris is working very hard to get the office running like a well oiled machine, and I have to say this may be our best year yet! the office is very promising and Chris made a comment last night that he has not been this excited about area in a long time. so I will keep you posted on the goings on of the Orvins.

lukes 1 year pictures + family pictures

THanks to Lexi for taking these pictures, we absolutely love them. I just think luke looks so dang adorable in all of these and there are so many more I don't have time to upload. but I am very excited to finally have gotten them done, and I wont wait as long to do the next ones.

Lukes 1st birthday

This was Lukes 1st birthday and we had so much fun. the night before me and Chris stayed up blowing up 140 balloons and hanging streamers. when He woke up the next morning he absolutely LOVED it! the balloons were his favorite until he had his cake later that night..... and Oh my word the kid LOVES cake!

he was a little shy at first but then he dug in full board with both hands. He tried sharing with the people next to him watching by shoving his cake covered fists at their mouths. haha we loved the whole day and cannot believe he is already 1 year old! time fly's when you are busy taking care of the cutest busiest boy in the world.

O the face, how can it be so cute?

we went to samurai 21 with Kensi and Josh last week and this is us waiting outside for our seats at the hibachi grill! Luke Loved the fire and thought it was awesome. but mostly I just love this picture of luke.

Aloha

we went to the temple and it was so beautiful! both me and chris forgot sunday clothes and had to come up with semi looking sunday best, mines not great, but man o man do I love chris's purple tie we got at walmart, haha luckily we both look great in almost everything :) we ran into some people at the temple that were the parents of people in our ward... its crazy how small the world is when your a member of the church.

I forgot the name of this guy and the story behind him but we thought we should defiantly have a picture with him.

This was the amazing fruit stand we went to almost everyday at north shore! I am absolutely obsessed with mangoes right now and im wondering if it will ever go away.

this is the first day we got to Hawaii me and chris were very excited to have a break but very nervous to leave luke, luckily we had amazing people who helped us, and my awesome parents who stayed at our house all week and took care of him after he got back from his babysitters during the day.

this was at the polynesian cultural center, this guy was Hilarious and crazy buff. we had a blast at the pcc and want to go again when we have more time during the day to enjoy everything it has to offer.
We forgot our camera so we didn't get many pictures but we had a blast! we went kayaking snorkeling , body surfing and a atone of fun things. our goal while we were there was to find amazing food places that were more local... and we were defiantly successful because I seriously gained like 5 lbs. oh well it was worth it and super fun.

one big OWIE

Poor Luke was crawling on the sidewalk and decided he wanted to crawl off the curb, which he has done many times and been succesful. This day his arm buckled and he face planted it into the gutter, his face looks so sad. I couldnt help but think every stranger who saw us secretly thought I had beat him.

Buffalo Wings

luke got to go on a date with Mom and Dad and we went to wingers.... where you eat Buffalo Wings right? well we had to let luke have some because what else would he eat there? haha he loved it he chomped on that thing the whole time we were there and picked it clean

Carson and Evie went with us, and we had a ton of fun even thoughit was a super stressful night for us because we had to decide what city we were going to for the summer and we still hadnt decided but we were glad we got to meet carsons "friend" and that they were able to ease the stress by inviting us on a fun date.

shower with dad

The other day Luke took a shower with chris ... ( he always ends up in the shower with him because as soon as he hears the water runing he b lines it to the shower and crawls right in fully clothed so chris just showers him anyways) and all of the suden the string that holds the loofa together in the middle broke and the loofa fell in this heap of long netting. Chris gets this awesome idea to put it on his head and luke thought it was pretty funny so he put it on his head too. I just love my boys.

Luke loves his neighborhood friends and little Evie is so good to take him on rides on her 4 wheeler. luke is in love with this thing. he trys to push the button and ends up just jumping forward in little bursts cause he cant hold it down steadily. but it is so cute that he trys.

10 months old

here is a funny conversation me and luke and chris had the other day while driving to ivins... keep in mind the conversation lasted the WHOLE drive.

luke* babab dadada DADADA BUBUBU tsss tsss
dad* wow luke I never would have guessed
Luke* DUH DUh DUh dadada UH !!! ( this word is said as if it is being forced out of the belly in a very deep tone)
Mom* hahaha OH my gosh
Dad* did he say he loves mom more?
luke* DADADADA ( top volume and getinng progressivly higher in pitch) DADADADA, (kicking feet super speedy )
mom* I think that is what he said
dad* well luke it makes me a little sad but I understand... she is very loveable.

In case you didnt get the point luke is talking nonstop... seriously he just babbles and babbbles and kicks and squeels without any encouragement from me or chris. He has gotten very self entertaining. and very funny.

THINGS LUKE CAN DO AT 10 MONTHS
take 3-4 steps
eats a pb&j everyday.
drinks very effectivly from a sippy cup
spitting up has slowed considerably
hair is thickening up nicely
smacks his lips alot while eating
has a real sense of humor... he does things anticipating the outcome to make me react.
sits in a big boy car seat and no longer crys during car rides.
loves to be layed down for a nap
still bites.... only now he does it cause he thinks my response is funny... note to self try not to scream when he trys to take a chunk out of my arm and maybe he wont think its so funny.
does not like boys with hats and facial hair. ( sometimes its a bit awkward)

we are having so much fun with him at this age. he is such a happy kid, and might I add so stinkin cute.

Good bye 2010! Hello 2011!

arent these two sooo cute

ok so I read bre's blog and decided I wanted to see what I had done this year since there were alot of milestones I decided I would write them all down.

* entered into my last months of pregnany
* started life with a new puppy layla
* chris went to washington to help his mom move some stuff
* Went through the excitement of labor ( oddly enough my favorite part of pregnancy)
* Welcomed sweet little luke into the world by way of cesarian section
* went through many sleepless nights
* sold our beloved truck, life will never be the same without Megatron.
* Me and luke put my parents house up for rent while they were in Nauvoo and chris was in minnesota. ( evidently it was a hot item because we were showing it all day every day and had a list of offers to choose from.)
* VERY tearfully said goodbye to our home to move to minneapolis. ( baby hormones)
* drove 21 hours to bree and tylers in missouri with a newborn baby. we love visiting them cause they make us feel so loved.
*Tearfully left bree and tylers and continued on to minneapolis.
* moved into our new strictly no dog apartment with a very hyper dog.
* survived and loved Lukes crying stage! ( by loved I mean he is so cute)
* worked out most of the kinks of being new parents.
* gratefully excepted lukes 12 hour sleep schedule for the night.
*Tyson,lori,emma, and mason came out to visit us. we went to a twins game and the mall of america and the zoo. we had the funnest time having them come visit us. ( VERY welcome visit )
* packed up and moved to nashville midsummer
* had my first anxiety attack (I always thought they were in peoples heads) (or maybe I was just going crazy)
* got to nashville and moved into our sweet dog friendly apartments! ( I was getting sick of hostile neighbors every time they saw me walking layla)
* made great relationships with friends who worked with us.
* Said Goodbye to my dear Grandpa.
* luke went on his first airplane @ 4 months old to go to the funeral.
* gladly drove 27 hours to move back home to good ol st george ut.
*Luke immediatly fell in love with Grandma.
* switched from Pinnacle to AMP and are very excited for the change.
* celebrated our 3 year anniversary by getting a babysitter and spending the night in vegas and seeing a mystere.
* celebrated the holidays and made my first Turkey stuffing and gravy.
*lukes first christmas.

We are so excited for the new year and to see what it brings us.