The Adventure Continues: Day 2

Well, Luke woke up last night at about 2:30 a.m. complaining of being too cold in his sleeping bag. Actually, he had come out of his sleeping bag and that explains why he was so cold. He was coughing a little bit as well and asked if he could go inside to his own bed. Not a bad idea. We both went in at that point and enjoyed our final hours of sleep.

I got a picture and text message from Mom this morning a little after getting up. It was of our sweet Emmelise, sitting up on Mom's floor, holding a picture of the other four of us, taken last summer in Utah.

Big smile!

Mom was happy to tell me that Emmelise didn't show any signs of being nervous around her. Emmelise is getting to the age where she has had a bit of stranger anxiety. Our boys didn't have it too much, but Suzanna thinks Emmelise might be a little more nervous around people she doesn't see a lot. No problems this morning though, apparently!

Luke was my super-awesome helper around the house! I told him that if we got some chores done in the morning, then we could go get a doughnut from Dot's Donuts for a treat.

Vanilla frosting with sprinkles

As you can see from the picture, Luke definitely earned that doughnut! He helped me with a ton of things around the house this morning: sorting, folding and putting away laundry, collecting garbage and recycling and taking it out to the cans, cleaning both the boys' and our bathrooms, tidying up the kitchen, cleaning up all the camping gear, and doing the other usual things including making beds, getting dressed, etc. I was really impressed with how Luke didn't complain and did a pretty good job staying on task throughout the morning!

First bike ride together!

After a few errands, we decided to take a bike rid together to Maplecrest park with our lunches packed in our backpacks for a picnic. We haven't ever been on a bike ride together before, so this was a really fun first experience! He's ridden in the trailer a number of times, and of course I've walked alongside him before when he has ridden his bike, but this was a lot of fun to both be riding our bikes!

Sandwiches, cantaloupe, yogurt and water. Not a bad lunch!

We had a tasty picnic and then while I studied for a while on this absolutely gorgeous afternoon, Luke played with some "friends" on and around the playground. It's fun to see Luke not afraid to talk to and play with other kids, especially older boys. I think these boys were between the ages of 8-10. Pretty good for a four-year old!

Luke with his new "friends"

We came home and took a rest. Well, Luke took a rest that is. I headed back outside to mow and edge the lawn and get cleaned up before dropping Luke off at the Lowder's so I could go to the Stake Center and sing at the Adult Session of Stake Conference. Luke had a ton of fun jumping on their trampoline and watching a short cartoon episode of Spiderman. I really enjoyed singing in this men's quintet, made up of men from our ward. We sang a piece that Doug (Lowder) arranged for five men's voices, and I was pleased with how it came out. I had Skyler record it from the congregation using my iPhone, so I've got it saved now!

After getting Luke down in bed, I watched the BYUtv replay of the BYU-Texas football game that took place in Provo today. For the second week in a row, there was a two-hour weather delay, but in the end, BYU stomped the Longhorns 40-21 in an incredible, record-setting performance for the Cougars, who rushed for 550 yards! It was amazing and definitely worth staying up late to see! Hopefully they can keep up this momentum and success in the offense going forward!

msh