Happy Birthday, Luke!

My birthday boy

Luke turned 7 back on September 2nd.
At first he wasn't so sure about traveling on his birthday weekend, but once he was hanging with his cousins, all doubt was gone and I'm pretty sure he had a fantastic time.
(His cousin, Caden was baptized on September 1st in Las Vegas, so we made the trip down to see family and be a part of that special day - that will be the next post. For now, we'll focus on Luke)

We love our Luke! He is a ball of energy, so smart, and loving, and a boy through and through.

Some of his favorites right now are; Ninjagos, playing Wii, soccer, building things, and doing pretty much anything with dad. He loves chocolate. For his birthday cake he wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream on the side. His favorite dinner is spaghetti and meatballs. He loves telling jokes. He asks to wrestle about 5 times a day (like I said - ball of energy). His favorite primary song is "Army of Helaman" - sometimes it's "I love to see the Temple". His favorite scripture story is about the 2,000 stripling warriors.  At night before bed he likes to do his exercises - about 7 or 8 pull-ups, depending on the night, followed by 20 push-ups. He learned to ride his bike this past summer and now loves riding his bike to school when we have time. At bedtime he loves giving "to infinity and beyond hugs and kisses" for Matt and I, which is a super big kiss blown through the air at us to knock us back as we walk out of the room. He loves to snuggle as he falls asleep. He's become a really good reader, but is especially great at math. When he puts his mind to doing something, he is all in and works really hard at it until he succeeds. He loves growing things in the garden and picking our veggies when I need something fresh from our garden for dinner. Sometimes, the only explanation I have for his actions or words are "You are such a boy". It's my only explanation and way for my girl brain to process what this boy of mine has done. I love him like crazy and am so blessed and proud and excited as I watch him grow up.
Luke - you are pretty amazing!

Luke, 1 day old, 9lbs 12oz

Birthday celebration with family in Vegas

 The next weekend we had a birthday party with his friends. Ninja theme. We had a ninja training skills course, threw darts at balloons to find all the pieces of a map that led to the fang blades, attacked the evil Lord Garmadon when he tried to steal the fang blades, and a good old balloon stomp and pinata. We wore those boys out!

"Green Ninja" Ninjago birthday cake

First real true birthday party Luke had. Afterward, he said it was the best day of his life.

I think he liked his presents