The Luke Family

Monday, August 26, 2013

2012: A Year in Review!

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post! Much has happened, and I will try to recap 2012 the best I can. Recapping 2013 will have to wait for another day.

Weddings!!

Ammon and Becca got married June 29th in the Portland temple. It was a beautiful day! They were so cute together! They were blessed to have many family and friends at the temple to celebrate with them. We held their reception the following day at the Market Street Chapel. (To view a full post of their reception decorations, you can visit my crafty blog here.) We are so happy for them as they begin their new life together.

Kara and Ben got married a week after Ammon and Becca. Needless to say, it was pretty crazy around the house getting ready for two weddings back to back! Kara and Ben where married in Mom and Dad's backyard. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception! (To view a full post of their reception decorations, you can visit my crafty blog here.) They were adorable!

Photo Shoot

While Kim was in town for the weddings, she was able to do a photo shoot of Moroni and McKay's band, Keaton. They had fun with it! You can see more of her work at Kimberly Boman Photography.

Young Women's Hike

A couple of days after the weddings, I left for a backpacking adventure with the Young Women of the ward. It was a great experience! We hiked the beautiful McKenzie River Trail. We were gone 4 days and 3 nights and covered over 20 miles. I can't wait to do it again!

I celebrated my birthday on the trail. Thanks to my husband, we even had party hats and noisemakers!

Bishop Shaw and Dan Walker were able to come with us and keep us safe.

The scenery was spectacular!

Girl's Camp

I was fortunate enough to attend Girl's Camp as a Crafty Lady again. It's always a lot of fun. To see all that we did, you can check out this post on my crafty blog.

Sean...our exchange student from Japan

Sean arrived in August 2012 and stayed with us until June 2013. He's from Okinawa. He really wants to be in the fashion industry. He and I actually enjoyed watching Project Runway together! He is now attending a fashion design college in LA.

The Property

We continued to work long hours on the property, trying to complete the subdivision. You can see what we've done by checking out our Fall Creek Estates blog.

I'm sure there was much more that happened during the year. But that will have to wait for another day!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Is It Really Spring?

Last week, actually on the second day of spring, this is what we awoke to....

seven inches of heavy, wet snow that brought trees and branches down all over town!

It was a beautiful sight and the kids enjoyed two snow days at home, but where is Spring already?

Springfield High Talent Show

Last year, McKay participated in the high school talent show by singing an original song about Pikachu. This year he and two of his friends formed a band called Delta and performed another one of his original songs. I am cursed when it comes to filming these events with my camera, but fortunately Kara was able to catch the performance with her phone. Its far away and the sound quality isn't the best, but you can at least get a feel for it. They did a great job and were honored to walk away with first place!

Returned With Honor!

March 15, 2012 was a much anticipated happy day!! Ammon came home from his mission after having served the people of Brazil for two years. I still remember the day we dropped him off at the Portland airport. It seems so long ago, yet the time seemed to go by so fast...if that makes any sense at all. Meeting him at the airport was such a wonderful event.

Bishop Ennis (a.k.a President Ennis) and McKay checking to see if the flight would arrive on time.

Hyrum, the official sign holder, was practicing his important duties.

The family securing their place in the airport to have the best view of his arrival.

McKay looks on in anticipation.

Dad was the first to spot him as he reached the top of the escalator.

Okay, I can't lie, the emotions really kicked in at this point and I couldn't hold back the tears. Even looking at this picture, the emotions all come flooding back. I love the look on everyone's faces as they spot Elder Luke.

He looks great, especially coming home all tan from the Brazilian sun.

Ready to high five Hyrum.

There was much discussion as to who would get the first hug. (Hyrum thought he should since he "really likes Ammon a lot.") But, Dad pulled rank and made the decision for Mom to have the honor. Although, if you look closely, there is a small arm around the back of Ammon...so I guess technically it was a group hug!