Hudson Has Arrived!!!!

Hud and his Uncle Trav!!!

So Precious!

Little Snuggle Bug!

Such a Sweet Baby!

On November 16 our 10th nephew was born, Hudson Tine Ploog! He had the biggest welcoming party! Hud is the sweetest little boy! He loves to snuggle and it is so fun watching Vander with his new brother! Those two are going to be best buds growing up! We are so thankful for our new nephew and are so blessed for all the nieces/nephews we have in our lives....they have all stolen our hearts!!!!

Vander turns 2!

Last Saturday was Vander's 2nd birthday party!!! Time flies because it feels like he was just born!!! The party was so much fun and Vander had tons of fun playing with all his friends! The place were it was at had a massive bounce house....which the "big kids" enjoyed it too! ( Trav and I still have our battle wounds from it!) With our other nieces and nephews living out of state, it is so fun having Van be just a few minutes away and being able to watch him grow up! And to think he is going to have a new baby brother any day!!! We are anxiously waiting!

Here are some pics from the party :-)

Riding the motorcycle!

He can rock climb!

Weeeeee!

King of the table!

Make a wish!

Present Time!

Mr. and Mrs. Luster!!!!

This past Saturday one of Trav's best friends, Levi, who was his roommate and teammate at Concordia got married! It was a beautiful ceremony and reception in Temecula. Ashley, the bride, arrived in a horse-drawn carriage...talk about fairy tale! The sweetest thing was watching Levi wait for his Bride. The love and excitement he felt was shown all over his face and as he came to tears when seeing his Bride for the first time that day, I think the whole crowd did also! They are such a special couple and great friends to us. Trav was honored to be one of the best men and stand beside Levi. We are excited for the years to come with them!!!


Look at that smile!

Kiss the bride!

Trav's Best Man speech!

Looking good boys!

The beautiful bride!

Nice Levi!

CUI guys

Butterfields hit the pumpkin patch!

It's hard having all the nieces and nephews living out of state! I was spoiled when I had them here in California and now I miss them all like crazy! My sisters are good at sending frequent pictures so that we are kept up to date in their busy lives and can watch the little ones grow up. Leanna and Jon just sent some pictures from their pumpkin patch visit and I have to post them because they are so cute. The kids are growing up way to fast and I wish I could be right by them along the way!


Maddie and Huds

The Butterfield gang!

She is looking older and older!

Sweet Hudsie

Picked a Pumpkin!

Samdog

Sammy and Savi

PuMpKiN cArViNg!!!

With Trav away in Temecula for the pre-wedding events for Levi, the apartment was just too empty! So, Friday night the girls came over for some pumpkin fun! Who said carving pumpkins was just for kids? We had a fun time carefully picking out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch! We picked up some pizza and some tools and began our challenging pumpkins. We roasted the seeds and threw in a chick flick while we carved...for about 3 hours!!!! In the end, we were pretty impressed with our masterpieces and decided this would be a new tradition...that will carry on even when we all have kids! The night ended with a scary movie....yikes. Thankfully Lindsey spent the night, otherwise I wouldn't have slept!!!! I'm so thankful for the girlfriends in my life and I cherish the times we have when we are together!

Another Disneyland Adventure!

On Friday night we got to have a "date night" with Vander! We took him to Disneyland and had a blast! He is at such a fun age.....and he is more of a daredevil on rides than I am! Thankfully Uncle Trav likes the rockets and flew up high with him! Who knew that the train could be such a fun ride too!?! The dinos were a hit! Afterwards, we went and had dinner at Chick-fil-A and he was just the cutest thing. He picked out the table, sat perfectly still, and ate his chicken and chocolate milk all on his own! When did all of our nieces and nephews grow up?!?! Here is a slide show of our Dland night....yes, I am obsessed with Scrapblog!!!! :-)

Melissa's Shower

This past Saturday, Ashley and I held a shower for our high school friend Melissa at the apartment. We had so much fun planning, decorating, working through all the details, and awaiting the day. With the two of us working together, we are quite the shower machine!

Melissa is marrying her high school sweetheart on November 23 and we are all anxiously awaiting the wedding! It has been so much fun watching them grow as a couple and they are amazing friends! Melissa went to the University of Edinburgh and it has been so neat having her back in the States! The shower was a lovely evening with the girls...and it was fun watching Mel blush!

Wedding season continues on!

Millie Arrived!

Happiest Place!

My sister, Kristel, is in town with her two boys and yesterday was their first trip to Disneyland!!! Parker and Kody LOVED it!!!! Their eyes were like saucers the entire day! It was the absolute perfect day for Disneyland...sunny but cool and the crowd was not bad. I think it's neat being with someone for their first Disneyland trip. The excitement over everything that the boys showed made the whole day that much more fun! These pictures don't capture half of the fun that the day was!



It was a bumpy ride for them with Parker driving! :)

Parker loved Disneyland!

"Cheese!"

Parker and Mimi at lunch!

Kody snuggled up with Papa!

He was in awe!!!

Only the greatest ride there! :)

"Wake up Pooh"

We love Disneyland! Most of all....we love sharing it with our nieces and nephews!!! A couple weeks ago we took Vander in the morning and had a blast! He is at such a fun age to be at Disneyland!!! We hit a great day at Dland because nobody was there....so we walked up to all the rides!!! Thanks to the Winnie the Pooh ride, the saying "Wake up Pooh, Wake up!" is now said at least everyday....and I mean from Trav :) Vander showed his skills at Buzz Lightyear and on Dumbo, he only want to be up high!!! I tried talking him into staying low due to my fear of heights but he is a little daredevil so I just held on a little tighter! :) I just love how Disneyland is so much fun whether you are 2 or 92!!!!


He puts his hands up on rides!!! I think he's ready for splash! ;)

Nemo!

He beat Trav on Buzz ;)

Uh...that's not Jackie!!!!

Loves the horses!

Meet Me in St.Louis !

When my sister, Leanna, called to tell me that Savannah was having surgery on her eye, my first thought was...."I need to come to St.Louis!" Well, it ended up working out and at the beginning of September I headed to STL for a week long visit with with Butterfields! Coincidently, I was there the exact same week I was last year when Trav surprised me with a proposal. Hmmm, maybe this will be a yearly Sept trip! Anyways, it was a fun week with the kids...and Savi's surgery went great...although she was pretty loopy after the anesthesia and morphine! I had a great time seeing their school, meeting their friends, going to soccer games, chapel, and being in their home! It was a really fun week and I can't wait to go back...but with my husband next time!!!


Cutest thing in hospital scrubs

They have GREAT hide 'n' go seek spots!

Silly faces =)

I learned how to shake my "bumper" on this trip :)

Time for the daily kickball game!

Making cookies with Maddie!

Sat soccer games! For Sam...and Maddie!!!

You would never have known she just had surgery!

Trip to Arizona!

The weekend of September 20, Trav and I headed out to AZ for Parker's 3rd birthday!!! We stayed with my sister Kristel on Fri and Sat night where she showed us the sights of downtown Scottsdale! Saturday was Parker's party at Chuckie Cheese....one of our favorite places! Parker had a Bob the Builder party and it was so much fun seeing him so excited about everything! On Sunday, we drove down to Gilbert, AZ where my sister Lyndsay lives with her husband, Ryan, and their two girls, Lexi and Tessa. We went to church and out to lunch at CPK with them. Lexi and Tessa were really excited to show us Wii and play the bowling game! It wasn't so fun though when my 7 and 4 year old nieces beat me at it!!! It was a great weekend trip!!!

The frosting IS the best part!

Kody may be almost 2....but he knows how to work the games!

The birthday boy did not want to leave the Bob the Builder ride!

hmm...I guess we kinda look alike