some thanksgiving times

flight to utah (this headphone thing lasted about 2 minutes)


our first songer thanksgiving dinner

trying for a nice couple shot, but...

trying on grandpa's glasses



...and grandpa's hat


jenny's birthday lunch
(clockwise: jenny, mom, sarah, ems, me, rebekah, edith)

joey & evan trying out the flowrider at the odgen salomon center. weaver joined them later. it looked pretty brutal when they crashed. i thought this was pretty good for joey's second time.

The best day of his life

I'm guessing but I think that November 28th, 2009 might just be Luke's best day of his life (all 23 months of it). We were in Utah and woke up one Saturday morning and the day just got better and better. Here it is in picture and video. Happy best day ever Luke!

Woke up, went on an early morning walk with mom & dad to explore beautiful Huntsville





Threw rocks and more rocks into Pineview for some big splashes


Later Grandpa Songer took him outside for some serious swing time.
We looked out the window FORTY FIVE minutes later and he was still getting pushed on the swing. Now that is some stamina Grandpa.
He then played outside with Grandpa for a few more HOURS. He was in heaven!


Fun day so far right? Well, next we drove to Smithfield to my brother Jake's house. Does everyone remember my cool brother Jake? If not, click here or here, or here. So, true to Jake's nature - he had many adventures (some, of course, with his signature dash of danger) awaiting Luke when we got there.

FIRST - He started out with a scooter ride and hot chocolate. I don't think I've ever seen Luke this thrilled about ANYTHING. He kept saying "motorcycle! motorcycle! Go FAAST!" and got really mad when he had to let other people have turns.



riding with daddy


and with mommy


Here are the boys (Luke & Truman) riding with Jake on the bike. Sounds like they like it...



where have I heard those happy sounds before? oh yeah....



Next, it was back to Jake & Rebekah's for FIVE things any almost 2 year old would love:

1.TRAINS (Thomas the Train no less) 2. a TRAMPOLINE 3. a WAGON RIDE 4. a HAMMOCK swing and 5. a full blown CAMPFIRE!!!

(Dinner was Rebekah's amazing SUSHI and TEMPURA!! But I think Joey and I were more excited about that than Luke. )





AND THEN... right before bed we all got to experience the new hot tub. Oh man, it was a FREEZING cold Northern Utah night - so this felt so good. Luke jumped right in and had an absolute blast splashing around with his cousins. (and almost drowning a few times. Gracie named herself the official "baby-saver" -it's always good to have one of those around)



The night was topped off by being put to bed by a special guest instead of same ole mom & dad.




WHAT A DAY! Isn't it the best when you put your child to bed and know they lived that day to the very maximum enjoyment possible? Thanks all you dudes who let my kid live it up for the day.

Grandma & Grandpa Hale

Luke hasn't seen much of these two awesome people but we got a special treat to have them all to ourselves for a few days during their visit to Memphis. Joey's parents have been on three missions - to Africa, Tarawa and Mexico - since we got married. Which means they've been gone about 4 1/2 years out of the 5 1/2 that we've been married. So, it's a rare occasion to get to see them (dern do-gooders). AND when we do see them Luke has to share them with 42 other kids so this was special, very special indeed. A few nights Luke even cried for "Grandpa" when he went to sleep at night. He was immediately attached to these fine folk. I don't blame him... at all. We loved every minute of their visit. Mom even took a soak in our tub (her favorite pastime) and read her book (her other favorite) and she even accompanied me to water aerobics at the gym. Dad researched random things on the internet (like father like son... no wonder they are so smart) and ate my food with gumption. Good guests to have. Come back anytime.

Thanksgiving movie night

My mom had a great idea to have us all make short homemade videos documenting some sort of Songer family history and then have a showing of all of them right after Thanksgiving dinner. We made this commercial. I think my parents video was probably the best one though. But they kinda cheated by using emotional music and nostalgic photos of us growing up. No fairzeez.

the 3 days of Cresap

Joey's sister and her husband went on a much needed get-a-way to Nashville for the Country Music Awards and Joey and I lived at their house for 3 days trying to fill their shoes. So, we got to experience what it would be like to have 5 boys (their four plus Luke). And let me tell you - hats off to them and all you with multiple kids. I am exhausted. Luke sure loved being with his cousins all day though.









I've noticed today that Luke's sound effects have improved since our stay with his cousins. He does quite well with explosives and machine gun sounds. Couldn't be prouder. :-)

EMZEEZ!!

My youngest sister Ems came to Memphis! I loved having her here and it reminded me that I really do want to live by my sisters someday. We did some Zumba dancing at the gym, went to the Memphis Zoo, she got some cavities filled by Joes, we biked around the lake, played with Luke at the playground and ate a lot of good food. On the last day she was here - she decided I needed new shoes. We shopped all day and bought me 3 pair of new shoes and some new clothes too. When we got home she helped me go through my closet and get rid of all my ugly shoes. Since I am so bad at it - it was nice to have someone who MADE me get rid of stuff. She was so funny cause her biggest disappointment of the trip was that we didn't have time to go through my CLOTHES too. What a good and helpful sister. Since she's been gone, I've gotten a couple phone calls from her about shoes. She's still going strong. She is a project finisher and this project (project: make katie cuter) is not quite done. So, I like having a personal shopper - it's pretty cool.

Zoo - The Teton Trek


Sunday afternoon Swiss Cheese Fondue


Pile of my ugly shoes




Luke loved Emily. The morning she left we told Luke she was going bye-bye on an airplane. Later that day we were out on the trampoline and an airplane flew over us and Luke pointed and said, "Airplane! I want Emily. I want Emily!!" It was so cute.

Halloween - Atlanta style

Took a trip to Atlanta, GA for the weekend. We wanted to see our friends from Dental School - the Carters and see the Aquarium cause we've heard so much about it.

THE AQUARIUM







the aquarium was amazing. it's the largest in the world and has really neat exhibits. at all times you are surrounded by fish - whale sharks swimming over your head or sawfish sneaking up behind you. we were impressed by the live coral reef they have too. some of our favorites were the giant manta rays, the garden eels (cute little guys who bury themselves in the sand) and the amazon exhibit with trees and vines hanging down - they really did a good job of creating a cool atmosphere. And there were tunnels above our head for kids to crawl around in and look down through windows at fish and their parents. It was weird to just send our 22 month old into a hole and hope he came on the other side. :)




THE WORLD OF COCA-COLA



Enjoying soda's from all over the world...


The Coke museum was kinda funny cause we felt like we basically paid $15 for a 2 hour long Coke commercial. It was fun though. There was a lot of very creative marketing with some nonsense about how happiness and love goes into every bottle. More like caffeine and sugar - potaeto/potato. And somehow they failed to mention how Coca-Cola got its name - Cocaine and Caffeine - which really is the most interesting don't you think? Maybe not the best for marketing the stuff though. Our favorite was the tasting center. There were huge fountain drink towers from every continent with all sorts of crazy drinks from the countries in that continent. Joey loved this drink from Italy called Beverly that was really bitter. (It was disgusting) But then, after drinking our way around the world - he wanted to end with that one and realized it wasn't a good one to end with. It had a bitter aftertaste that just wouldn't quit. So, I think that one got kicked out of 1st place.


HALLOWEEN WITH THE CARTERS:



Mama Bear and Baby Bear


Luke's first time trick-or-treating





I forgot how magical trick or treating is. I haven't been since I was a kid and now I finally get to experience it again after like 20 years. I love crunching through the leaves and breathing the night air - and hearing the squeals of excited costumed kids running from door to door. And the Carter's neighborhood was super festive - every porch was decorated and the people giving out candy were all dressed up. I loved how Luke learned to say "trick-or-treat!" (I really think he was saying "tractor treat") Everyone seemed so delighted to find this cute baby bear the perfect toy or treat. I seriously had a blast taking Luke and I'm glad I get to re-enter this enchanting world of trick-or-treating.

HALLOWEEN DOUGHNUT ON A STRING EATING COMPETITION







Madison won. Joey won. But I bet Preston and I enjoyed our doughnuts more - so we were the real winners. It was so fun to hang out with the Carters. They live in an amazing house and are really living the southern country life. (It's always been Amy's dream to live the life of Scarlett O'Hara - and now she's doing just that... minus the tragic ending) Joey and Bryce talked a lot about Dentistry and Amy and I caught up on each other lives and loved watching our kids play together. We love the Carters. Those kids are so sweet and well-mannered. We've always been impressed with Amy and Bryce's parenting skills. They were all so nice to Luke even though he hit them all with a pink pool noodle as soon as he met them. :) It was so nice of them to host us. Thanks guys!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!