Luke Armstrong.

Colorado here we come! We are enjoying a nice vacation in Colorado. We bid the 110+ degree heat goodbye and swapped it for some cool mountain air. Luke is loving the time outdoors, especially since he discovered the bike that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson got for him. Last night, he rode up and down their front sidewalk and entertained the neighbors. Scott had to jog several times to keep up with the lightning pace of Luke Armstrong!!

Cheese!

When Jami was a little girl, her family used to tease her because she would smile "too big" for the camera. Usually, she was grinning from ear-to-ear so much that she would squint her eyes. Now many moons later, that same smile-for-the-camera cheesy grin is surfacing in Luke, as he loves to get his picture taken and belt out a loud vocal "cheese!" He also likes to take people's pictures with his ViewMaster slide machine or this nifty camera that Dad made for him out of Legos. You outta be in pictures, baby!!

Nap wherever whenever.

In preparation for the baby's arrival in a few months, we have begun to transition things to the new nursery downstairs. We have already moved the changing table/dresser, crib, and rocker to the new baby's room. Scott still needs to paint and we need to pick out a theme, but at least the big ticket items are moved in and ready to go! Since this furniture is no longer inhabiting Luke's room, he now has found great joy in treating it like a jungle gym ... climbing on the changing table and crawling under the crib for his new hiding place.

Today like many days, he was playing in the nursery. It got very quiet very quickly in there. I walked in to discover that Luke had found his new perch in Little Brother's room. He was fast asleep in a pool of drool on the changing table!

Lucky 7.

We celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday, July 10! Where has the time gone?!! We enjoyed a nice dinner out to a restaurant called 98 South in Downtown Chandler, complete with a jazz band. Luke enjoyed a nice "date night" too with his babysitter Maribeth, a Theta from ASU who also happens to live in our neighborhood. With our 7th anniversary comes several other milestones just around the corner ... 7 years living in Arizona and of Scott working for Motorola.

Seeing in 3D.

Today we ventured out to the IMAX movie theater for Luke's first 3D movie. The feature film of choice was about the deep sea. Turtles and sharks and squid ... oh my! We explained to Luke beforehand that we were going to a special kind of movie where you had to wear glasses. He likes wearing glasses so we figured he'd like wearing the 3D specs. We settled into our seats and put on our 3D glasses, which resembled something that Bozo the Clown might sport because these spectacles were gigantic! Luke debated back and forth whether to wear them or not. At one point when he was pro-glasses, he hopped off Scott's lap and started flapping around in the air in an attempt to catch the swimming fish who looked to be a mere two feet before us. He must have been quite intrigued ... until he experienced the downside of these magical glasses. A shark quickly swam on the screen and toward the audience. Luke jumped back in fear and ripped the glasses off his face ... gasping and his heart pounding. Of course, Scott and I were laughing it up because of his funny reaction. Soon after that, Luke tried to take Scott's glasses off. Perhaps he was worried Dad might get scared, too. Objects in the 3D glasses may appear closer than they are!

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the 4th of July by having our friends the Wellings over with their 7 kids plus Jami's parents who are visiting. Eric and Charity also joined us later. What a fun evening! The kids splashed around in the kiddie pool and slip-n-slide, and we enjoyed root beer floats with homemade root beer and homemade ice cream. Luke and his buddy Nate especially enjoyed the dessert treat!
We walked over to the lake area to watch the fireworks from a show at a high school about a mile away. It was a perfect view to watch the grand fireworks display over the water with palm trees in the skyline and ducks paddling across the lake. A storm started to blow up during the fireworks show so we got double the entertainment with some far-off lightning, too, and not to mention a personal mister system with the rain sprinkles that started falling toward the end. Last year at this time we were just getting moved into our house, so this ideal firework-watching location is another great recently discovered perk of our community.

When Grandpa babysits...

We left Grandpa Jim in charge for a bit one morning. When Luke was hungry for a mid-morning snack, what better thing to eat than leftover pizza with chips and salsa! Two peas in a pod!

Ruling the pool.

Luke has achieved another pooltime milestone ... jumping off the diving board. This feat was accomplished at Uncle Eric's pool last weekend with some assistance from Dad. As you can see, there's little hesitation in the warm-up and approach to jumping in the pool. Ready ... set ... JUMP!

San Antonio Travels...

Jami spent the last 4 days in San Antonio for the Kappa Alpha Theta Grand Convention. Nearly 500 Thetas from across the United States and Canada gathered together to meet regarding Theta policy and planning for the years ahead. The trip started off a bit rocky as Jami was without luggage for the first half of the conference since her bags were somehow mistakenly sent to Ithaca, NY, by America West!! But things started looking a bit brighter as the chapter that she advises at Arizona State won fantastic honors as the top Theta chapter internationally! Here's a photo from the awards ceremony: College District President Stacy Rini, Jami, Fraternity President Karen Ledbetter, Current Chapter President Katie Hernandez, and Past Chapter President Jackie Vollmer.
Here's another photo of Jami with her friend Heidi Pollmann, who's the new president for the Greater Kansas City Alumnae Chapter ... and also a K-State Theta.

Flying mattresses.

With the arrival of the bunk beds this afternoon, we decided to scout out some mattresses tonight (unfortunately, those weren't included!) We founded a great deal at a nearby bed store, so we loaded up the 2 mattresses on top of the Tribute, tied them down, and headed home.

Well, Arizona is known for its dust storms that suddenly blow up out of nowhere ... no rain, just blowing dust. Lovely. We left the store and the weather was fine. Not more than 10 minutes and less than a mile from home, we were in the midst of a brewing dust storm. The mattresses turned into windsails, popping the twine that was securing them. They toppled off the car. Luckily, no damage was done to the mattresses or any cars behind us, and fortunately, we were on a side street. We surveyed the situation and determined that we could shuttle the mattresses home one at a time inside the car if we crammed them in there. Luke had to be a little cramped, but he found the whole experience quite humorous. But this also meant that one of us had to wait in the blowing wind with the other mattress alongside the road. Scott was the lucky one.

After Jami unloaded the first mattress at home, she headed back to rescue Scott and the 2nd mattress. Only 5 minutes had passed, but 2 good Samaritans had stopped and offered their assistance to Scott while he waited. Nice neighbors. We managed to get home all in one piece with 2 mattresses, one laughing Luke, and a first of many good stories to come about fun times with the bunk beds.

6 months and growing.

Jami just marked the start of her 6th month of pregnancy. She's feeling great and has become an expert at beating the summer heat. The baby has taken up early morning karate, which is Jami's new alarm clock. Luke loves to talk to the baby and give Mom's tummy a little pat every now and then!

A visit from the Cappos.

What a treat for us to spend time with the Cappo family over the past few days during their recent vacation to Arizona! Uncle Bruce, Aunt Mary Ann, and cousins Michael, David, and Emily ventured down for several days. Highlights of our time together included an afternoon swimming at Eric's pool, dining at our favorite restaurants, a trip to the mall, family game night, IKEA tour, and laser tag. They also took a day trip to see the sights of the Grand Canyon. Here's Luke with Bruce and Mary Ann. He was all smiles about our visitors ... more people to entertain ... and to entertain him!

Family Night Out

We've started a new Leahy family tradition for the summer months -- family night out once a week. With it being so hot in evenings, it's a good excuse to get us out and about ... and an activity to look forward to for all of us!

Last week, we enjoyed dinner and a movie. The feature film of the evening was "Cars." Luke LOVES going to movies! During the opening trailers when one clip would finish, he'd shout out during the pause, "Where'd it go?" He sat on the edge of his seat throughout the movie and interjected funny comments here and there.

Tonight we ventured out to an inflatable playland called Bounce U. Dad and Luke were hopping here, there, and everywhere. They zipped down the slide, climbed through the obstacle course, and even played some bouncy basketball.

We'll see what's in store for next week...

Happy Dad's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day, we treated Dad to brunch at the Ocotillo Golf Resort, which featured his favorite ... an omelette station! We dined al fresco and then took a short stop to check out this practice putting green. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing with a grand finale of playing legos with Luke! What more could Dad ask for!

No more secrets.

Up until this holiday, we've been able to trust Luke with keeping a secret ... but no more! He managed to let the cat out of the bag on several occasions about Dad's surprises for Father's Day.

The Presents.
Earlier this week, we spent some time wrapping Scott's Father's Day gifts. When we were done, we neatly tucked them away in the closet to hide them there until Sunday. When Scott came home from work that evening, Luke began talking all about the "presents" and then opened the closet to show Dad where they were hidden. Good thing they were all wrapped!

The Pictures.
Another part of our surprise for Father's Day was to take some photos from the "3 of us" to give to dear ol' Dad. When we took the photos on Wednesday afternoon, Mom had to persuade Luke to cooperate a bit by explaining these pictures were for Dad from Mom, Luke, and Baby Brother. That night Luke started telling Scott all about the pictures. "Go see pictures. Now." Scott thought he wanted to look at photos in an album or stored on the computer and was a little confused when Luke wasn't interested in that. A bit later, Luke resumed talking about the pictures even more. Luke's secret-keeping skills need a little work. He had spilled the beans once again. So we ended up giving Dad this Father's Day gift a bit early ... since he'd already heard all about it anyway from the little monkey! Below is our favorite photo.

Quotable quotes from Luke.

Now that Luke's vocabulary is booming and full sentences are coming out, here are a few of our favorite phrases:

"Let me show you something."
This phrase is used at least 20 times a day to show Mom or Dad the amazing discovery that Luke has found, which really turns out to be not all that exciting and sometimes the same "discovery" that we were shown 20 mins. ago. But we always play along with great enthusiasm. Perhaps this phrase will come in handy when Luke becomes a car salesman someday.

"I do it."
The independence of a 2 1/2 year old is best stated in these 3 words. Whether it's crawling in his car seat or twisting the lid on his cup, Luke is finding his way into the world of doing things on his own.

"No please."
Mr. Manners is getting good at minding his p's and q's ... although sometimes they get a little mixed up. Rather than saying "no thank you" Luke likes to say, "No please." It works. We get the idea ... and can't help but smile at his kind gesture.

Night out on the town...

A highlight of the weekend's festivities for Jami was attending a bachelorette party for her friend Jenny. Jami has known Jenny for nearly 7 years since the days when they worked together at Jane Mobley Associates in Kansas City. Actually, Jami hired Jenny as an intern, but they are the same age! She's been a great friend over the years, and we're so glad to have all settled in Arizona.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Luke and Dad exchange some looks (and laughs) while at lunch at Pita Jungle.

Jumpin' Jack Splash.

Here's our first attempt at a video blog. We went swimming at Uncle Eric's last night, and Luke was showing off his swimming skills. It's a short video clip, so just click on the play button in the bottom left corner and enjoy!

A record month for RSD...

The month of May proved to be a record-setting month for Jami's company Ruby Slipper Designs! So far 2006 has been steadily busy, but this past month was the best yet in the 2-year history of the business in terms of projects completed and total income. With jobs ranging from small business promotional materials to wedding invitations to birth announcements, Jami has found a great balance of work both creatively and time-wise. Thanks to all the friends and family for the many wonderful referrals!