Merry Christmas

Dear Grandma Beth - we hope you have a wonderful holiday time in Hillsboro with the Pages.

Thank you for the poinsettia - we'll be thinking of you each time we see it!

Blake and Adam told me all about your trip and lunch and the excitement at Sharis!!

Love you! - Julie and Mike

Santa's Tootsies!

Aunt Rachel came to visit and brought a cute santa outfit for Alairen.

Dad and Alairen playing!

Every time his little "tootsies" show, I think of you and how you would
just love them!!

Grandpa Dave strikes again!!

I was studying Lance's ears for days trying to figure out where this little
crinkle came from, then mom comes and within a few minutes she notices
and tells me the source! Pinch from Grandpa Dave!

Happy Halloween from your candy corn!!

This is the face I see every day, very very often...
It's his "feed me" face.

This is Alairen's Halloween costume that Grandma Shel
made him, he is a little Candy Corn. So very cute!!

Mom and I found the socks at target




This is a picture of Alairen with the binky that
Aunt Missy sent him... he loves it!!



We love you Grandma!!

Alairen Michael Lucero

Here he is! Sorry it took so long to get you some pictures. Turns out having a new baby means you don't get much sleep... :) This is Alairen at almost 2 weeks while he was still in the NICU, I love his big eyes!





This is our first family picture right after the C Section.

The Proud Daddy and his son!

My first walk around the hospital after a nice hot shower! So nice.

Lance was making Alairen make faces at me and "talk" by moving his chin. I had to tell him to stop after I started to laugh and realized my laughing muscles were the ones they cut!


We love you grandma, I will get some new pictures up soon. Miss you!
Love,
Lance, Rosie and Alairen Lucero

Hey grandma,
Here is a picture of your upside down grand baby. I have tried numerous things to get him to turn and we will see on Monday if there was any success! Love you and miss you!
Rosie Lucero

Life for Luceros

Hey Grandma, so things have been going just great as usual. I have been working at the daycare trying to field questions about how I got a baby in my tummy, and Lance has been working hard on all the crazy stuff they hand him. The ohio weather has decided to calm down and be decent for a while, we have been having upper 70s to mid 80s with no humidity, but unfortunately it is too late. I have decided that i am done with summer and am eagerly awaiting fall. I have been trying to make myself hold off on the pumpkin bread and apple cinnamon muffins. I pulled out my halloween decorations and was tempted to put them up, but I don't want to scare the baby and make him think he came to the wrong home! Lance has been spending the last few days rebooting and organizing the computer so I haven't had much time on it, but even if it was available I probably wouldn't have done much since I am a big fan of sleeping any chance I get! I am at 34 weeks this saturday and it is so exciting/nerve wracking! Last wednesday Lance and I went to our first Lamaze class and started learning some breathing and relaxation techniques (one of them being - the coach is forbidden to ever command "relax!" in the heat of the moment!) :) He seems really calm about it all so it helps me face this with more excitement and less fear. This week, I am going to the class alone because Lance just had Lasik eye surgery this morning. It went really well and now he is home sleeping (as am I!) and I am helping him put in his eye drops every two hours which proves I really do love him! I covered as much of the windows as I could and he is laid out on the couch with another blanket covering his head in a fort-like thing I made to make it as dark as possible. He looks like quite the royalty except for the bug-eye coverings and sunglasses he has on!! (don't worry, i will get pictures!)
At work I have been playing with kids in a much more modified fashion than before as it gets next to impossible to bend or sit for very long. When i am sitting I have two to four kids coming up and rubbing my belly (like its good luck or something!) and asking questions. Most I can ward off but sometimes they get hilarious. Some of my favorites have been;
Girl: "Your mouth is too small."
Me: "For what?"
Girl: "For the baby to come out."
Me: "Uhhh..."
Girl: " Oh look! birds!" and runs off.

Girl rubbing belly: "Is that his head?"
Me: "It could be."
Girl: "Is that his foot?"
Me: "Its hard to tell, but I bet you are right."
Girl pointing at my chest: "Are those his eyes?"

Boy trying to lift my shirt to see the baby: "Can I see?"
Me: "The baby is in my tummy, all you can see is my belly button. You know like when you eat food, you can't see it in your tummy."
Boy: "So you have to throw up to get the baby out??"
Other Boy (who has a younger brother) : "babies come out your bottom."
Boy: "Ewwww, in the toilet! like poop!?! haha"
Me: "Well, no. I go to the hospital and the doctor helps me get my baby out...."
Boys run off together laughing about poop.

Sigh, kids really are funny! As the weeks are counting down Lance and I are starting to really prepare for this little guy to come home. Its so fun to baby shop and Lance seems to understand this because no matter what store we go to he always lets me go down the baby aisles! I think its payback for me letting him go down all the electronic aisles for months. He finally settled on a TV (he has been looking into one for months) and is really happy with it. It's a 46 in with 3D capabilities. Basically it can convert ANYTHING into 3D. You don't need a blue ray or special movie. You can even convert regular cartoons (like Dexter). Its pretty cool. (Now you all want to come visit us, don't you?!) So once Lances eyes heal up we will be exploring that more. Any good movie suggestions? :)
Well that is all that is going on with us right now, Just counting down the days and enjoying our time now. We love you and hope you are enjoying things in your life too.
Love, Lance, Rosie and the Peanut (who is starting to really enjoy poking me!)

Your favorite new grandson

Here is a picture of The Peanut at 27 weeks. People are starting to notice that I am pregnant and how it is all of the sudden growing! Love you Grandma!

Hello hello,
So Lance and I have been doing really well and I just wanted to update you on all the good stuff. So Memorial day weekend was the first weekend that it stopped raining and the sun came out, ever since that day it has been near the 90s or 80s consistently! I think Ohio forgot spring, we were having days with 50s and 60s before that full of rain and then it's like someone pulled a switch. We have enjoyed the weather except for half the days have been 90% humidity and on those days we just hide inside!
On friday I got to go to lance's work and go to a small promotion ceremony in his office. It was really cool, there was like 30 people or so and they did a couple speeches and had Lance say a few things. Then the other Airmen that outrank him came up and "tacked" his new stripe on his shoulder. In other words they got to punch him in the arm! Then there was cake and cookies. It was a fun thing to be able to attend. So now he is an "Airman first class." I think that means an $80 month raise but he spent it this month just getting his uniforms sewed with the new stripes! :)
Lance and I were asked to speak in church about Parent's responsibility to raise a righteous generation. I had dreams for the the two nights previous that I either missed church by two hours or I forgot my talk. This morning I was double checking everything but we made it and I survived! (I hope I am truly awake so I don't have to do it again in real life!!) It was also a pleasure to talk about raising the next generation when our own son is so very perfect and I can be really idealistic! Lance gave a powerful talk and testimony, I love hearing him speak. I figure if the price I have to pay to hear him speak is to give a talk myself, then it's worth it. This has been a fun time for us as we look forward to being parents and we plan our goals and future guidelines. We both know that as the kids come things will not be as easy as it looked but for now we enjoy the simplicity. :)
We have been able to get some things from friends in the ward for when the baby comes, it gets so exciting as it feels closer and closer. We now have a crib, changing table, stroller, and car seat. Of course we don't have much room for anything but we welcome the generosity. Lance and I stopped at a maternity store a couple weeks ago and that was strangely exciting, I got a few things and I can't tell you enough how comfortable maternity pants are! Love them!! We also were able to go and get the first part of our food storage with our tax return. It was also exciting to finally get to that, It feels good to follow the prophet's council and get going on that.
After church today it was fun to sit and let Lance feel the baby move (happy fathers day from his son!) the kicks are not super big but Lance gets to feel a little push as the little peanut stretches out. We had a check up last week and things seem to be going just great. This weekend we hit 24 weeks. I almost can't believe it! I have been feeling really well, Of course I love to get any extra sleep i can and get some occasional heartburn but really nothing else significant. I feel blessed to be able to be so active and healthy. I go to school and the kids are all telling me about "the baby" in their tummys. For some of the boys its a baby spider and for some of the girls its a baby girl. I had one mom say she heard all about me from her daughter (not even in my class) because she talks about me having a baby in my tummy. It's so fun.
The kids in my daycare have been really fun to be around. You get a glimpse into their home life just by interacting and watching them play. There are some kids who come in everyday and the pretend to "weed whack" everything in sight or they want to pretend they are mommies with babies and are tucking the dolls in to sleep. I had one little two year old who came up and asked if he could play in the block area. I had to tell him he needed to wait until after lunch was over because it was closed. He looked up at me, scowled, put his hands on his hips and said, "Do you hear the words coming out of my mouth?!?" and I got a snapshot of his mom right there. Of course I was laughing too hard to respond much.
The geese outside our window in the pond have finally grown out of the "ugly duckling" stage and now we have three times as many geese to leave poop all around and wander in the street on the one day you are running late!! The other night we saw another cool thing about ohio. The fireflies came out a couple nights ago and we went out and watched them until we realized that the mosquitoes were getting a feast. We decided from now on to enjoy that view from behind a window where we wont get eaten alive! So we are enjoying Ohio for now, but have no fear, it still doesn't add up to the west where we will be the minute we can choose where to live!
We love you and wanted to let you know that things are going great for us as we plug along in the daily grind of things.
Love,
Lance, Rosie and "bump" (as Lance calls him!)

See my Garden!

It is done!! As long as we don't get torrential rain in the next few days, I believe I've been successful in my garden this year. I was able to finish weeding and turning it over on Friday - that is the first picture - oh, and the tomato plants I rec'd from Vicki are in too!. It is far from perfect, but most of the weeds and grass are gone and I've raked it. I thought I might die from doing this..it was SO labor intensive. I was about to give up when David appeared with a glass of water - bless my boy! I took a long drink and keep on going. I then let it rest for the day, and then on Saturday Sami and I planted it in the rain. I just wanted to get all the plants and seeds I bought IN. I planted lettuce, carrots, onions, radishes, my mother's day dahlia bulbs, peas, two kinds of cukes, watermelon, honeydew melon, and strawberries. I am SO jazzed!!

Utah Trip

Our girl is home! Dan and I flew down to Provo, Utah to get her on April 21. She was all packed up - I was so proud of her efforts. We did a little cleaning in her apartment, and then we were free to do what we wanted. I had a list of stores to shop at - ones we don't have here at home. We managed to get to all of them, and fit in visits with family and friends. On Saturday April 23 I flew home and Sami and Dan drove home. They stopped along the way and visited family, and still made it home Easter Sunday at 2:30 am. We are so glad she is back! She hopes to gain employment this summer to help with college costs, and enjoy home cooked food. I hope the summer is a nice long one so we can enjoy her before she goes back in the fall. And yeah, I don't know how to fix the pic - you get the idea though.




It stormed in Utah when we were there - aren't these clouds something else? The wind was so strong it really knocked the car around on the way back from the airport. Sami was nervous -she almost pulled over to let Dan drive but then it calmed down a bit. A truck with garbage packed in the back started losing his load - and garbage rained down! I was glad to get through that all.




I thought I would add this pic of Dan eating this scorpion laden sucker. Why he would do such a thing is beyond me...other than he can now say he did it. YUCK~!

Raelee and Rachie's Sleepover!

I've been promising Raelee a sleepover for months so now that tax season is over, I was able to take Friday off. She came over on Thursday and we did a puzzle and played with any stuffed animals she could find. Yes, that's the Christmas Chihuahua you gave me that sings Feliz Navidad! She loves it and I need to find a better place to hide it when it's not Christmas!

We put together one of her puzzles, a Barbie one of course!

The next day she woke up around 6am telling me it was morning outside. I, being the morning person I am, told her it was not morning and to go back to sleep. That only worked for about 20 minutes so then I told her to color while I tried to sleep a little longer! Later that day we went to see the movie Hop. It's about the Easter Bunny's son who is supposed to grow up to be the next Easter Bunny but wants to play the drums in a band instead. It was a cute movie but had real people and cartoons and Raelee was only interested in the cartoon part. And the popcorn of course!

This is us at the theater.

I set up the ball pit, which she still loves playing in there. She made up a new game where she hides the stuffed animals in the balls and then I have to find them all. Then it's my turn to hide them and she has to find them.

She also loves doing somersaults down the slide, then she ends up with crazy hair!

We also made some cookies. Now, you know I don't love to cook but I was going to make sugar cookies and use my mom's Easter cookie cutters but I had to run to the store anyway so I got the premade cookies with Easter bunnies and chicks on them. This worked out well because when it was time to make them, she wanted to color so we just put them on the pan and cooked them. We took them to my parent's house for Easter dinner on Sunday.

The bunnies are one the left and the other ones are yellow chicks in pink eggs.

While the cookies were baking, Raelee and I called and sang Happy Birthday to you! Then she wanted to draw you a picture. She worked on it for quite a while and I was impressed with her coloring skills - they are much better than mine!

This is the only time she sat still the whole day!

We had a lot of fun together. We also took a walk and had a dance party! She is such a fun girl and growing up so fast. It's fun to be able to have conversations with her and then for her to still be a little girl who loves to giggle! We love you and hope you had a great birthday!

Love,
Rachel & Raelee

Grandma!!
So first off I want to tell you all that there has not been a single Saturday in Ohio that has not been raining/ thunder storming. Turns out the weather here is crazy. On many (like five or six) occasions a week has gone from 70+ degrees to 52 in a day. We have at least 3 thunderstorms a week and pouring rain. Then it gets warm only to break out in storm again. Tons of people here have flooded basements and I am very grateful for our second story apt. The sayings around here are "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes." or my favorite, "What do you call a sunny day after 3 days of rain? ..... Monday." Very true, haha!
I started working at the child development center this month. Well after a bunch of paperwork and waiting over 3 weeks after interviewing they finally got me going. Actually on Tuesday afternoon I found out I was working Wednesday and every weekday since that. For taking so long in the beginning they have sure made up for that!! I spent a couple days observing all the classrooms and then got put in a preschool (3 and 4 yrs) for a week and a half. Then just when I got comfortable I was moved to my permanent classroom down the hall. It is also a preschool age class and I am loving it. The kids are so fun (most days) and quite hilarious. Actually I explained to Lance that some days it feels like I am trying to herd cats and am exhausted afterwards and some days it feels like I get to play with cute kittens all day. That way when I get in the car after work all I have to say is "it was a herding cats day" and Lance knows to walk on eggshells!! :) Some days it feels like all you are doing is cleaning up after potty accidents and telling kids not to step on eachother, but other days they are so adorable I find the day is over before I know it. One girl had had an accident in her pants and so I told her to go to the bathroom while I get her new clothes. I come back and she is still standing there so i tell her to take off her shoes (so she can change her pants) and she just looks at me all confused, "I pooped in my shoes??" Another time a girl was having a rough day of listening and just wearing my patience, then she looked up at me and said, "Miss Evelyn, you are really nice. I like you." That deflated my frustration REAL fast!! One little boy calls me, "Miss El-a-ben!" seriously melts my heart, so cute. This age group is so honest, its funny. you ask them if they washed their hands after going potty and they say no. Then you tell them to go back and do it and they are like, "awww man!" I met the sister of one boy I knew and she started to tell me about this one time when her brother bit her back a long time ago. Then she says, "Thats ok, one time I threw ka-ka around the room." I was like... "uhhh, nice to meet you." Then you get the kids that come up to you crying and you ask them whats wrong, they say, "Lilly called me a girl!" (the world has ended for that boy until about 2 mins later when something distracts them and they totally forget!)
Since our weekends have been very rainy, Lance and I have been limited on what we can do for fun but we have made some good memories. A couple weeks ago we went to the "enterTRAINment center" which has the worlds longest model train sets and a random fun house. We had fun getting lost in the mirror maze and Lance talking about his childhood love of train sets and what kinds he wants to get to put together with our kids. :)
Last week we went to a Jon Mclaughlin concert which was really fun... when it started. It "started" at 7:30 in Columbus so Lance and I went right after work so we could park and get something to eat. We find parking and there are a ton of other concerts and events all going on in the buildings surrounding ours. We go to find something to eat but apparently EVERYTHING is closed except crowded smoky bars. (I only know that because I had to pee so bad that I had to go searching.) We finally found this marketplace type thing and got some food there. Then we head over to the concert which of course is when it starts pouring rain. haha. So we make it back to the "basement" as it is called and wait for the doors to open. This venue is just that, a basement. It is the basement of a crappy bar with tons of drunk 50 somethings trying to hit on eachother. I was pretty discourage about that but the downstairs was cleaner and smaller. So about 45 mins after it was supposed to start some random guy gets on stage and starts playing. After about a couple songs he introduces himself as the opener and starts going to town on his... harmonica. yea. real cool. no. He was quite obnoxious and seriously played for almost an hour! Then FINALLY Jon Mclaughlin comes on and starts to play. He is very entertaining and funny. I love his music and can't wait for the new cd this fall. He plays some mad piano and sings great. So it was worth it in the end but there were about four or five times I had to leave where we were standing and go sit on the side because the sour beer smell made me nauseous (not to mention the smell of the guy passing gas in front of me all night!) :( Then on saturday we were able to go to the temple which was a wonderful boost and great blessing. We decided the baby "needed" some ice cream that night so we went in search of some. We stopped at this "famous" place and realized it was so popular because they put tons of choc. chips in all their ice cream. Wasn't a huge hit with us but satisfied our sweet tooth.
We have gotten to hear our baby's heartbeat twice now and it is so exciting. I am setting the appointment for next month when we get to have the ultrasound and hopefully find out the gender. I can't wait!!! :) We are all doing well health wise and just dying for some warmer weather so we can see all the parks and trails that are in our city.
Well, I better sign off and go to bed! Love you, let me know how you are doing!
Love, Lance and Rosie Lucero (and baby)

seattle aquarium

On Saturday Marilyn and Tommy watched the boys for me while my mom and I went to Portland and Jonathan worked... they took the Blake and Adam to the Seattle Aquarium, and from all accounts it was a HIT! Hope you enjoy the pictures....

Adam turns 2

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sami & Grandma

Can you believe it is almost time for Sami to come home again for the summer?? She is just finishing her second year at BYU Provo. I believe classes end after next week, and then she will have finals. We will be leaving to go get her on April 21st. After we pack her up, I will fly home and then Dan and Sami will drive home arriving on Easter Sunday. When she starts a school year it seems SO LONG before she gets to come back home...and then all of a sudden it is April again and she is back! We can't wait!

hellow

I don't have a whole lot of news to tell you but I thought I would say hi. :)

We are all healthy and doing well. Kris is working for Group Health in Spokane Valley. (170 miles a day commute) I am still working at the jail, animal control, and on the school board. I was just called as the 1st counselor of the elders quorum. It appears that I will remain the secretary of the priesthood group and primary teacher too. Oh, how I long for the old "ward member" days when a person could hide, no such luck in a branch.
Heather still has not found a job but is helping out a lot around the house. Ashley is doing home school and working at Taco Del Mar and finally starting to get some hours now that the traffic is picking up on I-90.
Michael is doing well. He helps out at the house too but only after I remind him of his chores. :) The only thing I don't have to tell him to do is EAT. He does that on his own. He will be taller than me by the time he starts school in the fall. (8th grade)
Jacob is really doing well this year in school. His social skills have really come a long way. His therapists and teachers are all impressed with him.
Savannah is in preschool and is loving it. She is best friends with the daughter of a co-worker of mine. It is good to see her using her social skill if only at school. :)
Sorry it has been so long since I have written you. I enjoy our phone calls but I need to do this more often too. I need to get you some photographs before Jacob is taller than me. Don't hold your breath though. :)
I love you,
Be good
Scott

Ohio, the saga

Dear family,
As many of you know, Lance and I survived traveling in the crazy storm. Lance drove like a champ and didn't tell me how nervous he was until after, which was probably good. :) We traveled through many states that we came to a consensus about that we never wanted to live there! (south dakota, really?) The storm of the century of whatever you want to call it was right in front and right behind us. We managed (through lots of prayer) to never hit the really bad spots. The worst was really stopping for gas (in south dakota) and it was literally -30 degrees. Just turning off the car made it so we could see our breath! Needless to say we did not feel like extending our stay in this lovely state to see Mt. Rushmore. Another time maybe! (we took pictures along the way but lucky for you they got lost, now you don't have to look at 7 identical pictures of different snowy wastelands for a state!!) We just plugged our way through the trip and saw many blessings on the way. One time we stopped a little earlier than planned because the roads were windy, icy, and it was getting dark. The next morning we saw about 12 cars and a semi off the sides of the roads on just the next exit. But despite all obstacles, we made it to Ohio weds night. We got to stay with Lance's cousin Megan that night and then in the morning we drove the 45 mins to the base and checked in. They set us up in temporary housing which was nice, except the kitchen had recently been the victim of a popcorn burning or something. We hunted for days for apartments in the area and ended up debating between base housing which would be 3 rooms, an attached garage and yard or one bedroom with a really nice kitchen and bathtub (my favorite part). We were really having a hard time weighing the pros and cons so we decided to look at 2 more apts. After quickly checking the first one off our list (it smelled like cat pee) we went to Stonefalls apartments. We didn't even leave the parking lot and had decided that this was the place for us. We have a wonderful one bedroom (square foot of a two bedroom) with a free garage (not attached but free!), a view of a little pond with two geese and occasionally some ducks, the managment is really great and the apt has the best lighting from big windows. After this we set about to find furniture. I have personally come to the conclusion that furniture salesman are not too distant cousins of car salesman. We went to a million different stores and found the perfect stuff for us. We are now the proud owners of a new couch, 2 small bookcases, a beautiful kitchen table, 2 beside tables and a new bedding set. During all this Lance was going on base to inprocess and I was trying to recover from a massive cold. Then Friday morning came, bright and early. We eagerly packed up our stuff in the temp housing and moved the 8 mins to our new place. Just as we pulled in I started to smell pickles. Pulling out the food bags, we found that a half open pickle jar was ready to spill its contents all over the front seat of our new car. So we spent the first half of the day cleaning out the car and the rest of the day with Lance muttering, "pickles! I smell pickles! I will never eat another pickle again!" Then the movers that were moving our stuff were only able to show up at about 6:30 pm. Because of this the guy didn't have any help moving our stuff in except his wife. So Lance chipped in and we ended up getting everything all done about 9:30pm. We then spent the next day picking up our newly acquired furniture with the help of Megan's father in law's truck. (did I mention that the first thing you do when you come in the apartment is go upstairs?? yeah.) Then we spent the next few days unpacking, putting up pictures and grocery shopping. (Did you know that there are NO bulk food stores here like WinCo?) Now we are settled in, everything is ready and in its place. It's just the ordinary doing laundry and dishes day to day. So things are going really well here, Lance starts work tomorrow. I use the term "work" loosely because apparently they don't even have computers and there is going to be a lot of waiting around. Their offices are being remodeled and their team is being put together from scratch so it might be a little while before he does real work. But he is eager to get going. The office he is in has some fun rumors too. It apparently used to be a train yard building where they would work on trains or something. I also heard the basement used to hold German prisoners from world war II. And most comically, like all government institutions there are the rumors of Aliens and UFO debris. (if it's true I will never know because my husband wouldn't be allowed to tell me!!) Although I can't say I don't think some of the heads of the government are going about things in an unearthly way... haha! sigh. I am funny. just kidding. Ok so here is our address, feel free to send letters, packages, and yourselves at anytime!

2437 Edgewater Drive #5
Beavercreek, OH 45431

We are going to enjoy our adventures here and are looking forward to new roads. Keep us updated on you as well. We will be sending emails with updates as things happen, so if you don't hear from us that might just mean things are going smoothly and I haven't spilled more pickle juice in the car!! Love you all, Lance and Rosie Lucero

thank you GG

thank you for the package you sent! we got it the day we came home from Rome... they boys loved the candy (of course), they also LOVED the books!

see you soon GG!!