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

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