December Highlights

Cute pictures of Lucas from the month of December:

Baby's First Christmas

We had a very nice, low-key Christmas this year with just the three of us. We missed our families a lot, but enjoyed spending the day with Lucas. He seemed to enjoy his first Christmas.
He looked so cute in his Christmas pajamas.

We went to the dollar store yesterday and bought stocking-stuffers. Lucas really liked his stocking.
This is one spoiled kid. He got a lot of great gifts from his grandparents.
I got Ben and Lucas matching ties. They were looking pretty studly at church today.
We also were blessed to have Christmas dinner with our dear friends, the Lorencs. It was delicious and so nice to still be able to spend the holiday with people we love.

Merry Christmas 2010

Last December we were a happy couple living in Provo while Ben was finishing school at BYU and Vanessa was teaching math.

So much can change in just one year…

In April Ben graduated from BYU.

In June we moved to San Antonio, Texas where Ben obtained work in the IT department at USAA. We love it here. We have made a lot of new friends and have discovered so many things about ourselves as we have ventured out on our own.

In August we became a happy threesome as we welcomed our son into the world. Lucas Benjamin Henry was born on 8/9/10 at 3:33pm and weighed 8lbs 10oz. (He has a thing for numbers like his mom.) He is such a sweet baby and we love him so much. We enjoy watching him as he grows and learns new things every day.

So this year in a new place, doing new things, and with a cute new baby to love, we are constantly reminded of the many blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us. This holiday season is a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and remember His Atonement.

To all of our friends and family we wish a very Merry Christmas!

A Holiday in Hollywood

USAA knows how to party. The employee Christmas party is THE event of the year and very much talked about: Alamodome, after-five attire (semi-formal), sit-down dinner, and live entertainment.

The theme of the night was "A Holiday in Hollywood." There was a red carpet with photographers (we tried to skip this, but one of the photographers saw my dress and insisted on taking our picture), actors and movie characters walking around, and a huge Hollywood sign.

The dinner was good, but we didn't get a table and had to sit in the bleachers (there were literally thousands of people there). We didn't stay long, but had time to listen to the live band for a few minutes, and walk around and see some smaller performances in other rooms. It was a fun night!

He Is Born

Ben got together with a some friends in the ward to sing "He Is Born" at our ward Christmas party. Not quite at Vocal Point level, but definitely a beautiful song and a great performance!!

We wanted to post this on here so that the friends and family of the performers could see it. Enjoy!!

Jorel, Kevin, Elder Howell, Ben, Mark, and Micah

A Lot of Reading

I know, I know. I have been totally remiss in my blogging since Lucas was born. Well readers, I have spent the last week catching up on old posts. Many of these are for my own gratification. I like to use this blog as a way of "journaling" our family's adventures. Unfortunately, I'm not done yet. I still have quite a few to finish. But if you are interested in reading all of these (and have the time), please catch up with me:

Ben's Graduation (yes, I really was that far behind)
Baby Shower
Tinker
Two down, one to go!
Sea World
New Shoes
What a Strong Neck!
One Month
Zzzzzzz
September Highlights
Corn Maze
Toy Gym
Church Stud
Swaddle Me
Halloween

Happy Birthday!!

Ben is 26. He has officially crossed into the "upper-twenties."

Lucas was excited to give him his gift.
Ben has wanted this StarCraft game for a while.

Ben decided that he wanted a BYU Basketball Birthday Party. So we invited a lot of friends over to watch the game and eat cake and ice cream. We asked everyone to bring a favorite snack to share. We now know what the favorite snack is among LDS Young Adults. EVERYONE brought chips and/or salsa. :D

Remember this? It happened again. Almost everyone we invited came to Ben's party. Our tiny apartment was packed. But we are so grateful to have so many wonderful friends!!

A Riverwalk Christmas

We've heard that San Antonio's Riverwalk is pretty amazing at Christmas time. So we decided to go on a date and take a River Taxi to enjoy the lights.
Not nearly as good as Temple Square at Christmas, but still very beautiful. The trees are all strung with strands of lights that hang down over the river and sparkle above you and of course the restaurants and bridges are decked out as well. The best part: being able to enjoy going outside in just a light jacket in the middle of December! :)

Four Months

The outside pictures it was too bright and he wouldn't smile. The inside pictures came out a little bright. But he sure is cute. :)

At his four-month check-up with the pediatrician,
weight: 15 lb 14 oz (50th percentile)
height: 25.5 in(75th percentile)
head circumference: 16.5 in (50th percentile)


Katy gets the credit for the great photos. :)

Santa Claus is in Town!

I saw Santa shopping at Sam's Club this morning.

November Highlights

Cute pictures of Lucas from the month of November:

Thanksgiving

We traveled to Utah to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Lucas did really well on the plane ride. The older couple sitting next to us said that he was the best behaved baby they had ever seen. :)

Highlights of our trip:
Spending time with family--Lucas got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa Henry and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Gathering for a Thanksgiving feast at Grandma & Grandpa Wuchner's


Family Photos for Christmas Cards


Hello Cousin Roxy!!

Relaxing--

Playing in the Snow--

Blessing Lucas--We were so excited to bless him while with our families. Both Grandpas and lots of uncles stood in the circle. Ben gave a wonderful blessing.

Lucas and his cousin Sabrina were blessed on the same day.

It was a wonderful vacation. Can't wait to go back in June!!

Three Months

Such a happy, goofy boy!
Katy did the photos again. Wow.

October Highlights

Cute pictures of Lucas from the month of October:

Halloween

Lucas had two outfits for Halloween this year.
My mom sent this adorable bat costume. Thank you Grandma!

Ben is always poking Lucas in the stomach and saying, "Hoo Hoo!" Like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I just couldn't resist. I found a chef's hat pattern online.

It was so stinkin' cute on him that I made one for me and Ben too.

We went to an awesome Halloween party at a friend's house on Friday night where we played charades and ate some good food. Anne is a pastry chef and Michael used to work in catering so it was amazing, actually.

We also attended our ward's Trunk-Or-Treat on Saturday night. It was so fun to get costume ideas from other people. A lot of our friends were very creative with their costumes. So many fun ones, I can't list them!

We also enjoyed watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" with Sebastian and Cherise. They treated us to homemade Apple Pie. It was sooooo good. I felt kinda spoiled. :)

Every year I want to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at Halloween, but it is a treasure hunt to find a copy I can borrow. This year I just bought my own copy. I love it. Ben thinks it is strange, but he allows me to indulge. He feels the same way about "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." He doesn't get it: Charlie brown gets a rock at every door and Snoopy is off doing his own thing as the Flying Ace. I think it's hilarious.
We didn't have any trick-or-treaters come by tonight, but I made Jack-O-Lantern pizza and we played the expansion version of Settlers of Catan with some friends. Awesome. We want to get the expansion pack now. :)

Swaddle Me

We discovered that Lucas still needs to be swaddled to go to sleep. Otherwise, his arms flail and he startles himself awake. It took a week of sleepless nights and frustration to figure it out. Katy lent us some of her SwaddleMe wraps. They are sleeping bags that velcro closed so baby's arms stay swaddled. But when I went to pick him up from his nap today I found this:

I guess it's time to get the next size up. This one is too small for him!

Church Stud

This little baby is such a stud all dressed up for church.

He usually goes to Priesthood with Daddy. He often falls asleep:

Toy Gym

Lucas has not quite grasped the idea of playing with the toys that hang from his toy gym. Daddy tries to help him.

Corn Maze

So it took some searching, but yes, there is a corn maze in Texas. It is located in Hondo, which is about 30 miles southwest of San Antonio. In true Texas fashion the maze was the image of country music legend George Strait (who actually lives in San Antonio...)
We are so used to bundling up for corn mazes in October, but the warm Texas weather allowed us to enjoy the maze in short-sleeve shirts. Lucas was nice and cozy in the Bjorn on Daddy's chest, so he slept through the whole thing.

Two Months

It was bright outside, so Lucas was squinting and scowling in every picture and we couldn't get him to smile.

But as soon as we came inside and Daddy pulled out his camera-phone:
At his two-month check-up with the pediatrician,
weight: 13 lb 3 oz
height: 23.75 in
head circumference: 15.75 in
He is in the 75th percentile for all three.

Special thanks to my talented friend Katy for the photos.

Crib

I finally got Lucas' crib bedding all set up in his room. I found a lot of stuff at Burlington Coat Factory. It was awesome!

Of course I have to show off the cute sleeping baby and the quilt that my sister Lauren made for him.

A. ma. zing

Look at the detail on this!

She did the eyes, nose, and feet by hand...

I love my sister so much. She knows about my secret obsession with dinosaur-themed baby stuff and how hard it is to find. She noticed it when we had fun drooling over some baby clothes in The Gap. :)

She is so talented and we really appreciate all of the hard work she put into this fabulous crib quilt, especially since she was preparing for her own little bundle of joy.

Thanks Auntie Lauren!!

September Highlights

Cute pictures of Lucas from the month of September: