Halloween!

Yeah, that's right, we are a pretty fantastic group of halloween costumes. Aunt Kiki is responsible for all of them except mine. :) They were amazing!

A little short, but very cute ;)


lil wayne and his friend never had such a gangsta look ;)


my buddies :)

And it's too bad I don't have pictures from the other two nights I dressed up. (yeah, i milked this last halloween for all it was worth ;) I was audrey hepburn for a school festival and maya, valya, and I were the three muskateers in Tipp City. Both costumes were pretty legit...

...well except for ppl kept thinking the muskateers were like pirates or something. O.O

Dayton's finest artistic talent ;)

Only in California...

Dance at Grandpa's

I remember my dad reading Little House in the Big Woods to me when I was about 4 years old. The chapter in it that shares the title of this post was one of my favorites. It tells the story of how, in the middle of the winter, Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, and Baby Carrie bundle into the wagon and drive to Grandpa and Grandma's house. All the family is gathered there and there is fiddle music (from Pa of course), dancing, lots of good food, and fun times with all the extended family. It sounded a lot like some of our family gatherings (both my parents have huge families), but we don't usually dance. Well, this sunday, for the 3rd time in the last 8 years, my grandparents (and this time, my uncle Steve and aunt Carissa, who now live in my grandparents' old house) hosted a hoe down (i have no idea how to spell that..or what it even means) for all the family who could make it. Almost all the aunts and uncles were here and lots of other California family. We ate way to much, swam in the pool, made new friends, and danced until our feet were sore (really...my legs were killing me that night). My grandpa found a square dance caller who was willing to put up with the chaos of the 30some kids here, plus the adults that are somwhat...directionally challenged. ;) It was so much fun! Everyone danced with everyone else and no one was ever without a partner for long. One of the good things about the Luke family is that there is a fairly even number of guy and girl cousins, so dancing is made easy and only a few girls had to dance the guy parts. The whole evening was full of silliness, laughter, and family...overall, the best combination of fun. :D

Jesse got a reaallly interesting tan *cough* burn..

and daddy likes to pick at the leftovers before the party even ends ;)

Uncle Steve is too cool for the pool..or anything else for that matter

Braxton: one of my other california cousins and the most interesting,

if not best, dance partner I had haha ..i never knew you could move your hips while square dancing ;)

Aunt Carissa and her family (minus uncle steve..who's still being cool at this point):

the hostess of all our family reunion activities and one of the most amazing, fun, hard-working, loving ladies I know :)

Watch out! More posts to come!! :D

Fun in the Sun~ Beach Edition

We finally made it to the beach on a sunny day! At around 4 in the afternoon we packed our towels and blankets and drove half an hour to the nearby beach of Refugio (the locals call it re-foo-fee-oh). Just another one of those strange spanish pronunciations, we thought..but no, the mexicans don't know why it's called that either. Anyway, if you want to be cool with the locals you pronounce the G as an F sound. The beach was beautiful. The sun was warm but not enough to burn us, so some of us lay out on the blanket while others let themselves played in the waves. Later on we saw seals jumping a little ways out. I'm reading 'The Great Gatsby', so I mostly stayed on the blanket, but the whole evening was very peaceful and enjoyable. :)

Here is just a little bit of the fun we had:

yes, she is the only one who accomplishes anything on vacation :)

cousins and bffs

Not quite Hawaii..

Kylie: the only one brave enough to be fully buried alive

food always tastes better at the beach

It got a little intense when Charlie saw that the seals were coming closer ;)

My beautiful cousin Taye

Grandma and Grandpa's Paradise

I've been visiting my grandparents here in Buellton, California since I was a tiny little girl with blond hair, but I guess my familiarity with the place dulled my sensitivity to just how beautiful it is here. My grandparents and aunt and uncle live in two lovely houses, built in the typical southern california style: reddish-orange roofs, terra cotta (ok, not really..but it looks like it) walls, and surrounded by very exotic, tropical looking plants that my grandma tends daily.
They're tucked up in the rolling hills, only a few minutes away from the town, and only about 10 more from the bigger tourist attraction, Solvang, but their house is secluded enough that they're frequently visited by all varieties of wild animals. For instance, my grandpa is jokingly referred to by close family members, as the 'Great White Hunter' after his encounter with a wild pig. He got the pig, but the gun got him, and one of the cousin's baptism pictures features grandpa with several bruises and a big white bandage on his forehead. ;) Coyotes can be heard in the growing dusk and Grandma fights a constant battle with the deer over her beloved rose bushes. Tiny lizards sun themselves on the black top and are often terrorized by all visiting children (many of them are without tails...the lizards..well i guess the children are without tails too ;). There are even bobcat pawprints crossing the driveway. It's unusual to have so much nature surrounding a house and still be within reach of civilization. I don't know what makes me appreciate it so much this visit, but even after touring Europe and living in or visiting almost every state in the country, I still think this place holds its own.

Fun in the Sun- Pool edition

Choo choo!!

What's that in the water??

Oh lovely. A baby mouse :-O

Taye is sooo cute!

Brody!