At the Zoo

I should really never under estimate my son's love for animals. The concept is super foreign to me but last week we decided to embrace it with a trip to Hogle Zoo.

Love that the weather was so beautiful and love that admission was free. We waltzed in after his afternoon nap and didn't feel a smidge guilty leaving just an hour or so later.

The elephants were super fun for Crew. There were three animals in varied sizes so Crew immediately labeled the Daddy, Mommy and Baby.

Birds and fish were also a favorite. So much in fact that:

I had to keep pulling him off the ground to keep him from trying to touch them under the partition.

But hands down, I think his favorite part of the zoo was walking around with his favorite "snah."

We have a new love/hate relationship with the fact that Crew has learned the difference between on-the-go snack food and what we really eat at home. Judging by the way he is gripping the cup, can you tell which is his favorite? :)

We've been so spoiled this year. I have no idea what we'll do when winter decides to come.

Med School Bound

No. Not us. Thank goodness.

But my younger brother, Ben, recently was accepted to Midwestern University in AZ for med school. He has spent the last two years filling out applications, flying all over the country for interviews, praying over a handful of offers and is now ready to head off on this new adventure.

We got the family together this month to celebrate his decision plus the fact that we get to keep him around til his program starts this Fall.

Love you brother! We are so proud.

A Dallas Christmas

We're still basking in the afterglow of a wonderful 10-day trip to visit the Lansfords in Dallas. We are blessed to see them often but it's always a blast to return to Cole's hometown and reconnect with the friends and places we love so much.

My pictures don't do the trip justice as I stopped snapping pictures after Christmas morning but lets just say we had more than our fair share of shopping, sports and FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!

We had a Christmas Eve baking day where Rylie led us through making nearly 70 cupcakes, dipped pretzels, cookies and the prime ribb (ok, we just watched that one). But we had a great time.

Crew helps with the icing

Tony and Gail make a salt bath for the prime rib

The Lansford's LDS ward met at 8:30 am on Christmas morning so we postponed breakfast and Santa a few hours. We enjoyed the meeting and took the opportunity to snap this picture afterwards.


Once everyone was back in their new jammies, we commence the gift giving. Crew's reaction to his gift from Santa was exactly what we hoped. I was worried he might not really understand how to play with the bike but as you can see, the only thing better than the bike was a figurine of Jesus on the side table. Thank you, Nursery!



Merry Christmas!

Bukey Christmas Baking Day

As a kid, you look forward to the arrival of the late-December package containing all of Grandma's Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. That being said, I most looked forward to Grandma's "other" package that arrived the first week of December.

Every year, my Grandma Supola baked literally dozens of different goodies in the month of November and then shipped them off for us to enjoy the entire month of December.

Since she lived in Montana and we lived in Idaho, Oklahoma or Texas, this package was the primary way we connected for the holidays. Each treat came in its own colorful tin, carefully wrapped in contact paper to preserve eat yummy bite. Opening a tin and discovering its contents was an exciting event. Was it fudge, toffee, peanut blossoms or shortbread? Either way, the goodies were always homemade and somehow, chalk full of love. Even as a child, I think I understood the magnitude of the gesture and couldn't help but feel special, loved and important.

Grandma passed away a day after Christmas in 2003 and I think about her often. So in honor of her love, time and gifted calories, we decided it was time for the first annual Bukey Christmas Baking Day.

Favorite moments from the day...

Nicole and Nixsen decorate sugar cookies

Crew has a run-in with a very chocolaty spoon

Janice selects her favorite cookie cutters (out of one of Grandma's old tins)

Nixsen charms us with her version of every Disney princess song

Cutting cookies

Begging for another marshmallow

Manning the candy station (Keep stirring, keep stirring!)

Pouring the fudge. hmmmmm!

Crew enjoys his first sugar cookie

The boys crack nuts for the toffee

It was amazing to have that much of the family together in one place. Love you guys and love you, Grandma!

Jumping in the Leaves

or at least trying.

As part of our ode to fall, I really wanted to play in the leaves with Crew. Lucky for me, both our trees decided to drop all their leaves over night last week. Talk about a leaf-filled playland!

Crew wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with it.


So I jumped in to show him how much fun leaf crunching can be.

Throwing the leaves did end up being a crowd favorite...

Along with waving at any and all passing cars.

But before you know it, he's on to the next thing.

Love you, lil guy!