The Drummer

Lucas was rocking to his music, here he is at the end of his solo!

My Husband The Genius

Seth knew how to fix my post problem right away. I guess I should start asking him more things and I'll find he knows a lot more than I thought. Haha Just Kidding, thanks Seth, you're the best.

The World Must Be Coming To An End!

I know, after I don't know how many months, I am finally updating our blog. It is well over due and a lot to update. So I hope you don't mind, I put a lot on and tried to condense as much as I could. For some reason it is putting some of my new posts as older ones so you have to hit older posts to see the rest of the updates. If anyone knows how to change this let me know.

The Naked Drummer

Last night before Lucas had his bath he ran and grabbed his drum sticks to play the electronic drum set Aunt Shalyce and Uncle Nick gave him for his birthday. The funny thing was, the Little Guy had already been derobed!

Mama Mia! I Love Pasta!

On Tuesday night I attended an OB introduction and epidural class with my sister-in-law Erin since she is about to have little Chiarra. While I was away Seth took Lucas to Nellos with his family. The little guy had a feast! It started with drinking a bunch of uncle Shem's Jamba Juice followed by a plate of pasta. It is obvious this little boy is 50% Italian with the way he can throw down the pasta! Apparently the sauce has a harder time finding its way into his mouth.

I'm a Big Boy Now

With Lucas turning one he finally gets to ride in a front facing car seat. He watches everything around him. He loves being able to see what is going on around him and I love looking in the rear veiw mirror and seeing that sweet little face looking back at me!

Lucas's Luau

It is true, our little man just turned one year. I have very mixed emotions about this. There is no way one whole year has past since I brought my little baby home. I have been so lucky to stay home with my sweet boy and watch him grow and progress everyday. We decided to celebrate in Lucas style by having family and friends over for a big luau. We had a Hawaiian BBQ complete with a pig (the little pig cupcakes). We had a great time and appreciate all who were able to come celebrate with us!

He Loves this little car! He has learned to get in and out of it himself already. He will climb in, sit down and start pushing his body forward trying to get me or Seth to push him around.

Thank you Aunt Patti and Uncle Anthony for the basketball hoop. He opened it up and while looking at it started to tip it over.

It startled him a bit at first but started laughing. So everyone started laughing and clapping. He looked all around to take it all in.

This boy is hilarious! I think someone knows he is funny. After he realized he was making everyone laugh he continued to laugh and make faces! He makes me laugh all day!


He had so much fun opening his gifts which surprised me. He was interested in each new toy and somewhat interested in the new clothes. He was spoiled by the amount of gifts he got. He also devourered his cupcake!



I love capturing moments like this! Lucas's Great Grandmas sitting and chatting.

Daddy's Little Helper

We stopped by to see how dad was doing while he was DJing at Jordon Elementary. Lucas deciding he wasn't doing a good enoughjob and needed to take over. Look out BBDJS, hear comes LLDJS! (aka Little Lucas Disc Jockey Services).

Play Date

L2 had so much fun at his play date a few weeks ago. We went to Freestone park with Karla and Natalie and a couple of Karla's friends. He tried out the swings ffor the first time and loved it! He just sat back and relaxed. We had a little picnic and the little man enjoyed his first brown bag lunch with a jelly sandwich, teddy grahams, and yogurt. Before we left we watched Natalie chase the ducks around the pond.

The Announcement!

We had awaited this week for months (back in march)! Let's just say it wasn't anything we expected it to be. The week started out on Monday night with Lucas projectile vomitting all over the Grandma and Grandpa Banda's Family room. He was sick the entire week! Then I greatly enjoyed getting whatever Lucas had and threw up all night on Tuesday. But we had our ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday and there was no way I was going to miss it after counting down the days! That night we had the family over for the big announcement. Since I was sick, Christa sso lovingly made the cupcakes for me. We have started a tradition that everyone picks a blue or pink frosted cupcake to guess if it is a girl or boy, the we open a gift to announce it. We wrapped a blue little dress to throw everyone off. I wish I hadn't felt so crummy but it was still a lot of fun!

Mmm...Chocolate Chip Pancakes

A few weeks ago Seth was craving chocolate chip pancakes, so I made them for Sunday morning breakfast. We enjoyed a wonderful and quiet breakfast together before Lucas woke up. Seth took care of Lucas while I started getting ready. This is the sweet little face I walked out to!

Long Past Easter

Easter has come and gone, and yet I still haven't put up any pictures of my sweet boy! We had a great time spending the afternoon with the Banda side and the evening with the Narducci side. We had our annual Egg hunt ay my parents house, starting with Natalie and Lucas in the front courtyard and the older kiddos (meaning everyone 18 and older!) in the backyard after. Lucas got the hang of it really quickly! He spotted the eggs, snatched them up, tried to eat them, then moved right on to the next area! He loved it!

Americas' Oldest Gold Artifact Discovered - In Shem's Backyard

For those who don't know my little brother served a mission in Peru and served in an area near lake Titicaca, right in his backyard, an anthropologist from UofA made the discovery.

A nine-bead necklace discovered in Peru is the oldest known gold artifact in the Americas, archaeologists say.

The necklace, dated to 2100 B.C., was uncovered in a burial pit near Lake Titicaca next to the jawbone of an adult skull (see Peru map).

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Prior to this discovery, the oldest known gold artifacts in the New World were found in central Peru and the Andean highlands at sites dated to around 1500 to 1410 B.C.

The burial pit was found near the ancient settlement of Jiskairumoko, which dates back to 3300 B.C.

The beads were hammered from gold nuggets and suggest the development of an early sedentary culture, said lead study author Mark Aldenderfer, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

"What this discovery is really telling us is that the people who were living at this site were undergoing a rather profound social and economic transition towards sedentary life," he said.

"Once that process starts, a lot of the social rules of life when you're a hunter-gatherer change dramatically such that different kinds of institutions are beginning to be created," he added.

The discovery is detailed in this week's issue of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

Sedentary Life

Aldenderfer and his team found the site during an archaeological survey of the region in the mid-1990s and began excavating it in 1999.

The aim of the project was to understand how hunting and gathering cultures became more sedentary and created small villages.

"As we began to excavate, [the site] in fact did have a lot of very cool information—houses that were never discovered in the Andes before and a variety of other kinds of features," Aldenderfer said.

World's Largest Swimming Pool - Chile

If you like doing laps in the swimming pool, you might want to stock up
on the energy drinks before diving in to this one.









It is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, had a 115ft deep end
and holds 66 million gallons of water.

Yesterday the Guinness Book of Records named the vast pool beside the
sea in Chile as the biggest in the world.

But if you fancy splashing out on one of your own - and you have the
space to accommodate it - then beware: This one took five years to
build, cost nearly ?billion and the annual maintenance bill will be
?million.

The man-made saltwater lagoon has been attracting huge crowds to the San
Alfonso del Mar resort at Algarrobo, on Chile 's southern coast, since
it opened last month.

Its turquoise waters are so crystal clear that you can see the bottom
even in the deep end.

It dwarfs the world's second biggest pool, the Orthlieb - nicknamed the
Big Splash - in Morocco , which is a mere 150 yards long and 100 yards
wide. An Olympic size pool measures some 50 yards by 25 yards.

Chile 's monster pool uses a computer- controlled suction and filtration
system to keep fresh seawater in permanent circulation, drawing it in
from the ocean at one end and pumping it out at the other.

The sun warms the water to 26c, nine degrees warmer than the adjoining
sea.

Chilean biochemist Fernando Fischmann, whose Crystal Lagoons Corporation
designed the pool, said advanced engineering meant his company could
build "an impressive artificial paradise" even in inhospitable areas.