To help you understand our sorrow, I'll take you back in time to late autumn, 2005. Abby was 17 months old and just entering Nursery at church. On her first day there, we met another 17 month old and his mommy who had recently moved to the neighborhood. He was introduced to us as Luke.
Although Abby quickly learned how to say his name, she preferred to call him, "Boy". A term of endearment that she uses to this day. As we got to know Boy and his family, we learned that we had a lot in common. Luke and Abby are almost exactly the same age (one day apart), their mommies are both teachers, and were both secretly pregnant with baby boys at the time we met. We immediately began spending a lot of time together.
Our backyard became their kingdom. Luke loved to play in Abby's swing - and she was (usually) happy to share.
Abby and Boy had a lot of adventures together like the time they visited the Living Planet Aquarium and pet manta rays. (Correction: Luke, Dave, and Rachel pet manta rays while Abby was too worried about getting her hands slimy.)
And riding the alpine slide in Park City.
They spent most of the summer playing in the pool while their mommies sat in the shade and watched their bellies grow.
A few months into the friendship, we discovered that Boy is one of the very few 2-year-old gentlemen on the planet. It seems he is always looking out for Abby. Whether it's filling a bucket with water for her to play in, carefully selecting the choicest piece of bread for her during the sacrament at church, holding her hand when they cross the street, or asking for extra candy for her while trick-or-treating, Abby is always well taken care of when Boy is around.
He even puts up with some of her not-so-appealing habits.
Once when Boy was over during naptime, Abby wanted him to try out her new big-girl bed. I tucked them in, told them to be quiet, and shut the door. (You don't seriously believe I thought they'd sleep, do you?) 20 minutes later and I still hadn't heard a peep. I thought it was too good to be true so I peeked in to find them just smiling at each other and quietly giggling.
In the spring of 2006, Abby and Luke went hiking together in Zion National Park.
They celebrated their birthdays together catching ladybugs at Abby's party...
and riding the train at Luke's.
On Halloween, they went trick-or-treating together.
At first, they were both perfectly happy to hold hands, walk up to each door and chime, "Twick-ow-Tweet" together. But after a few houses, Abby decided she had enough candy and chose to sit back and relax in the stroller. Luke eagerly continued filling his basket as we perused the neighborhood - but as I mentioned earlier, at each door he insisted that he be given extra candy to take back to Abby.
To show her appreciation, Luke is the only person outside of the family that has received the honor of using her beloved shovel from Santa.
Always the gentleman, here is Luke again, taking his lady for a ride around the backyard. 
We miss you Boy. It's been a great year living right down the street. We miss the daily visits, walks around the neighborhood and the giggling in the backyard. Thanks for being such a great friend Lukie,
and loving our Abby even on bad hair days. 
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