Living Life

autumn checklist

2010-09-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

so long sweet summer. i will miss your golden rays of scorching sun. i will long for your hot starry nights. i will dream about being at the lake. you truly are a magnificent season and i will await your return. oh summer, how i love you.
but now i welcome, with open arms, you autumn. you bring me crisp cool nights that make snuggling under a blanket so delicious. you grace the trees and mountains with your vibrant colors. you allow the unpacking of my favorite cardigans and skinny jeans. you invite pumpkin and hot chocolate back into my daily life. your fragrances are mouth watering and cozy. oh autumn, how i love you.
my favorite seasons. what a great time in my life right now. i think God might have planned it this way just for me. i love the summer so much and there is no better way for it to end then with the beginning of autumn. there is so much i love about autumn so i have made a list about all the things i would like to experience during this short, magnificent time of year:

- take family pictures in the mountains/trees
- take the boys to a pumpkin patch
- make leaf piles and jump into them with the littles
- go miniature golfing when it's decorated for halloween
- make owen a wolf costume
- fashion a teepee and spend the day playing make believe
- go to an afternoon football game
- drink apple cider
- make pumpkin spice cookies(like maybe once a week)
- cook pumpkin seeds
- take owen to frightmares
- go to a corn maze
- make a blanket
- paint/carve/decorate pumpkins
- go to lunch with old friends
- bring back friday craft day with melissa
- read
- paint my fingernails and toenails rich, dark colors
- wear tights, boots, hoodies, hats and belts

the list goes on and on, but i will leave it at that for now. so much to look forward to, i don't think i am going to be able to sleep tonight.

"we are having some trouble here"....

2010-03-08T21:12:00.001-08:00

...not really something you want to hear from your two year old in the other room, but man it's the truth. the last three days have been something else.

Friday, middle of the night(so really Saturday morning):
Owen wakes up crying and yelling mommy. i go into his room. he is crying and wants me to sleep with him. i am in his bed for a couple hours, wake up and go back to bed. later that morning he wakes up again, crying and yelling for mommy. i go into his room and he is sitting on his bed crying and shaking. i ask him what's wrong and he says "i'm just so, so sad" i ask why but he only answers with "cause". i ask him if he had a bad dream, no. then i realize that he is really hot. i ask him if he feels sick and he says yes. so i let him calm down and after about an hour take his temp and it's 101.4. we sit on the couch and watch movies. later, he throws up. a little on himself, but mostly in the bowl i brought out just in case. this is only the 2nd time he has ever really thrown up, but it wasn't too much. i gave him Tylenol and he wants to get up and do stuff. thinking he is better after the throw up. later in the afternoon he wants to just sit and snuggle again and he falls asleep. after his nap his temp is back up and he is not happy. more medicine and movies and by dinner time he seems to be doing much better. he ate some food and was happy the rest of the night.
Sunday morning:
Owen woke up happy and feeling good. we have church at 9. he had no sign of sickness. i thought we should probably stay home just in case but i was thinking that maybe that was just my excuse cause i didn't really feel like getting in the shower and getting ready for church myself. we decided to go to sacrament meeting only. everything is fine during testimony meeting. owen is sitting on my lap and kind burps a little. i automatically put my hand up to his mouth and out comes vomit. please don't cover someone's mouth when they are throwing up, it only makes things worse. luckily i moved my hand pretty quick and grabbed nixon's blanket in time to get the 2nd round of puke. it was super gross. all over me and owen and the bench. i cradled owen in my arms and we left. don't worry, jason did go back and sterilize the bench. after that episode, owen seemed to be okay. he just wanted to watch movies the rest of the day.
Monday:
owen woke up crabby. i decided to take work off because i did not want mom to have to deal with crabby pants and any throw up messes. there was no more throw up but he was super moody and weird and whiny. about ten minutes after jason tucked him into bed he came out and said "mom, i need to tell you guys someping" i of course said no, you need to go to bed. he said "but I am all wet" sure enough the back of his shirt and pants were soaked and even the front of his hair was a little wet. he told me he pee'd. he still wears DIAPERS!! i had changed his diaper before bed and when we got his pants off i could see that it was crooked and weird and almost completely dry! apparently he was just like messing with his diaper and then pee'd all over, i don't know but it was a mess. jason showered him while i cleaned his bed and put new sheets on. 45 minutes later he was back in bed.

it has been a rough couple days. hopefully tomorrow will be better cause for real, i can't take much more.
yeah, owen does say the title to this post. he also says "we need a little help in here" mostly if nixon spits up when i am not in the same room. it's very funny.
this picture of owen was taken 12/6/09 and the one of nixon was taken 2/14/10. pretty much what our last few days have looked like though.

notes from the underground

2010-03-01T21:09:00.001-08:00

oh blogging...how I've missed you. My intentions have been to get caught up on all my blog posts from Halloween through Valentines Day. I have lots of stuff I want to share and remember, but every time I decided to do a post, it was to much for me to handle. All the time it was going to take for our butt slow computer to get my pictures downloaded onto each post. All the remembering and brain sifting I was going to have to do...it was overwhelming. The final straw was losing my memory card and not having every picture taken from December through New Year's(yeah, I dropped my camera a the Dashboard concert and i guess my memory card fell out. super sucky!)
Now I am going to start over with a new month in a new year and do my best to stay caught up. I am still going to try and post all my old stuff cause there are some pretty good times from the last few months, but that will happen slowly.
For now enjoy my short update on the little's and our lives...

Nixon J is 7 1/2 months old and slobbery as ever. Seriously. Constant stream of drool coming out of that boys mouth. He got his two bottom teeth just after 4 months and his two side teeth are coming in now. That's right people..not his two front teeth, his two side teeth. Poor boy is going to be a hillbilly.
Here is a little update on Nixon:
-- he loves holding hands. really, any physical contact, but he has to be holding hands to fall
asleep.
-- he wants constant attention and pretty much demands it
-- he turns around on his belly but shows no sign of crawling yet
-- he chews on everything
-- he is eating baby foods and some table foods now. he is kind of an oinker.
-- he laughs his face off at pretty much everything Owen does and at Owen's stuffed Nemo
-- he smiles and laughs a lot (as long as he is getting attention)
-- he loves standing up and is balancing pretty good when he standing up against the couch and
stuff
-- he likes music
-- he waves goodbye(this kids of goes in spurts). he does the open and shut hand wave and it is
super cute.
-- he jabbers a lot and very loudly(not sure where he gets that)
-- he is very offended if Jason walks by him with no acknowledgement

probably lots of other things too, but I need to move on. He is darling and fun and we love him. I am ready for him to be crawling. The laying on his belly all stiff with his arms and legs up is getting to be a little much for me to handle, yeah, mobility is fun.

Owen will be 3 in April. Everyday there is something new and funny and naughty going on with this kid:
-- he loves puzzles and he is very good at them, like kind of geniusy good at them.
-- he loves books and stories. he is always asking someone to tell him a story. he loves to get the flashlight and have a camp out wherever he is and tell stories
-- he still loves guns and swords and wants to "sword you", "shoot you right in the eye", "rope you" or "weapon you" pretty much everything he plays with eventually becomes some kind of weapon. not really sure if i should worry about that yet.
-- he is starting to love playing "baksitball" (see my kids not a total nerd)
-- he loved playing in the snow and having snowball fights this winter
-- he is very naughty and he kind of likes it. he goes under my mom's kitchen table and just yells all of his naughty words(shut up, stupid and hate are at the top of his list) i guess he thinks that is free space since we can't see him and he is not saying directly to anyone. there is really no stopping it cause whoever is in the room can't help laughing at him.
-- yeah, he is definitely in the pushing the limits phase and really tries me some days. hopefully won't last all through his 3 year oldness
-- he is wild. loves running and being chased and he is very loud too.
-- he talks a lot, sometimes non-stop. my favorite words/phrases are "that's terrible", "that doesn't sound like a great idea", "mom, i have to ask you a question"
-- he wants to wear underpants and use the toilet but he doesn't get that he is not supposed to pee before he gets to the toilet. we are working on it.
-- he says the prayer and it's one of the cutest things ever.
-- he sings at the top of his lungs and really likes music
-- he went to his first concert, Dashboard Confessional. It was outdoors in Ogden as part of the Dew Tour and he ripped his gloves and mittens off as soon as they started playing so that he could play his air guitar. he couldn't/wouldn't do it with gloves on.
-- he is very curious and wants to know all about stuff
-- he is starting to rhyme and always wants to know what time it is

really, he learns something and does something new everyday. he makes me so happy. he is ready for nixon to play and be wild with him and i can tell that nixon is ready too. pretty sure these two are going to keep me on my toes...wild hooligans.

so, the boys are good. life is good. jason is set to graduate this year and i cannot express the anxiousness I am having for him to be done with school so we can move onto something different in our lives. it is very exciting and we are very ready for our next step. i am determined to stay updated on my blog so that you can all enjoy me once again!

naptime

2009-10-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

for the last month or so, jas and i have been wondering if owen has outgrown naptime...

shopping with me in walmart. using a nerf sword as a pillow.

in the middle of dinner. he knocked himself over and was fast asleep.

didn't even have time to put the cheeseburger down.

due to the nature of these pictures, we decided to resume naptime.

this is how my boy likes to sleep...hiding. when i tuck him in he says he is "gettin in his hiding spot" and nearly every night when i check on him before i go to bed, this is what he looks like. he has been like this for most his life, so we don't worry too much about him suffocating. jason and i both like our faces kind of buried when we sleep too and i think nixon may turn out the same way. as soon as you nuzzle a blanket against part of his face his eyes start rolling. whatever helps you sleep at night..hehe!

perks of superstardom

2009-10-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

forget bonuses, pay raises, paid time off...this is what you get for being an awesome employee at my work.
today my boss and co-worker rewarded me for excellence. i guess they felt my good work was not worthy of using the gas in their cars so they picked something up for me on their afternoon walk. never mind that there is a bread store, candy store and jewelry store within 2 blocks of our place of employment...nope, those would not suffice...the mexican groceteria was the only place that made sense.
thank goodness for my guardian angel. she has already blessed my life more than Bonnie and Laurie will ever know!FROSTED TOAST!!! seriously...don't you wish you had my job!?!
(frosted toast is as nasty as it sounds. it smelled like sweaty feet and the bread was as crusty as bread can get)

thank goodness for people that make me laugh at work!!!

puttin on mine nakeup

2009-10-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

ME: hi owen. what are you doin?

OWEN: ummm, puttin on mine nakeup.
ME: oh! are you getting ready for something?
OWEN: yeah.
ME: what are you getting ready for?
OWEN: puttin on my mad face.
ME: what are you going to do with your mad face?
OWEN: so i can say roar

you gotta love a little boy putting on makeup!

craft day

2009-09-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Craft day with sisters is the best! Melissa and I saw these cutest witches brooms at Tai Pan last time we were there and of course I said, "we could totally make those" and for some crazy reason, Melissa went along with it. I love it when she does that! The highlights of making these brooms...
- driving on Canyon Road and spotting our broomstick handles
- making my broom and then making melissa's broom too. just kidding sis, but seriously, she really struggled with the glueing portion of our craft.
- conversations with satan who was haunting our cell phones
- melissa wanting to take owen home with her because she feared for his life due to my zero patience with him

thanks for the fun sister! cant' wait for the next one!

cute new shirt and boredom = lots of picts

2009-09-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

I got this shirt for Owen for $2 and I love, love the slim fit and colors of it so much. He looked way too cute for me not to take some pictures. Enjoy my handsome little man...
He is so good at posing for me. He knows all the faces I want and he is pretty patient with me when taking pictures. This last one is one of my all time faves.

Jason has had a rough semester this fall and this is pretty much how he looks every night. Tonight I got so bored after the littles were asleep and Jason was tuned into Computer Science World. The camera was out, so I entertained myself. Jason totally busted me taking 27 pictures of myself. I laughed!

Later that night I found these on the camera... I like that he can accept me taking pictures of myself when I am bored...I love that he takes pictures of himself in the mirror while I am asleep on the couch! That's the way we roll.

Jenner

2009-09-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

jennifer came for a visit from cleveland to meet her new nephews. owen had so much fun with her. she spoils her nieces and nephews too much! i loved how owen called her 'jenner'. you can tell from the pictures how much fun they had together. it was so fun to see her.
we all miss her!

Blessed

2009-09-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Jason gave Nixon a beautiful blessing in our Sacrament meeting. Bishop Eves, Grandpa's Oliver and Harris, Uncle's Rich and Dave(Uncle Steve was at his Brother's baby blessing at the same time. We missed him) and friend Lucas G. were all a part of the preisthood blessing given to this precious boy. So grateful for the blessings of the Priesthood in my life. These men have been such great examples to me in my life of what a man should be for his family, church and community. Nixon is so lucky to have these men to grow up with and look to for advice and strength. What an amazing miracle a child is. Nothing quite like it. I will be forever greatful for my children and the love they have filled me with. Here are a few family pictures...

house party

2009-09-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Monica bought a new home in Smithfield this summer and she finally invited us all over to fill her new house with love!! Her backyard walks out to a nice grassy area and a pavillion. We ate pizza and popsicles outside and had a great time. Of course a family get together calls for photo extravaganza. Here are a few...

Mom had the urge to do 2-man sommersaults. She thought it was crazy that no one could do them. I am not sure why she thinks that is an easy feat, but luckily she did not try it for herself, cause it is hard.

I don't think anyone mastered it.

10 grandkids...pretty good looking group of rugrats. Mom loves the lined up pictures of oldest to youngest. The little's were not lovin the photo shoot.

The Bigs that do not appreciate being called kids anymore(mostly the girls...they are teenagers!)
Jacob, McKenzie, Alexander and Alexa.

Rockstars! They make me happy.

Owen unhappy that I would not let him play in the big water drain pipe thing. I know, I am mean. Cute Brooklyn posing.

Unsure if this kid could be any cuter! I love this bottom one with the tree. He makes me smile.

I wish Monica would stop buying crazy, possessed appliances that shoot you in the face when you are trying to get a drink. Seriously, a trick fridge Monica...nice.

We are so excited for Monica's new purchase and had a great time at her new home.

trampoline sleepover

2009-09-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

Jason had to stay up late last night doing homework and waiting for Jennifer to get to our house(flying in from Cleveland) so Owen and I decided to sleep on the trampoline at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was Owen's first time...pretty exciting. We got all settled and snuggled and then he said "what we doin out here mom?" We looked at the stars and talked for about 10 minutes and then he decided he wanted to go inside and play. I explained that we were sleeping outside and tried to tell him how fun it was but he started crying. Grandma came out and snuggled with him for a while and got him to stop crying. I sang Rock-a-bye-Baby probably ten times and he was fast asleep. It took me a while to fall asleep cause I got a little nervous. The huge pine trees that used to protect mom and dad's backyard were cut down this summer, so it felt a little too open and unfamiliar for me. Plus, I always convince myself that someone is waiting to attack.

We woke up super early and watched the wild animals enjoy the morning. All sorts of birds and squirrels running around making loud noises. Owen said he had fun sleeping on the trampoline.

6 weeks

2009-08-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

cuter every day. cried first real tear(heartbreaking). has started sleeping 10 or 11pm - 6 or 7am. good boy!

Jayse Lyle

2009-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

8-29-09

healthy baby. happy mom.

month and a half apart.

Congrats Angela and fam. We are so excited to have Jayse in the family!

5 weeks

2009-08-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

finally starting to like the swing a little bit. this is the first time he has fallen asleep in it.

smiles and talking has started this week. very cute.

ZOOM ZOOM

2009-08-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Goodbye old Honda. You will be missed...

...sort of.Two car seats in the back of the Honda left us with little to no room. We could not take any other passengers and with two strollers in the trunk I could barely fit groceries in the car. Jason agreed to go and "look" with me. Before the Accord we had a Mazda 3 wagon and I loved it. I have been dying for a Mazda CX-7 since they came out. A cross over that gets pretty good gas mileage. So, looking at cars I thought we would be looking at the CX-7's but when we got there Jason thought it made more sense to get something bigger than a 5 passenger(since that is what we already had). Jason has always talked about getting a mini van and has not showed any interest in an SUV of any type(besides a Navi..get real Jas). Apparently he was not serious about his mini van comments which I was relieved about cause I never really saw myself driving one, especially at 27 years old and two kids. I don't have anything against the mini van though, just not really for me.
Anyway, we decided to focus on the CX-9's. We test drove at least 4, maybe 5. We had an awesome salesman, Karl, who actually started us in the cheapest one, which we were both surprised about. I liked it, but didn't fall in love. Then we just kind of went down the line and when we test drove the silver 2008, I fell. I loved it and so did Jason. A car lot in Orem went bankrupt so Bountiful Mazda got some of their inventory. It was a brand new 2008 with 190 miles on it. After 6 hours with Karl, we finally bought the car. I was worried that Jason would have buyer's remorse, but he was just as happy about the purchase. I am very excited to have our family grow in this vehicle.
Owen went with us and was a very good boy considering the situation. At one point we had to strap him in his car seat in the dealership, but even still, he was pleasant. When we left the dealership we was talking about "ours awesome new car" and calling it Megatron. Karl hooked us up with some free Mazda stuff and so I had Owen model it.

someone's garbage ... my treasure

2009-08-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting a bookshelf for all of Owen's books. They are always all over the living room and so I just wanted a cheap little one. I asked my mom if she had one I could use cause she has a garage and three rooms full of randomness. One day we were going down town together and my mom spotted this bookshelf next to a dumpster in the USU student housing parking lot. We turned around and decided that this old dresser with three missing shelves would be perfect for me. My mom has an eye for spotting this kind of stuff. So I called my dad to come and load it in his truck. I said, "Hi dad, can you come to the dumpster and load up an old dresser for me?" He said, "no!"(remember how I said my mom has room fulls of randomness...thus the response. He did not want more "stuff"). When I told him it was for me, he was relieved and happy to come help. Soon after, I got a call from Jason and he asked what I was having my dad do and I told him loading a bookshelf. He asked how much it cost(with some irritation in his voice) and I said, "Jas, it's free...it's garbage." I think this made him a little more irritated. Anyway, me and my mom got a good laugh out of the men's reactions.

BEFORE

DURING

FINAL PRODUCT

It ended up costing me $10. Not bad at all. Jason even made it shorter for me so it's pretty much exactly what I wanted.

White Pine Lake

2009-08-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

Jas and I went backpacking up Tony Grove to White Pine Lake. We met Jason's friend Luke and his girlfriend Sheena up there. It was just an over nighter. I think it's about 8 miles round trip. It was really beautiful and more fun than I thought it would be, probably because Jason hauled the 45 lb backpack and I had a 5-10 lb pack.
Luke found a cave that he wanted to go explore. It was very steep and rocky getting there, but it was pretty impressive. I was a little worried about cave monsters, but luckily we did not see any. It was kind of a creepy cave, like one out of Indiana Jones. It went back pretty deep, but Sheena and I opted to stay in the mouth of the cave while the boys shimmied inside the crevasses.
It was pretty dark inside the crevasses but Jas still took a few pictures.
Luke and Jas being cool.
Sheena went down bumb style most of the way. It was a little treacherous.
Boys being boys. Seeing if they could throw rocks into the lake from our campsite. Of course they didn't stop until they did it.
Then they wanted to see the girl's skills. We were not even close.
Heading out.

family vacay...PC, UT

2009-08-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Jason, Owen, Nixon and I went to Park City on Thursday and stayed over in a hotel. Jason wanted to have one more fun weekend before school starts. On Friday we walked around main street.

My blog title and the message on my voice mail...of course I had to take a picture with it. It's the story of my life!

Owen loved the art moose's around town.

Roarin' with grizz.

The rest of my whole family, Annette, Mandi and Ryan's family met us in Park City. Melissa and Steve stayed in our room with us. Owen was not happy about giving up his "huge, big bed", but cheered up after he stole "Unca Stege's" hat. all of us(minus the keller's)met at Pizza Hut for dinner. It was really delicious. Then we headed back to the hotel and went swimming.

Melissa and I bought these darling jumpsuits for $0.99.

Monica, Amberly, Annette, Mom, Dave and Steve were the only ones that did not participate in the swimming. Yeah, Monica, who thinks she was meant to be a dolphin, stayed completely dry...she bugs!

Brooklyn loved jumping in.

Owen loved swimming and fell off the stairs and drowned a few times. He had to be watched constantly because he is very clumsy and did not mind going under the water, which is weird considering he cries his eyes out when i get his face wet in the bath. crazy boy!

chubby little Korver pants.

Kenz and Lexa.

Melissa, Melanie, Angela and Me. We all have to plug our noses when we jump in. We made quite a splash. It was good times.

Nixon loved his first hotel sleepover. He slept at least 9 hours both nights. What a good boy!

Saturday we shopped all day. The boys were great and I really appreciate Jason's love and patience for all day shopping with my whole family.

Haley and Lilly giving me their funny faces before they went home. They are such darling girls!
It was so fun hanging out with everyone for the weekend.

one month

2009-08-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

nixon is one month old. he is getting bigger everyday. he is still gassy and needs to be held when he is awake. we are trying to get him to enjoy his swing...he doesn't last long in it. owen was not a fan of the swing either. he is eating every 2 hours during the day and sleeps 6-8 hours at night.

tribute

2009-08-11T22:06:00.001-07:00

to the maker of the moo-moo(aka duster),

you have provided cool relief on hot summer nights
you have provided modesty when getting ready after the shower
you have provided large, roomy pockets to carry my treats and cell phone in
you have provided memories of my mom and neighbor clara that i will never forget
you have provided full coverage of my undergarments
you have provided comfort-especially in my large, pregnant days
you have provided convenience and ingenuity through your snaps system
you have provided so much more than any other jammie/loungewear ever has
you have provided me one of the greatest article of clothing i will ever own
and for this i pay tribute
thank you
thank you

seriously...best thing ever! my mom and my old neighbor used to wear these all the time and i have always been a fan. my mom got me my first one(the butterfly one)while in college. i loved it then and i love it now. it has only gotten more awesome through the years. sure, you might say the moo-moo is for aged women or morbidly obese women but i'll tell you what...i am bringing it back. my moo-moo collection has increased by 2 since receiving the first gem. 3 of my sisters are now sporting them and one of my cousins. sure, they used to make fun of me, call me grandma and what not, but now they don't know why they have been depriving themselves the greatness that is the moo-moo. it's revolutionary. i'm just sayin, give it a shot, it will not disappoint (especially if you have longer undergarments and/or are pregnant). the best place to buy the moo-moo's(and believe me, i've looked)is the Big K.

they are cute!

they are cool!they are sexy!

please send me a picture of yourself if you buy one! i love to pass on awesomeness to those i love!

Logan Aquatic Center

2009-08-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Jake rockin the slide

Kenz killin it

Brooky raisin the roof for the lifeguard that didn't catch her at the bottom

mel and brin ready to plunge

jas and owen comin at full speed

he Loved iT! this was owen's first experience with the twisty slide. what a cute kid.

nothin beats a pool day!

family fun

2009-08-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

jason fired up the charcoals and made us a delicious dinner.
owen loves him some hotdog!owen's first corn on the cob. he liked it, but did not really like getting all "greasy".nixon loves being outside.and marshmallows.family fun is the best!

3 weeks

2009-08-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Nixon is starting to look different to me everyday now. He is growing. He is a pretty gassy kid. I think he gets stomach aches after he eats cause he lets out weird random cries and then will fall back to sleep. He seems like he is in pain sometimes. It's so hard to tell what's going on when they are so little. He smiles and is even starting to talk a little bit every now and then. He is very strong and likes to look around when you hold him up on your shoulder. His eyes are turning blue. He likes being outside. He likes to be held when he is awake.
If only he could stay little like this for a few months.

2 weeks

2009-07-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

our little guy is two weeks old now. he went to the Dr today...here are his 2 week stats:
9lbs 2 oz
22 in

he is very sweet!

and he loves Grandma.

i tried my own little photo shoot with him, but he was not really into it. he's cute in his beanie though.

best friends!

FROGGER

and this boy is doing so much better. he is a happy boy and he loves his brother. he always gets right in his face and says "hi liddle brodder, hi." he wants to squeeze nixon's little arms and legs, but he tries his best to be gentle with him. he is very ready for nixon to start playing, running and causing mischief with him.
owen went to the Dr with nixon for his 2 yr ckup(we are a little slow). here are his 2 year 3 month stats:
30 lbs 8 oz
37 in

when we brought nixon home from the hospital i had this crazy energy and motivation to be up and going. it was weird, but so nice. i just felt good(considering what my body had just been through). i had a little bit of a breakdown one night in owen's room after i had tucked him in and he had fallen asleep. it was the 2nd night of owen's weird adjusting phase and i didn't know what i was going to do. it broke my heart that owen was possibly feeling left out or unloved. i wanted him to be happy. i had a good cry and talked to Heavenly Father for a while and knew that things would work out. things got better the next day. i am still feeling good, but i am needing my sleep now, the energy is wearing. i am so grateful to have somewhere to turn for help and so grateful to have 2 beautiful, healthy boys.

campout in Ogre's house

2009-07-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

mom, dad, jason, owen, nixon and i started a new family fun activity this 24th of july. my parents have a playhouse in their backyard that my sisters, cousins, friends and i all made great memories in during our childhood. somehow the playhouse ended up being a storage shed for my mom and eventually was padlocked. it was heartbreaking. well, my mom and dad got it all cleaned out one weekend and surprised the grandkids. me and melissa were just as excited as the grandkids were.
owen has called it the ogre's house(as in Shrek)for the last couple of months. shrek, princess fiona, puss, donkey and charming all live there according to owen.
anyway, since just the six of us were home i thought we should relive some memories of the playhouse. we had a campfire and sleepover...it was the best! my mom has never, ever slept in the playhouse and dad and jason did not believe that she really would. thanks for proving them wrong mom..you rock!

nixon loved his first campfire

owen and grandpa built us a great fire. my parents got a few huge pine trees cut down this summer, so that is why we had a place to build a fire.

we had a delicious weenie roast. best hot dog ever is one cooked over a fire.

and of course...s'mores!

we rented Bedtime Stories(super dumb movie) and watched it in the playhouse on an old tv my dad brought out.

owen slept so good!

the playhouse was packed with 5 of us on the floor and nixon in his pack 'n play, but it was totally worth it! thanks mom and dad for helping us make some great new memories.

one week

2009-07-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been one week since Nixon was born. Life has changed so much in the last week! It is so strange having people ask me how my kids are, or if their is anything they can do for our kids. I feel older having 2 kids. It's a weird thing, but it's really great too!
Nixon is darling and precious and sweet and wonderful! We really like him.
He is eating every 2-4 hrs and he was sleeping all day and up a lot at night for the first few days, but he is getting better at that.
He is a tummy sleeper. He did not like being swaddled at all. He would kick and squirm and cry until he got his blanket off of him. He did not sleep good the first week and did not like being swaddled either. As soon as he was on his belly he would fall asleep and stay asleep for a few hours. I know babies are supposed to sleep on their backs, but my boys do not like it.
Owen is a super big brother. He likes to peek at Nixon when he is asleep and he tells him "it's otay" when he is crying. He gets his diapers for me and he loves giving him kisses. He wants me to get Nixon a baseball mitt so he can play with him and he tries to share his juice with him.
Owen is already reading him stories too.Three handsome boys..how lucky am I?!?!
Owen thought it was hilarious when Nixon started eating his arm. He was laughing so hard. It was so cute. Nixon was going to town on him.
We are so happy to have Nixon in our family...and I think he is pretty happy about it too!
He smiled everytime Owen would laugh. It was too cute. I know you are all thinking he just had gas, but no farting and no poop followed these sweet faces. He just loves us, that 's all.How is Owen dealing? Well, he got sick the day after we brought Nixon home from the hospital. He had a fever of at least 100 degrees and it went up to almost 103. It lasted for 4 days. We took him to the DR, but the DR said to just keep giving him Tylenol for a few days. The fever did eventually go away but then he got a crazy rash. That is getting better too. While he was sick, he didn't seem to be affected by Nixon. The last few days have been very different. He hasn't shown any resentment or anger towards Nixon, but he has been so grumpy and cry-y and whiny. He will tell you he wants something and then throw a fit when you give it to him. He begged to go to Grandma's but then cried to come home with me after we got there. I have tried to be patient and understanding, but it has been difficult for sure. We are trying to give him some one-on-one time and involve him in things, but I think we need to do a little better. Hopefully this won't last too long. I hate feeling upset or annoyed at him, it really makes me feel bad.
He has been spending a lot of time in his room...that is where he goes when he throws a fit. he likes to get in his bed and "hide" so we won't talk to him. All my scrapbook stuff is in his room and he has been very good about staying out of it, but the other day we went in to check on him and he got into the box with my ink pads in it. He said "me have a beard"(see above picture)and was happy as could be about it. I don't know how he knows what a beard is, but it was cute. I am recovery nicely and feeling good. I am super excited about having ankles again! I was so swollen during labor and for the week after that. Melissa thought it was pretty funny(and freaky) and could not resist taking a picture of the Fred Flinstone's. I was getting very concerned about it, but my veins and bones started showing again on Sunday. It was a huge relief.Family and friends have been taking really good care of us. It has been really great. I don't know how we could do it without them.

JULY 13TH

2009-07-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

NIXON J.

-- MONDAY JULY 13, 2009 - 8PM - 8 LBS 2 OZ - 20.5 IN --
-- EVERYBODY IS HEALTHY AND HAPPY --

-- 3 DAYS OLD ---- WE LOVE HIM SO SO MUCH --

A REQUEST...

2009-07-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

to the child hanging out in my uterus like it's nobody's business...

...PLEASE come out! I love you.
due date: 7/9/09 today's date: 7/9/09 picture taken: 7/9/09

4th of July weekend

2009-07-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

I had a 4 day weekend and so we made the most of it. In brief, here is all the fun we had...

meeting Sawyer Joy(born 6-29-09). congratulations Whitney and Brandon! we love her!

delicious dinner at the Clark's

cutest little Korver in his patriotic leggies

fireworks at the stadium. grandma brought everyone glow sticks.

this is how Owen watched the first few fireworks. he was a little scared but then grandma told him they were like Transformers and i reminded him about Benny playing baseball during the fireworks(The Sandlot) and then he liked them...

Bear Lake with Melissa, Steve, Monica and Amb. We were cold the first couple hours, but then the sun came out and we all ended up a little sunburned.Owen loved the little pool we made him. he made sure everyone played in it...

home firework show in Preston at the Weisbecks

i love this picture!
WE HAD A REALLY GREAT WEEKEND. THANK YOU TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE AND ARE STILL FIGHTING FOR OUR FREEDOMS! YOU TRULY ARE HEROES!

6 years

2009-06-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

THEN

NOW

6 years ago I married Jason Ian Harris. I could not be any happier today than I am now. He is the best husband I could ever ask for. He is patient, really patient. He makes me smile. He listens to me ramble. He tells me stories when I can't fall asleep. He plays with my hair and tickles my neck(love this). He works really hard. He understands me, or at least tries. He is so much more than I could have ever hoped for and now 6 years later we have the coolest little boy ever and another baby on the way. Thanks for the love Jas!

DAD'S

2009-06-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

the relationship between jason and owen is indescribable. owen loves his dad so much! owen makes jason a better person. he makes him laugh and he reminds him what's important in life. being a dad has changed jason so much...in such a good way. i know that these two will always be best friends. i love owen's dad!

my dad is the hardest worker i know. the older i get i have started to grasp all the lessons my dad has taught me. he supported his 6 girls no matter what we were doing. i played sports, so i think that took me up a notch in his book, not having to sit through my dance reviews...just kidding, but maybe. my favorite memories of my dad are memories of him tucking me and melissa in at night. he would sing to us and tell us stories. i love my dad!

jason's dad. raised jason to treat women with respect. raised him to stand up for himself and to be himself. raised him to be trustworthy and dependable. he welcomed me into his family with no judgement, just love. he treats me like a daughter. he dances like it's nobodies business and he likes making people smile. he tells the same stories over and over again. he would really like me to know and have an opinion about the political world. he would do anything for his family. i love jason's dad!

i don't know what we would do without father's. women are pretty incredible people, but there are two sexes for a reason. there are things that only a dad can do, teach, or understand and i am so grateful for all of them in my life!

29

2009-06-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday JASON!!!

** you are the best husband ever!
** you are one of the most patient people I know
** Owen loves you so much. I love watching you two play together
** you would do anything for your family
** you are very smart
** you take your responsibilities seriously
** you have a strong testimony and are a good example to everyone around you
** you go shopping with me(i really love you for this one)
** you make me smile everyday
** you are humble and selfless
** you get more handsome every year

We met Jason's family at Firehouse Pizza for a birthday dinner. It was delicious. After dinner we went to the ball park and watched some of Jason's family play ball. Jason even got to play in the last few innings.After the game we went home and Jason opened a few presents from me and Owen. He got a new pink swimsuit and a purple sweatshirt. I LOVE shopping for Jason. If I pick stuff out for him when he is not with me he will usually trust my judgement and wear what I pick out. But if he is with me and I pick stuff out for him he always says no and pretends like he doesn't like it. He is funny!

We hope you had a great birthday! We love you SO much!!!

country club

2009-06-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Day 3: This is the Clubhouse. Pretty awesome, right?! This is where they filmed High School Musical 2, for all you Disney channel fans. We had a little photo shoot before we had to leave.
It was a great vacation. Jason said we could go back every year and I can't wait! We might have to go again before then.

Snow Canyon and pool time

2009-06-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

DAY 2: Who doesn't like to start their morning off by having silly face photo shoot? Apparently Jason and Owen woke up very happy. It was a little overcast in the morning so we decided to go to Snow Canyon(the hotel was right at the mouth of the canyon).

First we drove to Tuacahn Amphitheater. The musicals started the day after we left. I was a little bummed, especially since they are doing Footloose. On our way we saw this snake in the road. Owen liked it. Unfortunately, the car coming down the other lane ran over it right as we were watching. He slithered out of the road and Owen said he was going to the doctor. It was cute.

Sand dunes in the canyon. Owen could have been entertained there all day long.

We like climbing the red rocks. Owen loves the movie Shrek and he kept saying, "I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder"(Donkey asys it to Shrek). It was so funny!

He wasn't scared climbing on rocks and mountains, but the stump that was only 2 feet off the ground was a little too much for him.

After we spent the morning exploring the canyon, Owen and Jason took a nap in the room and I went and laid out by the pool waiting for my appointment for my Chocolate Peppermint Scrub pedicure at the spa. It was my first time having a real spa pedicure(pedicures in the mall do not count). It was fantastic!

When I was done with my pedicure Owen and Jas were at the pool. The pool was a little small, but the section Jas and Owen are in was only 2 feet deep, so it was perfect for Owen and he loved it.

Everytime he got out of the pool he watched his suit drip and would take steps so he could watch it drip some more. We learned that Owen's skills in the pool are limited. Everytime he fell in he would fall forward, feet still on the bottom of the pool, bent at the waist with his face in the water. You would think your natural instinct would be to stand up straight...not Owen, he just stayed face down in the water. This happened more than once and he never got his face out of the water on his own. Guess we need to get him in swim lessons.

It was a fun pool! They also had a full basketball court, sand volleyball court and lots of tennis courts. A great place for a family vacation.

the INN at entrada

2009-06-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Jason, Owen and I decided to have a little vacation before summer school starts and the baby comes. We headed down to St. George for a long weekend. I just wanted to go somewhere warm where I could sit by the pool and hang out. The place we stayed was PERFECT for this! I can't wait to go back.

The Inn at Entrada is my new favorite hotel. It was incredible and I highly recommend it to everyone. You will not be disappointed, I promise. This is the front of our Casita. Yes, we have our own garage and private front patio.

This is the view of the back of the Casita. They are all built right on a beautiful golf course.

There were ponds and beautiful landscaping all throughout the property.

birthday Party

2009-05-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my party at mom's house with my family. I love my family!

I always have the same cake. Vanilla and orange sherbet ice cream with crushed Oreo cookie crumbs on top and bottom. Delish!!! I blew the heck out of those candles.

This is what happens when Jas is in charge of the camera. I like him.

27

2009-05-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today I turned 27. I worked a little bit in the morning and enjoyed a sausage egg mcmuffin breakfast serenaded by a blinged out, stuffed frog singing "go shorty it's your birthday we gonna party like it's your birthday" from the cute girls at work. Then I had lunch at El Sol with Mel, Brook, Brin, Korver, Monica, Amb, Melissa, Mom, Dad, Jas and Owen. Melanie knows how I like to be celebrated all day on my birthday so she brought me a vase of darling summer flowers, balloons and treats. She is the best! After lunch I went to Bear Lake with Jason and Owen. We sat on the beach and watched Owen run around and splash in the water for a few hours. It is one of my most favorite places to be! After Bear Lake, mom and dad watched Owen so Jas could take me to the movie, but we ended up buying popcorn from the theater and going home to watch the Idol Finale. Later, I opened some gifts from Jas and Owen and had a very great day!
I love this little boy so, so much! Seriously, he knows exactly what face to pull when he is sporting white linen pants rolled up capri style and white aviators. I am not sure it gets much cooler than that.In the course of my 27th year of life, I...

will have 2 children
will have a graduated husband
will continue to work for DWS
hope to buy our first home
hope to be starting a new adventure in a new city/state
will learn how to use photoshop
hope to be in shape, healthy and happy with the way I look
am going to cook more often
will be patient and optimistic
might dye my hair a color it has never been before
will potty train Owen
will paint my living room
will become a better, stronger person
will continue drinking Diet Coke
am going to paint a picture
will keep saying my prayers

I really appreciate everybody for knowing that I love my Birthday and for allowing me to do and have whatever I want on this day. It makes me very happy!

KIDA Relay

2009-05-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

Another one of Angela's crazy ideas of a good time! She found out about this 24 hour bike/run relay and of course she thought it sounded like the funnest thing ever. Apparently Rich, Monica and Jason thought it sounded like fun too, cause they all participated. The relay consisted of 12 hours of biking and 12 hours of running. This was the first year of the relay so they did not really know what to expect. It turned out that the director of the relay is a hardcore marathoner/triathaloner and he recruited a lot of his friends. There were 11 teams and 'Team Angela' was definitely out of place. Jason rides a mountain bike, not a road bike. Monica bought an $80 road bike from Walmart the day before the race and Angela and Rich don't ride bikes at all. The other teams had bikes that probably cost as much as my car, jerseys with sponsors on them, etc. They were the underdogs, to say the least.
8am Friday morning Jason biked the first 26 mile bike loop. Then Monica, Rich, Ang, Jason again, Monica again. That was the first 12 hours of the race. 8pm Friday night Rich ran the first 6 mile loop. Then Ang, then Jason, then Monica, Rich again, Ang again and Jason again. This was the last 12 hours of the race(they were supposed to run til 8am Saturday morning but stopped around 5am and slept).
They weren't the top contenders, but all things considered(like that none of them have done anything like this before and they didn't really train for it either), they did a super awesome job. I am so proud of them! The other teams were nice and kept making comments about the team with the mountain bike. They said they would like to see them back next year on a road bike, cause they thought they could be great with the right equipment.

Jason coming in and Monica going out.

Angela

The relay was at Utah Lake. We had a nice grass area with a nice bathroom so Me, Owen, Mom, Amberly, Alexa, Alex and Max decided to camp out and show our support for the full 24 hours. It got chilly at night. Sleeping arrangements were not the best, but we had a good time overall.

What was Utah Lake like? This fish tells it all! The beach was mainly rocks and broken glass. The water was grey and dirty. The little boys still enjoyed it though. I did not enjoy it. It's gross!

Rich. He is a fantastic runner!

Angela liked the run a lot better than the bike.

Cute Jas!

Jason passing the belt onto Monica.

The Fantastic Foursome(that is the best name Ang could come up with)! Good work guys...good work!

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

I can't think of anything that I would rather be. Owen has made my life so happy! He has changed me so much and has made me a better person. I know he is only 2, but the kind of change you take on when you become a mom is undescribable. I always knew that I wanted to be a mom someday, but I didn't realize why until I actually became one. I feel so blessed to have Owen in my life and for the opportunity to bring another child into the world.

My mom is the most selfless, giving person I know. I don't know how she does it, or why sometimes, but she is always there to help no matter what. She has a tender heart and a sensitive soul. She does not like to see people suffer. More than anything, she tries to make everyone happy, make everyone feel special. She is one of a kind. I know that I do not possess this characteristic, not like my mom, and I hope that one day I will be just a little bit like her in this way.
She is the Grandma that every kid dreams of. Her neighbor just told me the other day, "your parents put all other parents and grandparents to shame." and she is right. I loved my Grandma and Grandpa very much, but I did not call them and talk to them for hours on the phone or tell my mom that I was going to live with Grandma until I was 18. The grandkids all love her and I am so thankful for the time she makes for Owen. I don't know what we would do without her. Owen loves her so much!
Thank you mom for everything! Thank you for being there for me and for loving me no matter what. Thank you for talking to me everyday and for missing me(or at least for saying you do)on my days off. I love you!

** I know that Mother's Day is not a celebration for everyone and my heart goes out to you if you are one of those women feeling pain, loss or sorrow today. I truly hope that those feelings will not last and that you will find peace and joy in life. I know that God has a plan for each one of us and that you will find happiness someday through the pain you are feeling today.

LAgooN

2009-05-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Alexa had a dance competition at Lagoon today so we went to watch her. It was raining when we got there and there was no sign it was going to let up, but we decided since we were there, we might as well ride some rides. So we bought our tickets and the guy told us we could come back for free another day since it was raining. That made it totally worth getting a little wet for. It ended up being pretty good weather and there were not many people there so it worked out great.

This is the best picture i could get of Lexa. She is a super awesome dancer!

This was Owen's first time at Lagoon and he LOVED it!

I only got to ride a few of the kid rides due to the child in my belly and this kid boat ride was my favorite. It was very fun!

Big kids on the kid swings and Jason, Monica, Alex and Melissa on Cliffhanger.

These whales are the cutest!

Owen was not a fan of the Lady Bug Drop, but he loved the Octopus ride that had dolphins and sharks squirting them.

Melissa, Lex, Jason and Owen on the Carousel

During one of the downpours.

Max and Owen had so much fun together. Their most favorite was splashing in the puddles while the big kids were on the rides.

Max telling me what a train says and Owen crying on Puff. It was the only ride he cried on.
After a full day at Lagoon we had to go to Target to buy the little boys new clothes because they decided running through the puddles wasn't enough and kneeled down in them and splashed with their hands. Little boys are crazy!

70 more days

2009-04-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

this is what i look like at 30 weeks

this is what i feel like at 30 weeks...
- 20 lbs larger
- lung constriction
- hemorrhoids
- heart burn(only at night when i am trying to sleep)
- itchy, rashy skin on the sides of my stomach
- gross belly button
- baby inside my body that just cannot get comfortable
- nervous/excited/freaked out about having another child
- pretty good energy
- like i need a beach vacation
- grateful and blessed
- hoping this one is as cute and fun and easy going as owen
- anxiety about Dr's due to my sister's last few sucky experiences
- decided that if people don't like the names i like, it doesn't matter, it's my kid
- hoping these hideous stretch marks magically disappear
- anxious to be able to sleep on my stomach again

buffalo gals won't you come out tonight?

2009-04-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Kenzie had an orchestra concert tonight. She plays the violin and is very good. Some of my favorites of the night were 'Buffalo Gals', 'All Star'(hey now you're an all star get your game on...you know Smash mouth!) and 'The Final Countdown'. We were pretty much on the back row, so we rocked out a little.

When we were not rocking out we pulled faces at eachother. It was great entertainment during the Beginner Orchestra students concert. There were some good faces being pulled, so Melissa and I pulled our cameras out.

you gotta love sticky boogers that make your nostrils stick shut!

Brinlie was on a roll with the face pulling. I had so many to choose from, but I think these were some of her best!
P.S. she really is a cute girl...she just pulls a great face!

strawberry jam

2009-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is my first time making jam. I have had homemade jam my whole life. I do not eat store jam/jelly...it's too yucky compared to homemade. I decided I should start making it myself instead of sneaking jars out of my mom's freezer!

ingredients

beautiful, delicious strawberries

blending/mashing the berries

Melissa and Ang were making some too.

strawberry jam, sitting for 1/2 hour

jarring.

finished product.
It was not hard at all, it just took a little time. It was great fun and now I will have my very own strawberry jam for at least a year or two(it made a lot more than I thought). I am going to make apple and apricot next time...I can't wait!

Second Chance 5K

2009-04-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

This race has become a tradition for the last 5 years. This year was our biggest group of runners.
Brandon, Monica, Rich, Melissa, Mandi, AJ, boy i don't know(Brittany's boy), Jason, Angela, Harrison Duvall, Alex, Amberly, Brittany and me. This is right before the race.

Rich got first place overall. They barely had the finish line stuff set up before he came in. He is incredible!

Jas came in next in our group. He did a great job too.

Then Monica...

Brittany...

Melissa, Harrison...

Alex...

and Angela right behind him.

This was Harrison's first 5K and he really pushed himself. He drank a lot of water during and after running and ended throwing it all up.

Alexa and I ran in at 46 minutes. We only started running when we saw the finish line. Alexa was worried if I ran too much my baby would fall out and she would have to put it in her sweatshirt.

Brandon, Mandi, AJ and Amberly finished the race up. I asked the guy with the megaphone to cheer Amb on. It was fun. She did great. Mandi is so nice to stay with her every year.

Champion 5Kers!

Dad was the key holder/camera mana. Thanks Dad!

Organ donation is an amazing thing to do. One human can save 7 lives with their organs...c'mon people...7 lives! I hope you are all organ donors!

Preston party

2009-04-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we met the Weisbecks and Grandma and Grandpa Harris at the park in Preston for another party for Owen. It was a beautiful day. We sat on the grass and opened presents. Owen loved having another party. After presents we played on the playground for a little bit and then went to the Weisbeck's for cake and ice cream.
Owen is so lucky to have so many people love him and celebrate his cuteness!

BASEBALL PARTY!!!

2009-04-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

We had a big baseball party for Owen. Everyone from my family was there except for Melanie, Dave, Korver, Michelle and Nick(we missed you guys). While we were getting everything set up, Owen and Jas played catch. He insists on wearing the big mitt.

For dinner we had baseball game concessions:
- hot dogs
- chips
- nachos
- soda pop
- sunflower seeds
- peanuts
- caramel corn

Dad and I went to a couple gas stations and asked them for nacho and hot dog trays.

It was a little cold outside, but we still had a good time.

Max and Owen

Owen and Haley(Haley is 2 weeks older)

Kenzie and Alexa made balloon hats.

And what's a baseball game without cotton candy?!? We rented a machine and Melissa was our cotton candy maker. She did a great job. I think she is going to join the carnival so she can make cotton candy for the rest of her life! She really enjoyed it.

It made her very messy, but she didn't mind at all.

Dinner was fun. We even sang Take me out to the Ball Game(some of us, mostly Annette and Melissa). We had everyone at the party sign a baseball for Owen to keep in his room. I think we might have to get a glass case for it, it's a pretty valuable ball.

Thank you so much to all my family for helping us with the party. It was great and we really appreciate it!

PINATA

2009-04-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

Afer dinner we had a pinata. Jason made the pinata and he did a great job. It took him about 3 days. It was a large pinata and ended up weighing about 25lbs once it had all the candy in it. The kids hit it youngest to oldest(I didn't get pics of everyone).

Owen

Max

Brooklyn(we were all waiting for dad to fall off the ladder)

Harrison(Cope's cousin) busted it open first.

Kenzie and Alexa finished it off.

Diving for the candy was a lot of fun. Owen just picked up a few pieces and started eating them. He was not worried about getting a big bag full.

Haley finally decided she wanted to try it too. There was a little left over for her to hit out.

Brinlie was very happy with her treats. All the kids had at least that much candy...it was a big pinata!

PRESENTS

2009-04-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

Owen loved opening his presents! He got very spoiled!

Baseball bean bag from Ryan, Trisha, Lilly and Haley.

There was a lot of good help during present time.

Longneck from Melissa and Steve.

Very first bike. He does not grasp the pedal concept yet, but I am sure he will get it once he starts riding it outside more.

"I have to make myself bigger so I can go on Wicked."

Max said that after he pumped air into himself. It was hilarious!!!

CAKE

2009-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Owen wanted a baseball cake, a bat cake and a mitt cake. I did my best...this is what he ended up with. He liked it, even though the mitt was missing. The dog on the "field" is the beast from The Sandlot.

The 2 in the baseball was a sparkler. It was a little dangerous, but fun too. He blew out his candles, no sweat.

After the party was over and it was time to go home, Owen kept saying more party. I think he had a pretty good time! We were so happy that the Kellers could come up for the party..it wouldn't have been the same without them!

2 YEARS OLD!!!

2009-04-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

This is what Owen is doing at 2 years old:
* learning ABC's and 123's
* knows his colors(most of the time)
* loves dinosaurs
* loves books
* loves baseball. he likes wearing a mitt and playing catch.
* has to have shoes that "work". that means they have to make him run fast. sometimes we have to put on all of his shoes before he decides which ones "work"
* he says "peace" when he is leaving. he doesn't quite have the fingers down, but he tries
* he plays air guitar and air drums when we tell him to rock out
* movies: Transformers(not the cartoon), The Sandlot, Little People
* food: cheese, burgers, hot dogs, cheetos, tootsie rolls, chocolate, fruit snacks, bananas(any fruit really), peppers, pop tarts
* he loves his striped blanky

Owen turned 2 today! I can't believe it! Jason and I took him to the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. He is not great at a theater, but he loved all the commercials and previews he saw for this movie, so we decided to take him. We figured if we had enough treats, popcorn and pop we could keep him entertained. It worked pretty well. It was a funny movie. His favorite line from the movie was "zip it" and he says it really cute.
After the movie we met Grandma, Grandpa, Amb, Monica and the Cope family at McDonald's for dinner. Owen always wants a burger and "hies"(fries) for dinner. We are having his party tomorrow, so he didn't open presents or anything, but he got about 5 phone calls from family members singing to him...he liked that.

Easter Sunday photos

2009-04-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

You gotta love a boy in his new Easter suit!

Especially one that will cooperate so well for pictures.

That's his cool dude face. He bobs his head when he does it too!

Easter Festivities

2009-04-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here is our Easter weekend fun!

Weird bunnies at Kmart, but Owen really liked them.

Weird Melissa bunny!

Real bunny at IFA.

Owen and Ayla playing outside on Saturday afternoon before the rainstorm came.

Ayla. I really like this picture and appreciate her not sticking her tongue out or hiding her face from the camera.

Coloring eggs. I think Brayden cracked every one he touched. Angela was really particular about which color dye went in each cup. It took longer to get the dye mixed than to actually dye all the eggs. It was funny.

Later Saturday night we colored eggs at mom's with Melissa, Amb, Monica, Mom and Dad.

Owen colored on a few eggs and was really enjoying it.

Easter sugar cookies.

On Easter Sunday, before church, Owen found his Easter basket outside in the trees. He was excited about the basket, but really wanted to find the bunny that left it. All day he kept asking where the bunny was.

Happy about the plastic eggs.

After church we went to Grandma's and had the traditional living room hunt. While mom and dad were getting that ready we all went for a walk. I was pulling Owen AND Melissa in the red wagon, Amb was on her three wheel bike and Jason was on the Wiggle Bike with Steve pushing him from behind. Besides Monica, we were a parade of freaks! It was the best when the neighbors waved to us through their windows. Wish I would have gotten a picture.

Pinwheel!

Jason loves Easter...and taking pictures of himself!

Happy Easter 2009!

Korver

2009-04-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Baby Korver, my new nephew. He was born April 9, 2009 and is so cute. We love him already!

Korver and his mommy. This is number 5 for Mel! She is cute.

Owen loved holding Korver. He is so gentle and sweet with him. He did not like it at all when he cried. He almost burst into tears himself. People kept telling Melanie and Dave congratulations and Owen would say "nations". He is cute. He is sitting on my lap right now as I type holding his arms out saying, "hold, hold". I hope he will be this sweet with our baby.

We are so greatful to have Korver in our family. What a miracle a baby is!

Richie T and "himming"

2009-04-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Jason had a mission reunion this weekend. I was not real excited about going, but our friends promised to go if we did, so that made it okay. He served in the Cleveland, Ohio mission. We went back a few years ago and I still crave the donuts from Little Italy...seriously, my mouth waters when I think about them. When we were walking into the church I remembered that Richie T from x96, Radio from Hell producer served in the same mission. The chance that he might be there made things much more exciting to me. I get pretty excited about anyone with any sort of fame...I caused a scene in the mall over one of the Aggie basketball players dad's...yeah, kind of a dork, but I get star struck. I think it's because I always wanted to be famous. I am still planning on my big break out role coming any day now. Anyway, Richie T did show up and of course Jason told him what a big fan I was and then I sort of made a fool of myself pretending like we were friends and taking our picture with him, but whatever, he is a nice guy. Aside from Richie T and meeting Laney the mission reunion was pretty much what I expected. Jason did get us a hotel room in Salt Lake though, so it was totally worth it.

Richie T

President and Sister Cutler(Jason LOVED his mission President!!!)

We stayed at The Hilton. Owen was so excited to go "himming"(that is how he says swimming, in case you didn't catch on). We got to the hotel around ten and went swimming for about an hour. The pool was cold and even though his teeth were chattering and his lips were purple, Owen did not want to get out. I remember being the same way. It's funny how you tolerate anything when you are a kid just for a little bit of fun. We went to bed late and woke up really early, which kind of sucked, but did give us time to drive to Dunford Donuts and then come back and swim a little more.

Getting ready to check out. That is the face I get when he says cheese.

After we checked out we met Angela and her kids and Melissa and Steve at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The line was super long and there was not enough tables to accommodate the crowd. It was a little pricey for a burger joint for me and not really anything too spectacular. But it was worth trying. I definitely won't be dying to go back. After lunch we hit up target and then headed to Spanish Fork for the rest of the weekend. We always have a good time in Spanish Fork...especially when we get to go to Macey's twice in one night, go to Shopko just to get the new Orbit gum flavors and enjoy a good game of Nertz with Rich!

parking lot boy

2009-03-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Jason really wants to roll with the friday/saturday night Fred Meyer parking lot crew. Seriously, who doesn't have a rocking chair in the back of their truck these days...it's totally cool!
We were taking this chair to the D.I but Jas had to catch some rays and whistle at some girls walking by before we could drop it off.
It was 'cruise in' night a little early on the boulevard today!

shaved

2009-03-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

i hated cutting it, but it was a little too shaggish. he looks so old and different with no hair and the new 'do' accentuates his cute, floppy ears. he is handsome. he is an excellent customer. he sat very still and would get the chills when the hair fell on his back. he also liked being vacuumed off. this is his 2nd haircut of his life.

St Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

All holidays are fun...even if you are not Irish and you don't really know what the meaning behind the day is....why waste a chance to celebrate a little?

my family and melissa and steve went up to mom's for green pancackes and green eggs for dinner. it was tasty!

Melissa and I just Shakin our Shamrocks! We both have on green knee-high's too, but dad kinda missed them.

Cute Amb in her green flower.
Everbody else was in green too(except Steve)but I got wrapped up in The Biggest Loser and forgot to take more pictures, sorry guys!

spring break

2009-03-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

We wanted to go somewhere over Jason's Spring Break, but decided to stay home and do some cleaning and re arranging instead. I took Thrusday off work so we could enjoy a few days off together. Here's some of the stuff we did:

Played with the little man for 4 days with no work or school. That made us all happy.

Played baseball til we couldn't take it anymore. Owen loves the movie The Sandlot and always says that he is Benny and Jas or I have to be the beast and chase him. It's real funny. Yeah, he's fast asleep in this picture.

Ran on the new treadmill! I love it, minus that it has to be in our living room, cause there is no room for it anywhere else.

Found this cutest table at Downeast Home. Regular Price $150.00, my price $20.00! I was very excited about it. It's a children's art table and it's from The Land of Nod. Owen likes it too.

Saturday we decided we had enough home time and wanted to get out, so we went to Salt Lake for Disney on Ice. Before the show we walked around Gateway and Owen got to play in the fountains for his first time. He lOVED it! He kept running right over the holes and would just miss the giant spray of water, thank goodness. He still got pretty wet though.

Disney on Ice was entertaining. They had Little Mermaid, Lion King, Lilo and Stitch and Peter Pan. It kept Owen's attention really well(the pop helped too). He clapped a lot and liked Little Mermaid and Mickey Mouse the best. It was fun to watch him.

Just us after the show. Melanie and her girls went too and they loved it. Brinlie is a sweet pickle princess after all(that is what she will tell you). After this picture was taken a BIG man came over by us and Mel and I started dry heaving. This dude had the worst B.O. I have ever smelled. It was bad. We had to get some fresh air, so we went back over to The Gateway and met Angela and Rich there. They were on a romantic, kidless getaway in SLC. It was fun to see them.

Besides food and gas, these super cool green shades are all I bought. He is pretty cool, right?!
After a little shopping we all went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner...please go if you have never been, it's too delicious! Then we headed home. It was a good Spring Break!

Friday Craft Day

2009-03-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

Melissa and I were shopping a couple weekends ago at Tai Pan and Rod Works...home decor stores. There were so many cute things we wanted that I felt we were fully capable of making ourselves, we are pretty crafty girls. Melissa loved this feather egg wreath at Rod Works and I would not let her buy it because all it was was a straw wreath, feather boas and eggs...we could totally manage that and make it for less than $35. So she made me promise we would make them. We bought our cute eggs at Tai Pan that day and then waited to buy our boas til we had 40% off coupons. We had our first Friday craft day(neither of us work on Friday)and I have to say that it was a success. We whipped ourselves up some pretty dang cute easter wreaths. Granted, we really did not save much money making them ourselves, but the pride in the accomplishment and the memories that were made totally makes up for that.

Astird or Chevy?

2009-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

a little advice and wisdom about having a baby from THE OFFICE...

Michael: I am doing this to pay respect to her bloated feelings.

Michael: Scream it out! Scream it out!

Dwight: Do you have the sharpie? Do you have the Sharpie? When the baby emerges mark it
secretly in a kind of mark that only you can recognize and no baby snatcher could ever copy.

Dwight: Newborns are slippery.

Jan: Oh yeah, the afterbirth floats

I am 22 weeks pregnant. Kind of that awkward stage where people are not sure if I am pregnant or just gaining weight. We are not going to find out what we are having. I thought I might save a little pre-baby shopping money this way...nope, I have bought boy and girl stuff, oh well. I have gotten over the freaking out about having two kids and loving another one as much as Owen stage and am very excited. I have been feeling good. There seems to be a lot more tears and weird aches/pains with this pregnancy but nothing to complain about. My due date is July 9th... very excited for some summertime maternity leave with sweet baby Harris.

holy cute!

2009-03-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

man i love this boy!!!

broken, bruised...cast it up

2009-02-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

Jason hurt his wrist playing basketball. After 2 weeks of an aching wrist he decided he needed to get it checked out. An x-ray, an appointment with an Orthopedic, an MRI and another appointment with the Ortho he ended up with the diagnosis of a bruised bone and this blue cast. That's right...BRUISED. Apparently a bruised wrist bone is very sensitive and can be easily broken so the Dr felt this cast was necessary. I guess when you spend an outrageous amount of money on an MRI you might as well get something out of it.

After 2 days of having it on he was ready to cut it off himself.

logan's heroes

2009-02-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

Lunch with the girls. The four of us have not all been together since high school. It was so fun to meet Parker and to catch up on everyone's lives. I sure hope we won't wait so long to get together again, especially since we are all living close by.

I LOVE THESE GIRLS!

bubble gum game

2009-02-14T23:33:00.000-08:00

always a good time when you put together a circle of people, dice, a knife, a fork and a lot of bubble gum. fast pace, intense, high energy, slobbery, sticky and a little disgusting...not for the faint of heart. the game is fun! please play it at your next get together and maybe put a tarp down cause when you laugh with a big wad of gum in your mouth you cannot help but slobber all over.
the winners...

valentine's

2009-02-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

i love to love people. it's so nice to have so many people to love, especially on valentine's day!

Jason, Owen and I had our own little valentines' day together in the afternoon. Owen got a bag of love with toys from the dollar store in it. Of course he loved them and when he breaks them or throws them in the garbage i won't feel bad about it. his favorite...the tootsie rolls and the dinosaurs. jason gave me perfume that i really love, he picked it out all on his own. what cute boys i have. i love them more than anything!

my mom has instilled festiveness in our brains(most of us at least) and every holiday we wear the coordinating colors, pretty awesome i know. love me some beautiful girl pictures...

...along with some silly girl pictures!
my mom and dad set the living room up with the long tables and made us a candle light steak dinner. it was delicious and so fun to be with the family(we missed the clark's who were stuck in bad weather in salt lake).

My Valentine

2009-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Amy,
I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and all the many reasons why I love you more each day. This is our seventh Valentine's Day together! I am so lucky to have met you! You always bring a smile to my face and I wish I could spend every minute with you! There are many things I love about you....here are a few (in no particular order), with pictures as proof.
~You have a great outlook on life, where you want to go and who you want to spend it with (pic 1).
~You are an amazing example to Owen (2).
~You really get me....many times it seems we are think the same thing (3).
~You love life and enjoy everything it offers (4).
~You love, care for and watch out for Owen..........you're like the best mom ever (5).
~You are always up for an adventure or trip (6&7).
~You let me win when we're playing a game because you know I have a big ego (8).
~You will never give up on your goals or dreams.......like getting discovered someday (9).
~You always teach me something (I thought I knew it all) like how to pop popcorn on a fire (10).
~You share my love for nature and always trying to get the most unique photo (11&12).
~You are always honest with me, whether it's telling me I need to shower or that you think another guy is hotter than me (13).
~You love playing in the snow (14).
~You let me leave for a week with the scouts (3 years in a row) so I can see places like this (15).
~You always make me laugh (16).
~You let me share with you some of the great things in life, like a fire on the beach (17).
~You love me even though I can only act tough (18).
~Your love makes me crazy (19).
~You would do anything and everything for our family (20).

I love you!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

MY TOP PICKS OF OWEN

2009-01-30T01:17:00.000-08:00

Here goes nothing..........
That's right, it's me, Jason.
I was just looking through some of our pictures and there are a lot of Owen that I really love. So I thought I would just share some of my favorites. Sorry if there is too many (I did leave out about half...what can I say, he gets his looks from his mom).

We have had a lot of good laughs!

There's nothing like a good shower!

Ummm......next Michael Jordan???

Can't turn your back on this kid for a second!

Some more good times...thanks Amy
for letting me put that sticker on!

What can I say.......this one just makes
me grin from ear to ear!

He loves to listen to the Aggies!

He was checking himself out in the mirror for
the longest time....until we got the camera out!

I hope you all enjoyed it. Hopefully Amy does not
delete my first post (I don't think she will but
I do hope I pass the test. I would love to be
accepted as a 'blogger').

Donny and Marie

2009-01-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Jason , Mom , Dad and I drove down to Vegas to see Donny and Marie in concert. Jason and I gave them tickets to the concert for Christmas. We drove down on Thursday, stayed the night at Angela's and then drove to Vegas on Friday. Mom and Dad sat in the backseat and watched movies. I am sure it was nerve wracking for mom not to be driving. She always drives. She did tell Jason he was a good driver though.

We stayed at the Flamingo.

Flamingo island was incredible. The grounds were beautiful.

We did a lot of walking and of course I took advantage of every photo opportunity. I only posted a couple so nobody thinks that I am totally in love with myself. The Miss America pageant was at the Planet Hollywood Hotel the weekend we were there. I walked the red carpet and signed a few autographs. I really wanted to go to the pageant but the tickets were pretty pricey. We saw some contestants walking around. It was fun. I have always loved watching the Miss America pageant and guessing who is going to win.

This guy was out on the strip. Lots of people were taking pictures with him, mostly cause they thought he was a joke. I respect him for standing up for what he believes in...definitely wouldn't take this approach myself though, too many angry, crazy drunk people. I used to really enjoy going to Las Vegas but I think I would be okay never going again. I don't drink, smoke, gamble and I don't want 'hot girls right now'. If you are not into any of that stuff there is really no place for you on the strip. It's groddy.

Mom and Dad LOVED the concert. They talked about it all night. Jason and I sacrificed tickets for ourselves so we could buy better tickets for mom and dad. Yeah, we are nice like that!

After the concert Donny and Marie met in a secret spot for a meet and greet for people with VIP tickets. Unfortunately mom and dad were not one of the VIP's. Luckily, Jason found the secret spot and we stalked them from a far. I got in trouble with security twice taking pictures through the crack in the partitions. Then as we were leaving I yelled for my mom(she's not quite as boisterous as I am) 'WE LOVE YOU DONNY' and he smiled and waved at us. Nothing like a smile from Donny Osmond to get your heart racing.

We went to the 3D m&m movie in the m&m store and mom said '"whoa" out loud when things flew out at us and she made everyone in the theater laugh. It was great.

Can't pass up a photo op with the SpongeBob gang.

Hoping for some luck on the slots. Mom would not even let me play the penny slots. I don't love playing them, because I would rather buy new clothes, but I had some pennies in my wallet, there were no penny candies to buy and I wanted to get rid of them. They are still in my wallet.

We drove home Sunday and stopped at Angela's for Sunday dinner. It was delicious. The weather was pretty crappy most of the way home, but we made it safe and sound. It was really fun just hanigng out with mom and dad for the weekend. We left Owen home with Monica and really missed him, but it was nice with just the 4 of us. Mom and dad do so much for us and I hope they know how much I appreciate and love them both.

We had a good time, ate good food, wore short sleeves and flip flops during the day, gained a greater appreciation for the standards we try to live by, rocked out to music superstars and enjoyed good company. Yep.

it's been a good one

2009-01-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

saying goodbye to 2008. a lot of love. a lot of laughing. a lot of heartache. a lot of crap! a whole year has gone by and i still haven't done that!'s. a lot of family time. a lot of blessings and a lot of trials. a pretty good mix of life in the year 2008. now i move onto 2009 in hopes that i will be a better person all around, to everyone i come in contact with. i have creative, organizational and homemaking aspirations for this coming year. bring it on 2009.

Linda Oliver's Rockin New Year's Eve

2008-12-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was spent at my mom and dad's house this year. It really was a rockin' time full of...

...quality time with the neices

...Lionel Richie jam session

...food that only comes around once a year(only because we would all be cows if we ate it more often that that)

...horns, hats, bells, poppers, confetti, beads

...kisses(don't be fooled by the pictures, he was totally loving it!)

...sparkling toasts to a new year!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas was fantastic. Santa came to our house and I guess Owen was a really good boy this year cause Santa brought him a lot of presents. We had a great morning openeing presents and playing with toys. Monica and Amberly came over to see what Owen got from Santa. He loved showing them all his new toys.

Jason bought this beanie for me but it was a sized one and fit Owen much better than it fit me.

Jason's Aggie basketball shorts and my pea coat(that Jason picked out all by himself). I love it!

Owen got a tent and a tunnel that he loved! He really liked having people come sit in his tent with him.
When we finished up at home we went up to mom and dad's. Melissa and Steve came too and Amb could not wait to see what Santa brought her and Monica, so they busted into the living room before Clark's and Copes got there.

As soon as everyone was there we opened the presents we drew names for and everyone had a great time. So many great presents were given and received. Monica even gave me a homemade gift of hand colored ceramic animals!

My mom makes Christmas last all day long. It is always so fun!

Jennifer, Jeff and Jake didn't fly in til the day after Christmas this year, so we had Christmas with Jason's fam on Sunday. We went to John and Angela's and had a delicious dinner. I ate like 2 pounds of ham. We got more great presents and had a great time. I love family time!

Owen rocked his guitar from Jen and Jeff. He loves guitar, especially when Chris Carabba is playing it.

Thank you so much to everyone for the gifts, the love and the memories.

Christmas EVE

2008-12-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

Owen got to see Santa again and this time he liked him. He told him he wanted a truck for Christmas.

We spent the night with Jason's family. We had pizza and played games. Before we left, the kids all opened a giant stuffed animal from Grandma Harris.

When we got home Owen opened his Christmas jammies and slippers. He was very excited and very cute.

After Owen was in bed Jason and I finished some stuff up and slept under the Christmas tree. I love Christmas Eve.

little yule often

2008-12-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is an old Danish holiday that no one that I have ever met has ever heard of. On Dec 23rd you make all your treats for Christmas. We don't make a lot of stuff, but we always have a good time. Dad takes a lot of crap getting the fry cakes just right, but I think deep down he loves it!

FRY CAKES...roll, cut, flip, fry. A Christmas morning favorite! Seriously, I start getting craving pains for these in November.

SUGAR COOKIES...Monica is cookie chef. She makes the dough and usually rolls and cuts them(mom did this year) and then we all(most of us) help frost them. Always taste better the next day cause they get soft and delicious.

Craziness...Monica putting on a snow hat in hopes that the fry cake smell would not taint her hair. Amberly, Brinlie and Owen played along.

CONTEST WINNER...Melanie for best holiday sweater! They had a contest at her work for ugliest/cheesiest sweater. This belongs to my mother(she had plenty for Mel to choose from). The bow was Mel's own special touch of holiday beauty.

HAPPINESS...having yummy treats to eat, having all the family there(minus Rich and Max, we missed you!), singing along to Elvis Prestley Christmas and making forever memories!

Temple Square

2008-12-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend Jason, Owen and I went to Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. It started snowing Friday morning and Jason was thinking that maybe we should stay home. We have been really excited about going all week, so i told him no way. We left pretty early and the roads were pretty bad. It took us two hours to get to Centerville. We have both lived in these winter conditions our whole lives, Jason is an excellent driver and I felt completely safe with him...it's just the semi that jack-knifed in front of us that made us nervous. Other drivers are really my only concern when driving in the snow. Especially the big pick trucks and suv's that think they can go as fast as they want cause their 4-wheel drive makes them invincible. I hate to tell you, but we saw just as many 4-wheel drive vehicles that slid off the road as we did other cars. Anyway, we got there safe and I love all the snow we are finally getting. It really makes me happy this time of year. My mom was not happy that we went and when I called her once we got to Salt Lake she apologized for calling me names, like dumb, senseless, ridiculous. She was mumbling these to herself after she found out we still went she was appalled that I would risk our lives just for fun...needless to say, my mom is a worrier. I forgave her and appreciate her concern.

This is the first time we have stayed in a hotel with Owen since he has been old enough to enjoy it and he loved it. He had a great time. We stayed at the Red Lion and unfortunately they have an outdoor pool that was closed for the season. Lucky for us my sisters were staying at Little America right across the street. We met up with Angela and her family and Melissa and Steve and rode Trax(another great time for Owen) to Applebees at the Gateway. It was snowing huge beautiful flakes and it was so fun to walk around in, minus the getting soaking wet...still fun though. After dinner we went swimming at little America. Their pool is half indoor half outdoor and they left the outdoor open. It was really fun swimming outside in the snow. I talked Alexa and Alex into doing polar bears. After they did it I couldn't resist and got out of the pool, rolled in the snow and jumped back in. It was very stingy. We sat in the hot tub for a while and then we headed back to our hotel. We watched the Santa Claus 2 and went to sleep.

The next day we had donuts and did some shopping at the mall. After shopping my family and Angela's family went to Temple Square(Melissa and Steve went home. We missed them!). We were a little early for the lights and Alex wanted to take a tour of the conference center. Max and Owen were running around laughing their heads off, so me and Ang were a little spent with the tour, but it is a beautiful building and it has a lot of interesting art pieces in it and I would suggest that everyone do it sometime. After the tour we went outside and looked at the lights. It was very freezing and so we didn't spend a lot of time, but it was incredible. Then we went to dinner and went our seperate ways. It was fun spending the weekend with Jason, Owen, the Copes and the Summers. Hopefully next year the whole family can go!

Christmas is coming...

2008-12-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

...and Owen could not be more excited. He is going to be so much fun for Christmas this year. He loves looking through the newspaper ads and finding the toy sections. He gets so excited and wants everything. He digs through my mom's newspaper basket to find the ads(kinda makes a mess) but it is very cute.

Owen loves the Christmas decorations. He loves the village from aunt Annette the best. He watches it for so long and wants to get in the buildings.

This is a cute video of Owen telling you about his favorite Christmas movie. Don't mind the deep man voice from me, I have had a blasted cold all week!

christmas card photo shoot

2008-12-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

I decided we would try to get a good picture by ourselves this year cause it was late and I wanted to get our cards out asap.
We started by the Christmas tree. Owen was very excited and was squeezing us both very tight around the neck.

Then we went outside.

We ended back at the Christmas tree and as you can tell from Jason's face, he was spet on saying cheese. Owen still had some 'cheese' left in him though.

This is the one we ended up using, minus the red eyes.

TIMMMMMBER

2008-12-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Chopping down the Christmas tree is definitely one of my new favorite traditions. I never did this until Jason and I got married. I didn't know you could really do it, cause they don't let you anywhere around here. Jason shared the exciting news that you can get a tree permit in Preston and cut your own Christmas tree down in Strawberry canyon! We have done this every year but one since we have been married. Melissa and Steve have joined the tradition and I hope we never stop doing it.
Owen had a great time this year. Running through the snow, looking at all the trees, laughing at Uncle Steve. It was so fun to watch him. I found a tree I liked right away, but we kept looking. We eventually went back to the first one and chopped it down. Melissa and I were happy that there was some snow in the canyon, cause there is none down here.

Jason and Owen checking out the trees

We found one we liked and down it came

So happy running through and playing in the snow

After all the hiking and chopping we stopped at pizza villa for lunch then headed home to get our trees up. Thanks Melissa and Steve for the fun tradition!

Festival of Trees

2008-12-03T23:21:00.000-08:00

Owen loves the Grinch and was really excited to see this tree

This tree was darling with all the woodland creatures.
Owen really likes nutcrackers too.

Alexa danced at the Festival of Trees so Mom, Melissa, Owen and I headed to Salt Lake to enjoy the festivities. Alexa dances like it's nobody's business and was definitely a stand out on her team. The girl can shake it and she is totally cute. Melanie, Brooklyn and Brinlie came down as well. After Alexa's dance we wandered the rows and rows of Christmas trees. People donate the trees, other people buy them and the proceeds go to Primary Children's. One year I would like to buy one. There were some pretty fabulous trees. They also had wreaths, gingerbread houses and other decorations. It was quite an event.
After the Festival we headed to Texas Roadhouse..a dining fave...and enjoyed a delicious meal. The peanut eating while you are waiting to be seated is always a hit.
After dinner we said our goodbyes, hit Target for a little shopping and headed home.

10AM TOMORROW, SANTA'S COMING...

2008-11-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

SANTA!!!

Owen was not thrilled with Santa this year. He did not want to have anything to do with him. He got to meet him in Preston at the Festival of Lights with his cousins. Owen would not sit on his lap so Santa said "mom, you just sit on my lap and hold him"...pretty sure the big guy had the hots for me, just joking. Besides, Mrs. Claus was sitting right next to him! Owen finally looked at him when I told him that Santa was going to bring him presents. Then he got a candy cane and a coloring book and was happy. I might make him try it one more time this year, mainly because this Santa made me sit on his lap and he didn't even ask me what I wanted for Christmas, what the heck's that all about??? I have been a good girl this year, and I think I deserve a present or two!

Door Busting

2008-11-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

Every year me and my 5 sisters door bust. We wake up in the 3's(am) and stand outside in line waiting to shop our heads off. There is never ususally anything that is a good enough deal for me to make it seem like it's worth the cold, tiredness and ugly people, but it's a tradition and as long as my sisters do it, I will too. Melissa and I went to Kohl's first and then met Ang, Monica, Mel and Amb at Walmart. I will never bust Walmart again. It was ridiculous! The people were crazy and the store was completely unorganized. They didn't even have all their sale prices right when they rang stuff up so the customer service line was huge because people paid way more than the ad said they would be paying. It was kind of pathetic. I mean come on Walmart. We ended up shopping for a good 12 hours. What a day. I was very successful though and got nearly all my shopping complete and managed to only buy a few things for myself(usually I only buy stuff for myself on this day). I love being able to do this with all my sisters. We ALWAYS have a good time, no matter how tired we are.

so Thankful

2008-11-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving. One of my favorites. All my sisters and their families were at my parent's this year and Mandi and Brandon as well. It was so fun having a full house. Jason, Owen, Dad, Amberly, Monica, Maxwell and I went to the church in the morning to shoot some hoops. Owen loved running around the gym and playing on the stage.

Most of us helped out(somewhat) with the preparation of the meal. Mom is super woman. I don't know how she does it. Ang was the sweet potato nazi and would not let anyone stir them or help with them at all. She does make a delicious sweet potato though. Jason made cranberry sauce. My family always had the yucky canned cranberries and then Jason came along and I learned that I love cranberries, thanks Jas!

It was a delicious meal. I struggle with Thanksgiving dinner though. I have no problem eating a big meal and in general I am a pretty fast eater. Well on Thanksgiving I eat like three meals in one sitting and I feel like I have to eat all of it super fast cause I don't want any of it to get cold. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, sweet potatoes, corn...it all gets cold very fast so I kind of hoover it. Oh well, it's worth it.

While we were finishing up Dad had us go around the table and say what we were thankful for. Always a good time. Monica was the most memorable this year being thankful for her "strength and her big muscles". I am so greatful for so many things...Jason, Owen, my family, Jason's family, my friends, my faith and testimony, that I know I can be with the people I love most in the world for eternity, the strength and hope I receive through the gospel of Jesus Christ, my freedom's, my opportunities, my job, school, sunshine, snow, wind, rain, laughing, crying...really I can't think of any reason i should ever be grumpy or sad(at least for too long) because I truly am blessed and have so much to live for and be happy about!

After dinner we played spoons and looked through the ads to plan our big day of shopping. It was a really great day!

what if i'm...the bad guy?

2008-11-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Jas took me to the movie on Friday afternoon and melanie, mckenzie, monica and amberly came too. We were sitting way too close to the screen! Here's my take:

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Edward and Bella...good casting. I am not in love with Rob Pattinson, like I am with book Edward, sometimes he looked real ugly, but for the most part he did well

- cheering when the cute boys came on screen(any other movie I would have been very annoyed and this type of thing is usually why I don't go to movies on opening weekend, but this time it was kind of funny and added to the excitement of the show)

- Charlie

- Victoria and James...really good

- Bella's school friends

- the baseball scene to the end of the movie

- there was no hissing from the vampires at leaset that I really noticed

- Jason liked it, or didn't hate it at least

LOWLIGHTS:
- you could tell it was a low budget film
- a lot of weird close ups
- Alice...got kind of ripped off as far as her character goes and i would like a recast on her
- Rosalie...liked her character but didn't quite live up to the intimidating beauty she was described as in the book(not that she was ugly at all) although she is beautiful inthe above picture, maybe I have misjudged
- Jacob telling Bella the story of 'the cold ones' not good enough, way too short and weird wolf flashbacks
- a book full of description crammed into a 2 hour, low budget movie
- Jasper reminded me a little of Edward Scissorhands

Overall, really liked it. I would like to see it again with a better seat. I think my main disapppointment was that the characters really got shorted. Even the main ones. There was not enough time for them to become the characters I loved in the book...or there was time but they had weird close up moments and spider monkeying up trees instead, not really sure. I think the acting was good and I am thinking the sequels, since they will probably get huge budgets now that Twilight has killed, will be really good.

photobooth

2008-11-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

Me, Jason and Owen taking a break from hours of Christmas shopping.
Click on the picture to make it bigger cause Owen's face in the first two are hilarious!

did you buy it or rent it?

2008-11-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here is the short verison of one of the nicest stories you will hear this year. Angela posted a picture of Amberly and her kids testing out the trikes at Utah Trikes in Spanish Fork on her blog. She wrote about how Amberly has always wanted a bike and how much she would love to get one. One of the sweetest girls I'll ever meet read this blog post and decided that Amberly had to have the trike. She has never met Amberly. She asked for donations for the trike on her blog so Amberly could have her first bike. People that know Amb and complete strangers donated up to $400 to get Amb this trike. Kellye, thank you so much for your kindness towards our sister. I know that a lot of people donated money(thanks so much to you too), but this would have never happened without you. Kellye and Jon are what this world needs a little bit more of. The love and kindness people show towards Amberly is so awesome. It truly amazes me and inspires me. Amberly misses out on a lot of things and being able to watch her get her first bike was incredible. I will never forget this.

Rich opened the garage door and Amberly ran over to the bike,

"who's is this? did you buy it or rent it?"

She checked it out a little more and Angela told her it was hers.

Melanie explained that Kellye and everyone there helped buy the bike for her. She was touched. It was the best day of her life. Of course she ran around and hugged everyone. I think she was still kind of in shock.

She got on and dad ran behind her as she rode. The brakes will take her some time to get used to, but she loved it! She even had her first crash. Apparently she needs to learn to balance her weight a little better when she turns corners on hills. She got a cut in her nose, but was a good sport about it and kept on riding.

She looks so cute on her new bike!