autumn checklist

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"....

...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

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

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

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

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

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!