'Gagetball'

Over the past couple of months Owen has fallen in love with anything 'ball'.  Lately, with all the Jazz basketball games that seem to have taken over our TV, he has especially been obsessed with 'gagetball'. 

Last weekend we got him a little basketball hoop and he hasn't stopped playing with it since.  It isn't unusual for Brad to walk through the door from work and Owen to immediately walk to the back door, look back at him, and ask 'gagetball'? 

Owen sure loves playing with his Daddy!

Happiest Boy I Ever Did See

Last weekend Owen had his first ice cream cone.  Of course, it was at Grandma & Grandpa's house-- lucky little guy!  To say he loved it, might be the understatement of the century.  

After his ice-cream-soaked clothes took a tumble in the dirt, they were done for... so he rocked the oversized t-shirt look for the rest of the night! 

Easter Weekend

(Linda-- I'm on a blogging roll today!  4 posts just for you!)

Since my family was still in town for Easter, we were able to enjoy all of the holiday traditions with both families with year.  It was so fun!

We started out Saturday morning at the Herriman City Egg Hunt.  It was mass chaos, and Brad swears that he'll never go again, but the kids really enjoyed it and isn't that what matters?

Here's Owen getting ready (honestly he was a little cranky and could care less) for his hunt.  My mom was with the older kids at their age group.

 Look at all that loot behind them!

 Owen got a couple eggs, some cotton candy, and a few stickers.  Guess all those practice drills in the family room payed off!  :)

After we headed over to my in-laws for some egg decorating, another egg hunt for the kiddos, and a yummy lunch.  If you'll remember from previous years, egg decorating with the Hardcastles is pretty intense.  It's been 7 years since I started, and I still stress out every time!  Everyone is so creative with their eggs.  (See here and here)

 Owen was a lot more successful at this hunt.  (A lot less competition!)  Once we got past his need to open every egg before putting it in his basket, he was rocking and rolling!

 My sunburned indian chief and Brad's buck

 Taryn's 4 creations

A few more of the finished products

Easter morning Owen was pretty excited to find his new bath toys waiting for him. He couldn't wait to try them out!

With our late church, we were able to have a nice Easter breakfast, watch Music and the Spoken Word, and then head to church together.   I was in charge of the Easter program, with the ward choir singing, and they did a beautiful job.  It was really nice to have my family there to see what I had been working on for so long!

All in all, we had a wonderful Easter weekend with the Hardcastles and the Urrys.  Having both sides of the family together doesn't happen very often, but we sure enjoyed it!

Spring Break Visitors

Keeping with their yearly tradition, my Mom and the 3 youngest kids (and Grandma this year too!) came and stayed with us for Spring Break. We had a really fun time. They got to experience the entire range of Utah weather-- warm sunshine, extreme winds, rain, hail, snow-- we had it all while they were here! Luckily most of the time the weather cooperated with our plans so we were able to enjoy lots of "wwwalks", visits to the park, fishing for the boys, and crafting and shopping for the girls! (Although that would have happened regardless of the weather!)

 Here's Luke & Grant holding their fish they caught at the Herriman pond on either their 2nd or 3rd visit... they would have gone every night if we would let them! 

Against my wishes, they brought the fish home and made it into fish tacos. Yuck!  I made them stay outside, but I guess they were good??

 My mom surprised us with this cute little wagon that we took with us to the park a few times.  Owen absolutely loved having his aunt & uncles to play with all week long!

One morning we got some random snow. One minute it was sunny, the next snowing! It only lasted about 15 minutes, and hardly stuck on the ground...but these California kids were loving it!

Great Grandma Fox, Grandma 'Noni', Me & Owen on our last night

"Wwwalk"

Owen loves, loves, loves (did I mention loves?) to play in the backyard. He will literally stand at the backdoor saying "wwwalk" over and over again until we take him out. Luckily the weather has warmed up nicely the last few weeks so we can spend an extended period of time outside without freezing. These pictures were from an inpromptu playtime that Brad & Owen had a few weeks ago while it was still cold. Loving the outfit choice that Dad picked for Owen! Oh boy...

(While my fabulous Mom was here for Easter she completely restained the whole swingset and it looks 100x better... Thanks Mom!!)

This Post is Brought to you Today by the Letter O...

Have I mentioned how much Owen absolutely loves Sesame Street?  He can name (in his own Owen language) all of the main characters and also does a mean impression of Cookie Monster smashing cookies all over his face.  It's pretty cute.  Although admitting this may take me down a few notches on the 'Super Mom' rating scale, I will admit that I let him watch it for a bit after breakfast each morning while I catch up on emails, cleaning the house, or attempt anything else that needs to be accomplished without a clingy toddler attached to my legs.

How cute is this?

Oh, and we can't forget all of Owen's friends!  Usually accompanying Owen for his morning show (and just about everything else these days) would be Teddy, Pacy, Elmo, and Horsey.  It get's pretty tricky trying to keep all those friends in his arms, but if one drops they get a few snuggles and then picked back up again! 

18 months young

Today Owen is 18 months old, which means one very exciting thing for church tomorrow-- nursery!  I remember when Owen was 9 months old (and we were spending every waking moment at church walking the halls) thinking, "Only 9 more months until nursery!"  It seemed like an eternity then, but we made it!  One of my callings is doing music time in nursery so I have been taking Owen in with me the last couple weeks, and the boy is more than ready.  He loves it.

At 18 months, Owen is our little charmer.  We had a girls night at Olive Garden last night and there was quite a wait, so while we waited Owen made friends.  He was blowing kisses to people, waving "Hi" and then immediately "Bye".  Everyone thought he was just adorable.  We do too!

Owen still loves to read books.  He has a bin of books in his room and he will "read" each of them to himself each morning while I get ready.  We also always read a couple to him before naptime and bedtime.  I love it when his little mouth is jabbering away, telling quite the story.  I wish I knew what he was saying!

Owen knows when it is time to say prayer.  He always remembers before it's time to eat and before bed.  He will fold his arms, and (unless there's something too tempting on his plate) will usually make it all the way through without sneaking a bite.

Owen loves to talk on the phone.  He has a play phone which he will have conversations on, but he also really loves to use our phones and talk to family members.  Never one to draw out a conversation, he is always the first to say "BYE!"

We have recently started singing songs together, and Owen's favorites are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping".  He doesn't sing the words (except for a long drawn out "eeee" when he wants to sing the spider song) but knows all the gestures.  He's my best student during Nursery Singing Time!

The last few weeks, Owen's vocabulary has really grown.  It seems like he is learning a new word almost everyday, and he is starting to know family members names which is really fun too.  He knows about 30 words now, and even put together his first phrase of "BYE DADA" which he emphatically says every morning when Brad leaves for work.

Owen loves all balls, and would spend countless hours throwing them all over my house if I let him.  He also loves trucks (at this point, every moving vehicle is a "kuck") and will stand at the front window yelling and pointing at them.

Owen is a sweet boy and loves to give hugs & kisses which we gladly accept each time.

Happy 18 months Owen!

Owen vs. Snow

We have had a very mild winter this year (which I am definitely not complaining about!) so there haven't been many opportunities for Owen to play in the snow.  But Monday morning we took advantage of the new snow, bundled up and headed to the backyard.  Owen loved it!  He was so top heavy with all his snow gear that he kept falling and getting stuck in the snow.  We even caught a perfect example of this on video.  I'll post that at the end, and believe me-- it's worth a watch!

 Someone is excited for snow!

 He wasn't afraid to trudge a path! 

A few times he ended up like this:

But after a bit of help, he was right back up ready for more. 

Brad was shoveling off the patio and covered Owen with the extra snow.  He thought it was so funny.

What a fun way to end our 3-day weekend! I am already mourning the fact that Brad won't have another day off for almost 3 months. Why aren't there any holidays from March-May!?

February Happenings

We've had a fun & busy month, which is always nice during this time of the year when it is really easy to get the February "blahs".  Over the first weekend (2/4), Brad's aunt & cousin came up from St. George and we were able to spend some time visiting with them. 

  

Mia (Brad's cousin's little girl) & Owen are 2nd cousins... and we tried our hardest to get a few pictures of them together. You know, for 'posterity', but this is what we got most of the time.  

 Oh well, we tried!

The next day (2/5), we had some dinner guests.  This is a family that is from Mongolia, but who Brad met while serving his mission in Korea.  They were living in Korea temporarily for work.  The girl in the yellow shirt was only 10 at the time, so it's been a long time since Brad has seen them.  Her & her brother (& his wife & kids) all live in Utah now and are going to school.  It was fun to get to know them!

Last Friday (2/10), we took advantage of the "warm" (50 degree) weather and visited Brad on his lunch break.  We went to the park and Owen loved it.

 Look at those mountains!!  Here Owen is trying to run towards the river that runs behind the park.  He was obsessed with wanting to see the water after we showed him the first time... whoops.  Note to self, don't do that next time. 

 He loves the slides!

On 2/11 Brad and I snuck away for an early Valentine's date.  We went to the BYU basketball game (where we met up with my brother, Ross) and then out to dinner.  It was a fun night!  The family in front of us had a little girl about Owen's age that sat there content with her snacks the EN-TI-RE 2 hour game.  She didn't whine or try to sneak away once.  I kept telling myself, "Owen would do the same.  We could totally bring him next time!"  Brad was quick to remind me that Owen would have lasted 5 minutes before he'd be done.  He'd want to either be walking up & down the stairs, or be down on the court playing too.  He's right.  Guess we won't be trying any family sporting events anytime soon!

This past weekend we had Ross stay with us for the long weekend.  We mostly laid low since Owen has been sick for over a week now.  We slept in, ate yummy food, and watched lots of movies.  Oh, and finished our taxes.  Lazy weekend here at our house!  Highlight of the weekend was Owen learning to say "Ross".... which sounds more like "Osse" and Owen playing in snow for the first time.   (Pictures to come!)

One of those days...

Just a few weeks ago I was telling Brad how glad I was that Owen wasn't too mischeivious.  He hadn't ever broken/ruined anything in the house, or hurt himself (more than the typical bump/bruise).  He was pretty content just playing with his toys, reading his books, keeping to "his stuff" and staying away from "Mommy/Daddy stuff".  Well, so much for that!  Last week, in a matter of 24 hours, Owen had pulled off half the leaves on my decorative pinecone, gnawed off the paint on the windowsill, discovered the on/off button to the computer (which of course included pushing it at the most inopportune times...), poured baby wash on the carpet, and dumped out an entire box of 1000 toothpicks. 
Guess I spoke too soon!

The next day, Owen was on his best behavior.  I think he knew Mommy needed a break.

We went to story time at the library, which we do every Thursday.  This week was a break in the schedule, so they just let the kids play for the entire time. 

After we got home, we went outside and played in the backyard for awhile.  

Then we ate lunch, Owen took a 3 hour nap, and woke up happy! I was so pleased with his "good day" that I decided to post it on Facebook. When I returned 5 minutes later, this was what I walked into,

Haha.  Oh man, I totally deserved that one.  Point taken Owen-- the only way to keep you out of trouble, is to keep you busy!