Preschool Time!

I went back and forth about 20 times whether or not I should start Owen in Preschool this fall.  Because of his September birthday he won't start Kindergarten until he is 6, so he still has 3 years to go.  That is plenty of time for Preschool!  Ultimately I thought the structure, interaction and discipline would be good for him-- and it has been!  He had a slight meltdown the first day, but hasn't looked back since!  He loves it.  In fact this morning he wouldn't let me walk him to the door, I had to stay behind.  It is always fun to talk to him after and see what they did, what songs they sang, etc.  It's also been really nice to have the one on one time with Porter.  Mondays & Thursday are our new favorite days!

Donut Falls

Last weekend we decided to take the boys up to Big Cottonwood Canyon and hike to Donut Falls.  Apparently, every other person in Salt Lake County had the same idea because it was so crowded!  Luckily for us a summer storm rolled in just as we got there and cleared most of the people out.  We waited out the storm for about 15 minutes, and then enjoyed our hike!

 

Owen's favorite part-- throwing rocks into the water

This cute little family was also up there and the Mom had brought donuts for them to eat.  How fun!  Donuts at Donut Falls.  Maybe next time!

This was the perfect little hike for Owen.  Not too hard and not too long, with water at the end.  He did great and I can't wait to try it again...with donuts!

Owen is 3!

 

 Happy 3rd birthday to my Owen!  He has grown up so much in the past couple months.  He is equal parts sweet & spunky, energetic, smart, outgoing, funny, loving, and independent.  Having a little brother has been an adjustment for him, but for the most part he is the best big brother to Porter.  (The other 25% of the time, not so much.)  Thank you for the joy you bring to our family!  We love you Owen!

 

 

Things I don't want to forget!

This has been sitting in my drafts for months now... figured it was time to publish

*I curled my hair for church one Sunday, which I never do.  Wasn't feeling that great about it, so Brad asked Owen, "Owen, doesn't Mommy look pretty?"  To which Owen replied, "Mommy, pretty.  OOOOOH-- Mommy, hair!"  Warmed my little heart. 

*When Porter spits up or drools, Owen grabs a burp cloth or bib and wipes Porter's mouth while saying "sfits, sfits".

*While working out to a Jillian Michaels DVD, Owen walked into the room and looked at the TV.  He saw the girls working out in their sports bras and asked "Mommy, belly?", while proceeding to lift up his own shirt and start jumping around.  Now anytime I work out (even without the DVD) he still asks me, "Mommy, belly?"  Sorry, Owen... this belly is better left covered up!

*Brad likes to "look" into Owen's belly each night and "see" what he ate during the day.  (Usually with some helpful hints from me).  Last night we asked Owen to "look" and see what Daddy ate.  Owen put his eye up to Brad's belly button and loudly exclaimed, "PICKLES!?"

*When Owen really wants me to do something for him he says, "Mommy, 1...2...3... NOW!"  Hmm, where has he heard that one before?

*Owen is only allowed to have his teddy & pacifier when he goes to sleep.  Some days he has an easier time giving it up during awake time than others.  The other day he was really, really wanting it so he told me "Owen tired".  And I asked him "Really, Owen, you are tired?"  And he said, "Yeah, Owen tired..... Aaaaaahhh"  And promptly yawned and stretched his arms.  So cute, but I saw through his cleverness!  Smart boy.  (Obviously a few months ago... no more pacifier now!)

*How Owen loves to climb into Porter's crib and "play" with him after every nap.  I have to supervise to make sure the playing doesn't get too rough, but they both love it!

*Owen singing along to any & every song he hears.  Even for the first time and he makes up the words as he goes.  Future choir boy right here!

*"Owen do it".  Enough said.

* Now that Owen is potty trained, he is used to hearing praise every time he successfully uses the potty.  So now, anytime that he sees me or Brad use the potty he tells us "Good job Mommy/Daddy!"  Many times he will knock on the door to offer his support to "You go potty?"  "Push it out, you get jelly beans" "I so proud of you".

*Owen loves to make Porter laugh.  And Porter loves to see his big brother.  If he's not around, he looks for him.

*As I walked across the street to put a note in my neighbor's mailbox, Owen came out on the front porch and caught me.  He yelled across the street "Mommy, you no do that.  You get back here right now!"  Guess someone HAS been listening when I tell him we don't cross the street by ourselves.

*The other night Brad got Owen to do his "Bruce" face (shark from Finding Nemo) while shimmying his shoulders and giving us a "#1" sign for BYU.  It was the BYU Bruce Shimmy... so funny.

*Porter trying so hard to be big-- taking hot wheels cars (when he can sneak them from Owen) and "vrooming" them back and forth on the ground.

*Owen's sheer excitement/terror when he hears the garage door open when Brad gets home.  Every. Single. Time.  That kid is so happy to have Daddy home, but something about the door scares him straight!

*Owen not wanting to fall asleep the other night.  We hear tip toeing outside of the office where we are studying.  Brad calls out: "Owen?".  And we hear the following: "There's a dog in my room!".  Well that's a new one!  Guess the old "I'm thirsty" "I have to go potty" "I'm hungry" "I'm scared" just wouldn't cut it this time!

*Porter is *this* close to walking.  He can do about 2-3 steps, but he loves the praise of being able to "walk".  Sometimes he will take 1 step & then fling himself from my lap to Brad and look to us for cheers-- apparantly that is walking to him :)

The Lake & The Farm

Last week we went over to the Oquirrh Lake in Daybreak and fed the ducks.  Owen loved it.  Porter didn't quite understand what was going on, and just kept eating the bread.  (Good thing it was fresh this time).   It is so close, we need to do it more often!

Yesterday, my friend Marla invited the boys and me to the farm at Thanksgiving Point.  They have a wagon ride, a kid's play area, a pony ride, and of course lots of animals to feed!  We went last year when I was about 9+ months pregnant, so it was much more enjoyable this time!

Owen, keeping it classy on the pony ride.

Despite the somber face, he really did love it and told his pony "thank you" and "I'll see you later" when it was over.

Sorting veggies in the kid's play

Porter chilling in the stroller

Feeding some goats

Wesley, Owen, and Kaden.  (Porter was still in the stroller... what am I going to do when that no longer works?!)  Love their red faces!

My boys and me! 

Porter finally broke free of his stroller!  He loved pulling himself up and pushing this green button.  My little guy is growing up!  

New York City-- Part 2!

DAY 3:

Brad had been so busy leading up to this trip that he let me plan everything and didn't worry about our schedule until we were in New York.  When he looked at our itinerary for day 3 he about had a heart attack.  It was going to be a LOT of walking.  Later we heard a lady on the subway talking about how she had walked 12 blocks that morning (!!!!!) and we silently laughed because we had already walked

over 4.5 miles! :)

Here are some of the landmarks we walked to that morning:

We didn't do a tour of the Empire State Building (a "tourist trap" according to Brad!) but we walked past it frequently on the way to/from our hotel.

Macy's-- the "World's Largest Department Store"

Grand Central Terminal-- such a busy place!

The Today Show in Rockefellar Plaza.  There was a concert that morning but we were too tired to get up that early so by the time we got there (11:00) it was pretty calm.

FAO Shwartz-- I got to play the big piano!  Yeah!  Brad posed with a minion for Owen.  :)

Brad needing a little pick-me-up from our marathon morning!  So we decided to grab some lunch.

I had a whole list of restaurants to visit while in New York.  I mapped it out according to location, and if we were hungry while we were out, we checked to see what was close.  However, Brad's only request for the trip was to eat at Carnegie.  So although it was a bit of a walk from where we were, off we went!

That is a serious sandwich.

Where do you even start?  So much meat!  We ended up splitting it and eating it mostly with a fork and knife.  

"The Woody Allen" has been conquered!  Despite the picture, we both really enjoyed it.  :)

And off to the next adventure:

Radio City Music Hall

Manhattan LDS Temple

Our trip was during a 2 week cleaning period for the temple so we weren't able to do a session.  We were so bummed!  But we had to stop by still and see it.

After the temple we walked to the American Museum of Natural History.  We spent a few hours there... and weren't totally impressed.  Maybe because we were so tired!  So we walked across the street and spent a couple hours in Central Park.  We found a grassy hill and people watched.  It was quite entertaining!

Oh you know, just hanging out in Central Park!

(I didn't know Brad took this!)

Next it was time for the big game!  So we hopped on the subway and headed to the Bronx to Yankee Stadium!

The clouds looked so cool!  It is a really nice stadium, but in a very...interesting...part of town.  

The Yankees lost pretty bad, but it was still fun.  I loved bragging to my Dad & brothers that I went to a game in Yankee Stadium before they did!  

On the way back to the hotel we took one last picture of the Empire State Building at night from the rooftop "Pent House"  (weirdest name ever!) and then called it a night!

DAY 4:

Our last day in the city.  We only had a half-day until we had to head to the airport, so we headed down to Canal Street for some shopping and figured we'd slowly make our way back up towards the hotel until we ran out of time!

We had fun scoring some deals on Canal Street.  My favorite were the old Asian women on the side of the street who kept asking me if I wanted "Tiffany jewelry" or "Louis Vuitton purses".

After shopping we walked through SOHO, what a cool vibe!  It seemed really relaxed and trendy.  I liked it.  We grabbed lunch at Joe's Pizza (not bad!) and then walked through NYU campus as we headed to Washington Square for... you guessed it... more people watching. 

 

We stopped at a few parks that day (Washington, Union, Madison Square) and this was our favorite.  From the girl who clogged nonstop for over 45 minutes, to the guy playing a baby grand piano, to the crazy guy running in and out of the fountain shirtless-- there was a lot of excitement going on!

We found these guys at Madison Square Park.  This picture won't mean much to anyone else, but I laugh every time I look at it.  The younger guy on the right is totally mocking the guy on the left, who was legitimately trying to work out.  We watched the back and forth for about 15 minutes.  It was hilarious.

Flatiron Building, a wedge-shaped skyscraper built in 1902.

And then it was over!  What a trip!  Thank you to Brad's parents for watching our boys and allowing us to spend this time together!  We missed them, but enjoyed being able to spend time just the two of us.