Misc. Facts About Owen

1. He's cute. I mean, look at him! And those curls ... ugh--how can anyone resist?

2. Did I mention he's cute???

3. He likes to hold Putty. And babies. (I won't hold that against him.)

(Putty doesn't like to be held.)

(Some help this time.)

3. His name is Owen and he's addicted to binkies.
(Oh yeah, and he's adorable.)

Yum.

(Photo stolen from Jennifer McRae)
(P.S. Jen, don't worry--you can see Suzy & Ryan back there behind us.) :)

This is what we had the honor and privilege of doing last night. I guess being the wife of a P712 artist does have a perk or two. Great food and great company--what more could we ask for? I highly recommend you give Communal a try. Don't leave without having the Chocolate Caramel Tart (which they better keep on the menu for a good, long time ... hint, hint). I could have died after I tasted that and felt like my life was complete.

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Well, happy birthday 3 1/2 months ago anyway. We had a fun birthday celebration for Emily that included dinner at Los Hermanos, cake and ice cream, presents, and games. Here go the photos:

Kate helping with Em's yearly cake request: confetti cake with LOTS of confetti frosting.

I really wanted ice cream cone cupcakes. FYI, don't follow Betty Crocker's instructions on the back of the cake box for how to do these. Do it the good old-fashioned way where you fill the cones RIGHT SIDE UP and bake them that way.

So pretty!

We enjoyed having Emily's friend Ashley join us for the evening.

This was an evening of crazy faces in the photos. And here we go ...

Em laughing at Kate's whoopie cushion card. Great pick, Kate!

Checking out the Newf scrapbook that Kate made her (score again, Kate!).

Eyeshadow (MAC???) from Ashley!
(Side note: A couple months later, totally out of the blue, Evan said, "I really like T'Em's eyeshadow that she got for her birthday!" Should I be worried???)

Body wash from Owen and beautiful blue glass stones from Evan (they picked them out at the dollar store).

Kate was very excited about everything.

So was Evan.

Here comes the yummy part!

Evan put the sprinkles on.

Yummy, Kate? Or GF?

Yummy.

Hmmmm ... ???

Hmm ... ???

Peace out.

Just enjoying the evening.

They didn't look good, but I guess they tasted okay.

I realize I covered up the flash in this picture, but I think it's hilarious.

It was a very enjoyable evening for all. Thanks to Suzy, Kim, Kate, Margaret and the McKenzies for the encouragement! I hope to keep up on the blog a little better.

Apology

Dear Blog Readers (do I even have any readers anymore?),
I apologize profusely for neglecting you for the past 2 months (has it really been 2 months since I've posted?). I won't bother you with excuses because I know you don't want to hear them, but just know that life has been ... well ... life. And that's the best I can give you.

I promise to (attempt to) recommit to regular blog posting, as long as I can somehow get my hands on a camera around here. In the meantime, please enjoy this little teaser as a preview to my up and coming post:

Look at that cute little girl in the pink crown. :)

Owen

Casey took pictures of Owen recently for a painting. Here are a few of my favorites (er, the few that actually turned out).

It would be nicer without the drool, but what would our kids be without drool???

Owen has the best bedhead I have ever seen. These pictures were from a particularly "good" bedhead morning. I can't look at them without laughing out loud!

Evan's 2008-2009 Preschool Graduation

Preschool graduation has got to be the funniest thing in the world. Evan finished his first year of preschool about a month ago and we got to attend his graduation. Owen loved it. Here he is dancing around.



He wanted to be sitting up there with all the preschool kids. (Oh, don't worry. We already have his name on the list for 2010-2011. I, for one, can't wait!)


A high five for Auntie Kake.


Here are the boys with Miss Janae. Evan couldn't have his picture taken with her alone, of course. Owen had to tag along. We love Miss Janae. What a great teacher!


Supposed to be singing ... (look at all the hilarious kids!)


Evan finally started singing about half way through the program.


Hats on ...


Here we go ...


Just about there ...


Yea! He's graduated!


And we can't wait til next year when preschool is 3 days a week instead of 2! :)


Owen takes it all in.

Evan is such a smart kid. We are excited to see what he accomplishes next year.

California Trip 2009

I am finally going to blog about our trip to California back in April. It was such a blast. One of the few vacations I have taken that I was not ready to be done with.

First things first ... we picked oranges from my Grandma Berkline's tree the first morning we were there. We squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and drank orange juice to our hearts' content all week long (at least I did).

Picking the oranges was a little tough for the kids, but they enjoyed the process.


Grandma kept laughing because Owen would point to an orange and say "apple" and we would say, "No, that's an orange" and he would point to it again and say "apple." Funny kid!

Hauling in the load ...

Trying to haul in the load ...

Silly boys playing on the patio.

The beach (er, the bay) was a huge hit. Thanks, especially, to the fabulous beach toys we borrowed (thanks, Forts!).

Water and sand ... what more could 2 boys ask for? (Except maybe rocks.)

The BIG shovels were BIG hits!

They both LOVED the water ... until they both almost drowned (or so they thought).


Dig and throw ... dig and throw ... dig and throw ...

Evan was sporting these great Ninja Turtle goggles most of the time. Awesome!


After debating it for days and days, we finally decided to go ahead and take the boys to Disneyland. Owen was still free and they were both at a point in their lives where Mickey Mouse was still pretty cool. (And after hitting up the Strawberry Days Carnival in Pleasant Grove yesterday where we bought 20 tickets for $20 and spent 2-3 tickets on each [crappy] ride per person, we decided that Disneyland is a pretty good deal!)

We didn't have to do too much waiting, but when we did, the boys were pretty good.

Here is Evan checking the "nap" (he's pretty obsessed with maps lately).

Being a boy means taking any opportunity to throw projectiles into bodies of water. Here, the boys are picking up minuscule pieces of trash or gravel off the bridge to throw into the Small World river below where people were casually floating by in their boats. Yeah. Boys will be boys.

The boys enjoyed the play area just as much as the rides, I think.

Owen got a little tuckered out at one point. In fact, he and and Evan were riding in the stroller together (a no-no, I know) and I noticed, just in time, that Owen was falling asleep and falling forward out of the stroller. Whew. We narrowly escaped an incident.

We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride about 5 times. And later, after we were back home in Utah, Casey and I surprised the boys with their very own Buzz Lightyear "shooters." Owen, king of destruction, broke his pretty quick, but Evan's still vibrates and lights up and such. Great investments.

Mama Jones treated the boys to their first ears.

Owen really enjoyed the Pooh ride. It is by far the most tame, happy, sappy, sweet ride in all of Disneyland. Not a hint of anything scary or disturbing.
So Disneyland was a great success. And since Mama Jones came to California with us, she and Aunt Carol came and picked up the kids so Casey and I could hit a couple of adult rides before closing.


We had another adventure-filled day at the duck park (or that's what we've called it as long as I can remember). The kids loved feeding the ducks (which we saw later you weren't supposed to do).


Owen would get so excited when they ate his bread.

These big white geese were a little too aggressive. I'm pretty sure the one on the left is the same one that befriended a large man with a plumber's crack when we were there a few years ago. (Kate, do you still have that picture? I should post it. I looked for it in our pictures, but I think it got deleted when Evan deleted all those pictures of ours.)


The last night we were there we went to Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. We walked around and saw the ponds of koi fish and the big colorful waterfalls, then headed up to the top of the parking structure to watch the Disneyland fireworks. Well, after waiting FOR.EVER, someone said it was too windy and they would not be having fireworks that night. BIG bummer. Evan, bless his heart, took it much better than I thought he would. He was soooo looking forward to it. And let me just say ... if Anaheim thinks that was windy, then we must have a tornado at least once a week in PG. Give me a break!



Here is sweet "Great-Grandma Brokeline" (as Evan called her) with the kids and me and my double chin.


Evan took this picture of Owen (who always seems to have a funny look on his face when Evan takes his picture).


Owen took this picture of Evan. Hilarious!


And Casey got to do a little plein-air painting in Grandma's backyard. Here is a view of her orange tree and bird bath.
It was such a great trip!