Owen ~14 Months Old~

Well, Owen is now 14 months old and more trouble than I ever imagined a child this age could be. I say it all the time: good thing he's so cute or I might be looking into some sort of return policy. Here are a few Owen hightlights:

• He has this great little way of saying "hi." It comes out "ah-ahh" but I know it's "hi" because he copies my sing-song intonation exactly.
• He still walks up to, well, anyone and lays his head down on them and says "awwww." This includes the cats.
• He still loves the cats and chases them around at will.
• He amazes me because he knows how everything works and what to do with everything. For a long time he has known that you push cars around on the floor and throw balls. He now knows that you hold a phone up to your ear, point a remote at the TV, write with a pen, hold a camera up to your face, push the lever to make the squirt bottle squirt water (that's messy) and so many more I can't think of right now.
• He throws food on the floor like nobody's business. I'm getting SOOOOO tired of sweeping the floor 3 times a day!
• He is a total monkey, crawling all over everything. (You'll notice the bruises under his left eye in the photo below. He tried to crawl up onto the piano bench. Yeah. The next morning, while he was strapped into his high chair, he pushed on the table with his legs and tipped the entire chair and high chair over backwards, smacking his head on the back of the chair!)
• He gets into everything! It's like a tornado just moves throughout the house every day.
  
• He's starting to give kisses. Adorable.

Here is a photo and a video of him walking (especially for Mama Jones), and saying one of his new favorite words (sound familiar, McKenzies?). And don't forget to vote in my poll over there. Feel free to leave comments on this post about what you think I should get Casey for his birthday in 2 weeks. Thanks for your input.

Danger, Fireworks and Walking

We've been awfully busy around here lately. And still, Owen finds time to discover the most exciting and dangerous places to play in the house. His current favorite is here, banging the blinds against the window:

Let's get a little perspective on that ...

(I love how nonchalant he is.)

Yeah. He crawls up there on his own and plays ...

and crawls around ...

and gets back down when he's through. Up and down, all day long. I tried to stop it the first couple times, but soon gave up. There's no way I can take the fun out of this one. Oh well.


The other excitement around the house lately comes in the form of Evan's fireworks. Here he is, working his magic (in the pitch dark, mind you; I mean every light in the house has to be off). First, he puts on his glove (puppet), lights his match (tinker toy) on Ernie ...

then lights the firework ...

and sets it down in the middle of the room for a spectacular show.

Sometimes he helps them "explode." Other times he returns to the couch to sit and watch them and make the sound effects for them.

Here he is lighting the ever-popular Leo firework (from the Little Einsteins series of fireworks) ...

Owen thoroughly enjoys the fireworks.

No, really. (Yeah, he's a slobbery kid, just like the other one was ... er, is.)

Oh no! Move the fireworks because Owen is coming and they are hot!

And last but not least, the grand finale: the Walk-n-Ride firework! Woah! I gotta say, I'm a little relieved to see Evan using his imagination a little more. The fireworks, however, are getting a little old. After only one night. We watched more tonight (since Daddy and T'Em were there to see them), but it's not so fun when Evan tries to blackout the entire house while I'm trying to eat dinner and do dishes and such.


Owen is finally branching out and walking a little more. Look at those cute curls he's getting.

He's so dang cute from the back.

And even cuter from the front.

Ooooo, I just wanna squeeze him!

P.S. Take a look at the bottom of this page (hit the 'end' key on your keyboard) to see our new family photo. I couldn't resist. It doesn't include Sharkbait, though. Goldfish wasn't an option.

Apologies and More Catch-Up

I'm sorry I've been absent for over a month. Things have been crazy around here. I know it's been too long when people are starting to discuss why I haven't blogged lately. There was even talk of me being pregnant (what?!?). Well, for the record, being pregnant wouldn't keep me from blogging. But here is what would (and did): vacation, returning from vacation and trying to catch up with life, another vacation, returning again and trying to catch up again, sick kids, well kids, and, last but not least, Relief Society. Especially Super Saturday. Joy. So hang on, friends ... here comes our life in the past month+ ...

At the end of July/beginning of August, we went on a cruise with our good friends Tim and Ashley. It was such a blast! I just want to thank them again for such a great time. Let's start planning our next one. Here are just a few photos ...

At the show ...

Casey and Ashley reenacting a Titanic moment ...

Ashley gambling ...

Casey contemplating gambling ...

Too much cherry Coke, I think ...

I also have to thank mom and Kate for staying with the kids while we were gone for a week. I hope it wasn't too bad because we're already planning our next vacation. Sadly, I did not feel the need to return to the kids one bit. But we did return eventually and celebrated Owen's and mom's birthdays. Owen seemed thrilled.


A week and a half after returning from the cruise, I took the kids and drove Kate and mom back to Wyoming. We spent a week+ up there at the parents' new house on the ranch.

Here's Evan with Alana and Frodo ...

Evan playing with Pata Jones' Army guys.

Evan got a couple mosquito bites above his left eye one night. This is what it looked like a day later.

And a little while after that.

And a while after that. Does anyone remember Sloth from The Goonies? "Hey, you guuuuyyyyys ...!" ........... Enough said.

Owen, looking like a doll.

A baby snake like the one Mama Jones (yes, Mama Jones) caught for Evan.

Fireworks with Pata Jones and Auntie Kake. On the outskirts of town in Wyoming, anything goes. We saw some pretty good ones that night. (These are not the good fireworks.)

Owen riding Spanky with Pata Jones.

Evan riding Spanky with Pata Jones.

Thanks to Mama and Pata Jones and Auntie Kake for such a great time in Wyoming!


This is random, but here is what happens when I turn my back on Owen for 2 minutes and it gets really quiet. (What is it with kids and wipes?)

But I can't get too mad because he does cute stuff like this ...

And this ...

And this ... (kicking back on the couch)

While we were in Wyoming, we missed Evan's official first 2 days of preschool. But here he is on his first day. He LOVES preschool! I do, too.


This is my new favorite playpen for Owen--the sandbox. He loves it. He used to eat it, but now he just sits in there and plays for a long time.

Well, that's it for catch-up for now. I'll try not to leave everyone hanging for so long next time. I wonder what other rumors might start up about me.