O-Dub Turned 2 ...

... last July! Yes, still catching up. I vow to do better this year.

Here he is, showing us his fingers' version of "2"--too cute!

He may have finally mastered the art of opening presents by the end of the night. Evan definitely mastered the art of helping. Maybe a little too much at times.

Owen got some great stuff for his birthday. Stuff he really and truly loves and plays with. The sand toys (thanks, T-Em), the Magnadoodle, and these great golf clubs, just to name a few.

Casey's family all got together for dinner when his sister's family was in town, so we celebrated Owen's birthday, too. As the guest of honor, Owen was chosen to judge an art contest that night. This is evidence that Uncle Barry was trying to sway the judge. This behavior is highly frowned upon in juried exhibitions, but Owen ended up picking everyone as winners anyway.

Cupcakes ... mmmmmmmm! (That injury near his eye is from rolling sideways down the stairs. Ouch.)

Love that face.

One more random photo ... Casey's painting was hanging in the LDS Conference Center in SLC for the better part of the year. It was chosen out of numerous entries to be in the LDS International Art Competition. This is his mom and sister, scrutinizing. :)

17 photos : a recap of June 2009

Owen discovered that he loves drawing and coloring. Oh, the concentration ...

Evan and Owen really do love each other. Usually.

Boys can, and will, turn anything into weapons. This just happens to be one of the "actual" toy weapons we own, and they love it.

The annual Strawberry Days carnival began with Owen's first--and last--ride. It was okay at first ...

but things got progressively worse ...

every time he went around.

It didn't end well, and I'm sure people thought we were torturing our child.

Oh wait. Everything's fine ... now that it stopped.

Casey was the lucky one who got (er, had) to go on the "big" rollercoaster with Evan.

Owen felt better just watching all the other rides from a distance.

Like Evan on the flying saucers.

Owen enjoyed the playground while Casey took Evan on a bathroom break.

I did convince him to go with Evan and me on the Merry-Go-Round. He survived. But he would NOT sit on the horse.

Evan was back for round 2 on the cars. This time, he chose the motorcycle. Can you just hear the sound effects being made?

The Strawberry Days parade was, um, interesting. No, really, it wasn't that bad.

Em can hardly contain her excitement! It drizzled on and off, ending with a downpour on all of the various royalty girls. That made for a good parade! :)

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. :)