My Happy Child

I know all parents are proud of their children and like to brag about them...so that is exactly what I am going to do! I love my little Owen so much! He is just so cute! I can't get over it. He seriously is the happiest baby ever! He is so happy and smiley all the time. On Monday I went to the store and every single person we passed, they just smiled and laughed because he was just staring at every single person with the biggest grin you ever did see. An older couple was shopping around and I had passed them a few times and they kept smiling at me and him. Finally the older gentleman came up to me and said "I just want you to know that your baby is absolutely beautiful, he really is the cutest baby I have ever seen" I smiled and said "I know! And he is just so happy all the time". Then he kept looking at Owen and saying what a beautiful boy he was. Right after that store, we went over to Costco and once again, everyone that passed us was happy and smiling after they got one look at Owens bright happy face. Not only was he beaming at everyone but he was looking and talking too. One lady came up to me and said "You just have the cutest baby!" once again I said "I know, he is so cute" and she said "Oh and he is so social, just smiling and laughing and talking to everyone" It was so cute. And this happens on a daily basis. Every single time I go out, people just crowd around him and give him such compliments. I love my little happy baby so much. He really is so social. He loves to smile at everyone and get a smile from everyone. It makes me realize how happy he is and how I need to be happier all the time. He makes me want to be a better, nicer, happier person just because he is. I love to hear him laugh and play and make those sweet baby sounds you never want to forget. I love Owen and I love how he makes others days just by giving them his big open Owen smile. So here you are...have a nice day!

Owen can send you a text...

Owen is now a texting baby! Sometimes, I let Owen play with my phone to distract himself and he loves to push all the buttons. I have a long list of random letters and numbers saved in my contacts list from Owen pushing the buttons and saving them. He has also called a few people too. Well, now Owen can text. I was letting Owen play with my phone and I could hear a snapshot so I knew he had taken a picture..which he frequently does. Usually they are just blurry messes because he is in the process of sucking on my phone or waving it around.
Last night we went to a Christmas party with all my friends. It was really fun. One of my friends husbands, Adam, told me that he recieved a text of Owen's foot from me. Apparently, Owen had taken a picture of his foot and somehow sent it to Adam (since he is the first on my contact list alphabetically). I checked my phone and sure enough...My smart texting baby sent this picture. Don't worry, I am quite sure that he KNEW exactly what he is doing cuz he is the smartest baby alive! You can see he was wearing some blue pajamas and the white is the underpart of the foot. What a cutie! :)
On a side note...here are some awesome pictures from the party. We had a white elephant exchange and it was pretty funny.Heather got a "combover king" crown.Shae got some bubblebath and used candles "for a romatic evening" and Julie got candy and silly putty.Rachael recieved some really sexy pajamas and scored these hot undies from Kenzie.Kenzie recieved the underwear and a few other odds and ends.Here we can see Mary is just like little kitten playing with her kitten toy.I got the infamous "Joe's white hat", a bandaid and Sierry Mist Cranberry splash drink.Oh Jill, she got a sexy mask and lotion. Here she is rubbing the lotion all over her while blind in her mask.Britney got a whole bunch of old dried up corsages from old high school dances, a beatiful fanny pack and clutch.
Lee scored major with a bag full of goodies..in fact too many to even write, but lets just say it included a Chuck Norris book, a stuffed Kitty, a bunch of homies, and an O'Douls alcohol free beverage. Adam also got some scope, a toothbrush and a really sexy lipgloss.
Oh howI love Christmas parties and especially white elephants!

HELP!

I don't know what to do! Owen was sleeping through the night from about 11 weeks till about 6 or 7 months...but then he started waking in the night. He is now 9 1/2 months and STILL wakes up at least once, maybe twice in the night. I am very frustrated because everything I have read or heard or people tell me is "oh just go in and pat his back, give him his binky and let him know you are there but don't pick him up and go in every 10 to 15 minutes and he will eventually go back to sleep" Um...YEA RIGHT! If he even hears us or we go in...it makes matters a billion times worse. If we do go in and try to do the rub his back and give him his binky, the second we leave, he is standing up and screaming at us as we walk out! And the more we go in to let him know we are there and try to comfort him...it just starts all over again. Literally, the ONLY thing that puts him back to sleep is a bottle. But it is getting really hard and frustrating to get up and give him 2 bottles a night! Tonight I tried to go in and just give him his binky and lay him down and rub his back but he screamed and just reached for me to hold him. I am SO sick of getting up in the middle of the night. It seems like everyone else who has babies this age are sleeping through the night. I just don't know what to do. It breaks my heart to have him cry it out. I tried that tonight after laying him down with his binky didn't work and he cried or should I say screamed for an hour! It is 1:30 in the morning right now and I just listened to him cry for an hour...he finally fell asleep but who knows how long that will last. I don't want to get up and feed him because 1) I think he eats less during the day which just makes him hungry again at night. And 2) Everything I read/hear/am told is that feeding them in the night just makes them get into that routine and make it the only possible way for them to go back to sleep. Which is just the predicament we're in. I also don't want to just turn off the baby monitor and let him cry it out because what if something happens..I need to hear him. AUGH! I am seriously so tired and frustrated! What do I do? I mean, seriously. If anyone has any good ideas or thoughts...PLEASE let me know.

Owen is Walking!!

It has been quite a while since I have posted so I will update. Thanksgiving was good. We went up to Lee's parents. We stayed the night and the next morning Lee got up at 3 in the morning to go get his Christmas present. An Xbox 360. I was so mad though because I have been saving my paychecks from teaching and I was going to surprise him with it on Christmas morning. I had the best idea ever. I was going to get him a game too and then just give him the game and he would say that we didn't have the 360 then I would pull it out. But he caught me so I let him do all the work of researching the best deal on Black friday and going and getting it. But he was more than happy to!
The main news and I am so dumb for taking so long, but Owen started walking! What the? He is only 9 months old. About a week before he turned 9 months he started to take 2 or 3 steps but in the past 2 weeks he is pretty much only walking. It is hilarious to see him. Because he is so tiny and watching him hold his balance. It is so crazy. He will walk and grab to something then you can just see him staring at his next obstacle and walk to that and start all over. He loves it. I think it is so cute! But it makes me sad kinda. He is my baby boy and now is getting so big he can walk and say "mama". I love this stage he is in so much! He is my mama's boy and is just so cute and so happy and I don't want him to get any bigger. I love him so much!
This past weekend we went down to Cedar City and stayed with some friends we had in Logan. It was way fun. We miss them so much. It was so cute to see their kids play with Owen. He just loves other kids and he had a blast the whole time. The worst part though was he did get kinda sick the first day so we took him in to instacare and he had a mild case of croupe (sp?). Luckily we got medicine and the next day was acting much better. It makes me so sad when Owen is sick. I know every parent probably feels this way but I wish that I could take away his sickness and pain and carry it for him. Especially because he is so tiny and can't talk or communicate his pain so he just cries and I would take everything for him because I just love him oh so much! It made me so sad because his voice was gone and you could tell his little throat hurt. I just love that little boy and I feel like I am going to burst with love. I feel like it is impossible to love anything more. I can't even imagine that it is humanly possible to grow more love. I get scared thinking that when we have more children I won't love them as much but I know that is just silly. But for now...I just love Owen more than anything. I can't wait for Christmas. I told myself that we were only going to get him one toy but I find myself wanting to buy him more and more. Luckily, I have Lee to stop me.
Anyways we had fun in Cedar so thanks to JD and Melissa. We hope we didn't inconvenience you too much! We had a lot of fun and I know Owen did too! We hope we can see you again soon.

AFAA Certification

Today I spend 9 hours at the gym. I finally got my Primary Group Exercise Certification test done. Technically, in order to teach, you need to be certified. I am certified in Turbokick, but not through a more general certification. AFAA stands for Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. It is quite thorough. A lot more so than I thought. First of all, you have to study and do a mean study guide that is like 37 pages or something and memorize proper muscle names and places. Then you go to the certification and you have to do both a written test (100 questions, multiple choice and matching) and also a practical (showing that you know how to work all the different muscle groups and stretch them out and basically that you know how to teach and cue correctly). To be honest, I didn't read all the chapters, I more just went through and found the answers and didn't study too hard until last night and then I only studied for an hour or two. Then you do a practical which is you do a warm-up, a cardio section, a cool-down section, go through every muscle group in the body and show at least 2 strengthening exercises per muscle and 1 stretching exercise. On top of this, you also have to teach an individual presentation in front of everyone showing 1 move and 2 harder modifications.
I was really worried about it because the lady that originally does it is an older "really anal" lady. She is all professionalism and having everything correct down to the last hair on your head. Which I think everything does need to be proper, but group exercise is all about fun too! Anyways I have been way stressed, then when I got to the gym, come to find out she is not the one who was doing it that day!! YAY! She was supposed to go out of town but ended up not but someone else was already flown in. The girl who did my certification was way cute and fun and it helped to ease the tension. She was more in the style of helping everyone out and making sure everyone passed. (I didn't get that impression from the original lady). I hope this is making sense.
Anyways, it is finally over. This has been hanging over my head for quite some time and it feels nice to finally have it over. And not just over, but I feel good about it. I am positive I passed. It really wasn't that bad. In 4 to 6 weeks I should be recieving my results and certificate showing I passed. So not only can I kick your butt in Turbo, I can now kick it in any class!! Watch out world! Here I come! :)

Bed Head

After Owen woke from his nap, I found his wispy little hairs going in every direction.I love him.

2 More Aprons

Ok so I am like obsessed now with sewing. I love it. Seriously, it is so fun. I just wish I had more money so I could go buy fabric. I love fabric by Heather Bailey, Moda, and Buggy Barn. Anyways, so my friend is getting married and is having a shower on Thursday so I decided to make her an apron. Also, my niece Cambry turned 3 and so I made one for her too. I used Heather Bailey fabric and it turned out so so so cute! I LOVE them! So without furtho ado...here they are....The top one is for my friend, I also put some chocolate chips and kitchen shears in the pocket. The bottom is the one for my niece. I used the same fabric but used different accent pieces. Fun, fun fun!

Susie Homemaker!

I have been hankering for a while to make aprons but I never got around to it or had fabric or a pattern for that matter. We went up to Lee's on Saturday and his mom had some patterns and had fabric too. So I brought them home and on Sunday I made this really cute reversible apron! It really is so cute, especially on. The pictures don't do it justice. It took me all day and I know I did some things wrong (I won't point them out). But I did it the way I felt was right. The directions were actually pretty unclear so that was the most frustrating part. Maybe I am just new to sewing but it would say "turn out and press" ok, so press down on which side? The right side or wrong side of fabric? After I finished I understood what they were trying to say, however the directions didn't make it obvious so some things were done my way! And I actually think I like it better anyways. So I pretty much finished the reversible apron on Sunday. Took me quite some time. Probably like 4 or 5 hours total. On Monday I just had to do some quick finishing touches. Then after I put Owen down for his nap, I was browsing online and found another cute apron pattern. It is supposed to be made with old jeans, but I had old khaki's instead and decided to try it out. It doesn't require much fabric so I had some old scraps from Sarah's quilt so I decided to make it using that fabric. Once again, I didn't do it exactly like she said. The directions were very clear and obvious. The bottom of the skirt is supposed to be pleated and I tried, but I didn't cut long enough fabric so the ruffle at the bottom is smaller than the website. But it is still cute. Once again, I won't point out all my little flaws, but if I do say so myself, these two aprons are so cute! The second apron (half apron) was really quick and easy and I think I will use the other leg to make another for my friend who is getting married. It took me like 2 hours to make total, but now that I have done it, I think it would be even quicker. Well enough, here are the pics...I am thinking I may add some yellow rick-rack on the pockets and up by the neck on the purple reversible apron. I don't know, maybe I will just get a yellow button to add some detail. Pretty cute anyways though! Anyone wants to make one I am totally down, we could have an apron makin party!

Fall and Halloween!

It's been a while so here are some pics....first of all, Owen and I have really been enjoying the nice fall weather and going on lots of walks! Owen loves it outside!We also went to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving point and Owen rode a horse and played around. He is standing up so much and wanted to stand up on the hay, but every time he touched it, he would get a gross look on his face. I don't think he liked the feel of it!The night before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins and let Owen touch the slime. He didn't really get too messy, but it was still fun. We carved the cutest pumpkins ever!Finally time for Halloween! Funnest ever! We dressed Owen up as the cutest little tiger ever! He was so cute and so happy! We took him trick-or-treating with his cousins Keaton and Cambry. He got quite a bit of candy (I mean Lee got a lot of candy) Then we went over to my friends house and she was having a halloween party. I must say that my costume got quite a bit of attention. I looked HOT! I was an 80's aerobic instructor. I had turquoise leggins and legwarmers and side ponytail...the whole she-bang. The best part was the leapard underwear! Lee was his usual...a wierd gothic freak. Next year, he is not allowed to be that though. He has been that every Halloween since I have known him. Anyways, Halloween was a good time!

Allergist

Ok so time for an update. Yesterday was a pretty hard day for me. I took Owen to the allergist to see for sure if he is allergic to peanuts. Well the Doctor was saying that if he is allergic to peanuts, then usually there is also another food allergy so he wanted to test out a few different things on him. So they wrote 1 through 5 on his back and on each number they wiped the chemical from the food and did a small prick. After 5 minutes they check to see if he had hives and how his skin reacted. Well Owen does have an allergy to peanuts, but that's not all. He also has an allergy to eggs! EGGS! Everything has eggs in them. He told me that he had about a 20 percent chance of growing out of the egg allergy but he needed avoidance. He kinda went through some things with me and told me that Owen needs to stay away from ALL peanuts, nuts, eggs, and seafood. He also told me that we can't have other people cook for him due to the possibility of cross contamination. No restaurants either. Also they gave me a prescription for EPI pens. I have to carry one at all times in case Owen does come in contact with anything. They had a practice pen and had me practice a few times (there was no needle or medicine in it). I must admit that it is a bit overwhelming to hear all this. I just kept thinking what if someone tries to give him candy or something and it has peanuts or eggs and he dies. I also kept thinking, Halloween is going to be so hard for him and for birthdays he won't be able to eat cake or cookies. And then I was thinking of all the foods that have peanuts or eggs in them. It seems like almost everything does. So I cried for a bit, then I had to start thinking positive. There are so many other things that could be wrong with him and I am so Thankful that it is only an allergy. True, his life may be a bit different but if you don't really know the difference it wouldn't be so bad. Plus as long as I did all the cooking and cooked without eggs and peanuts I could probably make him cakes and stuff with an egg substitute. I just love my little boy so much and it already terrifies me to think of him going to school and eating something bad. I just want to follow him around the rest of his life and monitor every thing that goes in his mouth! Really, it just boils down to the fact that he is still happy and healthy and will still have a perfectly normal life and I am so thankful that of everything that could happen, this is it (hopefully). Also the doctor gave me a website that I can go on and he was also telling me of support groups. And right now, I do feel overwhelmed and do need all the support I can get.

Peanut Allergy

Last night was so crazy! Yesterday I made peanut butter cookies. I like to make cookies on sunday. Well right before we put Owen to bed we were down in the kitchen eating cookies and Owen was crawling around us as usual. We then went upstairs bathed him and his eyes started to get red (which they usually do when he is tired) and he was rubbing them...again, what he does when he is tired so we made him a bottle to put him to bed. He didn't really eat his bottle because he was itching his eyes like crazy but I assumed he was just really tired and didn't want to eat because he didn't nap. Well he went down and fell asleep and we went downstairs. About an hour later, Owen woke up screaming. We went upstairs and made him another bottle (thinking he hadn't eaten the first so he must be hungry) and we went in and got him. Well, he had thrown up everywhere and was sneezing and he just wasn't breathing right. My first thought was that he had maybe eaten some cookie and was having an allergy to the peanut butter. So we decided to take him to the hospital. On our way he started to calm down a bit so I thought we should just stop at the store to see if maybe there was medicine for an upset tummy because maybe he just was a little upset. Owen is in the phase of EVERYTHING goes in his mouth! Literally! So maybe he didn't get cookie and maybe he had grabbed something else and put it in his mouth and upsetting him. So I ran in the store to see what I could find and when I had come out he had thrown up again and doing the weird breathing. I told Lee that we should just go to the hospital because I would rather them send us home with an upset tummy then go home and have something bad happen. So we continue to the hospital. Owen then started to throw up again and was choking on it so as we were pulling into the hospital I was yanking Owen out to slap his back and take off his clothes. Lee dropped us off and I went running in the ER with Owen in nothing but a diaper and a blanket wrapped around him. And when we got in I could see that Owen was puffy and had hives everwhere! All over his neck, back, tummy, face, legs and even down his diaper! I was freaking out! The nurse took us back immediately and you could just tell he was in pain! My heart was breaking for my baby! He was crying and sneezing and scratching everywhere. But poor, cute Owen still was a smiling baby. All the nurses came in. We probably had like at least 10 nurses in there saying how cute he was that with his puffy red eyes and body he was still smiling at them. Anyways, it pretty much took all 10 nurses to hold him down so they could try to find a vein in his arm for an IV. That made him angry! After about 50 pokes and an EPI shot they got his IV in and gave him benadryl and some steroid to help with inflammation. I just sat there and held him and he started to look and feel better and drifted off to sleep. They then monitored him for another hour and a half then sent us home with benadryl and prescriptions for more steroid and benadryl. My poor baby! I was so sad! We really don't know what exactly he ate, but my personal feeling is that he ate some cookie and is allergic to peanuts. I am so thankful that he is okay and we decided to just go to the hospital. In a few weeks we will have to take him to an allergist to see if that is what it is or if he maybe ate something else. And if he is allergic to peanuts then he might be to all nuts. I love Owen with all my heart and it just kills me to see him have any pain or problems. I am so thankful I have him. I think I need that little boy more than he needs me. I love him so so so much! These are some pictures after he got his medicine and started to feel better. Everyone please pray for him! You can see his puffy eyes :(Sad Lee holding Owen after he fell asleep. We were so worried.This is where the IV was in his arm. They covered it with an ace bandage so he would rip at it.

I am hoping that maybe if it is a peanut allergy that he will grow out of it. Maybe he is just so young and couldn't handle it yet. Who knows. I feel a little overwhelmed too thinking of all the things we will have to do to make sure that he never eats peanuts or anything with peanuts or peanut oil in it. I am just so thankful that Owen is ok today!

Owen's new habit

Owen has learned something new....and we don't like it. He has learned that he can make his voice really big and loud and get a lot of attention if he...screams! Yes, he loves to scream. Not just a baby squeal either. I am talking full-on, high pitched, shrill scream! Yikes! And of course, he loves to scream at the most inappropriate places such as the store or church. And it is LOUD! It isn't always angry screams either. Sometimes he does it just for fun or when he is excited or playing around. We gave him a cup to play with and he kept screaming into it because it made an echo noise. Of course if he is angry or hungry he will scream too. Or maybe it is just that he is the super smartest baby around and knows it is coming on Halloween time and he is brushing up on this skill for the season! I think that's it.

If your happy and you know it...

Owen is just so happy and cute! Here are some super happy pictures of him! :)
Owen is so happy and so messy and so full! This was breakfast one morning and he was so wiggly and kept smooshing his food all over his face!Owen LOVES it outside! So we took him hiking and he was super happy! He was literally trying to crawl out of the carrier so he could explore and touch everything!
We went up to Logan to visit some friends and we went and visited Uncle Kyle. He had a pull up bar in his hall and Owen was so strong and did some pull ups to show off!

Big Boy

I really don't have much a life, because my life is centered around Owen so once again, here is what is going on with my sweet baby boy! Owen loves to be outside! So on Saturday we went up the canyon and walked around Silver Lake. Owen just loved it! He is getting so big and talkative too! The entire walk he was just jabbering away.This is a picture of Owen talking away, we were looking at the ducks and he was just being so cute talking to them.
On Sunday Owen went to his very first Birthday party ever. One of Lee's friends from the mission had his sons first birthday party and the invitation said Owen. He had so much fun because there were so many kids and Owen just loves little kids.
Yesterday, Owen started to be able to push himself up to sitting all by himself. He used to just kind of push himself on his hip and hold his hand out to hold him up but now he can push himself up to sitting all by himself. He is just getting so big! I get so sad to see him grow but at the same time I rejoice every time he learns something new.
Now one thing about Owen is that he loves to crawl and play with anything that is NOT supposed to be played with. Forget all the toys we keep buying him in hopes he will like them and play with them...nope he wants to crawl and get into the dog food, or suck and pull on cords (he already pulled the cord on my straightener while I was brushing my teeth and burned his hand. It literally was a 2 second thing, he crawled in and grabbed the cord and as the straightener went down, I bent down to grab it back up but he had already grabbed it), or suck on our cell phones or paper or anything that is not supposed to be touched. I swear in our living room it is covered in toys and yet I will find him in a corner playing with the drapes or sucking on my diaperbag or backpack or his carseat.... You get the idea. Well one of Owen's favorite places to crawl and sit and play is under his swing. I took a picture of him this morning after he had pushed himself up to sit all by himself. As you can see, after a minute like this he starts to fuss because he either can't get himself out or gets more tangled in the stools that are to the side of his swing. So I take him out and put him with his toys and what do you know? He is right back under his swing. Oh how I just love him! He is so cute and fun! I love to play with him and see all the things he does every day! I honestly love being a mom! I think it is the greatest! Especially when you have the cutest baby ever!
On a side note, I start my aerobic classes this week. I am pretty excited! I think it will be fun!

New Addition to our family!

We are getting a new addition to our family. And it's a girl. Now the score is tied, two boys, two girls. However there are still only 3 humans! We are getting a dog! Feebee to be exact. She is Cheryl's dog (our family dog) and now that Cheryl is gone at school all day and my parents both work, she just sits at home locked up till they get home around 5. She is house trained and knows me and loves and I am sure she will be happy to be somewhere where she can be with someone at almost all times since I am at home pretty much all the time. We are excited, it will be fun to have a pet. Of course she is still officially Cheryl's dog so she can come get her and when she moves back home we can take her back if she wants. But for now our family will be four and it will be fun. Feebee is a Bichon Frise so she has hair so I don't have allergies and she doesn't bother me. Here is what she looks like...

Aerobics!

Well I don't have to work at Target after all! Wahoo! I was honestly really really dreading it. Not that I don't like the store, because I do. But actually working there...I just didn't want to. Plus I was worried with weekends and the Holidays and not being home enough for Owen. So I have been e-mailing the Rec Center asking for more classes and they are going to give them to me! Yes! So I now will have 3 classes a week!
Tuesdays 6:00 Pm Turbokick! (my personal fav!)
Wednesdays 7:00 Pm Step
Saturday 8:00 Am Muscle Tone
I am really excited about this because I really like step and Saturday is going to be more with just weights and stuff. It should be a good time! I will only work 3 hours a week and get 240 dollars a month! I am seriously so excited! The only thing is with a Saturday class, it will be harder to travel or run races and stuff but I figure I can get someone to sub those times or let them know in advance that I won't be there. Anyways I am just really happy about this and really excited! So feel free to come join me any of these times! The more the merrier!

One word Tag

I've been tagged by Celeste
The Rules: Answer the questions using only ONE WORD. Everyone that reads this is tagged so get working people.
1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2. Your significant other? Lee
3. Your hair? dirty
4. Your mother? fit
5. Your father? happy
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? complicated
8 Your favorite drink? OJ
9. Your dream/goal? graduate
10. The room you’re in? kitchen
11. Your hobby? workout
12. Your fear? spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? settled
14. What you’re not? perfect
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? clothes
17. Where you grew up? South Jordan
18. The last thing you did? play
19. What are you wearing? jammies
20. Favorite gadget? computer
21. Your pets? Owen
22. Your computer? important
23.Your mood? bored
24. Missing someone? cheryl
25.Your car? Silver
26. Something you’re not wearing? socks
27. Favorite store? All
28. Like someone? Lee
29. Your favorite color? Yellow
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? unsure

6 months and a half marathon

Owen is 6 months today! I can't believe it! This 6 months has been the best 6 months of my life! I can't believe how big my baby is getting! He is so wonderful and cute and so happy. Everyone that knows Owen or sees him always comment on how happy he is. He is such a joy to me and has brought so much happiness to our little family. I love my baby more than anything in the world. I am so thankful for him and his sweet, loving spirit he has brought to us. I can't imagine my life without him! Here are some wonderful things I love about Owen:

• I love how curious he is about the world. Everyday to him is a new adventure and I can just see his little eyes and brain working to figure things out as he touches and explores everything.
• I love his big WIDE open grin! I can be in the worst mood ever and just seeing him or thinking about him and his smile can lift me up! (Even in the early morning!) :)
• I love his fuzzy little hair. Sometimes when I am driving and I look back at him to check on him I can just see his little fuzzy hair poking out the top of his car seat and it just makes me giggle.
• I love how happy he is. Owen hardly cries or fusses. He is just a happy go lucky wonderful baby! He teaches me that you can be happy any time!
• I love how he sucks on his binky. It is so cute the way it goes in and out of his cute little mouth. I don't know why, but I love the binky mouth.
• I love when he smiles with his binky in his mouth. His eyes just sparkle with happiness and you can see his smile behind his binky!
• I love to tickle his little arms and legs and face. Owen loves to be tickled and will calm right down and straighten his legs and loves to be tickled! He must take after me on that one!
• I love how Owen knows mommy and daddy and is the happiest when both of us are home. When all three of us are together, we are like the 3 musketeers! Owen gets so happy and giggly and just smiles non stop when playing with both of us!
• I love Owens giggle. There is just something about a baby giggle that you can't help but giggle yourself.
• I love how when Owen sees other children or babies, he gets ultra, extra happy and starts wiggling and shaking to get to them. He loves kids and will be a very social person I can tell already! At church it's the cutest because he just stares and smiles at the other kids and giggles.
• I love Owen's little jibber jabber talk. It is so cute! He talks quite a bit too! I think he is telling us stories of how much he loves us!
• I love the way Owen crawls. It is hilarious! It is just like he is convulsing his entire body forward. And now that he is going, he is going all over the floor!

These are just a few of the things I love about Owen! He is such a sweet, wonderful, happy baby boy! Owen has recently in the past few days has started crawling. Well, sort of. His entire body jerks forward and it is hilarious! We just laugh and laugh. I am so thankful that he has joined our family! 6 months of happiness and many more to come!

I myself decided to ring in his half birthday by running a half marathon. 13.1 miles down Hobble Creek Canyon! It was so fun and so beautiful. It was really a great course. I loved it! My goal really was to finish it. It has only been 6 months (4 really if you count recovery) and I haven't trained all that hard. As we were driving up, I swear that bus went a hundred miles up! It was a neverending bus ride and I was thinking that they were tricking us and making us do a full marathon! But halfway through the course you take a trail that shortcuts out of the mountains. Anyways, I think in my mind I thought I would finish it in about 2 and half hours. Maybe a little longer. My last half was like 2:01 and I really want to beat that time, but I knew with what little training I have done and my hurt hip and knee I would be slower. So we take off. The first 6 and a half miles I really ran slow. I was just trying to be careful and conserve energy so I took it carefully. At 6 and a half I stopped for a potty break and waddya know, there is a line of girls! I waited in line literally between 5 and 10 minutes for the stupid bathroom. I should have just gone in the bushes. After that, I felt great! I took off! 6 and a half to 11 miles was fantastic. I was passing people and feeling good. At 11 miles I asked a lady how long we had been running because she had a watch on and she said 1 hour 49 minutes! Yahoo! I was going faster than I thought. Then I got to mile 12. Only 1 more mile to go and my body said, "ok your done" NO! I ended up walking a lot of that last stupid mile and at about a half mile my mom showed up. (She ran it too and did really good. She got in the top 100 women) anyways she ran with me to the end. And that last half mile felt like all 12 miles all over again. I started to feel my pains and I wanted to pass out and I was hungry and where the hell was the finish line! Finally I saw it and man did I sprint! When I crossed the finish line it said 2 hours and 14 minutes and 10 seconds. But, lets count the time it actually took me to get to the starting line and the bathroom break so that means I ran it in under 2 hours and 10 minutes! Better than I had anticipated or hoped for!
I am so proud of myself. And so is Lee (he made me say that). He was at the end with Owen and my Dad. I am happy that I made it and did pretty decent for just having a baby and not training enough. And I actually feel better after this half than I did my last one. Maybe it was the course I liked better or maybe it's that I conserved energy, but surprisingly I don't feel too bad. Of course my body feels like it's been tattered and beaten and I probably won't be able to walk normal for a week and hopefully my hips don't pop my legs out of their sockets, but I feel good. There is nothing like running! It makes you feel so good, especially when you accomplish something difficult and run to the end and cross that finish and get your flower! It just feels good. I am so proud of myself and excited to do another one! Maybe my next I will try to beat my 2:01. I really want to do it under 2!

Target

Well I got a job. Ever since we moved into our house, we are amazed at how quickly our money flies out the window. I guess we are just not used to paying a mortgage and utility bills and all that fun stuff but it has been so amazing to me that on paper, we have plenty of money with Lee's job but then he gets paid and that day we are down to our last 5 bucks! Anyways Lee and I have been trying figure out our money and have considered me getting a job. I decided I may as well fill out applications and see what happens from there. So I half-heartedly filled out applications online. I had NO intentions of actually pursuing any of these jobs or calling them back to see if they were hiring and got my app, etc, etc. I currently do teach aerobics but only once a week and that just doesn't cut it and I really enjoy it so I was planning on trying to just get more classes. I think we would be better if I could add 2 or 3 more classes. Anyways, I filled out an online app at Target and seriously like the next day they called me back for an interview. So I decided that I wasn't going to really try to get the job. I would go to the interview but not really try. So the morning of the interview I think ok well what should I wear? I decided to not really get dressed up to impress. I wore a polo shirt and just some khaki type pants. I seriously looked like I was just going to the park. Anyways in the interview they ask all those dumb, "so tell me a time that you were going to be dishonest but decided to be honest and then your best skill shone through and you decided to aquire a new skill at the same time while juggling three other responsiblities" type of questions and I think on almost all those I kept saying "Um I don't know I can't think of anything". I know I was being bad because we do need the money but I really want to teach just aerobics and have kindof had my heart on that path. I also was really honest in that I have a newborn so I can only work nights and I can't work Tuesdays (that's my aerobics class) and I only want 10 to 15 hours a week, 20 max. Anyways so the end of the interview comes and the lady really was nice and I did like her so I was nice and she says "Ok so that's the end of the interview" I was about to stand up and leave and shake her hand and thank her (I still had manners mind you just not really trying to impress for the job) I know she had interviewed quite a few other people that morning too so I was waiting for her to say that they would get back to me but she threw me through a loop. She says, "Well I am just going to go ahead and offer you the position right now if you would like". What the? Are you serious? Go me! Well if I went through all the trouble of not trying and I still got the job then there seriously had to have been a higher power intervention here. So I took the job. The lady said it was no problem with my schedule that they would only work me nights and weekends and no Tuesdays and if I ever feel like I am getting too many hours to let them know so I can cut back. I mean these people are really going to work with me here. I am still hoping to add more aerobics classes and if I can get 2 more classes then I will quit and just do that, but for now, I feel that this is probably what I should do. Maybe not necessarily what I want to do, but it will be good for us. Especially with Christmas coming up and our ever expanding credit card debt and of course we haven't paid a cent on our couches so this will be good. And I get to be at home with Owen all day and Lee will be here at night with him and hopefully I will only work 2 or 3 times a week. And on top of this I will be getting a discount and of course I do like Target so maybe I can buy Owen some new toys! I am just thankful that I am able to stay at home with Owen. He is my life and my light and my joy! I love him so much I feel I could just burst with so much love. I think I am just going to work there till November to get some extra Christmas money then quit. So there you have it, I am a cashier at the American Fork Target! Get ready for the best, fastest, nicest and funnest cashier this world has ever known!

My First Quilt all by myself!

For my cousin Sarah's wedding present I decided that I wanted to make her a throw quilt. I have made one other with the help of Lee's mom, (really she did all the work) so I decided to really try to do most or all by myself with this one. I spent so much time on it. Making a quilt is no day at the beach. So I cut it all up, used my mom's sewing maching and Lee's mom's sewing machine and had Lee's mom help a little with putting together the back (more on that later) and got it all ready to go get quilted. Me being a perfectionist, didn't think it was the greatest but I still thought it was pretty dang good, especially for it being my first quilt. Lee's mom took it to get quilted by some lady she knows and it looked pretty cute when we got it back. Lee's mom then showed me how to bind it by hand and on Sunday I took my needle and thread and bound that dang quilt for 4 straight hours and finished it!
This is the front finished. Pretty cute huh!? I am pretty proud of myself just cuz I think the colors are really cute and I think it turned out pretty good! I am pretty irritated though about the back. I guess it's kinda my fault because I didn't buy backing so Cindy (Lee's mom) and I came up with an awesome idea of making and center square with leftover fabric from me and having a border with some fabric she had. It was pretty cute too but when I finished binding the quilt, the lady who had quilted it didn't make sure that it was centered on the back and it is pretty crooked. DANG! I was pretty irritated but there is nothing I can do. It might not be noticable that bad but on the left you can see is way thinner and the bottom right corner is really big.
I still though think that it is really really cute and I am really proud of myself. I mad a goal and accomplished it and I also had a lot of fun doing it! I want to do another one now because I had so much fun making this one!