A Night as a Gilmore

This post is for my Gilmore Girls-obsessed sisters, cousins, and roommates. For the rest of you who haven't seen it, shame on you! ;)

Husband took me on a date a couple of weeks ago to the BYU Alumni Traditions ball. It was fancy, flirty, and fun . . . and the best part? I felt like I was at a Gilmore party! It had everything minus Emily's infamous salmon puffs (and alcohol of course). Side note - why have I never had a salmon puff? It's going on the bucket list. There was a majorly awesome live band, delicious hors d'oeuvres, and guests in tuxedos and fancy dresses (we definitely felt under-dressed). There was also some live entertainment (improv comedy) and when the band needed a break, a couple from the ballroom dance team would perform (they were INCREDIBLE). It was fun to have a night out with the man and Jon & Rach.

Some of the delicious hors d'oeuvres. For lots of
years I had no idea that "hors d'oeuvres"was how 
you spelled hors d'oeuvres. Whenever I read it
I pronounced it phonetically in my head, which
was extremely awkward.

Out in the foyer there was live background music
on this piano. This chick was AMAZING.
I could have listened to her play all night. And
she was probably just site reading everything.
Totally jealous of her talent.

Aren't we cute? These Ditto boys with their beards . . .
apparently whenever Jon has a beard he gets stopped
in airport security because they think he is Arab. Ha!

See, we're totally cool!

These 2 were SO GOOD!

The live band. Sometimes they brought in someone to
sing. She was so good!

You should be looking at the face is Jon is making - it's classic!
And no, I'm not pregnant. :)

People mingling.

Aww, cute!!

I told you this was a Gilmore night - there was even a Gazebo to dance in!!

Apparently I had a hard time trusting that Dan wouldn't let me fall.

Even Cosmo dressed up for the occasion.

Dan's parents joined us at the end. Go Cougars!

This has nothing to do with my Gilmore night. This kid's first time trying root beer
and he LOVED it. I thought his eyes would water from the carbonation, but not so.
He just wanted more!

Easter and Stuff

The 3 Owens! Dan's middle name (Owen) comes from his great
Uncle Owen (on the left) which is where our little Owen's name
comes from.

Hooray for the sun!!

We live in the best neighborhood ever! One of the neighbors
throws an Easter egg hunt each year so we don't have to bother
going to the city parks to fight the crowds. And I'm pretty sure you
won't find a city that also offers train rides before the hunt begins.
Owen loved it, he just forgot to tell his face.

My cute boys!

Owen was completely clueless when it came to the hunt. But
he was smart enough to spot this snickers bar. He opened it on
his own in under 2.5 seconds and was chowing down as fast as
his little chompers would go. It was like he knew it would get
taken away at any moment, so he had to hurry and enjoy it as
quickly as he could. Ha!

He might still be a little small for his 3-piece suit,
but we figured Easter was the perfect time to pull it out.
I can't get enough of him in it. He looks like a
little missionary!

Yep, still loves door knobs.

Can you tell he LOVES his cousins? They are the best.

Summer and Owen are going to get along really well. He is at
his happiest when he's outside.

More cousin time! Maybe one day we'll get them to
play a real duet together.

I promise they were having fun.

Watching BYU basketball. Dad is making sure Owen understands
the finer points of how to be a man.

This kid adores his dad and wants to do everything
his daddy does. Including the brushing of the teeth.

This kid is ALL muscle!

Sometimes we meet dad for lunch at Sam's Club. Lunch consists
of eating as many free samples as possible before they run out.
We have no shame.

  

His face here KILLS me! He would have stayed in that cart
all day if I had let him.

Creepy!
And sometimes he plays in his crib for an hour before he
falls asleep. It's quite entertaining!

Exhausted after playing at the library (they have
the coolest play area). He is super social and always
tries to say hi to the other kids. The problem is
he's a little behind in the speaking department, so his
"hi" consists of screaming in their face in a high-
pitched voice. It's hilarious. Somehow he still
manages to win over one or two kids to play with.

The end!!

One Year!

We recently passed 2 milestones: the first big one was of course Owen's birthday (January 11th), and the second was the anniversary of him coming home from the hospital (February 13th). We celebrated his coming home anniversary with a trip to the pool (which he, of course, LOVED.)

We had our own celebration with our little family
before everyone arrived for cake & ice cream

Let's pause for a moment and make sure proper attention is given to that cake. I had a friend teach me how to do fondant frosting, and was super proud of my first real fondant cake. It was fun (and delish) and I definitely want to make more in the future.

Owen loves animals. In case you can't tell, it's a lion, a monkey
and a giraffe. There was supposed to be an elephant as well,
but I ran out of room. Oops!

I finally put together all of Owen's monthly pictures. I took his 1-month and his 1-year on the same blanket, so you can get an idea for how much he's grown. And one secret - his 1-month picture was actually taken a few days after the real 1-month mark because he was STILL IN THE HOSPITAL when he hit one month. (Sigh.)

And because I have more pictures to post, I will!! These are all from a photoshoot we had done a couple of days before his birthday. I can't believe how much he's changed already since these were taken. Speaking of being grown-up, this kid is walking EVERYWHERE these days. Which also means he's falling everywhere. It might be a while before his head is bruise-less. His walk is hilarious (picture a drunken, bow-legged cowboy and you've just about got it!)

Holy handsome boys batman!

Miss that Lydia girl!

Yep, we still love each other.

This guy never holds still. The jeans he was wearing here (my all-
time favorite ones!) now have holes in both knees. Someone
who is creative should tell me how I should re-purpose them
so I don't have to throw them away (weep!)

Diapers Made of Gold

Maybe someday I'll write a post about the holidays (despite Owen's 2-week-long cold, they were awesome) and his birthday (holy smokes, I have a one-year-old!) but for now this post is dedicated to Owen's first airplane ride. Let it be noted that I was EIGHTEEN years old before I stepped foot onto an airplane. And Owen was 12 months. Is he spoiled, or what?! ;)

We took advantage of a crazy good black Friday deal to visit my sister and her family in Seattle. We didn't want Dan to miss too much work, so I left a day early, figuring I could definitely handle my easy-going baby by myself for the less-than-2-hour flight.

Everything was going great until we made it through security and I realized I had forgotten to restock the diaper bag with diapers (yes, I see the irony here). All the diapers I brought were in the luggage that was checked-in before going through security, which was now probably enjoying its ride in the city of conveyor belts on its way to our plane.

For a boy who poops no less than 4 times a day, this is a BIG deal. No worries - I figured one of those airport shops MUST sell a diaper or 2. It took a few minutes, but I found them. As someone who prides herself in shopping deals and never spending more than 11 cents per diaper, I threw up a little in my mouth when I saw the price. $5.49 for a package of TWO diapers. We lovingly refer to them as the Diapers Made of Gold.

We survived the diaper near-tragedy and boarded the plane. All was going well . . . for about 15 minutes. It was Owen's nap time and there was NO way he was going to fall asleep in my arms with so many new things to look at. Owen was THAT baby who fussed and whined 95% of the trip. Bless the nice people who sat next to us who didn't complain.

This was taken during the 15 minutes of bliss (before taking off)

When I put him in his stroller after we landed it took him about 22 seconds to fall asleep. Poor guy.

But it was all totally worth it! The Balls sure do know how to host. Their house is awesome, Mel and Randy are the best, and Owen was obsessed with his 4 rowdy cousins who entertained him 24-7.

Swings! It's too cold in Utah to swing. Owen was in heaven (and please note that he is WEARING SHOES!!)

Our little star wars Padowan.

Hot tubbing in the famous Seattle rain.

Hello, giant man-sized burger.

Walking in the rain (yes, we did a lot of things in the rain . . . it's Seattle.)

Owen couldn't get enough of his cousins!

All the boys (minus Landon) watching America Ninja Warrior.
There was too much man-ness in the room for the likes of me.

This is definitely NOT my husband.

At Snoqualmie water falls. In the rain. :)

The sun came out and it was awesome!

Funnies

For the last week my "perfect sleeper" has not been quite so perfect. I blame it on the teeth growing inside his mouth. He's a champ when it comes to getting shots, or when he climbs up on something and inevitably falls and hits his head (this happens multiple times a day - he's a climber). But when it comes to growing teeth, my baby is, well, a baby. (I don't blame him - it looks painful to me!) So here I am at 4:31 in the morning. Awake, but not wanting to be productive, so I figured I could blog! (Apparently blogging falls low on the productive scale in my head.)

We've had a couple blog-worthy parenting moments in the last while. The first happened last Saturday while were hurrying to eat dinner so we could rush out to watch the BYU football game. (In this house, nothing gets in the way of BYU football.) I was finishing up my last couple of bites while Dan was cleaning Owen's face, only to realize he was stinky. In the, "Owen just pooped" kind of stinky. So he rushed in the bedroom to change him. Never has a father attempted such a quick diaper change, as the one about to miss a kickoff for a BYU football game!  Soon I hear Dan saying something like, "It's everywhere!" Which I discovered meant that Owen had a blowout. Nasty. Being the nice wife that I am, I thought I should go oversee to make sure all was right with the world. Dan was right, it WAS everywhere. In Dan's defense, he was the one to suggest that Owen needed a bath, but knowing that a bath would make us even later, I thought I would be a nice wife and declared we would just use the wipes and call it good. So husband held Owen up by one ankle while I wiped him down (Owen thought it was awesome and was giggling the whole time). I can't remember how many wipes it took - maybe 12 sounds right? I grabbed the nasty clothes to get them soaking while Dan put on a clean diaper and pj's. I came back into the room to find Dan hurriedly lathering Owen in pink baby lotion because, "He stinks!" Apparently baby lotion makes a good cologne to cover up nasty smells. We are awesome. The irony of the whole thing is that Dan's brother was recording the game so we had plenty of time to give Owen a bath. And no, we will not be winning any parenting awards anytime soon. :)

Story number 2  - a couple of Sunday's ago during church Relief Society, I was doing my best to keep my tired boy happy (it was the dreaded daylight savings change and he woke up at 5:30 that morning!) I was pulling out a bottle and took off the spill-proof lid so I could get the nipple in place. While neither lid was on the bottle Owen decided to take a dive off my lap. Head first. Which meant that in order to save Owen, my hands moved in such a way that the entire contents of the bottle were thrown across the back row of women!! (That will teach them to sit on the back row!) ;) We all had a good laugh - except for Owen who just wanted his milk!

He's getting too big too fast! Not walking yet, but we're close!