The Owens Family

4th of July 2009

2009-07-07T14:57:00.009-04:00

Wow, what a short weekend but it was a great weekend! I always love the 4th of July and everything that comes with it. Food, family, fun, food... (did I mention that already!?!).

Jared's bar review class ended on Thursday but he spent the day studying because he knew that the rest of the weekend he wouldn't do any. He needed a break before the REAL studying begins. So then early on Friday morning we left to go to Heber. My parent's went on a mini-mission to New York to help with the Hill Camorah Pageant. They took a week to drive out there to do a little sight seeing and also a week on the way back. So they will be gone a month. It was sad that we didn't get to see them but are glad they are having a great time. I'm sure my Mom will post about it when she gets back.

On Saturday, I started my day at 5am when we got the annual anvil wake up call (I used to hate it but these days I am usually awake by then and actually look forward to it). My sister-in-law Jessica talked me into coming with her to the 1st Annual Carissa Run. We ran...I mean WALKED the 2 mile race. I wasn't going to take Gavin but he was awake and wasn't about to let me go without him. So he came along.

I have never been up this early on the 4th of July so don't mock my lovely morning face. My mom and dad would have been proud, but they weren't even there to see it:(

Getting ready to run...gosh there's that word again...

Afterwards I went to the Flag Raising Ceremony. Again, I don't think I have ever been up early enough to go to that with my parents. They would have been proud!

Now here is Gavin and his cute patriotic tattoo along with his breakfast...

The Owens family decided to have a float in the parade. It was inspired by Glenn Beck. If you want to know more info go to http://www.the912project.com/

Grammie and Gavin getting ready to start the parade. Gavin had a good time waving to all the people.
Kylie and Tyler on the float. They looked so cute in their Uncle Sam hat and Prisoner costume.Autumn and I licking our chops. Autumn came back with us to Las Vegas to get out of the house and to help me out for the week. Gavin loves her! We are glad that we get to spend some time with her. Jessica threatening to kill Jared if he doesn't hurry up. There was SO much good food. It was all SO yummy!
I LOVE this picture. He is so sweet.

10 minutes before the fireworks he fell asleep. He didn't even flinch when they began. Finally 1/2 way through it he woke up and watched them. We both had a really LONG but good day.
I hope everyone had a safe and fun weekend!

AMERICA ROCKS!!!!!

Sanctuary in the Mountains of Las Vegas

2009-06-29T13:11:00.009-04:00

This past weekend I found out how close home(Heber's mountain air) really can be...

Mount Charleston is about 45 minutes away from where we live. We went from 95 degree weather to 65-70 degree weather! The elevation was 8500 feet and there was a Ski Lodge close by. It looked exactly like home! We know where we are going on the weekends....

Getting out of the Desert...And into the mountains!I haven't seen Jared this excited in a REALLY long time! He was like a kid in a candy shop. We set up camp and caught some MUCH NEEDED rays! It was a little chilly sitting in the shade.This kid is freakin' hilarious! Here he is doin' his thang...

Because Gavin was so distractingly cute, Jared finally had to leave so he could study.Living in a big city I am afraid that Gavin will turn into a sissy. This proved me wrong...

Eating the dirt...And loving it!

We are so glad that we went on this little afternoon excursion. Jared needed some new scenery to be able to study. He is getting burned out from the non-stop studying and worrying. The Bar exam comes up in a month so this is not the time to get burned out. When we were on our way up, he said to me "You know, I haven't thought about the Bar Exam for 20 minutes, it's a miracle!".

This won't be the last time we go to Mt. Charleston.

Trip to UTAH....A Happy Ending!

2009-06-29T11:51:00.013-04:00

So Last week I went to my lovely sister Kristal's place up in Salt Lake. I stopped by at my brothers house in St. George and visited with my Sister-in-law Shannon before making the trek up to SL. I got up to Salt lake and when I got there, I let Gavin play with my keys while I fixed him some dinner. To make a long story short we couldn't find the keys. We spent the next morning and some of the afternoon looking for them. This totally put a cramp in our plans because Gavin's car seat,toys,crib and my camera were in there. So without a car seat we couldn't go anywhere! After hours of searching we were sure that one of her girls had put it in the trash (not the first time something of importance made it in the trash). So Kristal went outside to get the trash that Jason had taken out and the Trash Man was literally in the process of picking up the trash! What LUCK!
Finally I made the dreaded call to Jared (I called him two weeks ago about a speeding ticket I got on my way to take my niece Summer to HER court...for her speeding ticket...LAME I know!). So he made arrangements with his parents to overnight them from Heber. Which in Heber takes 2 days not 1. So I got the keys on Friday and was good to go just in time to come home on Saturday. In the meantime though we borrowed her friends car seat and I was able to visit my good friends from Louisiana about 30 minutes away from where Kristal lives (some of the reason I went up there). I miss them SO much and was glad to be able to see them.

So we ended up going to a park that has a petting zoo in it. It was free admission so it was perfect to take the kids.

Eating lunch...

Regan was fearless. I thought Sophie was the fearless one but she was a little more hesitant. Then again, Regan loves to hold bugs in her hands...that's even scary for me.They were so much fun and so cute! I love hearing what they have to say:)In a cute little tree house.

I really needed "professional" pictures taken of Gavin (he is almost 10 months! 31 inches and 25.5 lbs) and so she got her awesome camera and Gavin and I had a little photo shoot. A perfect time when you have no car keys...

They turned out AWESOME! If you ever need pictures taken by her she doesn't charge too much.

Some funny faces...
For some reason I find this one humerous...
If this picture doesn't make you want to have a better day then I don't know what will! Cute little teeth huh!?! While we were there he got sick because he broke another tooth on top.
We also went shopping before I came home. I wanted to do some home improvement things but not spend a lot of money. So we went to D.I. and found some treasures!

I found a house tree that is about 5-6 feet tall and I got it for $5. Worth like $80. I also found a vase and with a little paint.... Voila! A new vase! Kristal helped me pick out the stuff in it and told me what I should do to paint it. I also bought some $1 picture frames and painted them.

Jared calls this next picture my shrine to Gavin... but I told him once we get family pictures it will be the Owens Family Shrine. I can't help that I love my family!

I also found a $12 book shelf. It BARELY all fit into my car because I also had a big piece of luggage, bag of toys, pack-and-play, car seat, D.I. goodies (including the 5-6 foot tree), small ice cooler, food etc that I had to fit in my car. Despite Kristal's SERIOUS doubt, I got it all to fit!

Like I have always said, I am NOT the crafty type but I am pretty darn proud of myself for doing these little projects. Kristal wanted me to do a couple of other little projects but I told her that I was already overwhelmed and that I would save another project next time I went to visit. (not that spray painting a few things is really overwhelming...haha).

Can't wait for the next project Kristal. Thanks for the yummy food, fun and hospitality!

Happy 1st Fathers Day!

2009-06-21T23:02:00.005-04:00

Dear Daddy,

I want to thank you for being the best daddy I have ever had. I love it when you come home from school and play with me. I love it when you hold me up and call me Superman. It really makes me smile! I love it when you put me on your shoulders and make me laugh! I also like it when you change my diaper and not Mom.
I want to be like you someday!

Love,
Gavin

PS. Mom says she thinks your a great dad and loves you very much!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey Papa Rog and Papa Greer,

We wanted to say that we are so glad that we have the best two dads in the world! We are thankful for your hard work, good examples and support over the years. Thank you for honoring your priesthood and showing us what a father should be. We wouldn't be who we are today without you.

We love you!

Love,

Jared, Kandra and Gavin

Exercise Routine

2009-06-10T17:27:00.005-04:00

Ok so it's not my exercise routine(I will be starting back on one though in the next few days) but I am starting Gavin early...

Game face is on... Ready........Begin....
Check out my muscles...

Quit showing off......35...36...37...

OK So I really don't have him do push ups but that WAS his version of trying to get someplace. We don't use the word crawl around here...:# .......;) It's everything BUT crawling.

Up until now he just rolls all over the place and he will scoot on his back. He is finally starting to realize that there are more conventional ways of doing things. So today was the first day he started moving his feet in the direction he wanted to go (in the push-up position) and below is a video of his progress.

I think it is HILARIOUS.

I had to throw in this picture. It was when my Dad had to watch Gavin while me and my Mom went to the Dr for the kidney infection/stones. He never falls asleep like this on me. Sweet huh!He has the right touch.

Congrats to the Owens Grads!

2009-06-09T13:37:00.010-04:00

This is a little late but I rounded up the pictures from Jared's and Brooke and Blake's Graduations. It was a very proud month in the Owens' family.

I already wrote about Jared's graduation so if you want to see the info, look below. Here is where he is officially being hooded.

It was this exciting for Gavin... :)

Jared's Mom, Dad and Grandad(not pictured) came to support the graduate.My Dad, Kristal and Jason came to support the graduate.

IM SO PROUD OF YOU HUNNY!!

Right now Jared is studying 10-12 hrs a day for the bar exam. sigh. It really stinks but I try to be as accommodating to him as I can and I try not to complain. I know that Jared can't wait until he is done and either can we!

We went to church this past Sunday for the first time and we will really like it. It is a pretty big ward with a variety of people. There are a lot of youth and primary age kids. Some young and some old. I received a summer activities calendar and it seems like they have a lot going on to keep moms and kids busy, like swimming, free movie night and going to the park. We were invited to go to the park on Sunday evening for all the people that don't have family close by. We brought a blanket, got to know some families in the ward and ate yummy treats. They do this every Sunday so it should be pretty fun.

The weather has been AWESOME so it is great not to be stuck inside all the time. I know that we better enjoy it while it lasts!

Brooke and Blake had their graduation. Blake was the Salutatorian so he had to speak. Brooke sang in the choir and sounded so pretty. They are so excited to be graduating and moving on with their lives. Blake is of course going on his mission to Brazil in September. He received a $40,000 scholarship to go to ASU which they will hold for him. He wants to be a dentist or a medical Dr (I think). Brooke received a couple of local scholarships and a border waiver to go to Dixie in St. George (or whatever the name of the school is this week :)). She wants to go into Elementary Education. We are excited for her to be close enough to visit...and babysit!

I know that Laurie and Roger are going to have a hard time with being empty nesters but hopefully they won't go through too many withdrawals:( Their babies are all grown up!CONGRATS BROOKE AND BLAKE!

"Bless Your Little Heart"

2009-06-03T11:57:00.003-04:00

Sorry, usually I post more than this but life gets in the way I guess. So here is the post move update...

I got to my parents house and just relaxed for a couple of days to recover from the move. While I was there I had a couple of things to do. I needed to go through the things from my old room or else my dad would throw everything out...:) Also, I bought some receiving blankets and I wanted my mom to teach me how to crochet around them. I did start on both of these projects when out of no where I woke up with a major side/back ache. It felt at first that I had slept on my back wrong but it turns out that wasn't the case. After an hour of taking Tylenol and laying on a heating pad it went away. It didn't come back for a few days. Then it happened again the same exact way on Tuesday and went away, so I decided that I was well enough to go with my parents to Show Low for some errands. On the way there it came back again mildly with some nausea. We went to lunch and it got a little worse. I went to my sister Wendy's house to lay down. Throughout the afternoon it started to really hurt. My mom seem to think it was a kidney stone or infection. My mom read on the Internet (because she has a kidney stone that doesn't hurt) to mix olive oil and lemon juice together and drink it to dissolve the kidney stone. I couldn't drink half of it because it was DISGUSTING!! Right after that my side hurt SOOO Bad!! It felt just as bad as giving birth!! We didn't know what to do because we are in between insurances and didn't want to rack up a huge bill. My mom said she had some strong medication at home so we decided to just drive the hour drive home. (If any of you don't know where I'm from, it is in a small town about 1 hour away from the nearest hospital). Before we got out of Show Low I told my mom to "PULL OVER!!". The closest place to pull over was in a medical clinic's parking lot. Before she could get to the back to stop I opened my door and I threw up Pizza Hut about 20 yards directly in front of the door to the Dr's office!! I felt bad because someone is going to see the nice surprise I left them when they walk out the door. After that the pain was so so bad! I cried most of the way home. I got there and I took the medication. It took 1.5 hours to work! I was in so much pain! For the next few days my mom and dad had to take care of Gavin because I was throwing up and in pain. My mom finally took me to the Dr. on Friday where they prescribed me an antibiotic for Kidney infection. After just 2 doses I felt SOOOO much better, like a NEW woman. I lost 7-8 lbs and was pretty weak but better, just in time to travel back to Las Vegas on Sunday.
I am sad that all that time was lost but I was SO glad I was with my mom and dad when this all happened so they could help take care of me and Gavin.
Growing up whenever I was pretty sick my mom would always say "Bless your little heart". Of course I didn't like being so sick that it warranted her to say those word but when I was, I knew that she was in a small way, feeling my pain. It would always give me comfort. This little incident would certainly qualify for those words to be spoken...numerous times, and I'm glad she was there to utter them.

Now that we are here, my house is looking more like a home. We have some livable space now. I am so glad we have more space to store our things and to move about. It has energized me to be more of a wife (says Jared;) by cooking some great food! So anyway, I am looking forward to going to our ward and meeting some new people. We have started over like this many times so it shouldn't be a problem. Although it did make me sick thinking about having to learn my way around in a new city. It usually takes me a couple of years just to figure out how to get to the freeway:)

So if you are ever in town... let us know because we have a bed with your name on it!!

A Tale of EPIC Proportions! "The Big Move"

2009-05-21T18:39:00.017-04:00

I meant to post before the big move but things got crazy and it was the last thing on my mind.(not that I don't think it's important:) So now that I have a few minutes I will "briefly" catch you up.

I worked for about a month packing our things and trying to do everything I could so that there wouldn't be as much work to do last minute. During this time I had a piano recital for my three piano students. We performed at a nursing home because only having three students would make for an awkward recital, plus it was a charitable thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. They were such great students and I am going to miss teaching them and seeing their progress. Their mom asked if I knew anyone who was young and fun like ?ME? to teach their kids because apparently they liked me.(I was shocked!) Who would have thought?!! They said I made them feel guilty if they didn't practice (in a good way I was assured). So before I left they gave me a picture of us in a picture frame and a nice card. It made me feel good.

I also planned a baby shower for my cousin Lonica. With the help of her friends it turned out FABULOUS!I thought so anyway...:) We had a great table of food, many guests(about 25),cute decorations, and some fun little activities, NOT games. I made cupcakes and then put 4 little babies into 4 of them and whoever "had the baby" would get a prize. Also had a glass jar with some hershey kisses in them and whoever came the closest with guessing the total in the jar, got it. I'm not usually the greatest at being the main person at planning things but I think that this proved to me that I could do it AND make it a success.

Here is Lonica and all of the people who helped me plan it.

I of course had to say goodbye to all of my friends from work. I will really miss all of them and plan to keep in touch. Oh and I went to the zoo with my new friend Britta and her son Mel... who came along too late:( The tiger got a little too close for comfort...

Jared finished his last final and so far his grades have been great--an A average. This is quite extraordinary considering this semester he was extremely burned out and it was difficult to get motivated. I DON'T blame him one bit! On my end it was nice for Gavin and me because he would rather spend time with us then study:) I asked him after his last final if he felt better and he said "no". It is the little rainy cloud called "The Bar Exam" that is making him uneasy. I asked him after the graduation the same question and I got the same reply. It is a little difficult to get excited when a freight train is about to run you over (figuratively speaking of course). So I will ask the same question in October when he has his results back.

So all of the family came (except my poor mom who was down with a pinched nerve that made her go to the emergency room)including Dad, Jason, Kristal, Jared's mom, dad and grandad. We went to Jared's graduation and then went home and put our working clothes on. With their help we were able to load a 24 ft truck. We also got some help from some friends in our ward. Then on Saturday we headed out on what eventually came to be a 45 hour trip. AHHHH I am so glad it is OVER! SO IS GAVIN! I think sitting in that car seat for that long scarred him for life.

The working crew.Come on Dad! Were not even half way done! I think we wore him out....
We all took turns playing with Gavin. Oh and you can see the flowers that Jared gave me for Mom's Day. Thanks hun.
Jared's parents and grandad left us after the first day of traveling to go a little sight seeing. When we got to Denver, Jared flew out to make it back in time for his bar review course. This is also the place where I left my phone on the car, drove off, it fell on in the street, a lady picked it up, called Jared, and then sent it to me here in Heber. THANK YOU GOOD SAMARITAN! Anyway so when we got into Utah, Kristal and Jason had to rescue his parents from watching their little girls and to also get back for his work. Now, it is only me, Gavin and my dad to make it to Las Vegas. We drove 2 hours to St. George where we stayed at Lance's house. To make a long story short, I got lost with no cell phone and a SCREAMING baby because we had been in the car for 14 hrs. They found me at a gas station getting ready to call my dad. SOO, the next day THANK GOODNESS Lance took off a day of work to help me and my dad unload the 24 ft. truck. Jared was in class and couldn't help. Lance, Dad and I worked like mad people and got it unloaded. Then the next day, my dad, Summer (my niece who lives in LV), Gavin and I headed to Heber. Thus totaling 45 hrs in the car!!

This is one of his calm moments...

I came down here to go to my niece Autumn's graduation (CONGRATS!) and then next week Brooke and Blake are graduating. Jared came this weekend and will go back tomorrow for his class. Then will be back next week for B&B's graduation.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Other than losing my phone temporarily and getting lost, everything went without a hitch.

The only other thing that I want to say is that Gavin is 8.5 months, roughly 25 lbs, about 30 inches and is pretty darn funny. And where did my little mellow boy go? He does NOT like to sit still. But he does like to cuddle with me (a momma's boy). He is a flirt, multi-tasker (because he will hold a book or toy with his feet and then play with it with his hands), a non-crawler but rather a back-scooter slash roller and a very adaptable sleeper because he slept in a different bed for a week. And for all you moms, you know how hard that is on a baby!

Here he is multi-tasking...

He will hold the book with his feet and turn the pages with his hands.He likes being naked. He will really like it when we get to LV.

OK I know this last picture is how you feel after this post.....sorry, it was for posterity:)

Sorry I haven't left comments on all of your posts but hopefully after this post you understand!

Kandra Wins Mother of the Year Award!!!

2009-05-08T13:48:00.002-04:00

Check out the news story about Kandra HERE!

Blake's Mission Call

2009-05-02T21:51:00.008-04:00

We wanted to make a post about Jared's little brother Blake because he just got his mission call to serve in the Brazil Manaus Mission. It is in the northwest part of the country. He will speak Portuguese and will be leaving to go to the mission home in Brazil on September 16th. From what we hear he is super excited. As soon as we heard (12:45 am) where he was going Jared OF COURSE had to immediately research it until 2:30, and by all of his research it sounds like it should be a pretty neat mission. The State of Amazonas where Manaus is the capital is almost entirely covered by the Amazon Rainforest; in fact some estimate the state to be 98% covered (over 1.5 million square KMs). So just to let you know Blake, Brazil has Jared's approval:)

We are so excited for him and can't wait until he writes home with all the tales of mission life.

Here is a picture of Blake just before him and Tallie went to prom together last week. Don't you just love her dress! What a great couple.

Here is Brooke and J.T. Brooke looks just like a princess!
Here are the twins together. I can't believe they are graduating high school in a few weeks! I remember when they were 8 years old and loved to tag along with Jared and I... (wiping away a tear...sniff sniff).

Congratulations Blake!!

This and That

2009-04-23T20:16:00.004-04:00

This past weekend was my friend's 50th birthday. Some of my friends from work got together and had a little party. It was a lot of fun with some AMAZING food. He is a gourmet chef and totally inspires me to try to cook something other than chicken and rice or PB & J's :) Actually tonight we had marinated chicken and shrimp cabobs....not bad if I say so myself!

This is Ann, Amanda and me. Love these girls! And no, none of those drinks are mine.John and his wife Mary Beth

For Jared's birthday we went to a Columbus Clippers game (Triple A team) in their new stadium. It is Gavin's first baseball game and any sports game for me and Jared since he was born. Jared and I decided that Gavin is getting to be a little too crabby to take out anymore. He was pretty much Bi-polar the whole night.

Mad....

Happy....And then bored.... (oh I got my hair cut and I hate it. That's why I always have it pulled up)We actually didn't stay the whole game because Gavin was needing his ZZZZ's. We had kept him up until 11:30pm the night before because we were at John's party.

Now he was just happy to be alive in this photo. See I told you he is Bi-polar. Did I say Bi-polar, I meant quadruple-polar.....:)
He is almost 8 months old and just got his first tooth this past week. He is getting more and more coordinated. He can feed himself sometimes, roll over like a machine and make us smile.

Now starts the crazy sleeping positions. He puts his head to the edge of the crip to watch and wait to see when I will come to get him...oh and to look at the computer lights. Crazy kid.

Jared just finished his last day of school and will be taking his finals next week and then the following week. He only has two finals so not too bad. This is a picture I took of him walking in the door from his last day of school. I caught him a bit off guard...

Today I packed a few more packages and organized some closets. Only a few more weeks...

HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY JARED

2009-04-23T08:18:00.008-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Hope you have a great day!!

Love, Kandra and Gavin

EASTER- The Hunt For a House

2009-04-19T17:42:00.007-04:00

Instead of Easter Egg hunting, we went house hunting (to rent, not to buy). After driving the Las Vegas Valley a hundred times back and forth, looking at many many houses, we finally decided on a house in Summerlin (shown below). Having grass for a soon to be walker was high on our list but that that was muted by location, price, and uh location. It does have some pretty desert landscaping so I guess it will have to do. Gavin will just have to learn how to pick our little rocks out of his knees and hands when he falls. We did get a house with mostly carpet(a lot of houses have all tile...yuck!) so that should help with the tumbles and falls inside at least. The picture isn't that great because for some reason my cell phone makes the pictures tint blue, but you get the gist.

My Mom and Dad came to help us and to mostly help with Gavin. To make a long story short, this isn't the inside of the house that we chose, but it is the same exact floor plan except flipped. There are some things we don't like about it but you can't win them all, right? The tenants hadn't moved quite everything out of the house that we chose...hopefully they leave the 1960's flowery lamp (like your grandma would have...no offense) and the leopard print bathroom set. It seems to me like there was a cougar living there before...;)This is the small but adequate back yard.
After a few days of house hunting we went to my brothers house in St. George where I did hide about 75 eggs for all the little ones. Kristal, Jason and their girls were able to come down from Salt Lake to enjoy the Easter weekend with us.

Here is Gavin and Jared trying to find the eggs...

He found one and was content.

This is a great picture of my sister and her hubby. Aren't they lovely:)

Just kidding they really are lovely:)

This is the beginning of Easter dinner. Shannon made a lovely dinner. ...There's that word again.

All of the little girls couldn't get enough of Gavin. They would kiss him and kiss him until Gavin would scream out in frustration. So cute though. The one that is touching him is Sophie. She stood there and kissed and kissed him for like 10 minutes. That is the most time she has spent in one place that I had seen:) You can see that Gavin is about a half of a head behind her in height. She is 2 and he is 7.5 months. They will be good friends though.

In less than a month, we will be in Las Vegas. We will close this overrated chapter of our life called "getting your education" and we will miss Ohio but we are looking foward to starting the next chapter of our life.

"USA...USA...USA"

2009-04-15T22:12:00.008-04:00

That is the chant that was heard over and over at the rally. There were about 4 thousand people here in Columbus (not bad considering the rain) and probably a million people across the country attending other rallies in their city. Hopefully this isn't a one time thing because if the politicians don't listen, our country is headed to financial ruin, which will equal Americas ruin. As you can see I am pretty passionate about it and have been into politics for quite sometime. In fact, Jared got me started and now I am much more passionate about it than him; he didn't want to go but I begged him to. What's one more day of not studying??hehehe Anyway, the least I could do was to go to a rally and show my support.

So we went and listened to some of the rally speakers. One of them was former U.S. Congressman John Kasich who used to have his own show on the Fox News Channel and, if you ever watch Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Factor, he will fill in for him periodically. He is a fellow Ohioan and is pretty popular here. Jared and I enjoy watching him. So anyway, after he got done speaking, I decided to watch some of the wacky protesters protesting the protesters (if that makes sense) and left Jared and Gavin behind for a minute. I was walking and the next thing I knew, John K was talking to someone and then started to walk toward me. I went toward him and caught him by the arm and told him that I was a fan of him and enjoyed watching him fill in on Bill O'Reilly's show. He said "Well thank you! Do you want to have a picture taken?" I said "Yeah!!". But Jared wasn't around, so I gave my cell phone to a stranger and said "here, could you take a picture?" Long story short, they couldn't figure it out even after I told them what to do, so John K asked another stranger to take a picture with their camera and to send it to me through an e-mail. So they did and I got the e-mail shortly after we got back. John was really nice to take a long time to finally get a picture with me. It was so COOL! I just wish that Jared could have been there because he likes him just as much as I do. Oh well.

Go John! Run for Governor!!!

Now, here is a video of some crazy lady. It's hard to see her, but you can sure hear her. She talks about the anti-christ, mark of the beast, and how the government has planted a microchip in us. Quite funny if you ask me.

April 15th Tea Party

2009-04-14T19:19:00.004-04:00

I am a HUGE fan of Glenn Beck on the Fox News Channel. I am seriously worried about where our country is headed. Seriously. It is going to change the lives of not only our generation, but also the generation of our kids and their kids (if the world doesn't end first...haha). If you have no idea what I'm talking about....GET A CLUE!! Anyway, watch Glenn Beck and then you will know what is going on.

Ok enough of my soap box. So if you have heard, tomorrow is not only tax day but it is Tea Party Day. It is a way to get everyone in the country involved and to have a voice in what is going to go on in the country. If you want to learn more, go to THIS website. These "Tea Parties" are going on all across the country in numerous cities in each state.

Gavin and I (maybe Jared if he wants to put off studying just ONE more day:) are going to the one here in Columbus and I am going to make a sign. Here is where I need help. I don't know what to put on the sign. I was thinking..."QUIT SPENDING MY SON'S MONEY!" or something to that effect. I really want it to be creative so if you have a witty suggestions, please let me know. I only have 24 hours until the protest/Tea Party begins!!

Also PLEASE GET INVOLVED!

Basketball

2009-04-05T22:16:00.004-04:00

Jared wanted me to post about him kicking my butt in basketball. He beat me 25 to 8 in a game and then I had HORSE and he had ... nothing but I'll say he had an H. However, I am more flexible and my lungs didn't burn after the short jog to our apartment. Gavin looked as if he wanted to jump in and play. I can't wait to teach him.

Nashville

2009-04-03T15:04:00.010-04:00

Jared's spring break was last week and we were deciding what to do. We didn't want to spend a lot of money but we knew we wanted to get out. So we decided to go to Nashville, home of country music. However, the three biggest reasons why we decided to go there was because it was only 5.5 hours away, crawfish, and Mel McDaniel. I have been craving crawfish for SOO long and there was the same restaurant that we grew to LOVE in Louisiana; there are only four in the United States--two being in Lake Charles, LA and two in Tennesee. We also saw that one of my most favorite childhood singers (Mel McDaniel) was going to be at the Grand Ole Opry.

We left on a Friday and came home on Sunday. We packed a lunch and enough breakfast food for Saturday and Sunday because we stayed in a studio motel. We wanted to save our money for the good Cajun food.

When we went to this restaurant Jared said that he recognized one on the managers working there from the restaurant in Louisiana. We ended up talking to him and sure enough, Jared was right, he did recognize him. We told him we came all the way from Ohio to eat there. He was so nice and before we left he gave us some YUMMY YUMMY jambalaya for the road. He said it was the same jambalaya that he cooked up for Vice President Dick Cheney. Dang it was good!

I LOVE CRAWFISH!! I am sucking the flavorful juices out of the head of the crawfish. I got Jared to do it FINALLY after 4 years. He really like it too. I can't wait to teach Gavin how to eat them!

We had pretty good seats. It was perfect because we were on the isle seat in case Gavin became naughty. Gavin was dubbed "the little flirt" by the people behind us because Gavin would just smile like crazy at them and would break his neck to look at them . They got a kick out of him.I didn't realize that Rodney Atkins was going to be there. He was great. Good ol' Mel. He is getting a little old but still a great performance.This is Little Jimmy Dickens at the age of 88. He is only 4 foot 11 inches but one heck of a performer. He told the funniest jokes. For instance...He went to the Dr. for a stiff neck and wanted to know why. The Dr. asked,well are you taking Viagra? He said yeah. The Dr. said, well you must not have swallowed the Viagra pill fast enough....hahaI can't remember who this is but he has had some very popular songs out lately.This is the country music hall of fame. We also drove by "Music Row". Music Row is where all the big artists go to record there music. It is just the street where all of the recording studios are like Sony, RCA, Columbia, and others.

On Saturday we didn't want to spend money so we decided to go to a HUGE park. Of course we took Gavin to swing and then we just walked around. There was a part of the park that was SO beautiful because they had planted a bunch of tulips. Couldn't help but have a photo shoot there.

Gavin would smile at everyone we would pass. They thought he was so funny and cute. He really had a good time.

He didn't mind the grass. He was intrigued by it.

Jared had read on the internet that there was this Cajun restaurant that was a must go. It had rave reviews so we decided to go. It was a gorgeous drive but it was in the middle of NOWHERE. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there.
Some turkey bird.

So here is the restaurant that everyone was raving about..... It was so weird because this is in a small "community" with probably about 200 people who live there. This is the only restaurant that we saw other than a Shell station on the corner about 5 miles back.

It was TINY inside. I guess when they get a lot of people they have people open their tailgates and serve outside. We were in the very corner of the place and look how close we were to everyone. Here is a picture of the "live band". He is a single man playing the guitar and he has a harmonica hooked up to him. He was pretty good though. The food was really good (A LOT better then we thought) and we were glad we went.

All in all we had a really good time.

Swimming/Future Missionary

2009-03-30T22:13:00.006-04:00

These past couple of weeks have been pretty busy so I will get started.

I took Gavin last week to the local recreation center to go swimming as a warm-up to all the swimming we are going to do this summer:) He likes his baths so I knew he would like swimming. At first he just looked around and didn't show any emotion.

This was how he was for about 10 minutes until I started to play "motor boat, motor boat". After that he was smiling and just taking everything in. This rec center was soo cool. It had a huge slide and a froggie slide for the little ones. When Jared comes next time we will take him down it. It was hard to get a picture of us both in the pool but I managed to set the timer on our camera to take one (it only took like 15 minutes:() He looks mad but I promise you he was just being "patient" while I took the picture. I couldn't get any of us playing for obvious reasons.
We spent like an hour and forty-five minutes in the pool. Finally Gavin was getting hungry as you can see he was trying to eat anything he could get his hands on.

Speaking of food. He is eating like a big boy. To heck with the baby food, he wants meat and potatoes! Ok, maybe not meat but he is eating quite a bit. He eats rice puff things,grapes,bananas,strawberries,nutri-grain bars,crackers, and any adult food that I can mash. He is not really into the whole vegetable thing but we work on it. Today was the first day that he had and adult bowel movement! Oh my HECK, he went 5 different times because it was too hard for him to push out in one sitting. 2 of the times is when I was changing him. I had to catch it while it came out:( I try to keep the fruit in him to avoid this back up but it didn't work today. We will have to work on that:)

So here is our little missionary. He was so handsome for church last week. Here is his "spiritual" side...:)

And his charming side.
Lol, I just have to laugh because he is so funny. He is sure getting a little personality. I swear he is bipolar because he will be all happy one minute and the next minute he will get kinda whiny, mostly because he is tired or hungry. He also is starting to want more attention and is all smiles when he gets it:) Sometimes he even mixes the two and starts to laugh as he is crying. Really what I think it is, is the fact that he is really aware of his surroundings(seriously) and he sees that mom and dad are talking or eating and he doesn't want to bother us but he knows that either crying or laughing will get our attention, so he does it subtly). Sometimes he will do both....and it works. He also loves to get dad's attention so that he can sit on his lap and play with the laptop. For some reason he is OBSESSED. If his back is facing the laptop, he will lean backwards, almost falling out of my arms so he can look at it. Like father like son I guess;) He can roll from his tummy to his back easily but he CHOOSES NOT to roll from his back to his tummy. He HATES tummy time. I kind of don't mind because it means that I don't have to worry quite yet that he is getting into things. It might be bad because he may not crawl and then walk as soon as I would like because he is getting BIG! He weighs 23 lbs and is almost 29 inches. His length is starting to catch up with his weight as far as the national average for his age, so hopefully he will lose some chub;) He will be 7 months old next week.

He is such a joy and we look forward to what he will learn next week...

Car Wash Man Update

2009-03-18T18:31:00.003-04:00

What's a car wash maniac to do on his day off from washing and waxing his Kia? Well, of course, wash and wax the neighbor's car. He did teach me an important lesson: Always wear latex gloves when washing a car; the harsh chemicals in the soap can cause permanant damage :).

We tried to get a picture of him in action, complete with gloves, but there was a bush in the way. Jared wanted me to walk across the street for a clear shot, but I didn't do it.

What To Do On a Nice Spring Day.

2009-03-17T22:57:00.005-04:00

PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!! Warm weather is on it's way!

Ahhhhh I haven't seen a blue sky in like.....6 months.

Can you see the buds sprouting their little heads like a butterfly "springing" (like my metaphor?) out of a cocoon.

Gavin and I decide to go on a nice walk. For some reason every time I take him on a walk in the stroller no matter where it is he doesn't seemed thrilled. Although he doesn't seem to NOT like it either... Jared gets home from school and decides to put in the big boy car seat. Hey I have a question...How many people does it take to put in a car seat? Uh, just two people for a REALLY LONG TIME!! Enough said.
Something that Jared and I noticed on this nice spring day ...and last year and the year before...

Who do you think takes care of their vehicle the most...?

The Expedition owner...?

The MERCEDES owner...? The KIA owner...?

And the answer is......

THE KIA OWNER!!

Now we don't have anything against Kia's but seriously, do you have to wash AND wax it EVERY DAY!?!?!

Well, we know that this guy washes his Kia, not even a lie, like every other day when it's warm.

I'm not complaining though, it just means that warm weather is on the way!!!! :)

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!!!!

Sleepy Head

2009-03-17T22:31:00.003-04:00

Some of the time Gavin will get to be late and then he will feed a couple of times in the night with the last being at about 8-8:30. Sometimes he will be wide awake at this time and will want to get up and play for a while and then go back for a 1.5-2 hr nap. But other times he will go right back to sleep and sleep until 10-10:15am. Well, I don't want him to sleep later in the morning and then go to bed later at night so I will go in and wake him up. This is what happens, I LOVE it..

This is him DEAD to the world...

"What? Where am I?"
"Hey I recognize you!"
LOVE THIS FACE! He is worth getting up in the morning for!

At the Park

2009-03-11T11:27:00.005-04:00

When Jared got home on Tuesday he said.."Hey lets go to the park". I jumped on the idea because it was 65 degrees that day with a slight wind. So we went and brought a little picnic. I love this park and as you can see Gavin had a fun time with Dad.

Gavin in mid-swing!

Heber, Utah, Sick, Busy, Cautiously Optimistic, Tired, and Excited....Uhhh, I Think That's It...

2009-03-05T18:00:00.009-05:00

So I finally got back from my trip to Heber and Utah. I had a great time and I know that Gavin had a great time with his cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandparents. So here are some highlights of that trip and also what's going on in good ol' C-bus.

- Me, Gavin, my sister Wendy, and my Mom and Dad went to Utah Valentines day weekend. We saw Marvin Goldstein in concert (which was GREAT) where we spoke to him before and after the show. Marvin couldn't believe he saw Gavin again (see the Jan post about the first meeting). We had a laugh about the last time he met Gavin:)

-We went to the park in St. George with Lance's and Kristal's kids. It was Gavin's first time at a park and it certainly won't be his last.

He LOVED the swing!

Uncle Lance and Gavin Going down the slide for the first time.

Aunt Kristal and Gavin
Hailey loved to take care of Gavin. She will be a great mommy someday.
Here are the grandkids on the Owens side. It was hard to get all of them to look good at the same time...as you can see. This was the best I got though.

This is Gavin and Kennedy. I love this picture! She is the only redhead of the grandkids with pretty blue eyes.

They are about 1 month apart. As you can see Gavin is slightly bigger.....lol:)

-We also spent some time at Wendy's house in Lakeside and had a great time. I played the Wii for the first time and I was SO SORE the next day. It was so fun! We also went out to lunch and had some good Mexican food. Thanks for the invite Wend.

-My dad had another Dr. Appointment just before I left to come home and if you want to see how it went, go to my Moms blog. We are cautiously optimistic and I am thankful that it isn't a fast progressing cancer. I want my Dad to be around for as long as he can!!

-So this is Gavin these days waiting for Dad to come home from school. Today I was talking to Jared and so Gavin was grabbing for the phone I told Jared to say hi to Gavin and when Jared started talking and making noises at him, Gavin started to smile. I couldn't get him to smile all day, especially because he is sick. He has had a temp of almost 103 but I can't decided if it is an ear infection. I am pretty tired because he isn't sleeping as well as he usually does. Anyway, he definitely loves his daddy and missed him on our trip.

Oh and he just turned 6 MONTHS OLD yesterday and he weighs 22 (or more) lbs!! We love our big boy.

-As far as everything else in our lives were are doing well. I am excited that in a month we are going to Las Vegas to find a place to live. We are looking at apartments and houses to rent. Then a month after that...Jared GRADUATES!!! Wow I'm excited. I'm also excited that it is getting warmer...did I mention that I love warm weather...:)

-I just got released from being the ward choir pianist after doing it for 2.5 years so now I just teach primary with Jared and have one more game coaching the YW Basketball. Other than that, I'm staying busy cooking new things, doing errands and babysitting for a lady in our ward two days a week. Jared is of course staying busy working, applying to take the bar exam, and getting amped up to start studying for finals.

-Tomorrow I am entering into a Chili Cookoff contest for our ward and also playing the piano for the talent show. Wish me luck!

Hope You Get Better Papa and Grandpa!

2009-02-11T23:51:00.007-05:00

You see it correctly. Gavin is with his Papa and Grandpa here in good ol' Heber. Last night at about 11:45 pm Jared asked me if I wanted to go home. I said "Yeah, when?". He said" Tomorrow morning"! I said "Holy crap!....uh...sure". So he got me tickets last night at 12 am and I caught a flight at 9 am (by the skin of my teeth), so now I am in AZ. So you wonder why I would leave my thoughtful and loving husband on Valentines weekend?!? Well here is a somewhat short version of why...

Gavin is taking a picture with his Papa Owens. As you can see he has a back and neck brace on. A few weeks ago he was working and he slipped on some ice and fell on his back and broke several vertebrae. At first he thought he was paralyzed, but he finally regained enough strength to army crawl back to his vehicle(in agonizing pain), drive home and had Laurie call 911. He was then taken to the Show Low hospital and then later he was air lifted to Phoenix. He was in SOOOO much pain. Finally, after much debate they decided to custom make a brace for him to wear for the next few months rather than surgery. If it is fixing the problem then they won't even consider surgery. So now he has to sleep sitting up in a chair because if he lays on his back he has terrible pain. How HORRIBLE huh!?! So he has been on our minds a lot lately, hoping that he can get some relief some way. We are so glad that we can come and visit him because it sounds like he is pretty miserable not being able to do much or to get out of the house.

So the other part of the story is about Grandpa Greer. About 17 years ago, my dad had cancer and hemochromatosis (too much iron is produced in his system). He has been in remission for the past 16 years but still goes to the doctor for the hemochromatosis and to make sure the cancer doesn't come back. So at his last visit they were concerned with low levels of white blood cells, so the Doc orders a bone marrow biopsy. To make a long story short, my dad was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. So basically it is a pretty rare cancer/disease in the blood stream. They think that they caught it fairly early so they have ordered a bunch of tests to see what kind of treatment he will undertake, because, since it really isn't curable, it will eventually eat at his bones and invoke kidney failure along with other unpleasantries. We will find all of that out in about 2 weeks. He is feeling pretty good other than it is hard to fight infections. So if you are sick...STAY AWAY :) So yesterday they told us and I was pretty upset.

That brings me to the present. Jared didn't tell me he was looking at plane tickets until 11:45 pm (I was literally in my bed about to fall asleep). So once we decided that I was going to go, we got out of bed, did a load of laundry, packed and then tried to get a little sleep. My parents hadn't left Phoenix yet so they stayed and picked me up from the airport. Hopefully our visit will brighten his week :) We love you Grandpa!Gavin was great on the plane. He was a superstar because each of the flight attendants wanted to hold him multiple times along with the older couple that was sitting next to me. It was great because I could get a break from holding him. HE IS HEAVY!!!

I want to thank Jared for electing to be all by himself on Valentines. He is always so thoughtful and I really appreciate everything he does for me :)

This picture is for you Daddy...

He started eating his feet today:)

SAHM Part 2

2009-02-05T14:25:00.004-05:00

This morning I went to turn on the news and the cable doesn't work. I didn't think it was that big of a deal because I would be gone most of the day, so I would just let Jared come home and fix it tonight. So it WAS suppose to be a pretty busy day because I was suppose to go babysit a little girl in our ward and then go visiting teaching. Well, the little girls mom called and said that she didn't need me today but needed me tomorrow. So I called Jared and asked if I could come visit him at work during lunch. I also needed to stop by my old work anyways (which is about 2 blocks from where Jared works) and get my breast pump that I had left. So I went to go start the Expo and the battery is dead.....GREAT!

I am bummed because I had to cancel VT last week because of the Ice storm and now I have to cancel today. So now with the TV off (I guess not such a bad thing) and the Expo not working I have to be creative which I'm not really good at. I don't know how to be creative on a cold day, with a bored 5 month old. There is only so much tickle time,tummy time,cuddle time and any other time you could think of to do. If you have any suggestions, let me know...ASAP!

In the meantime I will post some pics from the past week.

We went to Scott and Lonica's (my first cousin once removed), and had a fun time at their Superbowl party. There were like, 15 people who came to party hard in their little apartment. As always they have a fabulous setting of food for us to devour. Thanks for a great time!!!

Our home teachers wife came over on Monday because she made Gavin a cute shirt with a stenciled elk on it. She stayed for a while and we let Gavin and her son Melvin hang out. Her son is about 3-4 month older than Gavin and about 1 pound less than G-man. Gavin is getting so much better at sitting up. He is at the "tripod" stage. Oh and please don't compare heads and ears......whoops you probably just did....He is such a morning boy! Well I should say that he is like this when he wakes up from any type of sleep.

This is me trying to get creative today. He liked it but he is so heavy that I could only hold him like this for about 15 minutes.

Oh and here is my Bread that I made on Monday. This is all that's left of the two loaves I made. It was pretty darn moist and delicious. I don't know what I was scared of, it was pretty easy.

So this is where I left Gavin about 20 minutes ago. He is not so bored now:) Oh man, I hear him...gotta go.