Feed Me!

Every morning Micah and Owen share a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Micah says this is his favorite part of the day.

Owen likes to feed himself now....it's a little messy but he's doing pretty good!

Today we went to downtown Reno for the annual River Festival/Kayaking Competition. It's a really nice community event....weather was great and Owen had lots to look at.

Dessert....YUM!

Playtime

Any time is playtime for Owen. Last week we went to a duck park and Owen had a blast feeding the ducks bread.


Owen harrassed the baby duck for a while.


We took Owen to a children's puppet show at the Children's Museum yesterday. Then he got play there for a while (Micah had fun too).


Remember the movie BIG?


Owen likes to make an obstacle course out of the chairs.

Boys in Texas

Micah and Owen flew home to Texas last weekend for a quick trip. They went to watch Micah's brother, Matt, compete in a collegiate track meet (he won 3rd in hammer and 5th discus). They also got to visit with lots of family. I on the other hand missed my boys. But I did manage to enjoy myself a little.....movie, massage, shopping.....but by Sunday I was thrilled to have them home!

Owen bonding with the Langdon Jeep.



Too early for Owen.


With Auntie Madison at FREEBIRDS!


Owen met his cousin Jordynn for the first time.


Bubbles with Grandma Willems.


Twins!

Sandy

It pains me to write this post, but if you haven't heard already we are searching for a new, loving home for Sandy. We had an incident about a week ago that involved Owen and Sandy and a trip to the emergency room. During a play session between the two, Owen got a little rough with Sandy and as a warning she snipped him in the face. This was shocking to us because these two have been best buddies for a while. They play together, wrestle, play fetch and Sandy has always been absolutely perfect with Owen. I think it has to do with the fact that as Owen was getting bigger and stronger he was playing rougher with Sandy. And Sandy is a dog and warned him the only way she knew how.

Anyway, Owen is just fine and almost completely healed now. He didn't need stitches but did have 3 puncture wounds on his face. This resulted in a black swollen eye for a few days, but he is looking better than ever now. Hopefully he won't have any scars. Because of this unfortunate situation, we have been forced to make a very difficult decision......what to do with Sandy? After thinking on it for a week and having discussions with Sandy's vet and an animal behavior consultant, we have decided to find a new home for her. We just can't take the risk of this happening again and don't feel comfortable with Owen and Sandy living together. Obviously, our highest priority is keeping Owen safe.

Here's the plug:
We adopted her almost 3 years ago from the Carson Animal Shelter and she has been a joy to our family! She had a rough start to her life, as we are sure she was abused and neglected as a puppy. She was eventually abandoned out in the Carson hills and found by animal control. When we adopted her, it didn't take long for her to adjust to our home. She was obviously grateful for the attention we gave her and made her way into our hearts very quickly. She is now somewhere around 3-4 years old. Sandy is highly energetic and needs an owner who will give her tons of exercise. She loves the outdoors, hiking, swimming, fetching, and can run for hours. She is very sweet and prefers to be in the same room as people. Sandy would thrive in a home with no young children and might be best as an only pet (although we do have a second dog and they do great together). She is house trained. And how can we forget.....her favorite activity is pulling Micah around the neighborhood on his skateboard.

So, if you are interested, please contact us.
Look how precious she is.....we are really going to miss her.

Why is your lawn mower bigger than mine?

Owen loves to help his daddy in the yard.



Owen likes to give his baby a pacifier. And sometimes he'll steal it for himself.


Owen put his cap on all by himself!

Finally......

Our new counter tops sure beat the plywood we've been using for the past 3 weeks! Now all we need are some new stainless steel appliances and new tile floors......I'll just pinch myself now.

Glider Ride

Two years ago Micah bought me a glider ride for my birthday but a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant - so I cancelled. For my 30th birthday last month, Micah gave it to me again and I finally got my ride! It was awesome!

If you don't already know, a glider is a small plane with a very long wingspan and no engine. The glider is pulled into the air by a tow plane and a cord. Once the glider is at a high enough elevation, the glider breaks free from the plane and glides around in the sky!

The weather this morning was perfect....no wind and not a cloud in the sky. The ride was very calm, peaceful and quiet. When it was time, I pulled the cord to free the glider from the tow plane. We flew over Heavenly Ski Resort and then along the ridge of the mountains before going back over Carson Valley. At one point the pilot did a few aerobatics, which was really fun! As we were coming in for our landing we flew over a Starbucks roasting plant and I could actually smell the coffee in the sky. Kind of cool!

What a great birthday gift! Turning 30 wasn't too bad after all!

Oklahoma!

I had to go to a conference for work in Oklahoma City this week, so I took Owen along with me and my mom drove up from Texas to join us. She watched Owen for me while I was attending my meetings but we also managed to have a lot of fun in four days! We spent some time in "Bricktown" (downtown Oklahoma City), which they are renovating to look a lot like the river walk in San Antonio. Owen found a cool fountain to play in there. We also took Owen to his first trip to the ZOO! He enjoyed the animals, but really he just liked being outside. We also visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which was quite stunning at night.....what a beautiful site! Owen sure had fun spending time with his Grandma this week!

Tie Dye Party!

Our friends Kim and Bob had a very fun wedding party today! Kim loves tie dye, so everyone came to the party wearing tie dye clothes. The party certainly wasn't your average wedding shower.....games included tug-o-war, pinata, and tie dying! Earlier this week we tie dyed our own shirts too....even Owen got one!

Kelly & Kim



Micah, Owen & Bob


Owen hitting his very first pinata....and check it out.....it's a yellow VW bug!!

Too Big???

My brother has been dying for a picture of our new TV, so here you go Brian. We may actually return it for a smaller one. Or maybe we'll just hang it on the wall. We'll see.....


I think I may be seeing the boys on the couch a lot more watching our new TV.

Weekend in California

We had a wonderful time this weekend, although traveling with Owen now makes for a very different experience. We visited several small towns south of Sacramento....it's one of our favorite places to go in the spring and we've become quite familiar with the area. This trip we did venture into a few towns we've never been to before, like Angels Camp and Murphys. We also went to Indian Grinding Rock State Park, Black Chasm Caverns (bad idea with a toddler), Sutter Creek, and Amador City. We wanted to do a little wine tasting, but Owen fell asleep in the car so Micah just ran into our favorite winery and bought a few bottles (there was no way we were going to wake him up....his naps are so precious)!

Floss those teeth

As you can see, Owen is very concerned about his oral health. He's actually obsessed with dental floss. He may only have 6 teeth, but they are definitely healthy teeth. Now, if we can only keep this up through his teenage years.....

Under Construction

Yesterday was Micah's 31st Birthday! We didn't have a chance to do much celebrating last night (Owen was quite the fussy butt), but we did eat some good sushi and install Micah's new flat screen HDTV. I picked it up a few days ago and stored it at a neighbor's house, so I think he was pretty surprised! It is GIGANTIC in our little living room.....we felt like we were at the movies watching American Idol last night. Tomorrow I think we're going to take an overnight trip into California......no definite plans yet, but I'm sure it will be fun to get away.

Last Sunday we spent the day tearing out our kitchen counter tops. They were previously tile and I have despised them ever since we bought this house almost 4 years ago. Our new counter tops are being built specifically for our kitchen and will be installed in a few more weeks. So, we are living in the middle of a construction zone until then...... but I can hardly wait! Owen especially enjoyed the tearing out of the tile last weekend. He was right in the middle of things helping out!

Where's the sink???

Success....

Baby Ben

Our friends Kristin and Wayne had their 2nd baby boy last weekend, so we went to Reno yesterday to meet Baby Ben for the first time....what a sweet baby! It's funny how quickly we forgot what to do with a newborn.

The ride to Reno


Owen had a lot of fun playing with Jack's toys!



Jack is such a good big brother to Ben!


The ride home from Reno

Water Water Everywhere

Just a few bath pictures!




Owen discovered how to use a squirt bottle......

We've got a climber

Check out Owen's new trick......