Our Pumpkin!

So, all this freezing weather has not been good for our garden. Despite the fact that we covered all the plants up for the storm, everything died this past weekend......bummer because there were a ton of tomatoes on the vine. But look what made it through the cold temperatures.......a very large pumpkin!

Last year after Halloween we put our pumpkin in the compost pile and it must have seeded into the ground. This summer the plant took over our garden. It took us a long time to figure out what kind of plant it was because this huge plant only produced 2 pumpkins. Stay tuned because we're going to carve this pumpkin in a few weeks!





This is the other pumpkin. It actually grew around a fence.

Owen's Many Expressions

Owen turned 22 months old yesterday! The older he gets, the more animated he becomes. He also likes to copy our facial expressions.

Snow? REALLY????

It's October 10th.
It's 33 degrees outside.
And it's snowing.
Ugggghhhhhhh.

What happened to Fall??

I'm not afraid of a gorilla.....

I have fond memories of my dad chasing me around the house in a gorilla mask when I was a young girl. I have no idea what ever happened to his mask, but recently, while looking at Halloween costumes at Target, we came across a gorilla mask and I couldn't pass it up! At first Owen wasn't so sure of the mask, but now he begs us to put it on and chase him through the house! He'll even give the gorilla a kiss!


Sandy looks a little concerned here, doesn't she?

Oktoberfest

Yesterday we went to Oktoberfest in Camp Richardson, CA. They had a band and pumpkin patch for Owen, and lots of beer for Micah......this kept both of my boys happy.

Micah and Chris are having a contest to see who can hold their beer out in front of them the longest. And Owen was copying them with his water bottle....pretty cute!

Owen and his new best friend, Chris

Motorcycles and Yard Work

Owen is crazy about motorcycles. He gets so excited everytime he sees one on the road. So this weekend there was a huge motorcycle event called Street Vibrations in Northern Nevada......motorcycles took over! We took Owen to the local Harley Davidson dealership to see all the festivities and he loved it.

This boy needs a bath!

Owen loves helping his daddy with yard work.



Micah and Owen have matching Vans. Thanks to Uncle Mark for Owen's stylish shoes!

Our Garden

Every day when Micah gets home from work, he and Owen go straight to our garden to pick veggies. Owen loves to eat the tomatoes directly from the plant!

Here he is showing off a nice zucchini.

It sure did get quiet in here......

When it gets quiet in our house, we know Owen is up to something. A few days ago I went searching for him after it became awfully quiet and this is what I found. He just pushes the chairs around so he can reach whatever he wants......in this case, plain hot dog buns appealed to him. YUM!

Owen is now 21 months old and has finally started speaking some words. He seems to be picking up new words on a daily basis now. So far he's saying: mama, dada, dog (of course), thank you, water, Ryder (his best buddy), car, no, stop, ball, hi, bye, lion, tiger, and MINE! He says "thank you" now after we hand him anything. It's so cute to have a toddler with manners....now, if we can just keep that up through his teenage years!

Attack!!!!!

Berkeley, San Francisco & Six Flags

It has been a very busy week for us.....Last week I spent the week in Berkeley, CA at a training for my new job! That's right, I have a new position at the Nevada State Health Division as the Breastfeeding Coordinator! This is a brand new position and I am thrilled to start my new job. I'll be doing both old and new jobs for a while until they find a replacement for my old job, but it is an exciting time for me.....a good change.

Anyway, Micah and Owen met me in Berkeley late Wednesday night (I missed my boys) and they played on Thursday and Friday while I was in my training. Then we stayed in the Bay area for the weekend. We spent Saturday in San Francisco.....visited Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and just walked around and enjoyed the outdoors. On Sunday we took Owen to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - his first visit to an amusement park. He saw dolphins, killer whales, elephants, sharks, rode a few rides, rode Thomas the Train, and even pet a snake! Micah and I also took turns riding a few big roller coasters, which we hadn't done in years! We were all exhausted by the end of the day!

Great Reno Balloon Races

I always know fall has arrived when it's time for the Great Reno Balloon Races! This is the one morning every year that I willingly get out of bed before the sun rises! This event amazes me every year....I LOVE IT! My mom flew out here to for the Balloon Races and I think she was equally impressed.

Grandma's Here!

Grandma Willems is here visiting! Owen loves all the extra attention she is giving him!


Owen loves to play on the computer.....which means we're on the computer way too much. He likes to watch his videos and see his pictures.

Owen's First Camping Trip

Owen experienced his first camping trip this weekend! We camped 2 nights at Blue Lakes in Hope Valley, CA. We purchased a pop-up camper from some friends and this was our first time to try it out.....luxury compared to tent camping!

Camping wouldn't be complete without SMORES!

Playing in the river.

Sleeping peacefully in his new sleeping bag.

Hot Wheels

Owen has a new obsession......HOT WHEELS! He carries them all over the house, baths with them, plays with them outside, and takes them in the car. As you can see he likes to line them up in a very orderly manner, then he'll crash into them knocking them all over the place. Such a BOY!

Tracy's Baby Shower

I flew to Texas this past weekend (all by myself) for Tracy's baby shower and to hang out with Lacey. Tracy is due October 1st and we are all anxiously awaiting Baby Douglas' arrival! It was a fun, but quick trip and the shower was a success (Tracy took home a packed carload of gifts)! I also got to relax with Lacey in Austin, my favorite Texas city. I did miss my boys though and Owen seemed pretty happy to see me Monday morning when he woke up....that made me feel good.

The Mama-to-be and Me



The Crib (a.k.a. College Roomies: Tracy, Melissa, and Lacey)
With Melissa living in Washington DC and me in Nevada, the 4 of us don't get together very often.


My Mom and Me