Trick or Treat

Owen's first Halloween was a good one! In fact, we've never seen a town make such a big deal out of Halloween before (for kids at least). Here in Carson City, it is tradition for the Governor to pass out candy every Halloween. So the area around the Governor's Mansion was packed full of parents and kids trick-or-treating. The Mansion was decorated and a band was playing on the front lawn (click on the title of this post for a link to the Governor's Mansion). There was a long line to get popcorn from the Governor, so we skipped that part, but we were amazed with everything! And all the big, historic homes surrounding the Governor's Mansion were decked out with decorations, haunted houses, graveyards, and scary things everywhere. Owen got frightened once by a person dressed up as a dead zombie....poor baby.



Elton John look-alike???


Governor's Mansion


Here's our little monkey!



Dinosaur, Ladybug, and Monkey (a.k.a. Ryder, Sofia and Owen)



Some people in my office dressed up today. I was a flight attendant with pretzels and all.

Howdy Texas!

We have been in Texas for the past 10 days! Micah was in a wedding in Dallas, so we made a vacation out of it. We spent a lot of time in College Station with our families and also visited Kelly's grandmom on their family ranch. It was busy, but Owen got to spend time with all of his grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, and friends. We already miss everyone!!! While we were there, Owen discovered stairs and wanted to climb them constantly! He also had his very first horseback ride and got to feed some friendly cows!

Owen likes the dirt!

Over the weekend we took a hike up to the top of S Hill, which is here in Carson. It gets its name from the big S on the face. Not sure what it stands for. Owen slept for most of the hike up so when we got to the top he was ready to play. As you can see in the video he's not afraid to get a little dirty!

Tiptoe'n

Ten months old and almost walking! In just the past 2 days he's really been taking a lot of steps. He's taken more than 10 steps at one time. I think he's finally figuring it out (after many falls and bruises)!

More Pumpkins

Today we went to a local fall festival at a school in our neighborhood. Here are Owen and his buddy Ryder playing at the pumpkin patch.

Oktoberfest

Yesterday we went to Oktoberfest at Camp Richardson (on the CA side of Lake Tahoe). We think Owen was a little overwhelmed with the crowd of people and the loud music because he pretty much zoned out most of the time. But he did enjoy the pumpkin patch!

On the Playground

Here we are at the playground with Owen. We have a nice park down the street from our house that we take Owen to often. He's just now big enough to start enjoying the playground for the kids!

"Dog"

You'd think after I carried Owen in my womb for 9 months, gave birth to him, and fed him from my own body for this long that his first word would be "mama." RIGHT??? This past weekend he said his first word (that we could understand) and it was "dog." I guess we should have known. Actually, I'm surprised his first words weren't, "NO Sandy!" He's pretty cute though....now when one of the dogs walks in the room he'll point and say "dog." I also think he's saying "car."

Owen is also teething again. He'll have one of his top teeth in the next few days because it's just about to break through the gum. This explains why we've had such little sleep lately. He is also still taking steps here and there. It's only a matter of time before he figures out what he's doing and decides to walk across the room.

Owen loves his beach ball


Micah soothing Owen after he woke up unhappy.


Micah just put our fish tank together and Owen loves to look at the fish. We think he's also trying to say "fish."

Mr. Independent

Owen decided this past week that he prefers to feed himself. He does NOT want to eat from a spoon anymore. So, we've had to get really creative with finger foods. He's eating all kinds of new things now: cucumbers, cheese, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, kiwi, crackers, and basically any veggie/fruit sliced up. This has made meal time VERY messy! Because of this, Owen has been taking a lot more baths lately!

GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain.

First Steps!

I cannot believe I'm actually writing this......Owen just took his first steps! It's taken us both by surprise. We knew he was going to walk early, but this early???? Jeez, we are in trouble! Micah was doing dishes and Owen walked from our trash can (3 steps) to the open dishwasher. He loves to play with the dirty dishes. And he's taken a few random steps since then. CRAZY!!!

Look at those teeth!

A few nights ago Owen picked yellow squash from our garden. Then he played with them before we cooked and pureed them.

We know this is gross, but Owen loves to play in the dog's water bowl. We try to keep him away from it, but sometimes he's just too quick!


Just Owen laughing......

Family Pictures

Owen had his 9 month doctor's appointment yesterday and he is still a BIG boy! He weighs 21.5 pounds (70th percentile) and is 31.5 inches long (100+ percentile). So he's tall and skinny. Today we had some cheesy family pictures taken. We hadn't done this since Owen was born, so it's fun to have a few.






We had this picture taken for Owen's Grandma Willems (Kelly's mom). She made this quilt and stuffed hippo before Owen was even born! Is she talented or what??? Nine months ago when we brought Owen home from the hospital, he was smaller than this hippo.

Asheville, North Carolina

The reason we haven't posted anything new lately is because we've been on a vacation! We went to Asheville, North Carolina to visit our friends Kim and Corey and their precious daughter Natalie. We were supposed to get home yesterday, but we missed our connecting flight in Denver and had to stay the night (with no bags or anything). This is extra hard with a baby, but Owen is a trooper. We even ran out of diapers on the flight home today. But I think I was most upset about not having a brush to comb my hair.

Natalie is only 2 months younger than Owen and they were fun to watch interact with each other. Owen would get so excited around her and just grab her shirt and pull her towards him. We've got to teach the boy some manners!

Asheville is a gorgeous area....very green and lush with tons of trees (basically the exact opposite of Nevada). Downtown Asheville is filled with great local shops, restaurants, and interesting architecture. Kim and Corey also took us to the Biltmore Estate, which was fabulous! Our favorite thing about the Biltmore Estate was the gardens/conservatory. It was absolutely stunning!

9 Months Old!

Today is Owen's 9 month birthday! It's amazing that he's been out in the world for just as long as he grew inside my body. Wow! Oh, and he has 2 teeth now. I need to try to catch them in a picture.



Here Owen is getting a driving lesson and it doesn't look like it's going very well. Don't worry, he's only pulling the car into the garage (we promise).

Reno Balloon Races

Yesterday we took Owen to the annual Reno Balloon Races! This is one of our favorite events to attend and Owen really enjoyed looking at all of the balloons. Our friends Kristin and Jack met us there bright and early at sunrise. We got there just in time to see all the balloons taking off for a mass launch. Afterwards we went to our friends Enid and Cory's house (who live right down the road from the park). They had a great breakfast party for all their friends who attended the balloon races. Owen had so much fun playing with all the other babies and kids that were there.

Here is a cool video Micah took: