Lots of good things come in 12

Happy Birthday Munch!!! April 11!!!!!

Owen's new weird trick

Owen has started doing this weird snorty thing where he breathes in and out really fast through his nose. He does it all the time - whether he's happy or sad. It's usually accompanied by some goofy faces. Here's a video of him playing on the floor, doing his new trick:

Pictures!

We celebrated my birthday last Sunday the 29th... I'm 23! Woo. We didn't do a whole lot - just had sisters and friends over for cake, etc. Matt gave me a brand new set of scriptures with my name on them! I was excited, 'cause this is my first pair that actually have my married name on them - PLUS, my old scriptures were very very written on and had tons of stuff between the pages, and I wanted to get a clean start. Matt also gave me two bags of Cadbury chocolate eggs - YUM! Anyway, here are just a bunch of random pictures from the last little while. Oh, and be sure to take a good look at the pictures of Matt's Civ202 project - he built a model of a museum that combined architecture from ancient Greece and various cathedrals. It took him so long, but it is so cool! It nearly killed him, too - in a period of 72 hours, he got three hours of sleep - not consecutively. It was like talking to a zombie. :0 But he's ok, and his project turned out great! Anyway... pictures:

Whenever we lay Owen down, this is what he does... he's got stronger abs than me!

Happy birthday to me.

Owen loves to take pictures of himself when we're not looking.

I just cannot get enough of his sweet little face when he sleeps.

Matt playing finger puppets with Owen.

Watching daddy's finger puppets.

He sits!

Caught in the act... wreaking havoc on our DVD shelf.

Sleepy boy sitting with daddy.

Owen's very first general conference!

Playing with daddy's face while Matt tries to get him to take a nap.

Monster Owen!!

Haha, Matt 'levitating' Owen... we put him in his snowsuit
because he looks so much like a sack of potatoes...

Matt's project!!

Putting the glass dome in the roof - pain in the neck!!!!

Finished front view.

Finished back view - you can see the glass dome as well as the glass observatory that extends out over the 'water'. Pretty darn cool.

Little people going in the front door! One of my favorite parts. :)
Matt did such a great job on this project and his teachers loved it. The only question is... what do we do with it now??

Super cute giveaway!

One of the ladies in my home ward in Colorado sells these way cute tote bags on Etsy:



She also sells cute cupcake-shaped bags for little girls, travel clutches for makeup, etc., and "dwipes" - diaper/wipe holders. She's having a giveaway on her blog where if you win, you get to pick any one item from her Etsy site. Here's her blog address to read the rules and enter:

http://justanotherhangup.blogspot.com/

And here's her Etsy site, so you can look at all the cute things she makes:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6928677

Go check it out! You're bound to fall in love with everything you see!


Oh, ps - you have until midnight Thursday April 9th to enter.

Good sleeper... finally!

We finally moved Owen out of the bassinet in our room and into his big crib in the room next door. He's done great so far! He's figured out how to put his own pacifier back in his mouth, and we've heard him wake up a couple times, talk for a minute or two, and then put himself back to sleep. We're so proud of him. AND... I'm sleeping much better now that I don't have him constantly rustling around at the end of my bed. Woohoo!

Missing You

Being home alone for a week really makes you grateful for the blessings in your life. I have been missing my beautiful wife more and more each day. The more I miss her, the more I am filled with love and appreciation for her and all that she means in my life. My life would be very empty and bleak without her.

I love you Nicki. I always will. Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me despite all my shortcomings and weaknesses. These past (almost) two years of marriage to you have been a dream come true for me. I could not have asked for better. Better does not exist. Thank you for giving me heaven on earth. With all my heart I love you.

I love how Nicki always likes to get dressed up
and how she puts up with me when I moan and groan
about having to get dressed up myself

In Monterey, one of our favorite places on earth

I have so much fun when I'm with you
(Rowell Ranch Rodeo)
(my awesome dad being a dork in the background :)

Thanks for going camping with me
even though you hate getting dirty
It really shows how much you love me

I love how we can be goofy together
(having a tea party with my little sisters Munch and Fij)

I can't imagine life without you
(getting pictures taken at the Carmel State Beach)

Thank you for being my girl

I love you forever babe,
love Matt

P.S.- I also miss my little boy like crazy. More than I can say.

Colorado part two...

Last night we went to Kevin's elementary school play. He was the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast". He did so well! I was so proud of him. He has a really deep voice, so he really sounded like a beast compared to all the squeaky other kids. My mom and grandma and I went to both performances - the one during school hours and the one at night, so we got to see the dramatic improvement between the afternoon and the night show - I think all the parents rehearsed with their kids in between.

Kevin with Belle, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, and the Wardrobe right behind him.

Kevin and Belle walzing during "Tale as Old as Time"

The Beast and Belle during their fancy dinner.

After the play. Madeline was a student director for the play. She did a really good job too - wrangling bunches of elementary school kids dressed as villagers and enchanted objects.

This morning, we went to Kevin's last Pinewood Derby (he will be too old next year). He did great. Kevin won in his age group. His car was so cool! He built it to look like his "RipStick"... apparently these funky skateboard thingies are the 'cool' thing now. Here's what it looks like:


After Kevin's pinewood derby, we went to his soccer game way down by Denver. His team won 2-0. He was pretty fun to watch. He plays defense, and didn't let hardly anything by him. Kevin is number 22, right in the middle of the picture.


This afternoon, we took a drive up in the mountains. I haven't been here for almost a year and a half, and I love these mountains, so I was excited to just drive through and see my mountains again. :) These aren't great pictures, because we didn't get out anywhere except for when we got stopped by the train in the first picture (and when we got out to get ice cream on the way home :), but I still think they're beautiful. I love Colorado.


This is what Owen did while we looked at the mountains.

One of my favorite things about where I grew up is how far you can see, and how big the sky looks. I love watching storm clouds roll in, like in the picture below.


And last but not least, some pictures of Owen. He has started to do this funny grin where he doesn't really open his mouth. He's also got another new face where he sticks out his bottom lip. They're both pretty entertaining:





Here's just a cute video of Owen talking in the tub. He discovered some bath toys that my mom had around from when my siblings were babies. They are these little soft foam letters, and they make an excellent squeaky sound when he bites them. He loves them, and now he loves his baths even more than before!

We are having a lot of fun in Colorado seeing all the people from my ward that we haven't seen forever, but we miss Matt/daddy. We talk to him every night and send him emails and messages so he doesn't get too lonely. We'll be glad to see him again when we go home on Tuesday.