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.

Colorado so far...

Owen and I arrived here on Tuesday, and that night we just hung out with my family. On Wednesday, we were going to go to the Museum of Natural History because it was free day, but we couldn't fit it in between work, picking up kids from school, getting Kevin to soccer, and picking up grandma Auman from the airport. Oh well. On Thursday, we went to the Crocs warehouse sale. Crocs were invented here in Colorado, in the tiny town called Niwot where I went to high school, so they're a big thing here. Yes, they're ugly. But you know what? They're so dang comfortable. Anyway, Crocs is having money troubles (who isn't?), so they're trying to sell lots of their inventory quickly to hopefully generate a lot of revenue quickly. So we went down to the Crocs warehouse in Longmont for their big sale. It was a madhouse! So many people. We got Owen some cute little baby Crocs, got Matt a Crocs shirt, and my mom and sister got some Crocs sandals. We cleaned up pretty well... all of that cost about 25 dollars, when it'd usually be a lot more. Thursday night, we went to the Glenn Miller Orchestra concert. It was so much fun! I love big band and jazz, and these guys were so much fun to watch. We saw a bunch of my home ward members there, so that was fun. As for today, this is what we've been doing:





Here's a video of Owen sucking on his chocolate pacifier... it might be hard to see, but he's sucking really long and hard on that thing to get all the chocolate off. It was pretty darn funny to watch.


This is how much Owen loves chocolate:


Owen is also enjoying his time with grandma Auman, who has only been able to see him for about a day before this trip.


I love this little face.


My sisters are having a fun time with Owen - they especially love watching him splash around in the bath.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Owen and I are off to Colorado today to visit my family for a week! We've got lots of plans - concerts to go to, Kevin's pinewood derby and school play, the Museum of Natural History in Denver... should be lots of fun. We can't wait!

We've got a roller!

Owen rolled from back to front tonight all by himself! We weren't actually even encouraging him to do it with a toy or anything... he just arched his back, kicked his leg over, and that was it. We cheered for him and he got pretty proud of himself. He's pretty darn close to scooting across the floor, too... hopefully he waits a bit on that one, 'cause our house is not baby proof yet! :)

Our boy is huge!

Owen had his four month check-up today. He's in the 100th percentile for height again. When we walked in and first put Owen on the table, the nurse said "wow, he's really big for a four month old." Yeah... he gets that a lot. He's 28 inches long, and weighs 15 pounds. He got three shots today, so he's a bit clingy, but everything else looks great!

FYI: no new pictures

This is mainly for Owen's grandmas, who hound me if I don't get new pictures up here frequently. :) We sent our camera in to be repaired today, and it'll probably be at least two weeks before we get it back. Which means........ no new pictures for a while. I might have some pictures that I haven't put up yet that I'll try to spread out over the next few weeks, but there will be nothing new. :)