A VERY late Thanksgiving Post

Yes, I know this is about a month late, and I was even debating whether or not to even do it. But for journal purposes I want to put something up about our Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. We always have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such a blessed life and family. Lucky for me I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving, because the crazy people at Old Navy were open ALL DAY on Thanksgiving until 6, then re-opened at 10PM for 24 hours! NUTS! I did work the black Friday sale, in the morning, but it wasn't bad at all, and with how busy it was the day flew by! But we, us and my parents, spent Thanksgiving Day with our family friends the Lomeli's, per tradition. My best friend, Kambria and her husband Preston, came into town from Salt Lake City. It was SO awesome to see them, since its so rare that we get to spend time together. She was only in town for 3 days, and we tried to spend as much time together as possible! Love her! The food was DELICIOUS and everyone could barely move after such a good meal. It was the perfect Thanksgiving filled with yummy food, dessert, friends and family!

I, unfortunately, hardly took any pictures. But here are a few...

Owen, if course, was the center of attention. And he LOVED every minute of it! "Uncle" Ben and "Aunt" Karen are just too sweet to him! He loves his new extended family!

Here he is playing with Karen:

The group photo:
Me and Kam:
Me and my little guy:
Owen with Daddy:
Hopefully now that Shad and I are getting out of the funk we've been in lately, because YES the job search took a huge toll on us emotionally, I just wasn't up for blogging. But I should get back into a routine of being a better blogger. (maybe... who knows when the next munchkin comes along though... ONLY 6 MORE WEEKS!!)

A JOB!

Shad finally received the phone call we have been PRAYING for! He was offered a job as an associate attorney at a small Tacoma firm yesterday and was asked to start right away!!! The firm does business and real estate law, which is something he has always wanted to do. He is already busy plugging away at work and I am so proud of him. We are so grateful for this opportunity and for the timing; Right before Christmas and before our second sweet little baby boy comes. Which means I also get to go back to being a stay at home momma! We are very blessed.

"T-R-U-C-K spells Truck!!!"

Owen asked me to take a picture of him with the "Big Christmas Tree and Train..." This was the result...Dang Cuteness!

I know its late and I should be sleeping (Almost 1 AM!). But I am definitely at the point in pregnancy where I just cannot sleep! I'm getting uncomfortable and starting to have anxiety about having TWO kids!! So... What better time to blog! I will have to blog about our wonderful Thanksgiving later... but tonight I just wanted to blog about the love of my life... OWEN. He amazes me everyday. I cannot believe how much I love him and how fast he growing. I have been bad about blogging lately, because he keeps me so busy and I love just hanging out with him! Here are a few things that Owen is into, just things that Shad and I don't want to forget about our little boy at 21 months:

Christmas Tree and Christmas Lights! He is in love with the Christmas tree and the lights outside. One of the first things he says in the morning is "Big Christmas Tree!" and races outside his room to see it. He also LOVES the train around the bottom! :) He can watch it go around and around for hours.

When I asked Owen to show me his smile, this is what I got!

He is still obsessed with letters and numbers! His favorite activity is to "Make BIG X's" on the computer with grandpa (or anyone else). He loves to type HUGE font letters on the computer and spell his name and other words. He loves to make letters out of playdoh, on the magna doodle, on paper, on the fridge with magnets, on TV when he sees letters... Anywhere! He knows all his letters, can spell his name, he can also spell TRUCK, CAR, and BUS. And he can count to 30. I'm not sure what is fueling this obsession, but I LOVE it!

He is 100% BOY. He loves trains, cars, trucks, and buses. He loves Lightening McQueen and all the 'Cars' characters. He loves to say "Kachow!" Christmas shopping will be SO easy for him! When we are driving in "Mommy's and Daddy's red car" he loves to point all the "big white trucks," "school bus," and "choo choo trains!"

Playing with his Cars:

He talks, talks, talks. He speaks in full sentences now and is very articulate. He is a parrot! He copies EVERYTHING we say! I'm shocked by what comes out of his mouth somedays! Like today he pulled his Elmo Potty Time DVD off the shelf and said "Watch Elmo Pee!!" He is a constant crack up! Also when he learns a new word or sentence he repeats it OVER and OVER again.

Helping Mommy "Sweep!"

He likes to sing! He loves it when mommy and daddy sing to him. His current favorites are "Bring back my Bonnie(or any other word he wants to insert here!) to Me!" "All Aboard the Choo Choo Train," The Little Einsteins theme song, "Twinkle Twinkle," "Jingle Bells," and of course... "ABCDEFG!!"

Whenever I ask him what he wants to do today he always answers "Punchin' Patch!" I guess the Pumpkin Patch made a vary positive impression on him, because he is always asking to go back! Sometimes he will say that he wants to "Go to Harrison and Mason's house," some of our dear friends from law school that moved over here... he LOVES going to play their house.

He can be outside ALL day everyday if we'd let him! He is happiest when he is outside playing. He runs all over the place... no matter rain, cold, sun, cloudy....etc. He doesn't care, he just wants to be outside!

He loves grandma and grandpa! As soon as they walk in the door from work he is at their side. He follows them around ALL day long. When my dad works at home, it is pure torture for Owen to stay downstairs or in his room when grandpa is working! He just wants to play with them all day long!

He also LOVES his daddy! Here he is helping Shad build his table and chairs, but he kept calling the pieces "BIG train tracks!"

Like any little boy, he also likes being read too. However, his favorite books are the "Mighty Machines" collection, which are real picture books that teach all about trucks and machines. His current favorite one is Tow Trucks. (Before it was Tractors!) He also is really into Thomas the Train books and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Because of the letters!).

He LOVES his little "Froggy" he takes him everywhere, Froggy is his little snuggle buddy.

Instead of saying "yes" to something... he says "Okay." But most of the time if you ask him a question he will say "Nooooo," even if he doesn't mean it! And if he doesn't want to go somewhere he always answers with "No, stay with ____ (Whatever he is playing with or whoever he is playing with!)" The other day we asked if wanted to take a bath and he said, "No stay with green train, yellow train, and red caboose!" (He was playing with the Christmas train).

He puts a lot of emphasis on the word "BIG." Like "BIIIIIIIIG Christmas Tree" or "Make a really really really really BIIIIIIIIIG X" on the computer. Or when we are driving on the freeway and he sees a "BIIIIIIIG white truck!"

We. Love. This. Boy.

He may be a tiny squirt, but he has got a BIIIIIIIIIG personality!

The Belly

Yes... so here is the BELLY in all its glory. I am almost 29 weeks and in complete SHOCK that I only have 11 WEEKS left!!! This pregnancy has completely flown by! There are some days where I feel more than ready to hold, snuggle, and love on my sweet little boy, but most days I am not quite ready to give up our little family of three yet. Owen keeps me on my toes and so busy most days that I am just enjoying all the Owen-Mommy time I get with him. He is seriously so much fun right now, learning news sentences, words, and things everyday... getting into everything... and just being hilarious!

I've been feeling good, for the most part. Entering into my 3rd and final trimester always comes with uncomfortable things, like constant bathroom trips at night, not sleeping well, back pain, and swift, hard kicks to the bladder and ribs! I am starting to really feel LARGE; these last few weeks I have really blossomed!

Work has proven to be much more physically taxing than I had expected, and I come home completely EXHAUSTED and barely able to walk! I had sciatica in the last two months of my pregnancy with Owen, and this one has been no exception! It showed up even earlier this time around (around 20 weeks!), so being on my feet all day really aggravates my back pain! I worked my entire pregnancy with Owen, mostly on my feet, so I thought this wouldn't be any different... but I am finding it much harder on my body. Luckily its only been around 18 hours a week, and I am hoping to stay below 20 hours... I just don't think I can handle much more!

Shad has been great. He knows how tired I am when I get home from work and is always there to help with Owen or whatever I need. :) He has been great with Owen all day, and they are just best buds! He is very excited to welcome our second little boy!

And no, we don't have a name picked out yet. But we do have a top 5 list! And I think its pretty consistant. My favorite name changes weekly... but it always seems to stay within the same 5 or so names. We may just have to wait until we meet our little guy to figure out what his name will be! :)

Fall Festivities

We've been throughly enjoying this wonderful Fall we've been having. The trees and colors are amazing right now. I'm just going to lump all of our fall activities, including Halloween, into one big blog. So beware: Lots of pictures! Here is what we've been up too!

Playing in the Fall leaves:

And yes, I realize that ALL our outside pictures of Owen feature THIS same hoodie... oh well! :) He does have more clothes/jackets... I promise!

Exploring:

Taking pretty Fall pictures:

Baking yummy pumpkin cookies!

Owen's first time really helping me bake. I think he enjoyed it.

Owen, did you eat the chocolate chips??? Guilty...?

Trunk or treating at our friends ward. "Where's the candy!?"

And trick or treating in our neighborhood. 'I'm ready to go!!!'

First stop: Grandma!

He was very good at saying "Trick or Treat" as well as monkey noises!!

We found this GIANT pumpkin while we out and Owen loved it!

Our cute little Monkey with his good buddy, Harrison! Harrison was a GREAT trick or treating buddy! They loved it!

Back to Grandma's to play and indulge in the M&Ms... Owen's favorite.

Chocolate face!

And we also carved our pumpkins!! We decided to do a video again this year. :) They are fun to make!

Hope you all are enjoying your fall too!

Let's Make it Official

Just wanted to pay quick tribute to my guy! As you probably read/heard Shad PASSED the WA State Bar exam!! Whoo hoo! Well, yesterday it was made officially official! Shad was sworn in at the Kent Justice Center as a new attorney in WA state. We are all pretty proud of him! This has been a LONG time coming. He always knew that he wanted to go to law school and be a lawyer and now... He is!!! Congrats, Shad! (Now... I job!)

Shad getting sworn in... you can't tell in the picture but his right arm is raised.

Its official... signed by the judge!

The congratulatory handshake!

Family picture, all saying "cheese" to get Owen to smile!

Shad and I... it was a RAINY Seattle day what else!
You may now come to Shad with all your legal needs! :)

Shad's BIG Birthday Weekend!

Shad's birthday weekend was a HUGE success!! It was everything and more we could've hoped for!

First off, Shad PASSED the Bar Exam!! Yes, that's right, he's awesome. Its one BIG step closer to landing that big-time lawyer job we are hoping and praying for! He worked extremely hard at passing the bar exam and it paid off!! I am so grateful for a husband who works hard at studying, schooling, and work.

This is how we spent our weekend: On early Friday afternoon we left Owen (for the FIRST time overnight) with grandma and grandpa and drove down to Portland, OR! After a nice, scenic and somewhat silent drive without Owen there, we arrived about three in the afternoon. We got to spend the afternoon and evening with some dear friends from our BYU married ward, the Terrazas. They were awesome enough to let Shad and I stay there for the night so that on Saturday afternoon we could attend to BYU vs. Oregon State game. It was fun to play games, talk, and reminisce with them about our Provo days and talk about where life has taken us since then.

Shad with David:
Me and Rachel:
David and Rachel's ADORABLE kiddos!

Shad and I decided to take advantage of our kid-free night on Friday and enjoy a date night out downtown. Neither of us had really been to/explored Portland before. Recently we saw an episode of 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives' featuring a restaurant in Portland called Blueplate. So, we decided to go there! Shad had their NW sliders and I just kept it simple with a GIANT Cesar salad. We enjoyed the experience. The place was TINY, but had a unique feel to it. They made their own sodas, which were yummy, and kept everything to a "northwest" feel. Overall, I'd say we'd recommend it!

My salad (After I'd already eaten a good portion):
Shad's Sliders:

Saturday after having a fun, lazy morning with our friends we said our goodbyes and took the 1 and 1/2 hour drive down to Corvallis to arrive JUST before the game started. Too bad parking took FOREVER, so we missed a bit of the first quarter. But we found our seats and thoroughly enjoyed every second of the game.

It was a nice stadium. Good scenic views.

At half-time we found out that Shad had passed to bar! We called home to check in on Owen, to be informed that the news had arrived in the mail! At this point, the game was tied, so that happy news helped ease our anxiety a little bit!

Shad and I were surrounded by Oregon State Fans, with only a few Cougars around here and there. So... We weren't as loud as we normally would have been! Even though our seats were high up and in a sea of Orange, I feel as though we had good seats. And were treated pretty well by Oregon State fans.


After we had realized that we had this game in the bag with a SURE victory... with about 2 minutes left Shad and I headed down to the BYU section to celebrate with our fellow COUGARS and COSMO!
28-38 COUGARS WIN!!!! Awesome.
So. Much. Fun.

We got home late Saturday night, and woke up Sunday to be happily reunited with Owen! I missed him so much! But he did GREAT with grandma and grandpa and is so lucky to have wonderful grandparents that he LOVES so much (and vice versa!). :)

We topped off the weekend with a small group of friends and family on Sunday evening with dinner and pumpkin pie, Shad's traditional birthday treat!

Happy Birthday Shad, here's to your LAST year in your 20s!!!!!! Love you!