Born in the USA

So when we were growing up, the 4th of July was one of my favorite holidays. My uncle and aunt live up in the Canyons in Utah and every year, we would head up there first thing in the morning on the fourth and watch the annual Brighton canyon parade. It was great because anyone could be in the parade. My parents would decorate our big wheels or bikes and let us ride in it (this continued with the grandkids) or we would jump on the local fire engine and ride around the cirlce and throw candy out at the spectators. After the parade we would make our way over to Jolene and Don's (the aunt and uncle I spoke about) for some lunch. This was always a major treat. They used to own and restaurant and they definietly know how to cook. Yum!

Anyway... since Tyler, Owen and I are no longer within driving distance from Brighton canyon we had to make other plans for the fourth this year. We decided to drive up to Orlando and spend a couple of days in Winter Park. We arrived around 11 and met up with Landon and Mel who were spending time up there as well and we headed over to the Farmer's Market and 4th of July celebration they were having there. As you may or may not know, I love the show Gilmore Girls and this weekend, I walked right into that show sans Rory and Lorelei. . It was the perfect small town holiday. They had a huge stage set up with performers (cloggers to be exact), potato sack races and kettle corn (my favorite... yummy!). Here are a few highlights from our fourth of July weekend.

Eating our kettle corn. I seriously can't get enough of this stuff. Especially when the people selling it were claiming that there was only 250 calories in the whole bad. Not per serving... the whole bag. I beleived it for the sake of my mouth and belly getting some in it. Yumm!!!

The Fam

So this random woman picked Owen up and was dancing all over the place with him. He was LOVING it. So cute.

Us and the John family. We love you guys!

We loved this DJ. He had props for everything. So fun. Owen could not stop staring. Oh and for all of you aren't married yet but are planning on it one day, he does do weddings as well. I didn't ask if he brings his car along to all of his gigs but I bet if you asked him, he would.

Owen's first experience with a frog. Isn't the little guy cute?

Owen loving swimming with his daddy. He's getting the hang of kicking. It's super cute. (do I say that about everything he does? It just is... I can't help it)

Watching the fireworks over the lake from the dock. It was awesome.

Roasting some dogs and making some Birthday Banana Boats for Mel... bananas, chocolate and marshmallows... is there anything better? yumm....

Owen's first ride on a waverunner. He loved it for about three minutes and then he zonked (sp?) right out.

Celebrating Mel's Birthday. YAY! Happy Birthday Mel!

On the actual night of the fourth some friends invited us over for a BBQ and some fireworks. So fun. Thanks Kennedy's for the yummy kabobs!

We ended our weekend with a trip to the beach. We were super excited to be there and invited some friends to meet us. About half an hour into it, a storm rolled in and they kicked everyone off the beach for the rest of the day. What a bust.

Such a great weekend. I love the fourth and am so grateful to live in this beautiful country!

Onan

That's what one of Owen's cousins calls him... Onan. Cute huh? Anyway, since this is the only type of journal I keep these days I figure I should record some of our favorite things about Owen right now. So this is going to be a post that is all  things Owen. As I've said before, even though Tyler and I think he's the most amazing child that has ever been born, I guess it's possible (not likely but possible) that he's not perfect. But he's pretty dang close... we love this little guy.

(him helping frost cookies the other day... as you can see, he loves blue frosting)

Anyway... these are just a few things happening right now with our little man:

1. Owen has started talking. He says six words:

"Hot" (he gets it mixed up with things that are cold too, he hasn't figured the temperature thing quite yet)

"Dad" (Da)

"Yeah" (I love this one... when you ask him a yes or no question, he'll say yeah... so cute)

"Bye" oh and he waves when he says it.

"Dog"

And my personal favorite, "Yuck". He says this whenever he sees a bug in the house, which in Ft. Lauderdale, happens a lot. If you don't come get the bug right away, he is super persistent and won't walk away or stop saying it until you come pick the bug. It's so funny.

2. His favorite thing to eat right now is cottage cheese. He seriously can't get enough of it. Lately he hasn't been eating much but he'll eat cottage cheese any time of day.

3. He's learned to flap his arms like a chicken. Any time you ask him what a chicken does or bok (sp?) like a chicken, he'll do it. Awww... so cute.

4. He loves to dance. Any time he hears music, he stops whatever he is doing to dance. The other day we were outside playing in his pool and the ice cream truck was passing by, he heard the music from the truck and immediately stopped to dance. Love it, maybe he'll grow up to be part of the dance crew below...

5. He loves to play the harmonica. He'll be upset about something but the second you hand him the harmonica, he starts playing.

6. He loves cars and trains. He could play for hours just pushing a little train his aunt Carrie and Uncle Todd gave him around the house. Also, we'll go to our friend Nicole's house to go swimming and instead of playing in the pool, he wants to sit in their electric car and pretend to drive it.

7. He has the funniest fake cry. Sometimes he'll just walk around the house fake crying and then laughing, fake crying and laughing. I know we shouldn't laugh when he does it but it's just too cute not to.

8 He has a great sense of humor already. The other day he was done eating and started throwing his ramen noodles on the floor, I was below him picking them up and telling him that we don't throw our food on the ground, we eat it when all of the sudden there was ramen on my head and he was totally laughing. How does he know that it's funny to throw ramen on his mom's head while she is telling him not to throw it? I knew laughing would just encourage it but I could not keep a straight face.

9. He loves to be outside more than anything. He's super happy doing anything outside but his favorite thing is to play in the hose. Oh and squirt me with it. He thinks it's hilarious.

10. He loves his toothbrush, or my toothbrush, really any toothbrush he can get his hands on. This is another of his security items. You hand him a toothbrush and it soothes the crankiest Owen.

Oh we adore this little man!

And speaking of dancing...

Did anyone see this on So You Can Think You Can Dance?
I mean really... who is this good? Oh and did I mention that the guy in the middle has scoleosis?

So I thought I could dance...

Once upon a time, I was a dancer. Actually from the time I was four up until I was 16, I was in dance lessons. I started out in Jeannie's Drill looking like this:

Not sure why I wasn't looking at the camera but started out pretty cute right?

Then by the time I was 16, I looked like this:

What the world was I thinking? I mean really, this is pretty embarrassing. Two questions, why did I ever think it was ok to wear white spandex? Second question: Why did I think it was a good idea to hug my dance teacher like that? A little too close for comfort I think.

In between those years, I looked like this:

One of the highlights from my dancing years... When I was eight, I performed at Lagoon. In addition to the team dances we did, I also performed a dance that I had choreographed myself. I ended up the "Queen Dancer" in my division. I'm not sure if it was the cartwheel into a split ending that got me the first place prize or if it was the fact that I was the only girl dancing in my team uniform for my single performance. I've always wondered if they felt bad for me because they thought we couldn't afford another uniform. In reality it was because neither my mom nor I knew I was supposed to wear a separate outfit than I wore in the team dance. Either way, I walked away a proud dancer that day.

These two are my favorites out of all of the pictures for a number of reasons. In the fisrt picture you can clearly see my wall of bangs. Thanks to Rave aerosol hairspray, I was able to get this affect happening. In the second picture, it might be a little hard to see but I've got a major padded bra. So if you were looking closely at this picture you would see the lumps from a unfulfilled padded bra underneath a super tight dance uniform. I'm sure there are a million other things we could pick apart in these pictures but let's leave it at those two, shall we?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anyway... like I said, I took dance for 12 years. Now that I'm a mom, Tyler and I dance with Owen all the time. One of Owen's favorite activities is to have me turn the IPOD up super loud after breakfast and then we dance around the kitchen. So, you would think I would have some dance moves up my sleeve but when my ten year old nephew asked me and Owen if we wanted to turn on some music and dance last week and then proceeded to tell me that he didn't know how to dance, I had nothing to show him. Instead I had to call Tyler up to do the worm for him so he would be impressed. My parents spent countless dollars on dance lessons for me and I couldn't come up with anything other than the roger rabbit or the running man to show him.

This is me and Tyler trying to show Carter our dance moves... as you can see, he may not be super impressed.
Please Em and Tiff (yes, I'm calling you out in my blog right now, oh and sorry if you didn't want these pictures out in the blogosphere for all to see... love you!) remind me what we learned all those years in dance... I'm sure there was something Kelly taught us that I could pass on to the next generation...

Memories with Gordon Lightfoot

This morning as I was getting ready for church, I was listening to the local radio station when a Gordon Lightfoot song came on. As soon as the song began, I immediately thought of my dad. Pretty perfect right? Since it's Father's Day today and all. When I was little my dad would play the guitar for us and one of the artists he played the most of was Gordon Lightfoot. I could have sat all day long on the computer room floor and listened to him play "Susan's Floor" or "Circle of Steel". He also played some other songs that quickly became favorites when we were young like "Super skier" and "Grandma's Featherbed".


So, for Mother's Day I listed the things I love most about my mom and I'm sorry to all of you who read this and don't want to have to read another list of me bragging about one of my family members but I've just got to do it.


1. Ok, so you saw my number one. He plays the guitar and I have so many great memories of camping and listening to him playing the guitar around the campfire. Oh and I did I mention he can play a few songs on the banjo, accordion, harmonica and piano as well? He's a musical guy...

2. He's a total handyman. If there was or is anything that needs fixing, even if my dad doesn't have the parts on hand, he'll figure out a way to rig it up so it works. Over the past ten or twelve years as each of his kids have purchased homes, my dad is right there to help us fix up whatever needs fixing. Thanks to him, we were able to get everything fixed on the condo in order to sell it. While Tyler and I sat here on the beach in Florida, Dad was over at our house in Taylorsville making sure everything was in order. On top of that, he never complained once, at least not to me.

3. He's one of the most patient people I've ever met. When we were younger we would go boating. Mom and Dad would let us bring friends and on several occasions, those friends had never skied. My dad would set them up and spend all day trying to get them up on skis. He never cared how long it took or how many times they'd fall, he would always encourage them to get up and try again. I love that.

4. He loves my mom and he's not afraid to show it. My mom and dad are always holding hands, hugging and kissing. Some people get grossed out at the thought of their parents kissing but I love that my dad is not shy about how much he loves my mom. He wants to make sure everyone knows it. I think it's so cute that they still act like they are teenagers. Because he respects her and loves her so much, he also taught my brothers to respect women. I think it shows with how they treat their wives. I'm sure my sister-in-laws appreciate that quality.

5. He's the most genuine, real guy you'll ever meet. Do you know what I mean by that? He is the same around everyone. He never has to put on a show or feel like he has to act differently around certain people just so they'll like him. He's always Dan and everyone loves him immediately because of it. Everyone feels comfortable around him and feels an immediate connection with him.

6. He can totally make me laugh. He does little things like if he sees a camera sitting around, no matter whose it is, he'll pick it up and start taking pictures of spoons, tables, someone’s foot, whatever random things are around at the moment that nobody would probably ever want a picture of. It drives my mom nuts and I think it's hilarious.

7. I mentioned earlier that my dad is a handy man. While I was growing up, if my dad was every fixing something around the house, or on the car, and you were around, he would explain what he was doing and let you help with it. Instead of just doing things for you, he would teach you how to do that. When I moved out on my own, I realized how important that was to know how to be self reliant. (Thanks Dad!)

8. He's the hardest worker ever. I'm not exaggerating. He's always taught us that if you are doing a job, you should always give your all, no matter what. For as long as I can remember, Dad would go into work about 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning and put in a 12 hour work day.

9. He's one of my best friends. I know I said this about my mom as well but it's true. My parents are some of my best friends. I talk to my dad at least once a day if not more and he is one of the first people I want to talk if something good or bad happens in my life.

And last but not least...

10. Although he doesn't have it anymore, he's one of two men in the world that look really handsome with a moustache. Him and Tom Selleck.

Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

The Beehive State

That's where we spent the last two weeks and guess what? Until the last night we were there, I only took a total of like three or four pictures... why is that? I have no idea, I posed that question to Tyler a couple of days ago when I realized that we had been there for ten days and the only pictures I had taken were with my phone at lagoon (IT'S WHAT FUN IS! For real, I really agree with that... it really is what fun is.)

And when we took Owen on a little go cart ride. He loved it! I think he is going to be a little adventurer; he had no fear when it came to hopping on that thing. He couldn't wait. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture while they were actually riding, but you get the idea.

Tyler thinks I didn't take more pictures because we used to live in Utah so we don't really feel like we need pictures of it. I think it's because I'm lame and just didn't really ever think about it. I must not be a true blogger yet.

Anyway, we had a fantastic time. We spent pretty much every waking moment with family and it was perfect. Well almost perfect. The two things I wanted to do the most while I was in Utah were hiking and a pedicure with mom... didn't do either of those things. We thought we'd wait until this past weekend to take a nice long hike and then it rained all weekend so we didn't get the chance. We did however make it up the canyon to take a little walk around Silver Lake. I loved it. (and I finally remembered my camera).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tyler and I also sold our first two babies this weekend. Ok, so they aren't really comparable to babies but we really loved them and had great memories with them the first five years of our relationship. Good bye ATV's! Oh and thanks KSL for helping us sell them in 24 hours or less. Seriously, isn't KSL great? Owen was sad to see them go. When Tyler brought them to my parents on Saturday, Owen couldn't wait to be the first to get a ride. I have a feeling that he'll be able to talk us into buying some more when we get back to Utah in a few years.

(Aren't my boys so cute?)

Like I said, the last night we were there, I finally took some pictures. My parents had the family over for a little shin dig before we left. Thanks Mom and Dad! I got quite a few pics but my favorite picture that was taken wasn't even one that I had taken. Owen's aunt Carrie sent it over today and I loved it. As you can see, he seriously could not get enough of pink fluffy salad. He's really a boy after is his dad's heart, although I don't know that Tyler has ever licked it off the table, at least not while anyone was watching.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The only other regret I had while I was there was that there wasn't enough time to see all of the friends I really wanted to see while I was in town. I figure at Christmas when we're home, we'll just have to make it happen. Maybe we’ll have to spend a month out there in December. Two weeks just wasn't long enough.

A lot of spit and a little bit of air can produce this sound...

I'm his mom so of course I'm going to say this but really... isn't this one of the cutest things you've ever seen?You're probably going to think when this video begins that it's going to show Owen playing an actual song, like he's a child prodigy or something. He's not, he's just really cute when he plays so I figured I'd post it. I mean who wouldn't want to see a really cute kid walking around playing a harmonica and dancing? Even if you don't, I know I'll want to look back on it and watch him doing it, you know, because he's my son and all. So for the sake of this online journal I'm keeping, even if you're not interested, here is Owen playing a harmonica.
Let me apologize in advance for two things... one: my voice when I talk to Owen. I know it's super high pitched and a little annoying but it's how I talk to babies. I can't help it. Two: Please excuse the mess. We'd been playing in the toybox and what can I say... it gets messy.


Oh... one other thing that is super funny to me... Instead of carrying around a security blanket, lately Owen has been carrying around a security spatula. First thing in the morning he wants to go to the kitchen to pick out a spatula or two or three and carry them around with him everywhere. This particular picture we were in the car and he had carried it out there with him. I love it. So funny.