Vacation Day Dreamin' – Our Honeymoon Part 1

Stepping off the plane, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Humidity made my sweatshirt feel so heavy.  It all happened fast.  We went from a plane tarmac to an un-airconditioned bus.  Then we were shipped to the airport and the long line for customs.  Once we passed the security guards and strange smells, we were led to an Apple representative who wasn't sure we were supposed to be there.  After about 30 minutes, a short stocky man in a bright purple and red shirt came back with a few papers.  He said "Follow me!"  We were promptly put into a tiny yellow car, heading to our resort...or so we hoped!

Vacation Day Dreamin' – Our Honeymoon Intro

Recently I did some serious rearranging of items in my scrapbooking space. And I dug some older books off the shelf and remembered that I had every intention of putting these books out on display in our living room some way or another. They haven’t made it there yet as sad as that is! But I realized I LOVE my Honeymoon book. It not only documents some of the best parts of our trip…it also tells our honeymoon story. I wrote real journal entries that flow together and tell a story, and it is amazing how different that makes the book verses my other books where journaling isn't consistent or doesn't flow together. I worked for months on that book and redid more than one of the pages…but I think that’s when I was doing my best scrapping.

That trip was such a special time for us…and I wanted to incorporate it into our blog as part of my vacation day dreamin' posts. Those are the ones I started back here. So over the next week or two...I'll be sporadically posting a few recaps if you will, of the story I told, straight from the pages of my scrapbook.  I'll also post the pictures that appeared with each page. I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with me!

Owen in Pictures

The first thing I did with my camera was start snapping photos of Little Man. I tried to take a few of the dog, but when the flash popped up she ran from me…so I had no luck there! Regardless here’s my favorites

Thankful Thursday

Spending Friday afternoon hanging out with my Mom and Owen
Taking Owen to see his first UABC basketball game

Enjoying dinner with Jer, Owen, Jackie, Paul, Jonnie, April, Mike and Stacey after the game
Catching up with Jackie about the wedding plans
Drinking a delicious Blue Moon on draft ;)

Antiquing, lunch and girl time on Saturday with Steff
BBQing and playing Scene It as Linoski's Saturday night and an evening of adult time to relax and laugh and have fun

Enjoying fellowship at UABC on Sunday morning

Driving around and seeing 13 or more eagles near the River
Feeling busy and needed at work
Lipton Cold Brew Ice Tea Bags

Finishing Eclipse and being excited to read Breaking Dawn
Motrin and icy teether rings that helped Owen feel better from his cold
Bee Movie and Owen's love for it

Realizing that I didn't know how much I love not having school...until now...when it's finally sunk in that I'm not going back...AND I'm feeling motivated to dig into my hobbies and do things like scrapbooking for fun again!  YAY!
Finding out that Jan has a blog and a suprise phone call from her!

209

I was looking at my blog and in 2009…I posted exactly 209 posts.  I’m determined to keep track of the year in every way shape and form I can! So…my intention for 2010…is to post at least 300. That shouldn’t be hard to accomplish...but we'll see in December of next year where I'm at with my goal!

Happy 10 Months Little Man!

It's hard for me to believe that Owen is 10 months old today.  In just another 2 months we'll have a one year old at home and that fact in itself blows my mind.  Where has the first year gone?  The time has gone so very fast!  Since I've missed the last two months of diaper pics, I wanted to try my hardest to wrap up the final 3 of months his first year the way I started...along with a few more additions to his list of endless talents!

Owen now has 6 teeth.  New Year's Eve he got his second top tooth...and just this past weekend he got the two next to it.  (I should probably learn the names of the teeth...maybe Stu from the Hangover could help me out?)
He can walk with his walker...as I showed in this post here.
He gives double high fives...so high tens?  I'm hoping to capture this on video and figure out how to load it here. 
Has tried and loved many of the following foods - pancakes, green beans, cheerios, waffles, eggs, bananas and cheese!
We swear he can say hi, dadda and more
He has learned to scream when you tell him no...
Loves the TV remote and the fireplace doors...which warant him a lot of those no's he hates so much
Had his first bubble bath
Has his teeth brushed at nightime
Knows how to turn the pages in his counting book (and other books) and points to certain things each time you open it.
Dances with Jer and thinks it's hysterical...also something I'd like to get a video of.
Got his third cold today...on his 10 month b-day :(

He's an amazing little boy and we are blessed beyond belief.  Thank you God for Owen.

Mr. Big Stuff

Yeah Mom.  I'm good like that! 

Nope...I don't need help.  I meant to crash into the shelf. 

Ok...put the camera down and come play with me will you??

For some reason...

I can't figure out why I can't find any of the movies I want! 

Hmmm...I think we have a culprit.

What Mom?  I'm just rearranging!

Yep. This one goes right there.

Interesting Concept – Stripped Down with Peter Walsh

I watched this on Oprah the other day.  The family he chose on the show was a great family. Great kids and sweet parents. And they didn’t even realize it was happening to them until someone pointed it out. Anyway…it was great food for thought for me and I thought others out there might enjoy it too!

Bathtime and Crazy Hair

I mentioned that our son is working on his first mullet...but he's also working on his first mohawk.  Here are some pretty funny pics we got of him during one of his recent baths!

Post-bath sporting a grin and his Bears towel. Too bad we couldn't bring them any luck this year!  Thanks Uncle Mark, Aunt Shari, Jennifer, Jessica, Jeff and Jordan for Owen's adorable towel!

Thankful Thursday...a catch up.

Lots of catching up to do since I have missed the first few Thursdays of the year.  But even though I haven't posted, I've kept track.  Without further ado...here is my catch up Thankful Thursday!

Seeing Avatar in 3D...not only my first 3D movie in 27 years but a chance to double with Jonnie and April for the first time in a long time.  We had a great time!
Kicking off the new year by enjoying all the best things about friendship and the simple things in life.
Spending time at home with Jer and Owen...in my sweats...doing nothing but relaxing.
Doing so much of that I was itchy for fresh air and time away from the house
Trying new recipes...baked mostaccioli and spinach salad...delicious
Starting and finishing a jigsaw puzzle with Jer.  I hope it's the first of many.
Feeling refreshed returning to work after my break.
Getting to spend 2 whole weeks with Owen and how much that meant to me after all my weeks of school.
Getting adjusted to the work week without school.
A snow day where we worked from home and stayed warm in our pj's.
Watching it snow.
Learning something new at work.
Bubble baths.
Cleaning in my scrapbook space.
An amazingly awesome Friday night filled with crafting, dippin dots, and gilmore girls episodes.
Time to breathe.
Putting scrapbooking on the calendar.
Starting to think about Owen's 1st birthday party.
Getting a new camera.
My helpful, patient and amazing husband who makes my world go around!
InterACT starting back up
Amoxicillin and amazing ear drops that made my ear infection better within a day and a half.
Feeling at home at church.
Motivation and time to blog.
Packed lunches from home.
A fully open week and a fun-filled weekend to look forward to.

My New Toy…and another goal accomplished!

For a number of reasons that I don’t need to get into here, I’ve been dying for a DSLR camera. I don’t really need one…really. But I love what they can do and I also love the idea of having a very high quality camera to capture life. And that falls right in line with my hobbies of scrapping and blogging. Anyway…we saved up for a few months and we made the purchase this weekend. Very exciting and very cool. I haven’t had much time to mess with it…and I know I’ll never be able to do everything the camera does…but my best friend has a camera just like this and she was my initial inspiration for the purchase. So I’m hoping she’ll teach me the ropes and a little of her photog creativity will rub off on me!  This also accomplishes half of my goal mentioned here…and the other half is a class. That is still in the works!

Here are few of the first pics I took.

Nine Months and counting…

The Saturday after Christmas Owen turned 9 months old! It’s just nuts to think about how much has changed! Though this post is closer to his 10 month birthday than his 9 month birthday, I wanted to post it anyway. Between month 8 and 9:

His weight hasn’t changed but just a little. At his 9 month check up he was 21 pounds, 14 ounces

He is 30 and ¼ inches long

He lights a fire behind him when he takes off crawling

He is cruising across all of our furniture…baby gates…whatever he can stand up in front of.

He has taken a liking to the steps…and scares his parents half to death.

Took his second Walnut Road Trip on his 9 month bday

Drinking bottles completely on his own

Is growing his first and last mullet…it’s curly and blonde…and we’re pretty sure we’re gonna have to get it cut before he turns one.

Cut his first top front tooth

Has learned that No means No…to which he will stop what he is doing…smile at you and then continue on with what he wants to do

Laughs at Alvin and the Chipmunks

Is starting to talk. His ba ba ba’s are directed at objects…and if you ask him where’s Mama or Dada…he will look at me or Jer.

Plays peek a boo with us over his baby gate and his crib.

Keeps us on our toes each and every day!

Puzzling...

Mom bought me a jigsaw puzzle of Santa as part of my birthday present. It got me itchy to get into puzzles once again. Steff and Bryan also gave us this very cool puzzle that is a picture of us! I’m hoping to put it on our wall in a frame after we put it together. Winter is the perfect time for this sort of relaxing activity. Some people might think it’s dorky…or silly…or even just plain boring. But in the summer…our favorite past time is to sit outside, with a glass of wine and BBQ and enjoy the weather. In the winter we lose that time. And in an attempt to get it back and just to carve out time at home…we purchased this jigsaw puzzle.

After about a solid 2 hours of work we accomplished this much:

And since drafting up this post we finished it. 3 nights of work and we’re done!!

Our next attempt is the one of ourselves. Wish us luck!!

The Power of Generations

I think mostly b/c of the fact that Owen has Great-Grandparents still with us, I’ve come to understand the amazing power of generations. And respect how very awesome it is that we have time with them to share life together.  As I find myself saying over and over again…we are truly blessed. And I never want to forget a moment we have with these important members of our family and the legacy they have to share with us!  Our memories from the holidays this year are priceless.  Some of them include:

Pap taught Owen his first harmonica lesson. Owen almost made a noise with it.

Uncle Doug played my Great-Grandma Clark’s (so Owen's Great-great) piano which he has beautifully refurbished.  He played for Grandma Flo and then he showed Owen a few notes. I even got on the piano and played a few Christmas songs and Mom and I sang to Owen.

Owen was also able to enjoy time with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Linley during our trip to Walnut over the holidays. Owen enjoyed all the wonderful traditions we love about Grandma and Grandpa's house.  This year Grandpa passed around a picture of the family farm and told us stories about its history.  We didn't catch a picture of the picture, but hope to get one soon!