Splitsville. Population: Us

On Sunday an amazing thing happened. It was certainly an answer to prayers. Though we've known it was coming for a couple weeks, I couldn't tell all you wonderful people about it until it actually happened. Our ward split! Huzzah! And another hearty "Huzzah!" for James' new calling as ward clerk in our new Greenridge Ward.

I am so excited.

Our new ward is so small - just our townhouses and the surrounding houses that make up the Greenridge development - but it is going to be awesome. And we are definitely excited that James will be in a position to use all the wonderful experiences we had in the 7th Ward to make this ward awesome. Seriously, the 7th Ward was like boot camp (in a good, loving way). I didn't realize how rare and wonderful it was until we were gone. The new Bishop is one of three men who actually know James and I am excited for James to be working with him.

The only downside is that between all the work of getting a ward running from scratch and James' last month of school (and the giant project he is finishing) I'm not going to see much of him during the month of April. The kids might forget what he looks like. But mostly we are excited about all the opportunities this change brings to us and everyone else in the ward. I love a challenge!

Dear Owen,

You are 6 months old today. Half-Year Birthday to You! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. You have brought so much to our family in such a short amount of time it's hard to remember our lives without you. If someone had told me that a baby could be as happy as you are ALL the time I would have thought they were nuts. You always have a smile for everyone. We call you Buddy and it fits so well because it is so easy to love you.

You are my happy, calm little man. You are our number 1 thumb sucker. You are always willing to eat, despite your sensitive little tummy (I've sworn off beans and green sauce for you - now that is love). You have yet to come close to sleeping through the night, though your beaming smile at 3 am almost makes it worth it. Almost. You love to play on your tummy and roll around. In the last month you have discovered your feet and I adore watching you play with them.


I have a feeling that you will be mobile before I'm ready for you to be. You already move around quite a bit. You're also not shy about shoving things in your mouth, so the next few months should be an adventure all around.

Daddy teases me that I have a crush on you, but it's true - you're just too handsome for your own good. We just can't figure out who you look like. We also can't figure out how your face can be so square and yet so round at the same time.

I am looking forward to the upcoming months and years with you in our family. You're definitely a keeper!

Love,
Mommy

P.S. I totally dare you to stop smiling.

The Wearing of the Green {Beans}

After a month of failed attempts, Owen started eating rice cereal two weeks ago. He has become a champion eater so I decided to move him along to veggies. Last week (when this title was still relevant) Owen got his first taste of green beans. To say he disliked them would be an understatement. I could only get him to take a few bites and he definitely wasn't as voracious as he usually is, but we'll keep trying. James and I had our traditional St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We loved every bite!

Take 1 happy boy in a high chair

Add anything but rice cereal

Yield: This Face

Update - after a few days Owen got the hang of green beans, though he still makes this face with every bite he takes.

A Laughing Matter

First of all, don't forget to visit Brooke Snow Photography to give us a chance at winning a photo shoot with her. The contest ends tomorrow!

Despite his many many many smiles, Owen doesn't laugh too often. Not a good belly laugh anyway. It's usually a shriek/giggle but that's about it. So It's nice to have this effect on him every once in a while:

Of course the one time someone rings our doorbell in weeks is while I've got the camera on. Here is Part 2:

Just Think of it as White Drool

Buddy Boy

Here are some shots of Owen. Can you ever get enough of this guy? We can't. Except at night. Then he wears out his welcome a little.

Let the Cuteness Begin

Here's one slide show. I should have another one up in the next day, if I can get out of bed long enough. This is only the third slide show ever on this blog. If you're curious, here is the first and the second. Enjoy!

"I'm just trying to PARK!"

Pictures coming tomorrow, I promise. But something just happened to me in the parking lot at Smith's that is SOOOO psychotic I just have to share it with all of you.

I was missing one ingredient for dinner so I had to load both kids up for a quick trip. The parking lot was packed but I found a spot near the front and, more importantly, near the shopping carts. As I was pulling into the spot, the woman in the space straight ahead decided she was going to pull through MY space to leave. I was half-way into the space when she started driving toward me. I thought she had made a mistake so I gave her a smile and waited for her to pull out the other direction.

She didn't.

Instead, she glared at me like I was in the wrong. After about a minute of me gesturing that I was trying to park and her giving me the stink eye, she pulled closer to my car and put her car in park. At this point I'm nearly shouting "I'm just trying to park!" from inside my car. Then, with her car half in the spot I'm trying to park in and half in the spot she used to be parked in, she gets out. I thought she was going to come and talk to me, maybe tell me that her car wouldn't reverse. But no, she just strolls toward the store as if she was going inside, even though I knew she was leaving. So I roll down my window and say, "Um, excuse me, I'm trying to park here." She gestures around the lot and retorts, "There are lots of spaces around." Which:
1) there were not, and
2) shouldn't matter anyway because she was leaving.

Finally I've had enough, so I turned the car around and headed for another spot. As I start to move she hops back in her car and as soon as I am no longer an obstacle, proceeds to leave the parking lot. I circled the row and parked in her original spot.

Another woman nearby saw the whole thing and told me that it was ridiculous. She had seen the woman in the store and also knew that she was leaving, so it wasn't just a battle over a prime parking spot.

So, crazy British lady who locked horns with me in a Smith's parking lot, if you're out there - What the heck, lady? And thank you for making my evening even harder than it already was.

Story Time: In a Blue Room

OK, I am currently editing pictures. I will probably just put them into a slide show as there are no significant events or witty explanations involved. In the mean time, enjoy Zoe "reading" a book.

This is one of SEVERAL that she has memorized. It is In a Blue Room, by Jim Averbeck.

Taking Care of Business

March is certainly roaring in like a lion around here. I have a ton of videos and pictures to sort through from the last couple months of being stuck at home, but those will have to wait as there is business to take care of first.

ITEM #1 - Have you noticed that the picture at the top of our side bar doesn't include Owen? Sadly, that is our most recent family picture. I think it's fair to say we are in need of another one. Perhaps one that includes all of our family members. Our former neighbor, Brooke, is an amazing photographer and right now she is running a contest on her blog. Whoever sends the most traffic to her site wins and the winner gets a photo session with her. So if everyone who reads this would kindly click over to her site and look around we would greatly appreciate it. If you want to click more than once, that's even better. I've added a link to her blog in our sidebar as well since the contest runs through St. Patrick's Day.

ITEM #2 - Twitter. I've purposely stayed away from Twitter for my own sanity. Between Facebook and the blog I figure I'm good. What more could you people possibly want to know about me? But then I was thinking - which is never a good thing around here - about my friend Erin's blog. She has a section in the sidebar called "Ethanisms and Aidanisms" that chronicles the funny/smart/odd/embarrassing things her awesome boys say. I've thought about stealing her idea for Zoe, but I'm so terrible at updating the sidebar I talked myself out of it. But lately Zoe has been saying so many "wonderful" things that I find myself calling James several times during the day to tell him what she's said. Then it hit me - Zoe needs to be on Twitter! So I set up an account for her and I update it throughout the day/week. What's even better is that I put the feed in the sidebar so her latest antics can be read right here on the blog. So don't forget to check out "The Good, The Bad, and The Nuggly" on the sidebar if you want to keep tabs on Zoe.

OK, that's it for now. Don't worry family (and friends), I'll have more pictures up soon! In the meantime, go here and imagine what it would be like if Brooke took OUR pictures!