Christmas Advent Calendar

I wanted to make a advent calendar for Christmas this year, but wanted to find something really simple. I found this one on someone's blog and thought it looked pretty easy to recreate, so I decided to give it a try. It took a little longer than I thought, but it was way easy and I think it turned out cute. Pretty much all you need is a mini muffin pan, magnetic tape, numbers, card stock, and ribbon. I put a couple of dove chocolates in each one, but I think I may add a scripture to read each day for next year. .My nieces came over the other day and thought it was the coolest thing ever! I think it helped that they got to eat that day's candy!

Update

Well, I guess I am a little behind, since I just looked and realized I haven't posted since Halloween! Wow, I didn't think it had been that long! To be honest, I haven't taken that many pictures since then, but I have a few.

Thanksgiving was really good. My sister and her husband came from Texas and my brother and his wife that just moved to Independence also came, so we have four out of the eight kids in Columbia. We had a really good time. We ate lots of good food and played a lot of games. On Friday we headed down to the WorldMark at the Lake of the Ozarks. We were able to all stay together in a penthouse for two nights. We played a lot more games, enjoyed the hot tub, and went to Tangled at the movie theater. It was fun, but as always it is nice to come home and get Owen back to a normal schedule. I did not take one picture of Thanksgiving-not one! I can't believe I was such a slacker.

Owen is still a wild man. He is constantly getting into things and driving me crazy pretty much all day long. He is also very cute and constantly makes me laugh with all he is learning and doing. Here are a few funny things he is doing lately.

• He has starting staying "uh-oh" after doing everything. I keep telling him that if he does it on purpose, you don't say uh-oh. He doesn't seem to be listening.
• He loves to dance to any music and head bang to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." It is hilarious.
• He is SUCH a mama's boy. He has starting crying when I won't hold him or try to give him to Brent. Hopefully, he grows out of it in a few months.
• He tries to whistle and actually gets some sound out some of the time. I keep telling him if he keeps this up he will be whistling better than his Aunt Marcie by the time he is two. :) (Just kidding, Marce)
• He tries to imitate any sound or face you make. For example, we have been having quite a few fires lately as the weather has turned cold and when the fire cracks, he claps his hands together because that is what he thinks it sounds like. Another example is when an elderly gentleman was bearing his testimony a few days ago in church and Owen starting growling like a tiger because the speaker's voice was kind of gravely. It was hilarious, but also kind of embarrassing.
• He doesn't like to eat much these days. It is such a chore to feed him. He really likes pizza, lasagna, and of course bananas.
  
  
  

  Owen loves to play with this bowl on his head. He gets the biggest kick out of running around with it on his head.

Playing with the diaper box

I came out of my bedroom a couple of weeks ago to find Owen perfectly arranged on this pillow that he got off the couch.

He loves to climb on the dishwasher. He has also learned how to unlock the dishwasher, which is annoying because he won't let me start it for longer than 5 minutes before he is over there unlocking it and turning the cycle off.

Brent's birthday. I am a lame wife. I didn't even post anything about it being his birthday about a month ago. He asked for trifle, so that is what he got!

Opening his presents. Brent, even though it looks like Owen is opening them!

Playing outside before it turned cold

Halloween

We didn't have too much excitement for Halloween this year. Since it was on a Sunday we didn't really do much except go to our ward's truck or treat. It was a short lived, but it was fun for the few minutes we were there. Owen was a duck this year. About a month and a half ago, I started practicing with Owen to say "quack". When I first started saying it he would say "ack" but by the time Halloween rolled around he must have been bored of saying it because he wouldn't say it. Oh well, he made a cute little duck even with out the sound effects.

Trying to eat the rocks

Brooke (Minnie Mouse), Jenna (Cat), Owen, and Brent (hippie)

Pumpkin Farm

On Saturday we decided to go to a pumpkin farm not too far from Columbia. It was beautiful weather. Owen loved to run around the farm and didn't really care what else we did as long as he could get down and walk by himself. We fed the animals, went on the hay ride, and just walked around and enjoyed the weather.

Holding the bunny

On the hay ride

Feeding the goats

Playing with the pumpkins

One Year

I wrote about Owen's birthday but didn't get a chance to write a few things about him from last month.

• Owen says "nana" for banana. He pretty much says it ALL the time because he loves bananas.
• He likes to take all of his clothes out of his dresser and carry them around the house with him, especially if they still have a tag on them.
• He is STILL a toothless little boy.
• Owen likes to play "peek a boo" with me during lunch.
• He is starting to enjoy books.
• He has started to do this fake little cry every time he gets his feelings hurt or we tell him not to do something.

Playing outside with the football
Cute boy

This is a common scene these days. He thinks he needs to play with every appliance we have.

Recently, Owen has been holding his hands behind his back while he is watching tv. Pretty cute.

He loves to play in this side cupboard. He will get inside, take all the stuff out, and then shut the door. He will stay in there for a few seconds and then open it to make sure we are still there.

Little O turns 1!

My baby turned one this past week. I can't believe it has been a whole year. Time has flown by. His actual birthday wasn't the most fun, because I had to do a lot of errands and he wasn't very excited about it. Later in the day we went for a walk to see the dogs in our neighborhood, since Owen loves dogs so much. Then Jenna and Brooke came over for a bit and we went and played at the park. That was fun. He loved it! That evening Kelie came over and helped me make Owen's cake. It turned out so good. Thanks Kelie!

We had his party on Saturday, so my brother Jon and his wife Vanessa could come. We celebrated by having dinner and then playing pin the tail on the doggie. We then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. I am a lame-o mom and forgot to bring the video camera, so the only video I got was of him opening his presents. Honestly, what first time mom forgets to record her child when they are eating cake and ice cream on their 1st birthday! Oh well maybe someday I will get the hang of this parent thing.

I love this picture. Brooke looks like she is having the time of her life.,Brent looks like he is trying to have fun and Owen looks like he is asleep!

Playing with the leaves at the park

On the bleachers in the park

Puppy Cake. Owen loves dogs. Too bad he was a little young to really appreciate how cute it turned out. In case you can't tell what is on top of his head it is a party hat with ribbon like curls coming out of the top.

"Blowing" out the candle

Having a taste of the cake. We just put the cake in front of him and let me have at it. After he threw all of the curls of the party hat on the floor he finally figured out he could actually eat the cake rather than just throw it on the floor.

Eating cake off the counter.

Playing on his new toy. He thinks he needs to make this face everytime I try to take a picture. Who knew they started making faces at the camera so early?

The loot. Owen got a cell phone that lights up and plays songs, some bath toys, a puppy book, a couple of shirts and a sweater, and a chair toy that plays music and reads a book. He loves the chair, but it is seriously an accident waiting to happen. I am actually shocked that he has not fallen over as he loves to stand up on it and bounce to the music.

Happy Birthday, Owen! We love you little man!

Vimeo isn't letting me upload the video very quickly so I will post it on here tomorrow.

Untitled from Melissa Clark on Vimeo.

27

I turned 27 this last week. I can't believe I'm this old. I had a good birthday. I was thinking I wouldn't really see Brent very much since he had a big paper due that week, but he surprised me and came home early. I made an ice cream roll and invited Matt and the girls over to share it with us. I got a few shirts that I picked out myself and a coupon holder since Brent is always annoyed to find my coupons all over the house. I also got some homemade coupons which I will for sure be redeeming soon. It was a fun evening. Here is the only picture I got.

11 Months

Well since Owen is almost a year old, I guess I better do his 11 month old post. Here are a few things about Owen this month.

• He loves to knock over blocks. I can't even put two blocks on top of each other before he thinks he needs to knock them over.
• When I pat his back, sometimes he will pat my back. So cute! I love when he does this.
• He loves bananas and lunch meat. If it were up him he would eat that all day long.
• He has become quite the mimicker. He tries to say everything we tell him to say. He usually doesn't sound like it, but he always gets the right amount of syllables.
• He is obsessed with dogs. He loves to see them or play with stuffed ones or watch videos of them. The other day I pulled up a few videos of dogs barking and he LOVED it. He tries to bark all the time. I will try to get it on video.
• Still no teeth, but you wouldn't know it, he tries to eat everything he can get. Hasn't choked...yet.
• Lastly, Owen decided about two weeks ago that he wanted to walk...so he did. He started walking and hasn't looked back. He walks everywhere, stands up from sitting position, and thinks he is so grown up. He walks like a little old man. It is so cute.
  

You can kind of see his nose scrape in this picture. The other day I was folding laundry and when I went to put something away Owen was playing with the laundry basket. When I came back he had a little circle of skin that had been scraped off his nose. I guess he did it on the laundry basket. He didn't even cry. It looks a lot better in this picture than it did after it scabbed over.

Playing in the dishwasher. You can see from his shirt he was really getting into it.

He thinks he is a puppy. He barks like one (well sort of like one), chases balls and other things you throw for him to retrieve and chews on everything.

Owen walking from Melissa Clark on Vimeo.

Utah Trip-Part 2

My family got together for a swimming party and FHE while we were in Utah. We went to Veterans pool in Provo. I really do love this place. It is fun and cheap. Owen loved playing in the water, but he was more interested in crawling out of the water to find things to chew on. After the pool we had pizza at the park and had a mini family home evening. It was a good evening and so fun to play with all the cousins. I don't have any pictures, so you will just to imagine how fun it was! After the party I went to visit my brother Dan and his family who live in Santaquin. It was fun to see all the kids and for Owen to hang out with his cousins. Here are a few pictures of our visit.

Owen and Nathan bonding in their booster seats

We went to this pond to feed the ducks. Some of those ducks where VERY aggressive. I thought they were going to peck us to death.

This is what Owen was doing for a lot of the time. I guess he was bored by the crazy ducks.

Cute boy

Nathan and Owen again in their pj's

After a couple of days we went back to Oakley to spend more time with Grandpa and Grandma Morgan and to wait until Brent got into town. Owen meet so many new people and faces that after 9 days of not seeing his Dad, he cried and wouldn't let me leave the room without him. It took him a couple of days, but he eventually remembered that Brent was his Dad.

Playing with Grandpa

More playing

Owen with his new cousin Cannon. Not the best picture of Cannon, but this was the best I could get before Owen tried to claw Cannon's eyes out.

The day after Brent got to Utah we headed down to Provo to watch BYU's practice scrimmage. Owen didn't think it was the greatest fun, but his Dad sure did.