Surprise trip to Utah

I decided, kind of, on a whim (or what I thought was a whim) that I wanted to go to Utah to visit my Dad for his birthday and for Easter. I looked at plane tickets and realized that Southwest was having an awesome deal, so I emailed my Mom and set everything up without my Dad knowing. As it turns out I don't think my thoughts to visit my Dad where anything close to whimsical, in fact I am pretty confident I was lead to do what I did by the Spirit. I thought many times that maybe I would just wait until May when Brent had a conference and would be gone a lot of the week, but I just kept thinking I wanted to be there for Easter and his birthday. So grateful that I was not only able to see him but to be able to visit with him and have him play and read with Owen and enjoy some of his last days on the earth.

Brent couldn't come with us, so Owen and I made the flight by ourselves. Owen did okay, but not great on the first flight and was really good on the second flight. My Mom and Mark picked us up at the airport and brought us back to Oakley. My Dad was taking a nap on the couch when we came in and we totally surprised him big time. I was a little worried that he actual knew I was coming, but he claims he had no idea. Owen took a little while to warm up but after some dinner and a bath he was sitting around watching soccer with uncle Mark and Grandpa and loving life.

We had a great trip...except for the sleeping part. Owen decided around 2 or 3 in the morning every night that he didn't want to sleep in his pack n' play and because I didn't want to keep everyone else up, I let him sleep with me, which meant I didn't get much sleep. I was pretty frustrated most nights and even thought so many times that I shouldn't have come because I was so tired and worn out. Of course I completely think it was worth every stressful night and although I wish it would have been more restful, I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

We didn't do anything real exciting while we were there, just played with the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa and with "Key"(he called Mark this after about the second day). Owen was obsessed with all the balls my nieces and nephews have in there house and between that and all the "O" looking toys he was set. He was a little scared of Grandpa for some of the time, but mostly think it was because he had oxygen. There were a couple of things he would do with Grandpa and that was show him his alphabet book and run his cars across his tray. In fact he just kept wanting to show Grandpa the page of the letter B because the balls were on that page. Grandpa kept wanting to move on, but Owen kept flipping it back. It was actually pretty funny. He did however, say most of his letters for Grandpa on his birthday right before we had the party. I think it was the best he has ever done them as far as saying so many in a row.

We went swimming in the indoor pool they have in Kamas. Owen loved the slide and kept wanting to get out of the pool everytime after we went down so he could do it again. Needless to say he wasn't very happy about having to go home.

Reading with Grandpa

Playing with the b-ball under the stools

Swimming and playing with of course a water ball

We had an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Here is Owen with Daylen and Cannon

Smiling after realizing what is actual in the eggs

Watching Tangled with Mariah and Uncle Mark

Grandpa's birthday party

Mark and Grandma introduced Owen to punch. He didn't want to put it down, but he still wanted his milk as well!
I just love this picture of Owen. He just looks like he is having a good time.

Playing with all the "O" toys. If you look in the background you can see all the toys he had been carrying around that are circles or rings.

Owen with all the Melanie's kids. Mariah, Daylen, Cannon, and Maleah

We left on Thursday night to go visit some of Brent's family. We had a good time jumping on the trampoline, playing on the slide, and playing with Jack's basketball hoop.Valerie and Andrea (Brent's sisters) came and brought Emma and Annie. It was so much fun to see them. Owen loves to be around other kids, so he had a lot of fun playing with Emma and getting into trouble with her. We played games and had lots of fun.

So, glad I got to visit. We wish we lived closer to family. Maybe one day!

Being tickled by Uncle Rodney and cousin Jack

This is the best picture I could get of Owen and Emma. I think they really did like each other.

Jack and Owen. Owen loved playing with Jack. Quick side story that I want to remember because it was so cute. When we were saying good-bye to Rodney's family Jack said, "I am so glad that Missy and Owen got to come visit...but especially Missy. Ahh..isn't that so cute. I totally expected him to say, "especially Owen."

Laurie, Owen, and Jessica

Playing with the girls before bed

Spring Break 2011

Okay, so I am behind as usual. We went to Texas for spring break and had a fabulous time. Owen did pretty well on the trip except that he constantly wanted to be watching a show on our laptop. So, well it isn't that hard for me to give in since the choices are listen to him cry and scream the whole 12 hours there or just let him watch movies for most of the day and at least he is quiet. We left on Sunday after church and got there late that night.

Monday we just hung out at the house, since we were tired from our trip and since the weather wasn't cooperating very well. It wasn't that warm, but we did venture out to the little park by Marcie and Craig's house. Owen loved running around like a wild man more than he loved the park. I honestly don't remember what we did each night, since this was a month and a half ago. I think on Monday we went out to eat at Rudy's BBQ. Very yummy, as usual. Brent and I love going to Texas to eat good BBQ.

Looking out the window for the cat. He LOVED seeing this cat that decided to adopt Marcie and Craig.

Eating at Rudy's

Tuesday we were going to go to San Antonio so Brent and I could go to the temple and so we could go to the Zoo, but it ended up hailing and raining in the morning and so we decided we would go on Thursday. We ended up going to Austin's Children's Museum instead. Owen LOVED it. He has such a fun time playing with the balls and throwing them anywhere he pleased. He also enjoyed the building block at the construction site, the slide, and just being able to roam free with lots of other kids around.

Playing on the drums in the Mexican house

Loving the slide

Construction zone

Owen wasn't looking at the camera

Throwing things in the little kid play area

Balls, Balls, and more Balls!

Wednesday we went to Taco Cabana for lunch and then later that afternoon/evening we went canoeing in downtown Austin like we did last year. It was so much fun. Owen stayed with Uncle Craig and threw rocks into the water. After that we had a picnic dinner at the nearby park.

As we were coming home from the park, my stomach started to hurt really bad. I barely made it into the house. I laid down for a while, but the pain just kept getting worse. I thought I might have food poisoning because I felt so sick, but eventually the pain moved mostly to my right side. I had a terrible cough/cold at the same time so the pain was excruciating whenever I would cough. I had Brent and Craig give me a blessing and I somehow made it through that night, although I have to saw it was the most pain I have ever been in my entire life. I honestly thought I had an appendicitis. The pain was even worse than labor! I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep in the early morning and after that the pain was still there but it wasn't that bad. We decided not to go to the doctor since the pain wasn't nearly as bad and we figured if it was something serious the pain would have gotten worse not better. I went to the doctor when we got home and they are pretty sure I had an ovarian cyst burst and that is why I was in so much pain.

However, since we weren't so sure about why I had the pain we decided not to go to San Antonio and just stay around Austin. We ended up going to Tangled because Brent hadn't seen it and since it was a dollar theater we figured we could afford to leave if Owen decided he didn't want to watch it. Owen actually did really well and watched a lot of the movie. We actually own it now and he watchs practically the entire thing. After the movie, we of course had to stop by Round Rock Donuts and get a dozen for the ride home. They sure were tasty!

Smiling for Uncle Craig. He started cheesing it up whenever Craig started taking pictures.

Cooking some yummy chicken

Playing on the swing

We left Friday morning to head home. We loved seeing Craig and Marcie and they were wonderful hosts, as usual. Thanks for letting us come see you, Craig and Marcie!