As of Late

Nothing too exciting has been going around our house but I thought I would post a few things that we have been doing as of late. Brent is pretty busy with school. He just started back last Tuesday, but he once again has homework and stuff to work on when he comes home at night. It was sure nice to have him come home in the evenings and hang out with Owen and me. I guess all good things have to come to an end. He is liking his classes and program quite a bit and has been working on a few papers for publication. He is hoping that one of the papers he is working on with a professor will be published and that he will be able to go to Rome this fall to present it at a conference. He is also staying busy serving in the Elders Quorum presidency in our ward.

It has been really cold here in Missouri and he has loved using that as an excuse to play with our fireplace! He has been gathering up everything and anything around the house to burn. Owen loves to watch the fire and pretty much sat there for a good half an hour just staring at it. Brent says he has to instill the love of fire in him while he is young. As if there is any little boy that doesn't love fire!

Brent and Owen watching the fire

Chillin' by the fire

Nothing too new is happening with me. I have slowly been adjusting to taking care of a baby. I guess the three things I have been doing a lot of lately is exercising, reading, and collecting and using coupons. I know, real exciting, huh? It doesn't really get better than that!

Owen is now three months. Here are a few things about him at three months.

He smiles pretty much all the time, unless he is hungry.

He is a cat napper. He likes to take 30 minute power naps.

His new favorite thing is watching his rain forest mobile. He loves it! Sometimes he will watch it for 15-20 minutes.

He LOVES getting his diaper changed.

He LOVES having no clothes on. He will smile and smile as you take off his clothes. I am not sure if that is a good thing!

He insists on holding his bottle with his hands when he is drinking it. It drives me crazy because he will knock the bottle out of his mouth a million times during one feeding.

If he is not eating, you are more likely than not to find his hands in his mouth. This also drives me nuts! He gets everything sopping wet.

He is "talking" a lot. The bad thing about that is that he likes to "talk" pretty loud in the middle of the night.

Here are a few random pictures.

Tired little boy

Owen holding his bottle

Tummy time
Hand in mouth


Owen under mobile from Melissa Clark on Vimeo.

Why I love being a Mom

There comes a time during each week, where I just have to remember why I love being a stay at home mom of a 2.5 month old little boy. So today I am using this as therapy to help me remember that I not only wanted to be a mom, but I asked for it! I could probably name at least 5 reasons why it is a challenge to be a mom, but I think I had better stick to postive thinking. Here are my top 5 reasons why I love being a stay at home mom.

#5-Rarely is there a time when I HAVE to get dressed and go somewhere. I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want. Believe me, most days I do.

#4-I don't have to deal with the pressures and challenges of a job outside our home.

#3-I am never bored. I love the challenge of trying to get as much done around the house as possible, while still feeding Owen every couple of hours and taking care of his other needs.

#2-I get satisfaction from that fact that I am trying to do what I believe is best for my family.

#1-I love the time I get to spend by myself with Owen. If I wasn't at home, I would miss out on all his cute smiles, laughs, baths, and "talking" that he does. Besides, who wouldn't love spending all day with this cute little thing.

Owen's Blessing

We decided to bless Owen while we were in Utah, since that is where most of our family is located. We had lunch before the blessing which was very yummy and then we had the blessing in the Relief Society room. It was a beautiful blessing that Owen was given. We are so grateful to have this sweet little boy in our family. He really is such a blessing to us. So glad we got to have both Grandpas there to participate in this special day for Owen.We are also very glad that so many of our family members would come and join us. Owen was kind of fussy during the blessing. I think he was still hungry after a fed him (shocker), but he did okay. Here are a few pictures.

Love this picture, I think he looks like he is glowing.

As close to a smile as I could get.

Our little family

Brent's side of the family

My side of the family

Christmas in Utah

So, since we were in Utah for the wedding and Brent doesn't have to go back to school until the 19th of January, we decided to spend Christmas with our families in Utah. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and to hang out. It was especially fun for everyone to see Owen. We spent the first couple of days after the wedding with Brent's sister Andrea. We just hung out and were pretty lazy for a couple of days. One of the most exciting parts of the trip was that while we were in Utah, Owen started sleeping through the night. Before our trip the longest he had ever slept was 3.5 hours and when we got to Utah he slept 5, 6, and sometimes 7 hours a night. Now that is what I call a vacation. The is one of the very best Christmas gifts a mom could receive...sleep! We went to see my brother and his family in Santaquin on the 23rd and had fun visiting with them. Sorry, once again I did not get my camera out to take any pictures. I really need to get better at this picture taking thing. On the 24th we went to my parents house in Oakley. We had a really fun time. We acted out the Christmas story while we were there. Owen was baby Jesus.

Joseph (sorry no Mary, she was taking the pictures)

Baby Jesus

Shepherd Girl

Shepherd Boy

Angels

The Three Wisemen

After we acted out the Christmas Story we sang Christmas songs around the tree. It was a very nice evening. The next day Owen woke up around 7 and was pretty happy so we decided to video tape him while he was happy. Here is a short clip.

The other kids in my family didn't get up until later, so we decided to wait on opening the presents and have breakfast first. Brent couldn't believe that we were going to eat before we opened presents. He decided to take a nap with Owen while he waited for the opening to begin.

When we finally got around to opening presents, Owen was asleep and then when he woke up he was pretty grumpy so we waited until the afternoon to have him "open" his presents.


Opening our stockings
Owen with Grandpa and Grandma


His first Christmas outfit

Can anyone guess what that present in the middle is? (Hint: It is something you can throw)

Here is a video of Christmas Day. It is kind of long and has a lot of background stuff going on. Enjoy!

Owen opening presents from Melissa Clark on Vimeo.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we are so grateful that we got to spend it with our family and friends. We were able to bless Owen while we were in Utah, I will post that tomorrow or later this week.

She did it...Marcie is finally married!

I have been slacking on the blogging lately so I guess I better jump back into the swing of things. We flew to Utah on the 17th of December to see my sister Marcie and her fiancee' Craig get married. I can't believe it actually happened. It is a little crazy to think of her as married. I guess that is always how I feel when people get married. One day they are single and the next married. Crazy! Anyway, my brother was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and then took me and his wife to a little dinner bachelorette party for Marcie. Sorry no pictures, everyone else was taking so many pictures I didn't think about taking any with my camera. Anyway, Marcie didn't know we were coming and it was fun to surprise her and for her to see Owen.

The next day was the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. I can't believe that I only have a few not so good shots of the bride and groom, I guess that is what you get when there are like 30 other people trying the same good picture. They had a nice family dinner that night in Bountiful and then the next evening was the reception. The decorations were beautiful. Marcie looked amazing in her dress. Congratulations, Marcie and Craig!


Them after coming out of the temple.

Marce with her beautiful cake. Kelie, our sister-in-law made it. Gorgeous!

I stole this one from facebook, since I don't really have a decent shot of both of them. I knew facebook was good for something.

Cute as can be!

Once again I find myself feeling like I need to apologize for posting nothing but pictures of Owen, but I can't resist posting these pictures of him in this cute little outfit. Isn't he cute as can be? Thanks Valerie, for letting us borrow these cute little clothes. Owen is growing and getting so big. He now weights close to 10 pounds. I guess that shouldn't be very surprising since pretty much all he does is eat! Hopefully, he can wear a few of his cute outfits before he gets too big. He is getting a little better with sleeping, but still thinks he needs to stay awake pretty much the whole day. The other night he slept for 3.5 hours straight, which may not seem like a lot to those of you who have perfect babies, but that is good for Owen. The best part of that 3.5 hours was that I actually was sleeping as well. Now that is something to cheer about!

True Blue Through and Through

I have always loved the story of Joseph F. Smith who at the young age of 19 was asked by a drunk, armed mob if he was a mormon. Joseph responded, "'Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.'" I love this story partly, because for a number of years I thought this saying was about BYU sports, particularly BYU football. Funny, huh? It wasn't until I was much older that I realized that this was not the case. However, I really think this is what Brent hopes and dreams that Owen feels one day about BYU sports. He hopes that Owen in a few years will be able to answer not only the question, "Are you a Mormon?" But also, "Are you a BYU fan?" With these fine words, "'Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.'"(I must say that Brent has never said this in so many words, and will probably get mad at me for posting this...but just know I tell the truth.)

So, this past weekend BYU played Utah and I thought it was an appropriate time to bust out the BYU shirt. Never mind that the size is for a 6 month old and that he has no idea or care about what he is wearing. Still, he was pretty cute. Brent made him do the fight song and do a little cheer before the game. Just the beginning, I am sure of many fight songs to be sung in the future. Good thing we won. Heaven forbid his first game wearing a cougar shirt be a loss. Go Cougars!