Ski Trip 2008

Spring Break was almost a month ago, but I am just now finding a second to post about it. We had a lot of fun. We left first thing Saturday morning and got out to Peoa, UT just after lunch. There is a really fun rec center in a neighboring town with an awesome, indoor pool. We all went swimming that afternoon, even Grandma Call!!! (The water was like 90 degrees.)



Julia's first swim

Sunday we went to church with my cousins Melissa and Emily and their families. We even survived the three hours of church with sacrament meeting last. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. That afternoon we had a big family dinner at Aunt Julie's house. Since Tim first met my family, he has always been so impressed with how generous and hospitable all my extended family is. This was another example of that. Aunt Julie must have had about 40 people over at her house for dinner. Uncle Ara & Aunt Carla, Aunt Glenna, and Aunt Tami & Uncle Duane (who thankfully brought up Maude and Lola - Lindsay had been sorely outnumbered by the boys. Both Melissa and Emily have two little boys.) all came up from Provo. It was such a nice afternoon. Did I mention that I got a 3 hour nap? Ahhhhhhh. Heavenly. After dinner, some of us got involved in a massive "Shanghai" game. It was Call Family fun at its finest. So fun. Later that night, Dave and Jacob and Jared made it from Flagstaff. It was so great to see them.

Monday, Melissa and Emily took us to a great sledding hill. It was more like a bowl with hills on all sides. The kids had fun. These pictures were taken by Emily. Aren't they gorgeous?

(technical difficulties on the pictures. Check back later...)

Finally, Wednesday through Friday the three older kids and Dad went skiing, while Wesley, Julia, and I hung out together. It was cousin heaven for the kids. Grandpa went all three days. Grandma even braved the slopes the first day. Then, on Thursday and Friday, Don was able to join us with Mikaela, Hudson, and Dalton. It was so fun to see them. We even had a big cousins' sleep-over on Friday night.

Then, Saturday it was back home and back to reality. What a fun trip.


Here are some pictures:


The happy couple who make it all possible: Grandma and Grandpa Call


Me with Julia and Wesley going up the gondola (or "high sled" as Wesley called it) to meet up with the ski-ers at the end of the day


Let's see if I get this: Jacob, Samuel, Jared, Miles, Lindsay, Grandpa (and Uncle Dave in the background) They had so much fun.


On the way up the gondola: Lindsay, Samuel, Jacob


Jared, Miles, Uncle Dave

Me and Julia, how cute is that baby? :):)

Friday night when we overtook this little Mexican Restaurant in Kamas. Do I have cute nieces and nephews or what? Just look at that Dalton. So cute!!!

The girls' sleepover

The boys' sleepover

Julia's Three Month Pictures

Here are the pictures we got of Julia when she was three months old in her blessing gown. I know, I know. I went a little overboard on the whole gown thing. I just couldn't resist.

The Grames Family's Visit

From Saturday, March 8 through Thursday, March 13, Aunt Catherine, Uncle Keith, Emma, and Tate Grames came for a visit. Uncle Keith recently got a new job, so they had a week off. We were so excited when they decided to come visit us for that week. It was so fun. With all the kids (7 between the two families), we didn't get out and do much, but the cousins sure had a lot of fun just hanging out together. We love you, Grames Family.
We realized on the last night they were here that we hadn't taken any pictures. So sad. We made up for it, though, by taking 30 pictures the morning they left...
Here are some pictures from their visit:

Lindsay and Emma got to have a cousins' sleepover!! Emma fell asleep by about 8 o'clock, but Lindsay was still happy to sleep down there with her.

The Future Kindergarteners!!

No comments about the matching double chins, please!! :):)

The ones who didn't get to go to school: Tate, Wesley, Samuel, Emma

Latest Happenings

I haven't posted a blog for a long time. No real excuse. I check everyone else's religiously. I guess I am a blog stalker. Funny. Well, let me glance through some recent photos and see what looks interesting.

Ah yes, this is a picture of what we like to refer to as "Triple F": Forced Family Fun. It was two Saturdays ago, and it was in the upper 60's. We thought we'd go for a family hike. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Well, it was pretty fun (despite some very dramatic complaints from my favorite almost 8 year old boy...). We hiked to a sort of high point to enjoy our picnic lunch. Seriously, out of nowhere hurricane force winds (at least I know that the almost 8 year old boy comes by the drama honestly...:)) start blowing. I had Julia in the Baby Bjorn, but I was still freaking out because dust started blowing everywhere, too. You'd think by child #5 I'd learn to keep myself relatively calm during tense moments. Oh well. My freaking out panicked Wesley, Samuel, and Miles. Sorry, Tim!! We made it down okay. This picture's at the end of the trail when we realized we hadn't documented Julia's first hike. She'll be the native Coloradoan of the family.

This picture explains itself: a delighted 5 year old, his baby sister in the Bumbo (notice it's not on a high surface...) Her poor little nose is all goopy from the Aquaphor I was swabbing on it all day to protect it from all the goobies. She's feeling better now. Phew!!

Really. Have you ever known a 2 year old who could raise one eyebrow? He's such a funny little kid. He can also chew gum forever. It's hilarious.

Julia's Baby Blessing

February 3, 2008 was a special day for the Owens Family. Both sets of grandparents and other dear friends joined us for Julia's Blessing. It was a memorable day. She was a little fussy when Tim first brought her to the front of the congregation, but she settled down nicely (with the help of a pacy) for her blessing. Tim did a nice job. We are so grateful to be able to welcome this sweet spirit into our home. We think we might have a gentle soul this time around. We are definitely due one. :):)

Here are some more pictures:

getting dressed

Mommy looks a little tired here with me

the Owens women

the adorable cake Mommy got at Sam's Club

Miles' Day with Frankie the Frog

In Miles' Second Grade class, everyone gets a chance to bring home Frankie the Frog for the weekend. You're supposed to take Frankie with you on all of your adventures for the weekend. We, of course, didn't know about this until Monday morning, so we chronicled the "adventures" Miles had with Frankie on Monday night from 9-10pm. It was still, all things considered, a fairly eventful hour. Lucky for us, we still have Tim's parents visiting, so we had that excitement to chronicle.

Here are the pictures:

Doing spelling homework with Frankie

Frankie with Miles and Grandma Helen

Frankie with Miles and baby sister, Julia

Wesley Michael Owens

Wesley at 6 months
Wesley at 2 1/2 years old with what looks like cornstarch (see story below)
smeared in the background
Hmmmm, maybe it's time to clean off the scanner.

How do I describe my Wesley? So sweet, so cute, so seriously funny. So stubborn, so willful, so difficult. Bless his little heart. Somedays he's lucky he's so cute. He'd get in a lot more trouble if his sweet eyes weren't so good at melting my heart. Then, there's his hair. I got away with not cutting it at all for the first 15 months of his life. But you can't have a grandpa who's a barber (Grandpa Joe, Tim's Dad) and have long hair, even if it is adorable and curly. So, I got used to getting it cut. After the original haircut, I thought the curls wouldn't grow back. But alas, his hair is still completely curly but only in the back. It gets so puffy somedays that it doesn't matter if I comb it or not. It just starts taking on a life of its own. I'm always getting comments like, "Wow. What a head of hair on that little guy!" (Can you relate, Leslie and Cath? FYI-my absolutely adorable nephews Van and Tate both have the tons-o-hair thing going on, too!!)

Anyway, this photo was taken last Monday when all the kids were home from school for MLK's b-day. I was feeling like I was getting so much done. I got on the treadmill for my jog. Lindsay made waffles for everyone. #2 and #3 (Miles and Samuel) were keeping busy. I should have known things didn't bode well for me. I come downstairs to find my Wesley like this. At first I didn't even know what it was. Then, I discovered my now-almost-empty box of cornstarch. I was so proud of myself (Did I mention that my New Year's Resolution is to learn how to control my anger?). I just forced out a laugh and ran for the camera.

Yesterday I had my pile of mending out and was sitting at the sewing machine. He wanted to help but was supposed to be sitting at the table finishing he dessert. So I said, "Finish up, and then, you can come help me." He ran back and finished and then came bounding down. "Can I help now?" "Honey, your hands are all sticky. Go wash your hands and then you can help." "But I can't!" "What? Why can't you?" He pauses, and you can literally see the wheels turning. "Because...I'm a little bit big. But, I'm a little bit little." So adorable. He's right, too.

And....how can I post without a picture of my dolly? Here's a picture of her in the sweet outfit her Aunt Leslie sent her. You can sort of see what I mean about Wesley's hair from this picture.

Our Bathing Beauty

This is funny that I'd actually post about bathing Julia. I think she's had all of three baths in her 8 weeks of life. Poor 5th child. Bath time pictures are so adorable. I just had to post a few.

Being properly modest...:) Actually, the only way to keep her calm and secure is to keep a warm cloth on her little belly.

The gang's all here.

Fun in the Snow

Okay, so one of the reasons we liked Colorado was that it has all four seasons, but (at least down here in what they call the Front Range) the four seasons aren't all that extreme. People kept saying. "Yes, it snows, but then it melts off the next day." Or things like, "We hardly ever get a white Christmas, and if we do, it's melted off right after." Not that we mind the snow. I mean, this is a half Buffalo, NY family. (Samuel is constantly running outside in freezing temperatures without his coat yelling to me, "Mom, I don't need a coat. Remember? I'm a Buffalo boy like Daddy!" He was, after all, born in Buffalo like his Daddy.) So, last year, when we got pummelled with a foot or two of snow every Friday for about 4 weeks in a row, we were all delighted. I think it was during Uncle Dan's visit around Christmas that we came up with the idea of pulling the kids behind Tim's junker car in tubes on the snow-packed roads around our neighborhood. Now, before you go looking up the number to Child Protective Services, we go slowly. And only once has Tim taken a corner so fast that it whiplashed Miles all the way around the car by the front wheel...:):) Let's just say it's moderately safe, wholesome family recreation.


Here are some pictures from this year's excursion. Now that I think about it. I'm pretty sure I posted some from last year's trip, but I'll save you the bother of scrolling down through a year's worth of posts (which for me is really only about 10...) and put them here.

Lindsay and Wesley

Samuel and Miles

Remember this December?

Catherine, baby Matthew, Daniel, Caroline, Dad or Don, Jr., Douglas, Christopher, David (how could you not recognize that dark skin?)

Okay. My siblings (and there are a lot of them: 6 brothers and 1 sister) will definitely remember this. It was one of our favorite Christmas traditions. When we woke up on Christmas morning, we'd all dive into Mom and Dad's bed and wait for everyone else. In this picture, I count 8 of us, but I can't tell if it's Dad in the middle with us (and we're all impatiently waiting for big brother#1, Don) or if that's actually Don in there with us, and we've just plain kicked out Mom and Dad. Either way, it's a priceless photo with fond memories attached. Mom, don't be too mad that I absconded it. I'll give it back soon. Promise. :):)

Merry Christmas, everyone. I miss you all.

Just Julia

Here is a whole post dedicated just to Julia. When she was born, I wasn't up and going on the blog scene. Now that I'm back in the saddle, so to speak, I'll go back and fill you in on her arrival to our family.

She was born on November 16, 2007 at 3:03pm. Labor and delivery could not have gone better. It seemed like I had been contracting for a month, but finally Thurs. night to Fri. early morning, they got real. I finally called the on-call nurse at about 4am. She thought that since it was my 5th time around, I should just plan on going to the hospital by 9am or as soon as the contractions got as close as 5-8 minutes. They had been about 10 min. apart throughout the night, so I was just waiting. Then, when the kids got up around 7am for school, etc. , the contractions stopped. Weird. We did the morning routine, called my friend who had offered to come stay with Samuel and Wesley, and got ready for the hospital - all with no contractions.

My friend got here, and we headed for the doctor. I was prepping myself for the inevitable, "Well, nothing is happening, sweetie, so just head home and wait." But, when she checked, I was dilated to a SIX!!! Yeah!! My ticket to the hospital. Everything was still totally calm as far as contractions, so we took our time to get over to the hospital. There was one pretty strong one with some pressure that convinced me we didn't have time to go home for my wallet (Yes, Mom, I forgot my wallet. I know. I know. I should get a purse...:)). We headed straight to the hospital.

We got checked in. They got the IV going. The anaesthesiologist set me up (and I mean set me up...I felt nothing. Ahhhh.), and Tim and I basically relaxed and napped the rest of the morning. It was so calm. They started some pytocin and broke my water. Things kept on going calmly. Finally, the nurse came in and said that from the baby's heart rate monitor, she could tell that she was ready to make her appearance. They checked me, and I was at a 10! She said, "Well, why don't we wait until she lowers down a little more. Maybe 10 more minutes." I was like, sure. (This whole scenario is unthinkable when you're laboring without that epidural. It's funny the difference. Both ways are awesome, but I'll leave that discussion for another post...) Anyway, I ended up pushing for about 10 minutes, maybe three times. It was all so calm. I asked Tim is he wanted to "catch" her. He was like, "No, that's okay." I looked at the nurse/midwife. Then, I had to idea that I should just catch her. She said that would be fine. It was awesome. I just reached down and caught her. She was so beautiful.


Anway, that was all probably way too much information. But you could have stopped reading whenever you wanted. Hee, hee.

Here are some of her first pictures:

One last picture with a very pregnant Mommy.

Really enjoying the epidural. Ahhhh...

The second picture of her. The first picture was a little too graphic.

I'm all cleaned up, but I'm still mad. Where did my Mommy go?

December to Remember

I think I've finally figured out how to make my blog look normal again (i.e. the title isn't floating at the very bottom left. It's at the top again like a normal blog...) Don't ask me how, but I did it. Phew! Now I can post blogs without being so ashamed of my lack of ability to blog.

We had a mellow Christmas. Just the seven of us!! That sounds funny. Do I actually have 5 kids?

Here's the Christmas Eve Pajama Picture:

Here's a hilarious video of the kids and Tim sledding on Christmas Eve:

There was a fun hill just down the street from us. It was only in the 40's that day, so rather than go off and run all the last minute errands I had, I decided to go and join them on the sledding hill...with JULIA!! I wrapped her in about 4 layers and headed off. She fell right ot sleep. When I got there, I just put her in the bike trailer all snuggled up. She looked so cute. Pretty fun.

Springtime in the Rockies

My feeble attempts to blog continue. I love seeing other people's pictures so much, so I figure it's only fair that I try to post some of my own. Here's a picture up in Rocky Mountain National Park on Sprague Lake with a view of the Continental Divide behind us.

All the kids were ready for Church one morning. They looked so adorable I decided to take a picture. Lindsay had just picked that flower from the yard.

Jumping rope with Grandma Helen and Grandpa Joe
There's this sculpture garden in the town just south of us, Loveland. Here are all my Native American beauties together around a cool sculpture.

I'm back..

Hudson, Miles, Mikaela, and Lindsay on the slopes. Hot doggers!Samuel and Dalton, cute as can be four year old skiers!!

I do not understand my little blog here. Anyone who knows about blogs can feel free to try to help me out here. What is the deal with the weird title? I even went in and "edited" the blog out that said the weird title. I just basically erased it, but now it just puts up the next posting's title. Weird.

Well, I don't have a lot of time to add pictures, but I'll try really quick.

Last week for spring break we went to UT to ski. You ask, "Why would you drive all the way to UT to ski when you have great skiing in your own lovely state of CO?" Well, the answer is simple: COUSINS!!!! We met up with Don and Larissa's kids, and the kids all had an absolute blast skiing together for a couple of days. They also had tons of fun at Uncle Stewart's house.

Well, here are some pictures. This is my first time attempting pictures on this new BETA format, whatever that means, anyway...

Some more pictures

I know it's so sad when you go to look at someone's blog, and there's nothing new there (hint, hint, Catherine and Larissa...Leslie, you're off the hook because of technical difficulties). So, I thought I'd just write a little something and send a few pictures. Tim's out of town this week in Vegas, so I'm bored.

Here's a picture of when we went ice-skating with Grandpa Call in Old Town Fort Collins. It was fun. Mom mentioned in her letter that Dad fell. It was funny, because we were skating around. I mentioned to Dad, "Dad, I remember you as being a better skater." He started to laugh and said, "I remember me as a better skater, too!" It was cute. The kids did well. It was freezing out.

Lindsay, Miles, Grandpa Call, Samuel, and Caroline

This was last week when we had the missionaries over for dinner and Family Home Evening. It was so cute. Wesley just climbed up there and sat between the two missionaries. We had to get a picture. Also, it's special, because the day he was born a member of our Stake Presidency was there (Roger McConkie, Bruce R.'s nephew, not that it's important, really...). He got up and bore his testimony that he had a strong feeling that this baby boy would one day grow up to be a great missionary. Too cute to see him already being drawn to them. :):)

Wesley with Elder Celestino and Elder Merrill

Happy New Year!!

Well I've just used up about 30 minutes of my precious nap time to try to figure out how to get rid of "Some more October Fun" on the top of my blog. Also, I don't know why my index is all the way down at the bottom. I guess I'm trying to get too fancy with adding pictures and videos and stuff.

We had a great Christmas. Uncle Dan came for a short visit before, and Grandma and Grandpa Call visited for the week after. It was really fun.

The kids had a full two weeks off of school plus two snow days before the break and an extra day off on January 8th. It was a loooong break. We are all excited to be back on the routine of school, etc. (even if they don't know it yet...)

I'll try to attempt a few pictures.

Uncle Dan and Miles being pulled behind the van in tubes. The roads still look this bad almost a full month later. I don't think they know how to plow out here. Oh well.

The kids opening up Uncle Dan's present: a remote controlled airplane.

Christmas Eve with everyone in their Christmas PJs.

Christmas morning


Kidnapping Samuel for breakfast on his birthday, the 26th, with Grandma and Grandpa Call. We had so much fun.

Blizzard of 2006

We survived the Blizzard of 2006!! It was fun. Tim and the kids are absolutely loving it. They were off sledding for a couple of hours this morning. Wesley is sick with a fever/cough thing, so I just stayed inside with him. (This CA girl's not so sure snow is as fun as everyone else thinks it is...)

Anyway, here are some clips and photos from the day's festivities.
Here's Sam tubing down the ramp they made in the front yard



Here's Lindsay in her snow tunnel




The whole crew posing at the top of the ramp.