Something new

Okay, so for my Mom's generation of moms, it was the photo album that always hung over their head as the project that needed doing. It was the project that the we as kids resented that she never did. How many boxes of unmarked pictures are in her garage? But I am now slowly realizing that my own kids are going to resent that I wasn't more diligent with our family's blog, especially considering that I could just write a little bit about what we do every day or so and then print up one book per year. Voila!: Our family's history in print. I've been uncomfortable, though, with how to do a sort of journal/family history without sharing too much personal information. Sooooo, I've decided to go private and really put some effort into this blog-o-world. I think it would be so cool to have a blog book per year of the Owens Family's Adventures. Now, how do I go private? Hopefully, I'll be more successful in that endeavor than I was in trying to upload the puppy videos. We'll see. One final picture to remember us by:

PUPPY LOVE

Ask me how much I love our new puppy. Today, Wesley was enjoying a bowl of oatmeal. He got distracted as three year olds do and ended up tipping over his bowl of oatmeal on to the kitchen floor. Before I even had a chance to get all worked up and mad (did I mention that the kitchen floor is my least favorite job?) about the kitchen floor being smeared with oatmeal, Daisy ran in and licked it all clean. Seriously, I love this puppy. hee, hee

February

Hey, since I'm always about a month late, I thought I'd be a month early this time instead. True to life :):).

I feel a little like a poser actually having a "cute" background on my blog, but I went for it anyway. Maybe it will inspire me to blog more.

We finally got a new camera (we lost the our old one at the zoo this fall...sigh), and now it seems to have some kind of smudge on the lens that shows up on all our pictures. We also got a new digital video camera (we've wanted one for years. The ol' high 8 one we've had since Lindsay was a baby just seemed so old school.), but now we can't find the box it came in that has the battery charging stuff. Lovely. Are those good enough reasons to not have posted anything for a month?

We've all been trying to get back into the swing of things post-holiday. It's taken a while. We now finally have a box on the washing machine specifically for any more Christmas things that we happen to find in random spots. I'll probably leave that there until Valentine's Day. Sad but true state of affairs around here.

We've all cycled through the winter cough/cold.

The puppy keeps us on our toes, but overall, she hasn't been too much trouble. Tim and I both frequently catch ourselves accidentally enjoying her. Although, I have been offended now several times when she has chosen to go and snuggle to sleep on HIS lap on the couch in the evening. The injustice!!

Well, if I find my camera, I'll post something.

Christmas 2008

Someday I'll get it together...Okay, who am I kidding here. So, this summer I figured out that I can't get three kids ready for a smooth first day of school if we take a trip to Buffalo the week before and only leave ourselves one day to prepare for the first day of school. Lesson learned: don't go anywhere the week before school starts. Well, this Christmas season I learned that when you take a somewhat last minute trip to California with 5 kids for Thanksgiving, you're going to be a little behind on Christmas and all its trappings. At least I didn't stress out over it too much. And we had an awesome Christmas even if my delicious home-made gingerbread house pieces are still un-assembled and the 5 pounds of Christmas candy I bought to decorate the gingerbread houses with are still in a bag on the counter screaming out my name. Here are some highlights:

I know it sounds kind of un-Coloradoan, but we just go to the local grocery store and pick out a tree. We've done it three years in a row now, and they are great trees. Our first year in Colorado we went up to the mountains to choose a tree, but they were all a little too "Charlie Brown" for us. We ended up going home empty handed. Now, our new tradition is the unraveling of the tree. You pick it out looking like this:


And then, you pull on the string and watch the shape of your tree appear before your very eyes. It's quite exciting. It's become a "moment" in our family.

Here they are all, waiting anxiously for the "reveal".





My brother Matt and his family made a trip out to Colorado all the way from North Carolina. They spent the first part of the week with Leslie's brother and family down in Castle Rock, and then, they came up to our house for the second part of the week. That meant that we got to have the world's cutest little baby Jesus star in our family nativity program. He was so adorable. When the program was over, and my Mom was done playing the piano, she finally had a chance to turn around and see Baby Dean. He looked so angelic my Mom almost started crying. He really was so sweet, even when his cousin, Julia, thought the whole point was to shower him with gifts. He just sat there all peaceful. Literally, Julia slammed like 6 gifts down on him, and he just sat there quietly smothered in gifts. It was so cute. I think I have a video somewhere. Here watch me be techno and find it for you. First the still shot:





Now, I'm off to find the video. We got a new digital video camera for Christmas, by the way. Wow. It's nice. Okay, I just watched the video. Excuse how long it is. I don't know how to edit videos yet. Some of you will enjoy every second of it. You others can just stop watching when you get bored. Excuse also my loud voice. Eeks.






Then, of course, the picture of the Christmas pajamas. We loved having Clive and Van be a part of our evening. By now, I think, that Baby Dean had gone to bed.




Then, the priceless videos of some of the moments of our Christmas. Yes, we did get a trampoline. And, yes, we did get a puppy. I guess I should just devote one whole post to the puppy. She really is cute. See for yourself.



The arrival of "Daisy" as she is now named was anticipated by the whole neighborhood. We had our neighbor watch her for a few days before Christmas, because the breeder was from a few hours away. Her daughter lives just a few minutes away, so I picked her up on Monday morning. Jessi, the neighbor who watched her, was so nice to help us out like that. Anyway, you can see at the end of the video how into it everyone was. It was a great moment.



I was an anxious wreck the whole morning hoping that no one would be too disappointed with what was under the tree, not realizing the other presents that were waiting for them in the backyard and at the front door. My brother Matt was so great and helped Tim put up the trampoline late Christmas Eve night. It was FREEZING out there. Leslie and I did our part, too. It was so fun to have it all ready for the kids to discover the next morning.






All in all, it was a great Christmas. We are so blessed. Please know that we count you, our dear family and friends, as some of our greatest blessings.

Okay, I'll try again later on the videos. It was taking way too long.

BIG HUGE UP-DATE

Well, let's see...all I have to up-date is Halloween, Julia's First Birthday, Thanksgiving in CA, and if I don't get my act together, I'll have to blog about Christmas, too.

So, here are some pictures and remembrances:

We got our pumpkins fairly early (a Cub Scout troop at the school does a pumpkin walk) but finding time to carve them was another story. We ended up doing it on Halloween afternoon. It was such a beautiful day. We got to do it outside. I think the final scraps of pumpkin goo finally disappeared. Phew! We did a bunch of the tracing kinds. We had a vampire, a spider, a gravestone, and a traditional Jack-o-lantern, if my memory serves me correctly. Regretfully, I didn't get a picture of them when they were all done. I was lucky to even run up to my bathroom at dusk and grab as many little votive/aromatherapy candles as I could find and throw them in my pumpkins.
As for costumes, we went sort of "ghetto" this year and not intentionally. The Halloween parties at school were on Thursday afternoon, so of course, Thursday morning the kids were tearing around the house trying to come up with costumes. We (mainly Tim) had convinced them that we should try to be frugal this year and just make up costumes from stuff we already had around the house. Mistake #1. All week long is Red Ribbon Week at school. So, every day there is a different way to dress up. Crazy Hair Day, Wacky-Tacky Day, etc. This craziness brought us to Mistake #2. We were searching, frugally, for our Halloween costumes Thursday morning five minutes before we should have been at the bus stop. Nice. Are you envisioning this with me? Sigh. Well, Miles came upstairs and to his credit, came up with a costume that had both Tim and me belly laughing. He was Darth Vader's Mom. Sadly, again, I have no picture. Maybe I'll make him dress up in it again this afternoon and just take one. It was so hilarious. He had on the Darth Vader mask and head thingy with a long, blonde wig and one of the dresses from the dress up box. The dress kind of has a rip in it, so I asked him if he wanted one that had no rip. Should have known. "No, Mom, this way it looks like I got in a fight or something." Miles.

Lindsay came up in a hula skirt and some other concoction of weirdness. Samuel was a little more conventional and chose (with a little urging from mother) to use the vampire costume that Miles had two years ago. Wesley used an old, neon green, "mean" spider costume. Julia had an adorable witch costume (that turns out was totally uncomfortable and almost too small for her. More on that later.)

So, they got off to school. They wore those costumes for the Halloween party at Church, too with Lindsay kind of copying Miles' idea and using the other Darth Vader mask thingy with a short, gray wig and dress to become Darth Vader's Grandma. Ask me about Miles' reaction when she won a prize in the Costume Contest at Church with a costume idea that she had gotten from him. Ahhh, the wonderful life lessons one can learn from one's siblings....

Anyway, that brings us to Halloween. Lindsay still felt like she didn't have a costume, and Miles' Darth Vader mask was sort of digging into his face uncomfortably. So, I took them both to Goodwill. Lindsay quickly found her costume: a grape. Yep. You read right. A grape. See photo. Miles couldn't find anything he totally liked and was ticked that Lindsay again ended up with the long end of the stick. (Really, son, you're jealous about a grape costume. OK.) He and Tim finally found a weird, scary costume thing downstairs that ended up being perfect for him to run around and collect his 10 lbs of candy in. Also, at Goodwill, we found a cute little, comfortable, cow costume for Julia for 75 cents.

Wow. That was a long explanation about the Owens' Family Costumes for Halloween 2008, but you know, it is no way could explain to you the amount and intensity of emotional drain it was on me. Next year, it's back to the old reliable: go to a store and buy a darn costume 2 weeks in advance, so there's no last minute head-ache. But I might add the Goodwill as the new place to go. Seriously, a totally cute, cow costume for 75 cents.

Here are some pictures:



You can see Miles hiding behind the gravestone, Samuel as a vampire, Wesley: neon green "mean" spider, Noah (our neighbor, whose Mom MADE that costume), his brother: Luke, Lindsay the Grape holding Julia the Cow. How cute is she!

Here's Julia in her uncomfortable witch costume:




Some after Halloween festivities:



Okay, now on to Ju-bee's First Birthday. What is it about first birthdays? They just melt my heart. It signifies sort of the end of their babyhood. It's a big milestone for the parents, especially the nursing mommy. You made it through that first year of labor-intensive, sleep-deprived care-giving. The one year old is also just such a delicious little person. Each one of my kids at one year old has just been the epitomy of cuteness. Anyway, enough about that. Here are some pictures. I was good and kept things simple. We just invited over our friends, the Gulers. I bought one little thing for her and then had the kids go downstairs and find something she would like and wrap it. They did well. She had so much fun.













Now, Thanksgiving in California. It was so fun. The kids had so much fun with their cousins. I think they consider their cousins to be their best friends on Earth. I'm so happy for them. I know I will always remember so fondly my memories of cousin time as a child, and I still consider my cousins some of my best friends on Earth, too. :):)

Here are some pics:

Cousins, cousins, everywhere.

Dinner together

Julia does this funny hug thing that just cracks me up. Uncle Chris' tickling is making it even more fun to her than normal.

Thanksgiving Dinner

And, of course, no trip to Grandpa Call's house is complete without a dip in the spa.

Flashback to Summer

We got a new computer a couple of weeks ago, and I've finally down-loaded some pictures from this summer to this new computer. No, I haven't found my camera. I think I might have lost it at the Denver Zoo. Hey, at least, I didn't lose one of my five children...So, add camera to the list of big ticket items we need to buy this week. Nice.

• camera
• sliding glass door to back yard (It gets soo baked in the CO sun, and it's as old as the house -15 years old- plus, it got a little push over the edge from your favorite ten year old and mine: Lindsay. Bless her heart, she's going to be an indentured servant to her daddy until she graduates from high school...)
• garage door opener
• lawn mower.

We find ourselves asking, "Really? All in one week?" I keep thinking that maybe we could just caulk the sliding glass door closed again like we did last winter. No, really, we did.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Pictures from this summer:

Fourth of July in Rocky Mountain National Park

Miles' Baptism

All the boys

Picture of a recent Family Home Evening Activity

Don't be too impressed. We are going to count this as the one time out of the year where people were actually listening, etc.

Surprise!!

I'm posting two days in a row. I think this is a blogging first for me. Of course, I still can't find the camera, so this might be a tad boring.

If I were just to write something for the sake of writing something, what would I write? What consumes most of my time, energy, and talent (or notice-able lack thereof)? PARENTING!! Truly, parenting consumes me. It is so intense sometimes. Don't get me wrong. I love these five, wily, spirited, independent souls that were sent down here to us, but they are five, wily, spirited, independent souls. Some days are better than others. Today? Not so good. Well, it wasn't so bad either. See, my days get chunked apart by the activity that consumes the most amount of energy for that particular time as follows: 1. morning routine, i.e. getting the older three out the door to school (again, I ask myself, How do people home-school?), 2. day-time activities, i.e. the fun stuff I get to do with the two youngers, 3. afternoon activities, i.e. retrieval of older three from bus, snack, homework, 4. dinner, and 5. bed-time routine. So today, #1 was not so bad, despite the fact that I let the three olders sleep in for about an extra half hour (I have a sleep thing with kids. I just canNOT wake up a sleeping child. It goes back to when they were infants and totally poor sleepers, blah, blah, blah...). Even with a half hour less to get all the activities done, we weren't late for the bus. #2 was fun. Julia took a 3 hour nap (Did I just complain about poor sleepers? Eeks.). We checked out the new SuperTarget. #3 was kind of crazy. I somehow ended up with THREE extra children for the afternoon. Crazy. #4 was pleasant. Daddy came home in time. Dinner was yummy. (You really wanna know? Chicken strips, summer squash, and left-over potatoes and carrots from yesterday's pot roast.). Now let's talk about #5. Sigh. Sigh, again. Where do I begin? Children 3 and 4 went to bed nicely around 7:30. Child #5 was tired, but when put to bed, she screamed for about 15 minutes. I got her back up, and she's now been playing quietly and contentedly by herself on my bedroom floor while I write this. Is it possible for a 10 month old to sense that she's on "borrowed time"? Funny. That would bring us to Child #1 and Child #2. Miles took nearly a full hour to clean the kitchen which left him inadequate time to finish all of his homework before his bed-time at 8:30. Lindsay. Ahhh, Lindsay. Could I even explain Lindsay in words if I tried? Let me just describe what she is doing right now. It is almost 10pm. She's trying to "sleep" out in the hallway, because she found out that Wesley has had a touch of GI stuff today. She has a full blown phobia of throwing up, so she won't go anywhere near Wesley now even though he only had lower GI stuff today. I'm tired. Julia is now hanging on my legs wanting me, so I'd better go.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm sure you are to. Hee, hee.

September

I have to say that I love the way four seasons gives a sort of predictable rhythm to life. I also love the way the four seasons lead into each other. Just when you're burnt out from the 'dog days of summer', a mild crispness tints the evenings and then slowly ebbs into the days. It's beautiful here in Colorado in the fall. This would be the perfect time to insert some gorgeous fall foliage pictures, but alas, I fail again. None taken yet. Also, Colorado's fall colors pale in comparison to Western New York's. Maybe I'll have my in-laws send me some photos of the spectacular fall they're enjoying out there.

So here are just the latest pictures on my camera, because this blog is, when all is said and done, really only a way for our much-missed families on either side of the continent to view pictures of our children as they grow.

Okay, so it turns out that the only pictures I could find were from Lindsay's camera. They are from a day we spent at The Denver Zoo this summer. The first one is seriously awesome. Lindsay took it herself. The peacock was just totally showing off. The second one is of Wesley. It shows perfectly the state his hair was in before our trip to see Grandpa Joe the barber in Buffalo. His hair is like his Uncle Matt's. It doesn't get longer. It just gets bigger. Although, now that I think about it, I think Matt's hair gets longer nowadays. Hmmm. Maybe Wesley's hair will calm down someday, too.

First Day of School

Let me just, at least, get these pictures posted.

Here is the first day of school: Samuel (K), Miles (3), Lindsay(5)

The crew at the bus stop: Luke (neighbor), Wesley (still in pajamas), Miles, Noah (Luke's brother), Samuel, Lindsay, Mimi (neighbor)

Wesley on his first day of pre-school

And I always have to add one of Julia. Here is a picture of one of her first piggies. Of course, Wesley wanted one, too. This is a face that she makes all the time. She exhales out through her nose while she makes this face, but maybe that's already obvious just by looking at it. So cute!

Ahhhh, Summer...

Here are some pictures from our annual pilgrimages to Saratoga and Arcade. What a fun summer we had!! All of the Calls!!! There is getting to be a lot of us.


The Call Boys

The Call Girls!!

Lime Lake, the view from Uncle Kevin's house. This is actually a picture of Tim kneeboarding with Samuel on his back. We think they had fun.

More pictures to come. I can't find the CD of the Owens' Family picture.

Father's Day Picture

Okay, I feel guilty scanning this picture in, but I paid full price for the ones I bought for Tim, Grandpa Call, and Grandpa Joe. It's my friend who owns the studio. I don't think she would mind. Am I totally driven by guilt? Uh, yes. Oh well. How cute is Julia's smile? Ahhh, the miracle of the head-swap. Were you wondering how I got a semi-okay picture of all five of them without Tim knowing about it (i.e. with just one adult encouraging, cajoling, bribing, okay, fully manipulating them to give me just one smile in unison...)? I'm not gonna' lie. It twarn't easy. :):)

We started this tradition of a Father's Day Picture when Wesley was just born. We have all of them from the past four years lined up on our wall. Maybe I'll catch a few moments tomorrow and pull them down, scan them in, and add them to this post. Now that's optimism for ya. :):)

Guess Who?

So, everybody says that our kids are exact copies of each other. Can you tell who is who in these pictures? Grandma Helen gave this sweet, pale blue dress to Lindsay. I saved it, and now Julia fits into it. Well, if you've read this far, I'll just tell you. I'm sure you've guessed already. The one on the left is Julia, and the one on the right is Lindsay. They do look pretty similar, but I don't think they look exactly alike. It seems like Julia's face is a little more round than Lindsay's. Also, though you can't tell from this picture, Julia has blue eyes like me, and Lindsay has dark, brown eyes like her Daddy. They also differ in their personalities. Let's just say that so far Julia seems to be a bit more mild than her older sister. ;)

We'll have to pull this dress out again when Julia is 9 months old. We can put her in the exact same pose. That way it will be a more accurate comparison. That will be fun.

Funny story. The pictures I took of Julia today didn't really turn out that well. One of them was super fuzzy. Another one had the bookshelf in the background in focus. It's getting late, and I'm tired, frustrated, and disappointed. Tim says, "Hon, don't worry about it. We can just dress her up in the dress another day." I reply, "No, I can't do that. She has too many dresses. I don't have enough Sundays to dress her up in all of her dresses if I double up on one of them." Hee, hee.

Update

So, I haven't posted in a while (how many of my posts will start with that...). I'm just looking on my camera to see any pictures that would be of interest.

Wesley had his third birthday. We had a fun day. We just had a family from our ward over for some cake and ice cream. I think he had fun. His face says it all, right?

Miles had his 8th birthday. It was on a Sunday, so to make it extra special I made him breakfast in bed. He loved it.

We also had a birthday party for him this past weekend. We had a Backyard Carnival theme. It was fun. We invited his whole class. Some of the girls were brave enough to come to a boy's birthday party. We had tons of games and candy and fun. Well, I just checked my pictures, and there are no good ones of his party. Oh well.

The fourth graders at school participate in this program called "The Invention Convention". It's been really cool. Lindsay has had to go through this big process of what it is to invent something. She's gotten really interested in Leonardo da Vinci complete with a phone call home from her teacher. He called to apologize that Lindsay had read ahead in a new book about da Vinci and had apparently happened upon the chapter that talks about some people accusing da Vinci of being homosexual. Poor Mr. Shoemaker. I'm sure he was nervous to have to tell me. Little does he know that we've basically had every conversation possible with Lindsay. She's like obsessive-compulsive curious, and I've always felt like I should just be calm and honestly answer any of her questions. It's taken us to some pretty crazy places, but I digress. Back to the "Invention Convention". Lindsay's idea is a Carsickness Preventor. Here's the picture.

The idea is that if the person doesn't sense from peripheral vision all the stuff going by really fast, then they won't get car sick. She's so funny. So you put these glasses on, and then you don't have any peripheral vision. There are a few canyons around here with really winding roads. Maybe we'll try it out this weekend.

And, of course, I need a picture of Julia:

This is the closest I've come to capturing this certain smile of hers that just literally takes over her whole face. See how it squeezes her little eyes shut tight. It just melts your heart to see it in person. She's so sweet.

And another one just for good measure.

And I can't leave out Samuel:

He was eating a smoothie with his breakfast burrito. You know how it can get stuck at the bottom of the cup. Well, he tipped it way up to get it to come down, and then it all came down and plopped on his sweet face. Such a cute kid.

Murphy's Law

Tim was out of town last week doing some continuing education in Las Vegas. He was gone from Tuesday night until Friday night. I knew it would be one-on-five, and I thought I was prepared. Wednesday morning was pretty okay. I got the two olders off to the bus stop, got Samuel out the door for his car-pool to preschool, got the other two people in the car, and was headed for the gym. All this done by 8:45. I think I might have even remained fairly calm throughout the whole process (which can be pretty hard when you have a 7 year old who literally takes 35 minutes to eat a bowl of oatmeal - of course it tastes gross. You've been sitting there for a half hour!!)

So, just as I'm pulling out of my street to head towards the gym, my cell phone rings. Hmmm. It's a Fort Collins number, but I don't recognize it. I answer it. "Hi, uh, Caroline? Hi, this is Jerry down at McGraw (the kids' school). Uhhh, well, Miles had a little, er, well, he's gonna need stitches." Apparently, Miles had run into another boy on the playground, and they both cracked their heads open. Immediate panic and opening of the floodgates of emotion. Stitches. (Quick background history: I have had stitches...okay, let me count really quick...6 different times: three times on my head, once on my lower lip, and twice on my legs.) Also, I know that some people say that he's a guy, it's cool to have scars, etc. etc. Let me explain. I have been looking at, gazing at, and adoring that perfect little face for almost 8 years now. I like it just the way it is. In fact, in my opinion, it is one of the three most adorable boys' faces I have ever seen in my entire life. I don't want to see an extra line on it. I could go on, but back to the scene.

Okay, what do I do? What do I do? Tim. Tim! Tim's out of town. How could he be gone when I need him like this? I immediately call him twice in a row (our signal for: this is an emergency. Don't you dare ignore my call. I don't care if you paid 8 grand for this seminar...hee, hee). He answers. I start bawling. He tries to calm me down. "Hon, I'll call Derek Weaver (the nicest guy in the world who lives in our ward who is a first year resident in Family Medicine at our local hospital here, who I'm sure has nothing better to do in his day (did I mention that his dear wife just had their fourth child) than field calls from hysterical mothers). He can give you a good recommendation of what to do." Sigh. Try to get myself together. Race to the school.

Bless her heart, the nurse at the school was so experienced. I literally remember her exact facial expression as she sort of "sized" me up. Hmmm, is this the type of parent who will get hysterical right here in the office if she sees this gaping wound on her son's face? Seriously, I saw her look at me just like that. And, yes, she decided that we'd just leave the gauze on until I got to the doctor's office. Good move.

We head to the doctor's office. They were great and got us in after just a 15 minute or so wait. We go back to the "treatment" room. Drum roll, please. The nurse takes off the gauze. Whoa. We're talking bad gash. It looked so bad to me. They cleaned him up. The doctor came in. She said that they could either super glue it (literally. Super glue. They used to buy the $300/tube Dermabond stuff, but it has the exact same chemical compound as Super Glue. So now, they just buy it as Sam's Club. Weird.) or send him to the plastic surgeon where they would sedate him and everything. I frantically call Tim again. Plastic surgeon or glue. Plastic surgeon or glue... If you ask me, I'd prefer the plastic surgeon, but I look around at my situation. I have a three year old and a five month old. What am I going to do with them waiting in another doctor's office? Poor Miles is already traumatized enough. Do I really want to put him through another few hours of anxiety, pain, etc.? I decide on the Super Glue. Miles did a great job of staying still. The scar should be minimal. I'm going to stockpile Mederma (apparently they now make it with sunscreen).

Here are the pics:

It's more than likely that he'll get the infamous Call Eyebrows and that the scar will be next to invisible by the time he's 21. Sigh.

TAG, You're IT!!

My sister-in-law, Leslie Call "tagged" me, and since I've never responded to one of these before, I thought I would for a change. So, here goes:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Well, I was pregnant with Lindsay. Tim and I were still newlyweds. I was working at KeyBank in downtown Syracuse, NY while Tim worked on his second year of Physical Therapy school. It was such a magical time, seriously. Being married was incredible. Being pregnant was miraculous. It was like everything I had ever dreamed about growing up was all coming true. Cheesey, I know, but really that's how I felt. It was awesome.

2. Five Things on My To Do List

• send new baby gifts to Baby Dean (my nephew, born Feb 29!!) and to Jackson Temple Hiserman (my friend Lisa's baby boy, born Jan 15)
• send a 5th birthday gift to my Emma G!!!!! (my sister's daughter)
• organize and clean the entire house....
• order swim suits and sandals from Lands End while they still have their free shipping promo (seriously, the flip-flops I ordered from them 2 summers ago for the kids are still going strong)
• finally figure out, once and for all, the Tim Owens Family Budget System. My sis, Catherine, is my idol. If she can do it, I can do it.

3. What snack do I enjoy?

When I'm on Weight Watchers (which is NOT right now...): cheese stick, Fiber One bars (which are surprisingly tasty and good for you), an apple, or a nice, tall glass of ice water... Seriously, I used to consider those things a snack. I guess that's why I was a size 6.

When I'm not on Weight Watchers (which is now): any and all food product that I can get my hands on at any given moment, the more fat and carbs the better!! This past week that has meant: the last box of Tagalongs (Girl Scout cookies), the final Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs from Easter, an entire Easter Basket's worth of candy that I got at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for 75% off!!, ice cream with melted peanut butter, chocolate syrup, chopped nuts and/or hot cocoa powder on it. I guess that explains why I'm almost 5 months postpardum, and I'm still a healthy size 14. (Sigh!)

4. What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire?

Weird question. All my needs are met. I can't imagine wanting too much more. I guess I'd love a house on a lake, because that would fulfill the boyhood (and the I-want-to-be-like-my-older-brother) dream of my sweet husband. I'd love to buy a house for both sets of grandparents here in Fort Collins, so they'd all come and visit more often or better yet just move here. Maybe I'd start a foundation that would concentrate on helping people develop sound parenting skills (starting with myself). There could be weekend getaways for parents to come together and really concentrate on the best ways to raise our kids into happy, healthy (physically AND emotionally) adults.

5. Three Bad Habits

1. I put off calling people back until it's too late at night, and then I can't call them back. I guess, just procrastination in general.
2. I let my anger get the best of me with my kids and fly off the handle way too often.
3. My self talk is too negative a lot of the time: "I have no friends here. I'm totally un-organized. I failed again." The list goes on. :):)

6. Six Places I've Lived

1. Saratoga, CA
2. Provo, UT
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Syracuse, NY and Buffalo, NY
5. Salt Lake City, UT
6. Fort Collins, CO

7. Five Jobs I've had

1. SAHM - Stay at home Mom
2. Substitute Teacher
3. Receptionist/Administrative Assistant
4. Piano Teacher/Voice Teacher
5. BYU Telefunder (I was even the Telefunder of the Month once. The golden cougar got to sit at my cubicle. :):))

8. Five Things People Don't Know about Me:

1. Though I try to laugh most things off and tend to be self-deprecating, I do take things really personally.
2. The first time I have about 3 hours free every week I'm going to take cello lessons and a German class.
3. I'm a perfectionist, but not your typical one. I mean, I'm totally okay with leaving the house with wet hair and no make-up, and I'll invite the whole ward over even if my house isn't immaculate. But when it comes to the standards I hold myself to in the area of personal relationships, I set my expectations way too high. It's hard. How could I ever be a perfect parent or perfect wife? Is there such a thing?
4. I totally had to chase Tim. :):) Oh yes, and it was worth every ounce of effort. Believe me!!
5. I think I might be turning into a bright, green environmentalist. See what moving to Colorado can do to a person?

The funny thing about that last question was that there is so little that people don't know about me. On the Bad Habits list, I was going to put that I always divulge too much personal information (also known as diarrhea of the mouth). If you know me, you know all about me whether you wanted to know or not.

Well, I guess I'm supposed to tag five other people, but I don't think I know 5 other bloggers. Oh well. :):) It was fun for me to do anyway.

Easter 2008

Here are some pictures from "Easter" 2008. Actually, Easter morning I never got the camera out. It was all I could do to get all the kids ready, and try to get there early to sing in the choir. Phew! So, I had the kids wear their spring outfits again today and made a point of getting some pictys. Here are the cutest ones.

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