Happy Holidays!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is over and before long it will be 2008. In honor of the New Year I thought I would change my blog look a bit. I have always loved Cookie Monster and the color blue so this template works out perfectly. If you are in search for a new look or need some help with your blog I have found some terrific sites for us blog dummies, if you need them let me know.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I know our family did. We were spoiled as we are every year.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite gifts with you. I received a lot of good ones but these would be my top favorites.

First would have to be my Tiffany & co. bracelet from Jas. It's so pretty and perfect to wear everyday. Funny thing I loved the note he included with the bracelet as much as I did the bracelet itself. He usually doesn't take the time to write a special note so this meant allot of me. Awesome gift!

My new 600 count sheets and soft blankie from my Mom. Talk about dying and going to heaven, these sheets rock. Too bad I don't spend more time in my bed although I can't complain too much Alex did sleep through the night last night if only he could keep it up.

Third would be the gift I received from my sister and her fam. It was a basket of goodies with a gift certificate to a bed and breakfast. It came with a cute poem offering to watch Alex for us while we get away for a night. My oldest niece Jillian added a gift certificate to it for dinner. What an amazing gift. I have to laugh though because the poem said they hoped it would result in another son. Between the basket and sheets I think my family is in a bigger rush to expand our little family than Jas and I are. Give us a few years please!!!

Last but not least would have to be the pink fuzzy robe I got from my in-laws. You would think I have enough robes but with Alex up in the middle of the night this robe is perfect. It's so cute, cozy and warm. I love it!!

I received allot of other great gifts but those were my favs!!

Alex was spoiled with lots of clothes, books, toys, a huge stuffed animal, a tonka truck to push or ride on. He had a great Christmas!

I will leave you with some pictures from the past few weeks. Boy have we been busy! Happy New Year!

We went out to dinner on the 15th with our friends the Pews to celebrate Jas's b-day and our friend Jamee's b-day. We took this picture of Alex while we waited to be seated. He was being extra goofy as you can see.

On the 18th, we took Alex to see the lights at Thanksgiving point with our friends the Whites. We had a great time. Here we are all bundled up after our wagon ride.

Here is one of our takes from our Santa baby photo shoot at home.

We wanted to get a cute picture to include in our Christmas cards.

After multiple nights of not sleeping well due to teething, I found Alex asleep on his tummy Christmas Eve for a LONG overdue nap ( he slept from 10-3). I love to sleep on my tummy too.

On Christmas Eve, we had Jas's family over for dinner and presents. Here is his Dad Al and Sister Alanna.

Alex entertaining Grandma OwYoung at dinner.

Who needs a TV when you have Alex to entertain you? He was making us all laugh. Especially when he insisted on having some of Dad's garlic mashed potatoes. Note to self: They don't smell as tasty coming out. Never feed them to Alex again!

Alex with his new frog ( Grandma and Grandpa OwYoung spoiled him rotten).

Alex opening his Giggle Giraffe toy. He loved ripping the paper off his gifts.

In my family I always received a new pair of Jammies on Christmas Eve. I bought this cute pair for Alex, had to show you the bum.

Here is a picture of Alex and Mommy, buddies forever!

We took mostly video on Christmas morning but here is one cute camera shot of Alex playing with his new toys. Gotta love the bow in his hair, probably the only time I can get away with it.

Merry Christmas!!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.... We received a nice blanket of pure white snow tonight just in time for Christmas. Jason's parents and sister came over for dinner and presents. Grandma OwYoung brought the ham and pound cake, berries and ice cream for dessert. We made twice baked potatoes, a green bean casserole and bought some shrimp and rolls. It was a yummy dinner.

As always we were spoiled with gifts galore. Alex of course received the majority of all the gifts tonight and loved opening each of them. He loves the sounds of paper ripping.

I will be sure to post more pictures this week when life gets back to normal and Alex starts sleeping through the night again. He had a tooth break skin this week and has been a horrible sleeper.

Before I head to bed, you know Santa is on his way I wanted to wish you all a very....

Merry Christmas! Love our Santa Baby

Redneck Christmas & Santa's nose hair

I bet my title got you to read this entry huh? I will explain in a minute.

I've been a slacker at blogging this week. Between Jason's b-day, Alex being up all night teething and me trying to finish up last minute Christmas stuff I have been busy. I have some fun pictures to post from this week that I hope to get to soon.

Tonight it's a blizzard outside, Jason left work at 5:30 and it's 8:00 and he is still not home. His average daily drive is about 45 minutes. Sounds fun huh? I hope he will be here within the next hour. Alex was super grumpy and tired so I put him to bed. Jason will be sad that he is down but I wasn't about to try and keep him up just to see his Dad.

So whats' up with the title you ask well... This weekend we ventured to Cabela's to pick up a Christmas gift. For those of you not aware of what that is I will fill you in. It's a HUGE outdoor sports store. It is so large it has it's own restaurant inside of it complete with strange food like boar and elk sandwiches. It is a man's paradise with everything you would ever want that has to do with hunting, fishing, or camping. While we were there we decided to take Alex to see Santa for the first time. You can't pass up a free picture and small line ( it beats the mall).

As we walked into the gun museum (where Santa was) I had to crack up. I could just picture my Dad in heaven laughing with joy at the fact that I had his grandson in a hunting store to see Santa. We had to wait for one person before it was our turn. I assume this was because we came 15 minutes before Santa was heading home for the day. It may also be the reason why our Santa wasn't too thrilled to see the kids. I was concerned that the Santa would be fake but oh no he had a real bead and white hair. Alex wasn't sure what to think of him. He just looked at him and attempted to pull his beard until Santa stopped him. I went to get Alex off of Santa's lap when I saw a long nasty black hair growing out of the top of Santa's nose. It was all I could do to contain myself from reaching over and plucking it out. YUCK!!!

So here is our free picture that I am sure made my hunting Dad proud. This one's for you Dad! Merry Christmas, I miss you!

This picture is scanned so the original one is a tad bit better. Don't you love the background. HA HA!!

In case you wondered, I am not sure if we will get to the mall to get a REAL picture with Santa before Christmas. This one may have to do.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is my sweethearts 31st birthday, Happy Birthday JC! I feel so blessed to have Jason as my best friend, soul mate, lover, husband, protector, provider and father to my son. He is not only an amazing husband but he is also a terrific Dad. We have been together 7 1/2 years and married 4 1/2. My love for him continues to grow with each new opportunity, trial and experience we face. He has been my rock and I can't imagine being with anyone else. I love you Jas!

Jason took today off so that we could spend the day together as a family. For now he is sleeping ( one of his favorite things to do) and I am up trying to get Alex to go back down for a nap. We plan on hanging out at home for a bit and then going to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. While we are out we hope to finish up our Christmas shopping. Only a week to go... SCARY! I hope you are having a terrific Monday! Off to spend time with my boys.

Happy Birthday Jason!

This picture was taken at a lunch we had with our friends right after we came home from our honeymoon. I had to include this picture because Jason is smiling, not something he normally does for pictures. He also has more hair, sorry honey it comes with age.

Here is a self portrait of us after taking a 2nd test confirming we would be parents. Jason doesn't look thrilled here but he was. He loves being a Dad.

Here are the two of us in California and our friends' Howie and Heidi's wedding. We were a month along here and didn't know it. Okay so I suspected it but Jas thought I was getting my hopes up.

Jason and his best buddy Alex. What is up with that smile?

Happy Birthday!

Alex and I plan on doing a little Christmas shopping today, after he takes a morning nap. He didn't sleep real well last night so I am thinking a bit of sleep is needed before I drag him along with me to go to the mall shopping. Are you done with your shopping yet? I have a lot done but still more to do.

Before I leave for the day I wanted to do a quick Birthday shout out to one of my very favorite people, my cousin Jesica. She is more like a little sister to me since we spent so much time as kids together. She is now a nurse living in California. It's hard not having her home especially this time of year. Fat and prego last year I went with some of the girls in my family to CA to visit her. This year I won't get to see her for her birthday or Christmas. She is spending Christmas in Costa Rica, I know poor deprived girl. Anyway... Happy Birthday Jes, I hope you have a terrific day! Love ya!

Here are a few pictures of her over the years.

One of Jes's famous self-portraits

A group picture from as few Christmas' back.

Me, my niece Areiann, sister Kim, step-niece Chelsey, cousin Jes

Just Jes and I

My Mommy and Jes

Silly Songs

At our house we have a time and a song for everything. I know I am a little strange for making up songs and singing them to Alex especially when I can't carry a tune to save myself. I may be strange but they seem to entertain him and also remind him as to what we are doing, that or distract him. I don't want to ever forget them so I thought I would share them with you. Too bad I can't sing them for you huh? ;)

Most of the songs I sing I have made up however there are a few of the classics like pat a cake, the itsy bitsy spider, 5 little ducks, how much is that doggy, Mary had a little lamb and lately multiple Christmas songs. Alex also loves a tune I have on my cell phone, this one you can hear oh my blog which is the cuppy cake song. When he is tired and cranky I can often play this song in the car or in the middle of the night and get him to relax and go to sleep. It's been a real life saver. He loves music. I found this out early on when my nieces would play songs on their cell phones to relax him. I wonder if he will be in a band when he grows up.

Here are a few of the songs I have made up. When I go to get Alex out of his crib in the morning I always sing "Good Morning to you" to the tune of Happy Birthday. The second verse is my favorite which goes... Your my bug a boo and I love you, good morning to Alex Roger OwYoung... Good Morning to you.

When burping Alex I sing " hey mister bubble please come out, I said hey bubble please come out, oh mister bubble, oh mister bubble, oh mister bubble please come out..... come out come out wherever you are.. come out and say hello. " It's funny how upset he can be but once he hears this song he calms down while I get him to burp.

I love to sing these two different songs to Alex when he is completely focused on just me. This isusually when we are cuddling.

"Well hello, well hello it's very nice to see you today. Well hello, oh well hello, well hello, well hello."

"You're my very best friend in the whole wide world, in the whole wide world, you're my very best, you're my very best friend."

Not very often but once in while I sing a song to Alex that I made up years ago when one of my nieces Bailey was living with me. It goes like this, " Naners, Naners we all love naners, naners for our belly buttons, naners for your toes, naners for our eyeballs and naners for our nose. Wopee, wopee, wopee. Naners, Naners we all love naners, naners for our feet, so we can cross the street. Wopee, wopee, wopee." If I am feeling really silly this song can go on for hours. In case you are wondering what Naners are those would be bananas.

We also have bedtime at our house. Every night I sing to Alex the Na Nigh song. " It's na nigh time, it's na nigh time, it's time to go na nigh. It's na nigh time, it's na nigh time, it's time to go na nigh. I'm tired, I'm sleepy, it's time to go to bed, it's na nigh time, it's na nigh time, it's time to go na nigh."

Yes I know about now you really must think I'm nuts, trust me it gets worse before it gets better.

We also have cereal time every night before bed. That song goes like this " It's cereal time, it's cereal time, it's cere cere cere cereal time."

Now if you are easily offended please do not read on. I am recording this one for my own remembrance.

Not sure where it came from or why but we have always referred in our family to nursing, breastfeeding as getting tittynooks. I know it's pretty awful but it seems pretty normal to me. Anyway as you can guess we also have tittynook time. That song goes like this " It's tittynook time, it's tittynook time, it's titty titty titty titty tittynook time" This one will probably have to go before he can sing it himself. That might not go over so well.

Well there you have it a list of the OwYoung family silly songs. Please know that these are copyrighted. I am sure you are tempted to put them on a CD to sell and make millons but I would ask that you resist the temptation.

Before I sign off for tonight I leave you with two cute pictures tonight during bath time.

Don't you love the hair?

I attempted a smile for a few minutes but I had no luck. He isn't a fan of the camera.

Family Christmas Party

So tonight was our annual family Christmas party at my Aunt Sheila's house. Besides Alex being a bit grumpy we had a terrific time. We started the night out with four different soups my broccoli cheese, my Sister Kim's chicken noodle, Cousin Heather's veggie bean and my Aunt Sheila's chili. We also had a salad, drink and homemade cinnamon rolls. For dessert my mom made homemade brownies and fudge sauce with ice cream. Yummy!!

We sang Christmas carols, had a drawing for the grand gifts, and opened presents from my Aunt and Uncle. Then they asked us to consider donating to a few different charities which my Aunt offered to match our donations. We also played a couple holiday games and to my surprise Jas and I won one of the games. She had a list of pictures that you had to match with the carol. For example a baby in a cradle which read name? The carol would be.....

What child is this?

It was pretty difficult but Jason was good at it. Here are a few pictures from tonight. We had a wonderful time. It's always crazy but so nice to be with loved ones this time of year. I wanted a family picture but with all the confusion of course it never happened. Anyway enjoy.... p.s. We missed ya Jes!

Not such a happy baby, funny thing you can't see his cute shirt but it says: I'm on Santa's nice list. Not sure if it was appropriate for tonight.

My cousin Christian wrestling with his nephew Asher and my niece Shae. It looks like she is missing her head. =)

My mom, Aunt Sheila and crazy SINGLE cousin Spencer sneaking in for the picture.

My cousin in law Heather's sister Andrea and her Fiance Chris working together each with one hand trying to wrap a Christmas present.

My sister Kim and Brother in Law Mike competed against them. We declared it a tie and both received prizes.

Remember Middle School?

It's a winter wonderland outside our window this weekend. I would say we have oh 7 or so inches maybe more. We have mostly vegged at home but we did make it tonight out to have dinner at Pei Wei and to do a little Christmas shopping. The roads weren't too bad especially with Jas driving. I have PB bars in the oven (a late night snack and gift for a few neighbors) so while they are baking I decided to write about something I never want to forget, let me explain.

Remember Middle School when girls were getting their first bras and boys enjoyed tormenting us girls by snapping them? You would think those days would be long forgotten by now since sadly I am 27+ however Alex has been sweet enough to remind me. When I nurse him he loves to take a hold of the front of my bra pull back nice and slow and then SNAP let it fly into my chest. The first time or time it was cute but it got old really quick. Man it hurts like the dickens!! It still entertains his Dad however who seems to get a real giggle out of it.

So years from now I must remember that Alex was a boob man from the start and even snapped his first bra as a baby. MEN!!

Doesn't he look so innocent in this photo I snapped of him yesterday playing on his tummy?

My Sister the Nurse

If you know me very well you have heard me speak about my BF, favorite sister, older sister, okay my only sister Kim. I have probably told you how incredible she is. Not only is she an amazing sister and friend to me she is also one of role models. She has many roles here are just a few.

Mother of 5 beautiful children

Fabulous sister/daughter

A wonderful wife

Gospel Doctrine Teacher ( this is amazing all on it's own)

College student

Hairstylist

Doula ( she helped me through labor)

Taxi driver

SHARES volunteer among vol enter for many other organizations ( I can't keep track of them all)

Bishop's wife ( She just added this one to her list)

On top of all of these titles ( I've probably missed a few) she can also make you laugh. The only thing I can think of that she doesn't do to well is sing and that's another story in itself. =)

It has been so nice to have her help me through my pregnancy, the birth of Alex and now raising him. She is just a phone call away which is so helpful. I look up to my sister in so many ways. Today I wanted to take a minute and congratulate her on a recent accomplishment. She was just accepted to nursing school. I know that although it will be a challenge she will do an amazing job. She currently works at Bear River hospital in the nursery. She loves those babies as though they were her own.

Congratulations Kim, Kimmy, Kimber!! I am very proud of you!

Here are a few pictures of my sis over the years.

I found this cute nurse icon and just had to include it. I hope Kim gets a little white dress and hat just like this one.

Kim decorating cookies at our annual family Christmas party a few years back.

Kim and her kids in Disneyland at the bug's life movie.

Kim and her baby Shae at my wedding.

Good Things Utah

UPDATE:

I was able to make it to GTU today with my mom. The video is up if you missed seeing it on tv. Here is a link to their website for my recipe and the video.

http://www.abc4.com/content/gtu/recipes/story.aspx?content_id=0fa230f1-dafd-4c5f-9325-1f78bb90cdb5

It was a great day! If you haven't had the chance to view a live taping I would recommend going, we had a fabulous time. Thanks to my good friend Mollie for watching bug for me on a last minute thing. After the show Alex and I went to lunch at Chili's with Aunt Mollie, her sister Aunt Emily and the kids. I was informed that they are now adoptive Aunts for Alex. After lunch Emily and I hit Babies R Us to do a little Christmas shopping.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Just me in the kitchen, man I wish I could say this was my kitchen, it was small but gorgeous!

A picture of Mom and I with the GTU crew minus Nicea who was on vacation.

Back: mom, me

Front: Our friend from our old ward Angie, Marti, Reagan

My original post:



I love to bake, especially cookies. I also love to watch Good Things Utah everyday. Last week I choose to mix the two when I e-mailed GTU with my favorite cookie recipe for Almond Poppy Seed Cookies. Tomorrow my recipe will be demoed on the show and they have invited me to be in the audience. I am super excited!! Here is the link for tomorrow's show. http://www.abc4.com/content/gtu/coming_up/story.aspx?content_id=5a1bfa8a-8296-4b2a-be3b-064d095b990e

If you are here in Utah you can view it tomorrow Wednesday December 5 from 10-11 am on channel 4. I will post more later including a link to the recipe for those of you not in Utah. Hopefully I will be able to make the show.

My Favorite Things!!

It's been days since I have updated my blog. That is what happens when you have a houseful of sickies. Both Jason and I have had a cold and Alex well I wouldn't say he has had a cold but he has had a stuffy nose and small cough. I am hoping we are at the end of this terrible sick phase. Anywho...

What's your favorite thing about this time of year? For me there are many but a few would be the first big snow storm ( as long as I am in my house warm and cozy). We received about 7 inches of snow between Friday and Saturday. I could appreciate it because I didn't have to drive in it. Alex loved watching it snow outside his window. Between being sick and having a winter wonderland we choose to spend most of the weekend at home as a family. We did venture out yesterday for Aunt Alanna's b-day lunch at one of my favorite restaurants CA Pizza Kitchen, too bad I couldn't really enjoy the food with a stuffed up nose. After lunch we did a little Christmas shopping and got our groceries for the week.

Another one of my favorite things this time of year would be the Christmas music. Now I know this can get old but for now it's so much fun. I have been cranking the FM 100 in the kitchen while Alex and I dance around being silly. You should give it a try, babies love it and it's a good way to burn a few of those holiday calories.

Finally one of my all time favorite things about the holidays is the Festival of Trees. For those of you not familiar with this let me explain. Each year right after Thanksgiving there is a big festival here in Utah to raise money for the primary children's hospital. All proceeds and I mean all go to helping sick children. Whenever possible I love to attend the festival as it really puts you in the Christmas mood and reminds you of the true meaning of Christmas. I have even had the opportunity to help with a few trees in years past. To learn more about the festival check out the following link http://www.festivaloftreesutah.com/ ( Sorry that I haven't learned how to post links the funky way yet.) This year I was able to go with my Mom, Sister, and BF Jen as well my buddy Alex. We had a great time looking at all of trees. Here are a few pictures from my Mom's camera. I will add more later when I get my pictures downloaded. I'm not looking so hot but hey it's the experience that really matters right? Hope you are having a terrific Monday!

My BF Jen, Alex and I

My Mom, Alex, Sister Kim and I

Here are a few more pictures I added. As you can see I had fun playing around a bit on Costco.com.

This was one of the most unique trees they had. It made me think of my good friend Mollie who loves Raff Raffs =)

I loved the big star on this tree!

A cute pic of Jen, if only I had looked half decent that day.