Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Puffer Post

Just a little obsession Owen has...

It all started when I noticed he would always turn to the page with the puffer fish in Drew's "First Words" book.

This lady from church has awesome kids and she encourages their brains by taking what they love and expanding on it... So I started expanding with You Tube!

Seriously puffer fish videos on You Tube replaced TV for at least 2 days. Some of his favorite videos:
Some little kid looking at a puffer
A puffer fish puffs up!

Then Brent heard about his obsession and took this picture from the market in Mexico. I told Owen it was dead and that made him sad so then all of a sudden he was alive! With one eye open and one eye shut (he thought this was a head-on view). He carried a print-out of this picture with him everywhere. He slept with it (plus 3 more taped up by his bed). He took it to preschool (and scared his teacher). Took it on the airplane! You get the picture.

When we got here Linus printed out this picture he took when he & Sara went scuba diving in Mexico. Owen carried this one around until it disintegrated.

What are the chances Target would have a puffer fish toy in the dollar spot? I should've bought the place out cause these are popped now and I can't find them anywhere!

When we visited Brent & Errin in Mexico Owen got to meet the preserved puffer fish in real life. Brent saw 2 while we were scuba diving. He, my dad, and Karen were so close to catching one.

Owen's birthday was Friday... he got a freshwater dwarf puffer! His name is Puffer the Puffer Fish.


And then Saturday was his puffer birthday party with our family...
You can't see in this picture but this is a Jell-O aquarium with a puffer fish swimming in it (Swedish Fish makes an Aqua Life candy mix w/puffer fish!).

The puffer pinata (it was an orange clownfish that my dad spray painted to be a puffer)

Uncie Der Der was the artist for "Pin the Lips on the Puffer Fish"


Janna (Tami's daughter) was the winner - hers is buried in there somewhere.

Puffer fishing (Emma & Abbey)

And my personal favorite (game) - the worm eating contest (you know cause puffers eat worms). Janna & Bob totally stuffed theirs all in at once but Briant won by eating one at a time.

My mom created this masterpiece of a puffer cake:




Just a LITTLE obsessed!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Payson Photo Album

More pics from what we've been up to... the kite pictures are from last Saturday. Justin's family took Owen kite flying at a nearby park while Drew & I took a nap.

Owen's belly

Owen, Uncle Linus, Uncle Troy, Nonnie (Justin's mom)

Uncle Linus, Owen
These pictures are from a day trip we took last Wednesday... we met Scott & Melissa's baby Blaken for the 1st time. A cute chunker!
Uncle Troy, Quade, Drew

Owen, Blaken, Quade, Drew

The 3 boys hopped on the bed to wake Drew up... he wasn't so happy about that.



Pappa (Justin's dad), Quade, Owen

Dunking cookies in milk like Dad

(or I suppose everyone except me who doesn't like milk)

PS The formatting on my blog on my parents computer stinks! It's driving me bonkers. It won't let me move pictures around and the spacing is inconsistent... frustrating for me who is anal about that stuff! Anyone know how to fix it? They must have their settings different than mine at home but I can't figure it out. Ah!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Spoiled

Katie hosted an overnight bunco at the Mann's cabin last night that was the bomb diggity. We ate at Macky's in Payson... I think our favorite was the zucchini, right? We wanted a picture with our extra special waitress but she said she'd break the camera. One reason she was special: she didn't know what the mozzarella stix (notice the spelling) were called when she served them.

Notice the humongous bag of cinnamon bears? Ashley did good. We stayed up so late playing Apples to Apples. And Lindsey is still trying to figure out who Grave Robbers is. Then we got fun Halloween prizes and tried to get some sleep.

Katie made a dang good breakfast casserole (recipe please) and Ashley made a dang good cinnamon rolls (recipe please) the next morning.

A little after we left to go home Gina got pulled over because she had a Texas license plate on the front of her suburban and an AZ one on the back. Where else besides Payson would you get pulled over for that??? (Sorry Justin, you know I love it. ) 15 minutes later he decides we're clean (Gina didn't steal the car) and removes the front plate himself, bends it in half, and sends us on our way.

Then Gina delivered me to my private jet...

Or twin engine more like it. Linus, Justin's brother, picked up Owen & Drew from my parents house, flew them to Payson, and met me at his parents house. We hung out all day and then we got to fly home! I didn't realize the plane was going to be so small but it was cool once in the air. Linus is a good pilot.


Justin in Iraq

Justin emailed me pictures today (a rare event). And it made me happy! This one is my favorite.

Reasons I like this picture:

1. The "war stache." The mustache is a joke, I promise. I don't like it but it made me laugh. I'm pretty sure it's gone by now.

2. The air fresheners (I think?) stuck to the wall.

3. Owen's double blanket (this blanket has now been to Iraq twice - Owen sleeps with the exact same one).

4. Drew's shirt (we don't have a double of his blankie)

5. The family pictures on the wall. He loves us :)

We've almost made it to 3 months!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Mexico Photo Album

Snorkeling
Snorkeling freaked me out! It was cool but when Brent saw an eel and Karen saw a stingray... that was enough. I do want to try it again, though.


At the Beach






This is Owen's dead fish ("him's pishy bait!") he carried around for like 3 days. Karen liked that in her car.
Around the Hotel
They loved collecting pelican feathers... here they are planting them to grow big. They also used them to paint the tree and sidewalk.


That little hand grabbing Max's shirt would be Drew, the bully! He loves to upset Max.

The hotel was awesome - this grassy courtyard was right out front and the beach was right behind.

In the Hotel


All the boys


At the Market


Owen has just a little puffer-fish ("pupper pish") obsession. But that deserves it's own post.


Ice cream/drink shop near the market. Yummy limeade!

Church

They had Sacrament Meeting translated into English on an overhead projector.

We ate some way good Mexican food. Brent & Errin know all the best places. We loved Jax Snax's fresh guacamole. And of course the famous Las Flautas. Dad only drank 3 bottled orange Fantas that time. Is his record 6? We also got some fresh tortillas at the market.