Random Pictures of Interest

This is Taj's new church shirt/tie.  This is actually the first tie he's ever owned.  Once he gets older he'll pretty much just be wearing white shirts to church so he is enjoying his wild side now while he can.

Taj appears to be thinking, "are you sure this sushi stuff is safe?  I trust you and all ma'...but raw fish?"  He didn't eat a ton of it, but he did keep coming back for nibbles.

Here is a sweet photo of Taj chillin' in his new spider man lounge chair.  He loved the chair so much that he pretty much sat in it the whole time we were opening Christmas.  He just relaxes and lays his head back.  It's pretty much his own little throne.  If you look close you'll notice Taj's first black eye.

This picture may look like he is bored but that's not the case, he is just snuggled watching his version of "surf videos" known as Baby Einstein or Teletubbies.  Very relaxed (watching with his good eye). This is Taj enjoying some sips of moms coveted "Vanilla Steamer."  Thanks to Jen, Cathy's sister, Cathy has been frequenting Starbucks lately, cashing in on her gift card. This is just a rad picture.  No more explanation. Meet Randy Rugface.  We met our new friend while vacuuming recently.  Randy is located in the center of the area rug located in the kitchen.  The kitchen table sits directly on his face all the time.  It must get pretty boring looking at the bottom of the table all day everyday.  But despite his unpleasant lot in life Randy manages to keep a stiff upper lip and a positive outlook on life.  Now that we know he exists, he is an inspiration to our family.  Notice that Randy is smiling at you whether you are looking at him right side up or upside down.

Freestyle Yoga Ball

We were just messing around the other night after Taj went to sleep and decided to film some of it.  Then I decided to edit it and slap some music to it because Taj might enjoy it.  Here is the final product (this is also my very first attempt at using iMovie).  Enjoy.

Off Roading into Oblivion

So last Sunday we decided to take a drive up around Mt. Charleston, but on the way there we decided to just keep going up 95 a little further.  Then we see this dirt road off to the right that appears to lead up to some buildings way off in the distance, so we take the turn.  We approach the buildings at 15 miles per hour and Taj was rumbling in the back seat the whole time just to hear his voice rattle.  The buildings are old and worn out and have some old signs that say we are the Desert Wildlife Refuge (note: we did not see any wildlife.  No wild mustangs, burrows, jackrabbits, snakes, lizards, nada).  But we did see a sign that said "Mormon Well Road" and being Mormons ourselves this peaked our interest.  So we continued on the dirt road that appeared to lead to nothingness with faith (just like any good Mormons would right?).  And we carried on at 15 miles per hour and a yodeling baby in the back seat and on and on.  Until we decided to call it a day because we were way way out in no man's (or even one lousy lizard's) land and we didn't want to get stranded out in the wilderness with nothing but a sippy cup and some goldfish crackers to sustain us.  And that's the story.  Riveting no?  We drove on and on and found zip, but the good news is that we did survive, got some sweet photos of the nothingness and one killer view of Vegas (if you zoom in on it) and Taj ended up yodeling himself to sleep on ride home!  The end!

Chipmunked

This is mostly for Taj's viewing delight, but if you feel so inclined please feel free to join in with the hand motions. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a drowning spider with the heart of a champion.

Our new favorite trick!

Now if we could just limit the things that get thrown into the trash can to diapers!

I'm No Fool (With Fire)

I love this cartoon. I used to watch it when I was but a lad on the Disney channel. I still get the tune stuck in my head sometimes "I'm no fool, no siree, I'm gonna live to be a hundred and three, I play safe for you and me cause I'm no fool." Its kinda long (to the tune of 8 minutes) but totally worth it. It could save your life one day. Don't thank me, thank Jiminy.

Incisors and cuspids and bicuspids oh my (to the tune of "lions and tigers and bears oh my" from the wizard of oz)!

Taj has always been mindful of personal appearance and general hygiene.  Don't get me wrong, he is a rough and tough boy who likes to play and get dirty (occasionally eating dog food and drinking from doggy water bowls).  However, he has recently developed the fine motor skills required to brush his teeth.  Each morning while mom and dad are brushing their teeth he loves to grab his tooth brush and join in the fun (as evidenced in the photos above and below). 

Decoupage Collage without any Fromage (it rhymes)

I have never considered myself the crafting type but this last weekend I got in touch with my inner crafter!  Mark is a Young Men leader in our ward and this last Friday night one of the young men named Thomas came over to hang out with us and brought with him a little project he'd wanted to do.  Thomas is also into surfing and brought of few of his magazines, a bulletin board that he's had in his room and some handy dandy mod podge!  We spread out the rags and started cutting and gluing away and had a Blast!  And our final product turned out pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

Yo Bro!

And then last Monday, my darling brother invited our family out to dinner with his.  We went to the Jerry's Nugget (scary) to a little diner style restaurant inside that Travis knew about (delicious!)  We all loved our food and the company was great.  Well Trav and I enjoyed chatting it up while our spouses walked around with the babies to keep them entertained until the food arrived (thanks guys).  But I have to admit that my favorite part was dessert (shocker) when we all ordered different types of cake and sampled each others.  As you can in that last pic Alexis and I dove right into our piece!  

Thanks Trav, Bonny and Alexis!  

We are so happy that we still have you here in Vegas!

Lovely Reni's

Well I'm sure it is no surprise to anyone that I am running about a week behind! :)  But last Sunday we scored a dinner invite with two of our favorite people, Jake and Wendy Reni.  They just got a new little puppy named Ella (who as you can see by the pictures is SO CUTE) and they made us the most delicious dinner!  We love Jake and Wendy (who just got married this summer) and are happy we have them!  We also discovered that Taj really dug being on their skateboard (to no one's surprise!) :)  

Thanks Jake, Wendy and Ella!  We love you.

Ava!

Taj asked me to do a little birthday shout-out to his cousin Ava!  

Although Taj has lots of great cousins, Ava Carolyn holds a special place in his heart 

because they are closest in age.  They are exactly 4 months apart!  

Happy Birthday Ava who is One Whole Year Old today!  

We love you and can't wait to see you in 20 days (not that we are counting down or anything...but we are!)

Aloha Christmas

So tonight was our ward Christmas Party!  The theme was a Polynesian Christmas and it was really cute (despite the pictures we got.  They hardly do it justice).  Sara Prince was the person in charge of planning it and although I do not think she reads (or even knows) about my blog I would like to give her a big cyber high five!  The food was DELICIOUS.  We had shredded pork, veggie stir-fry, some delicious salad with pine nuts in it and of course RICE!  The decorations were really creative and darling and there was even some sweet entertainment!  Taj was the only one in the family who dressed for the theme (and I must say he was working that hula shirt).  It was a wonderful night with the family!  I am so grateful to have such a fun happy ward.  We are surrounded by talented great kind loving people!  It has really been one of my biggest blessings since most of my family has since been required to relocate elsewhere as of late.  

Merry Christmas! 

The Season is upon us!

More and more of Random Taj Fun!

(doesn't he look so much older  in this picture?)

So here are a few random favorites!  These are all actually from one morning.  We took a bath and while trying to escape getting our clothes on he discovered a draw in my dresser full of hats.  He quickly picked his favorite and it entertained him for the next couple of hours (notice he also accomplished his goal of not getting dressed because mom was too distracted by his cuteness).  Can you see how much fun he has playing peak-a-boo with that cute boy in the reflection?  At one point he pulled the hat over his whole face and wandered around laughing!  then we discovered some stickers that morning (you know those free ones you get in the mail on occasion?) which was a whole new chapter of fun.  Can you tell what the one on his forehead says? It says "I'm special"  Yes you are Taj Owen.  You are one of a kind!

Surfboard Decor?

I figured I ought to post these shots so they can be remembered.  Mark occasionally likes to take decorating into his own hands.  And although we usually have similar tastes these two touches were a little much for me!  I actually left the red one up for a while (he made me promise to for his parents visit!)  But then when the surfboard tunnel was created I had to draw the line.  Not that I don't appreciate Mark's touch but I thought it might clash a little with the rest of the decor of my mother's lovely home! (mom you'd better back me up on this one!)

Happy Birthday Amber!

So this past Monday I got invited to a surprise party!  We are so blessed to have been able to rent our little home to 3 incredible girls who we also love spending time with. Why?  Because they are so much fun!  You might recall that they also threw an eighties party a while ago that was totally awesome to say the least!  Well this last week they had what the titled a "Heros" party.  So since we are all a tad obsessed with the comic book based TV show Amber didn't really think much of it when she came down stairs and 10 people are in her living room waiting for the show to start.  But the fun really began during the commercial break where 2 girls snuck outside and then rang the doorbell with cake in hand and then all the guests had little hidden gifts for Amber!  Let me take a moment here to brag about my friend Amber!  First of all...these hot pictures of her?  She's not even trying in those pictures.  The girl is a knock out with a great sense of style.  She is really intelligent and compassionate.  She is pursuing her masters and also speaks Italian since she served her mission there! She is kind and quirky.  She always has interesting things to talk about and loves all children (and they all love her).  I love my friend Amber and I am so happy that she got to have this fun little birthday surprise!  She totally deserves it!

When Mom was away...

Christmas came early for Taj!  We knew we wanted to buy Taj a tricycle for Christmas this year so when Mark saw this hot ride at Costco he just couldn't pass it up (and well...I can't blame him...it is one sweet ride!). 

Of course we already gave it to Taj because he won't know the difference anyway (likely our last year for that) and we can still put a bow on it Christmas morning!  So Taj's feet don't even reach the pedals but he loves to sit on it and ring the bell...whether he is watching TV, eating our just hanging out.  How cool is he?

I can't WAITE until next time...

I get to go to TENNESSEE!  So I got to go and visit my sister and her family in TN this last weekend.  It was just me.  And although I really missed my baby and hubby (thanks for babysitting Marianne!), it was really fun to get to focus all my love and attention on Carolyn and her family.  They have a B-E-A-U-tiful home and town.  I think I picked the perfect time of year to visit.  And although we stayed busy planning Carolyn's very first uppercase living party, I had the best time!  I'm so glad that I got to go visit.  We really just did the normal daily life stuff but when you are with your sister there's not much else you would rather do, although I am bummed that we forgot to take more pictures!

In this pic, Eden is kissing my "bump" (tongue in cheek) although when I first tried to pull this she said "no, that's for Grandpa!"

Carolyn feed me wonderfully!  She won't admit it, but to me she is a total gourmet!  And apparently Eden is close behind her with her very own apron and all!

This is Aaron in their backyard with his two girls (and chickens!).  He was such a good sport.  He volunteered to sleep on the couch so that Carolyn and I could have more time together and share the bedroom!  He was really wonderful. Thank you Aaron...you really stepped up to help with the girls all weekend (day and night)!

One day I took Ava for a little walk and she wore this cute hat!  She had all her clothes on during the walk but the hat was so extra cute on her we decided it needed a repeat session!

Thank you Carolyn and Aaron for having me and being such wonderful family!  The countdown has begun until we get to see you again at Christmas!