Owen

This kid stole my heart from the moment he arrived...well the moment he came rushing into this world before anyone could be here to catch him. When it was just me, Kristofer and him. Still rather unbelievable a year later.

We have one year pictures coming -- so I will do a more formal ONE post, but thought I'd start the week prior to his birthday with a post dedicated to him.

Here's a series of photos I took a few weeks back of him discovering the Little Tykes car. I thought it was quintessential Owen.

 Had to add these from today too...boys and dirt!

A few more photos...

And all of my Instagram photos from Black Butte...

 Aaden painted his first model car!

 Suri riding is hooting & hollering fun!

 Yep, rode a horse!

 My friend Mia went riding with me

 Owen loved the pool and his playmates!

 Love him!

 What brings us back year after year...

 Mama is 30!

 Pool time is our favorite

 Sunning with my mom on my birthday <3

A little hike to the meadow

Black Butte 2012

I see that it has been a whole month since I last posted. I'm definitely neglecting the blog a lot more these days.

Reason #1 - I got an iPhone. I take tons of pictures with my camera phone, post them on Instagram and sometimes on Facebook. They never make it here though, maybe someday!

Reason #2 - I got food poisoning a month ago and have still not recovered. While it seems to be a good weight loss plan, my energy to "extra" things seems unmanageable. Hmph.

Reason #3 - Kristofer's new job - it is crazy busy. He's never home and has traveled to So. Cal already twice. Ugh!

Reason #4 - It's summer and it is sunny, no need to be inside! :)

Okay, onto an actual update. The little boys and I headed to Black Butte for our annual vacation last week. The weather was perfect, the company was great and I celebrated my 30th birthday while there. The only thing missing - Kristofer! No vacation time for a new employee, plus crazy work hours. Thankfully he was a super hero and drove down late after work to spend the day with me on my birthday before we headed home Sunday.

Here are a few pictures from our time (with no Dad to help with the kids, I didn't get the camera out much).

Through the eyes of Aaden {Photographer}

I've been working with Aaden on taking pictures with my camera. We've talked about how to be careful with it, hold it, look through the view finder and point/shoot. He's taken interest in the pictures I shoot and various compositions, so I thought why not!? I supervised his little photo shoot the other night and just uploaded his pictures. They are quite nice. We'll have to work on using auto focus next! :)

Tee Ball Updates

This past weekend Aaden played his last two tee ball games. There have been lots of rain cancellations, hence, hardly any pictures following the first game! Overall, Aaden had fun playing tee ball. He was one of the youngest members of his team, most of the players were 4 going on 5 {and had played last year}. We have a very focused kiddo {not always on tee ball}. Many games, Aaden would have rather been running bases, then fielding. He'd catch his occasional out-field ball and bat every inning, but in between it was hard to keep the team on track {Aaden included}. Regardless, we wanted him to have fun and enjoy spending quality time with each of us. We did a lot of encouraging and hiding our own frustrations {Kristofer and I} and tried to remember that he was 3 and to let him have enjoy it!

After his last game he had a trophy ceremony and team party. I can't tell you how proud he was to receive his little trophy. The coaches said "Aaden you are the most focused, and kindest team member". He was thrilled. He now carries his trophy around the house, outside and shows it to everyone. He also loves to look at his team picture. Very sweet.

Next year, we are going to try soccer! :)

Here are a few photos from the last few games:

 Little brother was very enthusiastic and wanted to take part in the games!