Sunday, January 30, 2011

Blasted SHARPIES!

So....Brad is obsessed with Sharpies. He keeps a collection in a jar on his desk. They are very pretty and colorful. So pretty and colorful that they attract Owen like flies to fresh doggie doo.No matter where we put the Sharpies, Owen seems to find his way to them. One morning, life in our household was especially quiet and Brad and I were enjoying our morning slumber. Well, we woke up to find our house had been attacked by a teal sharpie. This is just a brief summary of the places we found teal scribbles. Books, couches, tables, toys, appliances, lamp shades...
Yes, the lean cuisines are INSIDE the freezer.  The kid even colored his toe nails! 


It's a good thing I'm behind on blogging because I can now laugh at these photos.

On another Sharpie occasion, Daddy found Owen covered with black sharpie. He put him in the tub and scrubbed him clean....and raw....with a MAGIC ERASER! ("I thought it was just a sponge"). Suffice it to say, Mommy was not happy when she got home from work to her burn victim son. These photos were taken a few days after the incident when Owen's blisters and I both had a chance to simmer down. 

Lesson learned. Please advise others. Apparently Brad is not alone in his thinking...
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/jacksonville-fl/THNM5SGEJM4JOE7K5

September 2010 - Visit Rancho Cherpablo and Owen turns 3!

RANCHO CHERPABLO
Our annual trip to Rancho CherPablo did not disappoint. This year our theme nights and Olympic games took things to a whole new level of fun.

Night 1 - Cowboy and Indians
 Only mildly socially inappropriate. 
 Nana and Gramps grillin' up some burgers for the hungry Cowboys and Indians...
 Cornhole anyone?
 3 Legged Race Cowboy Style

Night 2 - Mexican Night. 
Hurley was about the only one that didn't cross the thin line of social appropriateness. Yow....please try to take this all in good fun and be impressed with what folks could come up with while camping.


 Singing by the campfire...the same campfire that Grammy fell into.
 So SCARY!! Granted, I was still snoozing, but I heard it was scary and woke up to Lynette crying, which can only mean that it really was scary.
 Grammy's raw blistery hand. Eww and Oww. The only perk of having Grammy wounded was witnessing her high on the very necessary pain pills. She was hilarious and kept telling us how BEAUTIFULLY we were painting the Suburban.
 Yes, we painted the Suburban. The girl's side rocked a
 flower power Scooby Doo van theme, which is perfect for the men to take out hunting. 
That's what they get for shooting at Bambi's dad. 

Happy Birthday to Owen - Our lil' guy turns THREE!!
Initial plans for Owen's 3 Year Birthday SoirĂ©e were halted by the unfortunate passing of Brad's grandfather, Lowell Hewlett. Lowell's funeral was on Owen's actual birthday, so we moved the party and took a trip to Idaho to pay our respects. Lowell was a funny, crafty, and loving man and it was sad to say goodbye. 
 Aunt Suzie was so sweet and planned a mini celebration for Owen at the luncheon after the funeral. At first, Owen was thrilled and sang along with the crowd, but when he realized that everyone was staring at him, he hid under the table and cried. It was great comic relief after a rough day and it helped us get through the drive home.


The next day....Dinosaur Birthday Party
Owen is way into dinosaurs - he sings songs about Dinosaurs, reads books about Dinosaurs and knows them by name (even tough ones like Stygimoloch and Diplodocus). For his birthday party, he specifically requested a Volcano cake and because I'm not a fan of disappointment, I researched and delivered. It was a hit with Owen - he didn't want to eat it and he still requests one every week. 
 Bouncy House....a 3 year old party necessity.

Sweet  Molly                                                         Cousin Isaak 
Miss Addy re-arranging the decor....

The infamous VOLCANO CAKE!!!!





 The first present Owen opened was "Spencer" the train. It was all over from there....he just wanted to go play with Spencer and didn't want to have to open any other gifts. He was spoiled! After all was said and done, I even stashed a few gifts and used them as incentives for potty-training over the next few weeks. 



It was great to have everyone over...Baby Macy made her debut and Aunt Alicia was even there to snap some photos of 
Baby Macy and Bub Wyatt (Baby Violet). 


I love my friends and family. Just looking at these pictures makes me giggle. Thanks to everyone for the love, support, and giggles!

August 2010 - Wedding and Camping

Keeping up-to-date is a daunting task and I'm admittedly lousy at it. Though I'm behind, I have some things to share and note for my own good, so here goes....

August 6, 2010 - Mitch and Heidi get hitched...

Shortly after Mitch’s proposal to Heidi, the planning began and my mom was worried about when we would be able to come into town for the wedding….It was fun to be living in town for the festivities. Brad and I were on kid patrol for the temple time. After readying and carpooling ourselves + Owen, Violet, Bryson, Stephanie, Grandpa Paul, and Addy, Brad thought that it might be easier to get a temple recommend. 
 2 Kids...sniffing flowers
 The gang on the grounds...
 Our attempt at getting a couple shot....
 At the Lion House Wedding Breakfast....Owen enjoyed the truffles and Violet enjoyed being harassed...


 At the wedding. Owen was a stoic member of the wedding party.
 The kids were about done by this time in the evening...

 Brad, Cade, and a few of Mitch's friends took shifts driving the shuttle from parking to the wedding. The guys ended up enjoying this task a little too much and the neighbors lamented over their damaged shrubs.
 Owen and Addy (and Brad, let's be honest) enjoying teetering and tottering...
 A downpour had the wedding party rushing indoors to wait it out. 
Notice Heidi wiggin' a bit... 

 The rest of us took advantage of some down time...

Speaking of Down Time...Provo Canyon
 We took a day off to relax and enjoy the mountains. Owen loved splashing and throwing rocks into the lake, much to the chagrin of the die-hard fishermen. 
After a few hours we had to leave because Mr. Hurley was getting too much attention. Seriously, groups of strangers kept approaching us and taking snap shots of Hurley with their kids. Such a spectacle...


Moosehorn Lake Camping Trip 
The Bullough fam took a short camping trip to the traditional camping spot of our youth, Moosehorn Lake. The scenery was more impressive and the hike around the lake was more difficult than I remembered. 
 Owen loved catching his first fish, but was horrified that we wanted him to touch it. Uncle Jeff smoked the trout and we all had a tasty snack. 
 My tender boy appreciating the wild flowers. 
 Our hike around the lake...those rocks were tough to cross with a toddler, a baby, a camera, and 3 dogs....
  Born free....


The kids played cacoon and butterfly with Ash in the hammock for a good solid hour. 
Owen has a bad case of road rash from hitting the ground on a full sprint.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

San Fran, Rodeo, and Crabs (three things that usually go together, right?)...




July 2010
First Rodeo
In true Lehi fashion, we got roped into the Lehi Roundup Rodeo. I have never been to a rodeo before and, after attending, I remembered why...those poor baby calves. Owen was kinda interested in what was going on, but as soon as the motorcycles came out, he was an enthusiastic cheerer! There's just something about vehicles that lights Owen up.

Family Vacation – California, here we come…
In our usual fashion, the 24 of us caravanned out to San Francisco in 5 minivans. We were quite a spectacle, but we had fun with it and named our vehicles (our van was the Wyld Stallions), came up with vehicle cheers, and displayed vehicle flags in our windows.  

San Francisco was cold, but that didn’t stop us from dominating the city. We hit just about every attraction, which meant that there was little to no down time. 
We hit Alcatraz,

China and Japan Towns, 

An Oakland A’s game, 

San Francisco Central Park, 


Fisherman’s Wharf, 

Lombard Street, and 

the frigid, but fabulous Golden Gate Bridge. 

A few favorite moments:
1.  As our van struggled up the steep hills near Lombard Street, Owen encouraged, “You can do it car, you can do it! Push!” 

2.  Drunk teenagers being kicked out of the A’s game for smoking and cursing – I tried to inconspicuously video tape the drama because it was just so much fun. This photo makes it hard to see (don't worry, I got closer...and notice my father looking over the rails), but you can see the crowd of security guards. I loved the security woman....after kicking out this crowd, she yelled to the rowdy kids behind us, "You wanna go too? Let's get while the gettin's good." So rad.

3. The scenic route that Cade decided we were taking (and Brad encouraged). Aunt Lynette puking because she hated the scenic route. 

4. Owen and Uncle B sharing a bed. Enough said.
5. I don't have pictures of this, but my most memorable moment was on the subway after a long day of shopping where a girl passed out in the crowded subway car and hit her head on the doors. Her friend started screaming, "Someone help her," as the doors started to close on her head. My aunt Lynette pulled her to safety and we had to evacuate and wait for medics to arrive and tend to her bloody head. We had a hard time getting the men to believe that we were late getting back to the hotel because of a medical emergency and not just hours of shopping.

REDWOODS...


After 4 days of intense touring, we loaded up and drove to the Redwood Forest. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I have to say that this forest was the definition of awesome. Owen loved running around and jumping on the fallen trees. From his car seat, he kept gasping and yelling, “Woah…big, huge tree!”

Every year, Grammy takes us all on a wonderful trip. There's always a tad of family drama, but overall the trips really do keep us together and the memories will last forever. Thank you Grammy and Grandpa!

Crabs
Owen's obsession with crabs for the past few months finally prompted his pet-obsessed parents to surrender and buy him a few. He loves them and has named them (Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Diesel, and Sabastian). It's so cute because he tells them good night and when we give them "baths", he tells them to "lay back" and get their hair wet.