Owen's Weekly Chore...

Here is Owen's 1 chore he has to do once a week with Daddy's help. I have no clue how he knows when Thursday is, maybe because its Brandon's day off, but every Thursday morning when he wakes up he asks to go take the trash can & recycling bin down for trash day! It literally brings him so much excitement. More power to ya son, have fun...

Here he is doing his chore!

When he is done he runs inside to tell me exactly what he did like its the biggest accomplishment of his life. Lol, he brings so much joy to my life. I wish I had the same energy and excitement he has for chores because quite honestly I get really sick of all of mine.

GG & Papa Nick's Visit

This past weekend Brandon, Owen, Autumn and I were honored to have Brandon's Grandparents down for a visit. They came to meet their very 1st Great-Granddaughter for the fist time, have some play time with Owen and of course take a trip to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta for the first time. We had a blast with them and I am so happy and thankful they took the trip down to come spend some time with us and the kids. It is so important to Brandon and I that our kids know all of their family especially the ones they don't get to see very often. As always the weekend went by way too fast but we will hold onto the memories until next time. Hope to see you soon GG & Papa Nick!

Owen and Autumn with their Great-Grandparents.
I know all of our out of town family that don't get to see Owen very often fear that he will not know them and be shy when they come, but that was definitely not the case this weekend. When they pulled into the driveway Owen ran strait up to the car and gave them a huge hug & kiss. No warming up needed, Owen loved them.

A good way you can tell Owen really likes you is when you get invited into his playroom. As you can tell GG is in!

So cute.

Papa Nick had a great time holding Autumn and she seemed to love being in his arms.

This was hilarious. GG was taking some Tylenol for her headache and Owen was throwing a fit because he wanted to take some medicine too, so to avoid the fit we gave him 2 jellybeans and he pretended that was his Tylenol. Here they are taking their "medicine" together! lol.

Owen seriously LOVED GG, can you tell?

GG & Papa Nick went to the Balloon Fiesta on Saturday morning but unfortunately we could not join them because Brandon had to go to work. We decided to all go to the Balloon Glow that night since we missed it in the morning. Well, unfortunately it was cancelled due to Thunderstorms and bad Wind but they were still planning on launching off some fireworks. So since we drove all the way there we all hung out in the van and watched the fireworks from there. Owen had a great time because he loves fireworks and was really sad when they were over. Above is GG & Brandon patiently waiting for the show to begin.
Owen waiting...
and way back in the 3rd row was Autumn and I.

Just a Few Cute Ones...

Yesterday I spent hours upon hours peeling, slicing & chopping apples to make more jars of Apple Butter and Apple Sauce. Since the Apple smell was taking over the house Owen requested a Triangle Peanut & Apple Butter Sandwich with Apple Sauce and Peas. He is so specific it cracks me up. Here he is with his delicious apple dinner!

And here is my precious little angle just hanging out on her blanket.
And the two together. If I take a picture of Autumn, Owen has to get his picture taken too!

Anniversary

Fours Years ago I married the man of my dreams! I would first off like to start with a prayer for the two of us.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day. You have fulfilled the desire of our hearts to be together in this life. We pray that your blessing will always rest upon our home; that joy, peace and contentment would dwell within us as we live together in unity, and that all who enter our home may experience the strength of your love.

Father, help us to follow and serve you with an ever growing commitment because of our union. Guide us into greater love and sacrifice as we care for each other's needs, knowing you will care for us. May we always be aware of your presence today on our Anniversary and in the years to come. And may our devotion in marriage be a radiant reflection of your love for us.
In Jesus name I pray,
Amen.

On Thursday Brandon and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. Wow, where does the time go? Four years and two kids later, its hard to believe. Thanks to my wonderful parents who were willing to watch our kids, we were able to enjoy a couple hours to ourselves to reflect on the past four years and celebrate our love for one another. We started off with a nice relaxing pedicure and then we went to this amazing restaurant in Old Town called Antiquity for dinner. It was so delicious and the atmosphere was amazing and romantic. Enjoy a few pictures from our evening.

My parents were trying to get a picture of the two of us before we left from dropping the kids off, but Owen insisted on being in the picture too! So here are the THREE of us. Lol.
After our pedicure on the way to dinner. I absolutely LOVE this man!
And here we are at our amazing dinner.
The dessert was so delicious! We couldn't menu was so overwhelming so we couldn't decide on just one, so Brandon got the Chocolate Mousse
and I got this amazing Chocolate Crepe.

"So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Matthew 19:6

Family Trip to the Zoo...

Yesterday the weather was absolutely perfect. Brandon and I knew we could not stay indoors and waste the day away, so we made a last minute decision to pack the kids up and head to the zoo. Owen was very excited to show his baby sister all the animals since this was her 1st ever trip to the zoo. It was a great time and we even bumped into our bestest friends, The Altman Family, while we were there. How ironic, I guess its true great minds think alike.

The morning was a great time to go since that is when they feed all the animals. Here are the beautiful Zebras eating their breakfast.
Owen and Mommy taking a rest on this bench.Here we are watching the seals dive in the water. Autumn had been asleep in the stroller up until this point, but when I took her out to see the seals she got very excited and started cooing at them. It was so precious, I think she may have a favorite animal!
This picture is kind of makes me nervous because I looks like these Mountain Lions are drooling over the thought of my Son for Breakfast! Watching the TigersOf course when we ran into the Altman Family we decided to walk around together to see the rest of the animals. Here is Owen, Brandon and Olivia looking at the Giraffes.

Backyard Picnic...

The weather has been very warm for the norm here, meaning high 80's to low 90's, but the mornings and evenings have been absolutely beautiful, high 60's to low 70's. Since Owen loves being outside we decided to take lunch outside a couple days ago. I set up our awesome new picnic blanket, thanks Aunt Anne & Uncle Art, and we all enjoyed laying out soaking up the sunshine.

Here is Owen taking a break from playing to eat his Dinosaur shaped Peanut Butter & Apple Butter sandwich. He is so funny. He tells me what shape to cut his sandwich in. His requests are either a dinosaur, a circle, a triangle, a square or a heart. He is so particular.

Owen playing with a pink Disney Princess Bouncy Ball that accidentally got thrown over from the neighbors yard. He calls all Disney Princess' Tinker Bell. I have no clue?

Miss Autumn also loves the outdoors. Here she is enjoying a little snooze. So Precious!

Apple Update...

I am sure when I made a post from the apple farm you all were probably wondering what I was going to do with 2 huge bags of Apples on top of the apples I got from my parents trees. Well, I have been making tons of Apple Butter & Apple Sauce and I even got a delicious recipe for an Apple Upside down Spice Cake....Yummy!

Owen loves helping me bake. Here is his face after he snuck a bite of the batter on his finger. I think he liked it?