Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, spunky Ava!

Halloween-

The Pumpkin Walk-  

Ah, we love the Pumpkin Walk. 

 We had a more eventful trip to the Pumpkin Walk this year-  we went with some friends that have a boy a couple years older than Owen that he loves and looks up to and sort of worships a little bit. He's about the nicest kid I think I've ever met, anyways, he wanted to play tackle and asked Owen if he could tackle him and Owen said yes so they went and were boys together.  A couple minutes later we looked over and Owen was just laying on the ground and said it hurt to bad to get up.  This isn't like Owen very much especially when he's with such a cool boy that he doesn't want to look sissy in front of so Matt got him up and we finished walking around and Matt took him to instacare- Here's a picture of his collar bone or Clavicle as Owen likes to call it-  

One of the nurses was joking with Owen that next time he needed to tackle his friend next time he asked and Owen seriously said, "Next time I'll just say No!"  

It's only been about three weeks since it broke and I am amazed how much better it is.  He stopped wearing a sling about a week and a half ago and can pretty much do anything he wants.  He's been a trooper through it all, especially being his right arm that he uses to write with.  After his first day back at school his teacher told me she just couldn't believe that he didn't try to get out of doing anything even with such a good excuse.  

We went back on Sunday afternoon  and Owen got to enjoy the "stick your head in it to be awesome boards."  My favorite is the little Yoda board-  

Carving Pumpkins:

The Big Day:

Isaac was a lion and was pretty good at growling to scare you. 

Ava wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake and looked good with or without the awesome pink hair.

And Owen was an awesome Batman.  

Matt also dressed up for work and because of a weight loss goal he wanted to meet before he could shave made an awesome Paul Bunyan.  I decided I could be his Babe, you know like his ox.  

First Days of School-

 Owen started 1st grade this year.  It's sad to have him gone all day but he likes it and has a fantastic teacher.  Before he started school when people asked him if he was excited about going all day he said, "yes, I'm excited for more recesses but I'm going to miss my mom."  

 Just a couple weeks before preschool started we got a call from the USU Development Lab Preschool that they had a spot open up for Ava to come.  They had a little open house play time to come and see the place. She was the most excited about their class pet guinea pig named Licorice.  

She missed her first couple days because of being sick but on her first day she was so excited!  

She loves it so much and asks me all morning when it's lunch time so she can go right after that.

Fishing with Grandpa-

 A couple weeks ago we enjoyed some time up in the mountains and Owen & Michael got to go fishing with their Grandpa.  This was Owen's first time fishing really and he was very interested in all the details of how to be a good fisherman.   

 The tackle box- cool stuff.

 Cute Emi- eating the best watermelon.

 Thanks Grandpa, we had a blast.  

Walking Isaac Man-

This is such a big deal it gets it's own post-  Isaac is a walker and walks everywhere!

This video was taken sometime earlier in the summer- just starting to figure it out.  Possibly the awesome excitement of my brother Toph was rubbing off but he was pretty tickled.

Now he is a full blown walking boy and rarely crawls anymore.  Once he figured out walking he graduated from the physical therapist coming to see him every month!  She was great and we liked her but it's just so nice to have him walking! 

I need to get a good video of him walking around cause he can but here's a little one that shows he's pretty good even when being pulled with a slinky by his crazy sister.

Owen's Birthday-

Owen turned 7 years old!  

Before we'd really done anything after only being awake for a short time Owen said, "This is the best birthday I've ever had." 

Breakfast of Choice:  Owen loves hashbrowns and from a unanimous decision- Matthew is the best hashbrown cooker in our family so we had a yummy breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs & bacon.

Owen wouldn't light a match a few weeks ago for fireworks cause he said it was too dangerous and he didn't want to catch on fire but promised he would light a candle on his birthday.  I guess our fire safety talks were a little to effective but thank goodness he can light one and is a boy.  Candles as many times on a birthday as you can think of really is the best way.

Another thing that made Owen's birthday great was that Lincoln,  his best friend from kindergarten has a birthday a couple of days after Owen and had party at the fun park the morning of Owen's birthday.  He had a blast and Ava, Isaac & I were able to bake the cake and finish picking up a few things.  

When he got back he read some books with Isaac.

Then we decorated The Cake:  Owen decided he wanted a batman cake.  I'm not really a cake decorator but we found a picture of a Batman cake with the buildings on the side that I could do and Owen took care of decorating the top.  It was cool and he was proud of his creation.

Grandma & Grandpa Huff spoiled Owen that afternoon with some nerf guns which is just what he wanted.  

Miniature Golfing:  Owen has wanted to go miniature golfing for a while so we went and he loved it. He was surprisingly pretty good.  I see some fun golfing in Matthew & Owen's future.  

Ava was not such a big fan of the golfing part but had fun wading in the little pool.  

Popsicles after.

Thanks to Patrick & his cousin Truman's example the restaurant of Owen's choice was Chuck-a-Rama. The endless slushies are a big draw.  

When we got home we had a little party with cousins & family with a couple of superhero games- an obstacle course and a game that brought a lot of laughs that is kind of like pin the tail on the donkey but was making Owen a superhero with a mask & an "O" logo to stick on his shirt.

We sure love our Owen man.  He's happy, cautious, the best big brother, kind, helpful, observant, a night-owl, and considerate.  I think my Dad was exactly right when he recently said Owen is so dedicated to living life.

Happy Birthday Owen!  We love you!