Owen is 1

I didn’t realize that I didn’t put up any of Owen’s 1 year old pictures so I guess I will do it a month late! It is hard to believe that just over a year ago, we were in the hospital having our little guy! He came fast and furious so it was very exciting and very crazy! But we made it to the hospital and he was here in a flash! Life before him was really good, but we had no idea just how amazing it could be once he was here.

Becoming a mother is something that has completely changed me in so many ways. I have come to realize and understand just how important it is to raise children of God. Growing, feeding, changing, teaching, and taking care of little ones is our purpose and it is what God wants. It brings me more joy than I ever thought it would.

My neighbor took these adorable pictures of Owen at our house right before his birthday. It was freezing outside and it was so nice to be able to do it inside at our house where he was comfortable. He did awesome and was a cutie pie for the camera!

He loves to raise his hands up when we say “soooo big!” and he loves to clap his hands, so we got a lot of that!

This last picture is probably my favorite because it captures Owen perfectly! He was busy and always on the move and he has the cutest twinkle in his eye because he has a plan and knows exactly where he is headed.

Owen has brought so much joy to Dan and I, but also to our families. He was born 2 months after my dad passed away and his little spirit brought a lot of joy to our family during a lot of sad days. Seeing my mom with him has made my heart so happy and I just wish my dad could be part of the fun that we have together as a family.

The past year has flown by and we have had lots of wonderful adventures as a family. Heavenly Father has blessed us in so many ways and we are so grateful for the joy we get from His gospel. We can’t wait to see what the next year brings for our family!

Christmas

This Christmas season has been extra special with Owen. Last year he was only a few days old and we had a quiet Christmas at home. We were still figuring out what we were doing, I was recovering and it was just a bit different. This year, we had a one year old and he started to understand the magic and excitement and that made it even more special for us.

We finally did a Christmas card! It seemed like it was finally time since we have a kid! Last year on Christmas Eve, we brought Owen home from the hospital around 6pm. Jimmy Johns was actually open so Dan got take out and that was our Christmas Eve dinner. This year, Dan suggested we continue the tradition and since I LOVE Jimmy John’s, I was in! They closed earlier this year so we just barely made it in time, luckily!

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents. This was Owen’s third time opening presents in a week so he was a pro. Not the best picture of me, but he looks adorable in his Christmas jammies!

Dan did awesome and got me some yummy perfume, a gift card for a pedicure, an awesome necklace, and a subscription to a trashy magazine! Yay.

I got Dan another sleeping bag (he has tons but still wants more), Supermane movie, John Stockton’s book, and a gift card to Sportsman’s Warehouse (his dream store).

Owen loved the excitement of presents and he really loved his popper toy. It is still one of his favorites and he plays with it every day. I’m sure he will love it even more as he starts walking. He also got a puzzle and some shape blocks.

We carried on the Sampson tradition of having cinnamon rolls. I briefly considered doing homemade then wised up and bough some Rhoades rolls. They were amazing.

After breakfast and clean up, we headed south to the Hills’. The whole clan (minus Mike, Hailey and Weston) was there for present swapping and Christmas madness. Owen slept through a lot of it, but did really well with all the crazyness and cousins everywhere. He is getting much better at handling the crowds.

Dan is still rocking the beard. Sexy.

After some lunch, we moved on to my mom’s house where she had a beautiful table ready for dinner. We met early so we could open presents there before the Thomases came over.

My mom went a little crazy again and we all got some awesome presents. Dan and I got a fabric steamer (we have wanted one for a while…ironing doesn’t happen here), a pop up shade/tent thing for summer, gift cards, emergency prep stuff, and a lot of other awesome things. We were overwhelmed.

Owen got some exciting presents and an adorable outfit. He was stoked to open even more presents and watching him try to crawl through the wrapping paper was pretty funny.

We had a delicious dinner at my mom’s house with Thomases and visited for a while. Dan went to a late movie with his brothers and Andrew and Steph and mom and I stayed at mom’s house. Dan and I spent the night there so we weren’t in a rush to get home. We just hung out and the next morning we just stayed at my mom’s.

Owen in part of his cute new outfit from Grandma!

He also got this rad mowhawk hat from Carrie/Mark and family. He actually keeps it on!

When we got home that night, Dan busted out his new sleeping bag and Owen got in on the action. He loves to cuddle up to soft things like pillows, blankets, etc and he makes the cutest cooing sound when he does it. He was cuddling with Dan in the sleeping bag here.

On New Year’s Eve, we met my mom in Bountiful at the Mandarin. It is an awesome Chinese food place and we LOVED it. Owen had his cute new hat on from Steph. He looks a little drunk here, but he was happy! Dinner was awesome and a tradition we might have to continue!

Our holidays were awesome and a perfect combination of relaxing and busy. Having time off work was so great and we were able to spend a lot of time together and with family. We are so blessed with the life we have and we try to remember to thank Heavenly Father for the blessings He gives us daily. Being an eternal family and having our wonderful families are at the top of that list of blessings. 2013 was an amazing year full of great memories and lots of joy. We hope 2014 is even better!

December

We had a fun and busy December! With work Christmas parties, family parties, and Owen’s birthday, it was crazy but very fun! Owen finally got two teeth and he wasn’t feeling 100% but still did really well. One day I turned on Baby Einstein for him (which he loves) and gave him his blanket and binky. He didn’t move a muscle for probably 30 minutes and was all cuddled up in his blanket! It was the sweetest thing ever!

We had the annual Hill Family Progressive dinner and it was a success. We started in Draper at Mike and Hailey’s new house for appetizers, then went to Dave and Amanda’s for salad.

Everything was going so well and we left to head to Jon and Julie’s house about an hour away in West Haven. Around 33rd south, we hit tons of traffic on I-15 and it was stop and go. I started feeling a little carsick (pretty common for me), then I looked back at Owen and realized he was barfing everywhere. Worst nightmare. We had given him a bunch of this yogurt/cool whip/raspberry salad stuff and it was everywhere. He was crying and disgusting and I was on the verge of barfing myself. Dan was trying to get off the freeway, which wasn’t easy when we were in the carpool lane and there were tons of cars. It was a pretty terrible experience. We finally got off and went to McDonalds and got Owen somewhat cleaned up. He was left in his stained pink white onesie. We gave him some water and got back on the road. Then he barfed again. Mostly water, but still horrible. He was not happy and we still had 30 minutes to get home, so I crawled in back with him and tried to console him while Dan got us home. Once we got home and cleaned up, he was happy. We missed soup at Jon and Julie’s house, but everyone came to our house for dessert so things ended well!

I failed to mention that the Progressive Dinner was the first time we used Owen’s new car seat with him facing forward. He loved it and looked so big! He broke it in by puking all over it.  The picture below was before The Barf Incident.

Church is really hard with a little one. It is from 9-12 and he usually naps from 10-11:30. So he does well until about 11. I teach the 10-11 year olds and there are tons of girls in my class. They adore Owen and fight over holding and playing with him. They were passing him around and he was really tired but just fine with it. As soon as Emily held him, he fell right asleep on her! He never sleeps on us so it was extra adorable. He slept for about 30 minutes in her arms although I was slightly jealous, I loved it!

We had a family trip to see the lights at Temple Square. It was pretty frigid, but we bundled up the babe and he did great! My mom, sister, Andrew and grandma joined us too! We had dinner at Crown Burger (yessss) then checked out the lights.

Owen was pretty much in awe the whole time and loved all the lights. He did awesome and didn’t fuss or cry at all.

He rode around on Dan’s shoulders for most of the night and loved it.

We warmed up in the Joseph Smith building and he crawled around everywhere, just checking things out. He started climbing the steps here and it was the first time he had done it! Now he a pro at stairs (going up at least).

We celebrated Owen’s first birthday on the 23rd and it was lots of fun. As you can see, he loved his presents and his chair from Grandma and Grandpa Hill. He is definitely not a baby anymore- he looks like a little boy now!

Enjoying all his birthday loot. We gave him some maracas, a little people airplane, and some mega bloks. I think Dan and I had more fun with the blocks than he did…

I felt kind of bad because after we opened presents and had dinner, we got Owen ready for bed and then Dan and I left to meet his siblings, spouses and his parents for dinner at Rodizio to celebrate my mother in law’s birthday. Her 60th birthday was on the 24th so we all got together and had a great dinner. Luckily Owen went to bed right after we left so I think he forgives us. Dinner was awesome and I loved getting together with just adults. We never get to do that and it was really nice.

Of course, we had Christmas and New Year’s but I am going to do another post about that! December was a busy and fun month. I was able to take the last two weeks of the year off, which was amazing. I had to start working again yesterday and it was pretty rough to get back to working full time. Being able to work from home has a lot of advantages and I’m so glad I can be with Owen, but it is not easy juggling home, work, and a busy one year old! Luckily I have a great partner in crime who helps me manage the craziness and takes care of Owen and I!