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!

Owen’s First Birthday Party

Well our little man is one and we had a great party for him on Saturday, December 21st. We did a Polar Express theme and it was really fun!

I made this cute banner and hung it in the entry way so everyone saw it when they walked in. Our house was already decorated with Christmas stuff so that worked out.

Most of our families were able to make it, so there were 13 kids (5 were missing), and about 10 adults. It was pretty crazy but always fun. Grandma Hill read the Polar Express book to the kids and most of them sat still and listened, including Owen. He growled at the picture of the wolves. Cutest.

Danny handed out silver bells to all the kids after the story and they were a huge hit.

Mia was making sure she could hear the bell.

We sang Happy Birthday to Owen and he tried to touch his candle. He wasn’t sure what was going on and seemed a little nervous that everyone was singing loud and watching him, but he did great and didn’t cry or get upset. P.S. Dan has a huge beard. Luckily I still love him and think he looks great with or without the beard.

I tried to make Owen wear this cute birthday hat I made him but he wasn’t having it. Obviously.

He wasn’t very interested in the cupcake and as soon as he touched the frosting, he didn’t want to eat any. But when I fed it to him on a spoon, he ate most of it. Silly kid.

The treat table! I made cupcakes and cute toppers for them. We had a hot chocolate bar with toppings and we also had a few different cookies and some veggies.

Cutest picture of my mom and Owen!

Everyone really enjoyed the treats! Brioney needs to teach Owen how to eat treats. Wild child.

My cute sissy just loves Owen and is the best auntie ever. She took most of these great pictures from the party!

I have been taking a picture of Owen every week in a white onesie and I photoshopped the week onto it. We displayed all the weekly photos on the fridge and it was so fun to see how much he changed and all the adorable pictures we took through the weeks.

After dessert we opened presents with the help of some cousins. Owen got lots of fun gifts and he was really happy with all of them!

He got a rocking chair from Grandma and Grandpa Hill and started rocking as soon as we sat him in it. He loved it! We turned on the Polar Express movie for the kids and just relaxed. Owen finally got a nap and he was a happy camper. We sure love this little guy and can’t wait for another year with him! Some people get sad thinking about not having their baby anymore, and while I love remembering those sweet times, I am so excited to watch Owen grow up and see him learn and change and get bigger. Being a mom is the best and Owen has brought us (and our families) more joy in the past year than we ever could have imagined!

November

Another month down and now only a few weeks until Christmas and only a few weeks until Owen turns ONE! It’s so very exciting! We had family pictures taken with my family at the beginning of the month at Memory Grove and they turned out really great. It was really sad to do them without my dad but I just love my little family and I’m so grateful we are so close.

I really love this guy. He is everything to me and makes me the happiest girl on earth. And he put up with getting pictures because he knows it was important to me. I love our life together.

I really love these pics of my mom and sissy! They mean so much to me and are my bestest friends! Isn’t my sister beautiful?

We got to see Owen’s girlfriend Reese again and they hit it off. Owen was terribly scared of Dustin for some reason and cried a lot when Dustin was anywhere near him. Kind of hilarious.

Who doesn’t love a picture of a sleeping baby? Seriously melts my heart. And he looks adorable in his church outfit. I can’t get enough of his cuteness.

Owen finally started crawling at the end of October and now he is unstoppable. He is into everything and loves to explore. His favorite thing is opening the drawers in the kitchen and out bathroom and pulling out everything. I had to move the razors and other dangerous things for him to play.

My tupperware drawers are very well organized in the kitchen. I’m a bit obsessive…but that is Owen’s favorite drawer so we have just piled a bunch of crap in there for him to pull out and throw all over the kitchen. Then we throw it back in for next time. I will wait to re-organize it when he is past this phase!

I got him this camelback water bottle and he LOVES it. He was drinking out of mine all the time so I got him this and it is his favorite. He loves water and will drink it all if I let him.

We put up our tree the week before Thanksgiving and it made me really happy. I really want to get a bigger tree and refresh our decorations so hopefully next year! We watched Home Alone and drank hot chocolate and it was so Christmasy and cozy!

Thanksgiving was really fun and I didn’t really get any pictures except below! We had dinner with Dan’s family. There was about 50 of us and it was quite the zoo. Owen did great and ate tons of food. Dan also ate tons of food and won the weight gain contest by gaining 9.5 pounds in the hour or two before and after eating. Sexy. We went to see my family for pie that evening and had a lot of fun. We have a lot to be thankful for, that’s for sure.

On Saturday we went to Smith and Edwards (a huge army/navy surplus store) and there was an awesome Santa there! There was no line to see him and they let us take pictures with our phones for free! It was pretty much perfect! Plus Owen didn’t cry and loved it!

These pictures are pretty sweet. I just wish I knew and I would have put him in a cuter outfit…we might try to see another Santa soon but this was a success!

I don’t have a picture, but we also got another niece in our family! Annabelle (not sure of the spelling) was born a few weeks ago and she is a doll. She is the 18th grandchild and I’m sure there will be many more to come!

We can’t wait for December, Christmas lights, parties and Owen’s big day! I’m planning a Polar Express birthday party so hopefully I can pull it off without too much stress during this crazy time of year!