Owen Russell turns 1!

23 lbs

30 inches tall. (He's pretty short)

Giant head. :D

HAPPY birthday Owen Bear. We all love you so much! It is pure joy to be your mother!

First try of cow's milk. Didn't like it.

Happy Birthday muffin. We keep things simple around here. :D

A funny story about Owen. When I took him in for his nine month appointment he was way ahead on all the development stuff except clapping. I felt bad I couldn't mark THAT off the chart. So when I took him home we practiced. And for the last three months I have continued to practice with him mostly every day. I clap, and say "yeahhhh!!!" And he smiles and looks at me....and nothing. I clap his hands for him. He fights me. I give up and try another day.
It didn't work I was unsuccessful. He never clapped on his own once. So when I took him to his year appointment I was sad to once again not mark off clapping on his chart.

I put the chart down and got out my phone to take our traditional Doctors office pictures. He smiled and laughed for me. Soo cute. Then I set him down smiled and told him he did a good job, and he looked up at me and clapped and clapped with this smug little smile on his face. Lauren was there and was just as shocked as I was. "Look Mom! He's clapping! He's finally clapping!!!. I have no doubt the little goose was holding out on me....

When the doctor came in and looked over his chart. He asked "Soo he can't clap??""
I replied. "Oh yes. Sorry, he can certainly clap. "
Then helpful Lauren said, "He just did! For the FIRST time EVER!!"

:D I Just kind of chuckled and looked sheepish.

Owen Bear:
*Lover of chocolate cookies and raisens.
*Gives the biggest toothy grins, showing all 6 teeth!
*Loves to condition his curls with yogurt and spagetti sauce.
*Loves to be outside, and out and about.
*Clicks his tongue when he is extra happy. He is also super ticklish, and has the best laugh!
*Super happy, mellow and good natured ...unless he's not feeling well, then he growls. Not shy about letting you know how he feels. :D
*Definitely a climber. Climbs up on anything within reach.
*Ellie is his favorite person. "Ellieeeee" Was first word he learned after Mom and Dad. They definitely have a special bond. One day she accidently  bumped the pack-and-play into his nose, and he just cried saying Ellieee???Ellie ?????over and over. He was definitely trying to figure out why she would do  such a thing to him. It was heart-breaking. She just picked him up and hugged him. After awhile, he forgave her and hugged her back. He gives the BeST hugs and kisses!
He also says Names(James), yes, good, hi, bye, done, dit do(thank you.) And bath.
*Not sure if I shared this on the blog before, but I want to remember. When Owen was just learning how to crawl, I was sitting in a mass of laundry on the living room floor, folding and organizing. Owen crawled over to James' underwear, sat down, and picked it up and held it up in the air and called out "Names! Names! Just like I do every week when I want the kids to come get their laundry piles. I was so impressed he got the right pile and the right kid, it gave me chills. Most kids his age didn't even talk.
*twinkly mischievous eyes with curly lashes.
*Loves to listen to music and stand by the piano and play us songs.

Lava Hot Springs

Before we left for Lava, we went to free lunch in the park for the last time. The kid's sure have enjoyed going.

Then the sister missionaries dropped by for a quick visit.

....and the pioneers dropped by as well. Actually this was on the 24th of July. We had just gotten back from a bike ride to the park and these people pulled up. They were going to a family dinner for Pioneer Day in style. They dropped by to schedule the church with Barry for a future gathering.

Made my Dad some cinnamon rolls to take up to Lava for his birthday. Lovely to look at, but probably the worst ones I ever made. Completely without flavor, not sure what I did wrong, but I sure hope I never do it again. Sorry Dad!

Yes! I'm old and ugly, but my little Owen is ADORABLE, so I couldn't leave this pics out.

My only picture from Lava. I forgot my camera, and our phone didn't have any service there, so we just left them at the motel. We stayed at the Alpaca Inn. They had alpaca decorations everywhere. Ellie even dreamed she was going down the water slide at Lava wearing an alpaca wool swim suit! The kid's had a blast swimming. They have been practicing all summer, and their practice has really paid off. They swam like little fishes.
Jacob and Kelly made everybody who wanted one these awesome Lava shirts. I thought they turned out great, and that they did a super good job on them. My dad sponsered each of the Grandkid's a shirt for his birthday. :D

I thought the Lava Lodge was pretty nice, and it was even nicer for my parents to rent it for all of us to use. It was great to see everybody!

Studman in the Spudman

This year Barry signed up to race his first triathlon, the Idaho Spudman!
The Spudman Triathlon features a 1.5K swim in the Snake River, a 40K bike ride and a 10K run.
It is held in Burley, Idaho every year. This year there was over 1700 racers. It was awesome!

Ack! Mom made me get up too EARLY!

 He's just too cute, sorry, had to throw THIS one in here again!

 IT was an EARLY morning for us, and I mean a get-up and-try-and-leave-at-4:30-in-the-morning early.... We made it! I'm so glad it wasn't me having to get into that COLD water. Most of the racer had wetsuits.

 Feeling the sunrise to warm our faces.

surveying the area

 I sure am proud of this man. He has lost more than 40 pounds and gained a lot of muscles in the last 7 months. He has put in a lot of hard work and determination into preparing for this race.
Since I met Barry, I have always thought as him as my Super Man, and today and for the last few months he really has proved it! Way to go Dear, you amaze me!

 See! lots of people.

 Suiting up! Ready to go. Ear plugs and dorky, but necessary swim cap. The racers were divided up into waves. I think there was 8 different groups with different start times. Barry was in the  5th group, the BLUE cap group with a 7:30am start time.

 Yeah. Totally don't know which one he was. :D He hung back a bit he said, so more towards the back to start off with. The yellow buoy thing is the start line. The race is in the Snake River, so there is definitely a current. They were fortunately swimming with the current, though dozens of people had a hard time staying behind the start line until the race started.

and they're off!!! still don't have a clue which one he is, but we cheered anyway!

After, completing the swim, the racers jumped on their bikes, in Barry's case his Mountain bike, and biked the next leg of the race. I believe out of the approximate 1700 racers that I saw, I saw one other mountain bike. But, it was Barry, so he trashed them all on their fancy road bikes.
No, the above picture is not of him, my camera jammed up just when he came by, I was so sad. He's on the other side of the fence with the grey shirt and a red helmet.