Owen's New Trick

This video is for the grandparents. The boy can roll over.

Tornado!!

Well, we had our first tornado scare yesterday! I was just at home hanging out with a friend when her husband called her and told her she needed to come home, when she asked why he said "there's a tornado headed toward Lawrence- can't you hear the sirens?" As soon as we opened the door we could hear the warning sirens. Owen was asleep and Joseph was at school, so after a moment of the both of us standing in the doorway wondering what we should do, I loaded Owen in the car seat to go get Joseph and my friend headed home to find some basement we could go to. I picked up Joseph, who was of course laughing because he thought it was so funny that we had to look for a basement because of the potential tornado! I had yet to see the humor, luckily on the way home the radio said the tornado had turned south and away from us! But needless to say we decided to stay in for the night, which by this picture, was fine with Owen who was content to just be hanging out with his dad! But no worries, we lived!


And here are just a few pictures of Owen sporting his homemade sweaters and hats- thanks mom!

Kansas: School, Owen, and getting lost!

This is my first post. So far Joseph has been the only one to post out of the two of us, I just haven't had a chance to learn- so hopefully this works! Joseph is at school all day today and it is a rainy and cold day in Kansas so Owen and I are staying indoors, which is fine seeing as how yesterday we found ourselves all over Kansas... by accident. I have been looking for a few last pieces of furniture to finish off our room and Owen's room. So yesterday I went downtown in hopes of finding something, but with no luck I was coming home frustrated and not knowing what to do. When I remembered about the Nebraska Furniture Mart which is only about 35 miles away, however I would have to make a few freeway changes and go through a toll, but having past it the day before on our way into Kansas City, I felt like I could do it. I called a few friends here in Kansas to double check where I was going and headed off on the K-10, I then found I-70 and my last transfer was to get on the 435, however I forgot if I wanted to go 435 North or 435 South, as I turned onto the 435 South I saw the Nebraska Furniture Mart in my rear view mirror, I quickly got off the freeway and headed back into the right direction. I parked and starred at the HUGE store feeling a little overwhelmed by its massiveness, but Owen and I made our way towards the entrance, we looked around but didn't quite find what we needed so I decided to get going before Owen got hungry. I loaded him in his car seat and it began. . . Owen was getting fussing as I got back on the 435, by the time we were on I-70 Owen was crying and screaming uncontrollably (imagine the baby Jack Jack from Incredibles when he gets really mad at the end of the movie and his face turns all red, that was Owen) then to add to it a sudden rain storm came pounding down on us, I'm not afraid to admit that I let out a few small screams of my own when the rain began pounding so hard I couldn't see in front of myself and semi's were passing me leaving me to deal with their wake of water they left behind. So I decided I better pull over, feed my baby, and let the storm blow over. I parked in a gas station and suddenly Owen was fascinated by the water hitting the back windshield and was completely quiet, when I tried to feed him he just sat in my arms and smiled up at me. So seeing that he was in control and the storm was calming down I went back on the rode. Not two minutes onto the freeway and Owen had turned into Jack Jack again and the storm is as bad as ever. So imagine me reaching back to hold Owen's hand to help him get control and trying to drive, in the storm- needless to say somewhere along there I missed the exit. Owen eventually fell asleep and the rain was no longer pounding and I began to see signs for Topeka! Which is the city past Lawrence- panic mode began. Visions of being lost in Topeka started flashing through my mind, not only was I not in Lawrence I was beginning to question whether I ever went in the right direction after living the furniture store, I was imagining my conversation with Joseph- "I am in Topeka, but I don't know how to get back home because I have no mountains to tell me where North South East or West is!" Finally I saw a toll booth so I knew I could turn around, I figured I should start retracing my steps. First sign I see says Lawrence 17 miles. Not only had I missed my exit- I'd missed it by 17 miles and found myself in Topeka! Well I paid a little bit closer attention to the signs this time and made it home before Owen woke up again and was glad to see our little apartment here in Kansas! I hope you all get a laugh out of my afternoon in Kansas! This is a picture of Owen just as we came back from our adventure to Topeka.

This is Joseph on his first day of Law School!!


Here are just a cute picture of Owen! He is getting so big!

Rise and Shout...

...it's college football season. 

While an undergrad at BYU, I only missed one home football game (ironically, it was to study for the LSAT and I would have much preferred to get a sunburn at the game). When we got married, I bought Jenni season football tickets and a BYU sweatshirt for her birthday. She was a good sport and stood next to me at the games. She cheered when the stadium cheered, but refused to sing the fight song or join in on the "rah-rah's," but instead would mumble A Utah Man am I under her breath. Before kickoff, she would always ask, "Ok, now how much do they have to be up by before we can go?" My reply was always the same: it doesn't matter what the score is, we stay until the clock expires. Eric V. and I once stood in the freezing rain and wind in LeVell Edwards Stadium while we waited out a 45min. lightning delay to watch the last 4 min. of a game the Cougars were sure to win anyway. Most of the stadium had left. Not us. 

Jenni would only think about football while at the game. For me, however, it was a different story. Saturdays during fall semester were not just part of the weekend, it was football Saturday. I'd forget about sleeping in, but instead get up to watch ESPN's College Game Day Preview. Then we'd go to the game (or watch it on TV) sometime in the mid-afternoon, then in the evening go back to the apartment for College Game Day wrap-up and Sports Center's Top Ten. Then on Monday the new rankings would come out. Monday morning is spent reading the weekend re-cap of games around the country, reading the analysis of the new rankings, and checking up on teams still ahead on BYU's schedule. I love college football. 

So far, the season is off to a great start. Both BYU and KU easily handled their 1-AA opponents, ironing out the kinks before they take on some key non-conference opponents, and the Utes silenced a capacity-crowd at the Big House while the nation watched on ABC. 

On ESPN, Lou Holtz said that BYU and Utah are teams to watch for being BCS busters this season. But each BCS-busting team in the past has had one thing in common: a perfect record. Since it's likely that both BYU and Utah will each be undefeated when they meet in November, it only heightens the drama. But none of that really matters. When those two teams clash, it doesn't matter if one or both are nationally ranked, it doesn't matter if one or both or neither have had a spectacular season, it doesn't matter if one or both or neither are undefeated or winless. It's a different sort of game. We'll just have to wait at see whether Bronco's theme of a "Quest for Perfection" will be reflected in this season's record. 

We're not in [Provo] anymore...

...we're in Kansas. It's kinda like Provo, only with more alcohol, more frat houses, and no Lon's BBQ or Cafe Rio. Spencer was my co-pilot for the 15-hour drive. He owed me one after I helped him with his 3-day drive when he moved to Boston and back. We drove through most of the night in order to get here before the moving truck, sleeping for a few hours in the car somewhere in Nebraska. Fortunately, we had plenty of quality car food (thanks to Jenni, Amy, and my mom) and an iPod full of music and movies. Last week's episode of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, took us to the Utah boarder, Paul Simon and Waking Ned Divine got us through most of Wyoming, then David Wilcox and Discovery Channel's When We Left Earth took us the rest of the way. All in all, it was a pretty good trip; gas was cheaper than I anticipated and we did the entire drive with only one Viveran between us.

Jenni, Owen, and Mom arrived the next day after the heavy lifting was done. Owen was a champ in the airports and on the plane, but finally broke down on the drive home. For dinner, we went to a restaurant in downtown Lawrence. Massachusetts Street is the heart of this college town's social scene; there's sidewalk restaurants, live music venues, specialty shops, and clothing stores, along with street musicians and other performers. I think we can get used to visiting this part of our new town.

Spencer left on Sunday and Mom stayed till Tuesday. It was great to have another set of hands to help hold Owen and unpack. Then Mom left us to go help the Rowans, who also moved this week from Boston to North Carolina. Lizzie has already pointed out that we are now six siblings in six different states in three time zones.  Of course, this brought Mom to tears.

But she loved holding Owen in his new rocking chair.

And Owen loves his new rocker.

My home for the next 3 years: The University of Kansas School of Law.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

Moving Boxes

Moving requires a ridiculous amount of cardboard. Cardboard is not really exciting as far as materials go, which is why I feel funny spending money on something so ubiquitous as common cardboard. Turns out, there's a lot to be found for cheap, if you know where to go. Having moved from SLC to Provo, Provo to SLC and now SLC to KS, we've got the art of dumpster diving down pat. 

The best place is the "cardboard only" dumpster behind your local Barnes and Noble (or other comparable bookstore). Since these boxes used to only hold books, they're not messy and gross like the cardboard behind restaurants. They're sturdy, not too big that they get heavy, and they stack pretty well. Better still, the employees flatten the boxes before they throw them out so you can easily fit a few dozen in the trunk of a sedan.

Another good place for cardboard is Jenni's place of employment: a dental office. It turns out that dental supplies come in a variety of very good boxes that are perfect for re-use. Other boxes we used in the move came from baby supplies and saving various boxes that seemed to find their way to my parent's house over the last few months.

In that spirit, we would like to thank our many box suppliers: Barnes and Noble (both Provo and SLC locations), Patterson Dental Supplies, C-Fold paper towels, Pierson Dental Supplies, Vizo TVs, Peg-Perego, Pack n' Play, and a banker father with banker boxes.

The moving truck has now been packed, thanks to the brave efforts of Jenni's brothers, but we'll have to post those photos later. 

Owen

Ali said that we need to post more often. So this one is dedicated to you, A.