Grandma

This past week my Grandma passed away. She was 92 years old and lived a long and good life. It was sad to not be there when she died, but Owen and I were able to fly back for the funeral. We loved being able to be with family and to remember how amazing and wonderful my grandma was. She was so kind and loved knowing everything that was going on in my life and always gave such good advice. We will miss her, but are happy that she gets to be with my grandpa now, who we know she missed so much!

Happy Easter

We had a good Easter week, starting out with egg decorating.



And then this morning Owen really liked his Easter basket- which was mostly filled with books- which is all he is interested in right now. The other day he crawled into his bedroom and I thought he would come right back out when he realized he was all by himself- but after a few minutes of him being in there I went in to see what he was up to and he was just looking at books and talking to himself.





Today we had Stake Conference that was a satellite broadcast and it was so good to hear from President Monson, especially on Easter Sunday.

Back to Utah

This past week Owen I went back to Utah. My parents came in town so they picked Owen and I up in Kansas and we flew home with them. Although we missed Joseph, it was fun to see all of our family, go shopping with my sisters, go to fun resturants, and get Owen used to all of his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. He was slightly scared of so many new people, but he warmed up to them eventually.



Owen and Pops



Grammie Doll, Owen and me.



Grammie and Owen. We can't wait to come back to the Hinckley's this summer and spend more time with them before they leave.



My brothers (minus Dave), Owen and my Dad.



Owen and his cousin Olivia, she is 3 months older than him, but he probably weighs about 5 pounds more than her. All week Owen loved playing with Olivia and today he didn't seem satisfied with just Joseph and me, he missed his little friend!



Owen and his cousin Charlie. Charlie was so cute with Owen, when we went over to visit, Charlie would go downstairs and get toys for Owen and then would laugh when Owen would play with it, then he would disappear downstairs for another toy- he did this about 3-4 times. I need Charlie to come back to Kansas to keep Owen entertained all day!



And the highlight of the trip was Owen's new trick...

Oh the places we go. . .

Joseph offered to leave his computer with me this weekend since he was going back to Salt Lake for a couple of days. I was so excited to be able to have the nice computer all to myself, but what he failed to mention was that the power cord had been acting up lately and turns out it was not even charging anymore; by Sunday afternoon it was completely dead. So Monday Owen and I set out to the apple store about 45 minutes away. When we got there they told us we had to make an appointment to have the computer fixed and would have to have that done at another store in Kansas City. I loaded Owen back into the car and started the drive. I was told it was only a 20 minute drive, however it turned into a 45 minute drive as I missed a couple of turns! I called the apple store to tell them I would be running late and they told me that I had 11 minutes to get there or else they would cancel my appointment. So here I was driving down some highway, I didn't even know if I was in Kansas or Missouri, or if I was headed east or west and I had 11 minutes to get where I was going! Well I found my way to the mall but had no idea where the apple store was. I loaded Owen (who was an angel the whole day) into the stroller and started running. Here I was running around The Plaza shopping district with a 9 month old who only had one shoe on and a mohawk, while I was holding Joseph's lap top and stopping anyone who would listen to ask if they knew where the apple store was. I was frantically looking at my watch as 11 minutes went to 5 minutes and I still had no clue where to turn. I called my friend to see if she could direct me and stuck my head into restaurants to ask the hostesses. I finally ran into the store realizing that I had parked directly across the street from it and if I had only looked up for a second I would have saved a lot of time, energy, and embarrassment. As I ran red faced into the store I was told that my appointment had been canceled and they would just have to fit me when they could... I caught my breath, looked down at Owen and went to the corner of the store and sat there. I was too tired to be annoyed. Owen smiled and laughed with me for a minute and then one of the techs came up to me and said, "Jenni? Let's see what we can do for your computer." It was like heaven in Kansas City. They fixed the computer in no time and we were on our way. Owen fell asleep on the way home and I made it back to the apartment with out any wrong turns (as soon as I figured out which freeway to get on!)
I never thought I was that bad at directions, but taking the mountains away has made me realize how much I depended on them back home. Owen and I have to venture out again to get Joseph from the airport today- lets hope I don't find myself at an apple store instead!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Spring Day

Today we went the zoo in Topeka. It was going to be the first warm day in a long time so we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. I don't know if Owen cared too much about the animals- but it was fun to just get out.




When we were at the zoo, I was so worried that Owen's little head and cheeks were getting sunburned. So we decided to get him a little KU hat. The smallest size is still too big for him, but hopefully he will grow into it by the time summer comes around and we are outside a lot more.




Owen's new favorite thing is to take all the DVD's out and spread them all over the floor- it will keep him entertained for awhile so we let him do it, but it's getting annoying having to pick them up three times a day. I wonder how long we'll continue to put them back each time he takes them out?!

Our little boy

Owen is getting so big, we can't believe that he is already 8 months old! He is starting to get a second tooth and loves smiling to show it off!



Our little KU fan. Joseph was wearing this hat and Owen kept grabbing it and wanting it for himself!



Owen has started to eat a few more things than just baby food! Every time we give him these crackers they end up everywhere!!

Before, during and after

This past week we finally got our car fixed after the deer incident. We took the car in last Tuesday and Joseph begged rides to school off neighbors all week (thanks Natalie & John and Sam & Luke!!) Owen and I were going a little stir crazy after being inside all week with no car-so when the car wasn't done by Friday we decided we needed to rent a car for the weekend. The rental car was a Toyota Camry and even though it wasn't that much different, it was nice to have a little more space than we usually do in our corolla. It made us realize how tiny our car really is! We finally got our car back today minus the Nebraskan deer dents; we're glad we don't have that visually memory of our long drive back to Kansas every time we see our car!

BEFORE:



DURING:



AFTER: