Our 3 Year Anniversary

This last Saturday Gabe and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. We had such a good day! We started a coin jar several months ago and decided that whatever we saved up we would spend on our anniversary. We had enough to go out to a nice restaurant so we decided on PF Changs. If you haven't been there, go now! It is one of our favorite places to eat, everything on the menu tastes so good. We told our waiter it was our anniversary, so they brought us free sparkling cider and a chocolate caramel butterscotch slice of cake for dessert. It wasn't something that I would normally pick off the menu, but we both really really liked it!

Here were are with my mongolian beef, and Gabe's crispy chicken. Mmmm mmm  good!

We couldn't really come up with anything to do after that was cheap and "anniversary-ish" so I had just thought that we would walk around downtown and see the lights, but Gabe had something up his sleeve. He told me we had reservations somewhere after dinner and I was super surprised. He had tried to surprise me many times before, but I can usually tell that he is up to something.  I had no idea at all this time so he did pretty darn good at covering it up! We ended up going to the new theatre in Centerville where we saw the play, The Christmas Carol. It was fun! We haven't been to a play together before and we really enjoyed it. I see many more play-watchings in our future. The night was wonderful and it was fun talking about years past and everything that we have done, and our favorite memories. We have had a great life together so far and are very much looking forward to what else is to come. I really am so lucky to have Gabe as my companion. He has always had so much patience with me and still makes me laugh to this day. I love you Gabe!

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year, and hope that you all did the same! Every year we have been married Christmas has exceeded our expectations and we really enjoy all the celebrating. It was even more fun adding a baby to the mix and I am sure it will just get better as he too starts getting excited about the holiday. This year we started our celebrating early with the Dickes family Christmas party, decorating gingerbread  trains/men/tanks with our friends, and making a candy countdown chain. Christmas Eve my mom made the traditional broccoli cheese soup and candy-cane shaped bread sticks, which we devoured as it never disappoints. Christmas morning Gabe and I got up before Owen to open our presents uninterrupted (which we highly recommend) and then Owen opened his later. He proceeded to cry his eyes out the rest of the morning, which made us assume that he hated Christmas, but turns out he didn't get enough sleep and just needed a nap. The last couple weeks have been stuffed full of things to do and Owen's schedule has been thrown way off, including his night time sleep, so its been wonderful having some down time and being able to get him back on track. Hello longer stretches of sleep! One of our new traditions is to take a picture besides our gifts that we receive from Santa. It's fun to remember what we got each year. Here are this years pictures:

Gabe has really been into his song making lately, so he mostly got a lot of music related presents.

I saw this stuffed elephant at IKEA a while back and wanted it for Owen's nursery, but they ran out and I was bummed so he hunted it down on ebay and surprised me with it.

"Happy Hippo, Angry Duck" is my new favorite book for Owen. It's a cute book about how to recognize your moods. He seems to be a bit on the moody side, just like his momma, so I think it will be good for him. We are so glad he has such a big personality!

We had such a great Christmas this year and had so much fun spending it with all of our family and our new addition! It was good to see everyone and we definitely made a lot of memories. Gabe and I are looking forward to celebrating New Years Eve together after we put Owen to bed. Maybe next year we will let him stay up with us :)

Owen's Christmas Pictures

A few weeks ago I had my sister take some pictures of Owen for our Christmas card. We decked him out in his candy cane pants and pom pom hat. Here is what we sent out, plus some extras! Here is her website if you want to take a look at the rest of her work: http://www.chelsyannphotography.com/

Owen's first bites

Our pediatrician recommended that we wait until Owen was six months to start him on solids, but he seemed really interested in the foods we were eating, so we decided to start him early. We first tried oatmeal, and the first couple days he ate it just fine, but after that he just seemed so unimpressed. Oatmeal is so bland and I felt like he was telling me he wanted to try something more exciting. We have been giving him sweet potatoes and will soon try carrots and peas. He has been really good at chewing and swallowing his food since the beginning, which makes me a proud momma. It's so fun to experience new things with him!

Pillows on GroopDealz

Here are the pillows from my Etsy shop being featured on GroopDealz! The sale only goes for a couple of days, so take advantage of it. There are 12 fabrics to choose from.

https://www.groopdealz.com/deal/pillow-covers-in-fun-designer-fabrics/292

Owen's Blessing Day

Recently we had the opportunity to give Owen a name and a blessing in our ward. If you are not familiar with what this is, you can read about it here. It was a beautiful day and everything went smoothly. He was given many wonderful blessings and Gabe and I could tell that Owen is going to make a big impact on many people's lives. After the ward let out, we hung out with our family and friends outside, eating yummy food and playing games. We were lucky that the weather was so nice since the weather had been crummy the few days before. We feel so blessed to have Owen in our life and for all of our family and friends that came out and supported us. Here are just a few of the pictures from the day:

                                              Peace Out.

Last night we took Owen with us to the laundry building. Usually when we go on walks we put him in his car seat and then pop it into the stroller. Last night we tried just putting him directly in the stroller - no car seat. I could not stop smiling. He looked so adorable! He loved looking around at everything and was really alert. He just looked like such a big boy!

                                   Oh gosh, so cute.

Tomorrow we are headed out on a road trip to Vegas for a day. I am completely stoked and can't wait to hang out as a family and have some fun. Look for pictures soon!

Dickes Family Reunion

This past Saturday we attended the yearly Dickes family reunion. It was a lot of fun! Yummy food and great company with family. Me and Owen chilled on a blanket in the grass and it was really relaxing and nice to get some fresh air. Here are some pictures that my sister in law took of our little family.

Our little guy is growing so fast. He LOVES kicking his legs and is a very wiggly baby. He has started to get into somewhat of a sleep schedule, which is rocking my world. But I think I get too excited about it and then if he wakes up more than normal one night I am completely thrown off the rest of the day. He has been eating every 2-2 1/2 hours during the day and then has two 4 hour stretches of sleep at night. KNOCK ON WOOD. I have been paranoid about posting that, afraid that I might jinx it. I am trying to teach him the difference between night and day so I keep the room bright and noisy during the day and everything done at bedtime is super quiet and dark. He has also been learning to put himself to sleep, which is amazing, because I don't have to rock him to sleep for 40 minutes every time. It's a pet peeve of mine when moms aren't completely honest about how hard motherhood is and they talk about how every single thing is just so perfect and easy. Motherhood has been a rough adjustment. There are days that are easier than others, I am still learning and its hard to adjust when something in the schedule changes and it rocks the boat. There isn't anything else I would rather be doing though. I am so proud of Owen for the things he has learned so far. It's been so fun watching all of his "firsts". He has started to "talk" and smile, which is adorable, and he no longer cries during diaper changes and is starting to enjoy getting baths. He's my little buddy and I love being a family of three!

Owen's Newborn Pictures

Oh how I love these pictures. My sister came over and took pictures of Owen when he was about a week old. What a sweet baby!! Just try not to gush too much, I dare you.

Maternity Pictures

I realized that I haven't posted my maternity pictures on the blog yet, so I figured now would be a good time. My next post will be pictures that my sister took of Owen when he was a week old, so it will be a good before and after. Enjoy!