Owen turned five yesterday, our cute little, sweet little Owen bobowen (as I like to call him). He has many nicknames- just plain O, Obi Wan and Obo Fett (he is a major Star Wars fan and if you are too then you will recognize these ones), Obee Doebee, O-meister, any of these will do. I've gone into a little mourning. My little boy is growing up. I used to ask him all the time, "Owen, will you please, please stop growing up? I want you to stay my little boy forever." He would tell me "no, I can't stop, I just can't." On Saturday Michelle said to him "Owen, I can't believe you are going to be five. I can't believe how big you are getting!" And he told her "what, it's not like I'm going to be any bigger tomorrow!" And it's true he's not any bigger today but five is older and it means that he'll be going to school soon, even though it's still 9 months away I'm already dreading the day. He is my little sweetheart, from the moment he was born I knew he was special (well, they all are but Owen was different somehow). Even as a baby he seemed especially thoughtful. He always asks me the deep questions and seems to ponder certain things. One of my favorite Owen quotes came when he was three years old and he was talking to his Grannie, he told her "You are the mom of my mom and my mom is the mom of me." He has always been fascinated by relationships and how people are related. When Michelle first came to live with us he would tell her that she was not supposed to be living with us, that she was supposed to be living with Grannie. This would hurt her feelings and I would just tell her to not feel bad because in his mind children are supposed to live with their mommies. He is always telling me that Grannie does it this way and Grannie does it that way. He sure loves his Grannie. My other all time favorite quote from Owen came one day when we were eating scrambled eggs and he was not touching his, which was unusual so I asked him "Owen, why aren't you eating your eggs, I thought you liked eggs?" to which he replied, "I do like eggs- in peanut butter cookies." Smarty pants. So here's a few pics of Owen with a few of his favorite things:
This is Owen with Blackie and Brownie, his two best pals. Blackie is the favored pup and has been on many an adventure with Owen. We have spent many nights scouring the house and car in search of these dogs so that Owen could get a peaceful night's rest. Once Blackie got lost somewhere in the mall and we had to go back the next day. We searched every single washer and dryer in Sears before heading to the mall office where thankfully someone had brought him.
If you know Owen then you know about his blankie that he has had since birth. This poor thing has lived through everything. Even being lost in Mervyn's one time. The last few years my mother had taken to referring to it as "the rag" as it was literally reduced to strings barely hanging together. He has just this past year started to grow out of needing it with him at all times, so now it is being held by me for safe keeping. I love that he is so attached to things that mean a lot to him. He loves deeply.
Now Owen has grown attached to his baby brother, Colby. He sings to him when he is crying and asks to hold him all the time. What a sweet big brother.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Owen. We were waiting to ride Pirates at Disneyland. He LOVES Disneyland and has always lamented the rides he has not been tall enough to ride on. He cried and cried when Dad, Matthew and Gracie got to ride Splash Mountain and all he got to do was ride Pooh ten times while we waited. Broke my heart. He is anxiously looking forward to the day when he will be tall enough to ride Indiana Jones (please, oh, please let that be by the next time we go to Disneyland).
Owen came up with this idea for his birthday cake. We had just made homemade pizza on Friday and he told me he wanted a cake with pepperonis in a smiley face on it. So we came up with this idea- a white cake with vanilla frosting, toasted coconut dyed orange, and red frosting pepperonis. We had to scrape off the coconut for him to eat it, but all in all, I think it turned out pretty cute!
This is going to be a big year for you, Buddy! I'll try and look forward to it :-(
Falling gas prices- no wait- not just falling, plummeting gas prices. What a relief! Now we can actually drive somewhere again. I'm definitely grateful for this, I just wish it could last forever!
This here is what we like to call a bun warmer or a tushy toaster (how do you spell tushy anyway?) or seat heater. I like to call it the finest invention of the modern age (well since I moved to Rexburg anyway). You'd probably have to live here to truly appreciate my gratitude for this nifty accessory. I never want to own a car without one (as long as I live here). It is divine.
This here is Rexburg's equivalent to Filibertos. And I mean that very literally- same menu (including those pictures) and everything. I have been much more content living in Rexburg since Ramires came to town, it makes life a little more bearable when you know you can get a good bean burrito or super nacho or carne asada fries...
This is BYU-I's radio station here in Rexburg. I'm just grateful to have a radio station that plays church music all the time. Not that I listen to it all the time, but it's just comforting to know that when I need a spirtual pick me up I can just flip the dial.
I'm grateful for this picture that Owen painted because every single time I look at it makes me happy. I love children's artwork. It also reminds me of nice, sunny Arizona and the fact that we get to spend Thanksgiving down there, for which I am muy grateful.
I'm grateful that my sister Michelle gets to live so close to me. It's so nice having her here. The other day I was dreadfully ill and she came up and took care of my kids (and me) for a while, she was a lifesaver!
I am extremely grateful for my husband, he is my best friend. He works so hard to provide for our family and doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. I'm grateful that he feels that it's as important for me to stay at home with our children as I do (in our mostly LDS town over 75% of moms work outside the home, so I view this as a great blessing and luxury). I'm grateful that he's such a great dad and indulges my desire for a large family (don't worry, he loves each of our children as much as I do) even though thoughts of providing for all of our children stresses him out more than I know. I'm grateful that he loves me in spite of my occasional insanity and puts up with all my neuroses, cuz that's what friends do, right?
I'm grateful for the Rexburg Temple. I took this picture from downtown to try and give everyone an idea of how prominent and beautiful the temple is here. You can literally see it from anywhere in town and for miles and miles away from some places. It is always there up on the hill, always on our minds, constantly reminding us of the important things in life. I am so grateful that we lived here while they were building it and that we got to take our whole family to the open house, to have all of our children with us in the celestial room, what a wonderful blessing. Then to be able to go with Kris and Matthew and actually be inside the temple during the dedication was a special experience, one that I know I was blessed to be able to do and one that I may never have the opportunity to do again. Most of all I'm grateful to be sealed to my family for eternity. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! 
One of these boys is not like the other...
One dead zombie at the end of the night.