Owen's First Hike

I'd been wanting to go hiking all summer long, but halfway into September we still hadn't gotten around to it.  A couple weeks ago we finally found a hike, packed up the kids, and headed to the mountains.

As you can see, we pretty much rolled out of bed and jumped in the car to prevent any potential excuses for not going.

It was Owen's first hike and I'm pretty sure he loved it.  He kept arching super far back and trying to grab the leaves on the trees.

Dunc got a nice workout practically carrying Mya up the trail with one hand.

When we first told Mya we were going to go on a hike, we tried to explain what a hike was by telling her it was like going for a walk in the mountains.  After we explained, we asked her if she wanted to go.  "No, that's okay.  It's too scary.  But I can watch you guys go for a hike!"  She was so nervous during the drive there and walking up to the trail, but once we got going and she realized what hiking really was she loved it!

Owen fell asleep about halfway up.

The waterfall wasn't much to see so late in the season, but Mya was pretty excited about it.

Not sure where she got the idea, but Mya wanted to ride on every tree on the way down.  That girl is so funny.  Dunc told her she could ride every tenth tree, so we were counting trees and pausing for riding breaks the whole way down.

Overall we all had a good time and want to go hiking more often.  I love being out in nature and getting up in the mountains.  It was a little tricky with the kids, but I think they had a great time too.  Hopefully we can go out at least once more before it gets too cold!

To the zoo!

My mom is so awesome.  She decided earlier this year that she wanted to start a "girls day" once a week for all the girls in our family who could come.  I think the long term goal is for all the cousins to be able to play together once a week and to become good friends, but in the meantime Allison, my mom, and I (plus whoever else can come) are loving just getting together to hang out.  My mom has been wanting to go to the zoo all summer, so for girls day last week we headed up to Hogle Zoo.  Dunc decided to take the day off last minute, and luckily the girls gave him the okay to tag along.

The chickens were one of the first animals Mya saw and she was pretty excited about being able to get up close to them.  It's the little things!

 

Not quite a chimp's wingspan, but getting pretty close.

 

 The polar bear put on an awesome show for us!  He was swimming laps and coming right up next to the glass for a solid 10 minutes.  It was so cool!

 Although the real animals were pretty cool, I think the statues may have been a favorite with Mya.

 Cute Lyla and Allison on Lyla's first carousel ride.

Dunc was obviously a huge fan of the carousel

 Lyla was going crazy at the splash pad!  She was hillarious.  She kept trying to drink the water, crawling right through the fountain, splashing like crazy.  She was seriously loving it.  It was so funny.

To end the day, Mya decided to go right through the huge fountain of water and of course I didn't bring any spare clothes.  It was a funny end to a fun day.  Thanks again for taking us mom!

September 11th - Eight Months!

I am so upset right now!  I went to upload my pictures for this post and found out that all but one of Owen's eight month pictures somehow got deleted from my camera!  I guess I should be glad that I still have one, but I seriously got the cutest pictures of him smiling and being so happy and they are gone!  So so sad.

Anyway, here is Owen at eight months.  He is the happiest cutest little baby!

Some of his latest accomplishments have been army crawling like crazy (as seen in the above video), learning to give high fives, and finally babbling "mamamama" (but he only does that when he's whining because he can't see me).  He still adores his big sister and is learning to get to where her toys are and then try to take them away from her.  It has caused a bit of contention between the two but Mya is pretty good at tricking him into playing with something she doesn't want.

Owen loves to read books, especially the touch and feel ones.  Tonight I asked him if he wanted to read a book and (no joke here) he said, "Ya!"  Dunc didn't hear it so I tried it again and Owen said "ya!" two other times!  I'm sure it was just a fluke but it was pretty awesome to hear him repeat his little trick. 

In addition to reading, this big guy also loves eating!  Unfortunately he's not great at nursing (we'll see how much longer we can drag that out) but he dominates those solid foods.  I love the rolls and squishy little cheeks he is getting.  They are so great!  On a side note, he rarely spits up anymore which has been such a welcome change.

The last little trick I'll mention is his new love of licking.  He loves to grab my hair or face, pull me down close to him and then lick my nose.  Hahaha.  It is so weird but he thinks it's hillarious when I get grossed out by it.

I love this little guy and feel so blessed everyday that he is such a good baby!  I think I've finally gotten the hang of two kids and we have a pretty good routine down.  I have been spoiled by Owen's easy going nature and am praying that the rest of my kids will be just as good.  Knock on wood!

Outtakes - Barfuss Family Pictures

When my brother and sister-in-law were in town from Chicago this summer my parents decided to get some updated family pictures.  Mya was seriously in the worst mood ever that afternoon!  She is never like this, but of course it happened on picture day.  I have been laughing my head off at her face in all of these pictures.  Click the pictures to get the full effect.

 

 

 And the closeup...

 

with another closeup....

Beware of the evil eye!  Ha ha ha.

Real pictures coming - just waiting for the final edits from the photographer.

In Mya's Eyes

Mya loves to go through my purse these days.  She's always getting my gum, my phone, my chapstick, but one of her favorite finds is my camera.  I love finding all the random/funny pictures on there.  Here are some from last week:

Owen is obviously the favorite subject (no shocker there, those two LOVE LOVE LOVE each other), but I do make an occasional appearance.

Yes folks, sometimes I like to kick back in my jams with a bowl of cereal and the weekly ads.  It's a glamorous life, but somebody's gotta do it.

August 11th - Seven months!

I just love this squishy little baby!  I'm late in writing this post, so I don't remember everything he was doing at seven months.  Don't worry Owen, I still love you and will post more fully about the big eight months in a few days!

August Update

August was a month full of fun, but the picture slacking continued so I don't have a lot to show for it.

 We started the month out with a trip up to Logan for Duncan's family reunion (His Grandpa Glenn and descendents).  We had a blast hanging out with his family and I loved getting to know some of the relatives that I haven't had a chance to spend time with before.

We were supposed to go to Lake Powell toward the end of the month, but my poor mom got a blood clot and was confined to an area that was more civilized/closer to medical help.  I can't even begin to say how sad I am that we didn't go to Powell (Hello, it's the best place on earth) but my parents managed to pull together a pretty awesome vacation at the last minute.

We stayed an awesome cabin in Heber and spent our time canoeing, boating at Jordanelle and Deer Creek, shooting pellet and BB guns, watching movies, playing games, and reading.  Even though it doesn't compare with Powell (nothing does, in my opinion), we loved hanging with family and friends!

 

Duncan's mom had been hanging around Utah since the family reunion to take care of Mya while we were in Powell, so when that fell through we convinced her to come up to Heber with us.  Dunc and I felt so spoiled having her help us with our kids during our little vacation and we loved being able to hang out with her too!

In other news, Owen has been sleeping in the funniest position lately.  I'm not sure how the half arch/neck completely bent backwards can be comfortable, but apparently it works for this kid.

 

Our friends had their baby, Mitchell, a couple weeks ago.  He is such a sweet baby and couldn't have been born into a greater family.  We love these guys!

 And we can't forget Mya's regular cowboy routine at Mimi's house.  Giddyin' on cowboy, giddyin' on.  :)