Halloween Festivities

Happy Halloween!! This year was so much fun celebrating Halloween. It was so fun to dress up Owen for his very first Halloween. We decided to go with Harry Potter....As you can see below, Owen is Hedwig, Tyson is Harry and I'm Hermoine. Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Courtney, we had the perfect homemade costumes. And Tyson ofcourse had way too much fun being Harry...a little too in character if you ask me.
Here we are at our Ward's Trunk or Treat. Tyson made some chili and won the "spiciest" chili award. Go babe!

We celebrated with friends at a fun costume party!

The boys watching football. Tyson loved this part of the evening!

Playing "Minute to Win it" It was HILARIOUS! I haven't laughed that hard in so long! Thanks Jenny for the awesome game!!

Another night we celebrated by carving pumpkins. The weather was perfect to do it outside and so much fun!

Notice Owen and Tyson's tongues? haha

Our wonderful "Cyclopse" pumpkin. I know so random.

Troy's Scariest pumpkin

The whole gang!

Another day we went to Tyson's school for their Halloween activity. Owen had fun except for when he saw a fully dressed green frog. He totally flipped and started crying. Poor thing!

We tried to get Owen to wear the mask but he wouldn't have it!

My little Hedwig

It was a very eventful Halloween! We had so much fun as a family of three celebrating with friends and as a family!

Happenings...

We've been quite busy around here. Lately the weather has been wonderful and it is finally feeling like Fall. I LOVE fall. That was my favorite season in Utah. I love the food (mainly pumpkin), the clothes, the crisp air and the holidays. It's been rainy all week and the temperature finally dropped out of the 90's. Now I just need to start cooking more pumpkin dishes and drinking apple cider!

My brother Greg came to visit for a few hours this past weekend! He was here (in Mesa actually) for a wedding and managed to find time for us in between the temple sealing and reception. It was SO good to see him. I love him so much and am so grateful that he is my brother!

Please don't mind me....I just came from a swim workout!

This was Greg's MTC companion, Elder Ballard. I was glad I got to meet him.

Looking sharp!

The minute Owen and I walked in the door and found Greg, Owen leaned toward him to be held. The he wrapped his arms around Greg and gave him a hug! It was the cutest thing ever!

Thanks Greg for visiting! We love you!

Once a week Tyson plays in an intramural softball league. If you know Tyson than you know he's no softball player. But he loves to get together with the guys and let off some steam. And I can't complain....I get to hang out with my wonderful friends.

Owen is really into hats these days. He loves to put them on and play peek-a-boo!

This is one of my good friends Candice. She's a fellow Californian. Woo woo!

Just hangin with daddy in the dug out

I thought this picture was funny because it's like they were both saying "hey, what's going on here!?"

Owen is way to squirmish these days to stay in my arms. So yes I did let my child down on the nasty ground to roam. He definitely came home really dirty!

This is Owen's little girlfriend Reese. She is such a cutie! Apparently Owen agrees...he totally put the moves on her and held her hand! It was ADORABLE!!

Reese is like "I know I'm cute" and Owen's totally caught checking her out! haha

Well that's all for now! We are enjoying this time of year down here, minus the excessive studying! Good thing Tyson just has 3 more weeks before he gets a nice long break. YAY

I'm really doing it!

A triathlon!!! I am all signed up and everything. I started training 3 weeks ago and am still going strong (minus the few days off as of late due to a nasty cold). I go running 3 times a week with an awesome running group. These girls are pure motivation for me! Tyson bought me a road bike and I love it! So me and Chrissy go biking once or twice a week. Lastly, I swim in our apartment's pool because another friend of mine took the measurements so I know how many laps I need to do. I swim twice a week. And of course I wouldn't know what the heck I was doing if it weren't for my sister! She is huge into triathlons....a real athlete. She's sponsored and everything. You can read about her races here. Anyways, she made this incredible training plan for me (and about 10 other of my friends) to follow. Some days it kicks my butt but I am getting better each day. I am so excited for it! There's no turning back now!!!

Oh and I forgot to mention that sometimes this little guy is my running buddy too....

sick, sick, sick

That's what we all are....just sick. It started with Tyson on Saturday morning, waking up with a cold. His cold has gotten worse as the days go on. Now it's in his chest and he is having stomach pains. It's been hard for him to go to class but he has been making it work. If that wasn't bad enough, on Tuesday Owen began to run a fever, around 101 degrees. He was a little fussier than usual throughout the day as well. We put him to bed and throughout the night his fever increased. It got all the way up to 103 degrees! I was getting pretty nervous and after giving him some medicine and saying a prayer, it began to go down (right before we were about to put him in the tub). Thank goodness. Let's just say he had a terrible night and so did I. I was trying to take care of him all night so that Tyson could get some sleep. My poor boys!

Wednesday morning came along and Owen seemed to be better. His fever was gone! So I decided to head on over to a friends house thinking he'd be alright. It wasn't long after we had even gotten there that he began to go down hill. After an hour we left and he took a nice long, needed nap. He woke up and had his fever of 101 again....but luckily it stayed controlled with medicine. I called the doctor and we decided to wait until today for an appointment. Last night was another loooong night. The poor baby. Owen's only been sick one other time....the time he had his ear infections for a month. But I have never seen him this sick before and it is breaking my heart. You can see it in his eyes, he is just wasted. He just cries and cries and only wants me to hold him. He just rests his little head on my shoulder and mumbles little baby talk. I can't help but smile because he's just still so dang cute.

So this morning, I guess I've finally caught up to the boys. My cold ease attempt didn't help as much as it usually does. So now I get to have the cold. Unfortunately no cold medicine for me because I'm still nursing (I learned the hard way the last time I had a cold and took cold medicine for it...my milk totally dried up and I had to work for weeks to get it back!). I can't wait for his doctor's app. to check his ears. I am now totally paranoid that he's going to have another ear infection. Let's hope he doesn't! I could care less that I'm sick. I just want my boys to get better fast! Blah!

9 Months Old....Already?

I feel like it was just yesterday I gave birth to this beautiful boy. I think I must say this each time he turns another month old. But really, 9 months already!? I can't help but think he is just 3 months away from his 1st birthday. Time needs to slow down!

Owen's got quite the personality these days. He enjoys talking all the time...saying "mmmmma" or "dadadada". Just the other day I found him STANDING up in his crib saying "mmmmma" over and over again. He will just babble on and on and on and it's the cutest thing ever. When he gets really excited about something not only will he shake and roll his hands and feet simultaneously, he will also shrug his shoulders while making quick breaths in and out. It's hilarious!

Owen is crawling around like crazy! I think I might have a heart attack real soon because he's always standing up along the sharp edges of our coffee table or speakers. He has already taken some pretty decent falls and bonks his head often. I don't like this part about being a mommy!

Owen gets smarter each day. We are learning various signs such as "more" or "drink" or "all done." He smiles when I sign "drink" and then I know he needs a drink. Just this morning he was on the bed with Tyson and I and Tyson had his eyes closed; probably trying to fit in a nice nap. To our surprise, here comes Owen crawling carefully across the bed until he reaches Tyson. Then he begins to poke his eyelids and pull them open. When Tyson doesn't respond he begins to pat him on his face. It took us a while to realize that he was trying to open Tyson's eyes so he would play with him. It was so cute!

Owen's "stats"
Weight: 18 pounds 14 ounces - 40th to 50th percentile
Height: 29 1/2 inches - 87th percentile

Favorite Foods: anything we are eating: mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, pasta, apples, strawberries, graham crackers, yogurt, peas, chicken, roast beef, and cherrios. He has 4 teeth! Oh and we found out he loves butter...probably thanks to Grandma Jill. :)

Naptimes: He is down to 2 naps now. I enjoyed the 3 while they lasted. Now he naps for about an hour and a half in the morning and has another hour to two hour nap in the afternoon.

Nursing: I am still nursing Owen about 4 to 5 times a day. He doesn't nurse at night anymore. :)

Sleep time: Owen continues to go to bed around 7 or 8 (at the latest) and wakes up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30am. (lately 6:30 which I'm not very happy about). However, he is sleeping through the night now that his ear infections are gone. He also does a great job putting himself to sleep with little help from mommy or daddy. We are so proud of him!

Owen loves to swim and play with other baby friends. He also loves to watch Baby Einstein on occasion which I don't object to. :) He loves both his mommy and daddy and can't stand when either one of us leaves. We were able to have Grandma Jill come visit the other weekend and Owen absolutely LOVED playing with her. He loves all of his family and I try hard to show him our family book often so he'll remember everyone's faces.

He continues to be so sweet and sensitive. I love these qualities about him. He's determined when he wants something and doesn't give up. It amazes me that I can already see these characteristics in him. I love it. I love being his mom and I love that I get to love him everyday.

We love you baby boy!!!! Happy 9 months!

White Coat Ceremony

Tyson's white coat ceremony was yesterday. If you don't know what a white coat ceremony is, it's pretty much a "welcome" to the new medical school class as well as all the other "health" classes that are a part of Midwestern University. It's a time to celebrate the accomplishment of being accepted into the medical program by putting on the "white coat." The coat is short but when Tyson graduates Medical School he will get a long coat...signifying that he is now Dr. Tidwell. ;) Oh we can't wait for this day to come!

Tyson has already made a great group of guy friends. They study together, sit together in class and love to play intramural sports as well as late night volleyball games. I think it's great he has so much support from the guys that are going through what he is; and I LOVE their wives. :)

Lookin' good in their white coats!

Ha! Very nice boys...

The ladies and our white coats :)

I love these beautiful girls. Each one of them are so fun to be with and I have already made so many close friendships. I feel so grateful that we can share this time in our lives together and be each other's anchors when needed. Not to mention our awesome girls nights, play groups, morning runs, and all of the many nights we find ourselves laughing our heads off...I'm lucky to have them!

I am so proud of him!

The group

What a great "official" start to a great four years of medical school.