Precious Little Boy

Tonight I felt like I might be accomplishing something as a parent.  We sat down for FHE and we were learning about Heavenly Father's Plan for us (Lesson 2 from the nursery manual).  Owen didn't pay much attention to the picture of a mom, dad, and baby, but as soon as I showed him a picture of Jesus with some children he pointed and said "Jesus" (or as close as he's able to at this point).  It made me so very, very happy that my little boy was able to recognize and name a picture of his Savior.  I know that I'm not a perfect mom, but if my son is learning about Jesus I am doing something right.

By the way, here are a couple pictures that I took of Owen this afternoon.  It's hard to get him to pose (or even look at the camera) very often any more, but I succeeded today.  He's a cute little boy and has a very contagious smile.

Christmas Time Epistle

Christmas time has been very busy, but wonderful this year.  Our friend Leslie drove us to the airport on Dec 17th and we flew to Denver then into Salt Lake City.  We stayed that first night with Bryce's family, and had a big sleepover with everyone - Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Bryce, Owen and Me, Aunt StacyAnn, Uncle Craig and Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Jonathan, and Uncle Garrett.  It was the first time that the whole family had been together since Craig left on his mission over 4 years ago, so it was a very enjoyable night.  Because of the time on the airplane and in the car, Owen's schedule was completely thrown off, so even he stayed up until almost midnight, and the rest of us stayed up playing games as long as we could.

The next day my mom and sisters (Grandma Royer, Aunt Nita, Aunt Emily, and Aunt Mary) picked us up and we went to Brigham City to visit with Grandma & Grandpa Christensen for a couple of days.  On Saturday (Dec 19th), Uncle Danny, Aunt Aleena and Cousin Memphis came up to Brigham City as well and we had a birthday party for Grandpa Christensen (his 80th birthday) since none of us were going to be able to go to the party that Grandma was throwing for him after Christmas.  We had a wonderful party and a wonderful visit. 

Sunday morning we left Brigham City, traveled to Pleasant Grove, where we went to church with Aunt Julie and Uncle Monte.  After church we traveled the rest of the way to Blanding, where we had a had a nice visit for about a week and a half.  We were there on the 23rd when Uncle Bradley came home from his mission and on Christmas.  It was fun watching Owen figure out how to open Christmas presents and play with all of his new books and toys.  I also enjoyed being able to spend the day with my family, since we haven't spend Christmas day with my family since we got married 6 years ago.  Christmas afternoon we went sledding and Owen loved the snow.  He even went down the hill a couple of times with just his snow suit.  We stayed in Blanding until the 30th, then drove the Jeep (which is driving perfectly by the way) up to Kaysville.  We are still in Kaysville now, after having a wonderful New Years and we are looking forward to staying here until the end of the week at least. 

I don't have all of my pictures uploaded to the computer yet, but here are a few of the ones that I have so far this year.

Owen reading with Uncle Benny and Aunt Emily - he found a book at Grandma Royer's house that had a train on the back and he wanted everyone to read it to him.

Grandpa Royer trying to look meek after Christmas Dinner.

The Royer Family Singers - we sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in church the week that Bradley spoke after his mission.

The Royer Family: Top Row - Jennie, Bryce, Owen, Bradley, Benny, D.J. Middle Row - Uncle David, Grandma Mary, Uncle Eric, Grandpa Royer (Bruce), Grandma Royer (Peggy). Bottom Row - Sandy, Mary, Emily, Nita

Trip to Indiana

Yesterday we took a trip to Indiana to visit my brother Bradley who's on a mission there.  (We're taking some of his luggage home for him this week since he comes home next week)  We drove to Greenwood then met with Elder Royer and Elder Parkinson and took them to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. Here's a a couple of pictures taken before the feast:

Elder Parkinson & Elder Royer

Owen with his Mac & Cheese & French Fries

Here are some pictures taken after the feast:

We ate quite a bit of sea food

A full belly makes missionaries happy

After lunch we had to pack back up and head home, but not before we got a picture of our whole family with Brad.

Keep up the good work Elder Royer!

Owen's Trains

Owen has a fascination with anything that has wheels.  He loves cars, trucks, carts, trains . . . etc.  Last week we visted Barnes & Noble and let Owen play with the train set that they had set up in the children's area.  He absolutely loved it and we had a hard time pulling him away from it to come home.  When we were done I remembered that one of my friends had given me a box of Thomas the Tank Engine trains and tracks back before Owen was born.  I went ahead and pulled them out, and now they are Owen's favorite toys.  He'll literally spend hours pushing the trains around the track, over the hills, and through the tunnels.  Mommy is official track repair person, which in and of itself is a full time job.  Anyway, here are some pictures of Owen and his trains:

Owen's Measurements

Owen had his Well Child visit with the doctor yesterday. He weighed 24 lbs and was 33 1/2 inches long. That puts him at the 25 percentile for weight and nearly the 75 percentile for height - there's nothing to worry about regarding the difference, it just means we have to keep him fed (sometimes a challenge). Plus he just finished a growth spurt (he grew approximately 5 inches since the end of August) so he's long and skinny right now. I guess that explains why he's starting to wear some 24 month clothing. Other than that he's really healthy and is even just about to cut teeth numbers 13 & 14. And since we're talking about numbers today, he's wearing a size 6 shoe, and will probably be in a 7 or 8 by Christmas. So I think the moral of today is that little boys like to eat, grow, sleep, grow, play, and grow.