The Chris and Kim Chronicles

Going home

2012-02-09T22:08:00.001-07:00

Total time at hospital = 25 hours and 55 minutes

Daddy time

2012-02-09T08:58:00.001-07:00

He's absolutely perfect. (Emmett is too.)

We got another cute one

2012-02-09T07:05:00.001-07:00

Good morning! I can see a little Owen, Rhett, and Libby in Emmett. What do you think?

2 hours old

2012-02-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

He has the same head of hair that Libby had.

He's here!

2012-02-09T01:20:00.001-07:00

Getting sleepy

2012-02-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

Kim and I are both dozing off. She's been stuck at a 9 for a while now. I'm going to have a few words with this kid when I meet him.

Not today

2012-02-08T23:54:00.001-07:00

Kim is at a 9, but there's no way the baby is going to be born on the 8th.

Epidural

2012-02-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Kim was flirting with the idea of going natural like she did with Owen. The flirting didn't last long. I can't watch, so here is a picture of her pretty toenails. Yes, I helped her do those.

Moving slow

2012-02-08T22:13:00.001-07:00

Well, it took two hours to get from a 6 to a 7. The nurse just started a low dose of pitocin to get things moving again.

Dad picture

2012-02-08T21:45:00.001-07:00

Kim wanted me to post a picture of myself.

Moving fast

2012-02-08T20:11:00.001-07:00

Kim just went from a 5 to a 6 in 30 minutes. We're definitely having this baby tonight.

We're here!

2012-02-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

A little later than we thought, but it's time to get this party started!

Testing

2012-02-08T16:05:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted to the blog in a few years, so this is just a test to see if everything still works.

Happy 6th Birthday Owen!

2010-01-09T07:52:00.006-07:00

Owen turned 6 years old on January 5th, but we started the festivities one day early. We went to a place here called Laser Mania. We played laser tag, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, and bumper cars. Everyone had a blast. We ended the night at International House of Pancakes. Owen wanted breakfast for his birthday dinner. Good choice, Owen. We absolutely gorged ourselves. It is definitely time to start Weight Watchers again.

Before we gathered the strength to start Weight Watchers again, we had to get a cake on his actual birthday. Dairy Queen never fails. We love the ice cream cakes.

And finally, here's a video of Owen pulling his own tooth. This is something I could never do. I was on the other side of the house as Kim filmed it. Kleenex-wrapped fingers pulling on a tooth while breaking gum tissue followed by a blood-filled mouth is one of the worst things in the world to me.

Don't ask about the $11 he's holding. Just know that bribery still works in America. I had nothing to do with it.

Picture Update

2009-12-27T22:28:00.015-07:00

A comment before I begin: I'm a little upset that our new 10.2 megapixel camera is not producing 10.2 megapixelish pictures. I apologize these are kind of blurry. I need to look at the settings or exchange it for a different one.

Owen and Rhett were supposed to open their new pajamas on Christmas Eve, but they didn't arrive in time, so we let them open their hats and gloves. It's been getting kind of chilly here in St. George, you know, 50 degrees or so.

Here's Owen getting warmed up to start opening presents on Christmas morning. He woke up about 30 minutes earlier than Rhett. The wait was killing him.

The opening of presents went a little something like this: Owen would rip into one of his presents, then it would be Rhett's turn. Rhett would start to open one of his presents, but would get bored in the process, then leave to go see what Owen had just opened. Owen ended up opening everything.

Here's Owen opening my favorite, um, I mean, his favorite present. Constructicon Devastator!!! 6 construction vehicles that transform into one giant Autobot crushing robot!!!

We caught Owen striking this pose multiple times Christmas morning.

Libby's first Christmas. She's a little too young to fully enjoy this play mat, but she'll grow into it.

My adorable kids. Does life get any better than this?

I think she's dreaming about sleeping, or milk, or her dad.

Here are the Christmas pajamas the boys were supposed to open on the 24th.

A little size comparison. We were trying to recreate THIS picture of Owen and Rhett.

Libby and Gram

2009-12-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

She seems to have the bottle thing down. She's a smart girl. It's a good thing because the milk man hasn't shown up yet, if you know what I mean.
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The Boys Approve

2009-12-08T15:27:00.001-07:00

Owen loves her, and so far, Rhett does too. Hopefully that lasts. Notice the big bruise on Kim's arm from the iv.
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Too Small for the Car Seat

2009-12-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

We thought we were going home an hour ago, but we're still waiting for some lab results. Libby has been sleeping most of the day.
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First Outfit

2009-12-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Libby is all dressed and ready to go. We're coming home.
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First Bow

2009-12-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Libby just passed her hearing test. They put a bow in her hair.
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Pacifier

2009-12-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

Libby had a great night. She had one stretch where she slept for 5 hours straight. She's figuring out how to eat. Her bowels are working like a charm. Her hair seems to be getting lighter, and she is getting cuter.
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I Love the Number 13

2009-12-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

So Libby's due date was the 13th. The delivery room was 319. The recovery room is 463. 3+1+9=13, 4+6+3=13. I turned 13 on October 13th. I think we'll keep her.
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So Tired

2009-12-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

She's all bathed, injected, and swaddled. Time for a nap.
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Libby, Mom, and Dad.jpg

2009-12-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Libby's first picture with mom and dad.
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Smile

2009-12-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Libby seems pretty happy after trying to eat for the last hour.
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Kim and Libby

2009-12-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Kim and Libby are both healthy and happy! 6 lbs 2 oz. 18 inches. 4:43pm. Happy birthday Libby!
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She's here!

2009-12-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

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Anytime Now

2009-12-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

The doc said she should be coming any time now. The nurse thinks there might be some umbilical cord in the way, because her heart rate keeps dropping. That would make sense if the cord is as long as Rhett's cord was.
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Kim and JoEllyn

2009-12-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Libby is lucky enough to have both grandmas in town. JoEllyn is here at the hospital, and my mom is home with Owen and Rhett. We couldn't do it without them!
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She's at a 7!

2009-12-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

Kim's coworkers came over from the NICU with this baby crib and sign for Libby. They're all pretty excited to meet her. She should be making her appearance in the next few hours hopefully.
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Epidural

2009-12-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kim is getting the epidural now. Look at that smile on her face.
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3 Minutes Apart

2009-12-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

The contractions are pretty painful now. They're coming at 3 minute intervals. Kim just paged the nurse to get the epidural. It still blows my mind that she didn't have an epidural when Owen was born.
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This is for Owen

2009-12-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

Owen wanted to see more pictures, so here you go.
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Chris picture

2009-12-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Kim wanted me to be in one of the pictures.

The water is broken. The contractions are getting more painful.

Side note: Our room number is 319. Add the digits together and you'll know why I'm happy with this room.
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She's Happy Now

2009-12-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

The heart monitor is on, she's dilated to a 4+ and 80% effaced, and the iv is about to be inserted.
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We're here!

2009-12-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

We got the call. We're at the hospital now.
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Testing Testing 123

2009-12-06T19:21:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged from my phone since March of 2008, so this is just a test to make sure everything is working before Libby's big day.
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Football Fix

2009-11-06T22:10:00.005-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long time. My brain hurts when I think of what I haven't blogged about. So instead of beating myself up over it, I'm going to pick one topic and blog about it: Owen is a football stud.

We signed Owen up for flag football because we missed the deadline for the city soccer league. I'm glad we missed that deadline, because we've all had a blast watching Owen run the ball. He loves it too. Let's start with this latest video of his length-of-the-field touchdown run:

Pretty impressive, huh?

Here's another one:

I never played organized football when I was a kid, so I am blown away by Owen's skills. You are probably saying to yourself, "How hard is it to run through a bunch of 5-year-olds?" My answer to that is: I don't know, but Owen is really good at it.

Click HERE for another picture.

The first play of the last 3 games has been a handoff to Owen where he ran the length of the entire field for a touchdown. I can't get enough of it.

One more picture HERE.

Owen loves playing defense too. He likes to keep track of how many flags he pulls.

I could go on and on, but I think I'll stop here.

Bonus Halloween picture:

The Return of Chester, Kitty, Orson, and Ralph

2009-08-05T22:39:00.007-06:00

Remember this? <-------------------(Click on the word "this")

Well, we went back to the Family History Center and found another picture of our ancestors. I don't know how we missed it last year. This one looks like it was taken almost a year later than the first one we found. It seems they decided to clean up their lives too. Sometime in that year, they must have felt the outlaw life wasn't for them.

I am very curious about a few things in this picture. I'll have to do some more research, but it seems Chester and Kitty have something like an amusement park hand stamp on the back of their right hands. I also see something that looks very similar to a velcro strap by Ralph's neck. And I wonder why the photographer didn't tell Chester that his tie was falling off. Didn't they have to sit still for a long time to get a good picture back then? You'd think the photographer would've noticed. Oh well. Orson looks like he's turning into a little man, and Kitty looks pregnant. I'll have to look for some more pictures to see if a new baby shows up later.

As for us, we have some great news. For those of you that don't know yet, we found out we are having a girl in December! We have a few names in mind, but we are also open to suggestions, so feel free to comment and give us some ideas.

Oh, We Still Have a Blog?

2009-06-28T23:19:00.004-06:00

Nothing blogworthy has happened in the last 2 months, so I don't feel that bad. It's not like we moved, or had $14,000 worth of phones stolen from one of my stores, or saw Owen graduate from Preschool as co-valedictorian, or had an ultrasound for baby #3, or finally sold our house in Colorado, or watched Rhett grow up right before our eyes.

Ahem...

Ummm...

I guess all of that did happen. I've just been too lazy to blog about it. I blame Facebook. Again.

So here are the condensed versions:

We did move, but just across the neighborhood. Going from no yard to a huge yard has been great for the boys and the dog, and I really don't mind mowing the lawn.

We have surveillance footage of someone hopping over our counter in the mall, breaking open our locked cabinets, and stealing 50 cell phones. This all happened 20 minutes after the mall closed while mall security was riding around in a golf cart. Has he or any of his cronies been caught? No. Way to go Red Cliffs Mall Security and St. George Police Department! You guys are awesome!

Owen graduated from an amazing Preschool called Wee Wonders. He is now ready for Kindergarten. In fact, I think he's ready for first grade. He worked really hard and passed off everything they threw at him. I am very impressed with what he learned, because it wasn't that long ago that I was teaching Kindergarten, and I remember kids who couldn't recognize their own name, kids who couldn't hold a book properly, and kids who were afraid of the toilet. He is extremely excited to start school this Fall and move out of the house in 13 years.

We've heard the heartbeat for baby #3, and Kim's coworkers have given her an ultrasound at work. They couldn't find any boy parts, but we're not getting our hopes up for a girl, because the same thing happened last time with Rhett. The official ultrasound to find out if we're having a Pebbles or a Bam-Bam will be on August 1st. We both want a girl, but I wouldn't mind having a whole house full of boys if they all turned out as cool as Owen and Rhett.

Some of you know about the nightmares we've had with our house in Colorado, which include, but are not limited to: scorched grass, broken pipes, urine-soaked carpet, chewed up banisters/dog toys, and psycho hell-bound ex-renters. Shout hallelujah with us because the house finally sold. We are closing on it tomorrow. (Cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong last-minute.)

And here is proof that Rhett is growing up right before our eyes:

I'm not going to give any promises about blogging more regularly. I can't seem to keep those. So if you see me, and I haven't blogged in a while, just give me a swift drop-kick to the teeth and tell me to get my act together.

Quick News

2009-04-29T10:36:00.003-06:00

For those of you that are interested, Kim had her first doctor's appointment for baby #3. The ultrasound tech says we are 7 weeks and 3 days along now. That makes our due date December 13th. We saw the heart flutters, so this is all very real and even more exciting now.

Bring on #3

2009-04-09T11:12:00.002-06:00

Our camera has seen better days, so I can't get a good shot of it, but I need you to imagine a picture of a pregnancy test with a positive result. Now imagine Kim coming home from work and waking me up with the positive pregnancy test in her hand. Now imagine me trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes to figure out what in the world is happening. Now imagine a lot of big smiles, screaming, jumping, and overall happiness. Yes, we are having another baby!

The first thing Owen said when he found out was, "Can I have a baby sister this time?" Kim has had two dreams of having a baby girl, so we'll see. We don't know any details yet about how far along she is, but we'll keep you posted.

Rhett Neglect

2009-04-05T12:47:00.011-06:00

Rhett turned one on March 9th, he's walking all over the place, and he says, "I love you" all of the time, and we haven't blogged about any of it, so here I go.

We were in Denver for Annie's baby shower, so Rhett was lucky to have some extended family around for his birthday party. Kim's cousin Kristin and her family live close by. Owen and Rhett had a blast playing with Bria and Sofia.

Rhett loves watching The Backyardigans with Owen, so we went with that theme.

Kim did a masterful job on the cake.

Rhett scored some major loot.

It took him a minute to appreciate the opportunity to dig into a birthday cake, but he eventually got the hang of it.

Scott made it home safely from Iraq, so that made Rhett's day even more special to have him and Gari Jo there.

We all love Rhett so much and can't believe he is already one year old.
Rhett started taking steps a few days before his birthday, but really started walking on his actual birthday. It's funny what a month will do. He's so much steadier on his feet now.

I don't have any video of Rhett saying "I love you" yet. It sounds more like "I djoo djoo you." I also put a bunch of pictures on Facebook from our trip to the Denver Zoo. If you're like Gina Kemp, and haven't caught the Facebook bug yet, you'll just have to come over to our house to see those, or peek over the shoulder of one of my privileged Facebook friends.

Chris's Cameo

2009-03-23T13:48:00.004-06:00

Well, it's official. Chris is famous. He recently starred in a commercial for work, and we at home are pretty darn proud. His television debut will appear on KCSG, the St George channel, but in case you don't watch this channel 24/7 or you blink when the commercial starts, here it is...(look to the right for the goods)

So, what do you think? Pretty firm handshake huh?

And, as people in "the business" know, every good actor needs a head shot photo. Chris, here is yours.

P.s. Doesn't Owen look adorable?

Who's Yo Daddy?

2009-02-27T15:42:00.014-07:00

Question: Who do the boys look like?

Answer: Not me.

It's Too Late to Apologize

2009-02-10T08:56:00.009-07:00

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but I'm not going to apologize. It's too late for that. I've actually been very busy landscaping the backyard, compiling a family history, rebuilding the engine to a car I bought at the junkyard, taking Spanish classes, training for a marathon, and making some new clothes for Owen and Rhett......Who am I kidding? I'm actually just the latest Facebook victim. I put it off for so long, because I knew it would take up all of my free time. I was right. I used to make fun of people that were addicted to Facebook, but now here I am searching for people I haven't seen in years. I've found a few South Africans that I never thought I'd ever hear from again. One of them actually moved to Colorado, and we're going to stop by to see her and her family next time we drive to Denver.

So enough about my new addiction. Here's what you all really came to see:

Kim broke something again! I know, I know. Nothing new, right? She manages to break a glass, a random bathroom fixture, or a jar filled with something at least once a month, maybe once a week. This last one was the granddaddy of all things breakable though: The oven door. Yes, the oven door. How did she do it? I don't know. It blows my mind. See for yourself: Owen is plugging along in Preschool. His teachers are really focused on getting the kids ready for Kindergarten. As a former Kindergarten teacher, I must say that he is really getting ready for first grade. He is doing things that some of my Kindergarten students were never able to do. He knows the entire alphabet and all the letter sounds. He can write all of his letters. He can write his name. He has a list of about 30 sight words from Preschool that he can read, plus I'm guessing there's another 60 or 70 words he knows like family members' names, days of the week, colors, etc. He can also say the Pledge of Allegiance, do some basic addition, tell time, recognize shapes, and wipe his own bum. I had to throw that in there. It's been a long and arduous process getting him to that point. Now if we can only get him to button his own pants and tie his shoes. We're working on it.

He put his Halloween costume on again the other day and wanted us to put the picture on the blog. Here you go: Rhett has achieved a few milestones as well. He says "Mama" and "Dada" all of the time now, but we can never capture it on video. We talk to the grandparents all of the time on the webcam, and he has yet to say it for them either. One of these days someone else will hear it besides us. His top 2 teeth are coming down too. This caused some sleepless nights, but nothing to lose any sleep over. Well, we did lose sleep over it, but it wasn't that bad. You know what I mean. Rhett's hair was getting very mulletish, so we gave him a little trim. You can't really tell, because his hair is so thin, but he was starting to look like Ben Franklin. It was growing really long in the back and over the ears, but nowhere else.

Rhett is also walking all over the place with the aid of his toys. He stands on his own every now and then, but he hasn't officially walked yet. This video is from Kim's cell phone, so please excuse the poor quality. (I know, I sell phones. She needs a better one. I'm working on it.)

Oh yeah. I had to fire someone else again. That brings my grand total to 47,000. Not really, but that's what it seems like. Here's a word of advice: If you want to keep your job, be nice to people.

Someone just commented on my Facebook status. I better go see who it was.

A Tag About Chris

2009-01-18T20:46:00.025-07:00

This post is in response to being tagged by Shelly.

So, anyone who has ever read our blog knows that Chris does 99.9% of these posts, and therefore always writes his own stuff when he is tagged. He is pretty hilarious, as you can read from THIS past post about himself. I however, am not a witty writer, so you are gonna get nothing but the facts. So, without further ado, here it is.

1. Where did you meet your husband? We met in Provo, Utah as BYU students. My best friend and roommate was dating his roommate. She thought Chris and I would get along, and she was right. The first time I met him he was wearing this blond afro wig and a red ski mask.

2. How long did you date? We dated for three weeks...I dumped him...then we dated again one month later for four months before getting engaged. In all, we dated for eight months before we were married.

3. How long have you been married? We have been married 9 1/2 years. Look how young (and skinny) we were!

4. What does he do that surprises you? Chris is a romantic at heart. He surprises me at every special occaision (Mother's day, my birthday, etc) with a handmade, original poem and card. I love them! Here is a sample of what kind of poems I get:

5. What is your favorite feature of his? I love his dreamy, blue eyes.

6. What is his best quality? He does all of our laundry. I am serious, he does. I also love that he is very dependable. If someone asks Chris to do something, whether it be for church, work, etc. He does it, no questions asked.

7. Does he have a nick name for you? Yeah, it's "scabe." Now before you raise your eyebrows and say WHAT? The story behind it is that when we were dating, we tried to call each other "babe" or "honey" and just thought it too cheesy for us. So, we rhymed "scabie flakes" with "baby cakes" and called each other that just to be funny. I'll be darned if that name has stuck. We've shortened it to "scabe," but we STILL cannot call each other normal, sweet names. I know, we are weird.

8. What is his favorite food? Texas Roadhouse, baby back ribs. He eats the full rack.

9. What is his favorite sport? It is either football or basketball. He loves to watch NFL football and participates in 47,000 fantasy leagues every season, but he also really loves to play basketball.

10.When and where was your first kiss? Hmm...the when part is a little sketchy. It was about a week after we started dating. The where? On the doorstep of my basement apartment.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We like playing games. Cranium, dominos, the Wii, etc. We make a mean team.

12. Do you have children? Two miracle boys: Owen-5, was conceieved after 3 1/2 years, with a turkey baster in a doctor's office, and Rhett-10months, was conceived after another 3 years, miraculously when we were in the process of adopting. HERE is the link to the post when I found out I was pregnant with Rhett. I still cry when I read it.

13. Does he have hidden talents? Umm...yes, but it is not something I am very proud of. He can fart on command. He is also threatening to teach Owen.

14. How old is he? He is 32 years old.

15. Who said I love you first? He did.

16. His favorite music? He loves Cake, Angels and Airwaves, Box Car Racer, Weezer, Johnny Cash, Modest Mouse, and Carrie Underwood (He loves her, not her music).

17. What do you admire most about him? He is so dang smart and talented at everything he does. He is the master of all games (maybe that is why I like to be his partner so much), and he plays the piano like an angel. He is also such a good dad to Owen and Rhett.

18. What is his favorite color? Blue. Definitely blue.

19. Will he read this? Uh, yeah! He pretty much does everything with our blog and checks it all the time at work when things are really slow.

I love you Chris, thanks for being my hubby!

I tag……Kim Myers, Julie Powell, Annie Kunz, Kristin Eaquinto, Jen Eaquinto, and Stacie Voyles.

Going on 6

2009-01-11T08:38:00.009-07:00

Owen turned 5 last Monday. Merriment and frivolity were had by all. We started the weekend-long celebration on Saturday. Kim and I decorated a cake.

You are probably asking yourself, "Why don't they decorate cakes for a living? The use of white frosting instead of blue for the water is pure genius! And what deep meaning is behind the pirate captain laying down in his ship?" Out of the kindness of our hearts, we don't want to put all of the other cake decorators out of business, so we'll stick with nursing and selling phones.

Owen wanted to have a party this year at the newest and hippest joint in town. It's called Pirate Island Pizza. Other than it being really dark in "The Swamp", it was great. A few friends from the neighborhood and Owen's preschool came along, and we invited the Kemp family too. For those of you that don't know, Gina Kemp and I went to the same high school in Auburn, Washington. Our kids love each other, so it's been fun hanging out every now and then.

This guy in the blue shirt with the yellow stripes is Captain Weakbeard. He was trying to help the kids win tickets to redeem for fabulous prizes.

Rhett tried to contribute to the ticket booty as well.

(I apologize for not having any pictures of the party planner. Kim, you were a beautiful wench.)

Owen was showered with Batman, Indiana Jones, and dinosaur gifts. Kim and I decided to get him a scooter since the whole bike thing from last summer didn't turn out like we thought it would.

Thank you to everyone who came to the party or gave Owen a gift. He absolutely loved every minute of his birthday weekend, except for the new 1pm church time on Sunday. They should make a rule in the church that if you have kids under 6 years old, you can go to the earlier time, even if it isn't your ward.

Happy birthday Owen! We love you and are so proud of you! In fact, I'm going to list 5 things I love about Owen, since he turned 5, and that seems to be the thing bloggers do for their kids on their birthday.

1. Owen has a pretty strong grasp of the English language, but I absolutely love when he overcompensates his words.

Example:
Owen: Mom, I want a bolden arrow someday.
Mom: What's a bolden arrow?
Owen: You know, it's something where you get something that looks like an arrow and you put it in this stretchy thing and you pull it back and let go and you can shoot stuff with the arrow.
Mom: Oh.

2. Owen adores his baby brother. I am not exaggerating when I say this. Owen stepped on Rhett's chest when Rhett was a newborn, but that has been the only time in Rhett's 10 months on this earth when Owen has purposely done anything to hurt him. Owen cannot let Rhett go by without smothering him with kisses, hugs, or chubby cheek pats.

3. Owen loves to follow rules. We stole a family rule from one of my friends that if you fart at the dinner table, you have to take your plate to the bathroom and finish eating in there. Owen amended the rule for lunch. You get 2 chances at lunch.

4. I'm sure every other kid is exactly the same, but I love when Owen hears the garage door open and runs out to see me or Kim coming home from work. He is so happy when he his with his family.

5. And finally, this is a bit of a cop-out, but I love that there are a lot more than 5 reasons why I love Owen so much. He seriously impresses me every day, and I am so grateful that he is my son.

Christmas Recap

2009-01-04T16:23:00.014-07:00

Wow, I can't believe the holidays are over...come to think of it, I can't believe 2008 is over. It seemed to go by especially fast this year.

Anyway, we had a merry Christmas, even though we weren't able to be with any of our extended family.

We got an early Christmas gift when I was called off from work on Christmas Eve. I was planning on working all night and staying awake for Christmas morning, but instead I got to stay home!! So, we enjoyed our annual roast beef, au jus sandwiches in honor of Grandma Powell's birthday, drank some "spicy" apple juice (Martinelli's sparkling apple cider), read the Polar Express, read Luke 2, prepared cookies and milk for Santa, and 9 carrots for his reindeer. Owen was perfect and went to bed without any fuss. He was really concerned about being good for Santa and was excited for the next morning.

Christmas morning started about 7am. Owen was excited to see all the presents, and Rhett was excited to chew on the paper.

Here is a picture of them before we started opening gifts:

I am going to go cook dinner now, so Chris will take over from here.

Yo yo yo, what's up? Thanks for passing the mic over to me K-Dog. I'll try to keep it real, smooth, and real smooth.

So I have to mention this. Notice in the last picture that Owen is not wearing his Christmas pajama pants. Instead of sugar plums, he must have been dreaming about waterfalls, lemonade, or urinals.

Rhett had a blast all morning.

Owen got exactly what he wanted.

It wouldn't be Christmas without a dinosaur present. Thanks Nana and Papa. I think I had more fun putting these together than Owen did.

I don't know...do you think Rhett loves his alphabet train?

Random picture: Kim wanted to show off the wreath she made for the gingerbread house.

Rhett looks like an elf in this new outfit from Nana.

This is probably getting boring, so I'll wrap things up. Let me go see if Owen wants to say anything...

Nope. I guess he's busy.

We hope everyone had a joyous holiday season. Owen's birthday is tomorrow, so we'll post again soon.

Merry Christmas to All!

2008-12-22T22:05:00.007-07:00

Hi! This is Kim blogging! I decided that I should contribute to our blog and not let Chris do all the posting. He IS a much better writer than me, but I want more of a say in important things like our blog's background (think back to our lovely ramen and Seahawk ones), and besides, it looks like a lot of fun. Anyway, here is my first post...although Chris is standing behind me telling me what to do and how to do it. THANKS SWEETUMS!

We want to wish everyone a merry Christmas! December escaped us, and we didn't get Christmas cards out (translation: we were too lazy), so instead, please enjoy a slideshow of our adorable boys. A very talented friend in our ward took these pictures, and we love them! Rhett was very camera shy and not too cooperative as you will see in some of the pictures, but we think it gives them more character. Anyway, if you would like to check out more of her work, visit her website at http://www.dionsenecaphotography.blogspot.com.

We love you all! Merry Christmas!

Quincy and Queenie Quackenbush

2008-12-16T21:24:00.004-07:00

Meet Quincy and Queenie Quackenbush, our alter-egos. We are an integral part of the Mesquite, Nevada nightlife. We go from casino to casino performing various shows consisting of annoying yet often catchy medleys of popular songs. We decided to perform at the ward Christmas party last Friday. We condensed our Christmas Extravaganza show into a fun medley of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Silver Bells, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. I think it went over pretty well. We were getting a few strange looks from people that normally know us as shy, but by the end, I think everyone warmed up to us and started having a good time. It's a good thing they weren't serving eggnog or things might have really gotten out of hand.

Owen and Rhett aren't quite to the age yet where they are embarrassed by their parents.

Have you ever been to Baltimore? Kim's clothes have!

2008-12-11T10:49:00.003-07:00

So here are my excuses this time for not blogging in so long: I have been extremely busy training two new employees, Kim and I have been practicing for the three different Christmas programs we've been asked to perform in, I've been playing basketball late into the night to get back in shape, and my old age causes me to fall asleep as soon as I sit down on a couch.

I'm at work right now, so I'll have to post some pictures later, but I had to blog about our trip home from Colorado on December 1st. We had a great time visiting Kim's family, but I don't have time to blog about that. The trip home is much more interesting for a blog post.

We found some cheap flights awhile ago, so we thought we'd fly this time instead of drive. The drive from Denver to St. George with two kids takes anywhere from 10 to 12 hours. We thought the flight would be much quicker and much less stressful. We planned on landing in Vegas at about 7pm local time, then driving the 2 hours to our house putting us in our humble abode about 10pm St George time. We were wrong.

We got to the Denver airport around 4pm for our 6:05pm flight. We checked in, walked to our gate, saw that the flight before ours hadn't even arrived yet, walked back to the food court area, grabbed some dinner, and headed back to the gate to wait. Owen happily ate his happy meal, Kim and I enjoyed our Einstein's bagels, and Rhett fought his way through a feeding of some sort of turkey and rice concoction. Rhett would not drink any milk, so we were preparing ourselves for a nightmarish flight of baby screaming. The flight before ours pulled up to the gate around the time ours was supposed to depart, so we were told it would be about an hour and a half delay. They were right. Our plane got stuck in a snow storm in Chicago before it got to Denver. We boarded our plane around 7:40pm, and luckily, Rhett fell asleep as soon as we sat down. He was in peaceful slumber during the entire flight, and we thanked our lucky stars as we felt bad for the lady 4 rows up that was trying to console her screaming baby.

We landed in Vegas about 8:30pm local time. Rhett woke up. Owen fell asleep. We found our sit-n-stand stroller at the gate, (the kind where the car seat for the baby goes in front and the older kid can either sit or stand in the back), crammed Owen's limp body into the car seat area because he could neither sit nor stand, and propped Rhett in his car seat where Owen should have been sitting or standing. We made our way to luggage carousel #3 where our 4 bags were supposed to be. We found zero. We walked over to the Southwest missing luggage office and found 3 of our bags. We were told the snowstorm in the Midwest threw everything off. We were guaranteed that our 4th bag would be on one of the final two flights arriving from Denver before the night was over. If we decided to wait for our bag, they would give us a $50 voucher towards a future flight. If we wanted to drive home and have them FedEx us the bag, there would be no voucher. Kim's bag with all of her clothes, makeup, and such was the missing bag. We decided to wait since Owen was asleep and Rhett was happy. The next flight from Denver was arriving at 10:30pm, so we took our time and rode the shuttle to our car, loaded up the 3 bags and the 2 boys, then drove to the parking garage to wait. I went in to check for the bag while Kim stayed with the boys in the car. The Vegas airport uses parking meters in the parking garage, so Kim was popping quarters into the machine every ten or fifteen minutes waiting for me to come back. I made my way to the luggage carousels again, found the one with the bags from Denver, watched everyone come down the escalator and grab their bags, and stood there for five more minutes contemplating what it would be like to dive down the luggage chute. I walked over to the TV screens with the arrival information, found the last flight arriving from Denver, found the carousel those bags were supposed to be on, and walked around for another hour waiting for that flight to land. I called Kim, and Rhett had fallen back asleep, so she was bored out of her mind. At least I had weird people I could watch and shiny signs I could read advertising the casinos and other Vegas attractions.

The last flight from Denver finally arrived around 11:30pm local time. The carousel started churning, and I got a little giddy-up back in my step. I watched everyone come down the escalator and grab their bags, and stood there for five more minutes contemplating what it would be like to throw an airport employee down the luggage chute. I walked back to the Southwest missing luggage office, and the way too happy lady at the counter excitedly said, "Oh! We found your bag! It's in Baltimore! Would you like us to FedEx it to you?" I thought, "No, lady. I think I'll keep waiting here while my wife fills the parking meter with more quarters." I managed to get a $75 voucher instead of a $50 for all of the trouble, and headed back to the parking garage. As you can imagine, Kim was thrilled to see me come back empty-handed. I explained what happened as we merged onto the highway at midnight. I looked over at Kim and said, "The good thing about all of this is there won't be any traffic through Vegas."

If I could, I would shove those words back down my windpipe, because as soon as I said that, we heard sirens. Traffic slowed down to 5 mph as the fire truck and ambulance tried to get through. It took us 50 minutes to drive maybe 3 miles, and all we got to see was the clean-up crew towing wrecked cars away. I stopped at a gas station to get an energy drink because now Kim was asleep and my eyelids were heavier than Oprah in 1990. The energy drink did nothing for me. I had to pull over and take a quick nap. I woke up 30 minutes later feeling ready to finish the drive. After drifting out of my lane a few times, I decided I should stop putting my family in jeopardy and take a longer nap. I made it to Mesquite, pulled over in the Oasis Resort and Casino parking lot, and slept for 2 hours. I woke up, finished the drive, and we were all warm in our beds around 5am St. George time. The whole trip took about 13 hours. We should have driven. Kim's bag was on our doorstep 2 days later.

Good news! Kim has decided she wants to get in on this blogging stuff, so she will now be a regular contributor. I hope. Her motivation is the website www.blurb.com. They can take your blog and turn it into a book. She wants to have all of our family memories in book form. You should check it out.

I Have a Free Minute

2008-11-22T07:37:00.007-07:00

After reading everyone's blogs this morning, it looks like our lives are all very similar. Kim saw Twilight yesterday. Our ex-renters haven't paid us according to the court stipulation. We're excited for the big BYU/Utah game today. I fired somebody. We're excited to see family for Thanksgiving. I fired somebody else. Our kids are growing up so fast, doing amazing things. I might have to fire somebody else. Kim's birthday is next week. My employee that has been with us for over 2 years is leaving next month. Rhett's teeth are coming in. I heard a nasty rumor that one of my other really good employees might be leaving next month. Owen, Kim, and I are speaking in church tomorrow. Kim has been working more to make up for the money we're not getting from our ex-renters. Owen absolutely loves Preschool. Holiday hours start on Friday and I don't know how I'm going to keep the stores staffed.

So I apologize for not posting anything lately, but our lives are pretty much like everyone else's, right?

This is how Owen looked one day last week when we picked him up from Preschool.

This is Rhett being held upside down. We were trying to get a picture of his teeth, but ended up getting this great shot of his cheeks. I think he's storing food in his face for the winter. I don't know why he's getting such a head start though. I'm pretty sure it stayed in the 70s all day yesterday.

I see teeth in this one!

Okay Rhett. I understand why you're storing food in your face now. It has been getting pretty chilly during our evening walks.

Obama? Really?

2008-11-05T18:07:00.002-07:00

Does anyone else feel like there's a dark cloud over our nation now? I know George W. hasn't been the model President of the United States of America, but Obama? Seriously? Did the voters do any research before they marked their ballots? I am not one who usually tries to wax philosophical when it comes to politics, but i thought it was pretty obvious that the Vietnam veteran who was tortured for our freedoms would make a much better leader than someone who hangs out with Jeremiah Wright. People wanted a change. I guess they're going to get what they asked for.

Daylight Savings, Shmaylight Shmavings

2008-11-02T06:38:00.016-07:00

Who needs an extra hour of sleep? The thunder and lighting are competing to see who can be the loudest this morning. I think the thunder is winning. Owen and Rhett were both woken up at 5am, so I thought I'd post a Halloween blog.

A few years ago, I bought a Halloween costume to fulfill my lifelong fantasy of one day being a garbage man. This was my third time wearing it, but instead of just dirtying up my face, I thought I'd go zombie in 2008.

What goes better with a zombie garbage man than a pet skunk?

Owen really wanted to be a vampire this year. This is proof to all those doubters out there that good old dad really did the makeup.

I think he turned out pretty good.

So here's the finished family:

You are probably asking yourself, "Where's Kim?"

That's her with the purple bat on her face. I don't know if you could have been able to figure that out on your own or not.

We went to the ward Trunk or Treat party first. We combined with a different ward, so the entire parking lot was full. After that, we headed over to the local nursing home. The residents all had funny hats on, and the kids went down the line scoring even more candy. We ended the night going door to door in our neighborhood. Sadly, we only found three people home. Owen's teeth will probably thank us later. Here's his haul:

We decided to let Rhett enjoy his first Halloween by letting him attack a blue raspberry sucker. Here's the result:

I have to end with this picture. After our initial attempt at washing Owen's makeup off, he was left with some pretty manly looking eyebrows.

I love Halloween.

Puking Pumpkin and...Spongebob?

2008-10-28T18:07:00.007-06:00

I will start by saying that I take no credit for coming up with the idea of a puking pumpkin. In fact, I even copied a design I saw online. Kim's brother, Scott, also did a puking pumpkin this year, but I don't think he added enough puke. So here is my attempt at the puking pumpkin, with extra puke:

Kim, on the other hand, decided she would print out a picture of Spongebob Squarepants and then try to use it as a pattern on her pumpkin. Here is her result:

What do you think? I think it looks like the skull of a monkey. Feel free to leave your impressions in the comment list.

Owen was pretty pleased to help us with the pumpkins this year. Rhett was pretty pleased just chewing on the cord from the blinds as he watched us carve.

Our camera was acting up on us last night, but if you look closely, you can see puke coming out of the pumpkin's nostril. He felt better after I told him not to be embarrassed, because that happens to humans also.

Rhett Video

2008-10-22T09:42:00.004-06:00

At the request of certain family members who have not been able to see Rhett very much, I will post a video of him today. He is still a beefy baby. At 7 1/2 months old, he's wearing Owen's 12 month clothes. I haven't captured any video of him saying "Dada," but this video is a pretty good one of him laughing. Enjoy.

My Birthday...part 32

2008-10-15T08:00:00.019-06:00

According to Blogger, this also happens to be my 100th post. I'll try and make it a good one.

32. Wow. I am old. I've been 32 for 2 days now, and I hate it. I apologize to all of you reading this that are over 32 years old, but this really stinks. I now need to spend extra time each morning plucking gray hairs out of the side of my head. I am having a very difficult time motivating myself to lose some extra poundage. My knees hurt. Owen is almost 5 years old, and I already have a hard time keeping up with him. My 18 and 19 year old employees probably think I'm out of touch with the world. I'm not where I thought I'd be spiritually by this time. I'm halfway to 64 now.(Sorry Mom.)

Even with all of these negative feelings about my age, I really can't complain. I have the best little family I could have ever imagined. I have amazing brothers, sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, etc. I've got a good job. I have great friends. I have a strong testimony of the gospel. I just need to start fresh and get myself back in shape physically and spiritually. I need to be satisfied with one plate of food, not two. I need to make the time to exercise a little bit each day. I need to make time to read from the scriptures each day. I really need to stop being selfish and serve other people. I know what I need to do to be happy and not care about my age. The hard part is actually doing it. I'm sure I've bored everyone enough. On to the pictures:

Remember this?

Well, we did it again this year. I'm telling you, I just wasn't feeling the vibe for this 32nd birthday. No creativity at all.

Here's Owen one year later on the same redneck trampoline:

Notice how dreary the weather was this time? We only lasted about an hour because it was so cold and windy. (When I say cold, remember we live in St George. It was 57 degrees outside. Our bodies just aren't used to that anymore.)

Rhett's first trip to the farm resulted in this look on his face the entire time. He wouldn't crack a smile because the cold wind was making his eyes tear up.

We did the corn maze again.

We pet some animals.

Owen went down the redneck slide and rode the cow train again.

He also discovered a new tunnel and tire swing this year.

And we sat on some hay.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for a full slab of ribs, and Kim made me a delicious lemon cake this year. Here I am ending the night while talking on my cell phone as usual.

Family History

2008-10-02T18:52:00.004-06:00

So I was digging through some archives in the Family History Library here in St. George, and I came across this old picture of some distant relatives. It turns out that Kim and I are related. Her great-great-great-Grandma Kitty married my great-great-great-Grandpa Chester. They had two boys. The older one was named Orson, and the younger one was named Ralph. Here's the picture:

(Ignore the copyright info in the lower right hand corner. I don't know where that came from.)

Weird Dream

2008-09-29T13:21:00.003-06:00

I want to blog about our recent trip up to Logan, and I want to respond to a tag from The Hirschi Kiss blog, but I need to blog about this weird dream first. I'm sure you've noticed I've brought back the Seattle Seahawks layout. They are struggling right now and they need all the moral support they can get. I had a dream last night that I was the new Seattle Seahawks quarterback coach. The song you are hearing in the background was being blasted through the stadium speakers during practice. Every time one of the Seahawks receivers was injured and carted off of the field, Jerry Rice would pull up in a limousine in full Seahawks uniform, asking to be on the team again. We turned him away every time because he was just too old to keep up. Don't ask me why this Celine Dion song was playing. Maybe the words were giving us the moral support the team so desperately needs right now.

A Month of Firsts

2008-09-16T20:32:00.015-06:00

Rhett:
Sat up by himself

Ate solid food

Said "Dada" while wearing soccer ball Easter basket hats with Owen

(OK. He really didn't say "Dada" here, but he has said it numerous times when waking up in the morning. I just haven't captured any video of it yet...and I couldn't resist posting this picture.)

Owen:
Started preschool

Kim:
Got to church at 9:00 am! Not 9:25 am!
(We live 3 minutes from the church. I go early to set up chairs.)

Me:
Set the record for the highest single game score in Shortbus Fantasy Football Fantasy Freaks League history. My team is the Boomslangs. I got 187 points in week 2. I know. I'm a dork.

Young Lady, Get Out of Here

2008-09-06T08:41:00.002-06:00

I finally have some time this morning to post this funny story:

We have a nursing home in our ward boundaries called The Beehive Home. Every Sunday from 1pm to about 1:30pm, members from our ward go over to the home and do a little sacrament meeting for the residents. Once a month, the Elders Quorum is assigned to do the talk and the prayers. As the Elders Quorum secretary, it is my job to find people to fulfill these responsibilities. Let me just say that it is probably easier to conjugate Finnish verbs with a gun to your head than it is to find someone from the Elders Quorum to give a 5 minute talk or a prayer at The Beehive Home. Needless to say, the talk assignment is often fulfilled by yours truly. A few times, I have had to ask Kim to come with me and say one of the prayers. This was the case last Sunday on August 31st. Wherever Kim and I are, there's an Owen and a Rhett also. The residents absolutely love when kids come to visit, so Rhett got pretty excited with all of the attention he was receiving. It was time for the meeting to start, but Rhett was still juiced up with excitement. He was squealing like a little porker getting chased in a Greased Pig Scramble. Kim handed Rhett to me so she could say the opening prayer. That was alright. Then it was time for the sacrament. Rhett was getting louder. Then it was time for me to give my talk. Rhett was full-squeal volume now. Kim took Rhett into one of the back hallways to no avail. I was about 2 minutes into my talk when one of the residents raised her hand. I thought, "Oh how precious. This little old lady has a question about some deep point of doctrine. Why not? Let's see what she has to say." So I acknowledged her and said, "Yes?" Little old woman answered angrily, "There is a young lady here with a baby who is making a lot of noise. You are up there going through the motions but I can't hear a word you are saying. Can someone please tell that young lady to leave?" I stood there with my mouth open as the other members of the ward tried to hold back their giggling. I looked over at Kim and said, "Young lady, get out of here!" By now, everyone in the room was laughing except the angry old woman. Kim took Owen and Rhett outside and sat on a bench where Rhett could squeal to his heart's content. I finished my talk, we had a closing song and prayer, and then I went outside with Kim where we were bombarded with apologies from various residents and members of the ward. We weren't offended at all, so it was funny that we were getting so many apologies. It turns out that the angry old woman suffers from dementia.

So long story short, I kicked my family out of a church meeting. I can't wait to go back and see what happens next time.

I Was Tagged Again

2008-08-27T22:21:00.002-06:00

My sister Kim tagged me again. I hate these things because I think of better things I could have said for days afterwards. Here you go:

8 Things I'm Passionate About:
1. my wife
2. my boys
3. my church
4. my other family members
5. my food
6. my job
7. sports
8. laundry

8 Books I Love:
1. Holes
2. Angels and Demons
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Digital Fortress
5. Deception Point
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(my favorite of the series)
7. The Giver
8. Letters From a Nut
(Look this one up. You won't regret it.)

8 Words/Phrases I Say Often:
1. "I'm going to start exercising on Monday."
2. "You're definitely going to want a text messaging bundle with that."
3. "Your turn. I changed the last one."
4. "Holy shnikeys!
5. "Let me call you right back."
6. "Please don't spill your cereal today."
7. "Please don't puke on my work pants today."
8. "You're fired."

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. go back to South Africa
2. have at least one daughter
3. get one of my children's books published
4. see my kids become more successful than myself
5. see the Seahawks win a Super Bowl
6. get back in shape
7. be guilt and debt free as I take my last breath
8. I want to go on an exotic vacation with my wife, and forget to bring a toothbrush. We will go to the closest grocery store to buy a replacement toothbrush. While we are there, we will meet one of the following five people in the toiletries aisle: Reese Witherspoon, Elisabeth Shue, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, or John McCrea. I will say, "Holy shnikeys! It's _____________! (Fill in the blank with one of the aforementioned names.) I am a big fan of your work!" (Unless it's Carrie Underwood. I'm not such a huge fan of country music anymore. If it's Carrie Underwood we run into, then I will say something to the effect of, "I think you're smoking hot!") The celebrity will say, "Thank you very much. It's so nice to see another English-speaking American here. Do you guys want to hang out tonight?" Before Kim can say anything, I will shout, "Sure!" We will then arrange to have dinner at a fancy restaurant. We will talk all night and we will become good friends with the lucky celebrity. We will say good night, but then find out that the celebrity is staying at the same resort we are. We will then go to their suite and watch an M. Night Shyamalan movie on a big screen t.v. while eating Jack in the Box chicken sandwiches and drinking chocolate milk. We will end the night with a Pente tournament. I will win the tournament, and the celebrity will congratulate me by giving me a Saab 9.3. Out of the kindness of their heart, the celebrity will also give Kim a baby blue Volkswagen Bug or a baby polar bear. We will retire for the evening, but then meet up again the following morning for a hot air balloon ride over the exotic land in which we are vacationing. The hot air balloon pilot will supply us with scarves, all you can eat Egg McMuffins, donut holes, and of course, chocolate milk. After the balloon ride, the celebrity will have to attend a charity event in a neighboring country. We will exchange cell phone numbers, scarves, and hugs, promising to correspond again once we have returned to the grand old United States of America.

8 Things I Learned This Year:
1. Children really do learn by example.
2. I am getting quite comfortable at firing people.
3. I am not the best Powell at Guitar Hero.
4. It is too easy to gain back weight you thought you lost forever.
5. It scares me that I might never outgrow my procrastination habit.
6. Never let someone rent your house who can't pay the full security deposit.
7. Too much Jack in the Box and chocolate milk is a bad thing.
8. Love for family can never reach a limit. It is always growing.

Here is the Picture

2008-08-21T21:44:00.005-06:00

Here is the picture of Rhett that I was talking about yesterday. Thanks for sending them again, Kim (Myers).

What do you like better, black and white or the color-enhanced?

Admit it. This is probably the cutest baby picture you've ever seen, right?

I'm a little biased.

I Couldn't Go a Whole Month Without Posting

2008-08-20T21:57:00.009-06:00

I have a good excuse. Since the last post, I've pretty much been working open to close every day except for the week we went to Washington. And who wants to blog after an 11 hour work day or while on vacation? Not me. So here is my feeble attempt at somewhat catching up:

We opened a new store! That gives me 3 stores which I am directly responsible for in southern Utah and a total of 7 stores for the company.

Rhett is rolling over and sitting up! He also had his manhood cauterized because the circumcision was healing back on itself, but let's not focus on the negative. (My sister Kim took the best picture ever of Rhett after he rolled over on to his belly, but the CD she made for us from her digital camera is not formatted correctly. I'll have to post that picture later.)

Owen is a swimming champ! He graduated from swim lessons again this summer and was able to use his talents this last week up in Washington. We went up for a family reunion in the Tri-Cities area, where my sister Kim lives with her family. Here's Owen with his cousin Ally.

There are so many more things to say, and so many more pictures I could post, but this will have to do for now. I'm tired. I'll try not to go another 27 days without blogging again.

The Boys of Summer

2008-07-25T09:16:00.010-06:00

The St. George Roadrunners are a local baseball team here from the Golden Baseball League. I'm sure you've heard of them. Or maybe you've heard of some of the other teams in the league, like the Yuma Scorpions? The Reno Silver Sox? The Edmonton Cracker Cats? Well, we went to the game last night against the Orange County Flyers. I called in to the local sports radio station and stumped the host with a sports trivia question, so he gave me 4 tickets.

Owen had a blast looking for the mascots. We're pretty special down here. We had two mascots to chase around. Saturn posed for a picture, but we never caught up to Reggie.

For those of you that don't know, yesterday was Pioneer Day here in Utah. It's a pretty big thing. It's almost as big as the 4th of July. I won tickets to the game on the perfect night, because after the Roadrunners won 15-7, they put on the longest and best fireworks show I have ever seen in my life. I am not kidding. It was pretty impressive. Owen couldn't control himself and was laughing uncontrollably for the first 5 or 6 minutes. Rhett was just as enthralled. We couldn't believe he didn't get scared with all the loud bangs. We were so mesmerized by the show, we forgot to get the camera out. This morning, I was asking Rhett if he had fun last night watching the fireworks show, and Owen said, "It wasn't a fireworks show Dad. It was a fireworks movie!"

Here's a picture of Rhett getting some sleep so he could be ready for the fireworks:

We had so much fun. I think we'll make this a Pioneer Day tradition as long as we're here in St. George.

Other blogworthy news:
Samsung is having a sales rewards program where you can earn points to redeem for thousands of different things. I sold enough Samsung phones to get Owen his first bike, and I also got Rhett a Jumperoo.

Yes, I actually put this thing together.

Rhett loves his Jumperoo so much, he even sleeps in it sometimes.

Nine? Really?

2008-07-17T08:09:00.003-06:00

There once was a girl so fine.
I wanted her to be mine.
We went on a date.
It wasn't too late
'Til she hung me out on the line.

My heart was completely shattered,
Utterly bruised, and battered.
How could she possibly
Do this to me?
Nothing else really mattered.

A few weeks passed, and then
She came to her senses when
She came up to talk.
We went for a walk,
And the fire was kindled again.

I'm so glad she changed her mind.
A better girl I could not find.
I got down on my knee.
She said, "Yessiree!"
And the marriage certificate was signed.

Today marks our ninth year of bliss.
Kim, I must tell you this:
I'm excited for
An eternity more.
I'll love you forever. Love, Chris

This Is What It's All About

2008-07-02T10:00:00.004-06:00

Forget that I just fired someone else last week. Forget the stress that comes with church responsibilities. Having fun with the family is what life is all about.

There's a new place in town called Jumpin' Jacks. It's a warehouse filled with inflatable slides and jumping castles. Owen and I had a blast.

We finished the night off with blue coconut slushes from Sonic.

Rhett got a new Bumbo seat. These things are awesome. He loves being able to sit up straight and see what's going on.

And keeping with a long-standing tradition of lip syncing videos that stems from my high school days, here is Owen's first go at it. (Josh, I still have the video of us doing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" when I was wearing your sister's dress.)

Chocolate Kisses

2008-06-22T23:27:00.008-06:00

I hope this brotherly love lasts for a long time. Rhett sure does put up with a lot from Owen.

The Owen Powell Gallery of Photographic Art

2008-06-16T22:34:00.009-06:00

Welcome to the exhibit. Today, we will try to show you the world through the eyes of an unsupervised 4 year old with a digital camera. Please enjoy the show.

Hallway Rug

Diaper Daddy

Remote Inverted

Life Unfocused

Self Portrait

Dog Unconcerned

Swim Diaper on Carpet

Mother Posterior

If you were moved in any way after viewing this collection, please leave a donation at the front counter on your way out. All proceeds will go toward furthering the career of this up and coming master photographer.

Thank you for attending.

Please come again.

The Obligatory Bath Time Post

2008-06-10T08:30:00.006-06:00

How can you have a newborn and not do a bath time post? Rhett absolutely loves bath time. You can tell how much he loves it by the movement of his arms and legs. The more movement, the more joy.

WARNING: We tried to avoid infant nudity by placing a washcloth over his bits and pieces, but there is a slight moment where Rhett exposes himself. Also, no infants were harmed in the making of this video, even when the older sibling throws a toy at the infant's head.

Beefy Rhett

2008-05-31T10:33:00.006-06:00

We recently got back from Colorado, hence the long period of time since the last post. The renters we had in our Denver home moved out on May 22nd. Our prayers were answered, and we found some new renters the very last day we were in Denver. Hopefully everything works out. The whole process was pretty rushed. Thanks again Derrick and Courtney for all of your help getting the house fixed up.

Luckily, we had some time for fun too. Much golf was played, many marshmallows were shot, and everyone that was fit enough ran the annual Memorial Day Bolder Boulder 10K. That's always fun, except this time it was cold and rainy. I'm fat and my knees hurt, so I stayed in the bleachers with Owen and Rhett. (I apologize for no Bolder Boulder pictures this year. I was trying to keep a hungry baby happy while standing in the rain.)

I've been meaning to post some updated pictures of Rhett. He's not even 3 months old yet, and he has tripled in weight. That is why I now call him Beefy instead of Wee One.
Here he is at his beefiest.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "I've seen tons of babies beefier than Rhett. What is Chris talking about?"

I'm just trying to point out that he has literally tripled in weight since the day he was born.

Look at the size of that melon. There must be a pretty huge brain in there.

And finally for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy this video of Rhett's reaction to his brother's kisses:

Father/Son Campout

2008-05-19T07:23:00.013-06:00

Owen and I got to go on a Father/Son campout this weekend with the ward. This was the first chance we've had to do one of these, so we were both pretty excited. (Kim and Rhett were pretty jealous. Mostly Kim.)

I guess we haven't done a lot of camping with Owen. He fell down a few times, got a few cuts, got a little dirty, and started crying. I told him that when you go camping, those things happen all the time. As soon as he accepted that fact, he went all out. He asked me if he could have his swords from the car, then proceeded to sword fight with any kid that would let him.

As you can imagine, every boy was obsessed with the fire, even the adult boys.

I can't believe Owen wanted to go to bed at 10pm with all of the other kids still running around making noise. I think he was pretty excited to sleep in the tent.

The next morning was all about dirt and grasshoppers. Notice the grasshopper on the letter B on Owen's shirt.
We also made marshmallow shooters out of PVC pipe and electrical tape. The kids got bored after about 20 minutes, then went back to hunting grasshoppers. The adults continued to shoot each other with marshmallows for the next hour or so. This is the best pose Owen would give me with his shooter.
We had a blast, and we both can't wait to go again next year.
(Kim wanted one last picture of her dirty boys when we got home.)

Rhett's Big Day

2008-05-08T08:15:00.006-06:00

Rhett's blessing was on Sunday May 4th. Here he is in his "princess dress" as Owen likes to call it. I can see why. That foofy collar is not very manly.

We decided to do the blessing up in Logan in Courtney and Derrick's ward. They both graduated from Utah State the day before, so most of the family was in town.

Sorry I don't have any good pictures of the graduates in their graduation garb.
We had a blast in Logan. Much golf was played. Much food was eaten. Many birds were fed. It was great to see everyone again.

24 Things About Me

2008-04-30T23:44:00.003-06:00

I was tagged on the Oh Me Oh Myers blog again. Here you go Kim:

4 Places I Go Over and Over
Red Cliffs Mall in St. George, UT
Providence Crossing in Cedar City, UT
Jack in the Box
The bathroom

4 People Who Email Me
Mom
Scott
Derrick
Some junk emailer that wants me to hook up with local Asians in my area

4 of my Favorite Foods
Texas Road House ribs
Cafe Rio pork burrito
Jack in the Box tacos
My sister-in-law Annie's cajun chicken pasta

4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now
Diaz Beach in Cape Town, South Africa
I want to take Owen to Disneyland
Seattle - I haven't been back in 6 years
Asleep in my bed

4 People I Think Will Respond
{This doesn't necessarily mean I tag you. I just think you'll comment.}
Kim
Julie
Courtney
Jeremy

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
Transformers
Unbreakable
The Patriot
Meet the Parents

Rocky Mountain Low

2008-04-26T12:39:00.012-06:00

I haven't blogged for quite some time now, because Kim took the boys to Colorado to show Rhett off to the rest of her family. That left me here in St. George all alone, eating Top Ramen, and working open to close every day, since I had no reason to go home. So here are a few pictures of my family's Rocky Mountain high while I was having a Rocky Mountain low:
Here's Owen and his best friend...(the Wii controller). That's his cousin Emily on the right.

Kim's parents have 4 grandkids. Here they are. Owen, Ryley, Emily, and Rhett.

It still blows my mind how big Owen looks now that Rhett is here.

This is Brody, Kim's cousin's baby. He was born two months before Rhett.

Rhett with Nana and the new and improved Papa. He's lost a lot of weight.

Owen with Uncle Scott at the zoo

Owen with Uncle Bobo at the zoo

My beautiful family

Updates, Nicknames, and the Forest

2008-04-13T21:40:00.013-06:00

For those of you wanting to see updated Rhett pictures, here you go:

Rhett likes to show off his dance moves before we bathe him.

Here's Rhett showing us how fast his Adam's apple is growing.

Whenever Rhett sees me, he shows off his double chin. I think he's giving me a hint that it's time to start Weight Watchers again.

This is Rhett's preferred position of relaxation. We call it "the letter C."

Which leads me to the next part of this post...Rhett's nicknames. Rhett is a very difficult name to come up with a nickname for. Rhetty just doesn't sound right. Are you Rhetty to go? See what I mean? We tried turning it into Rhetty Spaghetti, but that didn't last. We try calling him the letter C as noted in the above picture, but that just gets confusing because the only C in his name is in Mitchell. I used to call him Wee One because he was so tiny when he was born. That morphed into Oh Wee One Kanobi, which sounds too much like Owie, which is what we call Owen, so that doesn't work. We've also called him Blast-o-Butter and Ford Exploder due to his impressive bowel movements, urine stream, and regurgitation skills. Rhett the Jet seems to be the one that has stuck the most. We have a little song that we sing when we change his diaper. It goes a little something like this:

Rhett the Jet
Gettin' things wet
With his pee pee.

Rhett the Jet
Gettin' things wet
With his poo poo.

Rhett the Jet
Gettin' things wet
With his pukies.

I'm pretty sure the boy loses a pound every time we change his diaper. Owen likes to sing along, but he doesn't get close enough to get blasted by anything.

As for Owen, he's on a major Star Wars kick lately. I think that's where Oh Wee One Kanobi came from. My favorite thing that Owen has said lately is, "Daddy, why can't the bad guys with the guns use the forest?"

So if anyone has any good nickname ideas for Rhett, please let me know, and...

May the forest be with you.

Sleep Mouth

2008-04-08T07:12:00.006-06:00

These pictures aren't very flattering, but we wanted to show that our boys' mouths take similar shape when they are sleeping. The picture of Owen is from February 2005. The picture of Rhett is from last night.

Kim swears that she took a picture of me when I was asleep with the same crooked lips, but I couldn't find it in our archives anywhere. I told her she shouldn't swear.

We're Moving!

2008-04-01T08:02:00.007-06:00

We had another missing $113.50 from the St. George store last night. That was the final straw. Due to a lack of quality employees in this area, we have decided to close down the Southern Utah stores altogether and relocate. Yes, that means we are moving. Derrick and Kirk have decided to open a market in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I volunteered to open the store there, because it's a lot closer to Kim's family in Denver. Kim and I are really sad to leave St. George. We love our ward, and we've fallen in love with the area, but we feel it is best to get away from the stress of managing bad employees all of the time. Hopefully the workers of Cheyenne will be a little more impressive. So if anyone wants to mark their calendars...we are anticipating closing the stores April 30th, moving to Cheyenne on May 1st, and opening the new store as soon as possible after that.

A few side notes:

Owen has decided to wear his underwear and his shorts on his head now whenever we go somewhere.

Dexter ate Rhett's umbilical cord stump.

And Kim is pregnant again!

I hope everyone has a happy day today.

Here's the Proof

2008-03-27T22:37:00.002-06:00

Sorry this video is so long, but there was no other way to prove that this 50-month-old really can pass medium songs on Guitar Hero. Owen has skills.

Has there ever been an Easter this early before?

2008-03-23T18:03:00.011-06:00

Did you know the last time Easter was this early was in 1913? And it won't be this early again until the year 2160? Just thought you all might like to know that.

Now to the cute pictures of the kids. By the way, I love that I can say "kids".
We decided to go the sticker route this year with the eggs.

Owen and Rhett scored some sweet stuff in their Easter baskets. Owen pretty much gets all of Rhett's stuff, so he's twice as happy. Owen also got to find all of the hidden Easter eggs this morning. Rhett didn't seem to mind.

Rhett turns two weeks old today.

Does he look any bigger?

BONUS PICTURES:

Thank you for the great blanket, Kate. (Notice the last of Rhett's umbilical cord hanging on for dear life.)

We found this great shirt for Owen. He can wear it proudly while rocking out to Guitar Hero. He seriously does rock out. He passed a song on medium the other day.

This Look Says It All

2008-03-18T23:04:00.002-06:00

What else can I say? Rhett is a happy baby.

Owen and Rhett

2008-03-16T19:39:00.005-06:00

So far so good. Owen loves his new little brother. I hope it continues once Rhett figures out how to steal Owen's toys. Things also might change once Owen realizes he has to start sharing his Gogurts.

Watch this video to find out Owen's favorite thing about Rhett:

Have You Met Rhett Yet?

2008-03-11T09:41:00.010-06:00

Rhett Mitchell Powell
5 lbs. 9 oz.
19 inches
9:57pm
March 9th, 2008

Now that we're home, I wanted to do a more official announcement for Rhett. Here he is in his Dixie Regional Medical Center shirt.He's being a little cheeky right now. He won't give us a really good picture, and he's decided he doesn't want to eat very much. He's also a little jaundiced, so we have to take him out in the sun today. We've got a follow-up appointment tomorrow to check his bilirubin levels.

He's a pretty small guy. It's amazing how big Owen seems now that Rhett is here.

Everyone is pretty tired, but we're all extremely thrilled to have this little miracle in our lives now.

BONUS PICTURE:
The doctor said this was one of the longest umbilical cords he's ever seen.

Brothers

2008-03-10T16:25:00.001-06:00

I don't know why this one didn't come through the first time. This picture was taken when Owen and Rhett met for the first time.

Going Home

2008-03-10T14:11:00.000-06:00

We're all set to go home. Everyone is doing great. Kim and Rhett were both champions. Owen loves his little brother. I'm unshowered and exhausted.

Good Morning!

2008-03-10T07:38:00.001-06:00

Rhett hasn't quite figured the whole eating thing out yet, but he has latched on a few times. He didn't cry during the night at all. He's a very content little guy. His hair is so much lighter than Owen's was. He also doesn't have as prominent of a dimple in his chin. I think we'll keep him.

Bath Time

2008-03-09T23:30:00.001-06:00

He doesn't seem to like it.

HE'S HERE!!!

2008-03-09T22:05:00.001-06:00

Announcing Rhett Mitchell Powell. 5 lbs 9 oz.

I Spoke Too Soon

2008-03-09T21:48:00.001-06:00

The doc just came and said Kim is actually between a 7 and an 8. They put a towel on the ground, so they must expect things to move a little faster now.

March 10th?

2008-03-09T21:34:00.001-06:00

Rhett is being pretty stubborn. Or maybe he's just lazy. Either way, it looks like his birthday will be on the 10th now instead of the 9th. Kim is still only at a 5. She thinks that maybe he's wrapped up in a short umbilical cord. The doctor is coming in soon to give Rhett a scalp monitor and try to figure out why he's not dropping.

Slow Going

2008-03-09T20:14:00.001-06:00

Kim is still only dilated to a 5. I'm going to spank Rhett's bum as soon as I see it.

Shift Change

2008-03-09T18:36:00.001-06:00

We've got some new nurses now. Kim is dilated to a 5. I predict Rhett will be born at 10:13pm.

First Visitors

2008-03-09T17:13:00.001-06:00

Kim just took this picture of me, Owen, Courtney, and JoEllyn. She's dilated to a 4. Things are moving pretty slowly.

She's Human!

2008-03-09T16:07:00.001-06:00

Here's Kim right before getting an epidural. She didn't get one when Owen was born. I thought she was some super-human cyborg or something. I guess this proves she is mortal like the rest of us. Her pain tolerance is still light years ahead of mine though.

A River Runs Through It

2008-03-09T14:28:00.001-06:00

The water is broken. We can't turn back now.

More Than Meets the Eye

2008-03-09T13:28:00.001-06:00

Man, I love transformers. Kim's bed transforms into this cool chair-like structure.

We're in!

2008-03-09T12:31:00.001-06:00

We got the call! Here we go!

cell phone updates

2008-03-09T10:46:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone. I'm going to take pictures with my cell phone and send them to the blog as the day progresses. We found out this morning that Kim needed a dose of penicillin before they would induce her. Labor and delivery hasn't called Kim in yet, so she took matters into her own hands. Here she is at the NICU. Her coworkers started the dose for her. It was pretty funny seeing a bunch of baby nurses trying to start an i.v. on an adult.

13 Days Early

2008-02-27T23:44:00.011-07:00

Good news from "The Land of the Arch,"

That's better than carbs and starch...

Let's all hoot and howl

'Cause Rhett Mitchell Powell

Will be born on the 9th of March!

I know March 9th isn't St. Patrick's Day, but when we heard the news, I still felt like dancing to an Irish jig and writing a limerick.

That's right my friends. We have an official induction date. Unless Kim goes into labor extremely early, we know that boy #2 will be born on Sunday, March 9th. That's 13 days before his due date. 13 is my favorite number, so this must be a sign that Rhett is going to be a pretty cool kid.

I also know that many of you out there do not like the name Rhett. All I have to say about that is, frankly my dear...well, you know the rest. Be glad we didn't choose Bruce, Earl, Melvin, or Dewey.