Another Adoption Update and Owen the Storyteller

So enough about beatboxing...We finally have all of our beginning papers turned in so the FBI can start their background checks. (I'm glad I wasn't in the car that time the old ladies got the license plate number after being drenched with super soakers).

We have some good connections now in our new ward. There is a lady that we haven't met yet, but apparently she has all kinds of connections with adoption agencies. There is a couple in our ward that adopted a Hurricane Katrina baby only a week after they told her they were interested in adopting. Who knows? Maybe we will have a new baby by the family reunion. I sure hope so. I'm getting pretty tired of Owen. Just kidding!!!

I wrote in my profile that Owen impresses me every day, and it is true. I want to take an x-ray of his head, because I think his brain is probably 50% sponge. I'm probably just being a proud dad, but he has the best memory. Kim and I recorded him the other day telling us the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Is that normal? I had kindergartners that couldn't even tell me their last name, and he is reciting fairy tales? He doesn't leave out a single detail. He's not even 3 1/2 yet! He loves it when we tell him personal stories too, and then he'll recite them for weeks afterwards. His favorites right now are when I was a kid flying on an airplane for the first time and squirted mayonnaise all over the guy's shoulder next to me, and when Kim went golfing for the first time and her tee shot line drived right into the side of a goose.

We are American Idol Nerds

Ok. I admit it. Kim and I are American Idol addicts. I can't believe I haven't read anything about the ousting of Sanjaya on anyone else's blog yet. I don't care if this show is rigged. I will watch it every week. I also need to admit I have a secret crush on Blake Lewis. After searching for more beatboxing videos on YouTube, I found this one of Blake doing some voice looping. Click on the top video to the right. I can't figure out how to get rid of the other three videos that popped up. Obviously he can't use one of those foot pedals on American Idol, but I think this top clip shows how talented he really is.

Wow. I'm a nerd. It's amazing what I'll confess to in this blog format.

Beatboxing

I've always dreamed of being a professional beatboxer. This guy has taken it to a whole new level. See the link on the right.

The Nurse, The Athlete, The Saleswoman???

I am seeing so many sides to my wife lately, I just have to share them with the world...


Everyone should know by now that Kim is a nurse in a newborn intensive care unit. What everyone probably doesn't know yet is that she is also now on the Life Flight team. That's right, I put on a shirt and tie every day and try to sell phones to mall rats. Kim packs survival gear in her cargo pants because the helicopter she's flying in could go down while she's saving a newborn baby's life. (Derrick, if you are reading this, I love my job. I just had to make a comparison for dramatic effect.)


Kim also decided to take up running again. She was an avid runner throughout college, but that hobby has been on the back burner lately. She entered a 5K race on Saturday, and finished in 32 minutes! Not bad for someone that's taken an 8 year hiatus! I, on the other hand, attempted to play racquetball on Friday night with Owen's babysitter's husband. Within the first 15 minutes, I was sweating profusely, gasping for breath, and trying to keep my knees from buckling as I was running after his underhand serves. He showed me one of his real serves, and I told him if he wanted any competition that night, he had better save that one for a few months down the road.


And finally, I was in a pinch this morning trying to get shifts covered at both stores. Most of the employees down here are college kids, and they all had other commitments. Kim willingly volunteered to cover the morning shift at one of the stores. Four hours later, she had sold 3 phones. That, my friends, is good stuff. This happened at our store that has been pulling in a whopping 25 phones a month, and she does 3 in 4 hours. I offered her a job, but she respectfully declined.


Side note...For those of you that commented on seeing Kim's driver's license picture that I talked about in the previous post, Owen got her to crack a smile, but it definitely took some work.

Kim is so cute when she's angry

Adoption update...In order for the FBI to do a criminal background check, we had to finally get Utah driver's licenses. We've only been in the state for 11 months, what's the rush? I managed to get some time off the same time as Kim, so we headed down to take the very challenging open book test and become legal again. The pleasant lady at the counter informed us that we had to have proof of our new address. We had nothing. That meant corralling Owen back into the car and driving the 20 minutes back home to get a utility bill. After driving the 20 minutes back to the DMV and waiting in line, Kim got to speak to a friendly old man, and I got the pleasant lady from before. I handed her the utility bill, and she informed me that I needed 2 separate items to prove our new address. I've only seen Kim angrier on one occasion...the time we went golfing and the man behind us on the par 3 didn't wait for us to walk off of the green before he teed off. The ball hit Kim in the ankle, and she let out a tirade of vulgarity that would make Eminem proud. (That was the Christmas my family gave me a pair of fake testicles as a gift because they thought I should have stood up to the man more than Kim did.) Long story short, nobody at the DMV got hurt, the old man let us through with just the utility bill, and Kim had a hard time smiling for her picture.

Today is my half birthday. Happy half birthday to me.

Happy Easter...and Owen's Kiester

Happy Easter everyone! In our new house, Owen's room is on the complete opposite side than our room, so we still use a baby monitor just to hear what's going on. We woke up this morning to strange splashing sounds coming from said monitor. It turns out, Owen was just fulfilling his mother's request from the night before to be a big boy and go pee all by himself. He ran into our room, sans pants, screaming at the top of his lungs..."I went pee pee all by myself!" He actually did! Right in the toilet! Not a drop on the floor, wall, or towels!

After the celebration, he found his Easter basket and the hidden eggs, and then proceeded to hide the eggs, find them, hide them, find them, hide them, and find them again.

After church, we took these pictures to show off my new suit that I wrote about earlier. Kim and I are starting the diet again first thing tomorrow morning, because the pants are already a little bit too tight. The only things missing from the ensemble are my new Italian leather shoes. Those haven't come in yet.

Owen kept telling us he didn't have a watch.

Nice suit, huh?











So Kim and I are finishing dinner preparations, and Owen jumps on the playhouse disney website to play some games. I go into the study to tell him dinner is ready, and he was so involved in saving Timon and Pumba from the scorpions, that he forgot bowel movements and micturation belong in the toilet. So much for Owen's pantless celebration this morning.

Turn Your Head and Cough

In adoption news...I had my mandatory physical the other day to determine if I am healthy enough to adopt. Besides being slightly chubby for my height and having an irritating skin fungus in the dark and dreary places of my body (which should clear up in the next two weeks with the prescribed cream...I know...too much information), the doctor says I am in excellent health. I know you all are anxiously awaiting the news for Kim's upcoming physical. I will keep you posted.

Congratulations to all of you that weren't fooled by my April Fools entry. I tried to make it easy for you. If you look at all the capital letters in the title, it spells April Fools. Owen had a blast letting us dump ketchup on his head. He really wasn't mad at us. That was the face he made when we told him to act like he was crying.

Sorry it has taken awhile to do another post. I have been bogged down reading all of your comments. That was sarcastic. Please feel free to leave comments. They don't have to be long. You can even call me names if you want.

A Puncture wound. Relax. I Luckily Found it quick On Owen's Little Skull.

So Owen is at the age now where he crawls out of bed without waiting for Kim or I to wake up. This morning, he decided to push a chair over to the kitchen counter, grab a steak knife, and stab himself in the head. It was just a small puncture, but wow it was a gusher.

On a side note, our pancakes this morning tasted a little like turkey. I looked at the carton of eggs we had in the refrigerator, and they were not chicken eggs. We bought turkey eggs and didn't even realize it! What a morning!

He's in the Jailhouse Now

We are finally at the next step of the adoption process...the FBI criminal background check. (I'm glad I didn't get arrested when I was 16 after that time I was dropping water balloons from the freeway overpass onto unsuspecting cars.) So we're driving to the County Jail to get our fingerprints taken, and I thought it would be appropriate to throw in the Johnny Cash Greatest hits CD and listen to the songs about prison. Owen absolutely loves "In the Jailhouse Now." He can sing along with the chorus like an old pro. The lady at the prison entrance gave Owen his own sheriff's badge. He looks so much older in pictures than in real life.

Back to Reality

Kim, Owen, Dexter, and I got back at 3:15 this morning from a very fun trip to Colorado. The Kunz side of the family had a reunion in the mountains at Kate's dad's house. (Thanks again Kate!)

We hot tubbed in the snow...






Rich, Annie, Emily, Owen, and Kim






pinballed...






Kim's brother Rich







played Ms. Pacman and Galaga...






Kim's brother Scott







and just relaxed.






Scott, Derrick, Courtney, and Annie







Owen especially loved chasing and hiding from his uncles...













hanging out with his cousin and best friend Emily...













playing with his baby cousin Ryley...













and being with his Nana and Papa.














We also went snowboarding, played poker, went shopping at the outlets, had a nine ball tournament, and gorged ourselves with insane amounts of food, but Kim and I weren't the best with our camera and neglected to take pictures of those events.

(Any Kunz family reunion attendees reading this blog that have pictures of those events, please email them to me and I will post those too.)

Please forgive Kim and I for being lazy with our camera. We have no pictures of Heidi, Kate, Trish, Dexter, Bone, or Samson either. And of course, we all missed Melissa, who is currently training to be an army medic.

We had an absolute blast and can't wait to do it again next year.

Side note...My first day back at work after this quick but glorious vacation, I had to fire another employee. If anyone out there knows of anyone opposed to selling drugs who also knows how to tell time, please send them my way.

Dexter and Owen

The groomer accidentally cut off Dexter's left ear. I guess that's what you get when you take your dog to a place called Doggie Stylez.














Actually, his ear is fine. We wish she would have taken a little more off the sides of his face though.

Dexter the Shaggy Dog

I just wanted to post some proof of the comment I made in my profile about having a West Highland White Terrier that needs a haircut. I took Dexter to the groomer this morning to finally take care of it. Here is the before picture. The after picture will come later. I apologize for this being the most interesting event in my life right now.

The Baby Sister Store

It's official. We went to LDS Family Services yesterday,(or as Owen calls it, "The Baby Sister Store",) dropped a grand on the counter, and we're on our way. There's a whole mess of stuff we need to do before we can even think about getting a kid. The first thing we have to do is drive out to the prison. They charge less for fingerprints than the police station. It takes a couple of months for the FBI to do a background check. In the meantime, we will be working on an internet profile and other things of that nature. There's a questionaire they want us to fill out about characteristics we would be okay with, such as race, gender, health problems, etc. It's really making us think. We love it though. We are both very excited. Keep reading our blog, and we'll keep everyone up to date.

I have to apologize for the lack of pictures on our blog. I usually do new posts while I'm at work when it's slow. I'll try and get a few pictures on from the home computer soon.

The Chris

Since I've been having to fire people so often, you can now call me The Chris. Just like The Donald, but without all the money and disturbing hair. To answer your question Kim M., here are a few reasons I've had to fire people: $2,100 in missing deposits, not showing up to work for 2 days without any phone call, pocketing the cash from accessory sales and blaming the discrepancies in the inventory on shoplifters, and just plain stupidity and uselessness. I obviously need to work on my interviewing skills, but man I've had a string of bad luck.

Phlegmboyant

Kim and Owen are at home, coughing up their lungs. I'm here at the mall sick as a dog, but I can't do anything about it because I keep firing everyone. The three of us together have probably hacked up enough phlegm to fill an orange juice carafe at Denny's. Sorry. That was gross.

Can you tell the mall is dead right now?

Zoot Suit Riot

So I have to tell about a very cool thing that happened to me. I helped a customer the other day get his phone numbers back from his ex-wife who tried to port them over to Sprint. He was extremely happy when everything was done. He said in his Armenian accent, "Chris. Come to my store and I will hook you up!" He owns an Italian suit shop here in town. I've been needing a new suit for a while now. The one I have is too big since I lost weight. Also, I've worn it so thin, you can practically see my skin through the material. So Kim and I decided we could probably get something around $200. I didn't know the likelihood of that happening in a fine Italian suit store, but we decided to go take a look. The final bill was $266, but let me list what I got...a $500 suit, 2 $40 shirts, 3 $50 ties, a $130 pair of Italian leather shoes, a belt, and a pair of socks. He really did hook me up. I'll post a picture in my new gear as soon is it all comes.

I may not have summers off anymore, but I never got a deal like that after a parent teacher conference.

What are the first signs of addiction?

You were right Kim M. Now that I've started blogging, I had to immediately jump on this morning and write something else. I also had to see if Mom left a comment. (For those non-Powells out there, Kim M. is my sister. She's the author of the Oh Me Oh Myers! blog.) There will be plenty of slow times at work where I can check my blog. I hope this doesn't become as addicting as the Fantasy Sports Leagues I've been in. It probably will.

These are the Days Off of our Lives

Wow. I'm finally doing this. Kim and I both have the day off, so what better time than now to start our blog? I've been working 60 hour weeks again since having to fire employee #7, so this is a rare treat. Kim and I have enjoyed reading the Oh Me Oh Myers blog, so now we would like to fill you in our our family's adventures, non-adventures, highlights, lowlights, and misdeeds. I need to switch gears back into education mode, so I can stop writing so many compound sentences in a row using the word "so" as the conjunction.

I guess the main reason for starting this blog, (as suggested by the Oh Me Oh Myers author herself), is to keep everyone up to date on the newest adventure in our lives. If you haven't heard yet, Kim and I both feel that we need to adopt. We should be starting the process very soon. We have so much love to give. It's not fair that Owen gets it all. Seriously though, we have wanted a second child for so long now. Adopting has always seemed like a scary step, but we can't ignore the signs and feelings anymore. To all those who are interested, we will keep this blog as up to date as possible as our journey continues. To all of those who aren't interested, go play solitaire, or minesweeper, or something.

I need to go figure out how to add pictures and stuff.