One Year

Sarah’s Thoughts: I’m happy to announce that today marks the one year birthday of Mostly Owen! Over the past year, I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with this blog. For the most part, I really love it and am happy with the final result. The hate part comes every Sunday when I sit down to write. I get the same feeling before exercising, attending an organized event or reading my bible. When I’m finished, I know I’ll be happy that I did it, but getting myself started is always a struggle. What is it about obligation that turns something good, and enjoyable into something you dread? In this case, I think its the two hours that it takes me to complete an entry and the mental stretching and reflection required. My motivation comes from the desire not to disappoint the faithful little flock of blog readers out there. So here’s to you, my readers, my inspiration. Thank you for your encouragement, and your faithfulness!

P.S. Keep updated on the progress of Christian’s house project with the Kristen’s blog - www.koldenhouse.blogspot.com

Low- Friday morning, 7am call from my daycare provider that she couldn’t watch Owen... Thank goodness for Lela!

High- Surprise email from Luke and my dinner date with Christian, Kristen, and Tim

Luke Update: After not hearing from my mighty hunter for 1 1/2 weeks, I checked my email this morning and discovered this little beauty:

“I’m back... Man, the only things that come to mind are I MISS MY FAMILY and I'm so glad to have sent my hunter home (mooseless). Too much to say on email but in short the hunter I had was a real piece of work. I called in several bulls but they weren't what we were looking for. Had a nice bull just slightly out of rifle range yesterday after a stalk that took us nearly 7 hrs through some of the ugliest alder thickets I've ever seen. The bull was bedded down one minute, got the rifle ready, then he was gone. Got $700 for a tip so that's not bad at all. Much to tell but there's a line forming for the computer. I love you so much.”

He's flying home Wednesday morning.

Owen Update: We had the opportunity to go swimming at the pool last week and I have to say, my boy loves the water. He was jumping in with one of those cheap inflatable tubes around his waist. No fear. No mommy catching him. Not just a tiny hop , but a full-on, head disappearing briefly underwater jump. I’m thankful I don’t have a kid who is scared of the water because I don’t know that the swimmer in me could patiently handle that kind of apprehension. Our trip to the pool was in conjunction with a birthday party. Owen had a great time and now, he finally gets the fact that birthdays and parties and presents are fun and exciting. I was talking to him about our upcoming trip and telling him about how we were going to celebrate Great Grandma’s birthday and there was going to be cousins and a party and swimming. He could hardly contain himself. Look out, Great Grandma! You have one excited two-year-old who is ready to party and is headed your way!

I'm relying on the camera built into the computer and friend's pictures this week...

For some reason I always lean forward when I have Owen on my back...

he's just such a big boy!

Walking at Dredge Lake with my matching friend, Rachel-

matching Ergobaby carriers and 90th percentile 2 year olds.

dream come true.

loving the dirt pile

freshly bathed

Owen with his hearing protection.

I don't know if he loves wearing these muffs

just because he likes accessories (which he does)

or if he likes making me talk in a REALLY LOUD voice ...

When the Cat's Away...

Sarah’s Thoughts: I’m going to reveal some secrets because I don’t think my grandma reads my blog. If you do, Grandma, take this opportunity to do the right thing and skip this week’s entry. So, for everyone else, my grandma is turning 90 in 3 weeks so we are going to throw a surprise birthday party for her in North Dakota. We have all kinds of games and activities planned and I thought it would be fun to have t-shirts. I had the intention of having them professionally made, but the steep sticker price combined with the lack of a good design, prompted me to make them myself. I called my friend, Rachel for some pointers, visited Joanne’s for supplies and haven’t stopped cutting and painting since. I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of fun. This was just the project I was needing to keep me busy while Luke is gone and the weather is rapidly deteriorating. I’ve posted a couple samples below.

P.S. Luke has our camera on his hunting trip, so I’ll be scrounging for pictures to post the next few weeks.

Low- First cold of the season

High- All the progress on my t-shirt project

Luke Update: After Luke got checked in at the airport, we went out for dinner and I asked him to describe the typical day while guiding a moose hunter. He said the alarm goes off before light. The tent is cold, but luckily he’s already prepped the coffee and positioned the stove in such a way that he can turn it on from the comfort of his sleeping bag. After getting dressed, making breakfast for his hunter and getting things ready for the day, he and his hunter head out to a find a look-out spot. They set up moose attracting tools and high-powered optics. As the sun rises, they scour the landscape for 50+ antler racks and simulate moose sounds with the hopes of drawing in a trophy bull. This activity goes on all day. When the light begins to fade, they head back to camp for supper and sleep. Some days, they find the bush plane made a stop and left a package of cookies or jar of peanut butter. After dinner, Luke preps the coffee for the next day and makes sure the stove is just in arms reach before turning in for the night. Now I can’t be sure, but this just might be what Luke has been up to.

Owen Update: The very second Luke left town, Owen came down with a cold. No fever, he only seems to be a runny nose, but its left the poor kid feeling very sensitive. He can’t handle the word, “no” or anything that might be contradictory to his plans. Any hint of mutiny and he dissolves into a blubbering heap of snotty weeping. Example: We went to visit my brother at his new house. When it was time to go, I was trying to get everyone back into car. The problem was that whenever Dolly hopped into the car, so did Chachi (Christian’s dog) and when Chachi hopped out, Dolly was right behind him. The very thought of leaving Chachi behind was too much for Owen, and with a red, wet face, he led a loud protest. After several unsuccessful attempts at separating the dogs and at trying to explain to Owen that we couldn’t bring Chachi home, Chachi spent the rest of the day at our house. Luke wasn't there to help, and so I decided that sometimes, giving in is O.K.

Owen and our next door neighbor, baby Jordan

"Mr. Bump" belongs to Christian

for his constant stream of injuries

Little Miss Sunshine belongs to my Aunt Sandy

always encouraging and positive

Already September!

Sarah’s Thoughts: My cousin, Jason, has been working in the cruise ship realm for a number of years. Last week, he hooked my brother, Kristen and Luke and I up with dinner aboard one of the ships. We got dressed up, kissed Owen good-bye and boarded the Zuiderdam to see how the other half live. Besides the extravagantly decorated elevators and crew members at your beck and call, I was especially struck by the excessive number of Purell dispensers. As we were standing in line to board the ship, there was a crew member with a enormous udder of the disinfectant, squirting a dab into each persons outstretched hands. It felt a little bit end-of-the-world-ish... Like we were this remnant of the human race that survived a catastrophic epidemic and now we were trying to live normally, but had this ever-present fear of another outbreak... we must always disinfect. Always. Dinner was delicious. We enjoyed our view of Douglas Island along with a complementary bottle of wine and a very attentive wait staff. After a brief tour around the ship, we sped off to Costco for a right-before-closing power-shop session. Nice little Monday.

Low- Realizing that as of Wednesday, I’ll be on my own for 2 weeks.

High- Unexpected 65 degree September Saturday and time with my folks

Luke Update: It was a big week. Luke officially hung up his guiding waders for the 2009 season and is currently creating a pile of gear to take with him on his moose trip up north. He takes off Wednesday night and then when he gets back, he’ll have a day and a half before we leave on a trip south. All this upcoming traveling means that if we’re going to have any smoked coho salmon in the freezer this winter, now is the time to catch them. Luke has been out a few times over the past week for salmon and halibut without much luck. He did manage to score some pity halibut so we were able to enjoy some halibut curry for the first time this year.... Ah! So much to catch, so little time...

Owen Update: I wish I could paint a picture for you of the amazing number of words that flow from Owen’s mouth. Whether it’s “Pterodactyl” or “Mama, I want to take a bath with dinos too,” nothing is to difficult for him. I use to sing this “clean-up” song to Owen whenever we were straightening up his room. I stopped singing it months ago because it didn’t seem like he was really catching on. Yesterday, we were picking up toys and Owen started singing the song. I was amazed. He’s like this person who has been in a coma. I’ve been talking to him and singing to him, not thinking he was really hearing or understanding anything. Then all of a sudden, he’s coming out of the coma and I realize that he heard and remembers everything. I’m sure all of you that have kids are saying, “yes, we remember that phase.” Still, daily I’m awed by my incredible boy.

Taking advantage of a free ride up Uncle Christian's new driveway

The classic "up to no good" look

Christian's newly purchased house

Melting a down-rigger weight into molten led for bullets

Owen's "Deadliest Catch" pose

Taking "Tops" for a little spin on the old Red Flyer

And now for a little peek at dinner with the Koldens

Note, Christian in prime form

Grandpa Roger

Chrsitian and his mother. Classic pose

Boys that make their mother's hearts surge with pride

Christian and Kristen.