Turkey Holiday

We headed to see the fam to start off the holidays. It was quite eventful in random ways:

-It was the first time the scale has gone up since being post-baby, but the food was worth it!

-Javen got to meet his great-great grandparents (which I don't have the pic) and it was great spending time with everyone.

-I learned to crochet darling little beanies. I know, I know, those of you who know me well are probably gawking but it is true. I never said I was good at it but, yes, I learned.

-I sewed a project that I'm actually pleased with (which I can't say what because it is a present)

-And made a dang good apple pie from scratch with Kelsie.

Of course this was all with help, but I did it nonetheless. Jason's response to all this in his exact words: "What did you do with my wife?!"

-And of course we took TONS of pics and I just have to post a few....

I think this just might be my favorite pic..ever (above)

poor Javen is being left behind, but it was fun hanging with these little cuties!

Yoga

We did this for the 3rd time yesterday, I am sore and it's not getting any easier!

I have a newfound respect for ANYONE who can do yoga. The video is an hour and a half, so far we can only make it 45 min. before my whole body starts shaking uncontrollably!

Look what we found

In our tree!

Don't worry, we got him down. And we are keeping him. He's kind of fun.

Yes. We think we're funny.

HAppY HaLLoweeN!

Loving October

Lately I've been hearing a lot to cherish every moment. Mostly from cute ladies at the grocery store when they see Javen...but it's been on my mind a lot. I've decided maybe I'm hearing this so much for a reason and should apply it to more moments in my life, not just the ones I have with him. This month has been easy, there has been so much to LOVE! :

General Conference

Visiting family in Denver, CO

Javen got to meet cousin Brynli for the first time!



(I don't have a pic of everyone together..and I like this one)

The amazing scenery and fall weather

and it being perfect weather for this:

What is there to do in Memphis?

This really is my family: Part 4(the last one)

When Jason and I came here to find a house we ran into a younger guy from Memphis at the airport and thought he would be good to ask what there is to do here. He told us about all of the fun bars and what not. Then we asked "what if you don't drink"
His response "oh, uh, then there's nothing."

My Dad came last week to visit and we decided to see what there was to do, besides Graceland. Here's what we found:

There's the Pink Palace museum, which is a huge mansion that was built by the inventor of the first self-serve grocery store, but he never lived in it.
This is from the victorian era exhibit. See the wreath framed above? Made out of human HAIR from each member of the family. A sign of wealth. Eeew.

You can visit the Stax museum and see the 1972 24-karat gold Cadillac which belonged to Isaac Hayes. This thing was way ahead of it's time, complete with a mini TV in between the drivers and passenger seats and a mini refrigerator in the back. I think it marked the beginning of the "bling bling" for all the rappers and soul singers. I didn't take a picture, but you can see it here.

You can pose as flowers at the Botanical Gardens (which I LOVE)...and is FREE on Wednesdays!

Javen seemed to enjoy it all :)

the stress is gone

...at least the kitchen stress anyway! Here are the green cabinets! I can't take any credit for painting the walls. Our amazing ward friends came over and painted them for us! I guess that's southern hospitality. What do you think?


I had to put this in. This is the old kitchen with old wood cabinets, ugly green walls, and a horrificly (my own word) dirty old floor! Seriously...it had black lining the walls and under the cabinets. Somehow the middle of the floor only managed to get cleaned. It had to go too.

Pinnacle Mountain

We were feeling a little mountain deprived so we decided to find a place to hike. We ended up in Arkansas and it was beautiful :)

We tried to make sure Javen stayed covered but he really didn't like his hat all that much...I don't blame him!

It was so nice to go hiking again, although I really thought I was going to pass out after two miles! Sad.

Family...Part 3

Last weekend my Step-mom Colette and step-sister Kristina (yes, we have the same name) were able to come out. We blessed Javen that Sunday and Jason did a great job! We had such a good time and Kristina is an amazing cook, I should have taken pictures of the food! Thanks so much for the help and we love you guys.

Jason also went back to school while they were here..yay..onto the second year! We thought Javen might like to try out what Dad does all day!

25 years later...

Jason's blessing outfit!

8.22.06

Tomorrow marks three years from the day I married my best friend. It's been better then I ever would have imagined and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. I love you Jas and thanks for being more than I ever could have asked for!

Family: Part 2

Right after Jason's family left my Mom and sister came in and again cooked meals, did dishes and laundary, and Mom jumped at the chance to take a few "night shifts". I have to say thanks for just sitting around and lounging. I was sick most the time they were out so we did a lot of watching chick flicks and ate a lot of sugar cookies...and the dough. :) Doesn't sound too bad huh? We did manage some good BBQ, the Mississippi and of course cheescake!:

Thanks again for spoiling us and the little guy!

Family: Part 1

With our new addition we've been really blessed to have a lot of family come out and help. Jason's parents and his brother and his wife were able to be here right after Javen was born. Besides feeding, changing diapers, and tummy time, here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

Scott and Sue at the mississippi river walk

Kelsie about to devour an amazing cheescake. We are convinced this is one of the best parts about Memphis. The cheescake factory doesn't stand a chance against this place!

(sorry Kels, I liked your face the best)

And of course, as Jason would say..we tortured Javen with A LOT of picutres..but we got some really really cute ones :)

Thank you guys so much for all the meals, dishes and laundary done, and "night shifts" taken so we could sleep and everything else you did!

A few close ups

Javen Jace Kowallis

He's here! We love this sweet little guy so much and can't get enough of him already!

Born: July 30th at 2:37 a.m.

Weight: 6lbs. 10oz.

Length: 19 inches

Everything is great and he is healthy and perfect! We'll post more a little later but everyone is doing great :)

How to stress out your husband....

-Start off by being about 37 weeks pregnant for the first time. This really seems to be a good stress inducer, especially if the doctor tells you the baby could come any day.
-Then, instead of cleaning and getting ready for the baby and family to come like most do, tear apart and re-do and crucial part of your house. I have chosen the kitchen!

(Jason took this because he said he needed proof of how crazy I am going....and it's too hot outside and in the garage,
forcing our living room to become our work area!)

(We've painted the cabinets green...don't worry the wall color and trim are changing too)

-This all works really well if like mine, your husband wakes up at 5:30 to go to work, so when he comes home he is exhausted, but see's the giant mess you've created and decides he needs to help out of fear it won't get done. After all of this, I have warned Jason he may need to think really hard when he wants a second one...who knows what project I may pick up next time!

I do have to admit, Jason has been VERY patient with me and helped out a lot...(he's probably done more on it than I have!)

I'll post some before and afters when it done!

A little sneak peak....

We have been SO curious to see what this little guy is going to look like and today we got a little preview...but not quite what we were expecting. Long story short we were only able to get good pics of his legs, feet, butt, ....and other parts in that area. We are confident he is a boy!

His thighs are huge! These will definitely come from Jason, but....

long skinny feet?? (like me) We're still not sure what we are

going to get and definitely still guessing!

Atlanta

We were feeling a little overwhelmed with the fact that we are soon going to be responsible for a child. So, we did what any poor, married college students about to have a baby would do...we took a vacation....


Atlanta we discovered is an awesome city. We saw so much, but I'm just posting a few of the things we did and saw


This is from the Bontanical Gardens...which was incredible! (I risked my life taking a picture of this giant bumble bee....so I hope you enjoy it!)

I know you have all been waiting for this one....I feel huge! 34 weeks....wow!

The next few are of the Coca-cola factory. I never realized a soft-drink could be advertised as something so life changing....you need to go to see what I mean.

So, I just realized yes, the coke bear has his "paw" on my butt!

This is my favorite! They had tons of fountains from different flavors of Coke all over the world and even after trying a ton of them I still hate Coke! This was Jason after some strange tropical mango Coke mix...bleh.

One of our other favorites was the Aquarium. It is the largest in the world and was really pretty amazing.

Jason loved the

Beluga whale

The Jelly fish! One of my biggest fears....but they are amazing to look at when you are separated by THICK THICK glass.

Look at the giant Manta-ray behind us!

This is a horrible washed out picture...but we were in a hurry. The steeple coming out of our heads is the Atlanta temple. It was beautiful.