Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. This year was our first year together as a family of 4. Our new addition, Kellen, has made our family complete. He is now one month old and growing so fast. At his 1 month well check he weighed 9lbs 70z and was 20 3/4 inches. I thought he was a good pound bigger than Owen at this age but it turns out Owen was 10lbs 3oz and 21 1/4 inches at one month. I was shocked when I looked at Owen's calender to compare the 2.

Owen is the best big brother. He loves Kellen. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning or from his afternoon nap is ask, " Where is my baby?" Hopefully this love will continue as Kellen gets bigger and wants to play with Owen's stuff. Owen is getting to be such a big boy. He loves to play games. His favorite games these days are hungry hippo and whack a mole. He also loves to build with his blocks and clippos. And lets not forget his obsessions with cars and trains. He received lots of geo tracks for christmas, he was able to build radiator springs city. He loves to design the tracks and town with his dad. I, of course, hate how it takes up the half the living room floor.

A big thanks to my sister and my mom for all their help this last month. It made our transition to a family of 4 a lot easier than expected. We love you lots!!!

Welcome Kellen Eric Engen

Kellen was born on November 20th, 2009 at 1003. He weighed 7lbs 5.5oz and was 19 inches long. He is our chunky monkey. Kellen was slow to wake and eat at first so we had to stay an extra day in the hospital. He left the hospital weighing 6lbs 11oz. This last monday we had our second weight check and he is close to his birth weight, 7lbs 3oz. Yeah!!!

Owen has been the sweetest big brother. He was a little slow to warm at first, but once he did he couldn't get enough of his little brother. Owen wants to hold him, give him kisses, and most of all he loves to sing to him. Anytime Kellen moves or squaks Owen will say " Whats he doing?" He gets so excited when Kellen opens his eyes. Owen will say " He is looking at me." with a big smile on his face.

Thank you to all our family and friends for your prayers, gifts, visits, and encouraging words. It has meant the world to our family. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season that is filled with many blessings. Lots of love- The Engens

The Polar Express

Last saturday we took Owen to the polar express. It is a train ride in Williams, AZ that mimics the book The Polar Express. When you board the train you are greeted by the chefs. The train takes off and the story begins. The chefs serve you cookies and hot chocolate as the book is read overhead. You are whisked into the magic and end up at the north pole. It is so cute. After you arrive at the north pole, Santa boards the train. He gives each kid a bell, just like in the story. They finish with some carols and you leave the north pole. It was a wonderful experience. Owen was so exicted to ride a real choo-choo. He kept saying.. can we go now. You can just see in the pics how mesmorized he was by the train.

More pumpkin fun.

Decorating pumpkins with dad.

Hay maze.

The Botanical Gardens

We hit our second pumpkin patch this year at the botanical gardens. It was a steamy day but we still mananged to have a blast. We took a tractor ride out to a hay maze and then to the patch. Owen decorated his pumpkin with dad and played for a short time at the petting zoo. After taking the tractor ride back, we ate a quick lunch of corn dogs. Then it was off to the butterflys. The gardens had this cute monarch butterfly exhibit that we visited. Owen loved all the butterflys flying around his head and feet. After some ice cream to cool us all down we headed home. I love October and all the fun festivals it has to offer. Only 2 more days til Halloween and Owen is so excited to go trick or treating. He is going to be Frankenstein.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Tonight we celeberated Steve's b-day a day early because Owen was so excited for his dad's b-day. He picked out his cake, card, and even the stylish jeans we bought him . He sang happy b-day and we all ate yummy cake. Tomorrow we are going out to eat at Oregano's and then it is off to a football game. We are very lucky to have such an awesome dad and charming husband. How handsome are these two. Happy Birthday Steve!! 29 years young and looking better every year...love you

What a social butterfly.

Owen is such a sweet boy. On saturday I took him to the splash park. It was 100 degrees and a good way to cool off. Owen loves to play with other kids. He quickly makes friends when we go to play at public places. As he was playing with this little girl about his age, I was listening to his conversation with her. I heard him say to her " What is your favorite color?" I was amazed that he would ask her this question. He is so social, a trait he definitely gets from his dad.

On sunday when we were watching the viking's game, Owen says to his dad "dad its not my fault". He was referring to something he had just done. How he comes up with some of this stuff I have no idea. His other big saying lately is " I got an idea".. followed usually by lets play cars or trains. He just loves to talk. His vocabulary has exploded this last month because he loves to repeat everything you say. We definitely have to be very careful what we say around this little parrot.

It's pumpkin time.

6 weeks to go and counting..
Watching the fireworks with Jenna.

Oh pumpkin head.


The Engen family.

Playing in the hay.

Ohh... such a handsome boy.

Finally October is here, my favorite month of the year. I love October because the weather is starting to change, the holidays are around the corner, and things just seem crisper. This last saturday we went to Schenpf farms with Owen's cousin Jenna and his auntie Cherie. We had a blast. They went on some rides, rode the haunted choo choo train, picked out a pumpkin, had some great food, and finished the night with some fireworks. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold.

Happy Birthday to our October family and friends- Logan 1st b-day, Jaxson, and auntie Shel. We wish you all a year of happiness and health.

We still have not settled on a name for the new baby to be. So, any suggestion would be great. I am 33 weeks and can't wait to be done. We had a little scare last week when the doctor said I needed another ultrasound. I was measuring small, so they wanted to make sure everything was still on track. The neonatologist gave us the thumbs us saying, "this baby is a A+". What a relief. I think I just have small babies. Owen was only 6lb 8oz and I don't anticipate this baby being much bigger. As of right now the baby is weighing 3lbs 4oz. He has Owen's nose and some hair but his profile looks a lot different than Owen. The tech assured us this baby was 1000% a boy! We can't wait to meet the newest member of our family.

Owen's belated birthday party!

All partied out!
Phi and dad enjoying the museum.

Owen's ice cream cake. Yummy!

We celebrated Owen's birthday this last saturday at the children's musuem. Our summer has been crazy, so we were a month late on his party. It was a blast with all his friends and our family. They did crafts-colored and designed eye glasses, frosted cup cakes, sang songs, and played throughout the musuem. Thanks so much to all our family and friends who attended and all the great gifts Owen received. Here are the only pictures I have of the party. I was so busy running around I forgot to take pictures. If anyone has pics from the party, I would be really grateful if you could email some to me.

Our 2yr old

Anniversary dinner at Ah-So
Our cute 2yr old

Beautiful Estes Park, Colorado

Rodeo parade in Estes Park

Yesterday Owen had his 2yr well check up. We are about a month late because of vacations and a crazy summer. He now weighs 24lbs 5oz and is 34 inches. This puts him in the 10%tile for weight and 50%tile for height. Yeah, he is no longer in the shrimpy catergory for height. This is the 1st time since birth that he has been anything above 25% for height. Lately Owen's favorite word has been NOT, which drives me nuts. "Owen do you want to go to the store with moma? " Owen's response, "NOT". Everything is not. He did do the cutest thing the other day at breakfast. He was reaching around me to get something, and he said "Excuse me, moma". So sweet.

So as I mentioned earlier we have had a busy summer. In early July we went to Estes Park, Colorado with Steve's family to celebrate his parents 50th wedding anniversary. We had lots of fun getting to see Steve's brothers family who live in Michigan. We don't get to see them too often so it was really nice to spend lots of time with them during the week. We went hiking, fishing, took a tram ride up the moutian, mini golfing, amusement park, and saw lots of fun animals. Owen's favorite was when we fed the chipmunks. They are all tame, so they eat peanuts out of your hand. He also fed some beavers bread in back of Chris and Brenda's cabin. It was lots of fun spending time with all of steve's family. We loved our Colorado vacation.

Oh, also in July Jennifer, steve's cousin, had her second baby... Benjamin Micheal. Congrats! Now the new baby engen will have another boy cousin close in age. Yeah!

Since returning from Colorado, we have had my neice Nicole, from MN, stay with us. She is Owen's godmother. Nicole will be a junior this year in school. She has been so much fun. She just loves Owen and has been a big help to me. We love her so much, it was really hard when she left this past sunday. We also have my soon to be adopted brother, Phi, staying with us. He arrived saturday aug 1. Phi will be a senior in school this year. He has been with our family since early grade school. It has been so nice to have one on one time with both of them. We love when family comes to stay with us. We miss our Minnesota family all the time.

On the 29th of July, we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. I have the sweetest husband ever. He is handsome, kind, and a wonderful dad. We took my neice and Owen to AH-SO. It was so cute to see Owen and Nicole's face as they cooked the food. They loved it. Lots of July b-days to celebrate. Happy birthday to my neices Hannah and Kellie! Happy birthday to our nephew Micheal and my best friends litte boy Grant. Happy b-day to Owen's little buddies Cole and Brady. And finally Happy b-day to our sweet little boy! He is growing way too fast. We are amazed everyday with what he says and does. Oh the other day he did a summersault all by himself. We are very blessed to have such a beautiful boy and wonderful family and friends. Happy Summer to all of you. Enjoy it, it's going fast.

It's a baby....

We found out today that Owen is going to have a little baby .... BROTHER. We are excited and anxious to add another addition to our family. I think there was something in the water at the house I lived in college. My senior year I lived with my 4 soriety sisters. Of the 4 of us, 3 have children. Laura has 3 boys, Su has 2 boys and another on the way (sex still to be determined), and me now with 2 boys. Hmm... makes you wonder if we were too much to handle that God gave us all boys to counter our crazy times at college.

Lazy memorial weekend

Playing b-ball with gramps.
Oh, man what have I got myself into.

I love to play,play, play.

These pictures are actually from MN and not this last weekend. We had such a nice and relaxing memorial weekend. I have worked friday and saturday nights for the last month, so our family time has definitely been limited. It was so nice to have 3 whole days with my boys. We went swimming, slept in late, and had lots of fun playing together. The weather was perfect. Why is it that the good times go by way too fast.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy mother's day to all my family and friends who are moms. A special shout out to my mom, who is the best mom in the whole world. Thanks for always supporting me and loving me. You are my angel who has always watched out for me and protected me. I love you!!

I love being a mom. It has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am very blessed to have a wonderful 22 month boy and a new baby on the way. I am very lucky mom. I never could of dreamed of a better life than the one I have because of my family and friends.

As promised here are some more pics of our trip to MN and Owen in his cute big brother shirt. What a handsome man.

Baby News!

Yeah, we are pregnant. We are due Nov.20th, which is also uncle nate's b-day. I am just under 12 weeks. We will definitely find out what we are having and share the news with all of you when we know.

The new pictures I posted are from our trip to MN. We had a blast. We stayed two days with my best friend Dani. Next, we were off to the Mall of America. Owen loved the rides so much, he did not want to get off. We spent Easter with my sister and my parents. Owen loved all his family and cousin in MN. I will post some more pictures from the trip and more stories this week.

On a more serious note, we would like to ask all our family and friends to keep Steve's sister Charissa in your prayers. She was recently diagnosised with breast cancer and has begun her chemo treatments. She is very strong and we are confident she will beat this cancer and come out a survivor.

All Aboard!


Easter morning.

Love my uncle Nate!

Don't want to get off the train.

Look mom, no hands.

Still don't want to get off.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Happy St. Patricks Day! Owen is 20months this month and doing lots of new things. On sunday night we had a little visitor standing at the end of our bed. We heard "Momma, Daddy." The little turkey had climbed out of his crib for the first time. Needless to say he scared the heck out of us. Luckily he is such a good climber that he did not get hurt. Owen's new saying this month is "shut the door". He will walk around the house shutting all the doors and say this as he shuts them. He also will wake me up in the morning, with dads help, and say "get up." He loves to climb, hence climbing out of his crib. When we go to the park, he will find the tallest thing to climb up, he has no fear. He favorite book is Llama Llama mad at momma and his favorite movie is 101 dalmations. Happy birthday to cousin Jennifer and congrats on another baby boy.
We are excited to go to minnesota next month. Owen and I will be in MN from april 9th-15th. My oldest neice turns 16 in april and we are going back to celebrate with her and the family. Unfortunately, Steve can't join us with his hetic work schedule. Wish me luck as I venture on the plane with the wild man all by myself. I will post new pictures of Owen as soon as we find the missing cord to download the pics. I think a little boy, we won't name who, may have hidden it in a never to be found again spot.

Learning to count.

Yeah! Owen is finally done with his shots until he is 4. He was 25%tile for height and only 5%tile for weight. Everyday we are amazed with the new things he has to say. He can now count to 10. He knows all his animal sounds and names. His favorite saying this week is "see ya later" and "I got it". Oh, Steve came home from work this week and Owen said, "daddy's home." Crazy. He is such a daredevil. He will try just about anything once, so we have to keep a careful eye on him. He loves the cartoon , WOW WOW WUBZEE. Don't ask me why, I don't even know what the cartoon is all about.
Owen met his Uncle Chris for the first time last week. He loved playing cars and trains with him. We all wish Uncle Chris and family lived out here. We miss you all lots!
Steve is busy with work. I now work nights and have adjusted pretty well. It is not the most ideal situation, but it allows me to see the 2 most important guys in my life more. So it for sure worth it. Nothing else crazy on the Engen front.

Owen is 18 months!

I can hardly believe our little man is already a year and a half. He is such a sweet boy. His favorite phrase this month has been "Hey, baby." His new word is 'Halloween'. He loves dogs, cookies, and his me-no,that his word for blanket. We have nicknamed him little Linus because he carries his me-no (blanket) everywhere. I have 5 blankets of the same kind so we can switch them out to clean them. He is so cute how he carries his me-no over his shoulder with one hand and has his finger in his mouth with his other hand. He is such an active boy. He loves to play at the park and go up and down the slide. He also rides his motorized car around the neighborhood looking for rocks. He gets his last shots on monday until he turns 3, Yeah. Owen is the love of our life and we are very blessed to have such a beautiful, sweet boy.