Castle Crags Hike

Some pictures from our trip to Castle Crags which is about a 45 minute drive north of Redding.

Beer tasting a a microbrewery in Dunsmuir after the hike :)

Owen 7 Months

I can't believe Owen is already seven months old!  Here are some recent pictures of him.  :)

Don't worry, he didn't go out on the water in this raft.  Just playing in it before Joey did. 

Had to take the bassinet part out of the pack n play--he sits up on his own now

With his tennis racquet from Hayley

Joey's Backpacking Trip

Joey just got back from a backpacking weekend in the Trinity Alps.  The Trinity Alps are about an hour drive west of Redding.  For all of you who think of California as freeways and traffic and cities I hope these pictures of his weekend start to change your view.  Northern California is beautiful!  I have tried to convince Joey of that since I first met him, I think he is starting to come around...  :)

Drift Boat

 

Joey finally got his drift boat. :)  Our agreement was that if he ranked Redding 1^st in the residency match that he could get a drift boat.  Well, he held me to it, and now we have one.  We have had so much fun with it already.  I wouldn’t say Owen is having so much fun with it so far, but he is getting more used to it.  The infant life jacket is a little constricting as you can see from the pictures. :) 

The biggest fish so far is 19 ½ inches, but many, many more to come I’m sure…

This is a picture of Joey and some of his classmates out on the river after sunset

Owen's Baptism

 

Owen was baptized on Saturday September 17^th at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Redding.  We all had a great time celebrating such a special occasion.  We have really enjoyed getting to know people at our new church--everyone is so friendly!  Owen keeps everyone behind us amused at each mass with his smiles and coos (and screams) and squirming.  Owen’s Godparents are Cameo and Jay.  We are thankful to have such great examples as Owen’s Godparents. 

Eric and Mandy and their girls were in town for the weekend for the Whiskeytown Relay Race.  My parents came up for the weekend and watched Owen, Em and Anna during the relay for us.  The race was so much fun!  Our team, the Outlaw In-laws, got 2^nd place in the Family division (there were more than two teams in the Family Division too...okay, there were six teams in the family division, but still)!  Such a great weekend! 

Pictures from the weekend:

Baptism Breakfast on the deck

Hanging out with Grandpa before the baptism

Super Grandpa

Backpacking Trip

Pictures!

A few recent pictures...more to come.  :)

One of my favorites of Owen, just before he starts smiling.  :)

The Fam at the Graduation

Playing "beanbags" with everyone all day.  Joey created the targets with cardboard and Jimmy and Natalie sewed socks full of lentils.  Entertained us all day long. 

Graduation celebration shots out of Medela bottles.  Yes. 

Matt, Joey, Kevin, Matt and Jody

Seven Quick Takes...

So much has happened in the last month since I have posted!  Here are seven highlights over the last month:

1.  Joey Graduated!!!  Joey is officially Dr. Schad (or as my family calls him Dr. J or Joe the DO) as of June 3rd!!  We had a great time celebrating with Jim, Kathy, Jimmy, Natalie, Garrett, Maleah, Lindsay, Tyler and Tia who all came out from South Dakota to celebrate with us! 

2.  Our Owen highlight is how much he is smiling.  A smile from him totally makes your day, and he gives them readily.  :)  If he makes eye contact with you you get a smile.  His smile keeps you coming back for more--so much of our day is spent staring at Owen and getting smiles.  :)

3.  I was able to keep my job and work from home in Redding!  This was a huge blessing for me as I love my job but had to move out of Phoenix.  Right now I am doing a work from home "pilot" for six months to see how it goes.  
 
4.  We moved!  Moving is a hard, long, drawn out process.  We couldn't have done it without help on both ends.  Kathy, Jim, Garrett and Maleah helped out so much with the packing, and then my mom has come up and helped so much with the unpacking.  It is a long process but we are starting to feel moved in here.  We rented our house without even seeing it, but we really like it.  We love Redding so far.  It is surrounded by beautiful mountains and although the summers here are hot, it has been mild so far.  (Anything is going to feel mild compared to Phoenix.)

5.  My brother got married!  Luke and Erin were married on June 11th in San Rafael, CA.  The wedding was beautiful and so much fun!  Joey and I are both excited to have Erin officially in the family.  :)  She's super fun and sweet and great to be around. 

6.  We are just starting to explore Redding, and we love what we see so far.  Joey is currently out kayaking with his friend Nate.  Nate is Joey's good friend from undergrad who spends his summers in Redding doing smoke jumping.  It is so random and awesome that he is in Redding at the same time we are.  Joey is excited to have a friend who loves doing outdoor adventures as much as he does.  :)

7.  We celebrated our two year anniversary on June 13th.  It was a day full of unpacking and moving in...  :)  My mom came up to take care of Owen while we went out and celebrated.  But the movers didn't leave til about 8, and we decided around 9 that we need to go do something so we went to dinner at 9:30 that night.  :)  It was great to get out and celebrate even if it was late and after a long day. 

We have so much to be thankful for: two years of marriage, our little baby, our move to Northern California, Joey's graduation, etc.  We are so excited for the adventures that Redding will bring us.  :)

Back to Work

I've been back at work for two weeks now.  :(  It is tough to leave Owen every day--but he has such a great place to go for the day that it makes it as easy as it can be.  I drop him off at my friend Alyssa's house on the way to work.  Alyssa's 19 month old son Caden is a big help to her with taking care of Owen.  :)  Alyssa told me that when Owen is crying Caden will walk over and get the empty bottle off the counter and bring it back to his mom--he knows what it takes to get a baby to stop crying!  Caden like his little buddy he only can't quite understand why he wouldn't want to play with his toys and why he can't eat lunch, too.  When Owen leaves for the day Caden is still sleeping, so when he gets up from his nap he searches the whole house for him...he can't understand how when he wakes up in the morning Owen is there, but when he wakes up from his afternoon nap Owen is gone.  :)  So cute!  Owen's first friend.  :)

Here are some pictures of Caden and Owen: