Happy Spring!

 The last few months seem like a whirlwind, though I know it is not a good excuse to not post any updates. After some nudging and finally a good guilt trip from the family we are back in the blogging world.

In February we took our first trip back to Oregon since our big move. We had a wonderful visit, but it didn't seem like we had enough time to do everything we wanted. Our trip was filled with family dinners, celebrating Brian's 32nd birthday, our nieces baptism/recognition of baptism and first birthdays, lunches with friends, the farm expo and lots of fun playing with the cousins. Brian and his brother Steve were even able to squeeze in a skiing trip at Bachelor. Owen had a great time playing with all of his cousins and even made his first snowman while we were home. Seems a little crazy that we didn't make any snowmen at home, but Wisconsin snow is just too powdery! The three things that Owen couldn't stop talking about while we were in Oregon were the "big hills", jets and trains...I wonder what Wisconsin is missing in his eyes? Overall, we had a wonderful trip home but it went by way to fast. The day before we were suppose to come home Owen got really sick and we had to extend our vacation by 5 days. As thankful as I was to have my parents help, it was really nice to be home again.

Owen with the Dahm cousins.

Celebrating Brian's 32nd birthday.

Owen's first snowman. He immediately knocked it over.

Launching Nathan's rocket in the field behind my parents house.

Owen with the Hedlund cousins.

Owen loved watching Papa chop wood.

In March, Owen and I flew down to Phoenix to spend a week in the warm Arizona sun with my parents. We had a great time in Arizona and were able to spend lots of time with not only my parents but my Uncle Mike, Aunt Ann and Aunt Nora.  Our days were filled with adventures to parks, zoos, a dairy farm, nature hikes, afternoon trips to the pool and wonderful food. If anyone know me, knows that I base the success of a trip on the quality of food I get to eat... I would rate this trip at a 9. I am still dreaming of the onion rings from Joe's Farm Grill (it was featured on Triple D).

We found a great nature preserve that had a dinosaur dig that we made multiple trips to. Life couldn't get much better for Owen than when he was digging in sand for dinosaurs with the help of his monster trucks and tractors.  The Phoenix Zoo was a ton of fun, Owen loved looking at all the animals. We were able to feed the giraffes which was an amazing experience. Next time I think I will pass on the monkey village. Brian has aways avoided aviaries at zoos or aquariums and I could understand why. Birds flying around at will was never very fun. I think that the monkey village was 100 times worse. Little monkeys wandering around freely is a little much, especially when one almost jumped on my back when it was crossing the trail we were walking on. It is never a good sign when the zoo keepers are all armed with spray bottles...  All in all, the highlight of the day for Owen was when the warthog pooped. In true toddler (and possibly Hedlund boy) fashion, he is still talking/laughing about it to this day. Even though we had a very mild winter for Wisconsin soaking up that warm Arizona sun was wonderful. I hope that we will be able to go again next year (hint, hint).

First time at the dino dig. We didn't have any tractors so Grammy and Papa had to do.

Of course Owen and Papa found a tractor to ride at the dairy.  I find is very ironic that the first trip Owen or I ever took to a dairy was in Arizona,  especially now that we live in Wisconsin!

Almost everyday Owen picked oranges from the tree behind the condo. Nothing tastes better than fresh squeezed OJ from oranges from your backyard!

Feeding the Giraffe! I love his expression!

Owen really liked to orangoutangs too.

Sleeping with Monkey and Giraffe. Monkey was given to Owen by our neighbor at Halloween and we  picked up Giraffe at the Phoenix Zoo. Owen sleeps with them every night. 

Swimming at the pool.

Owen is pointing to where he wanted to hike at Superstition Mountain. He wanted to go all the way to the top!

Resting and having a snack with Papa half way through our hike. Owen loved going on nature hikes!

Heading back down the trail with Papa.

April has been a lot more quiet, a nice change from all the traveling that we had done. I think that Brian and the boys are happy to have us home again, though sometime I think Sy would like us to ship Owen back to Oregon.  For Brian's birthday I got us tickets to go see the Trailblazers play the Milwaukee Bucks. The night before Easter the three of us went down to watch the game. Despite the Blazers falling apart in the 4th quarter and losing we had a great time. I hope that we will be able to go every year. It is nice to get a little bit of Oregon in Wisconsin.

Go Blazers!

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Owen has a great time dying Easter eggs and had the colorful hands to show for it. Easter morning was a lot of fun, Owen loved finding his Easter basket, hunting for eggs and "hatching" his plastic eggs to see what was inside. Overall it was a nice day full of fun, good food and a wonderful church service.  It is still very odd not being with family on the holidays, I am very grateful for technology and the ability to Skype!

Using the egg tools is really tricky!

Hands work much better!

Look what the Easter Bunny brought!

He was very excited about his tennis racket.

 Owen "hatching" his plastic eggs!

The dogs especially love this toy!

Hunting for more eggs... that Easter bunny was tricky! 

 Practicing in the house.... we have since banned playing tennis in the house. Between the erratic shots Owen would hit and the boys being excited about tennis balls flying around we had to put a stop to it.

In January we were excited to find out that we are expecting our second child. We had an ultrasound this week and are happy to report that the baby is healthy and doing well.  Owen was able to go to the ultrasound with us and is now convinced that we are going to have two babies. At one point the tech had multiple pictures on the screen so Owen which is when he decided there was two. I hope he won't be too disappointed when we only bring one home! Even if he is, I am sure it will be short lived. Once all the grandparents return to Oregon I bet he will want to send the baby back once he realize how much life will change!

Baby Hedlund

Owen's first tennis lesson with Brian.

Looking for toe jam.

I am going to try and be better about keeping the blog updated... I realize we have said that in the past but at least we haven't given up completely!