Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hello family and friends,

Fall season has come and gone so quickly for our family.  We always do Christmas cards and with how busy we have been we are writing a letter on our blog and sending it to all of our family and friends this year.  With Megan in Nursing School full-time, working, shuttling the kids to sports and events, and everything else going on in our daily lives time is flying by!  A quick update on what is going on in our lives....

Emma has been busy in preschool learning her letters, numbers, meeting new friends, and much more!  She has adjusted very well going to a new school this year and enjoys going to the same school as her brothers.  Emma enjoys going to Carly's while Megan is at school!  Thank you Carly from the bottom of our hearts!  Half the time she isn't ready to come home when we pick her up. :)

 Emma loves ushering at Charlie's shows!

Field trip to the fire station!

Apple picking!

Charlie is doing very well in school!  He works so hard and we are very proud of him.  He finished up his soccer season and is signed up for basketball.  Charlie auditioned for a Christmas show with the Lewiston Civic Theatre and will be singing a few songs.  He has a duet with another girl singing, "Wishing on a Star" from The Polar Express.  We can't wait to hear him sing that song on stage!  He has rehearsal for the next eight days, but has to miss out tonight due to a case of strep throat.  Charlie also started piano lessons in September.  He is already playing Christmas songs and Fur Elise!  Uncle Nic taught him that one.  Charlie is a Wolf this year in Cub Scouts.  Charlie as well as the other two kiddos got guinea pigs.  He decided he wanted to take a guinea pig to the fair this next year. :) They are pretty cute!

Bugsy Malone Jr.!

Sneak peak at what he will be singing in next weeks show!

Cooper is busy with his studies this year.  This is the first year he actually has to study every night when he has an exam coming up.  He is working very hard as well and got straight A's and one B.  We are very proud of him.  His first season of club soccer went very well.  His soccer team came in second place and he learned so much this season.  It was quite a change and took a while to get the hang of the new positions.  Basketball just started for him as well.  The Hoop Shoot contest was last week and he won for his age category.  He competed in Moscow for the local level yesterday and won first place!  He will compete at the district level on January 31st.  If he wins there, he goes to Blackfoot for State in February.  He started piano as well and is doing well.  We love hearing those Christmas songs at this time of the year.  Cooper continues with 4-H and is excited to get another piggy in May and is a Webelo this year in Cub Scouts.  He makes meetings when he can, but it is getting really hard with sports.

Megan had a very busy semester!  She is 1/6 of the way to becoming an RN!  She finished her first quarter with straight A's.  We are very proud of how hard she worked and hope she enjoys the next month off.  She still works for Identropy on the side and is coming up on her 6th year anniversary working there, volunteers with the Genesee Fire Department, and still helps run bountiful baskets in town.  She is one busy lady!

Nate is busy at work and they just released an app that he helped make for WSU.  It came out a couple months ago and is available to download on your phone.  :)  Nate is coaching Cooper's basketball team again this year and enjoys that.  He had fun butchering Coop's floater pig and has been busy curing and smoking the meat. He was such a help this quarter with Megan is school!  Thank you hun for all you do, it is greatly appreciated.

We hope you all enjoy this holiday season with time to relax and spend it with family and friends.  Blessings for good health and a wonderful year to come! Happy Holidays!

Love,
The Owen Family

Christmas Program

Hello friends and family!  I know it has been so long since we have updated the blog.  We have been incredibly busy!  Here are some pictures and videos from the boys Christmas Program that was last night.  We have a new music teacher in town and she is fabulous!  The children as well as all the parents just love her.  Enjoy "The Nutcracker!"

 Getting ready to go!

Cool dudes!  When I dropped Coop off at school this morning, he had fist bumped his friend when he saw them.  What?  When did this baby of mine grow up? :)  It was pretty cute!

The flags were the curtain between scenes. 

 The Kindergartners started the show off with some caroling.  Then the 1st-4th graders sang and the 5th and 6th graders danced.  Coop and Charlie are singing and you can spot them if you look close, but once the dancers started it is hard to see them.  Coop is in the top left and Charlie is in the front just to the left of Mrs. Smith.

 "Russian Recipe"

Charlie is dancing here and Cooper was singing.

"Reindeer Rehearsal"

 "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies"

For this one Charlie the kids who participated and to miss their lunch recess many times.  The kiddos auditioned for a part in this song.

 "Pixie Sticks"  

I was taking video (or so I thought) the entire time and then found out I forgot to push start.  Ooops!

 "Chinese Dance"

So adorable!  We loved this one.

There were many other scenes in this program! It was so different from what we have seen and the past and it really a lot of fun to watch.

First day of School!

 2nd Grade, Preschool, and 4th grade!

 Cooper is over with the bigger kiddos this year. 

 They are so darn cute!

Time to go in!  I hope all these Genesee kiddos have a fabulous day!

Summer Camping Trips

We had a lot of fun camping this summer!  Yellowstone was our big adventure!  We had a great time!  It was a long drive, but worth it!

 On our way!  We stopped in Coeur d' Alene to play at a really nice park and the Lake.  We watched planes land and take off on the water.

We stayed at Henry's Lake which is about 15 miles outside of West Yellowstone. 

 

 We saw a lot of bison!

Ice Cream break! We had a lot of those.  :)

 We drove to Bar J Wranglers in Jackson Wyoming one evening.  It is a chuckwagon and they serve a great meal and put on a great show!

 People were so close to the bison.  I wanted to see one get rammed so bad!

 The mud volcanoes were so cool!

 

 We went to the Johnny Sack Cabin in Island Park.  So cool!  Nate wants to build a cabin now.

 

 

Saying good-bye to Boppi and Nanni!

 

Storm rolling in.  Time to go home.  :)

Our next camping trip was to Clarkia.  Clarkia is very close to us and we have never been.  We got invited to go with some friends.  It was super fun!  Cooper was in Boise with grandparents for a couple weeks. We can't wait to take him back.  He will love garnet hunting!

 Yeager was in heaven!  

 One night there was a moose and a her baby.

 We spent a lot of time down in the water.

These two! :)

Our third camping trip was to Kamiah to visit the Mayer family!  

 We saw probably over 40 deer, we think a bear, and spear fishing!

 A fun afternoon at the river.

 Thanks Mayer's for having us!

We went to Camp Lutherhaven last weekend for four days.  The boys had fun in their cabin groups and I volunteered as the medic.  That was a busy job!  And the worst part was I got sick the second night of being there.  It was awful!  Nate came the next morning and spent two days with us.

One of the most beautiful views!

Charlie's cabin group!

Excited to go play on the beach!

Lots of games were played!  Always something fun to do!

The rocket was a favorite!  Cooper's cabin group is on there getting rocked off.

Lots of worship, praise and songs.

"I just want to be a sheep....."

"How Marvelous...."

The Amazing counselors and staff at Lutherhaven!

Our next camping trip will be to the Latah County fair to sell Coop's pig!