Owen's Blessing

So we had a really great weekend that included Owen getting blessed. It went great and we had plenty of family and friends there that made it completely wonderful. I will add a few pictures.

So I had this post ready but I waited to post it because Gini wanted to post all the pictures first and so these are just some of my favorites. Owen is so much bigger than he was in these pictures it is crazy. He is such a good little sleeper though, and loves spending time with his Momma watching netflix. The kid will seriously roll and squirm and scream until he can see the tv.

House

So it is official, Gini and I signed all the paperwork necessary to purchase a home at 1130 East 5730 South. Right by Cottonwood High, or a better landmark would be the bog. Don't worry we'll detail everything with pictures soon. I just wanted to announce our new purchase :)

Owen's Day Out

So it was stake conference in our stake this past weekend. Gini's dad is the stake president and Gini and I have attended since we started dating. It is pretty sentimental and we often think about the time we were dating whenever we go. I was pretty surprised when Gini said she wanted to go but I was excited because she said we can be late, and leave early so no one mobs Owen.

We went to the Saturday night session and the Sunday morning session. It was fun and Owen looked so good in his white shirt and tie for Sunday. He slept soundly through both session and we were so happy. After Saturday night's session we went to In-N-Out to celebrate.

Here we are on Saturday night. He looks like he is crying but he is just waking up and stretching and yawning. He doesn't cry unless he is absolutely starving.

Here he and I are hanging out on Sunday, he was telling me all about what he learned and his favorite parts.

On a side note this kid is a sleeping machine. On Friday night he slept for 5 straight hours. Gini and I both woke up at 4 AM in a panic because he hadn't made a peep since midnight and we thought something was wrong with him. We love him and couldn't be any happier with him.

Owen Stanley Phillips

So Gini and I dodged a bullet. We almost had a Valentine's baby. Nothing would be worse for a Phillips man than having to be excited about Valentine's day every year. So we went in for a checkup Tuesday morning and they said let's just induce you tonight, no point in pushing it any longer. So we went out for a Valentine's date and were sitting on pins and needles all day waiting for them to call and tell us to come in.

Finally, we get the call and get to the hospital at about 9:30. Gini gets comfy and I get comfy and they give Gini an ambien, and some other drugs to help her labor and then we both go to sleep. I figured since Gini was treated to an ambien I was going to be treated to some Nyquil. So early in the morning Gini's water broke and they gave her her epidural shortly thereafter. She was in an out of sleep for the rest of the day. '

The labor moved at a good pace (it is hard for me to comment on the labor because to me it was a breeze compared to what we had read, but for Gini it was still REALLY hard). So about 2:45 Gini started pushing and then at 3:06 Owen joined us, weight 7 lbs 12 ozs and is 22 inches long. He has been a champ every since he came out, wanting to just eat sleep.

Here are some pictures of him.

This is him in the delivery room shortly after birth.

One of his many visitors holding him.

This was during his bedtime. He didn't want to take a picture but we had to get a family photo.

Owen just relaxing after a long hard day.

Me putting Owen to sleep. He is such an amazing sleeper.

We go home Friday and the fun really begins. Thanks to everyone for the calls, flowers, and visits. We even got a beautiful bouquet from someone who didn't sign the card. So whoever you are, thank you. They make the room smell beautiful.

Wife

I wanted to give a shout-out to my smoking hot wife. When I was younger and up until I met Gini I always said I wanted to marry a hard worker. My mom is an extremely hard worker. Not just with the two jobs she holds down but also in cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other motherly duties. Gini is amazing. She is 8.5 months pregnant (couldnt be cuter by the way, she is tiny and so cute) she has a full-time job, in graduate school, and it is parent teacher conference week. Not only that but she never turns down an opportunity to serve other people. This past week the young women in our new ward needed help with a service project and what did she do? Helped them. During the busiest week of the year for her. Took time on Tuesday night and helped them.

Anyways, she is awesome. I miss her and it just isn't the same.

Today, we did some market analysis of North Dakota. Basically, we drove around North Dakota inspecting stuff and looking at the activity that is taking place for about 10+ hours on dirt roads in a cramped third row. This stunk! I need to run a marathon to make up for all the junk food I have been eating and all the sitting I have been doing this trip.

North Dakota

Warning: no pictures.

So I am currently in North Dakota, not exactly sure where I am at just a little bit between Williston and Trenton; right on the edge of the Bakken Oil Field. Savage has a huge rail depot here they are building. I am up here doing some support work for that. When they told me I was coming to ND everyone kept saying oh you'll be staying in the man camps. I finally asked someone what a man camp was and they informed me that since the oil fields have been growing so fast, they outgrew the housing situation here and so there are temporary housing (ie trailers) setup all over that people live in. Here is a link to learn more. It really isn't that bad, basically I am staying in a brand new two bed two bath single wide with one other guy. It is really nice.

North Dakota is kinda nice, it is different from Utah because even though there are small towns there are big towns nearby. Like the drive from Newton to Logan or heaven-forbid the drive from Newton to Salt Lake City. North Dakota doesn't have that. In the state there is nothing. It would be rough living here but there are plenty of people who do. The trip to get here wasn't easy, we flew from Salt Lake to Minneapolis, then to Minot ND. Then we drove 2+ hours to our man camp in ND. We stopped at the Walmart to grab some essentials for our stay. It had to be the dirtiest, most overpriced, and most inefficient Walmart there is. With the influx of oil operations, the minimum wage is being driven way up. Like Walmart employees are making $16 an hour, starting, with no education. Which is the case for most places around here.

It is a very interesting world out here, no one would believe we are coming out of a recession right now if you have never left North Dakota.