Karen's so Funny!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Karen is pretty funny! It is ironic that Richard (the filmer) says not once but twice, something about how she's killing him. :)Don't worry, he was just fine right after and started laughing again.

Zach's New Trick!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Still Think he looks like Justin?

Everyone says Zach looks just like Justin. What do you think?

Here is Amelia at about 8 months I would guess. I don't know Mom, how old was I here? That shows some Zach, eh?
Here I am again. Not as Zach-like as the first picture, but still has some traits for sure.

Here's Justin. I think Zach definitely has Justin's eyes.
Here is Justin when he was little again. My FAVORITE picture of him. So, what do you think?

What a Goober!

(Click to Enlarge. It is funnier, I promise!)

I love this face! He has been doing this a lot. This was after a spaghetti dinner from grandma. He squinches his eyes up and shows his one tooth and lotsa gum smile. So cute. He does it when he is frustrated too. Tee hee.

Here I am doing almost the same thing after a spaghetti dinner 22 years ago.

American Thanksgiving, Family, and Alumni Basketball!

The gang's all here! That's right, almost all of Justin's fam came up from BYU for the Thanksgiving break. Once I counted 17 pairs of shoes by the door! Over half were the white Adidas I am sure. The Lows are the reason Adidas survives!
Auntie Joanie feeding Zach. He got bored of basketball and fell asleep just like that!
Justin finally arrived Friday night after his test. (I went down on Tuesday to see the fam) I walked downstairs to the kitchen and found him eating leftover turkey dinner with Zach. That is one way to keep him contained!
Here is Justin's team. They were the tournament champions! Woo hoo!
Here is Team Low. Zach was SO exhausted! He was proud of his daddy though. Not only was he a champion, but he was named an All Star of the tournament too.

Christmas Lights!

Justin putting his life in danger for the sake of his family and our Christmas lights. Thank you honey! My favorite part about the lights is the fact that they plug in to the roof and we can turn them on from inside the house! So cool. If anyone is building a house, include that in your plans. If only there was one on the top roof. We still had to use an extension cord.
The finished product! It just snowed last night, and today I heard on the radio that it was -19 degrees celsius! AHHHHHHH! What am I doing up here!
Zach loves the lights! He got so mad at us when we took him away from them as we put them up. Poor guy! He hasn't pulled them down yet, but we will see!

...And Nothing But the Tooth

The day has come! Zach got his first tooth! I think he is working on his second one right by it. He has only bitten me once so far.
Here is Zach playing with his 2-day older buddy Sebastian (the little Lamb from Halloween).

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, To the Low's We Go!

This last weekend we went down to Cardston, Justin's hometown. We had a long weekend and thought it would be fun to go see family. Dallin watched Zach for us while we went to the Rotary Dine and Dance with Brian and Cynthia to get our groove on. We found Dallin at the piano teaching Zach when we got home. He loved to play! Dallin said it really calmed him down!
Great Grandma and Grandpa Low. GGpa watched Zach on Monday when we went to Sister Marilyn Hardy's funeral. She was Justin's (and basically all of the town of Cardston's) piano teacher. An incredible woman. She passed away at the age of 60. It really made me think about what I believe and how much I love my mom and family.
Zach LOVES his Auntie Karen! He just gets one look at her and he is all smiles. But really Karen, who doesn't look at you and smile!
Grandma made Zach a lot of yummy food. He ate and ate and ate. Yum Yum! That is the same chair that Dallin and probably Karen at in 13 years ago.
I love this picture. It is so cute! Zach loves his Grandma, and Grandma loves Zach! Thank you for a wonderful weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

An ode to Stanley Gordon Crippen on his day of birth:

His real name is Stanley, but to us it is Dad.

He's joyful and happy, contagiously glad.

He's worked hard all his life,(that's now 55 YEARS!)

To become who he is, and who he appears.

He's a man who is patient, brave, fun, and kind;

He can fix ANYTHING to which he puts his mind.

He works hard all day and serves others all night

To make sure that everything for everyone's all right.

He is selfless and giving, sensitive and sweet.

He treats Mom like a queen, sweeps her right off her feet!

He loves The Lord and trusts him with all,

And taught us to seek Him; He won't let us fall.

He is the best Papa to all 18 grandkids

And is strong enough to screw off ANY jar's lid.

He listens to problems, complaints, and successes

And counsels on ways to become our bestests.

He works wonders with glue and can tie different knots,

He knows just what to do when sprinkler pipes get caught.

He forgave the boy that "pruned" the willow that's weeping
And carried us to bed, even when we were fake sleeping!

Thank you Dad, for living your years to the max,

Now get in the hot tub, it's time to RELAX!

Happy Birthday Pops! I love you!

happy hal-LOW-een!

We had a great Halloween night. We had 58 little (some not-so-little) trick-or-treaters come to our house. It was fun to see all of the costumes. Jason and Kamry came over for dinner and a movie. Jason just so happened to be wearing a sweater that Justin had, so they dressed as twinners! So cute! Once they answered the door and said Hi at the same time. The little kid said "Why are you guys wearing the same shirt?" So funny. People mix them up a lot anyway, this will really throw them off. Zach was also doing some weird things. He got very interested in Justin's nose and would put his nose right to Justin's A little Eskimo kiss! How cute! Anyway, the highlight of the night was a spooky theme dinner. The menu:

Yummy Mummies (mummy shaped calzones)

Bloodshot Goblins eyes (devilled eggs)

Witches Fingers (cheese wrapped in lunch meat with pasta sauce as the fingernail polish)

Bat Hearts (grapes)

Poisoned Apples (baked apples with oats, sugar, and cinnamon)

Witches Blood with Worms to drink (grape soda and gummy worms on the rim of the glass)

To finish the night off we watched The Goonies. "I love you Chunk!" Here's a spooky slideshow for you to enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Zach's First Costume Party!

Here are Zach and Sebastian at their first party. Katherine invited us to her mommy group party. It was fun to see all of the costumes: shrek, a monkey, a spider, superbaby, a giraffe, and even a hotdog in bun!
Zach loved to play on all of the toys. Are these toys sanitary? They look questionable to me!

(name that movie)
I love this view! The tail is so cute! Angie, my sister, gave this costume to us at Zach's baby shower a year ago. Thanks for getting this costume for him Angie! It was perfect!

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns!

Last Saturday we had a pumkin carving fall party with a bunch of friends. Here are Mark, Lindsay, and their girls Abby and Sariah. In the background is Kyle, Zach's friend Sabastian's Dad!
Here is Zach, Sabastian, and Katherine playing on the living room floor. Sabastian's birthday is just two days before Zach's! Katherine and I met on a walk. Coincidence? I think not!
Here are all of the artists with their masterpieces. Kyle and Katherine and their amazing cat, Mark and Abby and their bat, and Justin, Zach, and I with our silly faced jack-o-lanterns!
Ooooh! Spooky!

Karen's Volleyball Tournament!

Karen, Justin's "little" sister, came up to Edmonton to play in a Varsity Volleyball tournament. It was fun to see her crush the ball. I was really jealous! I wanted to be back in high school going to tournaments, but never fear, the feeling passed quickly! Go Cardston Cougars!

Oh no . . . SNOW!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The time has finally arrived here in Edmonton for snow. We woke up very surprised this morning to see this white stuff from our bedroom window. A light dusting, yet nevertheless it is SNOW! I really hope that groundhog sees his shadow this time! Yikes!

(P.S. Isn't that blue house across the street cute! I love the bay window!)

A Big Boy Bath!

Zachary has proudly graduated to using the big tub! He loves to play with his Rubber Ducky and sponge and little submarine! He also scoots around in the water and really looks like a frog.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Picture Time!

Zach just went and got his portraits taken at Walmart. It was right before his nap, so he was a bit tired, but the shots we got turned out pretty good. I am having buyers remorse though and will feel better if I talk about it. I got the white ones, which now I think washes him out too much. My little Halloween Ghost. I like the body positioning though. The blue ones with the best smile was off centered and looked too dark on the computer when we were ordering them, like his overalls were part of the background. Anyway, you live, you learn. Buy the cutest smile and get someone who knows what theyare doing to take the pictures. Good

thing she had such a great, smiley specimen to work with.

Nice Cheeks!

Zach has recently become very aware of squealing and of his very pointy tongue. He often sticks it out and looks so cute and playful.

Weiner Roast!

This week Zach and I were further immersed in Canadian culture as we experience our first weiner roast! This is a popular thing to do at the beginning of nice weather, and apparently the end. We were saying goodbye to summer and fall I guess. Teenagers go and do it a lot too. Justin said he had many weiner roasts down in Cardston, usually on his friends farm. Anyway, here Justin used his amazing Chief Scout (Canadian equivalent to Eagle Scout) skills to stoke a roaring fire using only paper, kindling, and ONE match! What a mountain man! At least he can keep me warm this winter!
Here we are, roasting weiners with Aunt Shirley and Uncle Will!
Mary was the expert weiner dresser? Bun dresser? Whatever, she was the ketchup, mustard, relish lady!
Lays Ketchup Chips. Can't get those in the states! They are actually really good, but they leave a lot of red dusty flavor stuff on your fingers. They are the Nacho Cheese Doritos of Lays for sure.
I have now been initiated as a Canadian. My first weiner roast was a smashing success! Thanks to the Burtenshaws!

The Mighty Goose

We must be in Canada, eh? Where else do you find a field of frolicking (canadian) geese? Justin actually ran through them with Zach. It was awesome to see them all scatter and fly into the lake. What an animal harrasser!
Here is a portrait of Gunther the Goose. I just thought this was funny. I don't know why!
Zach didn't seem to impressed with the geese. The feeling was mutual once they discovered we had no food.
Our Canadian Initiation Day was complete when we saw this beaver in the middle of the lake...we later discovered it was a muskrat...darn.
So picturesque!Thanks for the day Burtenshaws! It was great!