Owen Family

Tornado!

Kristen — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:37:42 GMT

Josh's office was hit by a very large tornado on Thursday morning. The tornado devastated the small town of Windsor, CO and because a FEMA incident, and made national news. Josh and his co-workers had 90 seconds of notice to take cover in the stairwell. He said the building swayed back and forth, it sounded like a freight train, and everybody's ears hurt from not being able to regulate the pressure change.

Here is a picture of the tornado, taken from across the street. This is Josh's office right before it was hit:

Josh had his iTouch with him, and I paged him to tell him there was a tornado near Greeley. He wrote back, "I'm ok." Later, after he got home, he said, "Were you totally worried about me?" I said, "No! I had no idea what you were going through!" He said, "You didn't think it was cryptic that I just wrote, 'I'm ok.'?" I said, "No, I thought you were busy and just blowing me off!"

I'm glad Josh and his co-workers were all safe. They did lose huge chunks of roof and almost all the windows. There was even a large piece of glass impaling the chair in the conference room that Josh had been sitting in seconds before. But, he was safe. Catastropohic damage for the town of Windsor, and one fatality 1/4 of a mile from Josh's office, though.

Wisdom Teeth

Kristen — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:39:47 GMT

About 10 days ago Josh got two Wisdom teeth pulled. He's still not eating solid foods. And, the teeth weren't even impacted - simply removed. I reminded him that I had permanent teeth pulled the day of a piano recital, no complaints. That I had all four wisdom teeth surgically removed, and I managed to eat a cheeseburger the next day. Baby.

Here's Josh sharing his dinner Milkshake with Hayden:

Josh's Hair, Update

Kristen — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:56:09 GMT

I won.

Josh cut his hair to a medium length. :-)

If the survey results appear to favor LONG hair, it's because Josh voted over and over again for it.

Happy Birthday!

Kristen — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:01:17 GMT

Josh turned 35 this week! We had a brunch of Butter Braid (to die for!) and a Frittata recipe that I made up and will likely be unable to duplicate.

Josh got some new shirts, new shoes, a hammock and a fire safe for his birthday. (Aaron has been busy collecting things that HE wants to add to the fire safe - rocks, coinc, magnets, etc.)

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Four-Wheelin'

Kristen — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:56:44 GMT

On Sunday Josh took Aaron four-wheelin' in a Jeep with Josh's friend, Tim, from work, and Tim's 8-year-old autistic son, Jason. They left at 10am. I said, "I have fire training at 2:00, but I can be late."

At 2:00, I was ready to walk out the door, but I wasn't worried.

At 3:00, I was thinking, "Anytime now, they'll be back."

At 4:00, I started researching the trail they did. Hmmm... it was only a three mile trail. What on earth was taking so long?

At 5:00, I called my friend Marie, "I think I'm starting to panic. They did not take anything with them for dinner, and Aaron doesn't have a jacket - it's getting cold and it'll be dark soon!" Marie offerred to drive me in her pickup truck to look for them. I said, "Let me feed Hayden and Ryan first."

By 5:30, I was feeding the kids, and crying. I was worried something happened. I was worried that the Jeep broke down. I was worried that they were having to hike out with an autistic kid. I was worried that they were hurt. I was worried that they were freezing cold. And I was mad at Josh. And I was thinking that they BETTER be hurt, or Josh was going to wish they were.

At 5:45, they pulled up happy, laughing, having finished a fun day. I was eating dinner at the table, crying over my cannoli's, and Josh actually invited Tim and Jason in!

It was some time before I could get over the sad, scared feeling of something happening to my baby, and some time before I could forgive Josh for actually GOING OUT TO DINNER without calling to check in, when he was even in cell phone range, and I left him messages, while I was home looking out the window, crying, for over an hour.

He was so busted.

But they had a super great time. Aaron loved riding the Jeep through ponds and over huge rocks, and Josh loved getting out of the house to hang out with a buddy.

An Open Letter...

Kristen — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:21:10 GMT

An Open Letter to My Husband

Dear Josh:

I'm sorry I didn't believe in you when you told me you were going to switch out the radiator in your car, by yourself. I'm sorry I looked horrified when the radiator came in an unmarked box from some random place on the Internet.

You've always been the first to admit that you're not the "handiest" husband around. I've always considered you very handy in the plumbing field - with your past experience in working for your grandfather's plumbing business and all. Well, there was that one time that you installed that garbage disposal upside down. But BESIDES that, I do consider you to be a fairly competent plumber.

And I'm sorry I doubted your auto mechanic capabilities. Yes, I have found dumping black pepper into your antifreeze for the past few months to be a little bizarre, but I should never have doubted.

I'm proud of you, honey. You new radiator's in your car, and there were no pieces left over. And you even made it on the full 50 mile drive to work this morning. Good job, honey.

Next time you want to work on your car.... well, quite frankly, I'll insist, once again, that you take it to an auto shop. BUT, if you refuse and decide to work on it yourself, I'll believe in you 100%. (So, maybe like 75%.)

Love,
Kristen

The Year of Copper & Wool

Kristen — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:41:22 GMT

Today is Josh and I's SEVENTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!

Happy Anniversary, honey!

We're going to celebrate the day by going to our favorite Greenbriar Inn for a champagne brunch - without the kids!! Then we hope to go on a little hike.

Josh's Hair

Kristen — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:03:41 GMT

I'm really disappointed that "Short Hair" is winning the polls. Blast! And "Medium Hair" is losing. I would make Medium my first choice, and "Long" my second. (Josh thinks it's a bad picture of him with long hair, but that if a GOOD picture were up there, long would win for sure.)

All I have to say is that none of this matters. When I met Josh he had a Donald Trump comb-over hairstyle with a porno-star mustache. And I dated him anyway. I had to clean him up a little, but I dated him anyway. ;-)

Josh

Kristen — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:32:14 GMT

Josh is an I.T. computer geek, coffee addict, wannabe economist, faithful Libertarian, and devout Course in Miracles student.