Introducing "Joshua Owens" Musician

Joshua's been playing guitar for years now, but he finally has acquired some recording equipment. He has recorded a few of his songs. They're mostly acoustic and he's still planning to have bass and other elements added in the near future. We put some of them on MySpace Music. (You don't have to be a member of myspace to hear them.) I put a link to his page on the top left of our blog. Or just click the link below.(http://myspace.com/joshuaowensmusic)

The song "Her" has always been my favorite. And most of the guys tend to like "Speed" the best. Then there's "Joy", Joshua's newest song...and yes, he wrote that one just for me. It's really quite a beautiful song.

Joshua played out at an open mic last week in Oregon City. He says he'd definitely play there again. For those of you who are here in Portland locally, I'll keep you posted on Joshua's plans to play next.

Check out his songs and let us know what you think. You can email comments to owensaudit@yahoo.com or leave comments here on our blog. Pass the information on to all your friends too and have them listen. Thanks. Enjoy!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Happy 1st Birthday Versii!
...Apparently just waking up from a nap and party hats don't mix.
Big brother helped out just a little. Once Versii openned the paper enough to see the little Tonka car, he just kept tried to grab it and it was stuck...that upset him a bit.
Boy, was he ever excited to open the Tonka Ride-On toy...he just kept hitting the box, talking jibberish and smiling.




He just loved his cake...didn't know quite what he wanted to do first. Eventually he just started flinging it everywhere.



In the end, we had a pretty messy boy. He had a great time though.
He loved the cake...
(Sorry about the red eyes, Dad's computer doesn't have a picture editing. I'll fix it soon.)

American Idol Update...

Well, I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you that Archuleta lost. Since he lost by 12 million votes, I don't think that we could have really helped out to much more than we did. All is not lost for our young David, though. He's pretty much set as far as establishing a successful music career now. He's already got millions of fans.

American Idol...

For all you American Idol lovers...

Mom's got me watching American Idol with her. She's only watching this season because of David Archutela. He's LDS and he goes to her old high school, Murray High. So, this is the second season that I have ever watched, but the first that I have ever voted. I voted with Mom the last two weeks. And we're not sure if all the votes count or not, but he received 450 votes from our house last night. We were calling from every phone in the house, my cell, Mom's cell, the home phone and even Dad's cell. (Yes, even Dad was in on the dialing action...Mom wouldn't let him go to bed until he got through 40 times.)

So, you know what we'll be doing tonight... Watching the results show. We hope he wins!
(Josh refuses to be a part of any of it.)

Happy Birthday Kaden - 5 Years Old

Could not get Versii to wear the mask. He was afraid of them.

Make a wish?...

Kaden's birthday party was Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Tiki Monster. Mostly because there were no Scooby balloons, so when we saw the Tiki Balloon, it reminded us of something we'd seen once on Scooby Doo. Kaden started dinner with Scooby Mac & Cheese, then had Scooby cupcakes and from Grandma and Grandpa he got Scooby characters with the Mystery Machine. Totally cool! He had a good time.

"Limited Edition Baked Goods"

Kaden's Scooby Doo Cupcakes...can you see any resemblance?

(Caramel ears, marshmallow eyes, a licorice nose & a bubble gum tongue make this Scooby really tasty. Yum!)

...And Versii's 1st Birthday Cake. Yes this one's just for him.

(Versii chewed on the little rubber duckie all the way through the store.)

No, I'm not a baker...this took me several hours to do. But I guess I didn't do that bad of a job considering I've never tried to make the kids birthday cakes before. Hopefully they taste good. We'll be sampling Kaden's tomorrow (that's his birthday) and Versii will be digging in on Friday.

Sunflower Project - Day 11

This is proof that I have the ability to get something to grow. These little sprouts are almost 2 inches tall now... Kaden's having a good time watching them grow. Hopefully his excitement in checking the progress will remind me to keep watering them.

Chinese Chicken Bake

I got this recipe off of my Grandma's fridge and she had never tried it before. I told her I would let her know how it tasted...and I've made it 4 times now. Everyone in my house really likes it, except Kaden who refuses to taste it. Josh says it looks like "rice crispy treat" for dinner, but don't let appearances fool you. It's tasty!

I just thought that since we like it so much, I should share.

CHINESE CHICKEN BAKE

2 tbls marg or melted butter
1/4 tea onion powder
2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained thoroughly
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey (I like it shredded.)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed mushroom or chicken soup (I use chicken soup.)
1 1/4 cup chopped celery
2 tbls chopped green onion
4 1/2 tea soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine marg & onion powder. Gradually add cereal, stirring until all pieces are evenly coated. Set aside.
Combine pineapple, chicken, soup, celery, green onion, and soy sauce.
Stir in 1 cup reserved cereal mix.
Pour into ungreased 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 cups cereal mix.
Bake 30 min or until top is lightly browned.

(The recipe says it makes 4-5 servings, but I made it last night and just Josh & I ate 2/3rds of the pan. So if you're cooking for 4 adults or more...you should probably double the recipe. I like to eat it over white rice.)

Record breaking day in Portland, 96 Degrees, Burn baby burn

My little man, dance hall renegade

Joy was actually chastising me here but with a smile Versii outside of himself
Proof that everything goes down hill the closer you get to 30 Fish lips, Oybe's and Boo Bear (Editing & captioning courtesy of Joshua.)

May 14th

Here's the latest update, since I'm new at this blogging thing.

Last friday we went to Kindergarten Round-up. Kaden is all registered to start school this fall. He needs a few more shots though (ouch). School starts on September 4th and it's all day. The nice thing is that we live just around the corner from school, so on the days that aren't rainy, we will be able to walk to school. Kaden had fun checking out the classrooms and he got to plant sunflower seeds. (Which now I have to try not to kill before they even grow...I don't have a good history with real plants.)

Versii took his first steps April 8th, the day after we arrived back in Portland. And he's really trunk'n it all over now. He a very curious boy and he's good at making messes. Joshua and Kaden call him "the Destroyer." Versii's also very good at voicing his opinion if he's not happy about something (ususally in the form of high pitched little screams).

Kaden and Versii both have birthdays coming up next week. Kaden will be turning 5 on May 20th and Versii will be celebrating his 1st birthday on the 23rd. (At which point, Kaden will no longer be able to say "my brother's just zero.")

Fun at OMSI

Joshua & the boys at the dinosaur exhibit.

Kaden loves to play in the water at the science playground.

Versii had fun watching the fish.

OMSI is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, it's a fun hands-on place to take the kids. The science playground has a big sand area, a water area where the kids can put rain boots and smocks on to stay dry, a reading area, a craft area, playdough, and a little forest area where the kids can dress up as chipmunks. Kaden loves it and Versii has fun too.