Ketch shows off his new dragon

Here's a clip of Ketch sitting in his chair with his new toy. Not necessarily riveting video, but I thought I'd share.

Owen eats an Oreo

Here's an clip from August of Owen eating an Oreo...

Owen gets goggles and swim fins

Owen got some goggles and swim fins to help keep his interest in his weekly swimming lessons. We tried them out in the tub tonight. Oh yeah, they were a hit.



Tough to keep the camera dry on this shot.



More pictures from September are here.

Owen's first day of (pre)school

Owen's going to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings this fall. He seemed to take it in stride...no big deal. Here's Owen and Ketch just about to jump into Kelly's car for the ride to the first day of preschool. You'll notice Owen's "say cheese" smile.



In this photo, Owen seems to have some awareness that he is beginning to squirm out from under his parent's constant and oppressive rule.



Click here for a few more pictures.

Labor Day Weekend

My Mom and Dad came into town for the holiday weekend. We didn't do anything to crazy, unless you count turning Owen loose on the unsuspecting IKEA shoppers. Here's a picture of the family just before Mom and Dad headed back home.

Owen gets booted from the church nursery

Sometimes when we sometimes go to church, Owen will go into the nursery rather than sitting with us in the pews. Today was one of those days. We get a number and if that number flashes on the video screen in the main service - we go get him. It's flashed a couple of times, and we've gone to get him and he's been visibly upset. We're never sure why, I'm sure there are numerous possible reasons. But when Kelly retrieved him this morning, he was just sitting...playing...not upset at all. But he bonked a girl in the head twice with an airplane. So they kicked him out. Not a proud moments for the parents. Unfortunately we don't have a picture of Kelly's face as she picked up her future delinquent. Grandpa Gary thought the girl must have entered his airspace...a boy needs his airspace to fly a plane.

Dad, the boys and the girls go to the park

Kelly had a dentist appointment this morning, so I took the boys and the girls to the park for awhile. Owen chased human girls, Scout and Jett practiced "stay" and Ketch slept.

Do we really need a pool?

Here's photographic evidence that we don't really need a pool in our backyard. But I'm starting to understand why they put those drowning advisories on plastic pails.

Owen's preschool orientation

Owen's going to try preschool this fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kelly and Owen went to the orientation session this morning. Here's a shot of them on their way out the door.

Hike to Stewart Falls

We rode the chairlift with Jen and hiked to Stewart falls today. Owen did a great job, walking at least the first mile on a pretty narrow trail. There was an interesting rock or stick or bug every step, so we weren't too fast, but we were persistent. Owen hopped in a back pack for the rest of the trip, and didn't try to fall asleep until the last mile or so. Ketchum was a trooper for the whole trip in the carrier on his mom's chest.



Owen had been on this hike a couple of times before, but this time he was old enough to enjoy the water and rock throwing.




Want to see more pictures?

Zion NP and Bryce NP

Owen and Ketch got to visit Zion and Bryce this weekend with Aunt Jen. Hopefully Kelly has some pictures I can post later. Owen's main comment on what he did was "big rock." Ketch had no comment.

Binky washing

You won't find this one in the baby raising manual. Owen has been going through a little bit of a "being helpful" phase. Ketch is going through his binky sucking phase, with the occasional rocket launch of the binky out of his mouth onto the floor. He's still new enough to us that we try to rinse the binky off whenever it hit's the floor. (I can't remember what month this wore off with Owen.) So today the stars lined up...Ketch shot his binky onto the floor...Owen was nearby looking to be helpful. Owen loves to play in the sink anyway, so Kelly asked Owen asked Owen to take the binky into the bathroom and wash it off. I'll be darned if Owen didn't jump right on it, he grabbed the binky and off to the bathroom he went. A small amount of time passed and Owen didn't return. In fact, I didn't ever hear the faucet get turned on...it was quiet back there and that's rarely a good sign. So I went back to check on our little helper. He was up to his elbows in the toilet, feverishly washing off the binky. To his credit, the stool that he usually uses to get up to the sink was being used elsewhere, so I'm going to chalk this one up to resourcefullness.

PS: Don't buy used binkies off of eBay. I'm just sayin'.......

Owen and Ketchum go to Draper Safety Days

Our local city park had a safety event this evening with some of Owen's favorite things on display, including firetrucks and helicopters. When I got home from work, we loaded Owen and Ketchum up into a couple of strollers, leashed up the dogs and walked down to the park.



Owen was a little shy around the firetrucks, but started to warm up by the time we got to the rescue helicopter. He got to crawl in and push a few buttons. Then he was really rolling when we got to the Draper City Police Tank. Many people asked, "what do you use a TANK for?" The answer was, "well, we haven't used it yet, but it will be useful in a hostage situation". Supposedly they only paid $50 for it, so I guess the "wasting taxpayers money" argument doesn't fly.



Scott and RaNae showed up while we were there, so Owen got to hang out with the godfather and watch the helicopter take off.





Owen also got to pretend drive a bumper car for awhile until the neighborhood watch dude told us to get out "it's dangerous". Owen and I both doubted that it was dangerous, for one thing, it's not in the book, but we got out and headed to the inflatable playground toys. That just about wore Owen out. Ketch had been sleeping the whole time and would probably wake up hungry, so we headed for home.




There are a few more pictures on my smugmug page if your interested.

Ketchum visits the cardiologist

We had an appointment with a cardiologist at Primary Childrens Medical Center today to follow up on the bicuspid aortic valve that was diagnosed in the NICU. We met with a couple of very nice doctors and the prognosis seems good. They still don't feel like they have a really good image of his heart yet, but based on the picture they do have and the sounds they heard today, it does appear to be a bicuspid aortic valve. We'll have a followup checkup in a few months at which time they will do another echocardiogram to get a better picture of his heart and have another checkup. But for now, the heart problems seems pretty minor. Ketch is gaining weight and doing well. Thanks for all the kind notes of support we've had along the way.

Owen and Ketchum go camping

Our friend Pam invited us along for a camping trip to Ledgefork Campground near the Uintas on Saturday, August 2. We haven't really been car camping since we left Texas, but with two young boys now, backpacking may be more than we can handle.



Owen had a great time throwing rocks, climbing rocks, looking for monsters in the woods and just generally getting dirty. Ketchum seemed to do all right. Kelly was worried about the little guy getting cold during the night in the tent, so she kept him pretty close all night. I doubt she got much sleep, but Owen and I slept great.



I got to add a new "gadget" to my collection, a big 70lb springbar tent. We got a queen size air matress, a crib, a pad for Owen, two dogs and a chair in that bad boy. Owen asked for the one thing it didn't have when we were getting ready for bed. "Watch TV?" he asked. Sorry bud, we're roughing it.




To see all the pictures, follow this link to my smugmug page.

Welcome to the LaDue Boys' Adventures blog

I tried to keep up with Owen's adventures on a blog, but slacked off before too long. Now that we've got two boys, I thought I'd try again. We've been told it's actually easier with two kids in the house. Is that right? Why are you laughing?