Introducing Eli and a beautiful Sunny Day!

Well in being true to myself I have decided to wait forever to post a blog that should have been considered to be pretty important. On September 28th at 2:23 in the afternoon Kristel and I had our third perfect little baby, Eli Nelson Overman. It was Kristel's idea to give him the same middle name as me. I like it now but was never fond of it growing up. But anyway, he's stuck with it now. As I said, he was perfect when he was born. He was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. It was the most...we'll say, interesting...delivery yet. If you want to hear the details of that you'll have to call me. Here are a couple pictures from right after he was born.




So far he has been pretty quiet, only really crying when he is hungry. Could this finally be the mellow child we have been hoping for? Only time will tell. There's probably a good chance those other two rapscallions will corrupt him before too long though. But one thing is for sure; both Garrett and Jackie love him to death, which is a great blessing. Jackie is always trying get in his carseat or bassinet with him or sitting on the couch and saying "I take him". And of course, Garrett is a great helper, doing whatever mom and dad ask him to do and keeping Jackie occupied so she doesn't smother Eli.

Proud big sister!

Holding on for dear life!

Best Buds!

Just chillin'!

Getting Aquainted!

It was really nice being able to take two weeks off of work (paid!!!!) to be home Eli and try and help Kristel out with the other two. Try is the operative word here. I don't think we are ever going to have a clean house again. Oh well. The other nice thing about having the time off though was I got to go down to Phoenix on the 9th and see Sunny Day Real Estate with all my siblings. It was an epic night. All four original members back together and sounding like they haven't been apart for the past ten plus years. Jeremy's voice was amazing. I would have to say my favorite singer ever. If there is any chance of them putting out a new album I will probably wet myself.

And then on Wednesday we celebrated Garrett's 7th birthday. I can't believe that. I can remember when he was as bis as Eli is now. He had a good birthday. We didn't really do a big party for him but we got him some good stuff and Kristel made a cake for him that looked just like the omnitrix from Ben Ten. He was pretty psyched about that. Anyway just a few more pictures and then that will probably be it for at least a couple months.

Isn't he handsome?

Some feat was just accomplished.

Finished eating and just passed out with milk dripping down his face.

Our newest little monkey boy!

I Miss You!!!

Well, I got through yesterday without too much trouble and so I thought today I would just pay a small tribute to my hero. Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of my mom's passing. For the most part it went by as a pretty normal day but I did have a pretty heavy heart. My mom was my best friend, my mentor and counselor, someone who always encouraged me to be my best self and made feel like I was somebody important. She never missed one of my sporting events. My freshman year I had to fight with her to let me play football, she was dead set against it. She did not want me did get hurt and she didn't like the competitive nature of it, but she eventually relented. And she was my biggest supporter that entire year. She did this for all six of us. She may not have always agreed with our decisions but she always stood by us. She had a smile that could light up a room. She also had a dark side, unfortunately. But when she was happy there was no funner (she would be telling me right now that that is not a word) person to be around. She was an amazing listener. She was always more than willing to set aside her problems and listen to whatever I was struggling with and empathize. She never made me feel like what I was telling her was silly. I remember after my freshman year my girlfriend from the whole school year had broken up with me. I was heartbroken (being the big softy that I am). My mom was probably happy (she hated the girl) but she consoled and listened like always and took me out for ice cream. She was passionate. If she ever tried anything, it was with all she had. She LOVED music!! I'm glad I got that from her. We could sit together for hours and listen to all kinds of different stuff and talk about it. I treasured that time. Again, she was my hero and I miss her more than I could ever express. You would think it would get easier after ten years but for some reason it doesn't. Part of it may be the circumstances under which she died. As many may know she struggled with substance abuse almost her whole life. Part of this is why I admired her so much. I saw her hit total rock bottom a couple of times and then climb right out of it. She was so strong at times. But for the last few years of her life she was in an abusive relationship. Not physically, but emotionally. She was with someone for whom nothing was ever good enough. And for my mom, who already had a very low opinion of herself, this was almost unbearable. So she turned to alcohol. She was found in an alley with a bottle of vodka next to her. It's hard to have this be the last thing you hear about the person that you admire most in the world. But in a way I am also grateful for the struggles that my mom had because it has taught me the kind of person that I want to be. I was able to take the good and the bad from my mom's life and apply it to my own. And despite her shortcomings and weaknesses I still think she is the best person I've ever known. I miss you mom and I love you and I look forward to the day when we can be reunited.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!!

Kids say the funniest things. Even sometimes it is something so simple but sounds so funny coming from them. Lately I have not been Daddy to Jackie, I am now John. Kristel said yesterday Jackie got out of bed went into our room woke up Kristel and asked "Where's John?" If I go upstairs to do something you can hear her down there yelling at the top of her lungs "JOHN, 'MERE." She is getting good with her animal sounds to, but those come out so funny sometimes. To her a cow says "BOOOOO." She is obsessed with animals. Anytime she sees a dog or a horse on TV she starts to go nuts. It's hillarious.

Garrett is just as funny. He was hungry and wanted a snack the other day and thought that some Ritz crackers sounded good. When he asked Kristel for some she explained to him that she had eaten the rest of them earlier that day. Now keep in mind she is pregnant and gets really sick if she doesn't eat every couple of hours. Garrett proceeded to say to her "There's no food left, Mommy. You eat all of it." Not too long after that we were sitting down for breakfast and He and I were drinking some orange juice. He asked me why orange juice was so sour sometimes. I explained that it was because it has a lot of acid in it (I don't know if that was right, but is sounded good). His response: "I hate ass, Dad. Ass makes it taste bad." Yes, son, it does.

HAPPY iPOD DAY!!!

So, last Christmas, Kristel helped me to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams by finally getting me an iPod (okay, maybe "lifelong dream" is a bit of an over statement, but I wanted one for a couple of years at least by the time we got it). It was one of the happiest days of my life. We (the iPod and I) went everywhere together and shared some super special experiences. That was until one very dark day this past winter when the thing crashed on me. I was crushed. I thought my life was over. I had lost my best friend. Eventually, I did pick myself up from the ashes of my shattered life and decided to just take things one day at a time. I saved a little each week and by my cunning convinced Kristel to cover whatever portion I didn't save by my Birthday for a new iPod. And so, here it is....

Oh what joy filled my life once again. Only this time it's even better. 120 gigs!!! That's like 13 years of music. Which only means I have to start buying CD's at a superhuman pace now. Or maybe not. (Kristel is giving me the evil eye.) Okay, so this may be a little over the top. But it really is so much easier to carry this one little electronic piece of heaven than it is to lug 500 CD's around. Hopefully this one lasts me for a long time, because I have a feeling if it doesn't I won't be getting another one. Not without selling a kidney anyway. And I probably wouldn't get much for that; who wants a diabetic's kidney?

All joking aside, things are pretty good in the Overman household. The kids have been sick lately but that doesn't seem to slow them down at all, especially our little nudist....

Jackie has gotten to the point where she is not much of a fan of clothes. We will often find her somewhere completely naked and her diaper nowhere to be found. We really have to keep a close eye on her now. And now the weather is finally warming up here, I'm sure it will even get more interesting. I'm totally excited about the weather though. All this snow in the winter is starting to drive me nuts, although this year wasn't too bad. I miss my winters with 70 degree days. I also miss being able to follow my teams in Arizona closely. Maybe that's not a bad thing though, since they seem to keep disappointing me. The Super Bowl was brutal, mostly because the Cards actually gave me some hope, only to have the dagger driven in deeper. I know that was a while ago but sometimes wounds this deep take a while to heal. And the Suns aren't helping with that at all. I think I'm starting to actually hope for the rebuilding to begin. Take a couple of bad years for some good young talent and then see them take off again. How far will ASU make it in the tourney? Who knows, but I'm excited to see them there. The last thing I really miss in AZ is my family. I'm totally bummed that I wasn't there when Carly and Brett's baby boy Kellen was born. She has sent me some pictures and that boy is adorable. I'm excited to see him in May. Anyway, I think that's good for now.

Three's Company or a Crowd?

It's been forever since I have posted anything but it seems like my life is kinda boring and nothing is worth talking about. Plus I'm not much of a picture taker which is what makes these things fun to look at. But I have to post this. Kristel is pregnant again!!! Of course, she has never been good with pregnancy, or maybe I should say it has never been good to her. She has been pretty sick, especially if she doesn't eat every couple of hours. Kristel says she is kinda hoping it's a boy so that Garrett can have a buddy. I really don't have a preference right now, just as long as it is healthy. I'll post more later with details how everything is going along but for now I just wanted to share our exciting news.

Garrett's Birthday and Halloween

Okay so this is really late, I realize, but I wanted to make sure that I got something on here for last month. First off just let me say that my last post talked about how crazy work has been with the stock market and the economy being so volatile. That was nothing. It continues to just tank and people are freaking out even more now. I can understand the older folks who are depending on this money lasting the rest of their lives worrying and bailing out, but what gets me is people who are 35 years old, already riding the market down 45% and then deciding to bail. They have 30 years to recover, they'll get their money back. Anyhow, that's boring stuff nobody really cares too much about.

Last month, on the 14th, was Garrett's birthday. I can't believe he is already six years old. I think he thinks he is sixteen. Now, if you ask him he didn't get nearly enough presents or get to celebrate enough, but he had three parties. On the Monday before his birthday (his birthday was on Tuesday) we went over to his grandma and grandpa's house and his aunt and uncle were also there and he got presents from everybody.

Then on Tuesday, his birthday we opened some more presents with just the four of us.

And then finally on the Friday after his birtday he had another party at our house with all of his friends. He didn't have school that day so Kristel had them all make their own little pizzas and they ate that for lunch, watched "Monster House" and then everbody gave Garrett MORE presents.So after all of this he still wished he could have gotten more. I guess it's tough being a kid.

Of course, Halloween was only a couple weeks later, which he was almost as excited as his birthday about. But for him I don't think he gets all excited for the same reason as most other kids, you know, the glut of candy that they are going to all get. He was excited because he got to dress up a super hero. This kid loves to pretend. This year he was Robin and Jackie was an adorable little cow. This was her first Halloween where she was actually aware that there was something going on. Last year she was only about 4 months old and so she could have cared less. But they were both adorable and had a great time.

They both made out pretty well. Jackie couldn't wait to get into though and proceeded to dump all hers all over the floor in the front room and just started opening everything she could. She didn't really eat any of it. She just wanted to open it. She's funny that way. The night ended really good for me as you can see......

Quick, Sell EVERYTHING!!

This was by far the craziest week I've ever seen since working in the financial industry. Wednesday it seems like everyone was calling to close their accounts and put everything into cash after the second day that week the market had dropped 400+ points on the Dow. We tried to tell people that the market can go up just as quickly as it drops and if that happens they are going to miss out if they are just sitting in cash. The next two days the market was up about 8%. Compared to that they got .01% sitting in money markets. Who knows whats gonna happen going forward but I know I'm glad I didn't cash out. I didn't really talk too much about Garrett's first day of school. The funniest thing about was Kristel totally stressing out about what he was gonna wear but I think he ended up looking pretty cute...

How do I look, Mom?

Watch out, ladies, here I come.

Garrett's never been shy of the camera.

Sister has to be in on the action too.

Garrett and his friend, Luke.

So after being in school for a few days I asked him what he has been learning. He said, "Nothing, the teacher just stands up and talks all day, she doesn't teach us anything." Yeah, I had a few of those too!! But he seems to be doing really well. He reads anything he can get his hands on. His teacher even says he is a very good listener. At least he listens to someone. Jackie is jabbering like crazy, it is so funny. You know she is saying something, we just have no idea what it is. She does say "mom" and "uh-oh." The latter phrase comes in handy all the time.

I'm glad I got up this morning...

For those of you who are not LDS, this entry may not interest you too much but I wanted to make sure that I made mention of this morning. I had to get up early (early for a Saturday, anyway) to go the Conference Center in SLC for a regional priesthood leadership meeting. It was an excellent meeting. President Hinkley's son Richard was the first speaker and he talked about the need for more missionaries throughout the world. There are about 8000 less missionaries right now than there were a few years ago but he said they are going out much more prepared and so are more effective in the mission field. He did give some caution to local leaders though to not impose stricter standards than what the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have set, as I guess this has been somewhat of a problem. I was surprised by how much he reminded me of President Hinkley as he spoke. Next Elder Ballard from the Quorum of the Twelve spoke. He talked about the need to be more spiritually converted. He said too many are convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel in their minds but don't have a really strong conviction in their hearts. It really made think of myself and how converted I am to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Finally we got to hear from the Lord's Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. He spoke of the need to be diligent in caring for those around us who need it the most and to always do it in the spirit of love and compassion. As he spoke I could not help but feel so strongly that this man did indeed speak on behalf of the Savior and that he is as much as a Prophet as Moses or any other of the ancient Prophets. So, I am so glad that I resisted the temptation to just shrug this meeting off and get a few extra Z's this morning.

So, I'm not really sure how I am supposed to start this thing but I figured (or rather was forced by my sister, Carly) to step into the 21st century and do a blog. Last week Kristel and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. I can't believe somebody actually has put up with me for that long. I didn't do a great job of planning it so everything was pretty last minute and so we decided to just take a drive up north. It's peach days in Brigham City and so we drove through there and got a bunch of peaches that Kristel wanted to jar up. There was a fruit stand about every 1/4 of a mile and so we just picked one and then kept going on up north. We stopped in Logan for a couple of hours, went to an antique shop and a couple of other cool sites there. Logan is a beautiful town. I wouldn't mind moving up there but I don't think I would be able to find work. From there we went up into Idaho. I don't know why, we had just never been there before so we figured, "What the heck?" We stayed in a small town called Soda Springs in a really cool, old hotel. It was built in 1917 but was restored in 2001 and so was in great shape but had a very vintage feel about it. Just behind it was the only captive geyser in the world. Don't ask me what that means but they were quite proud of the fact. We went out and saw that in the morning before heading back home and boy did that thing stink. We had a nice scenic drive back home, we even saw some buffalo. I had to go back to work the next day but that was Friday so after one day of work I got another two off. I could get used to that schedule. On Monday, Kristel sent me a picture of Jackie that was hilarious. I guess she decided she wanted to start learning how to swim and did not want to wait until we got a pool. She is obsessed with the bathroom and loves to play in the toilet and unravel all the toilet paper. Garrett just started kindergarten and is doing very well. The week before they start class they have to go in for some assessments and one of the things they do is read a story to the children, one on one, and ask some questions to see how well they listen and absorb it. Garrett decided he should read it to the teacher and so he took the book from her and read it to her. She was pretty impressed. He is still a total ball of fire and never seems to run out of energy. The kids are actually our whole life. They wear us out but it is a good kind of worn out.