Happy Holidays!

It has been a while since our last entry, so forgive us for keeping you out of the loop. We have some catching up to do.


For Mike's birthday, we went to an IU football game. They played Penn State, so Mike was excited to see Joe Paterno. We ended up losing, but the game came to a close and exciting finish.


Jonah was a chicken for Halloweeen. We thought it was the perfect costume for him, because of his "chicken fuzz" hair. He went to a Halloween party, but ended up sleeping through the whole thing. Maybe next year will be more exciting for him.

Jonah was blessed on the first Sunday of November, and like a bad Mom, I did not take any pictures of him so there are none to post here. The grandparents took pictures of him in his sweet blessing outfit, so they will have to email them to me. Both sets of grandparents came out, and it was wonderful to have them all here. We went out to eat, visited Nashville, and played with Jonah. The weekend went way too fast, and it was hard to see them go.


We had family pictures taken for our Christmas card. The girl who took them did a great job. Jonah did okay, but I'm pretty sure photo shoots aren't too high on his "Favorite Things" list. Here is a sneak peek...





For Thanksgiving, we flew out to California to surprise Mike's family. After some elaborate lying we tricked Mike's dad into picking us up from the airport, and then surprised his Mom and sisters by leaving Jonah on the doorstep. We had a great time. We ate way too much pie and we couldn't get enough turkey and stuffing. Grandma Nita went all out as usual and everything was delicious. We went to the Jelly Belly factory, which sounds cooler than it actually was. We did get free samples though...always a plus:)


Jonah loved meeting his cousins, and they loved meeting him. As Sam Drummond said, "That was AWESOME!!" And it was:)


On Saturday, we went and bought our first Christmas tree. We picked out a winner and named him Ferguson the Frasier Fir. It smells lovely and we decorated with lots of fun ornaments. Jonah got a little cold at the tree farm, but he was a good boy.


Saturday was also the big BYU football game against Utah. Mike and I were able to watch it and we all dressed up in our cougar gear. Jonah really enjoys watching football on TV and kept trying to peek at the game. We finally had to face him away from the TV and distract him with Christmas books.



Life is good and we hope all of our family and friends are doing well. Until next time...

The Elusive Jonah Smile

So I can finally understand the thrill that being a member of the paparazzi would be. We did our own photo hunting these past weeks and have managed to catch the Jonah David Lowe smile. It's pretty cute. We've included a bunch of pictures, because we've gotta give the people what they want.
Kristin and I went on a train ride with the cub scouts on Saturday. It was an hour away in French Lick, Indiana. You may know French lick as the boyhood home of Larry Bird, or perhaps as the birthplace of Tomato Juice. It is both. It is also home to the French Lick railroad and we enjoyed the ride. We got to see a bunch of southern Indiana scenery, ride through the woods, and see Larry Bird's house out the window.
About half an hour into the ride, the train stopped in a field to deliver its strong box to the stage coach for safe transportation. The stage coach came running up along side of the train with all six horses in a gallop. While the shotgun rider was bringing the box back to the coach, three horseback robbers came flying out of the woods, shot the cowboy with the box, made the stagecoach driver reach for the sky, blasted open the lock and started to unload the contents. Just when we thought they were coming for us next, the sheriff came riding along and shot the bandits, saving the day. It was great. We included a picture of a robber trying to steal Jonah. We wouldn't give him up, even though Jones was excited about the prospect of being raised by train robbers at an Indiana woods hideout.
On our way back we stopped in Paoli for some apple dumplings. The leaves are changing color, and the ride back over the rolling Indiana hills was just beautiful.
Today we ate peach cobbler.

Enjoy the pictures of Mom, dad and Jones!

Grandma Comes to Town

After a mix up with Jonah's baby blessing date (due to a "surprise" Stake Conference this weekend), Grandma Anita came to visit this weekend to meet her newest grandbaby after she decided she couldn't wait until his rescheduled baby blessing in November. We ate yummy food, shopped, and just enjoyed spending time together. She thinks Jonah is a "10" on the Cute Scale, so he will fit right in with the other Lowe grandkids. We look forward to having all of the grandparents and Dirk and Marissa out for the baby blessing in November.
Life seems to be getting busier as Mike and I get more into the routine of school, parenthood, and church callings. Mike is studying hard in school and was excited to learn that he will have an opportunity to work with the renowned IU music school as he works in the Entrepeneurship Academy.
Jonah really seems to love hanging out with his dad whether its bath time or taking a nap. Jonah saves most of his smiles for Mike, which makes me a little jealous, but that's okay.

I have had a lot of fun opportunities to get to know the girls in the area. I attended an all day conference for women in Indianapolis where I was able to hear various LDS speakers, go out to lunch, and do a little shopping (which is a lot more fun now that I don't have to worry about a big pregnant belly). It was fun to spend a whole day out of the house with friends. I have picked up various projects including scrapbooking (which I swore I would never do) and decorating Jonah's room. If anyone has any ideas for a nautical theme let me know.

Jonah is starting to smile more and he slept 7 hours last night! which is absolutely amazing. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and went to check on him thinking he was dead. He was sleeping soundly. I sure hope this trend keeps up.

Here are more pictures of Jonah just because he's so cute.

Jonah's One Month Birthday!

It has been over a month since our last entry. On July 25th we welcomed our new baby boy, Jonah David Lowe, into the world. He was 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long, which was bigger than the doctor had expected. He was born with a head full of fuzzy blonde hair that all the nurses just couldn't get over. We think he has Kristin's eyes and lips and MIke's little turned up nose. We think we've sent most of you pictures, but we've posted some recent ones.
Mike has been through three weeks of orientation and starts his official first day of school tomorrow. He has learned a lot thus far and is looking forward to his study of marketing and entrepreneurship and corporate innovation. (Sounds impressive, right?)

Kristin is enjoying being a new mom and has only had a few moments where she wanted to throw the baby out the window. She has made friends with the other MBA students' wives as they all mourn over the sudden disappearance of their husbands to the Kelley school.

We still love Bloomington and are continuing to discover yummy restaurants, beautiful parks, and interesting people. We have discovered that the Chocolate Moose has the best ice cream in town, that Bryan Park is great for strolling with a baby and Saturday night movies, and that MBA students still love to kick back one too many drinks at social events.
Until next time! (Which will hopefully be brought to you sooner than a month.)

For the Glory of Old IU!

Kristin and I are now Hoosiers. We are safe and sound in Bloomington, Indiana - a little south of Indianapolis. I made the long, long drive out here from Utah with my parents and got things set up for Kristin. The great belly flew out on July 11th and we have just been waiting on a baby ever since. We love Indiana already and will post some pictures. It is green, humid, spacious and beautiful. We went for a walk our first day here and saw two deer in the woods next to our house. We have watched concerts and movies in the park, explored our dining options, and gotten to know Bloomington. We visited the farmers market last saturday and made a lovely dinner with some of our finds - fried green tomatoes, corn on the cob, and homemade blackberry ice cream. Oh my. The ward is great, the school is great, our apartment is great, and everything is ready to go...EXCEPT WE CAN'T GET THE BABY OUT! Now, given that the due date is still a week away (July 26), but we just really want that baby now! We are ready to go and I start school on the 6th, so we'd like him to JUST COME OUT AND PLAY! Hmmm, maybe we'll go for another walk.