Here are the long-awaited pictures. . .

I picked out just a few because even though we took a bunch, they really all do look the same. So, here they are.

The Stork Has Arrived!

The countdown is over! Our little Snappy is here! Carli Raquel Cowan was born on Saturday, November 24 at 6:26 am, weighed 7 lb 7 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long. She is a beautiful baby girl with a full head of dark hair and a dimple in her chin just like her dad's. Due to technical difficulties with cameras and such, we are working on getting her pictures posted as soon as possible since I know a description of her just doesn't cut it. Anyway, everything went quite smoothly - thankfully - and we are grateful for everyone's health and wellness. She came a little early (which none of you guessed, except someone who I think cheated on the poll) and we are currently loving the stuffing right out of our little girl and are excited to make her a part of our little family. I will post pictures as soon as the camera charges up tonight. Thanks for all of your thoughts and congratulations!

Happy Halloween!

After the brawl, Spanish, French and Brazilian soccer fans get together to smile for the picture.
Here's Snappy's first costume. We felt like our theme was pretty creative, but somehow people didn't quite see it. They understood why Logan (French soccer hooligan) and Ben (Brazilian soccer hooligan) were in a fight, but somehow they'd miss my stomach altogether. Maybe people are trained not to look at pregnant women's bellys. Anyway, it was fun and for those of you wondering, my shirt is actually homemade. Can you believe Logan drew that soccer ball? What an artist, eh? Well, we hope you all have a happy Halloween!

Only 6 more weeks!?

I guess it's been awhile since we updated everyone. Things here are going well. Logan and I spend our time working and playing pretty much. The past month has gone by so quickly, I can't believe that November is just next week! We realized that Saturday was one of two free Saturday's we had before Snappy's proposed arrival, so we tried to jump into action and get the nursery semi-set up. Here is her room so far. It still needs quite a bit of work, but we felt good about the progress we made. We just can't wait to have her little cuteness in there!

Here is an updated picture of me, Snappy, and the hair. It feels like she's getting pretty cramped in there with all her wiggling. We are so excited for her to finally get here!

Hey Everyone,

Logan here, I am still round in the middle as well unfortunately. No need to embarass myself with a picture update. (my hair is pretty much the same as well) :~) I just wanted to say hi and update everyone about the work that I have been doing for Epic. I am currently working on the Epic Radiant team. Radiant is Epic's radiology software. I am still in training so the majority of my time is spent in class, studying, and completing exams and projects. I enjoy the company very much and the people that I work with are great. Eventually I will do quality assurance work meaning testing new software applications and assist in future product developement. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to. Logan

ps to all of you Grey's Anatomy fans out there, all on set computers will now be sporting Epic software so check out the Epic logo on the screens. Just thought you might find it interesting.

Game Day!

It was game day today for Logan and Ben. They went to the Wisconsin vs. Michigan State game. We spent the morning around the Capitol building at the farmer's market and then went to lunch before the boys headed off to the game. It is perfect weather here right now, and I don't want it to change. Anyway, it was a fun weekend and it was great to end it in a win for Wisconsin!

On State Street (the pedestrian street on campus, downtown) everyone was wearing their UW gear.

Here are Logan and Ben, who look like they belong in this sea of red!

What do you have for them, Rod? A NEW CAR!

Here she is! Isn't it a beaut? We started looking for another car a little while ago because we weren't prepared to deal with the hassle it would be to put a car seat in the back of little 2-door Nelly. We hadn't really expected to buy one so quickly (even though it has been a bit of a pain coordinating transportation for the two of us in opposite directions to work each day) but we found a deal we couldn't pass up. We love it so far, and it will be especially useful for us in our expanding family.
Other than that, we seem to be settling in here. It has been a busy month for us, but we have really enjoyed our life here so far. We have met so many great people and have had a lot of really great opportunities. I have to admit, I am still holding out a bit of judgement for the winter. We both like our jobs a lot (although I am having a bit of a struggle adjusting to teaching middle school instead of high school) and for now we are just trying to relax and enjoy life with just the two of us before little Snappy joins us in a couple of months. It's crazy how quickly time has flown! Hard to believe she will be here so soon, but we are so excited! Well, just wanted to update you all on our little adventures!

Our new home. . .

I don't usually post unless I have some pictures to go with it, but I felt like I should update everyone on what's going on. So far we are loving Wisconsin and we have never met so many nice people in such a short amount of time. I have to admit that it is hard to take the accent seriously, since I picture the Mom from Bobby's World everytime I hear it. . . "Doncha know". We got completely moved in by last weekend and worked on getting all of the other moving in things done (like visiting the DMV, etc. If anyone was wondering, we did not meet a single nice person there, no different from anywhere else.) I looked for teaching positions on a whim on Tuesday and had a job and started at a middle school on Thursday and I start teaching on Tuesday. Kind of crazy how things work sometimes, but I think I'll really enjoy it. Logan also starts work on Tuesday, so we're excited. For now we are trying to outfit our apartment with a few new things since we aren't students anymore. Other than that we have been enjoying beautiful weather (with lots of mosquitos), garage saleing, watching Snappy move around (she's become quite active recently), and relaxing before we have to start working again. We'll be sure to update everyone as we start our jobs and continue to settle in here. Thanks for all your prayers and help!

Madison or Bust!

Everyone,

We have finally arrived in Madison. Our roadtrip out here was wonderful. We departed from Provo on Tuesday (8/22) morning and drove 8 hours east to Ogallalla Nebraska. We stayed the night there and continued to Winter Quarters (Omaha) Nebraska on Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon we had the oppurtunity to attend the Winter Quarters temple which is beautifu beyond description. We also visited the cemetary and Mormon Trail Museum. We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast (the picture is us in front of the bed and breakfast with the river view in the background) in Council Bluffs Iowa on Wednesday night. Winter Quarters was beautiful and anyone passing through should try to do a session and see the sights. Thursday we continued on to Madison and arrived around 5 in the afternoon. Our apartment is nice (I am sure that Cheeks will have pictures shortly). We are getting unpacked and settled. Cheeks has worked tirelessly since we arrived to make our little place a home. I am grateful for her. It is wonderful to live near Ben and Rachel and we are very grateful for their help and hospitality. We are happy to be here and happy to begin a new chapter in our lives. I start at Epic on September 4th. I will let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for all of your love and support. Logan

p.s. We knew we weren't in Utah anymore when they told us this was the "Ski Area" of Nebraska and Iowa. Are they sure they didn't mean "sledding area"? Pathetic, huh? - Kate

Park City Reunion

We spent the weekend in Park City with most of the Jones family. It was nice and relaxing and a lot of fun to get together with the family before our big move. Everyone (except me) went on the alpine slides, we relaxed in the pool and hot tub, and played games. We were sad to miss Callie, Andrew and Thomas, but it was good to get as many people as possible together. Hopefully it won't be too long before it happens again.

Logan's Graduation

Logan is now a college graduate! Friday morning he got to wear that cap and gown. It was a nice ceremony, even if it was too early in the morning. We celebrated by eating lunch at Tucanos and then spending the weekend in Park City with the Jones family. We couldn't have asked for a better way to end our tenure here in Provo.

As you can see, Logan was plumb tuckered out after finals week and packing up to move. He certainly deserved a little rest before we head out to Wisconsin. Good job, Logan, I'm so proud of you!

Some last pics in Provo

We spent some time with Lanie and Kris this weekend and it is sad to think that we are not going to be able to just hang out in a few weeks. We played some croquet for old time's sake in the park where Logan proposed. We certainly have good memories here (college, dating, marriage, friends, apartments, roommates, etc). And even though neither of us planned on staying here after we finished school, we will miss it. How could you not miss those mountains? Anyway, I guess we're getting a little sentimental about leaving soon and realizing that we are in for some major changes here in the next weeks and months. We look forward to them, but change always takes some effort and time.

This is what I do everyday. . .

So, it may be weird, but I was so excited at work yesterday because I got to look through all of the baby blessing dresses and pick a few of the flawed ones for free. They only have tiny, unnoticeable flaws, but these two are my favorite. They look like miniature prom dresses - aren't they adorable? I will have a hard time choosing which one to bless our little girl in. Anyway, this is what I get to make everyday (and temple dresses), so it can be pretty fun.

Second Anniversary Already!

Hey Everyone,

Kate and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend in St. George in celebration of our 2nd wedding anniversairy. We left Provo saturday afternoon and drove to St. George. We stayed in the Ava House pictured above across the street from Brigham Young's summer home in St. Geroge's historic district. The front room of our suite was particularly cozy so we included a picture. Saturday night we ate at St. George's Painted Pony restaurant. It was wonderful. Following dinner we went to My Fair Lady at Tuacahn Ampitheatre's Broadway in the Desert. The show was great and the acting was superb. We drove home this morning and visited Grandma and Grandpa Jones who both seemed to be doing quite well. It was a wonderful weekend and I am grateful for Kate, she is truly wonderful. Logan

Logan is graduating!

Here is the graduation announcement I finally got around to making for Logan. I figured I might as well post it here since we are only sending out a few announcements to family. It looks a little nicer when it's not posted on a blog.

We are proud to announce the graduation of

Logan Thomas Cowan

from

Brigham Young University

With a Bachelors of Arts in
International Relations
and minors in
Business Management and French.


University commencement will be held on Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

The David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies convocation will be held on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 8:00 a.m. in the Joseph Smith Building auditorium.

Upon graduation Logan and Kate will move to Madison, Wisconsin where Logan will begin working for Epic Systems Corporation and where they expect their first child in December.

Finally, a sure destination. . .

We finally made a decision! And after so much thought and prayer about several different job offers, it's kind of ironic that we have decided to stick with the first one - Epic in Madison, WI. It's nice to finally have a sure plan, although now that means we have to start planning the move. We're excited to think about going out into the wild blue yonder, although it will certainly be different than what we're used to out West. We'd still like any comments about the area if you know much about it. Anyway, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers in helping us FINALLY come up with this decision.

Dallas or Madison?

Well, the choices have now changed. Portland is out of the picture and now we have to decide between Madison and Dallas. We're having a hard time deciding between the companies and locations, but we have to know by the end of next week so we can give our answer. Kind of a scary thought. But, for now we're off to Oregon to visit Logan's family and have a bit of a summer vacation. I'm excited because I finally found a job sewing temple dresses and baby blessing outfits. What better job could you ask for? Anyway, we'll keep you updated about the job decision and where we're headed in August. Wish us luck! (And, we'd appreciate any comments from any of you who have experience in either Madison or Dallas. We need all the help we can get! Please comment!)

Happy Father's Day!

Well, even though it was a busy as usual Sunday, we certainly found time to celebrate Fathers Day. And what better way to celebrate than with food! We had a lasagna dinner with breadsticks and salad, then of course, it can't be a holiday unless Logan gets his cherry cream cheese pie. Yesterday he went out and picked a bowlful of pie cherries from the tree in front of our complex and today I made them into a pie. Logan will soon be getting a new addition to his disc golf collection - his father's day gift. I guess next year at this time he will be packing our little Carli, or Charlotte, or Camille, or Annabelle, (you see why we call her Snappy for now) around the disc golf course in a backpack. We certainly can't wait for that. Anyway, we wish we could show you pictures of the pie, but we need to get batteries for the camera. So, as soon as we do, we'll post more pictures. Happy Father's Day!

Our first ultrasound.

Well, technology is pretty amazing. Logan and I got a free ultrasound today because I agreed to be part of some research at the hospital. I am only 14 weeks along today, but if you look below the radiologist was able to get some clear pictures. We tried not to get our hopes up, but we were happily surprised! Isn't she beautiful?!

More ultrasound pics

A 3-D image of Snappy
Looking down on her.
Her adorable, tiny, little feet!

Our little girl!

Well, here she is. . . our little girl! She was very cooperative for us. And only at 14 weeks!

Here is her cute little face looking at us. The radiologist kept mentioning "her cute little chin".
Her profile with her fist to her face.
Her profile without her fist.
Her model pose.