Quadin'

Easter weekend we went out to the desert and went quad riding. Just us and the boys. We had a blast. The boys drove us all over the desert.
Then they played in the dirt and found some targets to shoot at.

And after a short rest, some snacks, and showing off the muscles. . .
Oh, and play time with Coleson. . .
They shot their guns and bows and arrows.
After the shoot out, Tommy took Bridon and Danner to do some jumps on the quads. This was the highlight for them.
But, of course, no trip would be complete without some kind of accident or mishap. Just as Tommy was getting ready to load the quads, he was doing a little hot dogging for the boys and rolled the quad. Luckily nobody was hurt (except for the quad). I was too freaked out to get a picture of the accident, but here is Tommy holding a piece of the broken quad. The boys thought he was awesome.

Spring Break

Well I am finally getting around to writing about Spring Break. The kids had off 3/17 - 3/22 for Spring Break. We started off the weekend by going to my grandma's 80th birthday party at the church in Taylor. We decided to stay at Grandma Deen's cabin that night after the party. Then Tommy was going to go home on Sunday and I was going to stay a couple of days longer. By Sunday afternoon a couple of us weren't feeling too good and it was very cold there, so we all decided to come home.

The weather was so nice here and so on Monday we enjoyed a day of playing outside and then in the afternoon we went to the movies. In the picture is the group of boys I dared take to the movies (No Coleson, thank heavens. My neighbor kept him for nap time.) We went and saw "Horton Hears a Who." I don't know how great of a movie it was, but all seven of these boys (two of them only 3 years old) sat through the whole movie with barely a peep. That earns 5 stars in my book.

Did I mention how nice the weather was this week? So, on Tuesday Velvet and I took a bunch of kids to the park. There were 12 in all (13 if you count Coleson). I don't know how many times I must have counted to 12 that day, but we had fun and returned home with all 13. WOW!

Wednesday we decided that bowling sounded like fun, for the kids at least. It was all kind of a blur for me. The 3 and 4-year-olds had a lane of there own. Good thing, because they did not want to wait their turn. I didn't really get much of a chance to watch the other kids, but they all said they had fun. Then us crazy moms decided it would be fun to take them to Panda Express for lunch. Ha! Ha! I don't think I have ever received so many dirty looks in my life.
Thursday we decided to brave the zoo. Surprisingly, it didn't seem too crowded once we were inside, and we all had a great time. The kids favorite part, of course, was petting the sting rays. But a close second would have to be throwing their lunches to the ducks.

Who are those cute boys?

I thought we left the monkeys in the zoo?

On Friday we did nothing. It was great. We slept in. We played games. We played outside. We watched movies. We read books. We played with Coleson. I am grateful for my amazing boys and look forward to summer and more days like this one.

Fishing With Papa

Well, it had been too long since the Bowen boys had been fishing, so we decided to give it a whirl! The Crappie are supposed to start biting in early spring and so we tried our hand at Roosevelt Lake. Did I mention supposed to start biting? Let's just say this was more of a 'get to know ya day' at the lake. After about 2 hours of not catching anything at our first 'hot spot', we decided to move to another location, only to realize that our boat wouldn't start up again. After taking the engine shell off and tinkering for about a half an hour, we finally got it started up again. We headed across the lake to our next spot. The fish finder sure seemed to think there were fish underneath us, but Danner said "the fish must be fasting today!" We were fishing for Crappie mostly with worms and minnows and after a while, I must admit, I think Bridon and Danner were more interested in the worms and minnows than catching fish. Then, finally, Papa Bowen reeled in a fish! It was a Bass, not a Crappie, but nevertheless, it gave us hope! The boys thought for sure they needed to be using the same crank bait that Papa was using so they started casting back and forth and every which way. We spent the next hour worrying about getting a hook in our ear or one of the boys casting himself in the lake, but they did get a little better after a while. We tried several different spots with the same results. Papa ended up catching one more bass the rest of the day! That's right. Papa - 2, Bowen boys - 0. Actually we started the day with a bet and it was Papa and Danner against Dad and Bridon. So team Papa/Danner took the win for the day! We lost a few lewers in the water, had a few cast into trees or onto the bank, lost a hat in the water (we got it back), almost got stranded, and had our share of "I think I got a bites", but hey, we wouldn't trade it for anything?!
Meanwhile. . . Kyler and Coleson were home with mom enjoying the nice weather and going to the Family Easter Egg Hunt our ward had that day. I don't have any pictures of that because I sent my camera with Tommy. The primary was the one putting it on and so I had to be there early to help set up. It was so cute because all of us had our little kids were there that morning. Bro. Hawks, 1st counselor in our bishopric, took all of these little kids and had them help him hide Easter eggs. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. The kids hunted Easter eggs and then we had a picnic of hot dogs, chips and orange slices. Yummy! What a fun day. (3/8/08)

Boys Basketball

Danner is an awesome little basketball player. We had so much fun watching him play basketball. His team was so cute and it was true entertainment to watch. Danner would get into the games so much. When he got his award at the end of the season party, his coach said something about each boy and he said, "Danner always wanted to play his hardest. Whenever he would go in he would always say that he wanted to guard the best and biggest guy."

Bridon also played basketball this year and did amazing. He learned so much and was always one of the top scorers and rebounders on his team. He was also a lot of fun to watch, but it was also a little more stressful. Tommy would get much more vocal, and frustrated, at Bridon's games. We had a blast watching them both play. Thanks for the good times boys.

Pinewood Derby

Saturday(3/1/08) was our Stake's Pinewood Derby. After not having a very fast car last year, Tommy and Bridon decided that they wanted to put their time into making a fast car this year. Well it must have paid off because Bridon's car never lost any of the races it was in. They decided that next year they want to work on putting together a car that looks really awesome. I love the Pinewood Derby and the chance that it gives Bridon and Tommy to do something together.
There were three or four cars that never lost any races, so the dads got these cars together after the pinewood derby was over and raced them. I heard that Connor's won, but of course all of the dads made the excuse that the middle lane was the fastest and so whoever was in the middle lane would win. Silly boys!!!

Bowen & Malia's Wedding

Here is Bowen waiting for his lovely bride. Wedding time: 5:01. Time here: 5:40. Is she coming?
Here comes the beautiful bride, and well worth the wait. Doesn't she look great.
Bowen and Malia's wedding party.

Bowen and Malia had tables set up in the middle of their reception that were filled with all sorts of candy, cookies, brownies, candy, candy, and more candy. Danner circled the table the whole night in a trance.
Here he is, still circling, still filling his candy bag.
Kyler and his Papa after Kyler found the prize of all prizes, a lollipop bigger than his head.
Bridon and his broken lollipop. What he doesn't know is that it is actually Kyler's broken lollipop and Kyler was so sad that I gave his lollipop to Kyler.
Do you notice the huge cookie in Coleson's hand. He couldn't miss out on the fun. WOW was it hard getting these kids to bed that night. Thanks Bowen and Malia. We love you guys.

Rehersal Dinner

On Thursday, 2/28/08, Bowen and Malia had a rehersal dinner in preparation for their wedding on Friday. We had a good time, minus the kids this time. Thanks for the entertainment and the yummy food.