Boytrapped

Coleson's Best Buddy

2010-09-30T07:55:00.001-07:00

This morning at breakfast, Kyler was teasing Coleson. He was trying to scare him with a scary mask and so Coleson started scratching at Kyler and crying. His nails were kind of long and he ended up scratching Kyler's arm pretty bad. Kyler was crying and crying, so I took out the finger nail clippers to clip Coleson's nails and he said, "why are you cutting my nails?" I told him it was because they were too long and sharp. He said, "because I scratched my Best Buddy Kyler?" I started to laugh and said, yep because you scratched your Best Buddy Kyler.

Sweet Kyler

2010-09-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have to talk about my sweet Kyler for just a little bit. This summer he did swim team. Wow, can you see that little guy swimming 25 yards? He did a great job and was so fun to watch.

I want to share a couple of sweet things that Kyler has recently said. The first was after he went to a sleepover at his friend Dayson's house. He came home and said that some of the boys were fighting over whether a particular toy or the x-box was the best thing in the world and he said, "Mom, I said really softly that I think Jesus is the best thing in the world." Talk about tugging at my heart!

Then a couple of weeks later, we were at church and Kyler's primary teacher came up to me and said that she was talking about Jesus and his life and the Atonement. As she was telling them about the Atonement, Kyler was tearing up and she could tell he was really touched by the spirit. Later on that day, Kyler shared with me that he was really touched by what Sis. Daniel had shared and that he was getting tears in his eyes when she was talking about Jesus and about him being on the cross. I grateful to be a member of this church and to have such amazing primary teachers to testify to my children of Jesus and the love that their Savior has for them.

Back to School

2010-09-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Back to school for the kiddos this year was a big change. After a very stressful decision, the boys are attending Franklin this year. Here is a pic of them with their cousins who also go there. Change is hard, probably more for me than the boys. They are doing great and really like it there. Bridon has Mr. Amerson, Danner has Mrs. Chudler, and Kyler has Mrs. McKinney. I love all of their teachers.

Summer in a Nutshell

2010-09-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

May 15 - Repelling with the YW/YM

May 17 - Swim Team begins

June 14 - 14th Anniversary

June 16-19 - Danner went to Grand Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa Allen and cousin David

June 22-26th - Lindsey goes to Girls Camp

July 2-4 - 4th of July weekend at Johnson's Cabin - So much fun!

July 25-28 - Lindsey and Boys go to visit Grandma, Papa, and Grandma Deen at the cabin. Thanks for a fun time! Lots of rain, playing games, playing catch, movies. Coleson sick but pretty good despite the fact.

July 29-30 - Arizona Grand (see above picture). Had a great time playing and swimming, staying up until 2 in the morning with the Johnsons. So much fun!

Sweet Hubby

2010-05-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

So On Mother's Day Tommy gave me a poem to read and I thought it was so sweet, but I also thought it was probably just something he found on the internet. Well, today I found out that he made up the whole thing by himself just for me. Wow! I do not deserve him! So, here it is:

Mothers

Children grow up wanting many things -

Little boys want puppies and swords and guns

Knives and ropes and anything fun

The girls love dolls and dresses andd playing house

They like glitter and crafts and lukewarm baths

But at the end of the day, what every child really wants is a mother to say "I love you"

Kinds and presidents and rulers of nations command millions by their very words, yet none is greater than a mother who simply says, "I love you

A mother's gentle kiss is better than any medicine or bandaid in the world

A story told by a mother is greater than all the movies and songs combined

At times her knowledge knows no bounds

Her prayers are so faithful they take a fast train to Heaven

Falling asleep on a thousand blankets cannot compare to falling asleep in mother's arms

She is soft and gentle and full of hope

Only mother has the ability to see her children through the eyes of God himself

She can see their future and she knows what they can become

Only a mother is brave enough to face and army alone for her child, yet meek enough to shed countless tears when her child is pained

A mother's physical, mental and emotional anguish goes largely unnoticed by the passing crowd, yet she presses forward, and all this because of her love of a child

No sleep, no money, no recognition, yet her inner beauty shows forth brighter and brigher each day

No single person can have a more profound impact on a child, a family, a community or a nation than a loving and devoted mother.

Thank God for Mothers!

Catching up

2010-05-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

I have determined that I am never going to catch up unless I forget about posting pictures and just catch up with writing and then start from scratch. I want to backtrack a little bit though because I forgot a few things in October:

October 17, 2009 - My little niece McKinzie was baptized. What a sweet moment. I know of know other child with a sweeter, more pure heart than McKinzie. It was extra sweet because of all that she has been through the past couple of years. We are so grateful and blessed to have McKinzie with us still this day. I love her so much and am constantly amazed by her.

October 28, 2009 - Another amazing girl was baptized. Her name is Briana. She is 18 years old and joined the church all on her own. She has no support from her family and is one amazing girl. She will graduate this year and recently told me that she wants to be a seminary teacher. Wow! She amazes me with her testimony and her strength.

Ok, now on to December - What a fun, crazy, exhausting month. Filled with friends and family and lots, and lots of food. The youth got to do baptisms this month and it was a great experience. We were able to go really early in the morning. I love early morning things. It seems like the spirit is so much stronger at that time. And it was amazing as we walked outside the sun was low in the sky and it was beautiful. The sky was some amazing colors. The whole experience was very sweet.

Christmas was good. We kept things really low-key this year and I loved it. We were able to spend more of our time with friends and family and with good neighbors. One night we had a little block party on our street and closed off our street and watched the Polar Express and drank hot chocolate and had cookies.

We were supposed to leave the day after Christmas for Tommy's family's cabin; but after some coaxing from the kids, they convinced me to leave Christmas Day. This will probably not happen again unless I am planning on it and ready to go beforehand. I didn't love trying to clean up and leave for the cabin on Christmas day, but once we were there it was so fun. Of course everything wasn't in tiptop shape when we left and while we were gone our fire alarm started going off and wouldn't shut off. So, firemen had to break into our house and make sure everything was okay. Yep, in case you didn't know if there is dust on your fire alarms it makes them go off. That was fun.

January 2010- Danner had his first pinewood derby in January. Took the Youth on a Snow trip, went sledding up by Sunrise and stayed in one of the leader's cabins. We had such a good time.

Bridon and Danner started taking guitar lessons on the guitars that they got for Christmas. They are already doing such a good job and seem to love it so much. I am excited to see them learn so much so quickly and its nice to have some music in our home. I love music.

February - The beginning of February we had New Beginnings. We had a pageant theme. One of my leaders made sashes for all of the girls and they all dressed up and were amazing. One of my leaders sisters used to do pageants and we had her come talk to the girls. She was amazing. They each represented a value. Their sashes that they wore were the color of the value that they represented. It was such a sweet night.

Over Valentine's weekend Tommy took the boys to the cabin and gave me a weekend to myself. Wow, what a sweetheart. I have no idea why he is so sweet to me.

February/March 2010 - We went quading several times. The weather was so nice and we would take a quick 15 minute drive out to Tommy's Grandmas land and go riding. It had rained quite a bit so it was muddy and we went mud bogging. I wish i could post pictures of how muddy all the kids (and myself) got while we were out there. It was a blast. Then me and the boys went again over spring break with Tommy's parents and his sister Shellee and her family. I really love and appreciate when they take me with them on the outings when Tommy can't come. I love Tommy's family and we always have such a good time with them.

April 2010 - I loved Easter this year. It happened to fall on the first Sunday of April which is when we have General Conference. It is my favorite to sit and listen to the prophet and apostles speak on Easter Sunday. Since my dad was put in as a patriarch last year, he and my mom had tickets to go to Conference. So they were gone this Easter. My kids were a little bummed about that, but thought it was cool that they got to go Conference. That evening we were able to go to Tommy's parents. Tommy's mom had everyone do an egg toss with real eggs (not hard boiled), Kyler was playing. He was doing pretty good, and then one time they were getting pretty far away from each other and his partner tossed it and it cracked open right on his eye. Kyler freaked. It was hilarious.

On the 17th, we had Kyler's birthday party. This is actually Coleson's birthday, but since he is so little we decided we would just celebrate his early so that we could have Kyler's on Saturday. It was so funny because everyone kept saying, "Coleson is it your birthday today?" and Coleson would say, "I already had my birthday!" This was Kyler's first year for a party. We set up slip and slides at my moms and let the kids play in the water. A little pizza and a pinata and oh what a party!

Then the weekend of the 24th was Tommy's birthday. Thanks to Shelli, my brothers wife, for watching my kids for the night so that we could go out. That Sunday we all went to church and it was fast and testimony meeting because our ward was going to have Stake Conference the next week. Bridon got up and bore the sweetest testimony I have ever heard. It was pretty sweet because once I asked him why he never bears his testimony and he told me, "Mom, when I bear my testimony I want to say something that really means something to me." And he did. I still have people come and say what a sweet testimony it was. He told how he had been reading in the scriptures about how to find out if something is true or not and knew that he needed to pray about it. So that night after reading his scriptures, he prayed to know whether it was true and he said, "I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night." Wow, what an example he is to me.

Our time in April and May has been filled with getting Bridon to Basketball and Danner to Football twice a week and weekends full of games. Tommy took them Turkey Hunting over the weekend the 17th and 18th of April, but Bridon got sick and was throwing up so they came home early. I was kind of grateful though because then Tommy was able to help me with Kyler's birthday party.

This past weekend was Mother's Day weekend. Tommy and the boys definitely spoiled me. They made me breakfast in bed, let me do whatever I wanted to all day, gave me sweet gifts, and let me go to bed early. It was wonderful. Bridon even wrote some pretty sweet things on my car with one of those car markers. He put, "We are lucky to have you", "We love you" "Happy Mother's Day" I have the best boys in the world.

2010-04-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

November News

Bridon earned his Arrow of Light

On Nov. 17, 2009, they had a special Arrow of Light ceremony for Bridon and 4 other boys his age. It was a pretty awesome night and they give the boys these amazing animal skins with all of their boy scout achievements on them, hung on an arrow. We are so proud of Bridon and the hard work he put into earning all of his scouting awards. Way to go buddy.

Some of the other boys were Stone, Conner, Ezra and Noah. They did a whole night of honoring those who serve our country and invited members of our ward from many different services to participate. It was a very cool night.

Exhibition Game Danner played on a soccer team this year that was pretty competitive. It was fun watching them and good to see the competitive spirit in Danner. One night when the season was just about over, we had an exhibition game with a 11-year-old girl team. The boys each got a name and were introduced in a really fun way. Here are Danner and Porter looking pretty cool.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year for Thanksgiving we got together with some of the extended family on my mom's side. It was crazy to see how much everyone had changed and to realize that we hadn't seen each other in so many years. Hopefully it won't be that long before we see them all again. Thanks mom for putting together such a fun Thanksgiving.

Oops October still

2010-04-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2009

Bridon dressed up as a Grandma (hilarious), Danner was a Rapsta, Kyler was a Knight, and Coleson was a Power Ranger. All of these were pulled together by themselves or pulled out of our costume box. I love when the kids pick things that don't cost us anything. Coleson's was a last minute change. He was going to be Batman, but the day before decided he wanted to be a Power Ranger.
Coleson was wanting me to take pictures of him every two seconds around this time. This was one of the many that were taken. What a cutie!!!

October 2009

2010-04-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Overview of October:

Bridon turned 11

It seems for some reason in the B home when we just do a birthday cake with family on our children's actual birthday, they have to all sit on the counter to sing and blow out the candles. So, here we are, Bridon's 11, and still sitting on the counter to blow out his candles. At least they are all freshly bathed.

Bridon/Danner combined birthday party

Here is a picture of all of the boys at Bridon and Danner's combined b-day party, as well as the girls who came and crashed it and sprayed all the boys with shaving cream.

We had a real problem that day with the cupcakes. The sprinklers at the park kept coming on for some reason. We kept moving the table with the cupcakes; but, of course, one time we didn't move fast enough and the cupcakes got a few sprinkles of water. Luckily, little boys don't seem to care.

October Break

Fun with the Cookies at their cabin.

This year we had a really good time over October Break. Tommy usually never takes off any time from work during the boys breaks, but this year was different. We were able to go for several days on a cabin trip with the C family. The kids had a blast. They played flashlight tag, hiked, climbed trees, played games, picked berries, played football, climbed trees. My kids still talk about it, especially the trees there were to climb.

Crazy Climbing Danner

If you can't tell what this is or why I would post it, look really close. See a figure of a boy at the top of the light pole? That's Danner. Crazy climbing monkey. One day, we were out front playing before dinner and he starts scaling the light pole. Slowly getting higher and higher. Here is a picture of him right before he touches the top. Crazy, crazy boy!

Soccer

2010-04-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

In September, the boys started playing soccer. This was Kyler's first year playing soccer. It was so fun to watch him play. He is such a cutie. I really love to watch him run and dance around the ball.

Danner turns 8

2010-04-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

September 17, 2009, Danner turned 8.

Happy Birthday buddy. We are so excited for your special day.

September 21, 2009

Danner is baptized and confirmed a member of the church by his Dad.

What a sweet day it was to see our little Danner be baptized. We are so proud of the decision he made to take this big step and wish we could express the sweet spirit that was there that day. There were many friends and family members there that day and we are grateful for their love and support. Danner loved his special day and remembers feeling really good and very excited when he was baptized. He also remembers thinking it was really cool that his Uncle Markley took him for a ride in his Mustang afterward.

Back to school

2010-04-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Then it was back to school:

August 10, 2009

Bridon started 5th grade

Danner started 2nd grade

Bridon has Ms. Donley who was also his 4th grade teacher

Danner has Ms. Gourley

August 11, 2009

Kyler started his 2nd year of preschool.

His first year with Ms. Allison

July 2009

2010-04-08T14:23:00.001-07:00

July 2009

So here is July in a nutshell:

Arizona Grand Hotel and Water Park with the Lamoreaux's

Fossil Springs with Tommy's family

Camping with Yeager's, Sara Dildine and some of her friends

Cabin Trip with Fishing and Fireworks over 4th of July

Allen Family Reunion

We had a great time at the Arizona Grand with the Lamoreaux's. The kids played and wore themselves out. We adults had a chance to go out together for a nice dinner. The boys love staying in a hotel and we love not driving very far to get to the hotel.

Fossil Springs was a blast. We went with both of Tommy's sisters and their families. We also took my nephew David with us. The kids had a good time hiking, swimming and jumping off of the waterfall and cliffs into the water.

The place we went for girls camp had an amazing water hole that the girls loved to swim in. It was beautiful there. So we came back to play and swim. There were some high places to jump off of and everyone had a good time swimming and cliff jumping, even though the water was freezing.

Over the 4th of July, we went and stayed at the cabin with Tommy's parents. We also had the Allen family reunion that weekend. So Saturday morning we went to the fishing derby at the golf course. After that, we went to the family reunion for the day. The boys loved catching crawdads with their cousins, playing in the water and hiking. Not to mention the food. Then we went back with Tommy's family and had dinner at the Golf Course. Then onto fireworks that night. It was a busy but fun weekend.

Below:

Too hot, or not?

Connor and Jordan were over at our house one day. Tommy had brought home some really, really, really hot salsa. So we challenged the boys to take a big scoop on their chip and down it. Their faces in this picture crack me up.

June 2009

2010-04-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

June 2009

In a nutshell:

Lindsey went to Girls Camp

Wow, way too much fun!!!

~Played with Crazy Boys~

After a long week at girls camp, it was fun to come home and spend some time with these crazy boys.

~Went to the Lake~

Tommy's family all rented jet skis one day at the end of June and we all went out riding, eating, pulling tubes around, and cliff jumping. Bridon and Danner (yes my 7 yr old) and a bunch of their cousins, jumped off a probably 40 ft cliff. Talk about give me a heart attack. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but we were in the middle of the lake and I didn't have my camera. Crazy boys

Kyler never wanted to leave the jet skis. He was crazy, always wanting to go faster.

May Showered!!

2009-10-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

The craziness of April flowed right into May.

First, there was a super fun field trip with Bridon to the Biosphere II in Tucson.

Then a great mother's day put on by the boys

Many fun activities to get ready for Girls Camp.

And finally, end of the school year parties and fun.

Me taking a picture of me and Bridon at the Biosphere Field Trip.

Bridon and some of his crazy friends - Ben and Max - stealing Bridon's Nachos.
It was a long bus ride there and back, but we had a good time.
And thanks to my friend Wendy a little less boring.

The boys sure did mother's day up nice for me.
Bridon made me a cool power point presentation on the computer.
Danner made me a trophy that said "Best Mother Award"
Beautiful flowers, sweet notes, breakfast in bed, the works!
It was a great day.

Kyler's graduation day at Bounce Jungle.
What a cute group of boys!!!

April Showered!

2009-09-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

It has been many, many months since I have posted. I have a lot to catch up on.

So here is April in a nutshell:

Football games

Easter

13th - Coleson & Kyler B-day party

17th - Coleson's B-day, Bridon leaves for 1st Turkey Hunt

(which is why we had b-day party on Monday)

18th - Kyler's B-day
24th - Tommy's B-day - jester's, dinner, night out!

Wow! You better go have your dad clean your teeth!

Cousins buried Danner.

We told them they couldn't cover the head.

Can u find Danner's head?

Well this was our Easter picture this year.

No Sunday Best this year.

Kyler won the egg rolling contest at the Bowen's this year. He still talks about how he beat everyone in the egg rolling contest and can't wait to beat everyone again next year. Nice trophy Kyler!

Kyler and Coleson's combined birthday party.
The beauty of having a 2 and 4 year old who don't care if they have their own special day yet. I am afraid that might have to start next year with Kyler turning the big 5.

"I love Chocolate!!!"

A little April shower on these cupcakes.

*****

This month's moments:

Easter - This year was a little bit different in the tradition of the Bowen family. We usually do Easter baskets and Easter Egg hunt on Sunday morning. This year we did our Easter Baskets on Saturday so that we could focus more of our time on Sunday on the Savior and the true purpose of Easter. It was really nice. Hopefully a new tradition in the life of the Bowen's.

Bridon's first Turkey - Bridon's first Turkey hunt was a little frustrating for him because he got a shot and missed at 10 yds. After that, he and his dad shot the gun again and realized the sites were way off. If the sites had been on, he would have shot a turkey on his first hunt. He's excited to try again next year.

Tommy's birthday - For the first time in many years, Tommy wasn't hunting on his birthday. It was fun to have him around and spend the weekend with him. Probably a little selfish on my part. He would probably prefer spending the weekend with me on a hunting trip.

April Fools

2009-04-02T00:03:00.001-07:00

Bridon came home from school today looking very upset. I asked him how his day was and he said in a very sad voice that he got in big trouble and was getting a 3-day in school suspension. I said, "Ha! Ha! very funny, April Fools. He said, "No mom, for real, and he pulls this slip out of his backpack. I look at it and my heart drops. I said, "are you serious Bridon?" Then I started to read it. It said that he had used Abusive language with his teacher. I knew instantly there was no way Bridon could ever use bad language and I said, "Oh, Bridon you had me for a second there."

**********

Then the fun began. Tommy is always getting the best of us. So Bridon and I decided we were going to team up and get dad. We whited out that he used abusive language and marked something else, more believable for Bridon. Then we got him! We had him going for quite a while. He was worrying about what we should do as a punishment for Bridon and everything. We love you Dad! April Fools! We got you good!

Who's the Man

2009-04-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

Caroline had these pictures on her blog, and I couldn't resist I had to steal them. On Wednesday of Spring Break (3/18/09), we took the kids swimming at Caroline's pool. Tena said she would pay whoever could stay in the pool the longest a dollar. After what seemed like forever (10-15 min.), Tena started to worry about them being in the cold water for too long and said she would pay them all a dollar. So, they all hopped out and warmed up on the trampoline. Then off to the Dollar Tree to spend their loot. The Dollar Tree just opened across the street. It is the newest favorite place for all the kids in the neighborhood. Kyler didn't quite understand what the Dollar Tree was though. He thought it was a place to go and get dollars, not to spend them.

Old favorites

2009-03-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

12/9/08 - Kyler got hurt and I asked him how bad it hurt. He said, "Like 8 miles away."8/31/08 - When we were at the cabin for Labor Day weekend, Kyler woke up on Sunday morning and came in the kitchen. His Uncle Bill asked him, "Kyler, how did you sleep?" And Kyler said, "Like this," and he laid down on the ground to show Uncle Bill how he slept.

5/24/08 - We were all in the car and Kyler said "I went to Disneyland." Danner said, "No you didn't." Kyler said, "yes I did." Danner said, "What did it have there?" So Kyler started telling him all about the trampolines and other things that were at an open gym that he went to with some friends. It was great - what a 3 year old thinks Disneyland is.

4/13/08 - Today after church we were talking to the boys about what they learned at church. We started talking about resurrection and the spirit world. I told Danner, "Remember when we were talking about how Grandma McBride was probably waiting in the spirit world to be resurrected?" He said, "She hasn't been resurrected yet?" We told him probably not, you have to wait your turn. Bridon said, "What if she got a Fast Pass?" (We just got back from Disneyland three days ago and in Disneyland they have what are called fast passes so you can get on rides faster)

Just a Day at the Park

2009-03-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last week a few women in our ward took our kids to the park. Wow! What a bunch of cute kiddos.

Tena brought some bread for the kids to feed to the ducks. That was a hit.
Coleson and Emma.

Watch out girls, he's quite the lady's man.

Spring Break

2009-03-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

The first day of Spring Break a friend of my dad invited our entire family to come to the Herpetology Exhibit in Phoenix. In the picture above: Geordan, Hunter, Ty, Bridon, Coleson, Bryce, Danner, David, Brayden, Madison, McKenzie, Kyler, Jason, and Grandpa.
They got to feed, pet and ride on tortoises. They saw all different kinds of turtles and tortoises.

We even tried to get Coleson to surf on top of one of the tortoises, but he wasn't too happy about that.

Cousins Bryce, McKenzie, Ty and Hunter

Coleson was pretty scared of the Tortoises, but somehow he wasn't too scared of this humongous beast. They also watched the volunteers there feed some of the crocodiles. Bridon and Danner loved every minute of this. Especially when they got to hold the snake. Bridon would follow the snake around with whoever was holding it.

Bridon and his cousin Jake.

********

Some other things the boys were able to do during Spring Break were:

1. Have a sleepover with some cousins

2. Go to Jump and Shout with friends and cousins
3. Go to Peter Piper Pizza and on a hike with some friends.

4. Went to the movie Inkheart with friends.

5. Went to a Space Museum with some friends and then came back to their house to help make space ships out of big refigerator boxes.

I know it looks like all we did was play, but the boys also worked hard and helped me out a whole lot during the week. It was fun having them home. Thanks for a great week boys.

Football

2009-03-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well football has begun again. This is Danner's first year and Bridon's second. We really have a good time watching the boys play football.
Coleson and Kyler keep us busy and entertained at the Football games. Below Kyler has caught a lady bug and is showing his little friend Ashley

Pinewood Derby

2009-03-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Pinewood Derby was on March 7 this year. Bridon picked and a pretty cool style for his car. Tommy has always let Bridon do whatever he wanted with his car for the pinewood derby. The first year was pretty much trial and error. The second was all about winning. And this year it was all about the style of his car. Bridon's car was pretty cool looking, but there was a little too much weight on the back. Anyway, to get his car to race they had to turn it around backwards. After that, it didn't do too bad.
Bridon was not in uniform this day. He recently lost his shirt, book and neckerchief.

Valentines Day

2009-03-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Over Valentines weekend we were invited to go to the Breinholt's Cabin.

We had such a good time. It was a quick trip. We traveled up Friday night and came back Saturday night. Friday night we hung out, ate good food, and watched a movie. Saturday the Breinholts took us snowmobiling. Tommy and I had never been before. It was so much fun.

Lindsey, Jaime, Angie ready to be some snowmobiling mamas.

Tyson, Tyson and Tommy (lookin' good)

Thanks for a great weekend Breinholts. We had a blast!

Family Pictures

2009-02-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas my cousin Annaka took some family pictures for us. Needless to say, the past couple of months have been crazy and I am just now getting some of these posted. She did an amazing job. She is just starting to do it professionally and I was so excited to have these done. Thanks Annaka. You are awesome. She really captured my kiddos so perfectly.

Bridon, age 10, isn't he sooo cool.

Danner, age 7, watch out girls.

Kyler, age 3 1/2, have you ever seen such a sweet face.

Coleson, 19 months. So serious.

I love this picture because it is the perfect Coleson look.

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero!" Marc brown

I love this picture because when I look at it reminds me how Kyler was being so grumpy and unhappy about pictures and then Bridon took him and put him on his shoulders and started playing with him. From that point on Kyler was great about pictures. Bridon is so fun and really knows how to be a great big brother. Thanks Bridon for being such a sweetheart.

I don't think I have to tell you why I love this picture, but I will explain anyway.

Kyler and Coleson weren't being very happy about pictures and so to distract them the other boys started roaring like lions. This is Coleson looking at Danner like "You're a crazy brother!" I love it. I am so glad we got pictures of Danner missing his two front teeth. It is soo cute.

Wow! I could eat those two up they are so cute.

Bedtime

2009-02-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite times of the day is when we are putting Coleson to bed. Kyler insists that we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" every night. Coleson is getting to where he knows some parts of the song. He always sings "old ball game" really loud. As soon as the song starts all of the boys come running in to sing to Coleson and give him goodnight hugs and kisses. I love how sweet they are with Coleson and that they come running when they know he is going to bed.

The Rainbow

2009-01-25T22:27:00.000-08:00

I just love how kids think. I really wish that I could think the way that they do.

The other day Kyler saw a rainbow in the sky. He said, "Mom look it's a rainbow!" He was so excited to see the rainbow. And then a few minutes later he stops and says, "Mom, what does it feel like to touch a rainbow."

Snow Trip

2009-01-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas (while Tommy was off hunting) the boys and I packed up and went with his family on their annual snow trip to Pinetop.

Coleson did actually put a jacket played in the snow a little. We dragged him around on the sled and rode him around on the quad. . .

but mostly he stayed nice and cozy warm inside the cabin.

Kyler loved playing in the snow, throwing snow balls, riding the quad, and riding on the sled. That is, he loved riding on the sled until everyone started playing the bomb the sled game. He did not like this for sure, as you can see below. In this game, the sled is pulled by the quad and as it drives by everyone tries to jump on and push other people off the sled

A very fun game for sure. . .

but can result in some bodily harm as you can tell by Danner's head.
Below, Bridon and Danner and Bailee.

The boys are inside the igloo that them, their cousins and Aunt Carolee and Uncle Bill dug out of snow pile in front of the cabin. It was pretty amazing. It not only had a front door but a back door with a little slide down area coming in the back door.

The Christmas Deer

2009-01-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas, Tommy left for his white-tail deer hunt up around the Safford area. After many days of hunting, being rained on, snowed on, freezing his buns off, he finally shot a little two point. I think he did it mostly for me. I think he thought if he didn't come back with something, I would never let him go hunting again.

We were excited for the meat and my boys were excited to see the head (gross).

Christmas Day

2009-01-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Day is always an eventful day.

The boys came in bright and early and woke us up.

Then, of course, we all had to go in and wake Coleson up. (He wasn't too happy about that)

This year was such a fun one because Bridon and Danner went out and bought presents for their brothers with their own money. And then they hid away in different rooms wrapping them themselves. It was fun to see how excited they were to watch their brothers open the presents that they picked out just for them.

We then all hop in the car and go to Tommy's parents house for more present opening and our traditional apple fritters, bacon, sausages and Mickey Mouse waffles.

Then off to Grandma Deen's house. Below is our traditional Christmas picture with Grandma Deen in front of her Christmas Tree. We do it every year. (I am not sure what happened to Danner's face in this one.)

We then head back home to play with all of our fun toys and take naps.

And finally, we end up at my parents house for the Traditional Christmas Pudding.

My kiddos aren't so much into it yet, but it is a tradition I cannot miss for anything.

I am grateful for a season that brings families together in such a special time of tradition, giving and love. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite times of Christmas. I love it because it is a special night with just me and my boys. First we fix a special dinner and eat on our nice dishes (Coleson excluded from nice dishes) and fancy glasses. We drink our Martinelli's that we get from Dustin and Amy Johnson family every year (thanks guys). Sometimes I think the boys get more excited about the Martinelli's than dinner.

Then we all sit down together and tell the Christmas story and read Christmas Stories. This year Bridon had a story with props he made in his primary class that he shared with the family. He did a great job.

And then the boys get to open 1 present. Bridon has finally caught on (after last year) that every year it is going to be the present with new PJs.

Here are the boys modeling their new jammies.

Coleson and Danner being so cute right before bed.

They were waiting so patiently to make cookies and hot chocolate for Santa.

Funny and cute pics

2009-01-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

Some cute pictures

November and December 2008

Field Trip

2009-01-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

Velveteen Rabbit Field Trip

Dec. 3, 2008

Danner with friends Hayden and Jadrien

The day after we got back from the cabin, I got to go on a field trip with Danner.

It was a play "The Velveteen Rabbit"

Then after that we went to the park by Tempe Town Lakes and had lunch.

I had a lot of fun Danner. Thanks for wanting me to come with you.

Cabin Trip

2009-01-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

Cabin Trip

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year Tom got drawn for Elk and Deer. The Elk hunt just happened to fall over Thanksgiving Weekend and the Deer hunt came right over Christmas Break. Thanksgiving weekend we decided to all go with him and my dad, brother, and nephew to the cabin. So while they were hunting, we all hung out and played at the cabin. We also had way too much yummy food, pie included.

I didn't get very many pictures because Tommy kept taking our camera with him for pictures just in case he got one (which he never did). Among all the fun, we did have a few accidents and here is a picture of one of them. This is my nephew Jason. Him and Kyler were running circles around the cabin and came head to head. As you can see, Jason lost that one. Somehow Kyler hit just right and barely got even a bump on his head.
And below is Coleson coming up the stairs that he fell down earlier that day.
Despite a few pitfalls, we did have a lot of fun.

Bowen Family Outing

2009-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Bowen Family Outing

November 15, 2008

Well November and December were quite the blur for our family, so now I am going to attempt to catch up on the last two months. On Nov. 15, we went on a family outing to the desert with Tommy's family. Usually once a year we go on some kind of quad outing with his family. It is always so much fun. The kids have a blast. We have way too much good food, and my babies always get worn out as you can see below.

It was a little bit of a windy day, so even though it wasn't that cold the wind made it chilly; and if you know Coleson, you know he won't put a jacket on for anything or anyone. He did pretty good though.
Here is the family football game. On the very first pass, I was injured with a jammed finger. Could someone please teach me how to catch. Anyway, after that, I really could not play so I designated myself as the football photographer.

I took Kyler and Coleson out hunting for bears. Kyler did most of the hunting.

Coleson was his lookout.

Bridon on the quad with cousin Talon. Dallin looking pretty cool in the background.

Wow, they sure are cute.

The Hair

2008-11-15T23:25:00.000-08:00

Tommy and Lindsey

T-bird and Pink Lady for Halloween

I finally got it, a picture of Tommy with the Elvis Hair on Halloween. This is definitely a sight not to be missed. He was looking mighty fine in his costume and that hair was almost irresistible.

Halloween

2008-11-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween Fun

I love Halloween. I love the fun times it brings; and if I were a better picture taker, we would have lots of fun things to see. As I am not though, I am just going to have to write about it.

Our Halloween this year started out with a block party thrown by a couple of awesome ladies on our street. Thanks Taya and Lisa. Do I have any pics of this fun event? Of course not, but it was lots of fun people, lots of fun times, and lots of good food.

Next, of course, comes the pumpkin carving event. This little tradition changes every year. This year it was just us Bowen's carving away right before bed one night. Nice face Danner.

The next event is Grandma Bowen's Halloween Bash which is a tradition every year for the Monday night before Halloween. This event is always sooo much fun and one my family and kids really look forward to. I hope after a crazy night caused by this Bowen clan that this will continue to be a tradition. Thanks Grandma Bowen for all the hard work you put into this night.

To explain a little: We will start with the fact that Kyler didn't get a nap that day and then fell asleep on the way to the party, big mistake. These shots of him in his costume, although he looks happy, were pure torture for everyone. Then there was Coleson. We will just leave it at that.

Then there was the Grand Finale.

Danner won a can of silly string in one of the games. So we were all telling scary stories and making smores around the fire pit. We were finishing up and cleaning up to go and Danner decided to see what would happen if he threw his can of silly string into the fire. Wow, we all heard the explosion from inside. When we came outside, Papa was spraying down the fire. It had exploded everywhere. Luckily, no one was hurt. Danner was scared out of his pants. To say the least, we went out with a bang this year.

Coronado School Parade

Next, comes the school parade which is on Halloween Day. Here is Danner (Indiana Jones) with his friends Braiden and Nick. Bridon was bummed this year because the parade is only 1-3 grades, and he is in 4th grade this year. It is so hard to grow up.

Trick or Treating

For the very first time, we let Bridon go trick or treating with a bunch of his friends. What an awesome group of boys. He was so excited to finally be able to go with his friends. (Conner, Josh, Justin, Carter, Hayden, ?, Ezra.)
Tyson Cook - wow look at that hair.

Before letting Bridon go with his friends, we went out all together with a few neighborhood friends (Slade, Haylee, Tyson, Jordan). Kyler who started out the week as black spiderman ended up on Halloween night being Batman. Oh, he is soooo three. Here he is with his little friend Cambree.

After we went trick or treating we have to go have the traditional scones at the Engle's. Of course I have no pictures of this either but let me tell you those scones are heavenly.

And finally, we end up at Grandma Allen's house for homemade Root beer and yummy snacks. Here is how bad I am. I know others got pictures of Coleson and all the kids and fun, but this is the only picture I have of Coleson. He was a baseball player. Isn't he sooo cute. And I can't even tell you how sad I am that I don't have a picture of Tom in his costume. I will get one from someone and post it soon.

The Hair Cut

2008-11-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Coleson's First Haircut

October 29, 2008

This was the before picture, but it didn't do justice to how badly this boy needed a haircut. So, I added the below picture to show how crazy and wild the back was. He is now 18 months old and his mama was having a hard time letting her baby grow up.
So, I finally got brave and cut buzzed his head. I was afraid he was going to freak out, but he didn't. He just sat there all nice and calm and let me do it.

And here is the result.

Bye, bye baby hair.

Coleson's booboo

2008-11-02T23:27:00.000-08:00

So I have four boys and this is the first one to ever get a black eye. Is this a sign of things to come with this boy? Last Sunday (Oct. 26) Coleson was playing on our bed while we were getting ready for church. He fell and hit his eye on the corner of a magazine holder, and this was the result. Poor baby Coleson, no more playing on the bed for you. The next day his eye was almost swollen shut. I felt so bad but he didn't seem to care at all.

Bridon's Birthday

2008-11-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Bridon's 10th Birthday

October 7, 2008

Wow, has it really been ten years since this awesome, cute, fun boy was born. I think back to all of my memories of Bridon and it makes me smile and cry all at once. Smile because if you know Bridon you can't help to smile, and cry because it is all going by so fast. I am going to try and list just ten things that I love about Bridon, but I don't know if I will be able to stop at ten.

10 Things We Love about Bridon:

1. That he loves to have fun. We think it is his motto.

2. That he tells great jokes.

3. That he loves to try and scare his family (which only mom and dad think is funny).

4. That he is so sweet to his brothers (especially Coleson)

5. That he is a great helper.

6. That he loves to read.

7. That he is an awesome athlete.

8. That he has a tender heart and cares about others.

9. That he catches lizards and then lets them go soon after so that they won't die.

10. That he can always make just about anyone smile.

Bridon's favorite scores from his birthday were his Ripstick, his camo shirt, and money.
Bridon did the funniest thing this year. We lit the candles and were getting ready to sing; but before we could even start, he had the candles blown out. He was so excited to make his wish he forgot to let us sing first.

Bridon didn't get a party this year because we took him and Danner to Disneyland for their birthdays. It just happened that Bridon's birthday fell during Fall Break this year, so we decided on his birthday to let him invite a few friends and go to Makutu's Island.

Even though Bridon and Danner spent most of their time running and playing with the big boys, every once in a while they would come by and snag Kyler and Coleson and take them and do something fun with them. Colesone wasn't so sure about it all but Kyler loved it when they would come and get him.

After some long hard playing. . .

Bridon's friend Conner bought some nachos and shared them with everyone. Thanks Conner!And after a quick refueling, they were off to play some more.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

2008-10-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

Right after we got back from Rocky Point where Danner lost one of his two front teeth, he lost the second of his two front teeth. He is so funny about pulling his teeth. He will push and pull and work at it forever and then when it is hanging by a thread he will ask dad to yank it.

Rocky Point

2008-10-15T01:36:00.001-07:00

Rocky Point

October 1-5, 2008

Well as you can see we went to Rocky Point with the Johnson's; and from the looks of it, our kids want to be a part of their family (I don't blame them, the Johnson's are a pretty awesome family).
We had such a good time. The weather was beautiful. The water was perfect. It was definitely the most relaxing vacation ever. The kids played and played in the ocean, in the sand and in the pools at the resort. When we got tired, we would go up to our condo and relax and watch movies and play games. Then back out to play some more. Some of the favorites were building sand castles, playing football in the ocean and in the pools at the resort, and finding little ocean critters in the reef.
If you are wondering what Danner is holding in his fingers in the picture above, it is his tooth. He lost a tooth while we were in Rocky Point. He was so excited.
There is never a moment that Kyler isn't showing us his moves. And Coleson is about the coolest dude there ever has been.

This is the kids room with the bunk beds; although, half of the time most of them did not end up sleeping in this room but spread out throughout the rest of the condo. It turned into more of the hang out and watch movie room.

This is the only night we went out with the whole family to eat. Tommy and I shared a yummy virgin strawberry daiquiri.
I know Bridon and Danner look like they love each other here, but even as we were taking this picture they were really torturing each other.
I do believe that Coleson is one of the 4 cutest babies I have ever seen. He was so good on this trip. He slept in until 9:00 every morning, and he and Amy's little girl Embry played sooo cute together. He was a little fussy, but after we got home we realized that he had three teeth coming in. I guess that is a pretty good excuse to be a little fussy.
This picture makes me smile every time I look at it because it reminds me how Kyler and Brody were grooving out to the music in the ice cream store. I wish I could have gotten it on video. I could wrap these two up and keep them forever. They are such fun boys. Thanks Johnson family for fun times.

Happy Birthday Danner Bug

2008-09-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

Danner bug turned 7 on September 17th.

Our 7 favorite things about Danner:

1. His smile.

2. His sense of humor.

3. His voice - talking and singing.

4. His determination.

5. His athleticism.

6. His sweet heart.

7. His hugs and kisses.

Because life is so crazy this year, Danner's birthday seemed to come in phases. He had several different phases of opening presents. One of Danner's favorite presents was this Helicopter he got from his Grandma Bowen. He thinks it is funny to try and chase down his brothers with it and hit them.

The next phase was Danner's choice family dinner night. Danner chose his favorite dinner of BBQ ribs and shrimp. Then, of course, finish it off with brownies and ice cream. I love the picture above - Danner just looks so cute and then there is Kyler who looks like he is looking up to his big brother. I love the picture below because Kyler looks like he wants to be the one blowing out the candles.

And finally, this is a card Danner got for his birthday from his cousins and their family. I had to put it on because what his cousin wrote made me laugh one of those cheek-hurting laughs.

Its Camping Time

2008-09-26T02:32:00.001-07:00

Mingus Mountain

September 5 and 6, 2008

Just behind us there was a huge drop off. It felt like we were standing at the top of the world.
This was one very fun weekend. Pretty much every day since we went camping, Kyler has been asking me, "When can we go camping again?" I love being with my family in the outdoors. We played games. Capture the Flag was probably the funnest but most dangerous game we played, only because we played in the dark. Luckily we only had one injury and that was dad. Trying to be sneaky, he wasn't using a flashlight and he ran into a big log and cut up his leg. The kiddos also had a lot of fun shooting guns, playing horseshoes, and just running around getting dirty. Oh, and we can't forget to mention the yummy dutch oven peach cobbler and biscuits and gravy. It doesn't get any better than that.

Macy and Kyler are best buds.

I don't think it could get any cuter than these two.

Saturday Morning we went up to a place were hanggliders and paragliders take off from. We sat and watched some of them take off. Wow! it was amazing.

After watching the paragliders for a while, the kids wanted to go find some water. So we all loaded up and headed down the mountain play in the Verde River. The road down the mountain was very windy, but despite that we only had to stop once for car sickness (pretty good considering how many kids there were). Playing in the water was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

Tyson trying to show off how all of that working out has paid off.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well this has been a crazy month, but I am going to try to catch up on my posting for September. Over Labor Day weekend, we went up to Grandma Deen's cabin in Pinetop. We had such a good time and really enjoyed the time we had to spend with family.

On Saturday Morning everyone (except for Lindsey and Coleson) woke up really early and went fishing. Everyone had a good time. This was especially exciting because it was Kyler's first time fishing and he caught the first fish.
Way to go Kyler!
The reason Bridon is holding the fish is because Kyler was not about to touch that fish. He was okay holding it on the fishing line, but he was not about to hold it with his hand.
Meanwhile, Lindsey and Coleson were back at the cabin sleeping in until 9:30.
Way to go Coleson!
We played and had lots of fun at the cabin, but one of the things the boys loved and wanted to do the most was swing in the tire swing. They were having a competition to see who could go the highest and touch the pine needles in the huge trees with their feet.
This isn't a very good picture because it was getting dark when I took it, but here is Bridon just about to touch the pine needles with his feet.
and here is Tommy jumping off of the ground to launch Danner as high as he could go (yep, he touched the pine needles too). I wish you could see the look on Danner's face in this picture.
The other game they loved to play in the swing was to see who could jump out of it and land the farthest. Right now, Danner holds the record.
Kyler and Coleson were not quite as daring as their brothers but loved the swing just as much.

Coleson swinging with his cousin Bailee.

The Bear

2008-08-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Last night Bridon and Conner received their Bear in Cub Scouts. It was a very fun night. The leaders did a great job and obviously put a lot of effort into the whole night. We love you Bridon and are so proud of all the effort you put into getting your Bear.

Time to Play

2008-08-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

After a hard week at school (ha, ha!), it was time to play. Saturday Tommy and Tyson took the kids and went to Hamilton Pool. What a crew.
My boys.

Connor and Bridon

Wow Look at those Muscles!

Danner, Porter and Tyson

Back To School

2008-08-13T14:34:00.001-07:00

Bridon's first day of 4th grade. I can hardly believe it. He is growing up too fast. Bridon isn't quite ready for summer to be over, but is excited for 4th grade with Miss Donley. I am going to miss the good helper he is at home. He is the best with Kyler and Coleson.

Maybe not so good with Danner (not going to miss those two fighting, Ha Ha!)
Unbelievable, Danner is in 1st grade. His teacher is Ms. Berkshire who he loves and is so great. He decided to take his lunch the first day, mostly because he didn't know how buying school lunch would be. He is so excited and cute about going to school. He wakes up every morning early and gets ready quickly. This might not last long, but I am going to enjoy it while it does.
And yep, Kyler started preschool with Ms. Judi this year. He is in a class with a bunch of his friends. Almost every morning he asks, "Mom, do I have school today?" which is really hard because he only has it on Tuesday and Friday.
Then there is poor Coleson who is wondering what he is going to do at home without his brothers (maybe not get tortured). Luckily, Kyler keeps him pretty entertained, or maybe it is Coleson who keeps Kyler entertained. Those two are a riot.

Here's to the Lamoreaux's

2008-07-27T18:06:00.001-07:00

Party at the Lamoreaux's

Last week the Lamoreaux's were out of town. A couple of us went over there to swim and cook out. A little while later a couple of other families showed up to swim, and then another family showed up not too long after that. Our best count was that there was 38 people in the pool at one time. Thanks Lamoreaux's for always being so great about everyone using your pool.

Can you say, "Wait your turn?"

Fun Family Weekend

2008-07-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

July 10-12 we went to a resort in Phoenix. They have a water park there with huge slides, a wave pool and a lazy river. We swam and played at the water park, swam and went in the jacuzzi at one of the other pools, watched the dive-in movie. And then we swam and played some more until we wore Kyler and Coleson out, and then it was time to go.
Playing in the wave pool.

Tubing down the lazy river.

Look at those slides. I was nervous about going down, but not Danner. Here he is after he just went down one of those huge slides. No problem.

Kyler and Coleson - swimmin' buds!

Coleson 15 months

2008-07-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

COLESON DAY - 15 MONTHS

Coleson finally started walking at 14 months; and at 15 months, he is finally walking more than he is crawling.

15 things we love about Coleson:

1. His smile.

2. That he loves to swim.

3. How he gets attitude with his brothers.

4. How excited he gets when he sees his daddy.

5. That he loves to play peek-a-boo.

6. That he loves the bath.

7. His laugh.

8. His kisses.

9. How cute he is when he sucks his thumb.

10. How he plays hide-and-seek with his brothers.

11. That he loves to brush his teeth.

12. That he is a cuddle bug.

13. That he loves to climb.

14. How he says thank you.

15. That he brings such a great spirit into our home.

We Love You Coleson!

Family Reunion and Fishing Trip

2008-07-25T01:03:00.000-07:00

June 21, 2008 - Allen Family Reunion - Camp Silvercreek

Bridon and Danner swinging from the rope swing.

Although a warm weekend, the water was still pretty cold.
We all had a good time playing in the water.
And we all enjoyed the time spent with family. We don't get to see the Allen family very often and it is always a good chance to catch up. We love seeing cousins, aunts and uncles, and especially Grandma. Just before we left, Bridon and Danner and a big group of the cousins went on a hike up the mountain by the campground. My boys are still talking about it. I love how they hardly know these cousins, but by the end of the day it is like they are best friends.

*************************************

That morning before we went to the Family reunion Bridon, Danner, Tommy and Papa all decided to go fishing at Sunrise. Wouldn’t you know it, the fishing at Sunrise was supposed to be hot, so the boys couldn’t resist. Tommy and Papa got Bridon and Danner up early Saturday morning and took the boat out to Sunrise lake. They ended up catching about 10 rainbow trout, all of them between 14-18 inches long. What a stringer! The boys both had a blast hauling in some big trout. They also had a couple fish that they lost right at the boat. Bridon and Danner each swear that theirs was the biggest. They boys also got the chance to practice gutting their own fish for the first time. What a treat! Then the boys cleaned up at the cabin and met our family back at Silvercreek. After the reunion, we were able to go back to the cabin and spend some time with Grandma Bowen, celebrating her birthday which was on the 22nd.

"No, I caught the biggest fish!"

Thanks Papa for taking us fishing. We had a blast.

Wow! Look at all those fish.

McKinzie

2008-07-09T23:20:00.000-07:00

On June 1st I called my sister Jana to talk, and she told me that she thought that her daughter McKinzie might have pneumonia and that she was really worried about her. She asked if I could watch her two-year-old, Madison, while they went to the hospital. A little while later I got a call that the doctors were saying that McKinzie was in congestive heart failure and that they were going to fly her to Banner Dessert. At Banner Dessert they were working to stabilize McKinzie, but on Wednesday of that same week she totally crashed and once again they needed to fly her to another hospital. This time it was the University Hospital in Tucson. Once there, it was determined that McKinzie would need immediate surgery. The surgery was successful. Although McKinzie was stable she was still very critical. The doctors were observing her and we afraid that she might have to have a heart transplant. After many, many, many prayers and much fasting, McKinzie began to show good progress. They were able to remove the pump from her heart and she began doing better. Just before they removed the pump it was discovered that McKinzie had had a stroke. Many more prayers were and are being said, and McKinzie is doing amazing. She definitely has a long road ahead of her with a lot of therapy for the stroke, and they are still working on stabilizing her heart; but she is once again smiling, laughing, joking and being the amazing girl we all love and adore. Last time we visited we were all giving her hugs before we left, and my sister said that David (one of their cousins) tried to sneak out of her room without giving her a hug. She caught him and pointed at him and said, "heh!" There was no way she was going to let him out of that room without giving her a hug. I know that the reason McKinzie is doing so well today is because of the blessings she has been given and because of the fasting and prayers that have been said in her behalf. We are grateful to a Heavenly Father who has blessed her family and our family so much.
Since McKinzie has been in the hospital, many days my mom has the other kids. We have enjoyed this chance to spend much of our summer swimming and playing with these cousins at her home, especially Kyler and Madison. They have become such good little friends. The other day when we went to leave she started to cry because she wanted Kyler to stay and play.
I couldn't resist putting in this picture of Danner taking Coleson down the slide. You can't really see it well, but Coleson has a huge smile on his face. He loves it. It is also funny to see Danner pushing him to the surface after they go into the water.

One Crazy Summer

2008-07-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well it has been quite a while since I posted last. This summer has been quite the roller coaster; and because I am using this blog as my journal, I am going to start at the beginning. I am hoping that eventually I will get through the entire summer.

So the beginning of the summer started off as any normal summer. Everyone wanting to have a good time and stay cool. Here are Bridon and Danner with some of their friends on a water slide in our back yard. It was a great start to the summer with friends Porter, Connor, Seth, Noah and a few others who were not able to be captured one photo.

Kyler and Macey couldn't miss out on the fun; although, they did not want to join the madness on the water slide. They decided to make their own water fun.
And who could forget Coleson? (No one, because he would never let you!)

And we can't forget swim team which also jump starts our summer. Bridon and Danner are both doing very well. At their first swim meet, Danner got 1st in freestyle and Bridon got 2nd in freestyle. They did sooo awesome. They have had a few meets since then and do a great job and work very hard. I can't help but laugh at their silly poses. They are such crazy boys, and I love them for it.

The Cell Phone Episode

2008-05-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

This is my cell phone. Many days I leave my phone here because just behind where it is sitting is where I plug it in to charge it.
This is Coleson's new favorite pastime - playing in the dishwasher.

Here is what we think happened as reenacted by the pictures below.
Coleson climbed on the dishwasher and grabbed the phone. Then he started playing with the phone and eventually dropped it into the bottom of the dishwasher. This morning, Tommy said "I forgot to turn on the dishwasher last night, so would you please turn it on." So I did.
When I went to empty the dishwasher later this morning, here is what I found.
A waterlogged, slightly burned cell phone. I guess it is time for a new phone.

Kindergarten Promotion

2008-05-21T21:45:00.001-07:00

Last night Danner had Kindergarten Promotion. All of the classes sang a bunch of cute songs and then they each received a diploma presented by their teacher. Here is Danner with his teacher Ms. Nicholas. She was an amazing teacher and helped Danner to love school. Before school started, Danner told me that he didn't want to go to school; and because of Ms. Nicholas, Danner has been excited about school all year long. Thanks Ms. Nicholas.
Ms. Nicholas, Danner, Hayden, Tyson and Braiden. Danner and Braiden were in her morning class and Tyson and Hayden were in her afternoon class.
Danner, Hayden, Tyson, Braiden and Anderson. What an awesome group of boys.

Finishing the season

2008-05-20T00:32:00.000-07:00

FOOTBALL 2008

Bridon played flag football this spring. This turned out to be a really fun thing for him and for us to watch. Bridon did really good and learned a lot. His team was able to win most all of their games and they ended up getting 3rd in the tournament.

T-BALL 2008
Danner played T-ball this spring. He loves this game, although I think he is really looking forward to playing coach pitch next year. He can hit the ball so good. He probably scored a home run almost every time he hit, but of course they only let them have one base at a time at this age. He really didn't like that all that much. He liked when he was the last batter of the inning because it was really like he hit a home run since the last batter always gets to run all the way home. He is very focused and was able to get many outs throughout the season, which was also something he would get very excited about.
We love watching our boys do the things they love and having a good time. Thanks for the entertainment boys.

Women's Conference

2008-05-20T00:09:00.000-07:00

WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

APRIL 30 - MAY 3, 2008

A bunch of women from our ward got together and went to Women's Conference in Utah. It was such an amazing experience. I was able to go and room with a good friend of mine. This is a picture of the first day we got there. It was snowing and us warm weather girls weren't quite ready for how cold it was.
We were able to go to some awesome classes and we were able to listen to some amazing speakers. President Monson, the prophet, was the final speaker and what an experience to be in his presence. I cannot express in words how I felt being there listening to a prophet of God. From the moment that he walked into the room and everyone started singing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet," I was overcome with the spirit and truly felt of the love that he has for the Lord and for each one of us. I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to go and be uplifted and inspired to be a better wife, mother, sister and friend. I appreciate a husband and family members who were able to take care of the kids so I could have this opportunity.

Roommate - Amy and Rooming across the hall - Caroline, Velvet, and Sara

Good times with some good friends!

Kyler's Birthday

2008-05-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

KYLER'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

APRIL 18, 2008

On Kyler's birthday we went to the park. He had a blast playing with some of his friends and cousins.
Tyson, David, Jason, Braydon, Slade, Kyler, Danner, Bridon and Jordan.

Kyler's favorite present that he got on his birthday was a toy gun that he got that made shooting noises. He would not put that thing down for days.
We took him to Red Robin for his birthday. We had a good time. The staff there treated Kyler to an ice cream cup and sang to him. Kyler is such a fun boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Coleson's Birthday

2008-05-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

COLESON'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

APRIL 17, 2008

Since he never had cake before, we thought he would devour the whole thing, but somehow he decided that the only good part was the frosting. So Coleson licked all of the frosting off and threw the cupcake on the ground.
What a cute little mess!
Here is Coleson in the new toy we bought him for his birthday. He doesn't look too happy, does he? That is because he didn't like his new toy.
And here he is crawling away from it, never to return.

Fathers and Sons

2008-04-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

The day after we got back from Disneyland, the boys packed up and went to Fathers and Sons with our Ward to Oak Flats.

They ate lots of good food, played games, got dirty, watched a movie and had a fireside. That night the wind blew like crazy. The boys were safely sleeping in the car. Tommy was sleeping on his cot right outside the car with his head inside the sleeping bag listening to the tents flap in the wind all night.
After packing up, they went and did some shooting. They had a great time (or so Tommy says). It went by a little too quickly for me though.
I definitely missed them though, especially Kyler who is always entertaining me by pretending to be a bear.

The boys got back from Fathers and Sons at 11:30 and by 12:30 we were on our way to the Diamondbacks game. Thanks for the tickets Grandma and Grandpa. Wow! I think they had enough action this week to last them the rest of the year. By the look on Kyler's face I think it was more than his little two-year-old self could handle. Time to get back to real life: school, work, work and more work.

Disneyland

2008-04-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, April 9th and 10th, Tommy and I took Bridon and Danner to Disneyland for the very first time. The boys had no idea that we were doing this. We went to the airport on Tuesday night. The boys were so excited. They had never been on an airplane before. We still didn't tell them where we were going. Bridon figured out that we were going to California, but that was all. The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed for Disneyland. I let it slip on accident that we were going to Disneyland, and Bridon started bouncing in his seat saying, "We are going to Disneyland." Danner must not have heard me because he kept saying, "No we're not." No matter what Bridon said, Danner would not believe that we were going to Disneyland until we were actually there. It was such a fun surprise.

This is Bridon and Danner going into the Buzz Lightyear ride. Danner really liked to ride with me on this ride because I really stunk at this game and he liked that he got a lot more points than me every time.

No matter what Bridon said to Tommy, Bridon could not convince him to go on this ride. Tommy does not do well on rides that go in circles. And for the sake of not ruining the entire trip, we decided it would be best if he sat this one out.

Both Bridon and Danner were picked for Jedi Training. They were so excited. Bridon got to fight Darth Mal and Danner fought Darth Vader. Bridon is convinced that if they hadn't stopped him he would have defeated Darth Mal.

Wow! That pizza must have been really good.

This picture was taken right after we rode the water ride in California Adventure. That was Danner's favorite ride in California Adventure. He didn't like California Screamin' all that much. (A fast roller coaster that goes up side down) He said going upside down kind of made him sick. This did happen to be Bridon's favorite ride.

Some of Bridon and Danner's favorite rides from Disneyland were Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear, and Indiana Jones. We had so much fun and were grateful for the chance to spend some time with Bridon and Danner. Two days went really fast, a little too fast I think.

Bridon's Field Trip

2008-04-16T23:23:00.001-07:00

On April 4th I was able to go on a field trip with Bridon's class to Peter Piper Pizza. It was actually a really fun field trip, and I was grateful for the chance to spend some time with Bridon. The kids filled out a math worksheet using things in the pizza place. After that, they took a tour of the kitchen which ended with everyone making their own pizza. (yummy)
Then they gobbled down their pizzas.
And played games until their moms wouldn't give them any more money.

Thanks Bridon for a fun day and letting your mom hang out with you for a day.

2008-04-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

3/19/08 - Kyler was in the bath and he said, "Daddy you need to wash my feet because I got road on it."The other morning Kyler came in for breakfast and one of his brothers tooted. He looked at him and said, "You tooted?" He said, "No." So he looked at him again and said "you farted?"

This week Danner was late for school one day. The teacher marked him absent and so the school called me. I told Danner that I got in trouble because he was late for school. He said, "I thought you didn't get in trouble until 1st grade." I said, "You don't, but in Kindergarten moms get in trouble if your late." So he was telling Bridon about this, and I chimed in and said, "Yeah, you were tardy." Danner looked at me like I had said something mean and said, "I'm not tardy mom." (Thinking I had said tarded).

I always say, "I need to write that down" when my kids say funny things. So this is the section for that. When it gets filled up I will post these on the blog and start over.

Quadin'

2008-03-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-05T12:39:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-05T12:24:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

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.

Our Boys

2008-02-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

Bridon is 9. He is definitely our fun-loving kid. This is a picture of him on Christmas day. He lost the second of his two front top teeth, and Danner lost the second of his two bottom teeth. What are the odds of that happening on Christmas Day. The opportunity was too perfect, so we had them sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" for the video camera.

Bridon loves playing sports. He really likes soccer and basketball a lot. He also just did a wrestling camp and really had fun doing that too. He is going to start Flag Football soon, so we will see how that goes. Bridon is all about playing with his friends and his cousins. He is doing well in school and likes his class a lot. He also enjoys playing video games, computer games and fighting with his brother in his spare time.

Danner is 6. He also loves playing sports and is a natural athlete. He loves any and every sport and is very focused when he plays. He is even focused when he is just watching. He will watch Bridon's teams or watch sports on TV and will try to imitate them. Danner is in Kindergarten this year. He is a very good reader and is also very good at math. He goes to a first grade class for reading and also has a packet of 1st grade math that he does in his class. This is a picture of Danner cutting out box tops. He is obsessed with it right now. We were at the store the other day, and I gave him a choice between two things that he could get. He said, "I want that one mom, because it has a box top." Danner is also a pretty tough kid. Tommy took him and Bridon skiing this last weekend. Danner must have fallen at least 20 times, but Tommy said he was a trooper and just kept on going.

Kyler is 2. Oh boy is he two. He keeps us on our toes every day and rolling in laughter every day. He is sooo much fun to have in our home. He has to wear his PJs when he takes a nap now. There are days when I wonder if I should even get him dressed. Kyler loves to play with his motorcycles and talk about motorcycles and quads. This is a picture of him up in the mountains at Christmas time. His Papa brought the quads and he had a blast. For weeks before this trip he would ask us (at least five times a day) "are we going to the mountains with papa and ride quads?" We would have to say, not yet pretty soon. Kyler is definitely our silly one, always saying and doing silly things that make us laugh. What a fun kid.

Coleson is 10 months. I am not sure what to say about Coleson. He is a funny kid, but in a totally different way. If you got in a staring contest with him, I think you would lose. Tommy had him in his primary class a couple of weeks ago. He was staring a this boy named Quinn for the longest time, and Quinn finally said, "He's freakin' me out." He reminds me a lot of Danner as a baby. He just started pulling up on furniture. He is not walking along it yet, but I am sure that will come soon. He started crawling in December at 8 months and is getting pretty fast now. We love having him in our home and are trying to enjoy this last baby as much as we can.

Here are a couple of recent cute pictures of Coleson. Don't you want to just squeeze those cheeks. The last one is his 9 month picture

Our Family

2008-02-24T20:38:00.001-08:00

This is our first blog, so I thought I would start with a little bit about our family. Tommy and Lindsey have been married for 11 years, almost 12. We have four boys. Bridon is 9, Danner is 6, Kyler is 2, and Coleson is 10 months old. Tommy loves his work as a dental hygienist. His true love (other than Lindsey) is hunting, and when he is not doing that he is spending time with his boys or playing basketball. Lindsey loves being home with the boys. She likes reading and looks forward to book club every month. She also likes playing volleyball, playing with her boys, and she must also enjoy being a chauffeur. We love our home and love that we are surrounded by family and friends.