Asher's School Comment

I have debated over and over if this is an appropriate place to put this, but figured it is something I wanted to remember years from now. Yesterday I stopped by the kids school to pick them up for the girls Foster visits. While waiting for them to come out Asher's 1st grade teacher pulled me aside to tell me what had happened in class. They were comparing three different objects and one of the objects was balls. Asher raised his hand and said "teacher I just need to understand are we talking about the balls in boys bodies or the ones we use at recess?" Who knows if he was joking around or actually 100% serious. Luckily his teacher laughed and understands his silly, goofy and light personality. Opps sorry to those other parents whose kids were exposed to more than they wished. Got to love boys.

April Happenings

I swear I have fallen off the blogger planet. Have not had much motivation to blog about life, believe me there has been plenty. Here are some highlights: For some reason Asher has a major obsession with rain. He loves being in it and getting down right soggy in it. I guess we all had that love at one point or another in our childhood, I sure did. I would twirl around under my umbrella as long as my mom would let me. The first rain storm we had this year left Asher a little disappointed. As I headed out for our walk I found him moving huge buckets full of water and dumping them down the gutter. If we did not get enough rain, he was going to create it. But the night finally came and Asher was able to get as soaked as his heart was content. He was a little disappointed that his rain jacket did not keep him 100% dry. He was wanting that thing to perform miracles while he played and played in the down pouring rain on ofcourse the soaking wet tramp.

Windows: A house would not be a house without it's fair share of damage. Believe me we have had our share. This is officially our 4th window break since we have lived in Farr West. Good news this is actually the first time one of my own children caused the damage. First time was by Nelson and a wiffle golf ball and the other two- neighbor kids. As we were mowing the lawn I asked Max to pick up the baseball off the grass (one of the many objects that were just laying around). As I continued to mow I heard an extremely load noise (over the lawn mower) yes one did not even have to guess what happened. Max thought it would be a good time to try to see if he could get the ball over the house. Instead it went through the living room window. Good thing for us it is just a window and stuff like this happens. Extra good news is we have 2 great glass guys that are always there to bail us out in times like these. The broken window (4th time)- Luckily this time I remembered to get a picture

Crazy Hair day The kids had crazy hair day and ofcourse are always glad to participate. Asher for some reason knew exactly what he wanted. For some reason he wanted ponytails in the shape of an X. Then he could put his head down and tell his friends they had found the treasure- "see X marks the spot" he would say. Not sure where he comes up with this stuff, but it sure is cute. Glad the boys are willing to be involved and not embarrased what others may think.

New play spot The kids have found their new loved play spot. Unfortunately it is as high as the ceiling- up on top of our built in entertainment center. They spent hours up their reading, eating and just down right playing. It was like they had just created their own indoor fort and had such a blast hanging out in it. Unfortunately I had to put the wall scaling fort playing business to an end. When I caught them jumping off of the top of the entertainment center I decided it was time to be done. That is the last thing we need- more injury. So here is to a short lived play spot!!

Believe me I have definitely felt the comfort and strength from a loving Father in Heaven. I know he is very mindful of me and my family and we are extremely blessed. I have strengthened a deeper love for fasting and know it is real. We are truly blessed by many friend, family and the gospel.

Easter

There is no way to hide the excitement the kids feel about Easter. The kids get excited about each little hunt and family gathering. Easter this year was right over Spring Break- so yes it was kind of busy. Easter Hunt at Grandma Weston's- My mom literally has popcorn popping on the Apricot tree. Fun little tradition that the kids enjoy, so do the adults. My kids have learned they had better hide their popcorn balls or I end up eating them all

Tradition has it that the kids go in the back and look for a certain number of eggs. Kids love doing this. Them after emptying out their eggs. Wanted to get a picture of both the boys with Grandma for keepsake

Once the backyard was cleared out they then get to start their scavenger hunt for more fun treasures. For some reason that pesky hider put the clues way to high up on the address sign. No one could manage to shimmy up the pole but little old Asher.

The kids had a blast. We were grateful we were able to spend this Easter Day with our family instead of in the hospital like we were last year. Grandma Bowen's Easter Hunt- There is no easy way to explain the hunt at Grandma Bowen's house. There are a lot of kids, lots of fun and lots and lots of food. When the Bowen's get together all the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins come. it is always a fun and large family hang out. We would have it no other way. This year I let the kids pick what they wanted to throw out on the grass. Their selection was something non traditional, but hey who cares, the kids loved it:

All the cousins hanging out after the hunt-

Last but not least- Asher being silly and hanging out with his Great Grandma Miner. The boys have a tenderness in their heart for her and she loves having all the kids around. It has been good having her in Jeannie in Court's house, we get to see her more often and spend time with her.

We are so grateful for the holiday season and for what it truly means. Grateful for a Savior who sacrificed for us and was resurrected so we can return and be with him again. This easter was fun with the boys helping to get to explain to the girls in our home what Easter is truely about.

Spring Break

Spring Break this year was scheduled for a week over Conference Weekend and Easter Weekend. I learned it was a long break and I need to gear up for fun things to do in the Summer to help avoid Summer boredom. With Nelson's current church calling he does not have a lot of vacation time. I wish he had more time off so we could go and play as a family. So for the first part of the week the kids and I went and played as much as we could. We visited a few different parks, went ice blocking, which was a first for some of the people with us, and visited the Airplane Museum. We had a great break and had fun spending time with each other. Museum-

Later in the week we decided to take the kids on a little get away to Salt Lake. We did not have much time to go far so decided we could have fun in Salt Lake. We got a hotel and went and visited some of the places we don't go to often. We started the night off at the new City Creek Shopping Center. Of course the kids gravitated to the water and had a ball playing. The next day we purchased a Salt Lake Connect pass and hit some of our favorite spots. First stop- Discovery Gateway We don't go here often and now I know why. It was jam packed with kids. The kids had a blast hanging out, Max on the rock climbing wall

You can interpret Nelsons face however you want in this photo,and no I did not let a stinker:

We then headed to the Hansen Planetarium and watched an IMax show. Let's just say I had a good nap, it was one of the worst movies I have seen in my life. Of course a trip to gateway can not be complete without over an hour spent in build a bear. Kids were able to spend their own money and buy themselves a new pet. We then headed up to spend sometime at the zoo. We could not have picked a better day to go. There were about 40 other visitors in the park and the day was slightly overcast. It turned out perfect.

Yep!! not hard to figure out that my family fit in just perfect here!

Max and Asher hanging out in the Giraffe house. They were not too fond of the smell.

We tried the shot of Nelson and i one more time. Not sure this one turned out any better.

Our day was then topped off with dinner at the Lion House Pantry. All of this was included in the card we purchased (except Build a bear). Yes we ran the kids ragged. They had a good day but were pretty tired when it was all said and done. It was a fun way to spend time together and get away from the hustle and bustle of our life.

Feb/March Random Happenings

For some time now our trampoline has been on it's last leg. When we took it down for the winter 9 of the mat hooks had ripped from the springs. Since the winter has been so mild we decided to put the tramp back up, full knowing we needed a new one asap.
Each day the kids were out jumping and it seemed we lost another. We decided it was time to buy a new one. We have gotten our moneys worth out of that thing. We even had a neighbor tell us we should set it up in our house during the winter since a kid is always on the tramp (that is not too hard when there are always 12 kids here, of course someone will be always jumping).
Well as luck would have it we found a great deal on a rectangular tramp. The kids were in heaven and stayed on it all day (good thing we are experiencing great weather). Max decided to flip from the new tramp to the old one. As soon as he landed 3 springs went flying through the air. Max's cat like reflexes kicked in so he could grab the bar instead of falling off. We are just kicking ourselves we did not have our camera. Needless to say the tramp has been officially retired!!
Here's hoping for many more years of backyard fun:















Wax Museum:
This year for 5th grade Max has one awesome teacher. She goes above and beyond in all that she does. She had the kids do a wax museum. They were tasked with researching a person, preparing a background, gathering a costume and a speech. As people walked through their display and pushed their buttons they had to start speaking. It was such a neat thing. As Max was leaving he said "Does the family not know this the biggest day of my life". It was way cute and he did a good job. great way for him to learn public speaking and many other things. He chose Jan Ulrich (a German biker) Here are a few pics:
I think this year for St Patricks Day I may have gone a little overboard. We ended up having green everything and I am not exaggerating on that. We had green- eggs, milk, ham, spaghetti, jello, water, and even had our rolls made up extra green. Good thing the kids were in the "holiday" spirit because they loved every minute of it. Good thing for blogs so next year when they expect the same craziness I can remember what I did.

Is Fear A Factor for you?

Now as I try to recall, I am not even sure how it even happened. How did I end up hosting a fear factor activity with a ton of kids (16 to be exact)? Was it my crazy idea or did I somehow let my kids talk me into it? Not sure, but for some reason I said yes. Thinking it would be a good way to keep the kids entertained during the 3 days of early out they had from school. So here is how it went:

I went to the effort of decorating the door with some of the same stuff that was on their invitation, but the kids did not even see it. They entered our house different ways than the front door.

Max competing in the transfer the fish team challenge. This was the first event they participated in as well as that generated vomit. (not off to a good start)

Max and Asher competed in jumping jack competition then had to roll a dice to see what they "got" to eat. Luckily Asher got pickled beets, unlucky Max got cocktail onions. Hence, second event that generated vomit (not a good track record 0/2). At this point I was honestly contemplating quitting the events.

The shot that was close to vomit

Against my better judgement I let them talk me into eating the baby food. It was getting pretty ugly so I made Asher and Emily quit. I was done with the vomit at this point, and we had just started.

Asher convinced he was going to finish the baby food (he never made it)

Next event was wall sits. This was one tough group of kids. Those kids were determined not to quit. After 8:30 minutes I finally made them quit, they were not getting close at all.

Asher and Passion competing against each other on the wall sits. Neither one of them was going to give up.

Next event was raw egg relay. This was voted one of the kids favorite. This will be a repeat if I am ever talked into doing this again.

Max being brave to fish peanuts out of a pan of spaghetti, onions and pigs feet. Asher was brave enough to taste the pickled pigs feet and did not care for them.

Last but not least Max and some of his friends hanging out after the worm challenge

The kids loved it and are ready to plan another one. We will see how long we wait until we do another one.

Random Bowen Happenings

It has been awhile since my last post. The month of January seemed to go by way to fast. Here are a few random things that got caught on camera.

Maybe one of the not so good habits we got our kids into was that of making an ice slide down our back stairs. Whenever we get enough snow, the stairs are instantly packed with snow. It is one of the kids favorite snow activity. They spend hours and hours on their slide with jumps included (at the bottom of course). If I state one of us had to get stitches you may now why- I already fell all the way down it once this year.








After 6 months we finally got Max's basement room completed. I can't say that we really worked on it for 6 months, we did not. It even came down to the point of finally having to pay someone to do some of the work for us. Max is finally glad to be down in the basement in his new spacious room. Now lets hope it does not take another 6 months to get blinds and decorations in the room



I decided it was about time to start fall/spring cleaning what ever I call it when you have missed all the deep cleanings for the past year. Asher found it necessary to see if he still fit in his 18-24 month snow clothes. My vote- looking good!!

Each kids has different jobs they have to do around the house. One of Asher's is the recycling. I was in the garage and heard a faint cry for help. I turned and noticed the little predicament Asher had gotten himself in. Of course I had to run and grab the camera before I could help him out. He had thrown the whole bucket away and was trying to get it out.

That is just a few things for now. Stay tuned I am sure next month will be just as adventurous.