Catching Up

So my birthday was absolutely wonderful. Probably the best birthday in YEARS. Anyway it was wonderful Spencer pampered me all day and then took me to dinner and a movie. We saw 2012 and for those of you who don't know that whole destruction end of the world stuff is my favorite. I LOVED the movie. It was great and dinner was AWESOME! I got so many Happy Birthdays from everyone THANK YOU!

I wanted to post some pictures from Thanksgiving. I missed the dinner (dang those babies!! LOL) but the kids and Spencer were able to meet up with his family in Salt Lake and had a great dinner at Marie Calendar's. I guess it was worth every penny not to have to clean up afterwards or so Mom and Spencer tell me. Then Friday night I met up with the fam and we went to Temple Square, gorgeous as always. Then Saturday we went to Thanksgiving point and the kids LOVED the dinosaurs and light drive, it was perfect!

Thanksgiving Dinner

The Family holding up a HUGE crowd of people to get a pretty picture!

The kids at the temple doors. Lukas kept saying this is where the Holy Ghost lives with Jesus. I guess we are teaching them something.

MaKynzee at the reflection pool, it was gorgeous!

Playing with Dinosaurs at Thanksgiving Point

Lukas wanted to make a Dinosaur island. He was SO cute.

Makynzee liked lining up the dinos and then pushing them in. Silly girl!

Then when we got home for my birthday we set up the Christmas tree. I am bummed we don't have enough room for our other tree. Lukas was devastated! He said, "That's NOT a Christmas tree, what happened?" He really wanted a real tree. I love my little family!

3:07AM December 5, 1984

Happy Birthday to Brandee, Happy Birthday to Brandee!!

Yep that's ME!

Well what can I say but I kept with my favorite tradition and called my parents at my birth time 3:07am and they sang Happy Birthday to me. It is just so special. My family is AMAZING and I am so glad to be born into this family! WOW I know most of you will be SHOCKED to here that I am ONLY 25 and the rest will think DANG she's old now. To be quite frank I have decided to make this my best year EVER!!!!! Yep and I am going to start it off with surgery on the 14th, yep sounds like a great year already....LOL!

Sweet memories....My mother

Mom- you are so freakin' amazing. You do so very much for your family and I am so grateful to call you mother and friend. You have always been such a foundation of love, thank you. I don't have words to express my love and appreciation for all you do. You would sacrifice even more than you have... for your family and I want you to know that I know that, I will always be thankful that I came to you... to learn, to grow and to be taught by the greatest teacher. I will never forget our Texas cheer trip when I finally realized how much you loved me and that we were best friends. We fought, I fought but it was only because we are too much alike and we never wanted to say it is true. But now I look back and I hope I can be a mother like you because if MaKynzee and I can be like us I will be the happiest mom EVER! I LOVE YOU!!!

Daddy's Girl

What can I say. I always adored my dad. He is the best man I know. He never lets an opportunity to serve go by. My most favorite memories are Daddy Daughter outings. Especially a Daddy Daughter sock hop. I remember Christina and I were the only ones in jeans and all the other girls looked so "cool" in their poodle skirts. I must admit I was embarrassed but then there was Dad. He flipped us and swung us and gave us the night of our lives. I didn't care what I was wearing...I had the coolest Dad there and still do! I LOVE YOU!!

My Bow- sorry Arik she will always be my "Bow"

My sister, my best friend..what is there more to say. I remember the hair pulling, the throwing, the fights but I remember better the fun memories we shared. You have always been there for me like I can not explain. We have always had that extra sense about each other and you are always there. You are such an amazing example. As I have said before and will always you are my LIGHT in the dark, my guardian angel, my twin in every aspect but birthdays. I LOVE YOU!!

Spencer has been showering me with little acts of kindness, love and presents. He is so amazing and I don't want to leave him out. He is my soul mate and I am so glad I found him...he just wasn't there for my "birth"day. But I LOVE YOU BABE!!

Florence Marie Jex Bowen 1909-2009

On Wednesday, November 18, 2009 my great Grandma Bowen passed peacefully into paradise. I had promised myself I would make her funeral no matter what and so we did. Spencer and I had Mom Bagshaw pick up the kids and we left Friday morning for a loooong drive to California to celebrate this great woman's life. My greatest memory of Grandma is her New Year's Eve parties. She really knew how to have fun and I remember us going out on her front porch and banging pots and pans with wooden spoons and she would yell "Louder girls LOUDER!" I also loved her smile. I don't know but when she smiled at you, you just knew you were special. I learned so much about her at her funeral too and for that I am especially grateful. I think I always knew that she was a hard worker but that was what she was remembered for the most, she never stopped serving, she never stopped loving and when she could help no more she went home....
No matter what... FAMILY is the most important thing. "Family There is Nothing Greater" It was really funny at the funeral because people would walk up to me and point and say "David's daughter right?" Yep that is me. One other person walked up to me and said, "I don't know what your name is but I know that you look exactly like your mom." Yep that is me, no matter if we were at Bowen or Sellers gatherings everyone says I look just like my mom. I am excited, I am going to look GOOD!!!!


Grandma's funeral was Saturday and the burial was Monday. I forgot the camera at the funeral but remembered for the burial.


Not all the pallbearers from the funeral were able to come to the cemetery so we got some stand-in pallbearers. They were her two sons Dean and Grandpa, her grandsons Jimmy, Junior and my uncle Chris and Spencer (cause they wouldn't let me:))

This is my Grandpa Bowen's mother. It was so sweet to see how much he loved her.

All the family at the burial and grave dedication. We had a mini (well it was over an hour) testimony or rather memory sharing time and anyone could share. This gave me the most closure and brought happiness in her passing.

My Grandma and Grandpa Bowen and I with Great Grandma one more time.

Next we went to her famous farm. My dad remembers the farm and always talks about this pool. Well it was filled in so I am "swimming" in the infamous pool. See Dad, one more swim!!

One of the things I learned at the funeral was everyone talked about Grandma's famous pomegranate jelly. I guess it was a big hit. Well when we were at the farm my Aunt Debra asked if we could take some and they said sure. It will always be a special memory to me...picking pomegranates with Grandma and Grandpa Bowen after Grandma's burial. It was just one of those special moments that you never forget. It was like Grandma was right there with us ready to pick more and make some jelly.

I LOVE this picture! I will always treasure this trip, it was worth the drive and all other sacrifices!!!

Never a DULL moment!!!

We went to our friends baby blessing today. It was the sweetest blessing I have heard in a long time. It was fantastic and the sacrament meeting was on gratitude and it was perfect. Then comes lunch afterward....

First let me mention that I believe Lukas is 99% Bowen and 1% Bagshaw- I mean the kid has put his tooth through his lip three times, head glued once and probably should have been twice, broke his leg and well the poor kid is just chuck full of Bowen genes!! For those who don't know growing up a Bowen was like having a bulls eye on your back, one of us was always injured some how- some where and I am sure my mom had a first name basis with the ER. Anyway so Lukas inherited the bull's eye. So today Lukas and I walk to the front of the house which was locked so we turned around. Lukas had his hands in his pockets and totally biffed it! I mean bad! I heard a crack when he hit and there was blood everywhere. His tie was totally covered and by the time I could get him inside my hand was full of blood. I totally freaked with the two holes in his bottom lip but then really freaked cause he kept bleeding and I couldn't find where from. Anyway I lifted up his top lid and his gums were a gray color and bleeding. He tore the frenulum and knocked three teeth loose and chipped two. Here is the damage...

Got love that LIP, I felt bad cause I kept scrubbing his chin to get the blood off but it was a scrape...sorry Buddy!!

Where the teeth went through...these were gaping holes and I am so excited with how much they have closed already.

The top gum, you can see the discoloration. His front two teeth and the one on the left of them is loose but the Dentist said he won't loose them and they will get firm again in TWO weeks! TWO freakin' weeks!!! Dr says soft foods for TWO weeks! Good thing he likes pancakes :0)

Yeah so there is a dentist in our friend's ward so we ran Lukas across the street and because the teeth were loose he wanted to do an xray and make sure nothing was fractured. So we went to his office- insanely nice man bytheway- Dr Curtis Godfrey- totally recommended- anyway Lukas has never been to the dentist so with some fighting we got xrays and everything is ok. His permanent teeth were not damaged so we were relieved. Like I said 99% Bowen. We sure know how to have fun in this family!!!

Not to leave MaKynzee out she has been wearing her tiara since Halloween. One night she even wore it to bed. So I took a picture of our very own Sleeping Beauty. She is growing way to fast!!!

Dag Gum Freakin BUGS!!!!

Ok so I really wanted to title this "How to Lose 14 POUNDS in One Week" but I didn't want search engines to grab my pitty story for those who would like to lose weight healthy.


Anyway How to Lose 14 FREAKIN POUNDS in 7 days!!

Step 1- Get a MANDATORY Piggy Flu shot
***one week prior to symptoms
Special note: Have your family all get sick in this week but YOU and feel pretty good about yourself!!

Step 2- Get the FREAKIN Piggy flu! (One week later gotta love that!!!!!!)

Step 3- Get Bronchitis secondary to flu
***This is day 3 now of symptoms

Step 4- Gag up every single bit of moisture for 3 days

Step 5- Swell tonsils to the point where they are over lapping and your throat is no longer able to do vital things like...BREATHE!!!! Swallow or eat.
*** Now to make sure you are on track your garbage should now be half full of your mouth and nose "moisture"

Step 6- Due to the fact that you can not vomit due to tonsils and resulting you have to swallow your vomit, your stomach now gets even ANGRIER and sends fire down your man hole!

Step 7- Make sure that you do not sleep for the the last three days and wake up in sweats (I saw so many wrestlers sweat their weight off in high school- Guess what it WORKS!!)

Step 8- The night of Day 6 to 7 completely rid your body of piggy flu virus through....SWEATING!
***You know the outlines of the bodies for crime scenes....Well imagine you wake up and you are soaked (I thought I might have peed the bed or dumped my ever full cup of water on the bed) and there is a completely FILLED IN outline of your body and you are convulsing due to chills and no body heat. Yepo that is at least 3 pounds right there.

Now this does not help your weight loss goals but you go crying like a baby into the Dr on day 7, say you've given up either they rip out your tonsils or you will and I do know where to find a scalpel! The nurses take one look at you and stay where they are. You can't even get the Dr closer than FOUR feet to you. You continue to cry as they give you a shot in each butt cheek (now one of these shots is the hell, fire and damnation shot (rocephin-one word BURN) that nurses HATE to give and HATE even more to receive) and 8 hours later you are breathing and swallowing. Still haven't eaten but hey at this point I am believing that is optional.


Mom the funny thing is - All I want is a frosty and fries!! So much for weight loss- LOL!


Sorry for the graphic details to my weight loss but I do want to report that I am getting better. Yes I had the swine flu, bronchitis and strep throat at the same time and probably all because of each other. The Swine flu test takes one week to come back but they are pretty sure. For those of you who have called I no longer sound like a man so I will begin to take calls. And for the rest of you who love me and care thank you for all your well wishes. Thanks especially to Brad Poulton who would come within one foot of me to help Spencer give me a blessing!

MaKynzee who started all of this is doing good, poor girl was sick for over a week but pretty spunky with a fever except maybe 2 days.

Spencer who was the second victim is doing very well also. He has his 3 month cough for the rest of the cold season but is handling it well with a pocket full of cough drops.

Lukas was barely touched, he had a cough but never fevered.

Me well you know my story!

Hope all is well and we love you all.

******This is NOT FDA approved method for weight loss!!!!********

Halloween Bagshaw Style 2009

So I have not stopped one of my FAVORITE traditions...making the kids costumes. This year was the funnest and hardest! MaKynzee's fabric choice and I were not getting along so don't look to close. But I had a BLAST making Lukas- Lightning McQueen! I told MaKynzee no more princesses, this year she was Belle- Beauty and the Beast. She was so dang cute. I got my favorite red heads, my nieces Brookelyn and Kira on Thursday so we got to enjoy the festivities with them until Brookelyn spiked a fever and I took her home, with Kira soon to follow. Dang the winter!!!
Anyway we celebrated on Friday by going to the Ward Carnival and then ran down to Soda Springs for Dad Bagshaw's birthday (that is becoming a tradition too it seems). We had a blast and I was SAVED by a best friend Kendra who willing came to the ward party with me for support. Thanks girlie!!


Lukas celebrated Halloween week it seems with Preschool celebrations on Wednesday! His teacher is so awesome, she was a genie.



The complete and finished costumes.... DUN DUN DUN....

Presenting...Lightning McQueen!!

I made a car racer outfit and then made Lightning out of a card board box.



Me showing off my McQueen, I was SO happy with the way it turned out I have to brag a little!



My Princess Belle

The sewing machine ate her neckline but other than that I think it is ok. MaKynzee loved it and wouldn't take it off.


The Gang before Ward Carnival- It was fun getting all four ready by myself. I think they turned out C-U-T-E!




The kiddos Trunk or Treating in Soda. It wasn't that cold it was nice.

So now we are all sick...yep thank you very much. Spencer has bounced back with his cough that will last 3 months, Lukas blows green every time he sneezes, MaKynzee can't seem to keep her temp down, she is the worst and poor little thing looks like a ghost. I thought I had escaped but now I am beginning to feel pain in my chest and have a tickle in my throat! Heaven help us all!! We love everyone's costumes!!!

Halloween Pumpkin Fun

So this Monday we had FHE and carved pumpkins. It was really fun and after MaKynzee got over the gooey feeling she really had fun. Anyway last year I think we did boys and girls pumpkins so this year we did Father-Daughter and Mother-son pumpkins. Lukas didn't let me be that creative but he knew exactly what he wanted.


Me and the kids "gutting" the pumpkins, according to Spencer I have killer guttin' skills.



Daddy carving the pumpkin.





So for those of you who don't know...MaKynzee is our little garbage disposal. She eats anything and now we get to add PUMPKIN to the list!!!

She kept picking up hunks and eating em...GROSS!!!! Then Spencer decided the whole family should try raw pumpkin and seeing that it was FHE... we did ALL of us...bon appetite!



The finished products and a HAPPY FAMILY~



Of course Spencer busted out his photo skills and we got some cool shots of the pumpkins!!

It looks like there is a spider in the right pumpkin's right eye but really it is because I carved the infamous "B" in the back of it, as tradition!!

Yellowstone and More

Good OLD FAITHFUL

So we headed up to Yellowstone. Spencer wanted another chance at his photography adventures. So we headed up at 0800 in the morning to a chilly West Yellowstone. The kiddos love to see the animals and there favorite are the "volcanoes" ie geysers! So Old Faithful was a HIT and so was the grizzly bear we got to see about 15 feet away. Yep we had a death wish and Spencer couldn't stop smiling. Just before we turned the corner for the grizzly I said a little pray asking that we could please see a bear so that Spencer could be happy and this trip wouldn't be a waste. Seriously just as I said Amen we ran into the traffic for the bear. I was a happy girl, said my thankful prayer and Sir became the happiest man alive. So all in all it was GREAT trip, very photo successful!

This looks like something out of a horror film. It was so cold so the geysers were creating all this fog. Hold on honey...I'll come get you!

The kids were correcting each other about facts from this board. They can't read but Lukas was saying it was a million years old and MaKynzee said no it is a baby. They make me laugh. Very interested with the sign no less.

Not much else to report but we LOVE to dance around here! Just makin' sure Mom and Dad Bowen know that I am makin' sure their grandbabies know how to dance. MaKynzee's favorite right now is to stand on her stool and shout "Shake your booty!" LOL!!

It's a.....GIRL!!

Well okay so I was a little deceptive in my choice of words for the title but it is a GIRL...hamster. I finally convinced Spencer that I needed an animal for my "therapy" and we finally got one. Her name is Daisy and she is a teddy bear hamster. I love her and so do the kids..to death. They just might kill her with all the shaking and dropping her when she is in her running ball but I think that we have come a few steps closer to having that resolved...yeah RIGHT! She is just SO much fun. Thanks again babe!

This is our cute little DAISY!

MaKynzee wanted to introduce hippo to Daisy...this is what we found it was sooo cute!

MaKynzee always make sure that Hippo does everything she does! LOL.

The other day we went and took some pictures at the park. I got this one after the three of them climbed up this rock face. I am so blessed with our little family.

Too cute huh! They are the most beautiful and cherished possessions I have!

Bagshaws in the Sawtooths

Labor Day we went to the Sawtooths for a Bagshaw Reunion of sorts. It was great we got to see all the siblings and Grandpa and Grandma Bagshaw came too. Of course we were camping and the kids LOVED it!! It was fun for us adults too but poor Mom seemed like she needed a humidifier in the morning...quite the trooper! So we did some sight seeing and one place was the Fish hatchery... definitely one of the kiddos favorite (I don't know if the boat ride or the fishies win out) and well everybody seemed to enjoy watching the kids fish. The last day, labor Day we went and rented a boat. It was really fun and I realized just how much I miss the water. We love the outdoors and were super sad to say good bye to summer. Here are some trip pictures....I will post some of the boat later. They are all on Spencer's camera.

Smores with Grandma!

One of my favorites! The cousins at the Fish Hatchery.

At the Fish Hatchery they have a pond where kids could fish. MaKynzee fishing with mommy.

Don't know why my face looks like I am in pain...I was actually enjoying myself, maybe it is "concentration."

LOOK! MaKynzee and Papa caught a FISH...

And Lukas not to be out done caught a... MOMMY

Yep, Lukas caught me right in the... well let's just say I was BEGGING Lukas to stop and I am raising my hand to make sure no one else was going to come over to "help" I was mortified but got the hook out from between my legs and personally I think Lukas caught the best lookin' thing all day...LOL!

Lukas trying to catch something beside his mom with Papa.

MaKynzee is not really afraid of much, hesitant YES but not scared away too easily. See she even decided to make friends with her fish! Lukas would have ran the other way but our little girl can find the "rough and tough" in herself.

The trip was SOOO much fun and we were so happy to see everyone! We love you all thanks for such a great time!

The Next Bagshaw Scholar

Well Lukas started preschool at Pumpkin Patch Preschool. The teacher runs the preschool out of her basement and I heard about it through work. Everyone RAVES about this lady so we got in. I was super excited for him because I want him to be able to use all that independent attitude for something good and HE DOES!! He has had three days and already draws A's and sings the alphabet a MILLION times better than before. We are so impressed with our little student. MaKynzee on the other hand is struggling without big brother being around. She cries for her Lukas and wants to go get a Princess backpack cause that means she gets to go to school. (oh how little minds think.) Anyway I think we will get over it soon but so far she is 100% screaming the whole way home....maybe I need ear plugs.

Our handsome scholar!!

Heading out into the BIG BIG world! When we got to preschool he said "Mom- GO! This is where you leave" and pushed me. Yep not afraid of being without me..not one tiny bit!

Her super super upset..."Turn around go get MY LUKAS!!!!"

Tears at the heart strings a little. Now you might be asking why I have this picture. Well I was sick of the screaming so I told her to stop or I would pull over and take a picture...she didn't and so wa-la!

WAHOO...He's really in the MTC!!

So not last weekend but the one before we were in SLC for a cousins wedding on Saturday and then we put the BABY of the family in the MTC!! My little brother, Elder Bowen...CRAZY! I was so excited for him...yeah I cried like a baby but it is just because I am so dang proud of him! I will miss him but two years is an easy sacrifice for the awesome man he will become. We love you...GOD SPEED. Don't forget your on the Lord's side now.

The day before he went into the MTC we went and got a few pictures at the "sign."

Uncle Garrett the day before he went into the MTC!

Man we are good lookin' siblings! Now I have 2 strippling warrior missionaries!

Don't forget to check out my DC trip on the blog below...if you care.