Bowen's 1 year Pictures

We did Bowen's one year pictures last week and they turned out awesome. Spencer took the pictures. I set him up and changed the clothes, positions and perfection. I think we are getting pretty good at this tag team photography stuff.

We used some wrapping paper I picked out as the back drop, it turned out better than expected, I think Spencer was a little hesitant but I think they are amazing!

My sweet angel boy

GO Broncos, I love this one cause he is so happy. The expression is priceless.

Then we went for nothin' but diaper and this cute hat he got for his birthday. His "animal" has been dubbed the bear and so it was very fitting.

We are totally in love with this kid!

How could you not LOVE that smile?

Ok the story behind this one is that Bowen was done and so he decided he was going to walk toward us, so we got his first step on picture! He stepped out from the hippo and then took one more step without holding onto anything! WAHOO! We better watch out.

Gone but NOT without a good excuse!

Ok so I finally am here up dating our blog. So many things have been happening and keeping us on our toes and off the "enjoyment" activities list. Halloween was a roller coaster but so much fun. A family update...

Lukas has totally soared in school. He is doing amazing with his reading. The teacher keeps telling us that he just keeps surprising her. This boy is all about games though. All he ever wants to do is play games... his current favorite is Stratego. We are still trying to teach him the right way.

MaKynzee is still such a "sweetie". Her teacher keeps telling us she has two "problems" with MaKynzee during school.
1. She won't sit down, she is always standing at the desk.
2. She won't stop talking.
Well her parents would agree. Our biggest problem with MaKynzee is she just won't sit down to do anything, especially eat. She's always standing and creating quite the mess. We need to get a dog to hoover under the kitchen table.
About her talking...if she isn't talking she is singing, and if she isn't singing she is yelling and if she isn't yelling she is "whispering" and if it isn't any of the above she is WHINING! Heaven help us! Hippo is still her best friend and companion. She is ALL girl and we love her!!

Bowen's first birthday party was a huge success! The boy won't stop growing. At his ONE yr apt the boy weighed in at 21 lbs 30z (5% for wt) and a whooping 31.5 in long (90% for ht). Gee I wonder is that a Bagshaw or a Bowen?? Maybe he looks like a Bowen and is perfectly named but he is a Bagshaw build. We regifted Lukas' hippo walker/ride-on that he got for his 1st birthday and Bowen LOVES it. He is always trying to walk with it. He throws a little tantrum everytime the hippo pulls away and he has to sit down. Such a little temper. He is walking along everything and crawling UP everything too. Nothing sacred anymore.

Spencer only has 5 more weeks of full time school, with one class in the spring. I can't even tell you how blue in the face I am from holding my breath that this is it. This is finally happening right?? We are hoping the "real" world will be nicer to us this time around.

Brandee is going crazy and would love to be 6ft under....I am not laughing. It has been so crazy but the Lord keeps making it work so BRING IT ON! Work has got increasingly hard and emotional... I just get so attached and maybe I see the end... where I don't HAVE to work anymore. I just HATE being away from the home and my other duties. Kudos to those who can work and like to... I just really don't.

Happy Halloween

The costumes...

YES I made them again this year. It is my FAVORITE thing. MaKynzee's was amazingly hard but it paid off. It was so much better than I expected.

Lukas- BATMAN

His smile is infectious!







MaKynzee- IRISH Princess




Bowen- SPIDER






ZOO BOO

I have been trying for 4 years to get to the "Zoo Boo" here at the Pocatello Zoo. The Problem was I was always working or the costumes weren't done. Anyway this year I PLANNED for it and we had a BLAST! (Of course it wasn't perfect...Bowen's costume wasn't done so he wore a super small lion costume :0) The kids got to trick or treat around the Zoo and we get to see the animals... perfect!




Watching the HUGE elk.







The cuter than cute Bagshaw 3!







Then the Classroom parades...

We missed Lukas AGAIN...last year I had a WAY better excuse, I was having a BABY! Anyway we got to see the kids parade in his room instead. He is such a little character, he gave Hi-fives to everyone that came in. Super coooool Batman!






MaKynzee got to parade around the cul de sac at Preschool. They were all so cold but so cute!!










Trunk or Treat at the ward Party...

thrown by yours truly and yours alone. But that is another story entirely.




Trick or Treating with the Jorgensens...

they have a better neighborhood without the busy streets. It was so much fun. Lukas asked if we could have Halloween everyday. Umm NO! I can't make that many costumes...LOL.





So you might ask yourself why have I been slacking in the blog world for Sept-Oct. Well I was making 3 costumes, preparing for one birthday party, one bi-ward Halloween Trunk or Treat complete with carnival independently (thanks to the Jorgensens who did help with their hot air that helped blow up 200 balloons), two school parties AND getting a new Primary Presidency! Well gee that was fun, maybe we could do it next year, eh?

HECK NO!

Happy 1st Birthday Bowen

We started Bowen's celebrations with his Birthday Pancakes. He was SO excited because this was the first time I put syrup on them.

Next Mommy decorated for the Birthday party, it was SO much fun to do a Halloween theme. Bowen's costume was a spider so I did a Spider cake. It turned out better than I hoped.

The rip roarin, awesome blossom, totally outrageous cake...


Presents..he got some awesome things! One in particular was probably more than he bargained for...but we will leave it a that! LOL. This is one of my FAVORITE pics from the party, they both just look so happy. Grandma was helping Bowen open his presents...

THE CAKE

Before... bare and ready for frosting!

After...

To be perfectly honest the boy was more interested in the "1" candle and even turned over the cake to reach it. Oh well as you can see it wasn't a complete waste :0)

Thanks to all that participated and gave gifts...those who sent $$ to the boy we bought him a much needed winter coat so THANKS!!

Oh, happy days! Bagshaw update

Spencer and Brandee- Well we just celebrated our 8th anniversary. I can not believe it has been that long. So much has happened and nothing really that we planned...except the kids. We knew we wanted kids. Anyway for our anniversary we went to dinner and a movie. It was great. I tried really hard to make it a real date. I even did my hair and make-up. We were at dinner and Spencer all of the sudden gets a funny look on his face...leans in closer to get a better look at me and said, "Are you wearing eyeshadow?" It was hillarious, the look on his face. Yep I went all out and what do get...what is that on your face?! It was funny.




Spencer- FINAL YEAR of school! Spencer just started his final year of school, all of you pray for him! He is really focused and ready to be done (so am I). I think the light at the end of the tunnel is finally bright enough to light a fire under his bum. Real world here we come....


Brandee- I was super excited, I planted my first ever garden. I have planted tomatoes and daisies every year we have been married but have only managed to kill them off. Well this time our friends had some extra space in their garden so I planted a salsa garden with the kids. The kids loved helping and really liked pulling weeds. Really hope the work ethic continues. Don't worry I still got to kill something....I killed everything off but the tomatoes and onions. Here is our first true harvest! Only tomatoes so far but I am so excited, they aren't dead! Spencer keeps telling me how proud he is and how good the tomatoes are so he must want me to do this again :)





Lukas-

Our BIG 1st grader is ready to hit the books. He has been waiting all summer to be the "cool/ bigger" kid and help the kindergartners like they did with him last year. (At our elementary school it is K/1 the first half of the day. Then K goes home about lunch time and the 1st graders do more math and reading at the higher level the rest of the day.) After the first day of school he said his favorite things were to get a stack of books and just read for 30 min after the kindergartners left and the lunch recess cause it is "really LONG!" We are so glad that he is SO in love with books and can't wait for him to pick up the bigger words. He tries and is getting better with big words. He is still our little gammer though and picks Wii over anything.


First Day of School: Sept 1, 2011



Daddy took some great pictures! Mommy was at work:(



Notice the silly bands! He loves them and makes sure he has them EVERY day since he got them last Christmas. I thought he would forget but "NO WAY!"



MaKynzee-

Our sweet princess started preschool today. We moved her to a different school and so she was a little nervous and scared.

This is what she said this morning, "Mom, I am going to a new school right? A smarter school?"


"Yes, Kynzee"


"Well ok but it will only be better if my Kira is there. Is my Kira going to be there?"


"Yes, Kynzee"


"Ok, I am ready. But mom my hair! Mom, you do my hair pretty, but today can you do it SUPER pretty, like REALLY pretty.


sigh, "Yes, Kynzee."


I hope her hair was pretty enough and we got there the same time as "her" Kira so she walked away with no cares for mommy.



The pretty princesses ready for school! They were both like.."look I got my hair curled"

"yeah, me too." Ahh to be young and free!!


Bowen-

Mr Bowen has decided to get on the move. He LOVES to suck on wires, plug ins, anything that we have moved out of his path he continues to go for till he gets it. Persistent little bugger. He has been stuck under the kitchen chair, couch and end table, in between the couches and stuck in baskets after he crawls to them and goes in head first. Ahh to explore. He doesn't care until he gets what he wants and THEN he realizes what a small spot he is in. Lukas and I call him the Bulldozer! If it is in his way he will move it. These are pictures from his first day crawling, August 28 (on exactly his 10 month of life)...Baby Zilla...



He is so proud of himself and so are we!


Now our biggest challenge is food. He only wants the real stuff like table food and paper. Yep, newspapers are his favorite. LOL. No more baby food! Also my milk has started to dry up so he doesn't get enough there but he won't drink from a bottle. OOOOOOOOoooooo, HAVE MERCY! Anyway we love his cute little teeth that he uses for everything he eats since he only wants "true" solid food. Dang cute kid....


As you can see we are all healthy and working on happiness! Be good and choose the right!

Copple Family Reunion

So who are the Copples you ask? Well that is my dad's mother (my grandma's) maiden name. She has two sisters and we had a whole bunch of people there. It is so amazing to me that you can get a whole bunch of Bowen's together and it is like we didn't miss a beat. I LOVE it! The place we stayed at was in the middle of nowhere Utah. Which quite honestly was PERFECT. It was Hidden Springs Ranch...it had all sorts of things for us to do. We went rock climbing, swimming, Spencer did paint ball and a whole bunch of games!!!

Here is Spencer getting in position for paintball. After the first round he was the one to get. Unfortunately it was two fold 1. Because he has good aim and 2. He didn't stop shooting once he got you. Oh well, dig your own grave hunny. He had a blast and relieved alot of tension, much needed after you waste a day with the car broke down :0)


Hiding in the bushes. Scoping out the enemies...



Coming out all enemies are DOWN!


Just wanted to prove the really hot sharp shooter was my hubby. There he is.


Then ofcourse Lukas had to get some action. We let him shoot at cups on trees. He found "true love". Something just as explosive as he is.


There was a pond with row boat up front. Grandpa was so nice to take the kids for rides.



Well then ofcourse you can't get that many people together without getting proof it happened right? And we can't have almost ALL the Bowen's present without some sort of TRAUMA...right? So we had our turn already so we were safe right? WRONG, dead wrong!

Here is a little hint...


For the rest of the story...This is a piece from a beautiful retaining wall. It was really nice and in this half circle thing so a picture perfect place right? It even had a bench for the "wise" ones. Anyway they had laid out names on each of the cinder blocks of who goes where. Well unknown to us our men were positioned right on top of this yellow jacket nest with Spencer dead center. After the men got in position they called over the wives. Well not knowing I placed my leg DEAD center in the middle of the entrance to the nest. Yep, that's right. All I can remember was beginning to scream...really scream like loud girly, no loud WOMAN scream. I looked down and one of the yellow jackets had actually got stuck in my leg so he sat there pumping in the venom or whatever it is they have. Well I continued to scream and they moved me to the lawn. Someone as I recall said, "Scream louder that will help." Ahhh got to love family. Well thanks to my rescuers...my dad and Uncle Mark immediately had ice. I had three distinct stings but the one where the bee was stuck was KILLING me. I kept swallowing, checking all my allergic reaction checks. I thought I had been stung before but never ever did it hurt this bad. Anyway finally one of my other uncles came down with baking soda and water and we put that on. At first it didn't help but then finally came some relief. Now don't forget we were getting ready for a family reunion picture so I had close to 70+ witnesses and I am sure that I was ever so graceful about the whole thing. Wait do you remember the WOMAN scream. Anyway I wanted to crawl in a hole and die after the pain subsided but true to Bowen form... the show must go on... and so we did take that beautiful family picture a little ways off and Arik got to stand in a red ant hill this time. He didn't complain...he didn't want everyone to remember him too.

The remains after being sprayed to death by my uncle.

...
Now for those pretty family pictures...we didn't get the big one but hey I don't think I looked that good anyway.
My Grandma and Grandpa Bowen with all their "GREATS"



After the big picture we did just a DR Bowen picture (ie just my immediate family). My sister and I had shirts made and we put all the families together like the t-shirt. Poor little brother of mine looks a little lonely but he is just single don't feel sorry for him, he'll get there...we love you!!!

My parents grandkids making the infamous "B" for Bowen!!

We had so much fun and really enjoyed the break..well mostly ;0). I miss my family already but I know we will be together soon enough. I hate being so far away. SURE LOVE YA!

Where the wedding are we??

So what happened to July and August? Well I know where July went, it went to getting my sisters wedding flowers and decor done. It was so much fun but maybe a little more stress than I thought. She finally met her prince charming and I wanted to make everything perfect. This was her perfect fairy tale wedding.

Now for those of you who just don't know my sister, I have not seen her smile in a very long time. Life has not been easy but Prince Charming finally found the Princess of his dreams...

Words do not express how much I LOVE this picture. My sister is back, her smile is beaming and everyone around her can feel that love.

The siblings...Me, Melanie, Garrett, Christina

The whole Bowen Clan...ok not really we are missing Arik, he was on a fire. I think I might photo shop him in...see the big hole between my sister and I...yep that is Arik's spirit making sure he had some room.

The first dance...

I cried alot. More happiness than I could handle in one day!

...

...

Later at our family reunion Spencer took pictures for Mr and Mrs Service.

I had researched poses for a while to make sure we didn't miss anything. This was my favorite to display the wedding rings. Ahh AMOR!

My absolute FAVORITE photo from the shoot. That Bride is GORGEOUS! That couple PERFECT. And they have begun their happily ever after...

Now as we traveled back from Arizona to Utah for the family reunion AND true to Bowen tradition we could not all get there in one piece without drama. In fact I believe the Lord took this time to teach me a pretty important lesson or maybe lessonS...I said the prayer that morning that we would all get there safe and our cars would function properly...BUT...we broke down in the middle of NOWHERE Arizona...about 50 miles from page on I80A.

MaKynzee enjoying "dinner": leftover wedding food ie fruit, cheese, crackers. The view was amazing but no one could find the really pretty rock formation by mile marker 526!

So we broke down about 5 pm. Called progressive and about an hour later on the phone they said they had a tow truck on the way. Too bad they sent it to mile marker 526 on I80 not I80A!! Anyway so we waited around some more and tried to find where we were....but no man knoweth! We finally got the tow truck guy to call progressive and tell them HE knew where we were because he knew I80A. Anyway about 10:30pm we got to ride on the bed of a tow truck. Spencer got to ride in the cab but the kids and I and my sisters maid of honor got the "honor" of riding in the van. This was what we saw for 55 miles...

For the rest of the story you will have to read my blog. I am going to do the FULL, unedited version there maybe in a week or so.

Anyway I think the lessonS the Lord wanted to teach was...

1. Patience, enjoy his beautiful creations

2. This is HIS plan, NOT mine

3. All the money I have is HIS

4. He can take our/ His money whenever he wants, however he wants.

Yes we arrived at the family reunion a day late, lots of dollars short and at 2AM!