Lindsey's birthday

Lindsey started her birthday day bright and early!! She was up by 6:30 that morning and anxious to open her gifts. She gets so excited and could hardly stand to wait. Her original plan was to open one gift before school and then open the rest afterwards. But, as usual, they were all opened by the time she left for school. She got a new scooter, a hula hoop (which we already need to replace) and some Easy Bake oven refills.

That night, we had a birthday dinner for both her and my brother, Peter (who's birthday is the day before Lindsey's). Lindsey had chosen stuffed shells (an awesome recipe from my friend Rachel L.) and everything tasted so good. We sat and visited and then played a game of Ticket to Ride.

I was making dinner and needed about 10 minutes to finish. All I could think of to do with this child was to give her an Oreo cookie and strap her in her booster seat. I did get my 10 minutes, as well as a huge clean up job!

Lindsey (with her cake - white cake/frosting with Mr. Goodbar on top) and Uncle Peter (with german chocolate cake).

And this guy.....this wonderful guy is always so willing to keep an eye on Hannah and keep her out of trouble so that I can enjoy events! Love you dad!

Kate's first day of preschool

This post is way overdue, but I wanted to get these pictures up on the blog. Kate started preschool a couple of weeks ago and is LOVING it. (And, I am LOVING it too - as I come home and put Hannah down for a morning nap and actually have a quiet house to myself - ahhhh!) She goes two days a week and then has a dance class and music class on two other mornings.


We had heard about Ms. Lorie through our cousins, Barry & Carla Olsen, and thankfully had registered Kate back in the spring. Ms. Lorie has been teaching preschool for lots of years and does it with her dad in his basement. A lot of the kids in our ward go to Ms. Lorie and it's literally a 2 minute drive from our house. It's a great preschool, with lots of other cute kids and lots of fun things to do. They go on several field trips (they've already been to Wheeler Farm) and we couldn't be more pleased. Yay for preschool!

Happy 8th Birthday, Lindsey!

It's hard for me to believe that this beautiful little girl is already 8 years old!!! We love Lindsey so much and have purely enjoyed her presence in our lives. Lindsey was born exactly 2 weeks after the 9/11 tragedy, so she has always been a reminder to me that despite hardship and loss, the Lord gives us tremendous blessings.


Lindsey is one of the kindest, most thoughtful, loving people that I know. She is always willing to give to others and is very aware of other's needs. I love watching movies with Lindsey because she'll laugh when you're supposed to laugh and cry when you're supposed to cry. Lindsey loves sports (soccer, basketball, ice skating, baseball and riding her bike & scooter) and loves dancing, singing, reading and drawing. She works hard at whatever she tries and we're so proud of her for all that she accomplishes.


Lindsey, we love you! Thank you for bringing us unspeakable joy! Love, Mom & Dad

Free Reign of the Pantry

When you're the fifth child in a family, one of the benefits is, that eventually all of them will be gone at school/preschool. When that finally happens (and mom is entertaining herself at the sewing machine), it's time to invade the pantry for a well-deserved snack. Today's choice: Blueberry Muffin Frosted Mini-Wheats.


P.S. All that diet pop in the background sure seems to keep my mom going these days.

Kate's new cast

I took Kate to the Fracture Clinic at Primary Children's Hospital this afternoon to get her cast put on. (Thank you to my mom for watching the other kids!!!) She's done really well this week with her arm in a splint. She asks for Motrin about once a day and then I usually give her some at night too. She's been remarkable and such a great sport about her arm. They x-rayed it again and it was still in the correct spot to be casted, so that was good news. She'll be in her cast for 5 weeks and then the cast should be okay to take off. She picked red (which will hopefully hide the dirt) and we took her doll, Sunshine, and had her left arm cast as well. Kirsten's little girl, Brynlee, broke her leg when she was just 18 months old and her family sent her a doll with the exact same cast. Kirsten told me that it really helped Brynlee through the healing process, plus it's such a cute way to remember one of life's many adventures. Thanks again for the great idea, Kirsten! Kate was great through the whole process and just chatted and chatted with me. She was telling me on the way home that she needed to get Sunshine down for a nap because she hadn't gotten one all day and how much Sunshine liked spaghetti, etc. What a good little patient!

I took this picture while waiting in the ER last Thursday night. For a break, it doesn't look that bad, it's just a little misshapen.

Evidence that it's still possible to play dress-up, even with a broken arm

Waiting for another x-ray and for the cast

Getting the cast put on

Kate and Sunshine

Hannah pictures

We were so lucky last week to be able to have our family pictures taken. There's a great photographer from Columbus, that has been in Salt Lake while her husband did some optometry rotations. We were able to schedule her and we met her at Gardner Village for some family pictures. I had fed that kids dinner at 4:30, talked about how they needed to be good and listen and bribed them with a trip to the candy store afterwards if they cooperated. Getting an entire family clothed, hair looking good and there on time was stressful, but so worth it! The kids were fabulous and I couldn't have asked for it to go better.

Hannah was even cooperative! I had her 1 year picture taken at Busath Photography about a month ago and she was terrible! (There were a couple of pictures that were okay and when I get them back, I'll post them). But, I lucked out this time, and she was great! Here are the individual shots of her. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up. She's walking everywhere and it's so cute to see her waddle around the house (although she usually is moving something from one room to the next. Today I found the remote control in the mud room and a plastic lunch sack in the living room). We sure love you, you little rascal!

Kate's Broken Arm

Thursday afternoons/evenings are the busiest night of the week at the Bowen household. Yesterday, was no exception. Jon was at work, I picked up Emily and Lindsey from school, fed them a snack in the car and drove them to Activity Days. I came home, made dinner and started to feed everyone. Emily and Lindsey got home with just 10 minutes to eat before heading out the door to soccer games.

With literally the help of my dad, my mom, Peter, Richard and Becky, we cheered Jack, Lindsey & Emily on during their soccer games (each at a different location). All three played great and had a great time! After Emily's game, my mom took the two oldest girls to their dance class (which they arrive 1/2 hour late for every week because of soccer). I filled up the van with gas and started home. Richard and Becky had taken the three little kids home after Jack's game. I called Becky to tell her I was on my way.

About 7 or 8 minutes later, I got a call back from Becky and she said "Are you almost home?" I knew something wasn't right. I asked what was wrong and she said that she thought Kate broke her arm. She had been jumping on the trampoline and fell on it. I was 1 minute away. I got there and sure enough, her arm was shaped really funny and I knew she needed to go in. She had stopped crying and was just holding it really still.

I put Hannah and Jack to bed and then called Jon. He was working at LDS Hospital and wanted to see if I should bring Kate to him or just take her to Primary Children's. He said to just bring her to LDS, so we headed in. Becky stayed at the house and put Emily and Lindsey to bed when my mom brought them home after dance. Kate fell asleep on the way and pretty much slept while I waited in the waiting room and would barely wake up for her x-rays. The x-rays showed that she had broken her left arm in 2 spots. My mom and Richard joined us at the ER and that was great. I sat there and felt so blessed. The timing of this break was incredible....Becky was there to stay with the other 4 kids, Jon was working and it wasn't super busy, so he could help us, my mom and Richard came up to the hospital, and while I was driving there, I ended up right behind my cousin's husband, Jason. He was riding his scooter home and when we both stopped at a light, I rolled down my window and yelled at him. He was so great and when the light turned green, he got over into the other lane so that I could pass. We even had family pictures taken the day before!

Jon splinted Kate's arm and we went home. She slept pretty good (just a couple of wimpers in the night) and then he took her back to Primary Children's this morning. They sedated her and set her arm and then put it back in a splint. We'll go in next week to the Fracture Clinic and they will cast it. She'll probably need the cast for 4-6 weeks. She's been really great about the whole thing.

5 kids and this is our first broken bone...not too bad. One of the attendings last night offered Jon $50 for the trampoline. We thought that was really funny! (I'll get a picture of the x-ray and post that soon).

Wrapping up the broken arm

Jon making a sling for her arm

Such a brave girl!

Clyde Family Reunion

On Saturday, we had a Clyde Family Reunion at our house and it was so much fun! My mom's maiden name is Clyde, so this reunion was her mom and all of her sisters. Her dad passed away almost 30 years ago and it became a great time to think about him and remember his legacy, as well as celebrate the lives of those he loved the most.

We gathered for pictures (complete with lei's to celebrate my grandpa - who served his mission in Hawaii and LOVED the Hawaiian people), had a BBQ, played games, visited, reminisced about memories, and even got to listen to a recording of my grandpa singing. What a great evening!!

My grandma with her girls - Corinne, Claudia, Clarese & Camille

Six of my grandma's grandchildren - Row 1: Becky & Mike (Mike is holding a picture that was taken back in 1990 of all 14 of her grandchildren). Row 2: Richard, me, Kerra, grandma & Peter)

8 of my grandma's great-grandchildren (Emily, Lindsey, Jack, Kate & Hannah Bowen and Madisen, Arrek & Julia Werner)

The Sorenson & Bowen Clan (this is the only picture Jon is seen in as he was at work and then slipped into the house to watch the BYU/Oklahoma game. He is one happy man!)

The Talbot/Werner Clan - they drove up from Southern Utah for this and we appreciated it so much!

Peter, Hannah & my grandma

And....

Guess who learned how to walk and who cut her first tooth - all in the same week?

.....HANNAH!!!

And guess who is really proud of her?


HER MAMA!!!

Goodnight Kate

Jon and I have a frequent visitor in our bed....her name is Kate! We have had to shift Kate around a little bit with our move. She started by sleeping in the same room as Hannah, but we felt like Hannah's occasional crying in the night would wake up Kate. So, we moved her into the room that Emily & Lindsey share. But, this hasn't stopped her from frequently making her way into our room during the night. She usually just comes to my side of the bed and if I happen to wake up and ask her what's wrong, she simply replies "Bad dream" and climbs in. If I don't wake up, she just crawls in. Every once in awhile, she'll wake me up and say "thirsty" which is Kate's way of saying "Get out of bed and go get me a drink of water."

The other night when Jon got home at some wee hour of the morning, I heard him start to laugh. I asked him what was so funny and he said "Kate just blends in with the bed." Sure enough, with her blond hair and light yellow pajamas, you could hardly tell she was there.

Then, a few days ago, I had run on an errand and left Jack and Kate home with Jon. When I got home, I realized they had made a bed in our bathtub. Jack and Kate were making all sorts of plans on who would get to sleep there first. At bedtime that night, after saying prayers, Kate bolted to our room and this is what I found....

After a few minutes, she decided that her bed would be more comfortable. Oh Kate, you're just so cute! You crack us up!!

Jack's First Day of Kindergarten

How is it possible that our teeny tiny baby boy is already going to Kindergarten?

November 2003 - Jack at 3 1/2 weeks old - 4 pounds


August 31, 2009 - Jack at 5 (almost 6) years old

Jack was a little nervous, but mostly excited to start school. He laid out his clothes the night before and woke up happy and ready to go. He quietly waited in line for his teacher to come get him. He was really happy when I picked him up and said that he had a good time. Way to go buddy, we're sure proud of you!

Following Mrs. Tomlinson into school