The Bowen Family

Pinewood Derby

2012-02-09T07:10:00.005-07:00

Jack recently participated in his first Pinewood Derby! He loved every part of the process - from designing and cutting out the car to racing the car. He loves doing anything with Jon, so this was a fun thing to do together. He wanted BYU car and Jon was more than happy to comply with that request.

Jack with his race car

Anxiously watching the races

His car ended up getting 4th place overall and all the boys had a great time. There weren't any tears (that I saw), so the night was considered a success!

And the best part, were the treats I did....

It's a Twinkie with mini oreos stuck on with frosting - quick, easy & so cute!

"Ooooh Noooo" says Hannah Bowen

2012-02-08T07:17:00.002-07:00

Those are never welcoming words coming from a 3 year old, especially if that 3 year old is Hannah Bowen.

She woke up yesterday morning and I offered to get her breakfast before I got in the shower. I told her to get the cereal she wanted out of the pantry. As I got her spoon & bowl, I heard she say she needed to "go potty."

10 second later, I hear "Oooooooh Nooooo." I went into the bathroom and found this...

She had forgotten to lift up the lid and had used the bathroom sitting on top of it! What a funny way to start the day!

Baby Quilts

2012-02-08T07:10:00.004-07:00

It seems that babies come in spurts....well, it's a spurt right now! I have so many friends & family expecting babies, so I've been in the baby quilt making mood! Here are 2 that I just finished and sent to the babies...

This quilt is for sweet, little Paisley Rasmussen. She was just born a couple of weeks ago and is the most beautiful baby ever! It was fun to make this for a fellow quilter and such an amazing friend, Kirsten, because I know how much she loves quilts. I just wish that I could see this little angel in person - hopefully some time soon!

And this quilt was for Ledger Morris. Ledger was actually born back in August and his mom and I work in the PTA together. Within a few months 3 of us on the executive board had given birth. Anyway, Ledger is such a cute guy and a fun surprise for this great family (their youngest before Ledger is Lindsey's age).

Jumping to our hearts content

2012-01-31T07:20:00.004-07:00

Over a long weekend in January, we took the kids to "Airborne" which is a huge trampoline, foam pit, dodge ball place. They all had a great time! I stayed with the little kids, so I didn't get great pictures of the actual fun, but here are a few:

Hannah (and a blurry Kate in the background)

Sorry this is a through a net, but that's Jon doing a backwards flip!

Jumping into the little foam pit

Sweet Hailey, happy to watch what's going on - 9 months old!

2011 calendars

2012-01-26T07:10:00.005-07:00

I spent an enormous amount of time in November & December making calendars again. I thought about doing digital ones, but with such limited knowledge, just decided to do it the traditional way again. I always love having it done and I think others enjoy it too. Here are the pages:

January

February

March

April - I still LOVE the little picture of Hailey looking like a freshly hatched bird

May

June

(I had a fun time creating this page with circle punches)

July

August

September

October

November - the leaves are square punches with 2 sides punched with a corner-rounder

December

Celebrating Kate's Birthday

2012-01-25T07:09:00.004-07:00

Kate had "the best birthday ever!" this year! She anticipates her birthday for months and months and loves every part of it. She was up early and found some fun new things.

My mom sent this Barbie thing back from Russia - Kate had bought one while we were there, but Hannah had gotten into it (shocker!) and ruined it, so Kate was pleasantly surprised to have another one.

She also got a little gum ball machine and an easel with new art supplies. This girls loves her arts & crafts!

And, the main part of her birthday was going to Build-A-Bear with 2 of her friends. She had wanted to do this for a couple of years and we decided to finally let her. Jon and I piled all the kids in the car (including Hannah, Hailey & Brooklyn) and drove to the mall.

The kids were all fabulous and had a fun time picking out an animal and an outfit. Now doing things like this is just pure torcher to babies & husbands. Brooklyn, Hailey & Jon were all near tears by the time we left.

But, all 3 of these cute kids were so appreciative and loved being there!

Josie, Cage & Kate

It took Hannah the longest to decide.

Waiting in the stroller - hungry & tired

Hannah was more happy to wash the animals that she didn't chose.

Getting them stuffed full of love

We had plans to eat at the mall, but we were all so tired, we decided to just put the kids back in the van, go through the McDonald's drive-thru and get home. The kids then played and played, making Kate's birthday a great one!

That night, we had Kate's favorite dinner - spaghetti!

We love you Kate! Can't believe that you're already 6!!

Christmas break in Oregon

2012-01-24T07:17:00.002-07:00

A couple of days after Christmas, we were able to drive to Oregon to spend a couple of days with Jon's mom and dad, his siblings Rebecca, Tom & Anne and our neice Emily. The kids were great in the car (520 miles) and we had great weather.

The kids were showered with more Christmas gifts the night we arrived. We ate delicious food, played a ton of games (Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries, Quirkle & gin), watched movies, played the Wii, made scones & bread and just enjoyed being there.

What a great family we have!

Diane showed the kids how to make her delicious bread - soooo yummy!

I love that you can see Jack sitting in the background. He's slowed down a ton and his memory isn't very good any more, but he happily sits in his chair and watches what is going on. He's such a wonderful man and sweet Diane has a guaranteed spot in heaven for all the care she has given him.

So much to be grateful for!!!

2012-01-23T10:17:00.002-07:00

Okay, I need to do some catch-up, but we've had a crazy couple of weeks and we have so much to be thankful for..

First, I took Hailey for her 9 month check up 2 1/2 weeks ago. She's a teeny little thing - not on the charts at all for height or weight. If you adjust for her prematurity, it puts her at 8th percentile for weight. She's 14 lbs. 7 oz. Anyway, they poked her toe for an iron check and the level came back surprisingly low. I don't think our pediatrician had ever had a read so low. It read 5.9. (The normal range low is around 11).

So, he immediately put her on iron drops and sent us to the hospital for a blood draw. The blood test there came back at 5.2. He referred us to a hematologist at Primary Children's Hospital, so we took her there. They drew her blood again (this is now a week after the well visit) and her level was starting to come up - like 6.3. Because she was responding to the iron drops, the hematologist was confident that her hemoglobin was so low due to iron deficiency and that was likely due to her prematurity. She'll be in iron drops for 6 months or so, but we are so grateful that it wasn't leukemia, bone marrow disease or a blood disease.

Second, last Monday, Lindsey, Hailey & I drove to Bountiful for an eye exam for me and then an indoor soccer game for Lindsey. It had snowed a little and the roads were okay as we drove up I-15. But then, we got to North Salt Lake and we started to see more and more cars off the side of the road. Anyway, at one point, I had to brake (as cars were braking because of someone off the road) and I had ZERO control of the van. It was sheer ice and I couldn't get any type of control. I was able to steer some and avoid hitting an SUV in front of me, but just kept sliding to the right until I hit the cement barrier. As we sat there for 1 minute, we saw another car do a 180 turn right in the middle of the freeway and thankfully was able to drive to the median to avoid other cars.

I didn't feel safe sitting on the side of the road, as cars and semi's passed with the potential to hit the same ice that I did. So, we drove on down the freeway. The low-tire pressure light came on and we just prayed that we would make it safe to the eye doctor. We did and amazingly, the only damage to the car was the rim of the front passenger tire. I could tell the tire was losing a little air, but it still had enough to drive to Lindsey's game. The steering wheel was really jerky, but thankfully, we made it home safe and got the van in the shop that night. A new rim and 4 new snow tires later, we are safe & sound. I am so, so grateful that we weren't hurt or that no one else was involved in our accident.

Third, I saw a mouse in our closet on Friday morning. Now, I HATE mice! It was awful. So, I went to Home Depot at 9 in the morning and got some new mouse traps and things to plug in that are supposed to send out an annoying sound that only they can hear. I set the traps myself and waited and waited for that dumb mouse to be caught. Finally, Sunday morning, I came downstairs and we found one caught in a trap. Jack was very brave in helping me dispose of it. I'm leaving traps out to see if we catch any more, but I consider it a huge blessing to have it caught!

Anyway, as always, we are so grateful for all of our blessings!

Happy Birthday Blondie!

2012-01-11T09:44:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that this sweet little girl is 6 years old today!!!! What a joy she is in our lives! Happy, happy birthday Kate!!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-05T09:49:00.004-07:00

I wasn't very good about taking pictures during the Christmas holiday! We had a really nice Christmas Eve. We had the Cowden family, Matt Nielson, my friends Julie & Camille and my siblings (other than Mike who was in Russia and Becky & John who were with the Mortensen's) over for dinner, a white elephant exchange & games. It was great to be together and the white elephant exchange was really fun!

The kids went to bed remarkably well! Peter slept over and I think he had the hardest of any of us sleeping. We woke Emily up at 6:30 and the rest of us got up around 7:00. Santa was very generous with the kids and we had a fun time opening gifts & stockings.

Emily got a couple of books and will get contacts soon, Lindsey got the Harry Potter DVD set, Jack got a net for pitching baseballs, Kate got some new Barbie things, Hannah got some Disney Princesses & Hailey got a new ball thing.

We ate a yummy breakfast and then got ready for Church. Church was wonderful - Lindsey sang in a quartet and did a great job. The music was beautiful & inspiring! Rich & Misty came to our ward and then we came back to our house for lunch and opening more presents when Becky, John & Peter all came. It was a great day! I was soooo happy to have it over though - it's just so much work!

Christmas morning

Peter & Hailey

Hannah & her stocking

Hailey's new toy

Kate & her new Barbie

Jack & his new rocket

Emily

New Babies for the Babies

2011-12-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have tried a dozen times to upload more pictures to this post, but it just won't do it. So, we'll just go with these pictures for now...

We had a great Christmas! I'm so glad it's over because of the incredible amount of work it is, but it was wonderful! One of the highlights was that my mom got all the new babies their very first Bitty Babies. Brooklyn was asleep when we took this picture, but here is Hailey & Sophia with the dolls. Hailey's doll is a red-head, Sophia's is blonde and Brooklyn's is dark haired.

I love Hailey's facial expression!

Hailey (8 1/2 months) and Sophia (5 1/2 months)

Thank you Grandma!!

Christmas dance shows - 2011

2011-12-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hannah & Kate both take dance classes from Murray Community Dance. It's such a great program and it's been fun to see them getting better & better. Hannah is too young to be in the show, but the last day of class, the parents got to go in and watch. She spent the first 10 minutes refusing to do anything, but finally participated. What a stinker!

This picture cracks me up - Hannah is on the far left. Her best friend, Heidi (who is just like Hannah) didn't like the girl who was standing behind her. Heidi is in the black with the Christmas skirt. Anyway, so funny!

Hannah twirling in the circle.

Kate was our only dancer in the show (Emily & Lindsey decided not to do dance this year). She was in the group performing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and she did great. They had some hard steps to do, but she was awesome. The shows are so exhausting, but she had a great time doing it!

She's the blonde that's the 3rd from the left.

Bowen Family Christmas Party

2011-12-27T16:27:00.002-07:00

Near the beginning of December, we were invited over to Bob & Debbie's for a Bowen Family Christmas Party! I have come to really, REALLY appreciate being invited over to people's homes. We are a HUGE family, so having us over is no small task. With my parents being on a mission, I now do most of the cooking/hosting for my family. So, whenever someone is brave enough to have us over, I am elated!

Bob is Jon's oldest brother and Bob & Debbie are 2 of the busiest people I know! They are constantly doing things for others. This Christmas season, they have prepared for a missionary to come, a missionary to leave, had most of their kids and grandkids for Thanksgiving and ALL of them for a post-Christmas celebration. If my calculations are correct, that's 22 of them!!! Anyway, amid all the things to do, Debbie put together a wonderful evening for us.

We went and she had created a couple of crafts for the kids to do - making stockings, beaded candy canes & fun Rudolph cupcakes to decorate. She had made a delicious dinner and even had the BYU game on for the boys to watch. It was a wonderful evening and so much appreciated! Thanks again Debbie!

Hannah & Kate making crafts

Aunt Debbie showing the kids how to do it.

Emily & Lindsey

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-26T13:59:00.006-07:00

Oh my, I am so far behind in blogging....Christmas preparation has taken every spare second of my life and now that it is over, I feel like I can do some of the "normal" things again.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was a ton of work (at times like this, I really, really miss my mom!!), but it was memorable and a fun weekend.

We spent the day before Thanksgiving making pies. Jon does the crust, and I usually do the fillings. We ended up with 2 pumpkin, an apple, and 2 chocolate cream pies. Baking with Jon is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving.

We also spent the day cleaning the house in preparation for it...here is Hannah "helping."

On Thursday morning, we took all the kids to Murray Park. Jon played flag football with his friend, Carl, and the kids and I used the time to exercise. I pushed Hannah & Hailey in the stroller. Kate, Lindsey, Emily & Jack all went on a run around the park. Emily & Jack lasted the longest and everyone had a great time. We left Jon there to keep playing and we went home to continue dinner prep.

Hailey & Hannah

Kate

Emily & Jack

Hannah taking a pre-Thanksgiving dinner nap

We made a 21-pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry salad, raspberry Jello salad and creamed corn. We then took it over to the Cowden's to have dinner with my family. Becky Cowden is my dad's cousin and she was so wonderful to host all of us. We had a super yummy meal together and then enjoyed playing, laughing, and visiting with each other.

Hailey & Mike

Jon & Richard getting the final things ready

Thanksgiving dinner coma

We're so grateful for this sweet little one!

Around 5, we all made it back over to our house to clean up all the dishes from cooking in the morning, have leftovers and play games. Playing games is definitely a huge part of our holiday celebrations.

My mom had gotten all the grandchildren (7 girls & 1 boy), new pajamas. Instead of waiting until Christmas Eve, we decided to let them have them on Thanksgiving night when we get out our Christmas blankets. They loved them.

We had also done a secret sister gift exchange with Aunt Claudia, Ashlie & Meg, so we opened those as well. I had Aunt Claudia and had sent her a lighthouse wall hanging. Misty had me and I got the most amazing United States picture.

Brooklyn opening new Christmas pajamas

Misty had enlarged a picture of the US and then individually cut out each state, wonder-undered them on fabric and sewed them on. It is soooo cute!

We had a fun time doing the exchange and I think we'll probably do it again next year!

I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was fun! And then onto Christmas....

Family Pictures - 2011

2011-12-05T14:43:00.005-07:00

We had our family pictures taken in September and Lindsay (www.lindsaywrightphotography.com) did a great job! I wasn't very happy with the selection of clothes (I wouldn't have Jon & Lindsey wear white next time), but that was obviously my own fault. Here are some of the highlights (as well as a few posted a few posts ago).

This picture says it all!

Final Days in Russia

2011-12-01T20:59:00.009-07:00

Our last few days were great too!

On Tuesday, we went down to Red Square to see Lenin's tomb & St. Basil's Cathedral. When we went into Red Square, they made us check in our bags/cameras/etc. in order to see Lenin's body. They have kept this guy on display for over 80 years now. He looked a little waxy, but not too bad for being dead for so long. Apparently, they give him a chemical bath every so often. It was a very solemn, serious place.

After we saw that, we walked to St. Basil's Cathedral - a completely breathtaking building. We got tickets to tour the inside of it. It wasn't as long as I thought it would be, but at one point, Kate (in tears) said "I would rather be anywhere else in the world than here." She was obviously not impressed. Jon & I thought it was great. Unfortunately, Russian history isn't a very happy history, but they have beautiful buildings!

My cute parents - in their Russian hats

Jack was obviously not impressed either

another beautiful building at Red Square

After Red Square, we headed to lunch at McDonald's as we had hungry kids and a baby who needed to be nursed.

Look familiar?

Oops - another building on Red Square

On Wednesday, my dad had mission things to do, so my mom took us on the Metro to Ismilava - which is a flea market-type place with great souveniers. The kids found some fun things and we had a great time shopping. Jack got a chess set, my mom got a white Russian hat, Jon got a brown Russian hat, I got a Christmas nativity, and all the kids got small little Matruska doll key chains for their classes.

The only time we ever heard any Russian laugh was there - as we were walking, Hannah's pants fell down and it cracked up about 3 little old ladies sitting nearby.

On Thursday, we left Kate & Hannah with my mom and the rest of us took the Metro to Victory Park - a monument about World War 2. Lindsey really didn't want to go, but we made her come. We really talked it up and got there, only to discover it closes every last Thursday for sanitation day. It was still great to see the outside of it though.

What the monument and museum looked like as we walked towards it.

Lindsey, Jack & Emily's victory after running up all the stairs

My cute dad and I

My cute Jon & I

Emily in front of a sign that I believe says "Moscow." In the winter, they fill in the garden spots with colored wood chips.

Lindsey

That night, we celebrated Emily's birthday - who would turn 12 the next day - the day we left. It doesn't seem possible that we have a 12 year old already! She's such a joy!

Then, my parent's little community had a Trick-or-Treat night, so we had brought the kid's Halloween costumes, so they dressed up and we went around. Russian candy isn't quite as sweet as American candy, so they weren't all that impressed. It was so fun to be there though and meet some of my parent's good friends.

Cute little pig

Hailey - smiling at my dad

Wow! What an incredible adventure and trip! We were so happy with our great our kids were, how wonderful it was to experience a new culture and country and what a blessing it was to see my parents and spend time with them in the mission field. We miss them terribly! It's almost unbearable to have them gone, but they are where they need to be. To see them in their element was amazing! Thank you mom and dad for taking such good care of us and for giving us the opportunity of a life-time!!!

Saturday & Sunday in Russia

2011-11-21T07:14:00.002-07:00

Back to pictures from our trip...

On Sunday morning, Alexander picked us up and drove us to the International Branch (English speaking) for church. He purposely drove us past Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral so we could get a close look.

It was so fun to be at church with my parents and meet a few more of their missionaries and those they serve with. They are all so great! It was the children's sacrament meeting presentation, so it was a great week to be there.

We came home and had a great Sunday afternoon - doing the things we love...

Lindsey frosting cookies

Hannah watching movies

and Kate coloring while I took a nap on the couch!

On Monday, my mom, Jon, Emily, Kate, Hailey & I went to The Metro. The Metro is their version of Costco. My brave mother drove us there herself!! The traffic and drivers in Moscow are insane and they just make up their own rules (like creating 2 extra lanes of traffic or parking on the sidewalks). Some of the other mission wives would never drive anywhere without the driver, but not my mother! She's too independent for that and if she needs to go somewhere, she gets in the van and takes herself there.

Anyway, we wanted to see what it was like, so we left all the other kids with my dad and went. We got there in about 20 minutes (which my mom said is so unusual, because it usually takes an hour). We started to walk into the store, but they stopped us and wouldn't let Kate go in. "No one under 10 allowed." So, Jon sat out with Kate & Hailey and my mom, Emily & I walked around and shopped. Then, I switched with Jon so he could walk through the store. They had a lot of American brands, but with a Russian twist...for example....

Caviar-flavored Lay's potato chips

Crab-flavored Lay's potato chips

Anyway, it was a great experience, fun to stop with my mom and makes me so very grateful that if I need something at the store, I can run get it and be home in 15 minutes instead of 3 or 4 hours!!

Fields of Medicine

2011-11-17T23:08:00.002-07:00

I got an e-mail from a mother at the school, who is helping with "Power Hour." (Power Hour is a reading-focused hour that happens at the school for K-5th graders every day).

She said that she has Kate in one of her Power Hour rotations and she asked Kate what her dad did for his job. Kate told her that he was a doctor. When she asked what kind of doctor, she paused for several seconds, was obviously thinking, and responded "a PTA doctor."

Hmmm, sounds like a combo of her mom and dad!

The Jewels in my Crown

2011-11-13T21:14:00.004-07:00

Every time I look at these pictures, I am reminded of how truly blessed I am to be a mother! I love these children of mine (and their dad!!) with my whole soul!

Emily - age 12

Lindsey - age 10

Jack - age 8

Kate - age 5 1/2

Hannah - age 3

Hailey - age 6 months

Jack's Baptism

2011-11-11T21:11:00.005-07:00

One of the highlights of our trip, was being able to have Jack baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! He turned 8 and chose to be baptized and it was so fun that we were able to have it done in Russia.

A huge thank-you to my parents who made it all happen! They had some wonderful people help with set-up, cookies, etc. and it was a wonderful day. Alexander (their driver) pick us up and drove us to the church (which looks like a normal building, but the inside works as their meetinghouse).

My parents had told their missionaries that they were welcome to come to the baptism as long as they had a non-member with them. They also had arranged for a set of sister missionaries to sing and their AP's came as well. It's a huge sacrifice for any of them (and it takes hours for them to travel there), so we were so touched by all those who came.

My parents had also invited President Yakov Boiko (pronounced "Boy-ka" and Yakov is Russian for Jacob), who is the first (and currently the only) Stake President in all of Russia. He's a 32 year old, wonderful man and I know he's worked very closely with my dad to learn all about being in charge of a Stake. He traveled for over an hour to come and it was our honor to have him there.

The service was wonderful!! My dad conducted, Kate gave a talk on baptism and our kids all sang "I Know that my Savior Loves Me." My mom gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and the sister missionaries sang as well. Jon baptized Jack, as well as confirmed him a member. We invited all the missionaries there to be in the confirmation circle and it was touching to see the strength surrounding Jack. What a great blessing!

It was a day to never forget!

Jack

Jack with Alexander (the mission driver). He's wearing a pin he earned in a war - he was a fighter pilot.

Jack with the missionaries. The one to Jack's left is Elder Breedlove and one of my parents AP's. My mom has always thought that he looks like Jack!!

More missionaries, my parents & Jack

Jack & Kate

Jon & Jack

Jack with his grandparents, President & Sister Sorenson

Our family

The Bowen family, President & Sister Sorenson and President Boiko

October 21st - My Birthday

2011-11-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

I had a great birthday - in Russia, with Jon, the kids & my parents. We got up, drove to the first Metro stop and rode the Metro down to the Kremlin/Red Square area. It was drizzily and a little cold, but not too bad.

We wanted to go inside the Kremlin to see The Armory, which is where a lot of old antiques are from Russian history. We first waited in the wrong line, but eventually found our way there. There were a ton of old weapons, china, gowns & huge carriages that important people would ride in.

We also saw "Alexander's Garden" which is on the outside of the Kremlin wall. This is the place where my great, great grandfather, Francis Lyman (a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles), came and dedicated the land of Russia for the preaching of the gospel. (This was 3 days after doing it in St. Petersburg).

My dad walking past 2 officers on horseback. The police either looked way to angry to ever help anyone or way to young to know how to help. Good thing we never needed them for anything!

Jack near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Alexander's Garden

(Notice Hannah asleep in the stroller - I don't think she even realized we visited the Kremlin).

The Bowen Family at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Hannah still asleep).

We then went to McDonald's to eat lunch. It was super crowded, but it tasted good! (I'll post pictures of that in another post).

That night, for my birthday, we went to the Rosinka Family Restaurant. This is in the community where my parents live. The food was okay, but the best part was the bowl of borscht that Jon ordered. He wanted to have something authentic to Russia and my parents told him this was a good, safe place to order a bowl. Now, I believe borscht is beet soup, so we were all a little hesitant. My brother-in-law John told the kids he would buy them Cold Stone icecream if they had 3 bites of something authentic. We all ended up trying it and it really wasn't too bad. In fact, Kate & Lindsey surprised us by fighting over the bowl of it. Who would have ever guessed??!!

Jon with the bowl of borscht telling Emily that it was pretty good.

I look retarded in this picture, but it's proof I had some.

Then we went back to the mission home and had Jell-O cake that my mom had made. Now normally, this wouldn't have been a big deal, but in Russia, you can't find cake mixes or Jell-O, so my mom had to pull some strings to get some. It was so yummy and I'll always remember the great birthday I had in Russia!!

(perhaps wishing that I wouldn't have to spend 2 hours awake with a child in the middle of the night :) ).

Jack's Birthday & my birthday present

2011-11-07T21:26:00.007-07:00

Jack turned 8 on the day we arrived in Russia. A couple of days before we left, we gave him our gifts at home and he took treats (E.L. Fudge cookies) to school. We got a new watch, a wallet, and a bank. He is sure a fun guy and we love having him in our family.

He's still a little guy - 10th percentile for both height & weight, but he's full of personality and spunk. He still loves anything he does with his dad, loves all sports and is a great student at school.

When we arrived in Moscow, my mom made him a birthday dinner of cheeseburgers. Then, knowing that cookies were his favorite dessert, she made him some peanut butter cookies. He was in heaven!

My dad is opening a package of icecream. Icecream is really expensive there (we saw some quart sizes for $20). This is a log of chocolate icecream.

My parents gave him some rubbles to buy his Russian souveniors - he was so excited!

Then, the next day was my birthday (more on that on my next post).....my mom & dad gave me a really fun surprise gift! At first, it's a little creepy, but it's really, really cool!

That's me!!! On a Matruska doll! Wow!!

Then, you open it up and these are inside....

Emily

Lindsey

Jack

Kate

Hannah (a little too angelic for Hannah)

Hailey

(when the artist painted these, Hailey wasn't born yet, so she just did a generic baby girl).

It was my mom's idea and her artist friend was happy to give it a try! What a fun treat and such a treasure!

To Russia...and back again!

2011-11-06T15:33:00.004-07:00

As many of you know, we had been saving for and planning a trip to Russia for a long time! My parents are serving a mission there and we took the opportunity to take our family there to visit. It took hours and hours to prepare for (each person needed a passport, visa and invitation into the country).

We hoped to choose a time when the kids wouldn't miss a ton of school and when Hailey would be old enough, but not too old to travel. We decided on October, during the kid's fall break from school, and when Hailey would be 6 months. It was perfect!! My sweet mom, prayed and prayed for months for good weather and good health, and those prayers were answered.

I'm going to break our trip down into several blog posts. We left early on Wednesday, October 19th. We flew to JFK (4 hours) and then from JFK to Moscow (10 hours). The kids were absolutely incredible on the flights - thanks to movies, game boys, nintendo ds's, an occasional nap and food. It was a bit of a smelly flight to Moscow (not to sound prejudice...but the Russians don't always wear deodarant), and Lindsey got airsick during our landing in NYC, but it went much smoother and quicker than we thought.

We arrived to blue skies (probably the last one for months & months) and to find my cute parents anxiously awaiting our arrival. It was 11:00 in the morning on October 20th that we arrived (but 1 a.m. the time we were used to).

We got all our luggage and piled into the mission van and their driver, Alexander, drove us to their mission office. We needed to make copies of all our documents, just in case we were ever questioned by the police. The traffic in Moscow (a city of 15 million), is downright, terrifying. They park on the sidewalks, create extra lanes, pull right in front of you and take every bit of space available. We were definitely watched over and protected and made it to the office and then to the mission home.

What a great blessing to see my parents and see their home, their lives, some of their missionaries, and the amazing work they are doing.

The ONLY complaint I had of the trip was - JET LAG!! Holy cow! Trying to get 8 people to adjust to a 10 hour time change was hard. We were so tired during times of the day and our kids would fall asleep all over the place. Just as we adjusted to the time change, we came home and had to adjust all over again. But, we did it and we are loving our fun memories of the trip!

Our family at the mission office - just after arriving in Moscow. I think we look pretty good for being up about 20 hours.

But then, these were the common scenes for several days...

Hannah

Hailey's favorite sleeping place - on my dad!

2011 Witches Party

2011-10-22T10:34:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite days of the entire year is the day I throw a Witches Party! It takes months and months to get ready for, but it's so much fun. This year was no different.

Kelsi designed really cute invitations for me (thank you again Kelsi!!). I LOVED making a quilt and giving it away last year, so I decided to do it again. I was so excited about this year's. I started it in August when we were in Worland and put the last few stitches & buttons on the night before the party. Isn't it cute??!!

I also LOVE making a fun party favor! This one turned out super cute, but took quite a bit of time tracing, cutting out & folding, but I loved these shoes. I wanted to fill it with white chocolate mix, but of course, didn't end up having enough white chocolate and had to throw in some pink. Oh well, I just told the ladies it was for breast cancer awareness!

Witches Shoe - made out of cardstock

My wonderful brother-in-law, Tom, also spent 4 hours the day of the party decorating the outside of our house. He always does such a great job and it's a fun Halloween tradition.

Jon was so great to take the kids for most of the day to soccer, dinner, icecream, etc., so that I could get ready. We did our usual menu: soups (chicken noodle, broccili cheese, & chili) in soup bowls, grapes, & relish platter. Instead of doing rootbeer, I made orange slush.

Cutest little witch - Becky brought this hat and let Hailey wear it for a little bit.

So, everyone's assignment was to bring a decorated witches hat. This year's theme was "Favorite Book." It turned out to be really fun. Some of the categories were: Book Signing Award (the hat an author would choose to wear to their book signing), Illustrator's Award, Most Rebellious ('I read the invitation, but decided to not follow the theme), Children's Book Award, etc. After we ate, people voted on the hats and we calculated the results.

Each winner explained their hats and what book they chose as their favorite. After that, the rest of the hats were explained. I really, really appreciate all of these great women making hats. I know it's a lot of work and some times stressful!

Becky

Kathie (she won the Most Rebellious award) and also was the quilt winner!

(I need to add this photo when I get home)

Camille, Carla & Jillian

Annie - The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

Jenny & Isabella

Emily - her cute kids made the pictures for her hat - she like me - no time to read anything but kids books!

Aunt Claudia (travelled from Worland, WY)

(another picture to add)

Meg

Ebby

Misty

Mary

Katie (with baby Ruby)

Anna

We then had some yummy dessert (apple nachos, apple pie dip & sugar cookies). I didn't like the apple pie dip though - it was served with whole wheat tortillas and it was nasty!

Thank you again to everyone that came! It's certainly a night I look forward to all year!

Hailey - 6 months old

2011-10-16T10:22:00.000-06:00

It's impossible that our sweet little 3 lb. 15 oz. baby is already 6 months old!! I think the Lord hand-picked Hailey for our family! She is the sweetest, calmest, happiest baby that I've ever known (and I've known a lot of them). The Lord knew Hannah would be a little stinker of a 3 year old, so He sent us Hailey. We sure love this baby!

She loves to suck on her hands & shirt, loves her binkie and is a good sleeper. She goes down around 9 and sleeps until 6. Then she'll usually nurse and go back down for another 2 hours. She's been a really good nurser too.

At her 6 month check last week, she weighed 12 lbs. 12 oz. (which puts her not quite on the chart, so less than 1% for her age). Adjusted age (adding 6 1/2 weeks) puts her about 25th percentile. She's 24 inches long, which is about 5th percentile for her age (and 50th for adjusted). She loves to watch her brother & sisters and smiles all the time. She's starting to like holding toys and is starting to roll over.

Hailey-girl, you're a gem! We love you!

And you can tell we have a lot of fun with her!

Toothless Jack

2011-10-15T10:19:00.000-06:00

This funny boy had Jon pull out one front tooth on Sunday and the other one on Monday!

Lindsey turns 10!!!

2011-10-14T10:08:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, Lindsey turned 10! How can that be??!! We had a really low-key birthday for Lindsey. She was excited to get a pedicure set, nail polish, lip gloss, Ramona & Beezus DVD, earmuffs, a hot chocolate maker (which she uses every single day!), and a "pedicure with mom" note.

She took Rolo's to her class for a treat and we took her to Wendy's for dinner after her soccer practice. The following Monday, we had a small family party for Lindsey, Peter & John M.'s birthdays. Becky made spaghetti and it was wonderful!

We sure love Lindsey! She is an incredible soccer player and artist. She has been so good this year about not complaining about going to practices (we did let her get her ears pierced in exchange for no complaining). She loves art class and going to "Up With Kids." It's a children's musical theater and she decided to do that rather than dance this year. She's loved it and is happy they are doing "Rapunzel" (aka Tangled) as their show. Lindsey is kind and loving and is always giving things to others. She loves animals (especially cats) and begs and begs to get one. I've told her that I have children rather than pets, but some day she'll be able to get one herself. Her Primary and school teachers love her and she's a great student! We're so proud of her and think the world of her! You're an incredible girl, Lindsey!

Lindsey, John & Brooklyn

Here's to wishing for another great year!

Buckeye Women Retreat

2011-10-03T21:29:00.009-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to go on a retreat with some of the women that I admire most! Andrea Jeppesen & I planned a girl's retreat for all of those who could make it who lived in Ohio at the same time as we did. We missed those that couldn't come, but LOVED being with those that did.

There were several that flew in from out of state (Melinda, Lonica, Kirsten, Becky & Camille) and several of us that live in Utah. We met on a Friday late morning at Gardner Village. We shopped for a little bit and then had lunch at Archibald's. I thought the food was delicious!

One side of the table: Melinda (expecting a baby in March), Kirsten (expecting a baby in January), Lonica (also expecting a baby in March) & Andrea

The other side of the table - me (who looks like I'm expecting a baby in March - but am not), Laura, Jessika (who is expecting a baby in March) & Becky.

After we ate, we drove to Park City for hour-long pedicures! They were heavenly. AnnDee & Amber met us there. They did 8 of us at once and we all loved the relaxing moments of being in the chair, surrounded by great friends.

Andrea & Melinda

Laura & Amber (expecting a baby in November - but looks like she's not due until March)

Becky

Jessika

AnnDee & Hailey

the row of royal treatment

Kirsten

and me!

After pedicures, we drove (in the rain) to Midway, where we were able to stay at a cabin that Andrea had arranged. It was wonderful! We made dinner together, ate, played a game, talked & talked and then was joined by Camille (who had flown in). After Camille got there, we gave each other our Secret Sister gifts. That was really fun!

We stayed up late talking! I love talking to all of these women! We're all just trying to do our best and live our lives and raise our children the right way. I gain such strength from all of them.

The next morning, we got up. The weather was 'if-y', so a few people went for a walk, then we got ready and went to Heber for breakfast at The Hub. Nina came with her new little 10 day old baby. The food was really good and it was such a treat to eat breakfast out!

Me, Becky, Laura & Kirsten

Andrea (with Alice), Camille, Lonica, me (with Hailey), Jessika, Melinda, Becky, AnnDee, Nina (with Graham) & Kirsten

After The Hub, we drove to Park City and went shopping at the outlet mall for several hours. Several of us were able to find new jeans, clothes for the kids, etc. What a blast! I could have stayed several more hours!

We stopped at Granny's in Heber for shakes, and met up with Barbie. Her and her cute family have just recently moved to Utah.

We drove back to the cabin, where we met Ali (who is also expecting a baby in March). It was such a blessing to have Ali there, as she's been on bedrest. We had reservations to eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Midway. The food was okay - the company was spectacular!

Row 1 - Lonica, Ali, Barbie, Melinda, Jeannette & Hailey

Row 2 - Kirsten, AnnDee, Andrea, Alice, Camille & Jessika

We went back the cabin for more visiting, laughing and a game. We got up Sunday morning, got everything picked & cleaned up and said goodbye. I felt like I went home a better wife & mother and hope that others felt the same way. These girls are my heros and I appreciate them all so much!

A huge thank you to all the husbands & family that watched the kids! I believe among this group, there are 50 kids and another 6 on the way! Holy moley!

And these two little angels, who came along...

Hailey & Alice

These babies were gems!

Cute Alice

Cute Hailey

Sweet Baby

2011-09-23T07:09:00.003-06:00

This sweet baby is one of my greatest blessings! She is so cute, smiley, happy, patient and fun! I could hold her and kiss her all day!

Hailey - 5 months

Circus Party

2011-09-22T11:00:00.010-06:00

A few days after we got home from Wyoming this summer, we had Hannah's 3rd birthday party! It was really easy, and really simple and really fun! We found some cute party favors from the dollar section of Target, so we decided to do a "Circus Party."

This was the cute invitation - designed by Kelsi (my cousin-in-law). She did such a cute job (as usual!)

Hannah excited for her party - with the party favors behind her.

We made cupcakes and the kids decorated them

Heidi Richardson (Hannah's best friend). We started by letting them color a circus page when they first came.

Sadie Booth

Then we went outside and played games....bean bag toss

Knock down the cans

Ring Toss

Throw the circus animal through the hula hoop

Do tricks on the trampoline with the animals

After each game, they would get a piece of candy. There was also a tight-rope walk behind them in this picture (it's just colored duct tape on the deck).

Hannah, Sadie, Heidi & Grace

Then we went inside and ate lunch and opened gifts.

And then ate cupcakes & icecream!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-13T13:54:00.002-06:00

I don't know who was more excited for the first day of preschool - Hannah or me!! I'm pretty sure it was me!! This cute girl is LOVING preschool and I'm so grateful that she loves it and that she gets to go with her best friend, Heidi. They go 2 mornings a week and I am loving the time with just my sewing machine and Hailey!

Life with Hannah

2011-09-09T22:30:00.002-06:00

Life with Hannah is interesting! Because she turned 3, we had her get rid of her binkies. She's done really well with it, but has instantly given up naps. She was taking a 2-3 hour nap each day and easily falling asleep by 9:00 at night. Well, no more! This stinker now crawls into bed with us each and every early morning and then takes quite awhile to go to sleep at night. Because of that, I've often found her like this:

Which is fine (other than the marker she's holding right over the carpet), but it's always at 5:00 at night. Her new thing is she also completely undresses to go to the bathroom, including taking the rubberbands out of her hair.

But, amazingly, we love this little girl so much! She cracks us up each and every day and it's been fun to see her begin preschool, start a new gymnastics & dance class, and listen to her talk and talk and talk!

Back to School

2011-09-01T07:15:00.005-06:00

We had a great summer, but I always love the beginning of a new school year! The kids started on Monday, August 22nd and so far, they are all having a great year! Emily's in 6th grade with Mrs. Kjar (pronounced "Care"), Lindsey's in 4th grade with Mrs. Horne, Jack's in 2nd grade with Ms. Jackson and Kate is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Tomlinson.

The hottest 2 weeks of the summer decided to happen the first 2 weeks of school, but the kids seem to be really enjoying being back and are loving their teachers. Kate had to wait an extra week to start, which nearly killed her. We even had a horrible stomach bug go through our entire family (except Hailey!) and Kate was so determined to go to Kindergarten the first day, that she waited and got sick the next day.

One more week and Hannah will start preschool 2 days a week and I'm just a little excited to think of 2 mornings with just Hailey. Hopefully she'll take a nap most of those mornings and I may actually have a wee bit of time to myself!

Lindsey made her bag at sewing over the summer - sooo cute!

First day of school - August 22nd

First day of Kindergarten - August 29th

Literally running to school (out of excitement, not tardiness)!

Kate's so happy that her friend, Josie, is in the same class!

Worlando Beach 2011

2011-08-29T21:54:00.020-06:00

We had the BEST trip to Worland, WY at the beginning of August! We had looked forward to this trip all summer, and it was absolutely wonderful! Once again, Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce gave us memories to last a life time!!

Ashlie (my cousin) and her cute kids (Riley, Max, Abby & Tom) and my cousin Matt and cousin Annie, were already in Worland when we arrived on Monday. Becky & Brooklyn arrived Monday night. Meg & Lucy arrived Tuesday. Mike & Ryan (Ashlie's husband) arrived on Wednesday. Richard, Misty, Sophia & Peter arrived on Thursday. (Thursday night was the night that EVERYONE was there, so their house had 27 people in the house!!!)

We had a blast! We sewed, visited, laughed, launched rockets, raced boats in the canal, went to Maverick a ton for candy & pop, played the Wii, ate delicious food, exercised, played games, played kickball, ate snowcones, watched movies, took naps....

The thing that we'll remember most though is PIG WRESTLING!!! Yes, pig wrestling! Some people take their kids to Disneyland for summer vacations, we take ours pig wrestling in Basin, WY. We put together 5 teams (PeeWee, Junior, Women's & 2 Men's teams).

(To watch the videos of the wrestling, go to my sister's blog at: www.jbmortensenfamily.blogspot.com and scroll to the August 16, 2011 post).

Aunt Claudia, Matt, Misty and I sat in the stands with the babies - Brooklyn, Sophia, Hailey & Lucy (and Hannah) and cheered and cheered! I'll explain more through the pictures....

Our Jr. Division - Emily, Annie, Abby & Max

Most of our Pee Wee Division (Tom, Jack & Lindsey)

Our Women's team - Meg, Becky, Riley & Ashlie

Excitement before the wrestling

Kate & Jack watching them fill the "Pen" with dirt, water and Bentonite (a substance to make it very slippery).

Emily & Becky

Meg & Bruce

Uncle Bruce, Richard, Mike, Max & Ryan

Our little ones in the dirt before starting

So, our cute little city kids, were the very first team of the entire night. They didn't get a chance to watch anyone do it. Kate, Jack, Tom & Lindsey got right in there though and tried and tried. They looked so little out there. I was so proud of them, especially Lindsey who picked up that pig several times and tried to carry it to the barrell.

Quick side note: each team had 60 seconds to catch the pig and get it butt-side first into a barrell in the middle of the ring.

The crowd would go wild every time Lindsey got the pig like this - she worked so hard!

Her little red face shows how hard she worked to get that pig up in her arms! My heart still skips a beat thinking of Lindsey carrying that pig!

Next, was the Junior Division. We didn't realize this beforehand, but they introduced each time and "auctioned" them in front of the crowd. People would bet on which team they thought would win! Ours sure looked cute out there!

Almost their turn - I love Annie's expression!

Last minute advice from Ashlie

Annie, Max & Abby

That pig's face was absolutely covered in mud! Our cute ones tried so hard too!

Can you even see that muddy pig's face?

Then our 1st men's team went. We originally registered 2 teams, but some weren't able to come or be there yet, so most men just did it twice. Our first team was: Richard, Mike, Jon & Ryan.

Slippey, slidey Ryan!

These guys had a pretty good pig that let them get a hold of it, but...

The buzzer went off right about now! They were so close! I love Mike's head sticking up from the back.

Hey Mike, where'd ya go?

Oh, there's Mike again!

For the second men's team, Uncle Bruce replaced Mike. Uncle Bruce isn't used to slippery surfaces!

Rich with the 2nd pig!

Uncle Bruce's graceful fall!

Our women's team were the very last team of the whole night! What a great group of women!

Becky, Riley, Ashlie & Meg

It was dark by now and so the pictures are horrible! Dumb flash wouldn't get take them very well! This is the back of Meg running after the pig!

For those of you who watch "Sister Wives" on TLC, Emily & Lindsey noticed that Logan & Hunter Brown competed. This is Logan.

Anyway, pig wrestling was great! We got home really late and everyone was covered in nasty, grimy bentonite, but I seriously laugh myself to tears every time of think about it and love all these people more and more!

On Friday, we rented out the local pool for 2 hours and had the pool to ourselves. It was a little cold, but really fun!

Peter & Hannah

Kate

Matt & Kate

Brooklyn, Becky, Meg & Lucy

Hannah being her usual helpful self.

Sophia

The babies: Lucy (10 months), Hailey (4 months), Sophia (1 month) and Brooklyn (6 1/2 months)

Thanks again Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce!!!!

Hannah's 3rd Birthday

2011-08-17T07:06:00.005-06:00

At the end of July, our funny Hannah turned 3! We sure love this girl! She has a fun personality and is always talking and singing and making us laugh. We took her binkies away last week and that's made her even more talkative (too much talking in fact, that she's given up her naps).

She had her well-check the day after her birthday and she was HORRIBLE!! She cried on the way and told me she didn't want to have a check-up. Then she told me that I should have the check up. She was fine in the waiting room, but as soon as we were called back, she started to cry. The nurse just cracked up, but I don't think the doctor found her very funny. When he wanted to look in her ears, she covered both of them with her hands. When he wanted to look in her mouth, she pursed her lips shut. Needless to say, at the end of the check up, she was red, sweaty, her hair was a mess and she limped out of the room from her 2 shots. Wow!

Fun Facts about Hannah:

* Weight - 29 lbs (25th percentile)

* Height - 36 inches (35th percentile)

* Favorite Foods: spaghetti, rice, chicken, top ramen, anything chocolate, green beans

* Favorite Friend: Heidi Richardson

* Favorite Shows: Dora and Diego

* Favorite Things to Do: play with Kate, watch tv, climb into bed with mom & dad EVERY night, go to gymnastics class, color, be with any of her siblings, talk to Hailey & Brooklyn, and talk.

We love you Hannah! You sure make our lives interesting!!

Here's to being 3 - getting rid of binkies (done!), starting preschool, and finishing up potty training!

Quilts & table runner

2011-08-13T07:45:00.011-06:00

Some of these quilts/table runners are pre-Hailey, some are post-Hailey! Awwww!! I truly LOVE to quilt!

This was a fun table runner to make for Kirsten. She's the inspiration behind my Witches Party, so it was easy to know who to make this table runner for when I saw it. I loved figuring out how to do the hats (they stick out) and I love how Jen quilted the spider webs on the ends.

Baby quilt for Katelyn Kunz (daughter of Laurie & Corey. I visit teach Laurie and Jon works with Corey in the Young Men's. She was born just a month after Hailey)

Quilt for Jefferson Christensen (son of Camilla & Taylor). Becky and I made this in Worland when we went in March. I LOVE this line of fabric and this pattern went really well with it.

Quilt for Leah Proctor (daugther of Spencer & Jeana). I LOVE this line too - I have a purse made out of it.

Quilt for Scarlet Hatch (daughter of Burke & Heidi). She was their 5th girl, so I figured something non-pink would be fun.

Quilt for Alice Jeppesen (daughter of Kelly & Andrea). She's their first girl, so I knew they needed some pink at their house!

I originally made this as Hailey's baby quilt, but I changed my mind. I'll do something else for Hailey and this one is going to a gal in my ward who just went through breast cancer. I admire her so much and thought the pink in this quilt would help remind her that she is a survivor!

Swimming Lessons

2011-08-12T07:18:00.005-06:00

In July, my 4 oldest kids took swimming lessons from our preschool teacher, Ms. Lorie. We'd go every day for 2 hours and Kate, especially, loved it! She would get so excited and loved the fact that she was learning to swim. Of course, I only had my camera for 1 of the lessons, so enjoy these pictures of Kate:

I think it's fun that Ms. Lorie would tap her on the head and then she'd know to take a breath

Going off the diving board

An Unexpected Tender Mercy!

2011-08-09T21:25:00.008-06:00

We've had a wonderful, fun summer and I hate to see it winding down! It's also been an eventful summer, with an unexpected blessing. Several weeks ago, I was at McDonald's Playland with the kids and I got a call from my mom. She had just gotten home from being at the hospital with my dad. He had been sick with a fever, body aches, etc., but then developed some shortness of breath. She convinced him to go to the doctor and they put him in the hospital (this is in Moscow, Russia).

They discovered his lungs had a ton of blood clots in them and they also discovered a growth on the outside of his liver. He stayed in the hospital in Moscow (where there is no AC or ice!!) for several days and then the doctor's and Area Authorities for the Church decided it was best to send them back to Utah for further medical testing and treatment.

We immediately felt the prayers, thoughts and fasting on behalf of my parents! We were hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

The night they arrived at the airport, Jon was at work. I bathed the kids and I decided to take them all to the airport. We were getting ready to leave and literally found our neighbors & friends, the Ruben family, in our garden. They were weeding! I was so touched and was so grateful for their service to us. Little did they know, that was I headed to the airport to see my parents.

It was wonderful to see them! They both looked so good and were so happy! We hadn't seen my dad in a year. All of my siblings came too (except Pete, who was in Hawaii).

They began doctor appointments, blood draws, etc. the next day. Come to find out, my dad had a rather large clot that travelled up near his lungs and heart. Thankfully, his heart was strong enough to burst that clot into a ton of pieces and it sent it into his lungs. H found out he has a genetic predisposition to clots and will be on blood thinner the rest of his life. Then, the mass on the liver, was gone! Totally gone! They did find he has some hardening of the bile ducts and that can be a pre-cancerous risk, but there's not a lot they can do about it. For now, he's fine!

They were able to be in Salt Lake for 3 weeks and it was absolutely wonderful! They got his blood levels back within the range they want them, so they were able to return to Moscow and will continue their missionary service, under the care of Moscow physicians.

We enjoyed every minute with them and will always remember the summer of 2011! We swam (they stayed at a friend's house that had a swimming pool), ate delicious food, shopped, sewed, played games, watched them enjoy their new 3 grandaughters, and talked for hours and hours. I love my parents so much and am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercy in letting us enjoy them like we did!

Hannah waiting for grandma & grandpa at the airport

Aren't they cute?

Becky & Dad

Emily, grandma & Hailey

Becky, my dad & I

Rich, Becky, my dad & Mike

Hannah getting ready to "swim."

Becky & Brooklyn

Jack

Hannah & Rich

Lindsey and Mike against Jack and Rich

This is what Kate spent the time doing.

John & Brooklyn

Kate & Mike

Peter (with his Hawaiian tan) & Kate

One evening, my parents had some of their missionaries and a member from Moscow come and visit with them. It's easy to see the love that they have for them and the love that the missionaries have for my parents.

Baseball Season

2011-08-08T06:15:00.003-06:00

We just got back from a wonderful week in Worland, WY, so it's time to do some serious blogging!

We started the summer with t-ball for Kate on Monday & Wednesday nights and coach-pitch baseball for Jack on Tuesday & Thursday nights. Not surprisingly, Jack had another great season and he LOVED playing baseball.

Our next-door neighbor, Josh, was the coach and Jack and his little boy, Case have loved playing together this summer. They just go back and forth between each other's houses (although they spend the majority of the time at Case's house - not so girly over there).

Jack loved playing and did a great job! He's definitely ready for kid-pitch next year. Just like all sports that Jack plays, he's focused and is always trying his best!

The Marlins

L to R: Isaac's dad, Isaac, Case, Jack, Marshall, ?, Logan, Bowen (Jack's other best friend) & Coach Josh.

Stitches

2011-07-20T15:42:00.002-06:00

Jon has done a lot of sutures in his life as a medical student, resident & physician. He's even done stitches at our house (Ethan Rasmussen's chin, a couple of cut hands from cutting up food, a head wound, etc.), but he's never had to do any stitches on our kids - until yesterday!

Jon didn't have to work until later in the day, so he had left to take Emily to a store. I was trying something on my sewing machine and I heard a loud thump. I hear loud thumps all the time. Then, I heard Jack start to cry. I hear Jack cry all the time. But, I decided I better go see what happened when I heard Lindsey's concerned voice say "Are you okay?"

Jack and Lindsey had been on the computer and he leaned back in a folding chair. It toppled over and he whacked his head on the wooden bottom of our railing. I walked up the stairs and he told me he fell and hit his head. Lindsey was behind him and said "He's bleeding." Sure enough, his hand was full of blood and it quickly ran all over his back (he had a swimming suit on).

I took him into the bathroom, gave him a cold washcloth to put on it and then called Jon. When Jon answered, I asked him to turn around and come home. When Jon got there, sure enough, his head needed stitches. While waiting for Jon to come all Jack could say was "I really don't want stitches. I really don't want stitches."

Jon was able to numb the wound with some lidocaine cream and then put in 3 stitches. Jack was really brave about it and was so happy when it was over. That ended swimming lessons for him this week! Poor guy! Hopefully he's learned to not lean back in a chair, especially a folding chair!

Here's his head with the cream on it - waiting for it to get all the way numb.

3 Grandaughters

2011-07-19T08:01:00.005-06:00

In 2011, my parents have had 3 new little grandaughters! They are all so cute and sweet and fun! When Sophia was about a week old, I took the kids over to see her and they loved her!

Sophia (1 week), Hailey (3 months), Brooklyn (5 1/2 months)

Tee Ball

2011-07-18T15:08:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kate finished her first season of tee ball. She had a really fun time and it was so fun to watch her play. She missed the first couple of practices and games (we were out of town), so when she showed up for her first game, she just had to try her best. She would swing and swing and miss the ball and it made her so mad. Then, a thunderstorm rolled in and they stopped the game.

When the next game came around, she was really worried that she wouldn't hit the ball. I told her to just try really hard and she'd get it. Well, her first time to bat, she got up there, swung as hard as the could, hit the ball and ran all the way to 3rd base. Cute little thing! The coaches re-directed her to 1st and then she'd still start heading to 3rd, but would remember a couple of steps into it and then run to 1st.

She was really cute and ended up loving to play!

Here she is "running" to 1st.

Now, she's running!

Do all intense tee ball players fold their arms, look into the outfield when other teammates are up to bat and wear Dora bandaids on their legs?

Independence Day

2011-07-11T06:19:00.008-06:00

We had a really great 4th of July this year! (We do always think of our wonderful days in Ohio on the 4th of July though and miss all of our great friends!). We got up early and headed to Murray Park for the 5K Fun Run. I had registered Jon & the oldest three kids to run it and had planned on taking the littlest 3 and saving a spot to watch the parade. But, then I decided I'd rather walk the 5K and then we'd decide if we wanted to stay for the parade.

It was a great weather-day. It was overcast, so not super hot. Jon ran with Jack, Lindsey & Emily while pushing Kate in the jogger. I walked and pushed Hannah & Hailey in the double stroller. We had a great time and enjoyed popsicles at the end of the race. We decided we'd rather go swimming than watch the parade this year, so we went home and did some quick cleaning the got ready to swim.

We met Peter, Becky, John & Brooklyn at Fairmont indoor pool and swam. The water was a little chilly, but the kids had fun. We stopped and got Taco Time & McDonald's (we really go all out on holidays :) ) and then had a fun afternoon hanging out at our house.

That evening, we had a BBQ with all of my siblings (except Richard & Misty who had just had a baby), Meg, Jason & Lucy, my Aunt Camille and her friend Sandy, the Cowden family and my friend, Julie. Dinner was delicious and then we played "psychiatrist." It was a fun game that Annie learned and it made us laugh & laugh. We let off fireworks in our driveway and enjoyed sitting outside visiting.

Happy Birthday to the best country ever!!!

Hannah & Hailey (almost 3 months)

Kate & Brooklyn (5 1/2 month)

Bowen Family Reunion & Hailey's blessing

2011-07-08T22:37:00.007-06:00

The last weekend in June, we had a wonderful weekend with Jon's family. It was a super, busy, crazy week, but it was really fun and we created lots of fun family memories. Beth & her boys, Rebecca, Paul, Jack & Diane all drove down from Oregon on Thursday. Beth & her boys and Rebecca stayed with us.

On Friday, we rented a bounce house and had it all day in our backyard. The kids had a blast jumping on it and going down the slide, but in the afternoon it got really hot and they would only play on it for a few minutes. Finally, Jon put some wet towels on it and they started on it again.

All of Jon's siblings were there (there are 10 of them!!) except for Bill. We had a fun dinner together at our house and enjoyed visiting with each other. I'm telling you - there were some really cute kids, grandkids & great-grandkids there!

On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to Provo. Jon and the 3 oldest kids hiked the "Y" and I stayed at Anne's house with the 3 little ones, Beth's boys & Jon's parents. After they hiked, we all met at The Cougar Eat on campus and ate lunch. We went to the bookstore and then drove back to Salt Lake. All the kids were exhausted and they were out!

I drove to my sister's house to pick up food that she had bought that day for me for Sunday's lunch and then we headed to Bob & Debbie's house for dinner all together again. They have such a fun backyard and Lindsey even convinced Bob to let her swim in their hot tub. That, of course, led to a hot tub FULL of kids!

We drove home to find my wonderful sister and brother Mike at my house to help me cut veggies & fruit to get ready for the next day. I was feeling so overwhelmed at the thought of putting on another major meal, but we worked quickly and they really lifted my spirits. We even went and bought 6 bags of ice and cream slushes from Sonic to celebrate our quick hands.

Sunday morning, Jon blessed Hailey at Church. We had wonderful family there and our sweet neighbor, Denny came too. Jon did a wonderful job and Hailey was a perfect angel during the blessing - just laid there looking up at all the wonderful Priesthood holders around her. Mike & Becky left early to come to my house and they had everything set up ready to go when we walked in the door.

The food was delicious (we had the meat catered and it was worth every penny - so good!), the weather was beautiful and the company was wonderful. Thank you to all of our wonderful family who came! We wish ALL of our family could have been there, but we felt of your love and support from far away.

It was great weekend! Thank you to Beth for planning the reunion and thank you to Debbie & myself (smile!) for pulling off some major meals!! My only regret is that I didn't take very many pictures!

Kate and Kyle...Kate loves this boy! She was disappointed to learn that you can't marry your relatives though. Just the other day as she was talking about the boys she liked, she said she like Kyle, but she can't marry him because she's "allergic to him." She meant "related."

Tyler (Beth's youngest little boy)

Hannah at the Cougar Eat

Emily

Brooklyn & Becky after getting everything ready for Sunday!

Food table

Nancy Moore, Hailey, Areli Olsen & her sweet baby, Lucas.

Hailey wore the same blessing dress that Brooklyn did

Oh, we sure love this little girl!

Morning at the Park

2011-07-06T21:22:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I found a fun park that had everything "spinny!" Everything spinned! The kids had a really fun time playing, especially because it was first thing in the morning and it was still cool.

Hailey has started to smile and it's so sweet & cute!

Welcoming Sophia Jo

2011-07-01T22:00:00.005-06:00

Today my brother Richard and his wife, Misty, had their first little baby and I wanted to get pictures up so that my parents (in Russia), could see this sweet baby girl! Sophia Jo was born at 10:13 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and is 21 1/2 inches long. Her mom worked hard to get her here!

What a sweet face!

Sophia & Aunt Becky

Sophia & Aunt Jeannette

Sophia's proud dad, Sophia & Uncle Mike

(Sorry this is dark...Misty, Jeannette, Becky, Peter, Sophia, Mike & Rich)

Peter & Brooklyn (who had to wait in the hall with Emily)

Welcome to the world Sophia!!

Summertime table runners

2011-06-22T06:14:00.003-06:00

Many, many months ago, I finished these 2 table runners and thanks to a long drive to Oregon a couple of weeks ago, I was able to finish the binding on them. I've now done 11 of the 12 table runners for the months of the year. Only September is left! One of these days, I'll get the sewing machine back out....(6 kids has proven to completely eliminate any "spare" time!)

Easter Oregon Livestock Show

2011-06-20T15:22:00.006-06:00

The Monday after school got out, we headed to Oregon to visit Jon's parents. We had a wonderful week and loved being away from the busy-ness of life! On Tuesday, we took Jon's mom and dad letterboxing. (If you haven't heard about it - it's great. It's free. It's fun. It's everywhere! www.letterboxing.org). We had actually stopped and did a letterbox on the drive up. There was one in Snowville at the rest area. On the way home, we did one too - in Jerome, ID at a rest stop. The kids had a blast. Well, we looked this one up and Diane (Jon's mom) knew right where the location was. We drove there and the kids had a great time looking for it. Thankfully, it was there!

LaGrande, OR

Hailey was a great traveler!

After letterboxing, we stopped and got icecream at Haught's. It was super yummy and the kid's cones were only $0.25.

Hannah

Lindsey waiting for icecream

On Wednesday, Jon drove to Boise to pick up his sister Beth and her two boys. The kids had a great time playing with Kyle & Tyler. Jon & Beth took the kids swimming.

While we were there, the Stock Show came to town. That means we got to go to the carnival, see a parade, see pigs, sheep, & cows that kids had raised and we got to go to a rodeo! What fun!

Hannah loved all the rides

Kyle wasn't impressed with the rides until he rode some faster ones!

Jack

Kate

Hannah

Emily's New Room

2011-06-16T06:38:00.003-06:00

I have dreamed for a long time (12 years!), about decorating bedrooms for my kids. I could go crazy in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, but I've had to curb my desires. Jon finally let me go a wee little bit crazy and we were able to get some bedding for Emily's room.

Jon's brother, Tom, lived with us for over a year and even though we enjoyed having him stay with us, it was nice to have the bedroom back. It's the one bedroom we have in our basement, but that didn't deter Emily from wanting it. While I was in the hospital with Hailey, Jon took the kids to RC Willey and found her a screaming deal on a bedroom set. She wanted a Hawaiian theme and thanks to my great cousin, Ashlie, and the advice she gave us, this is what we came up with...

( I don't know why this is so dark..I tried 4 times)

Jon painted 2 walls green & 2 walls blue! I love it - it's so much fun to walk into! We still need to figure out curtains for both the window and the door (it's a glass door). Anyway, dream come true!! Now, onto saving for Lindsey's room!

Hailey's weight

2011-06-14T13:32:00.003-06:00

Hailey at 3 weeks (about 4 1/2 pounds)

Hailey had her 2 month check up yesterday (which was a week after turning 2 months). She now weighs 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. Her weight, height & head size are all 5th percentile for a 2 month old. If you adjust that to when she was supposed to be born, she'd be 70th percentile for height, 50th for weight and 60th for head size.

She didn't cry very much about the 3 shots they gave her, until about 5 hours later. Her little leg was red and she just screamed and screamed every time she moved it. I've never had a baby react that way. Thankfully around 8:00 last night, the redness went away and it hasn't seemed to bother her since.

What a sweet baby!

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-02T05:49:00.005-06:00

Last Wednesday, Kate graduated from preschool! She's loved going to Ms. Lorie's preschool and is super excited about starting Kindergarten in the fall. The little graduation was in their backyard. They sang songs and each child (along with one other fellow preschooler) recited a memorized poem. Kate's poem was about a Halloween witch and she did a great job!

We're so proud of you Kate!

Reciting the poem

Receiving her diploma

Cute preschool graduate

Ms. Lorie's future student (beginning in the fall)

Grandpa Avery, Kate & Ms. Lorie

Quilts

2011-05-31T11:50:00.006-06:00

I had finished some quilts before Hailey was born and just hadn't posted them yet....

This one was obviously for Brooklyn, my sister's baby

I've had this kit for awhile and had done it. Our ward YW did an auction to raise money for camp, so I donated this to be auctioned. It found a good home!

My favorite part was the ribbon that looked like straw

And this quilt was for my sister-in-law Misty, who's baby is due in June. Becky and I made it and then my mom did the binding when she was here in April.

Due Date

2011-05-22T11:41:00.001-06:00

May 22nd was the day that Hailey was due! She's now 6 1/2 weeks and such an angel. She's doing super and we are so grateful for that! I don't know how much she weighs, but it's probably around 7 lbs.

She is nursing every feeding now and does much better about staying awake for both sides. She usually goes to bed about 11:00 or 11:30 and gets up once at 4:00 and then goes back down until 7 or 7:30.

Her siblings adore her! Hannah and Kate love taking short little turns holding her and Hannah is frequently in her face saying (with a high pitch voice)...."Hiiiiii, Sweetie Pieeeee!" Lindsey and Emily could hold her all day. Jack FINALLY held her for the first time (but made me promise that I wouldn't put the pictures on the blog). I think secretly he thinks she's pretty sweet.

One of Emily's friends commented a few days ago and said "Wow! She has a lot of hair!" Hmmm, she seems quite bald to me.

Emily & her cousin, Brooklyn

Fresh from Heaven

2011-05-18T10:46:00.004-06:00

When Hailey was 3 weeks (and about 4 1/2 lbs), we took her to Lindsay Wright (www.lindsaywrightphotography.com) and had her pictures taken. Hailey was an angel and was so cooperative. Here are a few of our favorites...with more to come on her birth announcement!

Buckeye Report

2011-05-15T08:31:00.002-06:00

One of the things I worried about while I was in the hospital having Hailey, was a huge State report that Emily was supposed to be working on. They had chosen a State and had to do a detailed report and tri-fold presentation on it. She really wanted to do Ohio and thankfully, got that state. We had meant to work on it during her spring break, but didn't, so it was coming up due. Well, then I had Hailey unexpectedly!

So, after getting home from the hospital, her and I spent hours and hours getting her report completed. Thankfully, her teacher gave her an extra 2 days, and we did it. She got 100% on it and did a great job! It was fun to do the report as Ohio is very near and dear to our hearts! Part of us will always be Buckeye!

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:49:00.004-06:00

Ahhh! Mother's Day! I love this holiday and this holiday also cracks me up! I love it because I can reflect on my own wonderful mother and the incredible blessing she is in my life. I was able to talk with her this morning and she was able to share the fun news that next month, on June 5th, the first Stake in all of Russia will be created - the Moscow Russia Stake! That is miraculous and we're so excited for the great people of Russia! I have a great mom and love her so much!

Mother's Day also cracks me up for 2 reasons.....First, my kids seem to fight more on Mother's Day than any other day of the year. I don't know what it is, but I think the same thing happened last year. Today, it hit full force, while our neighbors (and former Stake President and his wife) were visiting and bringing us a gift for Hailey. It involved Jack & Kate fighting and wrestling over a ball and Hannah (the referee) coming up and clubbing Jack in the back of the head with a bag. Glad the Bowen family could leave such a good impression!

Second, the gifts that come from children are hilarious....I'll let the pictures explain!

I took this picture at 7:30 this morning...I had been up for an hour to feed the baby and had woken all the other kids. That's Jon & Kate asleep. Kate apparently had a bad dream during the night, brought her pillow and sippy cup of water and crawled into bed with us. I guess breakfast in bed is overrated anyway!

This was Lindsey's gift...an entire sheet of coupons. There are definitely some useful ones...cooked meals, babysitting, foot rubs, back "masash" (aka massage) and anythings...however, I'm not sure what to think of the 3rd one from the top "1 free kick me out of my seat." I wonder if she feels like I am frequently asking her to move so that I can have her seat??

This is Kate's card...the front

And the inside! Glad I can buy Kate's love! (She's referring to a junkie thing I bought at Target last week for $5, just so she'd stop asking for stuff).

And Jack's....the beautiful flower in a cup. And then the decorated bag....I'm framing the middle section that reads "Mom is better than dad is!" It cracks me up because it's so not true - that boy can't get enough of his dad!

In all seriousness though, I'm so grateful to be a mom!

Hannah (2 1/2), Hailey (1 month) & Kate (5)

April Fool's - 2011

2011-05-06T11:02:00.005-06:00

We had a great trip to Oregon (what ended up being the week before Hailey was born)! We left on the Wednesday of spring break and took Jon's sister, Anne, with us. We had a great drive (although passed a sad, sad wreck with a car turned over on fire...we stopped to see if Jon could help, but it was obvious the man was already dead).

The kids always have a great time with Jon's parents! They are so kind and patient with the kids, so we were able to relax, the kids played, did art projects, went swimming, ate ice cream cones at the Cove Drive-in, visited with Jon's cousin Donni & her cute kids, and had a fun April Fool's dinner. Thanks to Anne, the girls had the funnest day getting ready for dinner. It was so cute (and a ton of work)!

Our dinner menu was:

French fries (they are actually cut up apples)

Mini Hamburgers (a mint pattie between 2 vanilla wafers).

Cold punch (Jell-O, including clear gelatin ice cubes)

And for dessert - Cupcakes! (meat balls with colored mashed potatoes on top - Kate probably are 12 of these)

The cute chefs!!

Thanks again Anne!

Weight Gain

2011-04-29T13:57:00.002-06:00

So, Hailey needs to gain weight and I need to lose weight! We are taking her a couple of times a week to be weighed and some times it's good news and some times it's not so good news. These are the highs & lows of a preemie.

She's doing really great though and is trying her best to gain. I nurse her as often as I can and as often as she seems awake enough to do it. Other times (like in the middle of the night), I pump and then give her a bottle.

Here's her weight gain so far:

Sunday, April 17th - day of discharge from the hospital - 3 lbs. 15.8 oz.

Tuesday, April 19th - 4 lbs. 2 oz.

Friday, April 22nd - 4 lbs. 5 oz.

Monday, April 25th - 4 lbs. 11 oz.

Friday, April 29th - 4 lbs. 11 1/2 oz.

We were so excited that she had gained so much on Monday, but disappointed that she hadn't gained much by Friday. But, on Monday, she had just eaten and then pooped right after we left. Today, she had eaten about 2 1/2 hours before. So, we'll go again twice next week and see if we can fatten this little girl up!

Easter 2011

2011-04-27T21:26:00.005-06:00

We had a great Easter weekend this year! It was my mom's last couple of days in Utah before returning to Russia (for 2 more years!). On Friday night, my mom, Emily & Lindsey stayed up and made some yummy little cakes that they had sampled at Williams Sonoma. The girls had a great time and it was fun to watch them all cooking together.

On Saturday morning, we let the kids dye Easter eggs. After coloring them, they did their own version of an Easter egg hunt in the yard. Each child took a turn hiding the eggs and then the others would go find it. It took them hours, so it was great!

On Sunday morning, we got ready for Church. My mom stayed with Hailey and the rest of us went to Church. It was good to back and do sharing time in Primary, but it was exhausting! We came home and I was able to take a good nap and then my mom made Easter dinner and we had my siblings over. It was such a treat to have someone else make dinner and to spend time with family! Easter is a great holiday!

Our cute little Easter egg!
(My cute Aunt Pat made this little cocoon for Hailey - it's so cute)

Emily (11), Kate (5), Jack (7), Lindsey (9) & Hannah (2)

Cousins

2011-04-24T21:25:00.002-06:00

Last week, we took pictures of Brooklyn & Hailey together. They are both so cute and I hope will be best of friends growing up!! Brooklyn is 3 months old and Hailey was 2 weeks in this picture.

Brooklyn, Hailey & a Barbie (no, I didn't have time to dress the Barbie. We wanted something to compare the size of Hailey to.)

Welcome Home Hailey!

2011-04-22T14:36:00.007-06:00

Oh my! I am not finding any time to blog! (And, I cannot get the spacing to work - so it ends up being one long paragraph - if anyone knows how to fix it, I'd love to know!!!) Anyway, we were really excited last Saturday when the NICU told us that Hailey would be going home on Sunday. She needed to pass a car seat test (being strapped in her carseat for an hour with no problems), but we were to come and get her Sunday morning. One of the nurses told us that in working there 10 years, Hailey was only the 2nd baby to go home under 4 lbs. She came home at 3 lbs. 15.8 oz.

She has been an absolute joy to have in our home! She is so calm and mellow and easygoing! She hardly ever cries and sleeps a ton. She has been a great nurser. I nurse her 2-3 times a day and then pump for the other feedings. We had a calorie booster to the bottles and I have to wake her up every 3 hours to eat.

We took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday and she weighed 4 lbs. 2 oz. and then again today and she was 4 lbs. 5 oz. Yay! I'll take her again on Monday as well. Once she reaches 5 lbs. then we won't have to do quite so many weight checks.

Here are a few pictures of this little angel....

We were SOOOOO grateful for Jon's mom coming for a week! She was so wonderful to be at home with the kids, help Hannah with millions of puzzles, and coming with me to the NICU to visit Hailey.

And, we are SOOOOO grateful for my mom coming all the way from Russia! She was able to get special permission to come and it's been great to have her here too. She's driven me nearly everywhere over the past week and has been a huge help too!

We have the best moms!

I caught this little smile while Hailey was still in the NICU.

All dressed and ready to go home!

Jon looks awake here, but really, he slept almost the entire time they were getting us discharged. He had worked an overnight, but came with me to get her.

Going home - so tiny in that carseat!

Home at last!

We got home while the kids were at Church and they were soooo excited to FINALLY see Hailey in person for the first time. They were all so patient in waiting to meet her and it was wonderful to finally be able to let them hold her.

No, there are no pictures of Jack holding her. He's a bit overwhelmed at the thought of 5 sisters and I'm sure one of these days will hold Hailey for the first time.

NICU update

2011-04-15T22:50:00.002-06:00

I need to download more pictures, but a quick update on Hailey.....the bottom line is, she is doing great! The NICU at St. Mark's right now to a bustling place - there are new babies coming in and out of there every day. Hailey's had all sorts of "neighbors." Loud ones, small ones, huge ones, quiet ones. And she just quietly puts up with whoever is next door! The nurses just love her - and I can't blame them. They wake her every 3 hours to change her diaper, take her temperature and feed her. Then, she goes right back to sleep and snoozes until it's time to do it all again. She's really mellow and super, duper sweet. I've been really fortunate in that I've been able to go over at her noon feeding and 9:00 p.m. feeding each day. A few days ago, they let me nurse her, so we usually try for those 2 feedings a day. Some times it goes great and sometimes it doesn't. It's a lot more work for her to nurse than to just drink the breastmilk from a bottle, but she's been a good little trooper. The neonatalogist talked with us today and said she's pretty much ready to come home except they'd like to see her gain a little more weight. She got down to 3 lbs. 10 oz. and is slowly creeping back up, but they'd like to see it be more. They add a calorie booster to each bottle and she's been good about eating it. We are excited to have her come home, but we also love that she's so protected there and well cared for. (She has no idea that she's not an only child!). Anyway, she is the sweetest little thing and we just adore her. She's beautiful, perfect and just a little minature baby! Way to go Hailey!

She has a name - finally!

2011-04-11T16:04:00.004-06:00

We are pleased to welcome: Hailey Grace Bowen

What a Trooper!

2011-04-10T22:22:00.003-06:00

Here are more pictures of our sweet baby! I left the hospital yesterday evening and even though it was hard to leave without her, it's good to be home. The kids did really well, but it was definitely time for mom to get back home. How can I ever thank Jon, my mother-in-law, my siblings, our families, our friends & our ward enough ??!! Holy Cow! The baby is now off of all IV's, feeding tubes, oxygen and is getting all her calories through bottles with breastmilk & calorie enhancers. They only had to put a little feeding tube down her nose for about 24 hours, but she'd done so well with sucking and keeping awake long enough to get the milk down, that they took it out. They're going to see how she does with room temperature (outside of her isolette) tonight. They've been letting us hold her twice a day - for about 1/2 hour. We get to feed her and burp her and then they like to let her rest and sleep peacefully. The kids haven't been able to see her in person. We've been able to get the nurses to let us hold her up to the window so they could take a peek, but they are still waiting to meet their new sister for the first time. They've been such a good sports about it and so understanding. Thank you again to everyone! Oh, how we love you!

Becky holding the baby (she's got an IV in her head underneath that hat).

Maybe only a mother could love this little face, but it cracks me up. She reminds me of a little bird that has just hatched. The little tube from her nose was the feeding tube.

Sunday morning - April 10, 2011 - Grandma Bowen

Birth Story

2011-04-08T13:56:00.005-06:00

***Warning...rantings of a new mom...this is long and I can't get the spacing to work!!*** What a week! One that we will never forget! We are thrilled to welcome our sweet, little baby and have instantly fallen in love with her. We're figuring out her name, but here are the things that led to her early arrival: * Prenatal Visit (32 weeks) - Tuesday, March 29th - Up to this point, everything had been great with our pregnancy. I felt really good and am someone who loves being pregnant - especially feeling the baby move, etc. At this visit, I was measured at 31 and the baby's heart rate was great. BUT, there were traces of protein in my urine. This was disappointing, but not shocking (as it's happened with the last 4 pregnancies). Dr. Brown wasn't overly concerned because "trace protein" in and of itself is fine. I asked for a few dipsticks to take home and then scheduled my 34 week check. * Wednesday, March 30th through Sunday, April 3 - We took a family trip to Union, OR to visit Jon's parents while the kids had spring break. We had a wonderful, relaxing time! * Sunday night/early Monday morning - April 4th - When we got home from Union, I dipped a urine stick and could easily tell the protein level had increased. During the night on Sunday, I didn't feel the baby move around very much, so I called my doctor's office on Monday morning. They told me to go to Labor & Delivery for a non-stress test. Jon & I headed over there after getting kids to school/preschool & Hannah to play with Heidi (Alisha - thank you again so much!). (Although, we did take our neice, Brooklyn with us. I watch her on Mondays and she's still at such an easy age, that we just took her. She was really good and Jon took care of her. I know hospitals see all types, but I'm sure they wondered what we were doing there 33 weeks pregnant with an 11 week old). The NST went fine and they felt like the baby was doing well enough to send us home. But, they wanted me to collect 24 hours of urine and then come back on Tuesday for another NST. I was so grateful to have the chance to go home and spend the afternoon getting things put away from our trip and clean a little bit. I also packed a hospital bag, just in case... * Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - My sister Becky came over to work from our house (how tricky that must have been!) and watch Hannah (and later all the kids when they got home from school/playdates). Jon and I went in for the NST. They hooked us up and over the course of a few hours, put an IV in, took blood work and watched the baby. They weren't thrilled with what she was doing on the NST. Every once in awhile, when I'd have a contraction, her heart rate would dip low and would take longer than they'd like to get back up. The protein level from the 24 urine came back really high. Normal is right around 100, mine was over 600, which probably means the protein level was near a +5. My doctor came in and we decided to start a course of 2 steroid injections (24 hours apart, ideally), have an ultrasound done to determine fluid levels & size of the baby, and to keep me in the hospital on monitors and watch her heartrate. Our goal at that point, was to make it to Thursday and then do a C-Section (unless she suddenly had absolutely perfect heartrates and the protein seemed to be controlled). They did the steroid injection (in the bum), which hurt! Talk about thick serum! The ultrasound went well and the fluid levels were still great. The baby looked good and they estimated she'd be about 4 lbs. 7 oz. (although they told us it was give or take a pound). We made the decision to fly Jon's mom in from Oregon and looking back, everything fell in to place for that to happen. Jon's sister Anne had gone up to Oregon with us and was already planning on staying about a week and a half longer. And then, his sister, Rebecca, ended up helping a co-worker by taking a couple of weeks off. Those 2 great sister-in-laws, were willing to let Diane come and help us, while they stayed to take care of Jon's dad. Jon went home around 6 to finally relieve Becky & John from our kids. He gathered them up and brought them to the hospital, mostly so they could see that I was fine and that everything was calm and okay. They didn't stay very long as they were exhausted. As, I settled in for the night around 10:30, everything seemed fine on the monitors. But, as soon as I would doze off, the baby's heart rate would drop during contractions (or non contractions) and they'd come in and have me shift around to try to get her to happy again. It was a really long night, with not more than a few minutes of sleep. The nurses talked with my doctor (who happened to be on call) on and off during the night and then came in at 7:00 a.m. and told me that Dr. Brown felt it was better to do the C-Section that morning instead of waiting another 24 hours for the steroids. They did give me the 2nd steroid shot and then I called Jon to tell him to come over. We were so blessed that my brother Mike could watch the little kids at our house, so as soon as he got there, Jon came over to the hospital. They had me all prepped for surgery, so as soon as Jon was ready, we walked back to the OR. Jack's C-Section was much more emergent (I walked into the hospital and an hour later, he was out), so this one's prep was much more calm. I had a really great anesthesiologist, my own doctor was there to do the C-Section, and I had a really great ER doctor at my side!! That doctor was the one who knew right when to slip me his hand (during my spinal block) and what to tell me during the surgery. The surgery went well and our sweet baby was born at 9:50 a.m. and came out screaming! What an incredible blessing! I was so happy to hear her screaming over and over (probably more than any of our other kids have screamed). Jon said she was quite blue when she first came out, but pinked up really quickly. The doctor also said she was quite tangled in her cord - it was around her leg, her arm and and her body. They weighed and measured her and she was 3 lbs. 15 oz. and 17 1/2 inches long. Jon went with her to the NICU while they stitched me up, but he was back by the time they finished. He said that she was doing really well - including breathing completely on her own. They immediately started an IV on her, and hooked her up to the normal wires (heartrate, oxygen levels, etc). She is perfect in every way - just a miniature version of a healthy baby. She has really long fingers & hands (like Lindsey), blonde eyebrows and a little blonde hair at the front of her head and a little darker hair in the back. Having a baby in the NICU is full of highs & lows. One visit to peek at her is uplifting and positive and the next can be emotional and tough. We are eternally grateful for each and every thought and prayer that have been sent out way. We feel them, those prayers are being answered, they strengthen us and we are excited to watch this sweet baby grow!

Pictures!!

2011-04-07T14:38:00.005-06:00

So, here are some pictures of this beauty!!!

This was about 10 hours after she was born. She needed a little extra oxygen, so they gave her some. This was the first time I got to hold her. (The other little tube by her chin is an IV that's in her right hand).

I love this picture because it shows some of her blonde-ness. Her eye brows are really light and the front part of her head. The back hair (the little bit she has), is much darker.

Proud Mom!

This picture was taken this morning. She's just hanging out in her little isolette. They had taken her off oxygen during the night.

Sweet, little face!

She's here!!

2011-04-06T14:19:00.008-06:00

Baby girl Bowen is here!

Born @ 9:45 this morning via c-section.

3 lbs 15 oz

17 inches long

I will let Jeannette go into more detail later, but the baby didn't do too well overnight and her heart rate kept dropping, so the doctor decided to get her out. The cord was wrapped around her little arm and leg and she came out screaming. Jeannette and baby are doing well.

Enjoy a couple pictures I got of her below:

She is so sweet and petite!

Update on the little lady

2011-04-05T16:21:00.002-06:00

This is Becky (Jeannette's sister).

Just an update on the baby...Jeannette and Jon have been at the hospital most of the day doing tests and monitoring the baby's heart rate. The doctor is going to give Jeannette a steroid shot to help the baby's lungs develop quicker and will do an ultrasound after to check size, amniotic fluid, etc. They will do another steroid shot on Thursday and most likely do a c-section after that. Jeannette will stay in the hospital until the baby is born.

I will keep you all updated!

Little Lady's Lung Development

2011-04-04T16:14:00.002-06:00

Well, here we go again!! Protein has started to show up in my urine (just like the last 4 pregnancies), so I spent a couple of hours in Labor & Delivery this morning doing a Non-Stress Test. Thankfully, the baby seems to be doing okay so far, but the protein level has increased substantially over the last several days. I'll go in again tomorrow for another NST and we'll go from there. Thankfully, we are 33 weeks along, so further than we were with Jack. We're praying and hoping that her lungs will have the time they need to be ready for life. Thank you to everyone for your love & support!

Weekend in Worland

2011-03-21T07:03:00.004-06:00

A little over a week ago, my sister Becky & I took all 6 of our kids and went to Worland for a couple of days. She was finishing up her maternity leave and it was the last time we could all fit in our van (it's an 8 passenger). We left on a Thursday morning and had a great drive. The weather was perfect the entire time and the kids were great! Hannah commented as we'd get out of the car for a break "Brooklyn never cries."

Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce were absolutely wonderful to us! It's such a treat to go somewhere and be taken care of. They made us yummy dinners, set up the trampoline and Wii for the kids, and let us relax and enjoy their company!

Some of our highlights were:

* all the little girls taking a bath together every night

* sewing with Becky - we were able to get an entire quilt done in just 2 days!

* going to Maverick for diet pop, candy & frozen yogurt several times a day

* playing Super Mario & Just Dance on the Wii

* exerising with Becky in the mornings

* Taco Johns

* Becky teaching Emily & Lindsey how to make bows

* visiting with Uncle Bruce & Aunt Claudia after the kids went to bed

* having Uncle Bruce & Jon talk over the phone and figure out what caused some water damage in our house

It was wonderful and we were so grateful to be able to go! We love having our place of paradise and can't wait to go back!!

"My Mom Made it for Me."

2011-03-16T21:08:00.002-06:00

These are Hannah's famous words! Whenever someone compliments her on her clothes, shoes, jacket, coat, etc., she said "My mom made it for me." Today, it was the clerk at the store. After she told Hannah that her red shoes were cute, Hannah told the lady that I made them. I'm very flattered by her thoughts and secretly wish that she'd always think of me so highly. I'm sure that she will soon realize that her little friend Heidi gets compliments like that all the time because her mom really IS a great seamstress (skirts, Halloween costumes, etc.). Hannah, on the other hand, will never be cold, as her mother is only good at making quilts!

"Community Helper" Visitor at preschool

2011-03-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

Kate's preschool teacher asked if Jon could come to preschool this week and talk about being a doctor. He was a good sport about getting up early from sleeping and putting together really cute little doctor kits for the kids. Kate was really excited about him coming and Jon did a great job! He talked about being safe with helmets & seat belts and showed the kids some of his tools, like stethescope, otoscope, blood pressure cuff, etc. He brought some pictures of x-rays (including the one of Kate's broken arm a year and a half ago) and had the kids guess what bones they were. I think all the kids really enjoyed him being there!

Playing in the Snow

2011-03-09T11:29:00.003-07:00

We had a snow storm (hopefully the last of this year!) on Monday night and the kids had a blast playing in the snow. (I can't remember why Lindsey has paint on her face...or I'm not sure why she's wearing 2 scarves). Anyway....fun, cute kids!

Jr. Jazz

2011-03-06T20:40:00.005-07:00

Jack & Lindsey just finished successful Jr. Jazz basketball seasons! They both had great coaches, learned a lot and had a lot of fun! I'm always so grateful for parents who are willing to coach!

Jack loved to dribble and did a really good job doing it. He was also really good about not travelling or double-dribbling when he stopped his dribble.

Such a cute boy!

This picture made me laugh. Jack has the ball and you can tell what type of jungle ball it was out there!

Listening to Coach Davies

Lindsey is the one with the ball. This picture is funny because of the size in height difference. Poor shorty here is trying to find an open teammate!

Lindsey was great to watch playing defense.

Shooting a free throw.

Great job Lindsey & Jack!

Extra Special Visitor

2011-02-28T13:37:00.003-07:00

On Friday, I had the funnest visitor! Kirsten - all the way from Ohio!!!!

Kirsten had been in California earlier in the week for her grandma's funeral and then had flown to Utah for her burial. She had such a short amount of time, but was able to stop by for a few minutes and it was great! I could have talked with her all day! It was fun to visit face to face, rather than over the phone.

Becky came over so that Kirsten could see Brooklyn too!

Kirsten, thank you sooooo much for taking the time to come over! That was so sweet of you and both Becky & I are so grateful!

Kirsten & Brooklyn

What a great friend!

Hannah's Happenings

2011-02-22T07:09:00.005-07:00

Hannah is one funny little kid! She has been cracking us up lately, so this post is about living with this fabulous 2 year old:

Hannah seems to have a sense of our new baby coming. She asks me every day if "the baby is going to come any second." I have to remind her that it's still (hopefully!) several weeks away. Every time I put her on my lap to read her a story, she says "Too little." This means my lap is getting too little. Yes! I know!

She has loved having a new cousin around and thinks that she's perfectly capable of caring for Brooklyn all by herself. The other night when Brooklyn got a little fussy, Hannah lifted up her dress, unsnapped her onesie and thought that she could nurse her to make her feel better.

Hannah's favorite thing to do is look at and read books. She is constantly carrying around a stack of books and loves it when anyone is willing to read it to her. She gets this trait from my dad and Jon's mom.

Hannah's favorite friend is Heidi. Hannah & Heidi go to nursery together and have a dance class together. They get into little mischief together (like making faces at each other during prayers or lessons). They are so cute together and it's fun to see Hannah have her very own friend.

Coloring with Heidi

Hannah also loves her dance class! She loves to run, do actions and participate and it's been fun to see her come out of her shell and enjoy it.

Doing the "princess walk" with Heidi

First attempts at skipping

Oh, Hannah! We sure love you! You love to talk and it's fun to understand what you're thinking. You sure love your big sisters and think that Jack's pretty great too. Thanks for always making us laugh!

Sewing

2011-02-17T13:37:00.002-07:00

Last summer, I heard of a really great place called "The Finishing School." They teach children & adults cooking & sewing classes. Emily & Lindsey took a cooking & sewing class with Lindsey's friend, Abi, and they both loved it. They especially loved the sewing class, so they have continued to take a sewing class one day a week. They have made some really cute things - blankets, pillows, ornaments, hot pads, pj bottoms, a skirt, etc. One of Lindsey's recent projects was making a dress for Brooklyn. The example at the school said "Bitty Baby dress." Well, Lindsey thought that meant a little baby dress, but I think it was actually a dress for a Bitty Baby doll.

Anyway, she made it and gave it to Brooklyn. Becky was able to squeeze her in it when she was about 2 1/2 weeks old. Lindsey did a great job and it made her feel good to see the baby in it. It's now waiting for our baby, to wear it once or twice, and then likely be put on an actual Bitty Baby.

Croup

2011-02-09T10:41:00.002-07:00

Our 3 oldest kids never, ever got croup! Then, Kate & Hannah came along and for some reason, those 2 ALWAYS get croup. Usually it's accompanied by a cold, cough, etc., but last night, Hannah woke up at 3:00 a.m. with it. She hadn't had a runny nose, cough, grumpiness....nothing!

Jon had been at work and was supposed to get off around 1:00 a.m., so I called him to see if he was headed home. Thankfully, he was literally 30 seconds from being home, so he was able to figure out how much steroids to give her and was also willing to walk around outside with her. When they came back in, Hannah told me she was hungry. I asked if she wanted a cracker or bowl of cereal. Her response was: Ding Dong!

Well, who can blame a girl??!! Ding Dongs always make me feel better too and anyone that visits our house knows that there's usually a Ding Dong to be found!

Potty Training - Attempt #1

2011-02-05T09:15:00.002-07:00

I've never really been a mom to push my kids to be potty trained. I usually wait until they are ready and close to turning 3 and then it's been really easy to do it and they have done really well. Kate potty trained herself at 2 1/2 and so I figured that maybe Hannah would be ready. She just turned 2 1/2 at the end of January and I'm planning on sending her to preschool in the fall and want her to be ready. So, I figured we'd give it a try.

She was a really good sport about putting on underwear and sitting on her "froggy potty." The first day, she had 3 accidents, but peed in the potty 4 times. Sounds pretty good, except that the poor little thing would sit on that potty for 1 1/2 hours before anything. The next day, we tried again. Again, she was able to keep dry, but would sit & sit before any action. In adding up the hours, I think she literally sat on that potty for 5-6 hours each day!

No one, obviously, has the time for that, and before she started hating the potty, I decided to stop for now and try again in a couple of months. Between ages 2 & 3 are big ones for our kids - get potty trained, move out of the crib & give up the binkie. It's a big year for this girl!!