Happy Birthday Jon!

Today is Jon's 34th birthday!! We had a great day! Jon is working nights, so he got home this morning and then slept while we did our thing. Kate had a birthday party (which I'll post about soon) and the other kids and I went to the grocery store. The kids then played outside in the water that they put in our emptied-out sandbox.

When Jon woke up, we went to Pizza Hut and then to Graeter's for icecream. It was so much fun to be together as a family.

Jon is such an amazing husband, father, friend, son, brother, and doctor! He works SO hard to support our family and is always there for us when we need him. He comes home from work and even though he is exhausted, he always plays with the kids and listens to me. What a guy!

We didn't exactly shower him with gifts this year, but hopefully he will always know how much we love and appreciate him! Thankfully BYU won today and that was the best birthday gift he could have received! Jon, thank you for always being the best! I love you!!

All of us getting ready to eat

Jack loves his dad so much! Their favorite activity together lately is playing frisbee golf. Jack is always at Jon's side and it's great to see them work side by side.

Lindsey recently lost her top front tooth and loves to use the space to stick her straws!

This pictures requires some explanation: first, Kate is still wearing her dude rag from the birthday party she went to this morning. She calls it her "cowboy cloth." The second thing is that you'll notice the box of McDonald's chicken nuggets. She doesn't like pizza, so we're the nerdy family that let's our child walk into Pizza Hut with her nugget box.

Hannah - 1 month

Hannah turned 1 month old yesterday - already! I can't believe how fast a month can go. It seems like Hannah has been a part of our family forever and at the same time it seems like she was born just yesterday!

We love having her in our family and think she's very scrumptous!

Weight: 9 lbs (50th percentile)

Height: 21 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

Head Size: 50th percentile

Hair: still dark, but with a receeding hair line (and sometimes dandruff)

Eyes: definitely blue!

Likes: filling as many diapers a day as possible

nursing

being held (especially by mommy)

looking at black & white pictures

Dislikes: having diaper rash

sharp fingernails that she scratches her face with

Nicknames: Little Goose &

Kate (at least we keep accidentally calling her that)

Things to work on in the next month of life:

sleeping through the night

not going cross eyed

not soaking mom with spit up at school functions

1st Day of School

Emily and Lindsey started school today. It sure seems to start earlier and earlier each year, but we had a great summer and it's fun to look ahead to a new school year. They were both excited (and a little nervous) and had a great day. Emily's 3rd grade teacher was actually her Kindergarten teacher and Lindsey's 1st grade teacher was Emily's 1st grade teacher, so we know that we have 2 great teachers!

Lindsey said her day seemed like it lasted forever (I remember feeling that way the first few days of school too), but she enjoyed eating lunch at school and loved having so many recesses.

We had a great day at home too! Jon was home most of the day and took Jack and Kate with him to get the tires rotated on the van. I took Hannah and got to see my friend, Becky Larson's new little baby that she had on Monday. Baby Thomas is super cute! Congratulations Larson family! I even had 10 whole minutes this afternoon when the house was silent. Jon was at the hospital, Jack fell asleep on the couch and Kate and Hannah were down for naps. I got to sleep 9 of those minutes, so it was wonderful! Then Hannah woke up, so I sorted my maternity clothes out of the drawers. Yeah!

Oh Becky, how do we ever thank you enough?

Well....the Bowen family is now back to being on our own! Becky decided to head back to Utah for school and job hunting and we are missing her already! Becky came out the end of May and spent the entire summer being an incredible mother to our kids. It is impossible to put our appreciation into words! Talk about sacrificing for your family!

The kids love and respect her and I'm sure will always remember the summer that Aunt Becky took care of them. Within a half an hour of her leaving, both Emily and Lindsey said to me "There is nothing to do without Becky and grandma here." Becky was so, so patient with the demands of 4 little kids, a crowded basement corner to sleep in and a pregnant sister.

We love you Becky! You are our hero!

Amazing pictures

My incredible friend Kirsten took these pictures of Hannah when she was 10 days old . Hannah was awake for the first part and then peed on Kirsten's comforter. Then I fed her and she puked all over herself. After that, she fell into a sweet, peaceful sleep! Kirsten was so patient with us and so forgiving of her comforter.

Thank you again Kirsten for capturing these moments and giving us such a treasure! I don't think there is anything that you can't do!

Children's Museum

Today was a great day! Becky and I took a day trip to Indianapolis to visit the Children's Museum with the Rasmussen and Noakes families. The Rasmussen's are our traveling companions (this is the 3rd time we've been to this museum with them) and the Noakes had just moved to Illinois and so it was such a treat to be able to see them again. This was Kirsten and my first time going there without husbands, but it was great. (I cheated though and had Becky with me. She drove all the way home and made it so that I could nurse Hannah when she was hungry). The kids were all so good! We spent 6 hours in the car and 5 hours at the museum!

(First row: Hailey, Lindsey Noakes, Hannah, Emily, Kate, Lindsey

Bowen, Karli & Brynlee

Back row; Luke, Ethan N., Jack and Ethan R.)

Among the 3 families, there were 12 kids (plus Melinda is expecting a baby in February) and they had such a great time together. They always get along so well and it's cute to see them help each other and enjoy each other's company as much as the adults. Hannah made one little cry as we were pulling into the driveway because it had been 3 hours since she had eaten and that was it. She was a dream baby!

Thank you Kirsten, Melinda & Becky for such a fun day!

Jack and Ethan dressed up as super-heros

Kate and Hailey dressed up

Bowen construction zone

Lindsey Noakes, a worried Hannah & Emily

me with an absolutely amazing sister!

Grandma's Visit

We had to sadly say goodbye to Grandma today and we already miss her so much! My mom came 2 1/2 weeks ago (after changing her plane ticket to get here sooner in order to not miss Hannah's birth) and the time went so fast! She was such a good sport with the kids and kept our pantry well stocked! Every morning, I would wake up and she would have gotten up a couple of hours before and had the kids that were awake already fed and happily playing. She also got an amazing amount of quilting & sewing done, including repairing quilts and pillowcases. It was a fun, rare opportunity to have my mom and sister all staying together in the same house.

Thank you so much mom! We love you and hate that we live so far apart! Thank you for the love and patience that you had with us! And thank you for living a life that makes your grandmother Hannah and your grandaughter Hannah proud!

(This isn't a great picture of Hannah, but she's laying on another beautiful quilt that my mom made for her!)

First week with Hannah

We're one week into Hannah's little life and it is absolutely wonderful! She is the sweetest little baby and we love her so much! She is really mellow and content and seems to be enduring all of our kisses and cuddles. She didn't sleep very well the first night, but I think it was because I swaddled her and I don't think she liked that very much. (I would hate that too!) But, since then she has been consistently sleeping 3 hours at a time.

It has been fun to have such a little baby. She had a doctor's appointment on Monday morning and she weighed 6 lbs. 11 ozs., so she is growing great! We're pretty sure that she'll have blue eyes like all the other kids.

The kids think she's great and love chances to hold her. It's so cute to see them instantly love their new little sister and want to be a part of her care. My mom and Becky have been so great about watching the kids and making sure I get a nap every day. Thank you so much! We also have such great friends and ward members that have brought in delicious meals and have been so wonderful.

Swimming Lessons

The kids finished up 2 weeks of swimming lessons today and had a great time! Becky took them every day last week and then my mom and Becky took them every day this week. Emily and Lindsey were in the same class and Jack was able to take them as well.


The kids were excited to be in lessons at the same time as the Rasmussen kids (who are basically their cousins). Kate would change into her suit too and play by the side of the pool with Hailey.



We feel really blessed to live so close to swimming pools and to have been able to get a pool pass for the summer. Great job kids!

Emily, Brynlee, Karli, Lindsey, Ethan, Kate, Jack & Hailey

Kate and Hailey dipping their heads in the pool