President's Day Weekend - St. George

Right after the school Valentine's Parties - we packed up the Suburban and headed to St. George.  Jack & Emily were playing in the Ice Breakers Soccer Tournament down there.  We were excited to leave the colder air of Salt Lake for a little bit warmer air in St. George.

We had a fun condo to stay in and Rich & Misty and their kids came too, which made it extra fun.   Jack & Emily both played 2 games on Saturday.

This was during Jack's first game - all the little siblings who are girls were gathered around coloring and talking.

 



That night, Rich & Misty treated us to pizza from The Pizza Factory - one of our favorites!  It was so yummy and it was great to have a condo to bring it home and eat it there.  All the restaurants were jam packed!

On Sunday, we met the Spackman's & Mosley's at Zions to do some hiking.  It was perfect, perfect weather and all the kids did a great job on the hike.   It took us several hours and got to enjoy time with our great friends.

 Our hiking group - minus Arlene who was taking the picture

 

 Emily & Kate Spackman

 

 Olivia Spackman & Lindsey

 

 Jack & Logan Spackman

 

 Jared even took a turn carrying Hailey

 

 Rich, Sophia, Misty & Max

 

 What a great group of kids!  (Jack and Hannah didn't get the memo to turn around for this picture)

 

Stopping for a little snack

 



 This little guy was such a good trooper!

 

 When we got back, the kids wanted to swim.  It was too cold for the big pool and apparently the hot tub heater had been broken, so it wasn't very warm.  But that didn't stop these kids from swimming.

 

On Monday, Jack & Emily played again in the morning.   Emily's team was playing for the final spot in the championship game.  They tied 0 to 0 and went into overtime.  No one scored again, so they did penalty shots.  Unfortunately, we lost 4 to 3.   They played so well though!

Jack's team did play in the championship game, but lost, so they came away with silver.   Not bad though, considering it's been winter and all soccer has had to be inside.

 

We drove home Monday after Jack's game.  We had a great time!  We feel every fortunate that our kids are healthy and have great coaches and we have great friends to do stuff like this with.

Valentine's Day - in 2 pictures

Here we are - already nearing the end of February!   I am looking forward to the warmer days of spring, but I really do like the winter too.  Not the snowy, slick roads - but the "not as much going on" sort of days.    I laugh as I type that though because I just survived one of the busiest weekends - well, actually they are all busy.  

On Saturday, Jon had to work.  I got up at 5:30 so that I could exercise, get to the grocery and have everyone ready by 9:00 for Office Max to open.   I needed to put 2 trek displays together for that night and needed someone at Office Max to work some magic for me.   They did not disappoint.  The man at the printing area was so helpful and I left him with my printing project with the promise that he'd get it done by 4:00 p.m.     After Office Max, I took Jack to his indoor soccer game, dropped him off and ran to DI hoping to find some pioneer clothes for the display.  No luck - instead, Hailey started to cry uncontrollably (which is so not like her) and said her ear hurt.   So, instead of heading straight back to the game, I took all the girls home, asked Emily to give Hailey some Ibuprofen and put her down for an early nap.

I headed back to watch the last part of Jack's game, bring him home, give more directions to the girls (who I really don't know what I'd do without) and then headed to pick up a lady in the ward to go to lunch.  She had texted me earlier in the week asking if I wanted to go to lunch.  She's the grandma of one of Jack's friends.  We had a nice time and then I got a call that Office Max was done.  Picked that up and then I hurried home to gather all the kids to head to Lindsey's indoor soccer game, Jack's basketball game and then Emily's indoor game.  After that, hurried home to feed the kids and finish the 2 trek displays. Drove them to the Stake Center, set them up, drove home, changed and then Jon got home.   We had a babysitter for the 4 youngest kids, took the 2 oldest with us and went to Stake Conference.   Phew! 

Anyway, for Valentine's Day, Jon and I break all the rules!   No flowers.  No chocolates.  No candlelight dinner.   Nope.   Instead, we went to dinner the week before.  Jon bought himself his gift - a gun!   And for me, to go along with my 4,000 piece LEGO Death Star that he gave me for our anniversary, he gave me the LEGO Ewok Village!   I'm in heaven!   I love it!

On Valentine's Day itself, Jon came off a night shift to me calling him in a panic because the van wasn't working and I had to get to the school for the 6th grade party.   He saved me and I made it to school just in time to get up a chocolate fountain.  

At the end of that party, we took a quick picture because we helped raise over $3000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.   I went home long enough to clean the chocolate fountain and took it back to the school for Jack's 4th grade party.   Afterwards, we hurried home to leave for the weekend to St. George for a soccer tournament.  (More to come on that).

So, here are the 2 pictures that I actually remembered to take that day...

Baby Quilts

Here are a couple more baby quilts that I just finished....

This one ended up being one of my favorites!   I found this cute pattern on etsy and made it for my friend, Becky Larson.  She had a beautiful new baby girl at the beginning of February.  It's hard to see, but I love the backing fabric.   They are moving from one warm place to another warm place, so I decided not to do minkee on the back of this one.  Anyway, a cute quilt for a cute baby!

And, since Hailey is almost 3, I FINALLY finished her baby quilt.   I saw something similar on pinterest and just put it together on my own.  If I were to do it again, I would have made the circles a little bit bigger, but I love the bright fabrics and I love her name in the middle. 

Final Pinewood Derby

 The Bowen family may have raced their last Pinewood Derby!    (Well - maybe not....the activity girls seem to have a pinewood derby race every once in awhile too....and we certainly still have a lot of girls left to go through the activity days program)......

So, maybe I should say, Jack has raced his last Pinewood Derby!   He and Jon went with the "wedge" this year - no paint - no stickers - nothing.   Just a piece of plain wood sawed down to a wedge.

Jon helped Jack make it and then had to work the night of the actual race, but Jack raced well and ended up in 5th place.  There were some really, really fast cars!   He was a great sport and the girls had fun running around the church while he raced.

Ah, good memories!

Kate's Baptism

A week after Kate turned 8, she was able to be baptized a member of the church.  It was a beautiful blue-sky day and Kate was just as cute as could be.

 

She is the sweetest little girl and she looked so grown up and beautiful in her white dress.

We had these pictures taken of Kate when we had our family pictures taken in the fall.  A friend in the ward took them and I loved how they turned out.

 

We were so, so grateful for the family & friends that came to support Kate.  We missed our family & friends who live out of town, but we felt your love and support. 

 

Kate asked my mom & Misty to give talks.  Rich played the piano.  Emily led the music.  Lindsey played a piano solo and Kate's two primary teachers from last year gave the prayers.  It was a wonderful service.

 



 Kate & her best buddies Kage & Josie

 

After the baptism, we had a light lunch at our house.  Jon smoked some pork and we had a wonderful time visiting with our family.  (Jon worked a night shift the night before, so the poor guy was going on no sleep).

 

 David, Sandy, & Dawson Bowen & Kate

 

 Bob & Debbie Bowen & Kate

 

 Dave & Anne Dimond & Kate

 

Jason, Meg, Lucy & Nora Graf & Kate

 

We are so proud of Kate and the righteous little girl that she is!

Kate Turns 8!!

Our beautiful, wonderful Kate turned 8 a couple of weeks ago!   She gets so excited for her birthday and talks and talks about it and then doesn't sleep very well the night before.    She got up early and actually  opened all her gifts before I had the chance to take a picture of her.   She got a Rapunzel tower Lego set, an air hog (helicopter), a target gift card and some EOS (lip gloss).   She was as happy as could be!

She really, really wanted to go iceskating for her birthday, so Jon was kind enough to take the 4 middle kids (I had to take Emily to an indoor soccer game).   He took a couple pictures for me! 

Then,  (without Jon because he had to go to work), we went out to dinner at Olive Garden.   She loves that place!   My parents and Misty & Rich came too.  It was a really, really nice evening!