Boys.

Today as I sat at the computer typing a blog post I glanced over at my boys. As I looked at them I heard a small whispering tell me to take a minute and just watch them. Absorb how much I love them. And so I did.

I watched them run around the house in their underwear.
I watched them do spin jumps off the furniture.
I watched them break dance on the carpet.
I watched them sit on each other's heads and laugh.
I watched them squirt the dog with the spray bottle.
I listened to them pound on the piano at alarmingly loud volumes.
I watched the youngest tip over the piano bench just to hear it crash.
I then watched him build a "dog kennel" out of the tipped over piano bench and a blanket.
I smiled at the oldest when he lifted a box of kleenex's over his head and said "Mom! Look how strong I am".
I watched the "buddies" play together.
I listened to them giggle as they each took turns saying the word poop.
I listened to them make farting noises with their mouths and then blame it on the dog.
I watched them crawl around on the floor as monsters, and then dogs, and then dragons.
I watched them run from one room to the next leaving chaos in their wake.
I smelled the little one as he walked by, completely oblivious to his stench.
I listened to their little voices singing an odd collection of songs mumbled together.
I listened to them squeal. I listening to them scream. I listened to them giggle. (all in rapid succession)
I listened to them imagine things like fire and destruction.
I watched them be up, down, left, right, and in between.
I watched the oldest take a break in his mayhem to hug the fat lazy dog laying on the floor.
I listened to them idolize their daddy, and their grandpa.
I watched them drive their tractors around on the carpet, the chair, the mom, and the dog.
I listened to the sound effects a tractor makes.

And then, when it was quite and I couldn't see them anymore, I got up to look for them. Just to see what they were doing.

I watched my boys smile today. It was the best 30 minutes of my day.

Cooper is My Favorite Sick Child...

Kami, well, she's a whiner. A serious whiner. It's "I don't feel good!" mope, mope, mope, whine, whine, whine, flop, flop, flop, and repeat. Over and over and over again. Constantly "I don't feel good! I don't feel good! I don't feel good!" Nope, definitely not my favorite sick person.

Landon, well, Landon just gets grouchy and ornery and kind of mean. (Surprise) I don't much like that either.

And Dexter, who is not my child and yet I feel like his mother: constantly scolding him and cleaning up his messes, well, Dexter is a puker. No mother likes a puker. Especially not this mother, and especially not dog puke.

But Cooper, oh Cooper that blessed child, is such an angel when he's sick. He cuddles his little fevered body onto the couch with a blanket and only occasionally asks for something in his sweet little gravely sick voice. Little things like a glass of water or more medicine. And, he lets me cuddle him.
There are no constant cries of "I do feel good!", no sickness induced irritability, and, heaven forbid, if he needs to puke his guts out he has the decency to get his body up and do it in the toilet.
Perfect sick child.
He is so adorably pleasant. When I ask him if he doesn't feel well he says things like "um, my throat 'probly' hurts." He just isn't a complainer.

Cooper's been sick for the past 2 days. But today he's better. As evident by the fact that he has pummeled his brother at least 10 times in the last hour. Literally, jumped on top of his brother... yep he's back. And, do you know what, as much as I love his adorable little sick body, I love his rambunctious crazy well body even more.

The Picture Window

The Picture Window - You need to read this.

I just read this today. She puts this truth so beautifully. My favorite line is at the end when she says "Take heart. He is ahead of you at this very moment, preparing a place for you. Be faithful...Trust me, you do not want to miss it."

I just wanted to share this and add my testimony to hers. We have a Father in Heaven who loves us and is mindful of us. He has a plan for us and we need to put our trust and faith in Him and that knowledge.

It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures in 1 Nephi 17:13 "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

I know this is true. I have witnessed it in my own life. It is not always easy, it's often scary and frustrating but if you put your faith in Him and believe that He loves you and is guiding your path, He will show you that He truly is.

And that is an awesome experience.

"Trust me, you do not want to miss it"

2010 in Facebook Statuses

January 2010. today I learned how to cut my own bangs. applause! _ someone put green dish soap in my glass of green koolaid... at least my mouth is clean. _ misses her snuggie. :( _ Happy Birthday little Landon man
February 2010. tax refund baby! _ Quandry of the day: why is it possible for other children to walk around with a bag of goldfish and not make a single mess. But the second my children get a hold of a bag of goldfish it is dumped on the floor (on purpose) and then they all take turns driving their tractors through it? Seriously. (this is a serious question) _ Sometimes there are days when everything keeps going wrong... and then you open your dishwasher and find out that 60% of the dishes never came clean and you feel like going Greek wedding on all your dishes. Yep, sometimes that happens. _ That is the trippy-est medication I have EVER taken. WOW.
March 2010. There is a price for this level of amazing... I'm sure I pay it later today. _ Happy Birthday to me!!! Come over for strawberry shortcake, it will be delish! _ My daughter just told me: "Mom, you should comb your hair everyday." ...It's about time someone told me that. _ YAY Jr. Miss!!! I am so proud of you girls! _ I'm sure this won't come as a surprise... but I've lost my phone... and I'm pretty sure it's on silent. _ My husband doesn't like beignets. WHAT?!! Who is he?
April 2010. Funny thing: My son thinks Nick Jr. is called "Junior Miss girls". "Mom! I want to play games on the puter" "What games do you want to play?" "Junior Miss girls." _ My daughter is SO beautiful!! _ FREE DIRT! If you load it up you can have it. Seriously. _ My heart aches for the temple. _ Yay rain. _ Loves the smell when the heater kicks on for the first time in a while. Smells like Christmas. _ Today 4 Pottery Barn catalogs came in the mail. 4. WHAT?! This is a wonderful day.
May 2010. If anything else "exciting" happens today I'm going to hyperventilate. pretty sure. _ I'm tired of being frustrated... time to gain better control over my emotions. _ My husband bought me an ipod for mother's day. AN IPOD!!! I think I'm going to fall over. _ Brandon Bowen is the most amazingly fantastic man on the face of the planet. _ gulp. :( _ My two year old knows how to eat the center out of a cinnamon roll. Fancy. _ My puppy will only "use the facilities" INSIDE. I'm not sure what your feelings are on the matter, but I know mine aren't pleasant.
June 2010. tired and dirty. _ My entire family is sick. sick. sick. Despite it being awful, I can't help but think that it is rather convenient. _ sod party!! _ it is official: my husband and I are freaking amazing! _ I just found out my son still fits in his summer clothes from last year. What a pleasant (and inexpensive) surprise. _ brr. _ yep. still brr. (but at least the weather got me out of having to put on a swimsuit in public) _ Should I rip up my carpets and finish my hard woods? AAGH!! I don't know what to do. _ gets serious satisfaction from having a clean kitchen. _ My son just scolded me for being naughty. _ Does anyone know how to fix/clean a digital camera or where I can take one to be fixed/cleaned?
July 2010. HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOPER BOWEN!! I love you lots and lots. _ P90x makes me want to cry. _ sitting around, waiting for paint to dry. _ I don't like paying bills. :( _ park city _ taking a break from our family vacation in Park City to take Cooper to the dentist for some serious (and seriously expensive) dental work.
August 2010. My husband is an amazing man. _ HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kameryn Grace! _ These colder mornings make me want to be amazing. _ Just so you know, the Lord blesses us when we pay our tithing. For reals. _ Let's just say changing my cell phone plan might not have been the best idea... bleck! _ I just shut my daughter's hand in the dishwasher... I'll except my mother of the year award now. _ Being amazing is exhausting. But, do you think if you're amazing long enough it just becomes a part of who you are? And because you don't have to work so hard at it anymore, you're not as exhausted? ... Do you think? _ Happy Anniversary to my hunky piece of man goodness!! _ Have you ever left bread to raise on the counter and then forgotten about it... until midnight? That might have just happened to me. Maybe.
September 2010. "Mom, when I grow up you're not going to be the boss of me anymore." - Kami (she really wants her own puppy) _ Conversation between my son Cooper and his cousin McKinley on the way home from church. McKinley: "I love Jesus" Cooper: "Yeah, Jesus is awesome! He can make anything!" _ Cooper: "Mom, how do moms and dads make their children safe from bad guys... I think maybe they have super powers." _ Cooper told me I'm going to be in great big trouble if I don't make him dinner food for breakfast... I'll take my chances. _ Cooper (my 4 year old) just moon walked across the living room floor. My happiness is complete. _ I love you Uncle Zea!
October 2010. Kami says to me this morning: "Mom, let's be pretty not ugly today okay?" ... okay. _ So sleepy I can't function... and it's only 7:30 (it sure feels like 2 am) _ Don't come to our house today, we're pretending we aren't home. _ I love my husband; such an amazing father.
November 2010. Happy Birthday to my husband! I love you old man. ;) _ Cooper asks me this morning "Mom, how come you have to give all your kisses to Daddy?" _ I am FINALLY painting my kid's room. Cooper walks in "Oh mom! This looks beautiful!" Just made my day. _ I have internet!!!! _ We put up some Christmas tress last night. Cooper was rather disappointed when he woke up super early this morning to see if Santa had come. Bummer.
December 2010. Leaving the back door wide open in the middle of winter is a very cost effective way to cut back on the heating bill. _ My dog ate a candy cane this morning. I guess we all could use a little Christmas.

Roasting Weinies

Today when I asked for some tums (heartburn has been brutal) Cooper asked me if I didn't feel good.

I told him, no, I didn't feel good.

He was very concerned as to why.

I told him that sometimes the baby in my stomach makes me feel sick.

He must be full of questions because he asked me how the baby was making me sick.


I tried to explain heartburn to my 4 year old:

"Well, the baby makes it feel like there is a fire or burning right here in my throat."
He thought about it for a while

"Well, maybe he's cooking food."


Best imagination ever.

Great Expectations (typed on Dec 17th 2010)

If you haven't read the previous post and you don't already know the good news... this might be slightly surprising.
Just go with it.

Yesterday was our ultrasound and last night we told the kids. Landon had been so positive that he's known what kind of baby we were having forever that I decided to let him take a stab at it. He had the following guesses:

"A baby girl! No, a baby boy! No, a baby monkey!"
Well, he got one of them right.

So we told them...
it was a delicate situation, especially since Kami had her heart so set upon a baby girl. At the news she promptly burst into tears. "I wanted a baby girl!"

Not to be outdone in the dramatics department, Landon burst into tears
"I wanted a baby monkey!"

For the record, Brandon and I just wanted a baby. So we're greatly blessed.

Bowen Family Christmas Crossword 2010

(this picture was taken by my uber talented cousin Jandee... naturally)

click to make these bigger and legible (use the zoom in tool, it helps a lot)

Oh, and about question #14 ... and #18: We kind of wanted to be awesome and announce it like this couple. And then, well let's just say I am not as cute and un-fat as she is... so for those of you who didn't already know
surprise!
consider this the official post on my blog that yes, the Bowen family is expecting another little one the beginning of May. Another little boy, no less. More on that later.

Christmas at Our House

Let's make this the random post of all the misc. Christmas related pictures off my camera.


A picture of the primary kids at the ward Christmas party program. Kami is an angel (if you look close you can see her, she has a classic Kami head tilt going on.) Of course, even if you are looking close you won't find Cooper. I kept taking pictures trying to find him. I found out afterward he was hiding behind all the kids in the back.

Brandon, Kami, and Landon waiting in line to see Santa at the ward Christmas party. Cooper is still not very keen on that idea so he sat on the side lines at a safe distance and just observed.

Landon is the only one I got a picture of because Kami chickened out last minute. Then when she finally gave it a go I was rehearsing with the choir for the Christmas program I was in charge of.

Here is a very blurry picture of Kami from her grade's Christmas concert. And, would you please notice that she is on the second to back row, not the back row... that is intense.

Since we are the only family members who live far far away on judea's plain, I took a couple (literally two) pictures of the decorations in our porch to show family members who said they wanted to see but where too lazy to make the drive...


Our first tree. (we have four... I thought that was a good idea. Some times it feels like it and sometimes it feels like we have four Christmas trees)


Our hooks where we hang our coats, backpacks, and hats every other month of the year but December is reserved just for stockings.

Like I said, I literally only had two pictures... not sure why. We did celebrate Christmas in every other room of our house, I just only took pictures out here. Honestly though, I'm suprised I remembered to take pictures at all.

This year we had Uncle Clinton's name for Christmas. We had decided to paint him a big picture to hang on the wall at his house... and then he moved. (closer, which is a blessing) But the kids were so set on it that we decided to go ahead and do it anyway.


They had so much fun and were very proud of the masterpiece they had created. So much so that we have decided to let them do the same thing for our house.


And one last thing to finish off the festivities:



Landon, singing his favorite song of the season. My favorite part you can't hear very well but these are the words he's singing:
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. That's so fun. That's so fun."

Christmas 2010

Last year it took me until April to post pictures from Christmas... at least this time I was a little more on the ball.

This is what our house looked like when Santa left:


Fun story about the bikes: Our phone rang at 7 which woke Landon up. Brandon was out talking on the phone in the family room when Landon came waltzing out of the bedroom and saw his bike. He was so excited, but none to pleased when Brandon told him he had to go back in his bedroom and go get mommy. He kept screaming "My bike! My bike!"
About 2 weeks prior to Christmas Landon said to me "Mom, my wan' Sanna bwing me a bike. My pwomise my not fall off an get hurt. My pwomise." For a mother who had already requested Santa bring bikes, this was a happy moment indeed.


This year Santa put stockings under the kid's tree (we have a tree in each room, so naturally mom and dad got stockings under there tree as well) Let's just say this was a stroke of genius on Santa's part. The best thing was, I'm pretty sure Santa and Mrs. Claus had a small disagreement about moving the tree to center it under the window. Apparently Santa (a man) said it didn't matter and Mrs. Claus (a woman) said it mattered to her and it would look better. Well, at 4 am when Kameryn (a woman) woke up she came into our room and the first thing she said was "Mom, Santa put our stockings under our tree and he even moved it so it was under the window so we could see it."
That is how I am almost positive that Mrs. Claus puts all the Christmas under the tree while Santa comes along to drive the sleigh and eat the cookies. I'm just saying...
So, back to stockings. Each kid got a movie, a small toy, some pez, and a coloring book in their stocking. Kami, ever the poser, had to stop and give me a grin with her movie, Tinkerbell.
Landon, by far, gave me the best experience of Christmas morning. We were opening stockings and I had brought laundry baskets in for each of the kids to put their presents in. Landon had a pez in one hand (which he didn't put down all day) and a coloring book in the other. He ran around the room shaking hysterically and screaming "what my do?! what my do?!" Apparently his brain had reached sensory overload and he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do with the things he pulled out of his stocking. Favorite Christmas Morning moment of the year.

I made the kids pose by the Christmas tree before they could start opening... I'm so mean.


Landon opening his woody doll from mom and dad. He begged and begged for this and it was sold out (or ridiculous expensive) everywhere. We happened to be in Walmart one day and had picked up a buzz lightyear because there were no woodys. As we were about to leave we found this one woody doll randomly stuck on a shelf as if someone had decided they didn't want it. We were so excited and so was he. He carries this thing around everywhere. I just wish it didn't talk.


Cooper opening the toy he decided 1 week before Christmas that he wanted the very most in all the world:


A "dinosaur trap"
Even Landon is impressed.


We also saved this family gift from Santa for last and let Cooper open it. I didn't get an after shot but this was Donkey Kong for the wii. Just what Cooper had suggested he bring us.

Like I mentioned before, Kami always made sure to pose with each present before and after:

Kami and her polly pocket

Cooper and his "criss cross" (that still doesn't have batteries... whoops)

Landon opening his tractor from "whobody" our elf.


I love these pictures where I captured both of my boys together.

And, no worries, even Dexter got remembered by Santa. Unfortunately Santa forgot what a fat lard Dexter is and so the jacket he brought (Even though it was a size larger than recommended for his breed) was still way too small.
He doesn't mind though, he likes that the smaller size emphasizes his chest hair. (He's white trash like that.)

Political Campaign

Cooper: "Kam, who do you like better, me or Landon?"

{pause} and then he looks her right in the eye for emphasis:

"I can draw a dinosaur."

As if that seals the deal.

I mean honestly, wouldn't you pick the person who could draw the dinosaur?

My other favorite Cooper of the day:

Me: "Cooper, go hang up your jacket"
Cooper: "Mom, it's not Christmas anymore!"

...because obviously we don't pick up after ourselves if it's not Christmas.