I Like Them

Of course, I am always the last to hear new music/artists. I am always calling Kadon up asking him if he's heard a certain song. His response is always "Yeah Brittany, that's been out for about 6 months..." Then he laughs at me.

Every time we are with them, we find new music/artists to like. Well, our latest visit brought us this little morsel of goodness: Boyce Avenue. They do their own stuff, but my favorite has to be their acoustic stuff. (I'm a HUGE acoustic version fan.) In fact, I love the majority of their stuff better than the "original". I've included a couple favorites.

So, this is the latest thing we are digging. Dig it with us!

Tuckered Out

Ignore the mess (this is what happens when mom is sick in bed a whole day). But, isn't he cute? And yes, this is another picture of my son in a tutu. What can I say, the boy likes to dance.

Germs

We are sporting the ever popular stomach flu at our house today; and when I say we, I mean me. So fun!

Brandon has been great and took the kids all morning for me. (Landon was a sweetie as well and slept all morning for me.)

I had Brandon bring me home some 7-up, saltines, and pepto. Not sure on the medicinal qualities of 7-up, but everyone always requests it when they have the flu. (I, for one, am not a 7-up fan)

Well, Kami wanted to drink some of my 7-up and I told her she couldn't have any because mommy was sick. I then had to give here a very brief discussion on germs.

Well, 15 minutes later Kami came up to ask to drink my drink again:

"Mommy, are your worms all gone?"

I guess my brief germ explanation shouldn't have been so brief.

For the record, I don't have worms.

A Great Read

Cooper likes to make sure Landon stays up to date on the best literature around. He is too cute. And check out Landon with his nose in that book.

Honestly, too cute.

Being a mom is the greatest.

My kids are the greatest.

Fun times.

Sharing

Oh Pioneers!

Happy Pioneer Day to my fellow Utahn's. Today to celebrate we pulled out the old pioneer fun. We pulled taffy and made homemade icecream. So fun. And man, being a pioneer is tough. Our friends the Crumps came over. Brigette and I got our arm work out from shaking ziploc bags of icecream, for 45 minutes, and then pulling taffy for 45 minutes. Both were exceptionally yummy. (Maybe so much because of how much work was put into it.)
Anyway, fun fun day with friends. I may modify thi post a little when I feel more like blogging...but then again, maybe not.

A Bountiful Harvest

This isn't a total harvest (obviously) But today we pulled the following out of our little garden plot. GO US!

Anyone hungry for salad?

The potatoes need another few weeks, but check out that color! Beautiful!

Can you see the peas? Those aren't really ours because we ate all of ours the second we pulled them out of the garden. The above are Cameron Koompin's, but it is an adequate description of how many we got. Yummy, yummy! My kids eat peas like candy.

And here is a pic of our little garden plot. Next year we are hoping to expand and make two more. I am so excited! I love them. Ignore our unruly potato and tomato plants. We have yet to stake them...I know, we are running a tad bit late. (The one looks a little sad, but keep in mind, I just cut down all our lettuce today.)

I Really Love this Park City

Many thanks to Brandon's parents, who so graciously gifted us the use of their time share in park city this last weekend. Brandon and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary the end of August. We wanted to do something special, and this was just the ticket.

We came down Friday night, dropped the kids off at my parents and picked up my little sis (Landon is still too young, and nursing, to stay 2 nights away from mommy). Saturday Brandon and I spent on the Alpine slide and zip line. Then outlet shopping and swimming. And then we pedaled back down to Orem to have dinner at P.F. Chang's. (Which my parents paid for with a gift certificate they had been given. Lucky for us. They're so nice.) We spent Sunday in Orem at my parents. People were beginning to think we'd moved down for the summer; since we'd been there 3 weeks in a row!

Sunday night we brought the kids back up with us to P.C. and then partied the day away on Monday: taking Kami and Auntie Kei down the alpine slide, getting gourmet caramel apples, and then swimming in the pool until we were prunes. Then we went swimming again.

The break was wonderful, the kids loved their stay, and we all went home happy. (Especially since we came home to a clean house. THE BEST!)

Special thanks to my parents, Lyssy and Steve, Gina, and Uncle Kadon for taking their turns watching our kiddos. We love you guys.

Here's Your Sign

We've been in Park City for our anniversary this week/weekend. As I was cleaning up to come home this morning, Cooper spilled his cold cereal all over the table. i made a comment to Brandon saying that we needed to make a sign for Cooper that read "I make big messes." (he had already dumped 2 containers of yogurt, a bowl of melted butter, and powdered donuts earlier in the week)
Well, 3 seconds later, Kameryn dumps half a bottle of blue Gatorade down her white shirt. Only to follow that up by tipping her cereal bowl over and spilling milk across the counter. As she is cleaning it up she looks up at me and asks,

"mom, are you going to have to make me a sign too?"

probably

"yeah, cuz I make big messes."

So, if anyone wants a sign for their children (or themselves) I have some. patent pending. I'm thinking of making them into t-shirts that we can sport around town.

My Son is a Vampire

Yesterday I noticed what appeared to be a perfect circle red mark on Landon's arm. Curious.
I later noticed a second, identical mark on his other arm. Curiouser and curiouser.
I had my suspicions, mind you. A bite usually looks like a bite.
That moves us to today when I found yet another red circle mark on Landon's leg. This time I witnessed it. I thought Coop was kissing Landon's leg. Until, of course, Landon let out a little shriek, at which point I pulled my son off of him. Sure enough...my son, Cooper, is a vampire. Biting is his new thing. It is also a new thing in the Bowen household since we never experienced this parenting hurdle with Kami. Should be fun. I know exactly where he gets it from. Brandon tried to bite my leg this afternoon when I wouldn't let him rip out my leg hairs. (They aren't too long, so don't be grossed out.) The point being, he tried to bite me, which means he is influencing our child for the worst. He should be ashamed.

It's a smorgasbord!

Okay my friends, get ready for a picture smorgasbord. A cornucopia, if you will. I am so dreadfully far behind on blogging, having missed several MAJOR events in the Bowen life (Cooper's big day, my brother's return, the 4th....) I'm a little ashamed, but MORE than a little busy. So prepared yourselves for far too many pictures of my family's cute mugs.

Oh my darlings!

Beach bums

WE LOVE THE BEACH! So fun, fun, fun! My kids are huge water babies. The water has been warm and the sand has been wonderful. We've been twice in the last 4 days, and my kids are begging for more. Fun times. The Crumps brought out their jet ski and Kami got to take a turn. That girl LOVEs speed.

Oh the Embarrassment!

I don't usually get embarrassed too easily. However, I think Sunday, the Lord was trying to teach me some humility. I have two pet peeves, well, not really pet peeves, more like "I would never"s when it comes to church.

#1. It bothers me when people take their cell phones to church. And then let them ring during class, or even worse, sacrament. Well, it is only obvious what happened to me: in the middle of Sunday school, my cell phone powers off. The complete "da da da, da da da" song. I was so embarrassed! I also felt like a hypocrite. But, I didn't even know I had my phone with me.
#2. This one is the BIG KICKER for me. I am VERY ADAMANT that my sons go to church in church clothes; Button up-oxford shirts, and dress pants, church shoes (or boots), and the occasional tie. For me, it demonstrates a level of respect. I just think it is important. Nay, whatever word is bigger than important. So, guess how my son went to church on Sunday:

This outfit consists of DIRTY JEAN shorts (too BIG no no's for me) Cowboy boots (his actual church shoes, I at least remembered to pack those.) and Landon's (yes Landon's) 6 month "Future Mr. Right" onsie. Brandon called it his "muscle shirt". So, the story behind this: I thought I packed the clothes. I didn't pack the clothes. I packed absolutely NO extra clothing, and, out of convenience, my son completely STAINED his shirt from the previous day.
I WAS MORTIFIED!!! It was awful. Cooper had no clue. Gina was sweet and brought extra clothes to church with her. Cooper only allowed her to cover up his shirt...

But honestly, our last minute decision to run down to Utah for a quick visit, was wonderful. It was my brother's homecoming and it was a spectacular day. His talk was incredible. Although our trip was quick, I would have done it again in a heartbeat.

The kids were a little beat... Two trips to Utah in 2 weeks can be a little exhausting. Just wait, we're going again in a couple days.

Buds

Cooper is so excited to have a brother. The older Landon gets, the more excited he becomes. Just the other day, Cooper chucked a tractor at Landon's head. (His aim could use a little work, thank goodness.) He just wanted to play tractors. He kept saying "Lanyon, Tacta! Tacta! brroom...brroom!" The he would place Landon's hand on the tractor and help him drive it. TOO CUTE!
A brother is the best. Cooper is always head butting Landon. Amazingly, Landon likes it! He just grins and grins up at Coop. They are going to be the best of buds. I'm a little nervous, quite honestly.

Here he is saying: "Dis Lanyon!"

This is Coop's latest smile. We call it the "Kami G"

A Happy Fourth

The fourth is my absolute favorite holiday!! This year we got to spend it with my family and it was wonderful. My mom went ALL OUT on the food spread. (chicken, hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, ribs, baked beans, 3 or 4 different salads, home made root beer, corn on the cob, chips, and pop. I may be forgetting a few things... ;) - that's a wink.)
We played volleyball, which I TOTALLY ROCKED AT! (No, not really, but it was unbelievably fun! A Blast!) There was slushies and face painting at the Provo city days, along with a reptile show, complete with huge snakes and that big old turtle. We scored free bracelets and Cooper got hooked up with a toy motorcycle.
The fireworks took place in our cud-e-sac. I bought all the kids glow bracelets/necklaces ($ store find!) and we rocked it out with the sparklers (my personal fave. I love writing Brittany loves Brandon in the air. How precious am I?), tanks, and flowers. As well as a few other niceties. (There may or may not have been illegal fireworks involved. There's a reason to keep Dave around.)
All in all, a wonderful day. Being a little on the cheesy side myself, I think I probably could have done with a little more patriotic songs and maybe a family parade with otter pops and salt water taffy. Maybe next year....(that could be a fun tradition to start. I'm going to think about it.)
Anyway, happy times had by all! Next year I'm thinking we need more food!!

A Homecoming

On the third, we, as a family, were far more than blessed to welcome home Elder Hatch. Returning from two years in Atlanta, Georgia. What a happy day.
My favorite thing, Kami was so concerned that her Uncle B would remember her. (As was he) When he got home and said hi to her, oh my goodness! "Mommy, he remembered my name! And I love him so very much." That's all we heard for 5 days straight. And boy, was she stuck to him like super glue! Wonderful, wonderful day! Welcome home B. You have been grately missed. (After two years, Kami is having a difficult time at remembering her uncle B is no longer on a mission. He is still in EVERY prayer.)
Here are "some" photos from the day:Check out that diaper!And here is some of Kami's handi work: (With the camera)

Word for Word

You'll get a kick out of this:

"Mommy, mommy.

Come see what Cooper did.

He made a BIG mess.

Come see.

Hurry, Hurry...

TA-DA!"

Seriously?! TA-DA! As if this is behavior worthy of "Ta-da"-ing. I shouldn't leave them alone in the other room.

(I guess my cookies needed salt: that is ALL my salt. ALL over my table, chair, and floor. Really, not THAT big of a mess. I've seen worse.)

Oh Son...

My boy....

(Before grandparents and aunts freak out, don't worry, the bump on his head isn't THAT bad. It's just big and bleeds a lot...all over everything. So we had to get it covered, and a normal bandaid wasn't big enough.)

So, if these photos don't encompass all that is Cooper, I don't know what does. What a GOOP! He is hilarious. One minute he's bumming around in his diaper, the next...well you see what happened next. (He wanted to dance like Kami...) He's too cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent picture, my camera (person operating the camera) was whacked, and then there was the minor detail about my son not being able to keep his finger out of his nose. Boys. (No, kids. Kami has the same problem.)

He' just too adorable.

Cooper had a b-day last Saturday. (I know...yes it HAS taken me this long to post it...bad, busy, mommy. I'll post birthday festivities when I'm ready for a blog overload day. Maybe Sunday.) We are now the proud owners of a two year old. I'm not sure the terrible 2's applied to Kami (3's have been harder with her), but I'm pretty sure Cooper is going to take the title to the extreme. Don't get me wrong, Cooper is an INCREDIBLE little man. He's is extremely affectionate, absolutely hilarious, and insanely polite. He is also extremely mischievous, often times aggressive, a little obstinate, and VERY VERY VERY messy. Not to mention a bit of a klutz/accident prone: Of course this isn't my boys first head bump (that's laughable) One bump barely clears up before another takes it's place. What's a mom to do? My son is an accident waiting to happen. (No wondering where that trait came from. Remind me to tell you some stories later...)

What a boy. What a WONDERFUL little boy.

The bigger he gets the more my heart wraps itself around his little person.

"Hey Cooper, guess what?...I love you!"

Completely Logical

My perfectly potty trained child urinated on her bedroom floor so that she could avoid nap time and go straight to playing outside in the pool.

I'm still trying to figure this one out.

It's just not making sense.