Santa must be missing Dasher, Blitzen and Rudolph!!

We might have gotten a little carried away with our Christmas Spirit the other night at Wal-Mart. We are such a silly family!!



Pretty cute Reindeer, huh?!?!?!?

Bex and Steven get Married!!!

Today, Saturday, December 20, 2008 my fantastic sister-in-law, Rebecca and my equally fantastic new brother-in-law got sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful wonderful day, and we are so excited to have Steven as the newest member of the Bowen family. Here are a few highlights.
Here we are with the beautiful bride outside the Temple.
Here is a cute shot of the happy couple. I swear they could both be models!
This, of course, is Brad and Chasey with Brad's older brother Matt, and his adorable son, Zach.
And a great way to end this post is with a fabulous picture of my two men. I have a feeling that all too soon, Chasey will be in this same position saying, "Look mom, no hands!" He is so talented!!

Congrats Becca and Steven!!

Adventures in Salt Lake

Well, this last Saturday our family decided to take a field trip to Salt Lake for some fun adventures! We met my sister, Samantha, up there Saturday afternoon and the fun began!! Brad went to the Delta Center to watch the BYU basket ball game against Utah State. Close game, but thank goodness, BYU won!! While he was in the game, Sam, Chasey and I ventured up to the LDS Church History Museum and Temple Square to check out the Christmas lights. It was fun and very beautiful. That is a fun Utah tradition. After the game was over, we all met up at the Gateway mall, and walked around, then had dinner at Skybox, a sports themed restaurant that we enjoy, and don't go to very often. It was really a great little adventure. That is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, doing things like that you can only do this time of the year. Here is Chasey and I in front of the lovely trees on Temple Square. Here we are again with Samantha. And here is Brad and Chasey at the Gateway. A great time was had by all!!

What a joke

Even as I was thinking about doing it, I should have know better!!

Yesterday was a wonderful Thanksgiving for the Bowen family. We went up to Taylorsville to my sister Lindsay's house. My whole family was there. Lindsay, Mike and their four adorable kids. Adam and his wifey Katie, my parents, and Samantha and her good friend Trevor Peterson. We had a fun day playing, talking, watching movies, and getting food ready. A bunch of us even went on a walk to the school playground.

Well, as we were heading up there, I grabbed our paper so Brad and I could look through it and decide if there were any early morning Black Friday sales we wanted to check out. The only one that really looked worth it was Walmart. SO NOT WORTH IT!!!! In case any of you haven't learned this the hard way yet, Black Friday sales suck!! It doesn't matter how fantastic of a sale it is, your sanity is not worth the sacrifice!

The sale at Walmart started at 5 this morning, so I set my alarm for 4. But at 3:54 my even more trusty alarm named Chasey went off. So I got up, fed Chasey, put him back to sleep, and left for Walmart at 4:45. Even though I knew I was "late" considering I'm sure people were there at like 3, I figured it couldn't be too bad. Refer now to my title of this post. "WHAT A JOKE"

Even though it took me 10 minutes just to find a parking spot, I thought I would still give it a try, but as soon as I got inside I realized just what I was in for. It was 5 after, and people were already in line all the way across the front of the store, going all the way down to the pet section. When I got to the electronics section, and saw at least 200 people pawing their way through the big sale items, and tons of sale DVD's, I called Brad and started complaining. All he could do was laugh, because he was the smart one, who didn't venture out. As I continued my way around the perimeter of the store, I kept realizing how stupid I was to even be there.

Finally I left, and I swear I was on the verge of a panic attack. By the time I got home and back in my warm bed at 5:45, it felt like the longest, most wasted hour of my life. I commend all of you who are brave enough to fight your way through Black Friday sales, but I will NEVER do it again!!!

This crawling thing is fun.....

Well, we are at the next big baby milestone. Chasey is crawling!!! And boy can he move. He has also mastered getting into a sitting position from laying down. So talented. The funniest part is now he can get himself into funny situations. He is so inquisitive, he likes to explore and be a part of things. We've always thought he was a little adult trapped in a baby's body. So now he is seeing what he is able to do. At the doctors office this last week, he grabbed his bottle and took off!! Managed to find a nice comfy spot in the sun.....underneath a waiting room chair!! This one is even cuter!! I don't know if he thought there was some treasure under his walker worth crawling in there for or what! But he literally pulled himself into this spot. Under the walker. Silly baby!

Better late than never (Halloween with the Bowen's)

Sorry to take so long to get these pictures up. I'm sure you all have been waiting holding your breath, so excited to see our first family Halloween! Well, here you go....... This is when we were getting started around our neighborhood, trick or treating. Chasey looked so cute in his pumpkin costume! We went with our good friends, Ryan and Becki Jones, and their son Klous, and Ryan's sister Shauna, and her son Zach.
Isn't he just fantastic!!! It was so fun to start new family traditions.
About a week before Halloween we had our ward Halloween party. Brad and I got a lot of use out of the shirts I tie-dyed. It was a fun little project.
Here is a cute picture of Chasey playing in the fall leaves. But believe me, it didn't last very long. We were lucky to get this picture before he started crying and not wanting to play in the leaves anymore!

Tag You're It!!

Well, thanks to my friend, Julie, I have been tagged! That means I answer a few questions about myself, tag some more people, then they do it, and it goes on and on until all the Blogger world has been tagged! Clearly it will be a never ending circle. But I don't mind because I have been writing so much about the Bowen men, it won't hurt anybody to see a little more about me! What I have to write, and therefore, what those of you I tag will have to write, are 6 things that I value, 6 things I do not value, and then 6 people I want to tag. Here goes....
I value
1. The Gospel- so many times in my life I have said I don't know what I would do without it, and that is just as true today. Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father that he saw fit to allow me to have such truth in my life on Earth.
2. My husband- Brad is such a fantastic man and there is no one anywhere that would be a better match for me for Eternity.
3. My son Chasey- Talk about thanking Heavenly Father. Chasey is my little miracle, and it is the greatest blessing I have to be his mother.
4. My extended family- I have the greatest parents, siblings and in-laws anyone coud hope for. The love and support they show me and my family cannot be equaled.
5. My health- after everything I have personally gone through as far as health is concerned just in the past year, I am so grateful to be healthy, and that all my medical trials have taught me valuable lessons.
6. My friends- I am surrounded by a family of a different sort in the friends I have chosen. Thank you all for everything you do for me and my family.

I don't value
1. Junk food- because as fantastic as it can be, it has made me the fatso that I am. (You can all laugh at that, I am poking fun, not trying to belittle myself.)
2. Debt- I have too much of it, and I wish it would go away.
3. Long lines- my dad constantly points out to me that patience seems to be a lesson I am constantly learning in my life. When I have to wait in long lines, I revert back to the beginning of that lesson.
4. Snow- it is pretty to look at, but terrible to live with.
5. Non-Christmas-Season-time-of-year- It should be Christmas Season all year if you ask me.
6. Sleeplessness- Which is something I am dealing with a lot lately. For his sake and mine, I wish Chasey would sleep through the night every night!

I tag
1. Becki Jones
2. Karla Hayes
3. Wendy Dorton
4. Andrea Baugh
5. Lindsay Jenkins
6. Tambi Alderin

Love you all, and I sure enjoy reading all of your blogs!!

House project day!!

Well, last Saturday my two favorite superheroes were in town, Stumpgrinderman and Superplumber!! And they saved the day! For any of you who have ever seen our house, you probably noticed the gigantic stump on the west side of the yard from the tree the previous owners chopped down. They just didn't finish the job, and for the time that we've lived here, we've had that awful eye sore, sucking all the water out of the grass and growing mushrooms all around it. So, my brother-in-law, and my fabulous sister and their family came down, and Mike and Brad got to work grinding the stump (and a few other small ones) with a grinder that we rented and moving the chips and tilling an area for us to plant a garden in the spring. It only took a few hours and minor messyness to complete the job and we are finally stumpless!!!

Here is the before picture, when we first bought the house. You can see not only the stump, but also a whole bunch of the tree that Brad and other family members moved on one of our first weekends here.

And here is the after shot!! Stumpless at last, and let me tell you, we will not miss that thing one bit! Then after the stumps were gone, and the grinder was returned, Mikey came in to the house, and climbed into the crawl space to unclog our bathtub, which had been clogged and disgusting for about a month. He is so amazing to crawl under the house, not to mention he saved us the $465 the plumbing company had told us they would do it for!! Thanks Superplumber! While the boys were busy with such fun projects, Linds and I decided to take the kids to Target and Costco, where might I add, they were having the best sample day I have ever seen, and don't even tell me that you guys don't partly go to Costco for the samples!!!

Costco carts are so fantastic, here is Claire and Chasey in the front, and Emma and Dallin were in the back, so only Audrey had to walk. And we still had room to fit in all the food we were buying!

And here is all the kids together playing after we were done. What a productive, fun day we had. And a big thanks to Mike and Brad for working so hard.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!!!

Well, last Saturday, the 11th of October, another first was to be had for Mister Chasey Bowen. As a family, we attended Chasey's first BYU Cougar Football game at Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo Utah!!! Tons of fun was had by all, however freezing cold it was!! But that was fun too. We all got bundled up, and took plenty of extra clothes and blankets. We even smuggled in a thermos of hot chocolate in the diaper bag!! It's amazing what you can get away with in there, because when you tell people checking you in it is a diaper bag, they don't even look in it! But we really did have a great time, and we look forward to many more football games as Chasey gets older. Someday we hope he is even playing in them!!

Here we are arriving in the parking lot. Chasey could sense something exciting was happening and he got excited too!!

Obviously the Chasey Man decided to "take a break from the action." He fell asleep about halfway through the second quarter, slept through halftime, and rejoined us awake fans halfway through the third.

An excellent time was had by all! Chasey had fun with mommy and daddy, and all the people around us commented on what a good baby he was, BYU won the game, and we didn't quite freeze our tails off!! It will be another tradition in the Bowen house. Go Cougars!!!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Chasey Bowen!!!

Well, the Bowen Family had a fun adventure this past Wednesday! We went to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point to check out all the fun Halloween/Fall activities they had to offer! We had a great time, and I think we will make it a yearly tradition. Feel free to comment on the cheesiness, I did tie dye the t-shirts for us! In this picture we are in from of the pig pen, waiting for the pig races to begin! You should have heard Chasey, he was squealing as loud as some of the pigs!!

In this one Daddy and Chasey are taking a ride on the cow train!!

Here we are on the hayride, this is what I was most looking forward to. Chasey was making so many funny faces and noises, he was entertaining everyone else on the ride with us!

In this one we are standing in front of the Haunted Creature. Only Daddy was brave enough to go through!

Finally we went through the corn maze. We had a fun time "getting lost." It was really a great day and we can't wait to go back next year!!!

Our little School Boy

Brad has what might be described as an on-again/off-again relationship with UVSC, now UVU. It has been a relationship that has lasted much longer then any love interest, with much triumph and heartache, going all the way back to 1994. But it is with great pleasure that Chasey and I announce with all our zest and zeal, daddy and UVU are on-again! And we couldn't be prouder!!

Brad has finally begun to realize what he wants to do when he grows up, and we think it is a great fit. He wants to go into Behavioral Science with an emphasis in Social Work, then get a Masters as well. That will hopefully turn into some kind of working with youth, whether as a counselor of some sort, a social worker, or even a guidance counselor in a school. This term Brad is taking two of his required classes for his major, as he already has his associates degree because all of his general education classes are done. In one class, Race and Minority Relations, he has taken one test so far, which he got a C+ on, yay daddy, and he has done an extensive project on his heritage that required a 4 page paper and a presentation in class, including a food from his ancestors homeland. We made Icelandic Pancakes, and they turned out very yummy. In the other class he has taken a test that he got a B on! Bigger yay!! Mostly, I think he is enjoying being back in the thick of it, and accomplishing something for all of our future. He also really enjoys the discussions in the class, both of his teachers already know his name!! Chasey and I are so proud! We are his biggest cheerleaders! RAH RAH DADDY!!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

It's amazing how our feelings about sleep change as we get older. I for one, and I'm sure most of you mommies out there will agree with me, feel like I have been sleep deprived since the moment I found out I was pregnant. It suddenly becomes such a big deal how you sleep, how much you are sleeping, where you sleep ( I spent the last month of my pregnancy and the first three months of Chasey's life on the couch. I do NOT recommend it!) and so on. Babies get to sleep as much as they want. I've realized lately that I have a ton of pictures of Chasey sleeping. So much so that I can't wait to do an entire segment in the scrap book, just of him napping in various places!

Obviously the carrier is a popular spot!

And again, something to consume us, is baby getting enough sleep at night? Are they taking naps during the day? Are they on their backs, not covering their face with the blanket, warm enough and not too warm, oh and are they breathing??? As we get older it seems the desire gets stronger for sleep, but the amount of time left over from a gagillion other things makes the actuality of sleep harder. I guess that is just what mommies do. So I will take one for the team! I will continue my depravation for the greater good! Here's to my men sleeping in Heavenly peace. I'll catch up someday!!

My "little" man as he gets bigger and bigger...

Milestones

You know how when a baby is first born and till they are about 3, once they've been potty trained, you keep track of every milestone? Everything is a big deal and the dates are jotted down, you take pictures of them doing all the new things they do, and cherish every memory. Then once they get to where they aren't doing as many new things so often, the milestone memories slow down. There is the first day of first grade, losing their first baby tooth, and a few other things, but not as many new, exciting things as when they were a baby. Well, yesterday marked a huge milestone day in my family's life. Our little Audrey, first born grandchild, and niece in the Christensen family, was baptized.

I compare that to the milestones I am watching my son accomplish. Right now we are anticapating new teeth, and trying to get him to sit up for more than a minute before his heavy head makes him fall forward. It's amazing to be an observer of babies as they grow, and older children as they start to become litlle adults. Being a member of the church is a big responsibility, and one that I am excited to watch Audrey discover. Just like sitting up is a big deal too. I'm so proud to be a mommy and an auntie who has such precious babies in her life. So cheers to my Auj and my Chasey who are such fantastic little people. I sure love you both!!

The Yard Sale Queens

It is official. I have an obsession. This summer I have discovered how fun it is to go yard saling. I have found some awesome deals, and due to my incredible powers of persuasion, or other peoples incredible desire to get rid of their crap, I have yet to pay the marked price on anything. But even more fun than going, has been hosting. I have done three this summer. The last two have been with my good friends Amy Hawkes and Becki Jones. The three of us are becoming quite seasoned. We've even gotten our husbands and kids joining in the fun, most of all Adam Hawkes who has become a yard sale king. He even has hung up "Used Car Lot" flags for us to draw more attention. And it has definetly worked. All said and done, we made over $1500 during the two that we've done. We've decided infact, to make it a biannual occasion, having one at the end of the Spring and another at the beginning of fall.

The most interesting thing to me in observing the frequent yard saler, is what is junk to us, is so useful to other people. We often commented that it is always interesting to see what people find to buy at yard sales. At our first earlier this summer, we sold a lot of clothes, at the second hardly any. At the second we sold about 25 board games, with the help of another friend who joined us for the second, Andrea Baugh, and at the first we didn't even have games. But, you know what they say, one womans trash, anothers treasure! Here's to a new tradition that will keep us in the money for years to come!

The "Eyes" have it!

When Chasey was about 2 months old we noticed a film on his left eye that came and went. It seemed he could blink it away, so we didn't think much of it. As he got a little older, it seemed the film got more persistent. It looked like a tiny piece of Saran Wrap right in the center of his eye. At his 4 month Doctor appointment Caradon pointed it out to our family doctor, who seemed concerned and referred us to a local pediatric optomotrist. We went and saw Dr. Abrams (who Caradon might refer to as Dr. Knows Nothing) later that week. Over the course of a month, we saw Dr. Abrams 5 or 6 times, with him providing no more information, yet making us feel stupid for our concern. He did however have us take Chasey to Primary Childrens Hospital for a MRI, which turned out to be the scariest, and most relief-filled experience of our lives! Relief came by way of a nice doctor who told us Chasey did NOT have cancer. Caradon was so happy, she hugged him :). Finally, Dr. Abrams recommended we go see a specialist, which Caradon's mom will tell you until she's blue in the face, she suggested all along!

Drs. Warner, Hoffman and Mifflin have been heaven sent for this little boy! Although every time we see them, the medication regiment seems to change, usually in the way of us adding more! We have been through 3 eye drops, 2 ointments and an oral medication, all of which are given more than once a day. But Chasey is such a trooper! He lays there and lets us put things in his eye all day long! One of the doctors told us, Chasey is the first baby he has ever seen allow him to put their chin up on the device they use to look into the pupil! Yay Chasey!!

Our latest development in this saga has been to turn our little boy into a pirate for an hour every day. But he looks so darn cute with that patch over his right eye. There is concern that his brain is telling his left eye not to bother since whatever he sees out of it is blurry. So, in order to prevent lazy eye later, we are working his left eye now. Our adorable neighbor boys make sure to talk to Chasey whenever he has his patch on, so we can all make sure he is sufficiently using the left eye when it is patched!

The final diagnosis is that Chasey has herpes simplex. Apparantly everybody is born with the herpes virus in their body. For some people it will manifest itself as cold sores or something similar. Most people never have to deal with it, it just stays dormant in their bodies. But there are the few who get it in their eyes. I guess it is just something he will learn to live with.

Thank goodness for modern technology. Though there is a chance Chasey will always have a blurry spot in his left eye, with lasers coming as far as they have, there always seem to be ways to make eyesite better. We are just hanging on to our faith that this boy has an important mission on this earth, and it will require his good eyesight. Heavenly Father is blessing us so much. Chasey has such a positive demeanor, and doesn't stop at all, even when obstacles are thrown in his way. What lucky parents we are!!

Getting started....

I don't think I have many talents, but I can write. The queen of BS, I can't recall a paper for a class in my life that wasn't at least tolerable. It is something I enjoy, and this seems like a great way to channel that ability, and hopefully provide a way to keep in touch with everyone. To let you know the goings on of the Bowen family, as we are literally Chasing Chasey!