Kate's Big Day!

It is such a wonderful time for our family.

Katie left into the MTC this morning. We are so excited for her and know she will be an amazing missionary! She works so hard at everything she does, and we know that serving the Lord will be no different. It is hard not to be a little sad that we won't see her for 18 months, but she is setting such a great example for our boys. They are already talking about when they can go on their missions like Aunt Katie.

This is right before the Stake President came over to set Kate apart.

Spencer got to say an extra good-bye right before Katie left. The other boys were at school.

Our family at the MTC. (Grandma is taking the picture)


The Bowen kids

Baseball, Soccer and More Baseball

I have offically become a soccer mom. It has been a crazy year having two boys in two different sports at the same time. I can't imagine what it will be like when our other boys join in. It seems like every night we are either at a game or dropping someone off at a practice. It is fun watching them play though, and Spencer and Dallin are pretty good at sitting through game after game. I can't believe how excited I was tonight, however, for rain. We actually got to stay home tonight and eat dinner as a family!

Cameron is on the Braves and his soccer team is the "Red Dragons".

Jaxson's playes on the Pirates and his soccer team is the "Green Strikers."

Spring Break

For Spring Break, we were lucky enough to go down to Disneyland (along with half of Utah County.) Spencer stayed home with grandma, so we just had the older boys. We missed him, but it was so nice not to have a stroller or to worry about naps. The boys did great, except we somewhat traumatized Dallin. I figured that since he was tall enough he would be fine on all the rides. I didn't take into consideration that he is 4 and things at Disneyland seem pretty real. We went straight to the Matterhorn and I had forgotten that the first part of the ride is pitch black as you are going through the mountain. (It is amazing how many rides at Disneyland are dark.) He screamed the entire ride. After a few more rides, we saw that the line for Space Mountain was short, so we ran to that. I kept telling him that it was grandpa's favorite ride and he would love it. He was hysterical through the whole ride. I felt terrible. It took him awhile before he would trust me to ride with him again.

The boys loved the tea-cups. I was pretty sick after our second time riding them!

Buzz Lightyear was Dallin's favorite ride. The line was always pretty short, so we got to ride it many times. It was fun to see how excited the boys got about their scores. (including Erik)


We got to meet Sully at California Adventure.

Katie had a race in California the same week we were there, and lucky enough she was only half an hour away. It was so much fun to have her with us on the last afternoon we were at Disneyland. On her first ride, we sent her, Erik and Jaxson on Indiana Jones, while the boys and I waited outside. They had Fast Passes, so we couldn't figure out what was taking them so long. I finally called Erik, and amazingly enough his phone was working. The ride had broken down and they were stuck just before the big boulder inside the ride. They waited for almost an hour for someone to come and let them off.

We were able to take the boys to Huntington Beach while we were there. This was the first time they had ever been to a beach, and they thought it was so cool. The water was freezing, but they loved it anyway. They spent most of their time collecting sea shells and building a sand castle.

Conference Weekend

We had such a great weekend watching General Conference.

Saturday was a little crazy. We had a soccer game before the first session and a game in between the next session. Sunday was much more relaxed, and I was so excited to go downstairs and see the boys all set up ready to watch. We printed off a few little pages to color and draw while they were watching, and they were so excited to find the General Authorities. It also made it very pleasant for Erik and I to watch upstairs with Spencer.

Spencer was happy to have us all to himself. Anytime he can get one-on-one attention from mom and dad he is excited. It was fun to see him stand in front of the TV and point to the different General Authorieits. He loves posing for pictures and wearing any hat he can find. He likes to bring me the camera and say "cheese!"
The quiet didn't last for long. One-by-one the boys made their way upstairs, and it did get a little rowdy. They decided to give back massages and that helped them listen for a minute. It was so amazing to listen to President Monson though, and I loved having my little family together to sustain a new prophet. What a great weekend!

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter! The Easter Bunny was very kind this year and came a day early, so that we could focus on Christ Easter Sunday. We had a fun egg hunt and with a little help from mom and dad the boys got a new airplane teeter-totter.
It took Erik (and the neighborhood) all day to put the plane together.

We are so excited for warm weather so that the boys can play outside. The plane turned out great and they are having so much fun with it!

Broken Elbow

In 31 years I have never broken a bone. That all changed last Thursday. Spencer was standing on the garage stairs and just stepping off the edge,when I ran to grab him. We both fell, and most of the weight landed on my elbow. Spencer hit his head, but was fine. My elbow was broken. It has been a huge adjustment trying to figure out what I can do with one arm. Luckily it is my left arm that I can't use, so I am finding I can do most things. My hair has been the hardest thing. I think I will be wearing hats for the next 4 weeks! We have had so much help from family and friends, it makes me feel so lucky.
These are flowers that Kristin brought over to make me feel better. Aren't they beautiful!

Rascal Flatts!

For Valentine's Day, Erik got us tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert. It is currently one of the CD's in our car, and the boys want to listen to it constantly. They were really sad that they weren't going, but were really excited for us. We even borrowed boots from my parents, and Dallin was insistant that Erik wear them. It was so much fun! I have only been to a few concerts, but this by far was the best I have seen! The stage was amazing and they sounded awesome.

Our seats were pretty high up, but we found that our camera can zoom pretty close. They aren't very clear pictures but it is fun to see them.

We were lucky to have Aaron and Samantha with us. We are anxious for baby Kate to arrive, but were sure happy she waited until after the concert. Now she can come anytime!