Are You Ready?

Chili+Cupcakes+Costumes+Games+Candy=Halloween Fun!

Yummy Chili
(I put together this recipe after looking through about 50 chili recipes on allrecipes.com, so I think it's fairly original)

1 lb. ground beef
1 can kidney beans drained
1 can chili beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 onion chopped
2 t. minced garlic
3 T. chili powder
1 t. salt
pepper to taste
2 t. cumin
1 t. oregano
1 c. water

Brown the meat in the pot. Drain if needed. Add the chopped onions. Sautee for a couple minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, water and spices. Let simmer for as long as you have before you need to serve. The longer the better. Serves 12. Also freezes well.

I am making this for our ward's chili cookoff/Halloween party. I am also doing the cakewalk and helping my kids play all the games and trunk or treat at the end. I sure hope it is a fun time. I'm looking forward to it. I'll post pictures of all our Halloween weekend antics later. Hope you all have a fun, safe weekend!

Party On!

Well life is a big party at the Bowles home! This past weekend we celebrated some birthdays and kicked off the Halloween festivities. Saturday morning was our little friend, Jarom's 2nd birthday party. It was a yummy dutch oven brunch. The kids ran around in Spiderman masks and played outside (since it was a relatively nice day). Weston loved the Spiderman theme. After the party we crashed Tara and Justin's ward Halloween party. We came late, but were still in time to play some of the games and do the trunk or treat. Weston loved wearing his costume. This morning he told me that when he wore his costume "everyone else wanted it because it was so cool."

Here are mine and Tara's kids at the Halloween party. Aren't the Woody and Jessie costumes great?!? I think this was the only 60 seconds that Davin actually wore the hood of his puppy costume.
I thought the kids would for sure come home and crash and we would have a nice, quiet afternoon. Well, no one else thought that was a good idea. Davin napped for about 45 minutes and Weston not at all. Bummer. They did watch a movie though, so that gave me a little down time. Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Herrin's house to watch the BYU v. TCU game and celebrate Kyle's 2nd birthday! Weston and Claire love to play together and they did great the whole time. They are also dorks (in Claire's defense, Weston totally started this face)
We got Kyle a fun car that you shake up and then it goes. I think it was a hit. The big kids really wanted to "help" Kyle with the present opening.
I had a nice time hanging out with Jackie, but the menfolk were pretty bummed out about the beating BYU took during the game.

Sunday was a nice day. It felt good to actually all go to church together without having to run home to a sickie kid. That evening I had my solo callback. I didn't do as well as I did in my first audition. I messed up the words (of all things!). That was frustrating because I had practiced it a hundred times and knew the words. I didn't end up getting a solo. I'm a little disappointed because how cool would it be to sing a solo in the Tabernacle?!? But on the other hand it does make the concert a lot more low stress and fun. I am still excited for the opportunity to sing with this group in the Tabernacle. We have some really beautiful pieces. If you would like to attend, then hop over to www.lds.org/events immediately. Tickets were just made available this morning, but they will definitely be gone by tonight.

Last night we kicked off our Halloween fun with the 3rd Annual Bowles/Severinson Pumpkin Carving Party! Weston was really excited about our pumpkin, but he still wasn't really interested in actually scooping out the gook or carving much. He did help carve the nose of our pumpkin. This was Davin's first experience helping with the pumpkin. He did not like the goop, of course, and ended up getting down and playing for the rest of the time. He did, however, enjoy his donut from the cat.

Davin's first pumpkin carving experience! Note the cat in the background. I forgot to take a picture of it. Oops.
The big, burly men scraping out the pumpkins.
The boys and I with our scary face pumpkin. I actually was really happy with the way it turned out.
This is Ian's finished product. 10 points if you know what it is!
Weston thought the pumpkins looked really cool all lit up and was sad when we had to blow them out. Here he is with his scary pumpkin.
This morning we woke up to a layer of fresh snow over everything. Snow! Sigh. Here we go. Winter is officially upon us and won't relinquish it's hold for about 6 months. It makes me kind of sad. I am more than happy to have snow in December. Not so much a fan in October. I'm sure it will melt, but it will stay cold and I will have to pack away my flip flops (that I was wearing yesterday) for the season.

Weston was thrilled to see snow outside and immediately asked if he could go play in it. By the time he had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed it was 9am. I knew he wouldn't stop bugging me about it, so I threw on my boots and jacket and got Davin semi-bundled up and we all went out in the snow. Weston lasted about 7 minutes before saying he was cold and wanted to go inside. Davin wouldn't take a step from where I set him down on the grass, but he seemed to think the snow was cool. Enjoy our snow day videos!

The Great Experiment Ends

As you know, I have been having a hard time with the puppy for awhile now. I assumed that I needed to be resigned to keeping her because Weston would be heartbroken if we got rid of her. However, yesterday when Sammie bit Weston hard enough to make him cry, he admitted he was ready for Sammie to go to a new family. I felt like I had the license I needed to start looking for a new family for the puppy.

This morning I posted an ad for her on ksl.com. I explained that we were looking for a new home for our cute 12 week old puppy because I had underestimated the demands of a new puppy. It was true. I did underestimate the demands and the craziness. Within minutes I had a couple emails asking about her. Long story short, within 6 hours she was gone. I am feeling very relieved, but a corner of me is a little sad. Sammie definitely had her moments. This was just a couple days ago. Davin kept laying down and waiting for Sammie to come sit on him. It was cute.
Another little corner of me feels guilty. It was 100% my idea to get a puppy and it was 100% my idea to give her away. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me. It's amazing I am able to commit to anything, right? Anyway, after Weston said goodbye to Sammie and she left with her new family I asked him if he was sad, happy, or didn't care that Sammie was gone. He said "I don't really care Mom." Wow. All that stress about sending my son into therapy by giving away his puppy for nothing. Actually Ian is taking it the hardest. He really enjoyed having a dog again, but he also didn't have to spend all day with her and the kids and try to get anything productive done. So, there you have it. The great experiment ends. We will not be considering another dog until the youngest of our children is old enough to get dressed on their own. Don't judge me too harshly.

On a happier note, we had a very fun family lunchtime outing. The kids and I went and picked up Ian from work and we all ate lunch together. Burger King at Weston's request (definitely not my favorite, oh well). After we ate we went to Mabey's Pumpkin Patch. That is where we went last year and we really liked it. It's just a home with an attached pumpkin field and the family runs it. Last year we went two days before Halloween and the pickins were pretty slim, but today there were lots of pumpkins left. It was also kind of nice to go during the day. The sun peeked out just for us too.

The start of our search for the perfect pumpkins. Weston's wheelbarrow was quickly abandoned so that he could ride in the big one.
Davin adored the pumpkin patch. He loved roaming around and patting all the pumpkins (and yes, that is the Jordan River Temple in the background). He also loved seeing the airplanes, helicopters, and birds fly by in the wide open sky.
My favorite shot of the day. They are both looking at the camera and smiling??? It's a miracle!
Riding back in with our loot. $7.50 for the 2 big pumpkins and 3 little ones. Pretty great, right?
Davin's mission was to move all the mini pumpkins one by one from their barrel to random spots on the other hay bales. He almost succeeded. Sigh.
The Bowles Family, Mabey's Pumpkin Patch October 2009
About half an hour after dropping Ian back off at work and coming home Sammie was leaving with her new family. It has been a little bit of a roller coaster day. I am grateful that things worked out so quickly with Sammie and that my life will return to "normal." Now, I'm going to go roll around on the floor with my kids and not worry about a puppy jumping on my face.

Count Your Blessings

It is so easy to focus on the negative. It takes real effort to be a positive person. I want to be a positive person. One thing that we learned growing up has stuck with me. It's a silly little song complete with actions that I swear we did at FHE when I was a teenager. It goes a little something like this.

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene

Melanie was always particularly hilarious while doing the actions very dramatically. It's a good little song though and it still gets stuck in my head.

Today it isn't all that hard to be positive since I'm having a good, easy day (so far). Nonetheless I wanted to let you all know what I am thankful for today.

-Of course, working plumbing! (we've been up and running since about 1pm yesterday. Since that time I have done 6 loads of laundry and 2 loads in the dishwasher. I was busy.)
-clean clothes and a clean house
-cute, good kids
-Debbie (my hairdresser!) because I love my new cut and color
-Ian's job
-that Sammie stopped throwing up
-pretty Fall leaves
-pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (that I'm baking this afternoon)
-my cute Young Women! We went bowling last night and had such a good time.
-sunshine
-my piano
-Real Simple
-Weston's preschool (can't beat $20/month!)
-the library
-naptime

Well I think that's my list for now. There are obviously more things that I am grateful for in my life, but really the full and complete list would probably exceed the space limits for a post. Thanks for all your sympathy and well wishes during our sad little no-plumbing weekend.

What are YOU thankful for today???

Update

Well it's 11:15am on Tuesday morning and we are still without plumbing. However, the good folks from Kearns Improvement District are out there as we speak digging up the backyard in the rain to connect us to the new sewer lines. The ones that keep collapsing are officially going to be obsolete after today. It has been a rough few days. I have lived in my sweats, not really gone anywhere or done anything. I haven't cooked or cleaned. I feel gross. I did shower this morning at my friend's house, so that helps. That and knowing that (if all goes according to plan) I will be able to start cleaning and cooking in a couple hours. Yesterday Weston really wanted to do a craft. He wanted to paint, but I vetoed that suggestion because we don't have water. Instead we made construction paper boats. I was quite proud of mine. Then we went and played rescue with all his little guys in his bedroom. I believe it's a new favorite game.
This was taken at about 9:45 this morning. Pre-digging.
This is where they are at now. That's a lot of dirt piled up. Sheesh.
I absolutely am making these guys some cookies as soon as I can. I don't know if you all realize how expensive this repair would be. Thousands of dollars. That we don't have. These guys are doing it for free. Well, I mean we do pay taxes and we pay a fee each month for sewage, which this kind of work somewhat qualifies as, but still. This is such a blessing that the problem is getting fixed with no additional cost to us. Hopefully the next time I blog I will be listening to the lovely sounds of the washer, dryer, and dishwasher running!

Not So Fun Stuff

Yesterday was Friday. I watched my friend's kids all day. It was pretty fun. Weston enjoyed having a playmate and I enjoyed pawning Sammie off on Ian for the day. Seriously the puppy free day was great. I even got to read my book for an hour while the babies were napping and Weston and Claire watched Sesame Street. Ian pinged me and told me he was going to have to stay late, so I figured we could do one of our stay in dates. We were going to order take out and watch Matrix Reloaded. Well, as I was getting kids out of the bath Ian called. I ran out to grab my phone and when I got back in the bathroom there was water flooding up from under the toilet. Crap. I know what this means.

We have had more than our fair share of plumbing problems in this house and the worst one when we first moved in started this exact same way. I quickly plugged the tub, got some towels, and managed to get Davin out of the tub. Sigh. What a bummer. It so figures that the very week before our "extra" paycheck we have a major repair. Needless to say Ian and I were both pretty bummed out. Bye bye beautiful weekend.

Then around 2:30am Weston was up crying in his bed and coughing. I thought he had already thrown up but he hadn't. He said his throat hurt and he was burning up (I'm so sorry Jackie! I had no idea he was remotely sick.). It took a little while for him to calm down. We gave him some Tylenol and tucked him back in. Luckily he slept the rest of the night. This morning he was still feverish and just plain did NOT feel good. He layed down pretty much all day while we gave him Tylenol and juice and scratched his back. I hope hope it's not the flu. We shall see what tonight brings.

Back to the plumbing situation. We called Whipple this morning and they couldn't come until 2-4pm. I went to my eye doctor appointment this morning unshowered and with no makeup. I did, however, brush my teeth. :) All was well there. Just expensive.

The Whipple guy came at about 2:30. He was awesome. Seriously the best contractor I've ever worked with. He was polite and personable, but not creepy. He seemed logical and knowledgeable. Unfortunately there was nothing he could really do to solve the problem. It seems that we have another main pipe burst/collapse/tree root invasion. Only this time it's close to the house. It may even be under the house, like under the slab foundation (no crawl space even). So we paid him $100 for finding that out for us (he was very helpful though and spent 2 hours working on it). We are hoping that Kearns Improvement District will fix it for us come Monday. Fingers crossed. In the meantime we will be showering at the fitness center and hitting up the ghetto laundromat.

In an effort to not spiral into a deep depression over all this crappiness (pun intended?) . . . here is my positive side.

5 Positive Things about This Weekend:

1. I may start working out again since I'll be at the gym showering anyway.

2. I don't have to feel guilty for not doing laundry, dishes, or cleaning the bathrooms.

3. We do, in fact, have an "extra" paycheck next week.

4. I got to snuggle a lot with Weston the Sickie.

5. At least the kids are still cute, Davin's not sick (yet), and he thinks our pipes are hilarious.
This is of Davin watching the video from the plumber's camera of our pipes. Not sure why it was so funny.

PS-I got called back for my solo audition! Sure it's along with 9 other ladies for the same song, but still. There's still a shot that I will get to sing a solo in the Tabernacle! Send me good, calming vibes next Sunday around 6. :)

Fun Stuff

We've been busy, but we have been up to some fun stuff. This week at preschool Weston was learning about insects. He made this fabulous spider hat. He loves it. I also finally decided I was depriving my children of artistic opportunities, so I bought a roll of paper at IKEA for $5 and some cheap tempura paints at Michaels. Weston was really excited about it, but alas he still only was occupied for about 20 minutes. Weston has recently adopted this horrible fake smile. Eek.
On Thursdays I usually let Weston pick an outing. This week he picked Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. They were having their annual Barnyard Boo. We decided not to pay the extra to do all the little activities, but it was still fun with all the Halloween decorations. I'm not sure what they are all looking at. Maybe the donkey was making a loud noise, drawing even the pumpkin decoration's eyes.
The other fun thing about our latest trip to Farm Country was that the new exhibit was open! It is all about growing crops, harvesting and then how they get to us from the farm. The boys loved it. There were places where you could pretend to plant crops, then places for you to sort them, put them on the conveyor belt to go into the big truck that would take them to the grocery store, etc. My kids, of course, really liked the tractors. There was also a display about good and bad bugs, worms, plant roots, etc. If you haven't been to Farm Country and want to go, call me and we'll go with you and get you in for half price!

The jail is always a fun place to play. Davin enjoys just running in circles for most of his life. This was no exception.

I have had a fun week too. Tuesday night I had the YW over to my house and we really had a good time playing games and eating donuts and chatting. Wednesday night was girl's night! It was a slightly belated night out for my good friend, Tara's, birthday. We had so much fun gabbing and eating away at CPK, shopping a bit, then seeing a chick flick (we saw Love Happens, it was cute). Then last night I got to go get my hair cut and colored! I love getting my hair done and I love getting to hang out and chat with my friend Debbie who does my hair (she's great and works at Ulta Beauty Salon in Sandy if you're interested). Here's the new do. I am a fan!
In our spare time when the kids are bugging me I turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse March. They don't always go all out and put on their ears, but it was just too cute this last time. Note the running in circles theme. Falling down is always a fun way to be silly and play too.

When it Rains it Pours

I have been rather busy lately. It seems like I will go weeks without seeing friends or going anywhere in the evenings and then all of the sudden I'm gone every night and have stuff going on all day. Ok, that's not entirely true. There are a few hours in the afternoons when I get a little bored. It's nice to be busy, but of course the guilt kicks in that I haven't put the kids to bed for 3 days in a row, etc. One thing that has made me feel more busy than normal is the women's choir that I am currently singing with. I really love it. It's so fun to be back singing in a real (no offense ward choir) choir. Doing intense 2 hour rehearsals that fly by. Singing pieces in foreign languages.

This last Sunday were the solo auditions. They began an hour and a half before regular rehearsal. I got there maybe 3 minutes after 5:30 (when they were supposed to start) and I was number 64 on the list of women who wanted to audition. That's right. There was no way an hour and a half was long enough. We ended up having a shorter rehearsal and then staying after to finish auditions. There were 98 women who ended up auditioning for the 14 solos. Wow. Even though I doubt that I will get a solo, I am glad that I auditioned. It was kind of fun and it went better than I thought it would, surprisingly enough. It did make for a looong evening though. I was gone for about 5 hours.

Besides the choir I also have Young Women's once a week in the evening. It's usually fun. Our YW president is in school, so I end up being fairly "in charge" most of the time. Last night YW was at my house. We were supposed to rake leaves at the church, but it was really windy and stormy, so we ended up having a game night. It was lots of fun. Ian took the boys to a free Jazz scrimmage so they wouldn't be in my hair. That was helpful. After YW was over I went and picked up Weston's Halloween costume. I am so excited. It's awesome. You'll just have to wait a couple more weeks for some pictures of it. In the meantime, here are a couple cuties from the last few weeks.

A couple weeks ago when it was still really warm (85 this day!) we went mini golfing. It was a lot of fun. We made sure to get Davin a ball and a club this time. Isn't he handsome?!? I love that face!
Weston had a hard time because he was trying to use the golf club the "right" way. He should have stuck with his shuffleboard technique. Oh well. He was excited when Ian told him his score was 432.
This is what we do most afternoons. When Davin wakes up and Weston is tired, but won't take a nap. They snuggle in for their afternoon movie (usually something Pixar). I think it's pretty cute. This is generally when I read all your blogs. It's my quiet time.
This picture is kind of old and Weston has a weird look on his face, but it proves that he does sometimes play with Sammie. Also, Sammie is already bigger than this. I'm amazed at how fast she is growing.
Well, I will try to be better about posting. For now, that's the update, but tonight I have a fun girl's night planned and tomorrow night I'm getting my hair done, so fun stuff is in the works! Hooray!

PS-Jen, if you're reading this, of course I remember you! Also I'm glad that you blog stalk me. You're so cute. We should be friends, especially since your sister is so far away.

Taking a Sick Day

HA! Sick day. Yeah right. Moms don't get those. I am sick though, so I suppose that technically today is a sick day. I might not do a couple things I normally would, like vacuum, but life doesn't go on without dishes getting washed and laundry being done and meals being served (not necessarily made from scratch). I wish that I could just curl up in bed and read, then doze off, then get up and take more dayquil, eat some toast, climb back in bed, etc. I made the mistake of taking the kids on an outing thinking that it would be easier then trying to entertain them at home when I don't feel good. It was a mistake. Davin is also a little under the weather and it was too much for him. He conked out in the car and I just didn't have the energy to fight him awake the whole way home. I assumed he would be tired enough to come inside and still take a real nap. Wrong. He still hasn't taken a nap, with the exception of his 10 minutes in the car. So, yes, it's been a rough day and it's only 3pm.

I miss the days when someone took care of me. No one takes care of me anymore. I don't even take care of me anymore. Also, I am just plain sick of being sick. I caught a cold September 15th and I think I've felt 100% for maybe 3 days since then. I was just feeling like I was over it when it came right back. With a vengeance, I might add. I am pretty bummed because I will be in no shape to audition for a solo for my choir this weekend. Lame. So far I have only lost it once. I threw the puppy out in the backyard and threw Weston in bed for a nap, which he is actually taking. Hallelujah. At least one person in this house will be well rested.

I do apologize for the whinyness of this post. I just can't quite muster anything positive in my current state. Poor me.

Weekend Update

Warning: This is going to be a long post with lots of pictures. Not for the faint-of-heart blog follower.

First off, sorry it's been over a week. I am majorly slacking. In my defense we have been a little busy. This last weekend we had Ian's parents in town. It was a whirlwind visit, but we had a blast. We kicked off the weekend with the BYU v. Utah State football game. Davin stayed with my cousin, Karren, but Weston attended his first Cougar football game! He was so excited. . . for about the first 2/3 of the game. At half time he went with Daddy to go potty and get a cougar tail (a really long maple bar). Unfortunately they were sold out of cougar tails. Weston was so bummed/tired he almost cried. Poor kid. A little bit later I went and got him some candy instead, then he was a little happier. By the end he was just so tired he was begging to leave. I guess that's what we get for taking him to a game that doesn't start until 7pm. It was still a blast. I hadn't been to a game in years and we all got matching Cougar football shirts.
Weston with his non-cougar tail treat. I think this was the last smile we got out of him that night.
It was a late night, but we were all up at 7:15am Saturday morning. There is no sleeping in with 2 little ones and a puppy. We have Ian's parents for Christmas this year, so we had scheduled an appointment to have pictures taken of them with the boys. It was probably my worst experience at the Target Portrait Studio, but we did end up getting a couple good shots. By the time we got home and ate lunch it was time for the adults to get dressed up and head to the afternoon session of General Conference. Ian's parents had gotten us all tickets. We had a really nice time attending conference. I had a hard time staying awake the first half, but then perked up a little after the rest hymn.
On our way home we picked up pizza. The boys went to the Priesthood session of Conference while Grandma gave the boys a bubble bath and I had some much needed quiet time. Becca came over with Claire a little later to hang out and the boys brought us treats from Sonic after their session. That night we watched some Better Off Ted and played Bananagrams. We were all exhausted, so we hit the sack at a decent hour.

We took Sunday at a little slower pace. We did a big breakfast in the morning and Becca and Alann joined us. It was nice and the kids were pretty good watching Toy Story in the other room for most of the session. It was great to have some time to just hang out and play with Grandma and Papa in between sessions.

Weston really wanted to build a fort.
Little hams.
Being scary.
Davin was in awe of Grandpa's watch that lights up when you push the button. He said wow a lot.
Weston watched part of the afternoon session with us.
In case you were worried, Sammie was well loved all weekend. She got lots of good lap naps. She wasn't on her best behavior and I have had to be a little more strict now that we don't have visitors with us, but she is a good puppy and has already learned "sit".
We are so glad that Grandma and Papa came to see us! It was such a fun trip. We wish we got to see you more often, but we'll certainly take what we can get. Thanks for spoiling us too. :) It was a wonderful weekend.