Bowles Update

Davin has been officially 6 months old for a few weeks now, but we just barely went to the doctor for his 6 month check up today. It went well. He is a healthy, growing boy.
Stats:
Height: 27", 73% (one of my kids is tall? what?!?)
Weight: 15 lbs. 5 oz., 15% (he's still runty though)
Head: 50% (I never remember the actual measurement)

Both the boys got flu shots too. I was pretty worried about Weston. He can be such a wuss sometimes. I didn't tell him he was getting a shot too until Davin was all done. Then he went to open the door and I said, "Wait, Weston, you are going to get one too, so you don't get sick this winter." Weston: "I don't want one!" Well, he didn't put up much of a fight and ended up not even crying. Just as the prick was registering, the fabulously fast nurse said, "All done!" and gave him a Bugs Bunny bandaid. He was great about it. He was happy to pick a Superman sticker too. We ended up not leaving for another 30-40 minutes because we had to take Weston to the potty, check out, I fed Dav in the waiting room, then Weston had to go to the potty AGAIN. Sheesh kid. It was still a pretty successful trip to the doctor's office.

We have been spending a little more time home and inside now that the weather is colder. Weston wants to take pictures with the camera all the time. He is getting better and better. He took this one of me and Davin a couple days ago. It's a little blurry, but still pretty good.
We have also been playing more "quiet" games. Weston calls anything that we play indoors quiet. He still loves these blocks. Yesterday we built robots. Here is a picture of my gopher child posing with our creations.
Weston is such a crack up. This is my favorite recent story about him. To preface, I was sitting in the armchair in the den feeding Davin a bottle. Weston was perched up on the arm of the couch next to me, but facing away from me "reading" the newspaper. He sits there "reading" for a few minutes then turns around and looks at me and says:
W: Mom, hero work is great.
Me: Hero work?
W: Yes, hero work is great.
Me: Well, I'm glad that hero work is going well.
W: No Mom, it's great.
Me: Oh right. Who does hero work? (I'm expecting him to say Mr. Incredible because they use the term hero work in that movie)
W: Uncle Eli and Superman do hero work.

I couldn't help laughing. Uncle Eli drives an ambulance for AMR. Weston also has a Sesame Street book about who heroes are. One of the pages talks about ambulance workers being heroes. So, pretty impressive that Uncle Eli ranks way up there with Superman. :)

I am getting very excited for my trip to California next week! Actually we are leaving this Saturday. I'm going to take the boys by myself. I'm a twinge nervous about the flight, but hopefully I will sit next to someone nice, or even better, no one at all and have an extra seat! The next few days are going to fly as we get things ready for the trip and do a little last minute playing here in Utah. To all my CA family and buddies, I can't wait to see you!!! Let the countdown begin . . .

Rockin' the Purple Hair

Another action-packed weekend ends, but this time I have something to show for it. Friday night I got my hair done. I love getting my hair done. I love to change my hair color. I have never had the same color done twice in a row. I can't quite figure out the underlying cause for my haircoloring obsession. It all started in high school. I was not allowed to dye my hair. Finally, my senior year I went on a weekend trip to Big Bear with some friends and while there I decided "no hair dye" was a stupid rule and went ahead and colored my hair (from a box). It was called "Gingerbread" and was maybe one shade different from my natural color. I was sure I would be in trouble, but my mom didn't even notice. After that, coloring my hair became a hobby. My younger sisters have since thanked me for lifting the iron curtain of no hair dye.

I progressively became more and more daring with my hair. After about a year I really wanted purple hair. I was living in the dorms at BYU, which serendipitously was only a couple miles from the Paul Mitchell hair school. I got my hair highlighted then had red and purple color weaved in over the highlights. It looked awesome. I loved it. It lasted about 2 weeks before the purple had completely faded. I have since then had many a hair color.

At this point in my life I still can't decide what motivates me to change my hair as much as I do. Is it boredom? Is it my feeble attempts at asserting my independence? Is it me clinging to being young and rebellious when nothing in my life is rebellious and daring anymore? Whatever the reason, I don't see this hobby disappearing in the near future. It is a tiny part of my definition of myself. Here's a walk down my hair's memory lane . . .

I don't have any digital pics from before this time, so we will start with my dark chocolate hair I got a few days before engagement pics. Loved it.
I went ahead and stuck with the more natural dark brown for the big day.
This is possibly the ugliest picture of me on record, but here is the red I added a few months after Ian and I got married. I am lucky that Ian thinks it's fun that I change up my hair often and doesn't openly rebel against my preference for short hair.
A couple months after that, more red and a short do. First bangs since middle school!
Blonde highlights. I think this was my 22nd birthday.
"I've made a huge mistake." Full on blonde was and is my only hair regret. It looked horrible on my and I could only stand it for about 6 weeks before I resorted to a box.
I went to NYC for the summer with blonde hair. It was a bad hair summer. This maroon look was my favorite color from that summer. Props to Ian for coloring it for me!
Blah mousy brownish red. 4th of July in Central Park.
This started with blonde highlights that were quickly joined by a red weave. Weston 7 mos.
Working the dark brown, almost black look in the winter. Weston was about 1 here.
Before this latest color I did blonde highlights and a short cut with bangs. Probably my favorite hair cut of all time.
Half violet, half chocolate brown. The "purple" look I had always wanted has arrived. Not too punk rock purple for a stay-at-home mom, like me, to pull off, but different enough to let people know I'm not completely boring. LOVE IT! Thanks Debbie!
Thanks for joining me for that nostalgic little stroll. I have to say my hair is one of my favorite aspects of my appearance. Although it has it's moments, my hair is generally very cooperative and does what I want it to. I owe it big time for making me look cute (most of the time).

On another hair note, Saturday afternoon I did one of my YW's hair for the homecoming dance. I thought it turned out pretty good. Especially since it has been years since I did my sister's and roomies' hair and I was never professional. I think she was happy with it. I can't wait to see the pics of her with her hair all done and in her pretty dress.
Saturday night we went to our friends' house for their son's birthday party. Mason turned 2! There were 3 families there and 5 little boys. We had a really good time and the boys played really well together. Balloons were a big hit. Weston tried to hold as many as he could then throw them all in the air at the same time.
There's Dawnie (Mason's mama) playing with Dav and Weston. They both love her.
Weston made a new friend. Aiden and Weston played very nicely together, for the most part. here they are playing catch about 6 inches away from each other. It was cute.
Look at those party poopers. Ian was tuckered out from being with the boys most of the weekend while I had hair adventures and swam. Dav is just being his normal, mellow self.
Davin's first time being a birthday party guest. He was a trooper.
Here are all the big boys during present time. (Mason, Weston, Aiden)
I felt like I spent most of Sunday cooking, but it was well worth it. I made honey lime enchiladas for dinner. Yum. Then I tried out that gooey pumpkin butter cake for dessert. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but still delicious. It was more gooey that I imagined. More like pumpkin pie cake. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of it. I certainly can't finish it. Perhaps I will donate it to the cause at Verite (Ian's work). Anyway, it is nice to be home and back to my normal schedule today.

Sorry this was such a long post. What can I say, it was a long weekend.

Domestic Goddess

You may (or may not, if you really know me) think that I am a Domestic Goddess. You wouldn't be entirely wrong, just mostly wrong.

Domestic Skills I DO NOT possess (or at the very least, am not very good at):
-sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc.
-cooking without recipes
-cooking with ingredients I am not familiar with
-baking bread
-keeping my floors mopped
-providing art projects for Weston
-interior decorating
-cake decorating
-canning

Domestic Skills I Am Pretty Good At:
-baking sweets
-cooking anything from a box, package, can or from the freezer
-cooking with (most) recipes
-vacuuming
-tidying
-doing dishes
-turning on DVD's for my kids
-putting together Weston's Thomas train track
-making beds
-planning outings for my kids
-paying bills
-grocery shopping
-ORGANIZING!

I have decided to share with you my favorite things for performing my domestic duties. First of all, I think I have mentioned before that my house is not always clean, but it is almost always tidy. I'm kind of Type A like that. That is why I have a hard time letting my 2 year old do art projects. I don't like the mess. Anyway, first of all, my all time favorite thing for organizing and keeping my house looking tidy is BINS. I use bins everywhere, in every room of my house.***

Here is Weston posing with the toy bin storage in his room. I love this thing. I think it cost $3o at Target (by Do Your Room). It looks cute and each bin has specific things that go in it (blocks, Thomas tracks, fire truck, potato head, etc.) so that Weston can clean up by himself, since he knows where everything belongs.
I use one big bin for all the balls. It sits right next to the basketball hoop, so it's easy to clean up. I also like the hanging storage circles from IKEA ($6, I think). I use them to store all of Weston's random stuffed animals.
I am the most proud of this organized area. I just got these shelves all cleaned out and organized a few months ago. I wish I had a "before" picture because it was a mess. This is our "medicine" cupboard. I found these really awesome stacking plastic bins at Walmart for $1 each. Before this got organized all our medicines, band aids, old prescriptions, vitamins . . . anything remotely pharmaceutical, was thrown in one big bin. You could never find what you were looking for and it looked horrible. Anyway, I separated it out in categories and then I added the open stacking bins for the miscellaneous stuff that we use more often.
This is my least favorite part of the house. When we bought this desk I tried to keep in mind that over 5 years I had not been able to infect Ian with the "tidy bug" and it would probably never happen. So, I loved that we could put bins in the hutch that Ian could throw things in and not actually have to organize. It has worked out great. The problem is that the rest of the desk can NEVER stay tidy. It inevitably becomes the collecting ground for loose papers, movies, scriptures, mail, coupons, etc. I have not perfected the art of keeping the desk tidy, and it irks me to no end. (it looks particularly bad in this pic with wires everywhere because we just got cable and Ian was messing with our Eyetv so that we can watch TV on the computer)I am also a big proponent of bookshelves. There are always going to be stacks and piles, but if they can avoid being on the floor or tables, then I'm happier about it. This is our movie shelf in the living room. I know we should probably consolidate to a big disc case, but I like seeing the case covers. It's easier to peruse. Also, check out my new Halloween decoration from my mom! Thanks Mom!
Next on the list, besides bins and shelves, which are pretty obvious, is my Black and Decker Dustbuster. I just got this little beaut a few months ago and I'm not sure how I lived my Type A life without it all those years. I use it for the obvious cleaning up of minor messes, crumbs and such, but it is also great for cleaning the couches, edges of the carpet and tile floors and cleaning out gunk from the highchair, booster seat and carseats. Bonus! It is wall mounted! (see below pic of my laundry room)
Also seen in that picture is the set of hooks that we finally bought to keep the broom and mops up off the floor. SO much nicer.

This next picture doesn't have much to do with cleaning, but simply an example of my need for organization. Snacks on the top shelf, pasta and cornbread and seasoning packets on the next shelf, baby food (fruit on the right, veggies on the left) on the 3rd shelf, and pancake mix and jarred foods on the bottom. These pantries were the best investment (Target, $40 each).
Other cleaning things I can't live without:
-Clorox disinfecting wipes. I buy the big 4 pack at Sam's Club and use them for EVERYTHING. Cleaning the bathroom, wiping my kitchen counters, spot cleaning my kitchen tile, cleaning kitchen appliances, wiping doorways and walls, etc.
-Munchkin bottle brush. I hand wash Davin's bottles and this is by far my favorite bottle brush.
-Dirt Devil vacuum. I have an abnormal relationship with vacuuming. I love it. It is my favorite thing to do when I want to feel productive. Vacuuming is so easy and only takes about 15 minutes (if you live in a little one story 1400 sqft house), but also makes the house look so much cleaner! Most bang for your cleaning buck.
-Toilet brush and Lysol Toilet Cleaner. Growing up we did not ever own a toilet brush. I had literally never seen one. We always cleaned toilets by hand with a rag and some Comet. When I grew up and realized they had these handy scrubbing brushes and liquid cleaner that basically did the job for you, I knew I would never go back. I don't resent you for making me do it by hand, Mom. I think it gave me character. :)
-Endust. I love how it makes my furniture shine and actually gets TONS of dust off my dressers, piano, shelves, etc. Do NOT use this stuff on mirrors or glass. It gets very streaky and will not easily be cleaned. Trust me.

If you made it this far in this post, here is a pic of Weston sitting in front of the TV stand. It's a little blurry, but Weston was looking so cute today in his new polo, jeans and tennis shoes. Also note the several bins in the TV stand that keep all the crap contained.
This morning we went to Gardner Village with some friends to see the witches and all the Halloween decorations. It looked so cute this year! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Lame. I borrowed my friend's, but it was almost out of batteries and I don't have the pics yet, so hopefully I got one good one in there. I will have to post those when I get them. In the meantime, get to organizing!

***I counted 31 bins in my house (not including Weston's toy bin storage thing). I got them everywhere from Bed, Bath and Beyond to Dollar Tree.

Remnants of Summer

This Fall has been the most amazing weather so far, however according to the forecast, it will be only a high of 43 degrees by Saturday. We decided to take advantage of the gorgeous, sunny day today and spent it at Wheeler Farm with some friends. We did a couple new things this trip. We rode the tractor wagon ride, which was really fun and totally worth it. Also, one of the pigs had babies a few days ago, so we went in and got to see really adorable pink piglets.

Our group today consisted of 3 mommies and 6 little boys! Here are the big boys standing in a wagon.
We ate our lunch at a bench in front of one of the old buildings, so here's me and the boys on the wagon wheel bench.
I think I took 7 pictures of this shot and I thought this was the best. You try getting 3 big boys holding their 3 little brothers to hold still and smile for the camera!
Weston really likes holding Dav and, even though Davin hadn't had a nap yet, he was really mellow and didn't cry once the entire outing.
Back in the saddle.
I'm hoping that we can manage to eek out a couple more outdoor adventures before the cold really sets in. I still want to do the Aviary to see the peacocks and flamingos. Once it is officially winter we will still be ok since my boys love to stay inside and watch movies too. I turned on Baby DaVinci Sunday night and Davin was seriously cracking up. I tried to sneak pics of their very engrossed and amused faces, but they noticed and tried to pose. Not nearly as cute. Anyway, thanks for answering what some of your fun summer things were.

Now that the ban on using the oven has been lifted (due to cooler temps outside and therefore in my house) I am trying to find some new recipes to try. Specifically recipes that use ground beef or the crock pot. Please please please leave me your favorite crock pot recipe and/or your favorite way to use ground beef to make a meal. The standard lasagna, tacos and meatloaf get old after about 2 months. To reward you for generously sharing your recipes with me, I will post a new recipe that I recently was treated with on my friend, Sheena's, blog. I haven't made it yet, but it is going to be amazing!

Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake (by the famous Paula Dean)

Cake: 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted (yes really , i told you it was naughty!)

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted (again? YES!!)
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar (yep, a whole box!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Me in Mosaic

I found this on my friend, Monique's, blog and I thought it was kind of fun and cool looking. Check it out!

Here's the deal... you answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses after each question):

1. What is your first name? (Shannon)

2. What is your favorite food? (chocolate)

3. What high school did you attend? (Sonora)

4. What is your favorite color? (red)

5. Who is your celebrity crush? (John Krasinski)

6. Favorite drink? (Shirley Temple)

7. Dream vacation? (Caribbean)

8. Favorite dessert? (crème brûlée )

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Mommy)

10. What do you love most in life? (family fun)

11. One word to describe you? (flip flops)

12. Your Flickr name? (shantastik)**My Flickr name didn't give any results, so I used my first name again.

Wanna play?: Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows)... Enjoy!

Conference & Westonisms

We had a wonderful Conference weekend. My problem with Conference weekend is it always goes way too fast! We had friends over all weekend, so that was fun. We had a little get-together to watch the BYU-Utah State game. The game was kind of disappointing, but the company and pizza were good. Saturday and Sunday we had the Severinsen's watch Conference with us. We did a big, fun breakfast on Saturday and then just cinnamon rolls on Sunday. Weston was really good during the sessions. He slept through both afternoon sessions and played mostly quietly during the morning sessions. He also came in and listened when the prophet spoke. We ended up having to make paper bag prophets again and do the "Follow the Prophet" march. It was pretty cute.

Davin is in the super cute stage of babyness. He smiles so huge when he sees us. He is rolling over all the time, from his back to his tummy. The problem is that he is not a fan of being on his tummy, so as soon as he gets there he fusses until someone rolls him back over. I am going to have to just let him fuss and learn to roll himself back. Dav is such a great eater too. Hallelujah!

Weston is still a complete and total nut! He does a lot more pretend play now and I love it when he uses his imitation voice. He uses it when he's talking for a bad guy, a robot, a snake, or whatever. He also does a really hilarious imitation of Donald Duck. He is a really sweet, good kid. He got a new haircut this week and the lady there couldn't get over how good he behaved. He held still and didn't fuss or cry. Now he's workin' the spiky hair (when it has mousse in it). Poor Weston hasn't been getting as much blog time lately, so here are a few Westonisms.
As I have mentioned before, Weston is quite a chatterbox. He speaks really well and clearly, for a 2 year old. I love hearing the funny things he says. For example . . .

While I was rewinding Stewart Little 2 so that he could watch it:
"Mom, what's that noise? Is it charging?"

After I walked into the den and he appeared to be doing nothing (aka something mischievous) so I asked him what he was doing:
"I was just looking at that white guy." (our Napoleon Dynamite poster)

This morning when we all settled in to watch Conference:
"I got a bouncy ball to sit on so I can watch Conference."

When he gets off the phone with anybody:
"Bye bye, talk to you later, have a good day."

As for me, I am still loving my swimming. I swear, it keeps me sane. I am excited that I am going to be doing a Master's meet. I am trying to decide what events to enter. I'm not a huge fan of competition, but now that I'm old enough to not let it define me, I think it will be fun. I am trying to make the most of the last few days of warmth here in Utah. I think we will maybe go up to the Aviary at Liberty Park tomorrow. Once the highs are only in the 50's it's time to move to our indoor activities. Sad day. I loved this summer. What were your favorite summer activities this year?

High School High

Weston and I decorated for Halloween yesterday and it made me feel very festive. I'm excited that when we take down Halloween it will be time to put up Thanksgiving decorations . . . and when we take down Thanksgiving it will be time to put up CHRISTMAS decorations. Can I just mention that I don't care how ghetto it is: I love the dollar store. I love finding random fun stuff for a dollar! It's such a thrill. Anyway, there's not a whole lot exciting going on, so we're on a little tag kick. Don't feel obligated to read it, but it is about the "glory days" of high school.
1. Did you date someone from your high school? Um, not seriously. I went on dates with a few people, but my main high school boyfriend had already graduated high school and he went to a different high school in the district anyway.

2. What kind of car did you drive? Red '93 Ford Mustang. It was much less cool than it sounds. It had a problem with the battery where if you left the radio on when you turned off the car, it wouldn't start the next morning. Jumper cables, never left home without 'em. Nevertheless, good times in the mustang.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment in high school? There were plenty of moments that I was embarrassed in high school, but the most stand-out typical one was the first day of summer school I tripped walking down the 6 stairs from the upper quad to the lower quad while staring at my friends. It was hard to miss. I think it was summer before my sophomore year.

4. Were you a party animal? I would more describe it as social butterfly. I didn't make much of an appearance on the party scene, until the end of my senior year and that was kind of a weird time. Anyway, I liked to do stuff and play, but not so much party.

5. Were you considered a flirt? Probably. I think I am flirty by nature. I don't always mean to flirt, but high school I probably meant to. I liked boys and usually they liked me. Not sure if that was always a good thing, but I think flirting is fun.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir. I did Vocal Ensemble. We rehearsed in the morning right after seminary. We wore hideous outfits with sparkly VESTS and performed at elementary schools and the like. The best part was always the spring musical.

7. Were you a nerd? Still am! I was smart and in AP classes and stuff. I think I only got a few B's in high school and most of those were in math. I also had braces and big glasses (pre-contacts days) my freshman year. The nerdy appearance improved significantly after that first year of high school. Oh well. I am still a silly, somewhat naive, smart, loves to read nerd.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? I was on varsity swim team for 3 years. It was so much fun. I also did non-varsity volleyball my freshman year and Drill Team my sophomore year.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No. Even the narcs liked me. We would just hang out and chat when I was out of class. That is a big benefit of being a nerd. You can totally get away with stuff because everyone assumes you are a good person . . . I mean I totally am an angel. :)

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Nope. We had one we sang at the end of football games, but I can't remember any of it.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Hmm . . . Mr. Loescher, my Trig teacher. He was cool and told good stories. He also gave me a much undeserved A- in Trig. Also, I liked all my English teachers, Ms. Blevins and Ms. Middleton, especially. I also really liked my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Rutledge. No one else really liked her. She was kind of tough, but I thought she was a really good teacher and structured. She liked me too, that helps.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? On this little outcropping in the corner of the hall outside the library. It was our spot. Some people came and went, but the core group was always there. Woohoo Old School Reunion 10/19/08!

13. School Mascot? Zapata. It is a Mexican Raider. So we were usually called the Raiders, but the people who dressed up were called Zapatas and they wore flirty, flouncy little Mexican looking dresses and big sombreros. It was pretty lame. Also, they made the school repaint the mascot on the building so you couldn't "tell" it was carrying guns and wearing bullets. LAME. You could totally still tell.

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who? I'm having a hard time remembering. I went to another school's homecoming my Senior year with Collier. I went to my junior year Homecoming with my HS boyfriend, Ryan. That was fun because I wore the most amazing dress and went with someone I knew and liked. We had a great time.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Nah. Too many mood swings. Too much insecurity. It was fun and it's fun to reminisce about, but I don't think I would want to do it again. I don't have any regrets.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? Getting my makeup done with Sarah beforehand and looking like a hooker. I had to wipe it off before the ceremony. Oh well. I also remember all my flowers from my Hawaiian YW leaders. It was exciting. Ugh, also the song "I Hope You Dance" was performed. Can you say cliche?

17. Where did you go senior skip day? We didn't have an official one, but I took plenty of my own. I mostly just would skip and go to lunch with Sarah. Nothing too exciting or dangerous.

18. Have you gained weight since then? 8 years and 2 kids later, yes. Pretty sure I'll never be in as good of shape as I was in high school.

19. Who was your prom date? Jeremy wow I can't remember his last name all of a sudden. We went to his prom and it was probably the worst date of my life. I also went to my senior prom with Eric Davis. Also, not a highlight. Homecomings were much better.

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I'm planning on it, but it depends on when it is and if I will be able to make it to CA then. I would like to see more people from high school though. I think it's fun to see how people's lives turn out.

21. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Stop stressing about grades . . . none of it matters as soon as you get into college. Also, don't be so insecure about clothes, weight, looks, boys etc. You look gorgeous, you are fun and interesting, enjoy life!