Surprise!

We are in Oregon visiting Ian's family. We video chatted with them Christmas evening after dinner then decided to stay up all night to take down Christmas, do laundry, pack up, and take the new minivan for it's first road trip. We left early (5:30am) Saturday. The drive was made infinitely better when we stopped at the Walmart in Burley, ID (our first stop) and bought Weston a Buzz and a Zurg. Neither boy let go of his Buzz and other Toy Story guy the rest of the trip. The drive was clear and uneventful (luckily). We have been having a grand ole time playing games, eating good food, and catching up on our sleep so far. We have plans to go on a date, see Sherlock Holmes, take everyone to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and visit some friends. I will post all about our second spontaneous trip in a month when we get back New Year's Eve. Until then, enjoy your Christmas break! We will too.

Christmas at the Bowles' Home

We have had a lovely Christmas. Yesterday we baked cookies for Santa, cleaned up the house, then had our traditional Christmas Eve chicken scampi dinner. It turned out so delicious and both kids at theirs all gone. Weston even had seconds! I love eating off my china and by candlelight. Both of the boys thought the candles were awesome too. We had to be vigilant about keeping Davin away from them.
After dinner we opened up our Christmas Eve presents. Everyone got new jammies except me. Poor planning on my part. The kids had a bath while I cleaned up dinner. Once everyone was in their festive Christmas jammies we sang Christmas songs, Ian read the Christmas story from Luke, then we read the kid version we have. We ended with singing Silent Night. My kids have been rather unpleasant the last few days, and Christmas Eve was no exception. It took a lot of threats to get Weston to sit still by me at the piano while we sang Silent Night. Sigh.

Neither of the boys took any kind of nap yesterday so they both went to be at 7:30pm. Ian and I curled up to watch "It's a Wonderful Life." Such a great movie. Finally we got ready for bed and pulled out all the Santa stuff. It's always fun to stuff stockings and put out the presents. Here's what the house looked like right before we went to bed. Santa came!
Weston had very strict instructions to come straight to our bedroom when he woke up, but alas when he came to wake us up (at 7:45!!!) the lights were on and he was telling me about the surprise (fire truck) that Santa had brought. I got Davin up and made them both wait on my bed while I brushed my teeth and hair and put in my contacts. Wow they were impatient. Finally it was time. They started with stockings and loved all their fun little presents. They kept getting distracted by the candy and the fire truck Playhut though. Luckily we were in no hurry.
After they finished stockings we took a family picture then started on the presents under the tree. Weston loved his Little Einstein's rocket toy and Davin did too. It was all I could do to lure him away from it to open his big present, which he also liked. But the biggest hit of the day were Buzz and Woody. I had originally gotten the set for Davin, but decided at the last minute to split them up and tell the kids to share. Davin opened Woody and Weston opened Buzz. Let me tell you, I will NEVER make that mistake again. Tomorrow we will be going out to buy another Buzz. There were many tears over that today.
Once we finally finished with presents, ate souffle and coffee cake, Skyped with family, and showered it was almost noon. We all went to go see "The Princess and The Frog." It was pretty cute. Nothing super special, but a fun one to take kids to. Davin lasted until about the last 15 minutes. Then I moved him to a row with no one in front of it so he could climb and move around. We didn't end up having to leave the theater! Hooray!

That was a good outing. We came home for naps and playtime. I made salmon, roasted potatoes, and spinach salad for Christmas dinner. It was delish and easy. I decided I was done trying to make ham and cheesy potatoes work for our Christmas dinner and this was a great alternative. We were all tired by the end of the day and I put the kids to bed a little early. Weston was really losing it and cried for 30 minutes before finally settling in and going to sleep. Sheesh. Christmas sure is fun, but hard!, with little kids. I am looking forward to some shut eye myself.

Merry Christmas!
Love, the Bowles' Family

The Final Countdown

Well, folks, it's the final few days before Christmas. Our advent calendars are filling up. The candy countdowns are getting short. There are more presents under the tree every day. That's mainly because I have been wrapping some every night. Packages and Christmas cards are coming in the mail daily. I love that. I am baking and prepping for Christmas day now. My house currently smells like coffee cake that we will eat for breakfast on the 25th.

I am excited to watch the kids on Christmas morning, but truly, this is MY favorite part of the season. The anticipation. The prep. The music, smells, and yummy food. I love sitting at my piano and playing and singing Christmas carols. Last night Ian joined in on the guitar. It was beautiful. I am so thankful for this entire month that we have to celebrate Christ's birth. To be kinder to one another. To think about our blessings. To enjoy all the family traditions we have. To pick out gifts for the people we love. And most importantly to spend time with and serve the people we love.

I feel like my serving capabilities are not very great at the moment. I don't have the luxury of "free" time to go and volunteer much at all, but what I do have is plenty of time at home to serve my family. I feel like I do this by creating a beautiful holiday. Trying to be more patient. And filling the house with music.

I serve my kids all day everyday, but what I want to work on is serving my husband more. Helping him feel my love rather than just my frustrations and stories after a long day. It's so hard and requires me to be so much more selfless, which I'm not amazing at, but I want to try because I love him.

This has been a somewhat rambly post. Sorry. I just wanted to get my thoughts about the season down. I probably won't post again until after Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Have fun and enjoy these days of prep and anticipation!

Merry Christmas to Me: Part II

Today I took the boys down to Provo again to pick up my like-new wedding ring! It is so fun and beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice at all. You know how after you've been married for a few (or several) years and you see some newly engaged girl's sparkly diamond ring? You inevitably look down at your own left ring finger and find that, if you're wearing your wedding ring at all, your ring looks slightly faded and less sparkly. You may notice the tiny pieces of last night's dinner stuck underneath from when you did the dishes this morning, etc. It's a little sad.

For the past almost 2 years I have hardly worn my ring at all. Mainly because it didn't really fit and it was uncomfortable to wear. I really wanted to get it re-sized so that could wear it again, but I figured it would be fairly expensive. Not so. It was under $100 to get it re-sized, finally have my engagement ring and wedding band soldered together, have it re-rhodiumed, and deep cleaned. Now my left hand is dazzling again. It's so fun. As I was driving home from Provo today I caught myself admiring it in the sun just like I used to do when I was newly engaged. So thank you Ian! I love my Christmas present! It's like you gave me a brand new diamond ring (for a LOT less $$$).
While we were down in Provo I took the boys to the Monte L. Bean Museum. I figured since Davin loved the animal room at the La Habra Children's Museum so much, he would be in heaven at the Bean Museum. He totally was. He ran around not know what to point and "wow" at next. Weston also thought it was pretty cool. We breezed through it pretty fast, but I think it was a successful trip. Davin could have spent his entire day in there and screamed when I dragged him out to the car. Weston's favorite thing was the zebra. They are pretty to look at.
By the time we finished up at the museum we were all getting hungry, so we parked and walked over to have lunch in the Wilk. It was good times. The kids actually ate ALL their Taco Bell food. It was amazing. I told Weston stories about when Daddy and I used to go to college there, showed him the Brigham Young statue, and we walked through the bookstore and got a treat. What a fun Provo outing.

I also can't get over how glad I am that I don't have to do any shopping! I love not feeling pressured at all that next week is Christmas. I do have one more batch of chocolate bread to bake, all the presents to wrap, I have to go to the mall to get our Christmas See's, and get our Christmas cards out, but I'm not stressed. I'm just enjoying the season. I hope you all are too!

Merry Christmas to Me!

The financing went through. We were a one-car family for 1 1/2 days. It was awful. I'm so sorry to any of you who have had to do that. This afternoon we went and signed the papers and I drove home in my amazing new minivan! I love it! And so do the kids.

For those of you who have left me comments asking for my car buying tips. . .

First of all, I am no expert, but here's what we did this time to find a good deal. I looked for a couple weeks at the local classifieds to see what the general prices were and which ones looked like good deals. This one was actually found on the classifieds.

Secondly, we bought from a small dealer. I loved this! We saved almost $1000 in fees compared to buying at the big dealership. It was a little bit more of a hassle since we had to do all the loan stuff ourselves, but it wasn't that hard. I think that small dealers also generally have the best prices since they have lower overheads.

After we had test driven and narrowed it down to 2 cars we got those dealers' best prices then called around and went to other dealerships to see if they could match/beat those best prices. If they say there's no way they can beat it then you can be fairly confident you are getting a good deal.

Last time we bought a car we got GAP insurance. This pays for the difference between what your car is worth and what you owe on it if it gets stolen or totaled. At the dealership we paid $700 for this insurance. We found out this time around that we could buy GAP insurance from our credit union for only $245. The point is, ask what each charge is above the purchase price and see if it's optional or negotiable.

Finally, I think what made this the best car buying experience was knowing that we didn't HAVE to buy a car. We could walk away. Don't go in planning to buy (even if you sorta are). Plan on at least sleeping on it. The seller wants you to buy it and whatever deal you were offered on Friday will still be there on Saturday.

If you are in the market for a minivan, I am really loving the Toyota. I have read only good things. Sure every seat can't fold flat, but there's no shortage of storage (say that 5 times fast), it's the most reliable minivan, and it drives so incredibly smoothly and quietly. I didn't have to even adjust the radio on/off the freeway. Anyway, hope this helps. Go minivans!

Crazy Crazy

This last weekend was nuts. We were so crazy busy. Ian had Friday off, but we spent the whole day out and about. We started off in Saratoga Springs where we had lunch with our friends, the Miller's, and got to visit. It was really quite fun. Next we drove to Provo. First we stopped at Wilson's Diamonds to get my ring cleaned, re-sized, rhodiumed (?), and soldered together. Then we went down to the BYU baseball stadium and dropped in on my cousin Blake during his physical therapy session to give him some chocolate bread and say hi. Next stop was the Williamson's house. My cousin Karren had generously volunteered to watch the boys while Ian and I went car shopping.

We had a pretty fun time car shopping. It was nice to feel comfortable and in control. We didn't HAVE to buy a car. We knew what we wanted. We knew how much it should cost. We test drove and narrowed it down to a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT and a 2008 Toyota Sienna LE. We decided to go home and do a little more research before we decided. We were kind of torn because we liked some of the storage features on the Caravan better than on the Sienna, but we knew the Toyota was a better, more reliable car. The Caravan was a little cheaper, but not much. We called around to other dealerships to see if they could match or beat the prices on either of the cars. It took up pretty much the whole weekend, but it was kind of exciting to do all the research and figure out if we were getting a good deal or not. Anyway, back to Friday night. After our shopping we went back to get the kids. It was nice to visit with my Aunt Pam too.

Saturday we worked on car research and got the house ready for the Bishopric Christmas party. Ian decided to drive back down to Provo so that he could test drive the Sienna on the freeway and let the dealer drive the Altima and decide how much he would give us for the trade-in. The dealer wasn't too jazzed about our 107k mile Altima, but he did offer us a little more than we owed on it. Ian asked if he could try to sell it privately for more and the dealer said sure.

The party that night was a big success. We just had such a nice time visiting, eating yummy soup, bread, and treats, and singing Christmas songs. I'm really glad we decided to put it together. That night Ian listed the Altima on KSL classifieds and Craigslist. We got a call but the guy didn't show up to test drive it. Oh well.

Sunday was a busy, snowy day. I got released from my Young Women's calling. It was a little sad, but mostly just time. I was called to be the Primary pianist. I'm really excited about that. I'm hoping it will make me practice more. :) After church was my setting apart, last YW presidency meeting (we are still putting on the Christmas/planning dinner tomorrow night), and choir practice. Whew. Ian had another call on the Altima, the guy came, and by the time the kids went to bed the Altima was gone and we had cash to pay off our loan and add to our down payment! I baked another batch of chocolate bread before bed and we figured out how to make the next couple of one-car days work.

This morning we all dropped Weston off at school, Ian off at work, then Davin and I went down to Provo again to pay off the Altima loan and pick up the title. We made it back just in time to pick Weston up. Next on my list is getting new insurance for the Sienna, shopping for the YW/YM party, and finalizing the new auto loan. Things have been crazy, but hopefully this time tomorrow I will be picking up my minivan! I can't wait! Keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes through and on schedule.

Cousin Visit!

Yesterday we got a visit from the kids' newest cousin, baby Ivy, and her mom, Emilee. They flew in yesterday around lunchtime and got to spend the whole afternoon with us. It was so fun to visit and snuggle baby Ivy and those mondo baby cheeks! It almost made me want one. ;)

Ian took a half day off work so he could have some Ivy time too. Weston totally made Ivy laugh with his jumping-on-the-couch antics, but Davin wasn't so interested in the baby who was getting all the attention. I love his face in our picture though. It's pretty typical of my silly boy.


Today I braved the cold (high of 22 today!), bundled up the kids and ran all over town buying cheap groceries. I don't usually do that, but I had some really great deal coupons. I think it was worth it. I spent $37.49 and saved $21.16. I got 6 pounds of cheese, soup, tuna, peanut butter, canned veggies, pop tarts, Cheezits, Cheetos, lettuce, apples, bananas, grapes, cookies, and sausage. Ok, you probably don't need to know all that. I just get excited about good deals, you know?

Tonight we have the Primary dinner to attend with free babysitting no less! I'm pretty excited about that. Tomorrow Ian is taking the day off again. He worked so many hours this year that most of the vacations we took didn't require as much PTO as we had planned for, so now he has a whole extra day to use before Christmas! Sometimes I wish it would roll over to the next year, but I'm not really complaining. We have a fun day planned. Stay tuned . . .