Guns & Rides!!!

What do we love to do when we are in Utah (or anywhere else really)? Shoot guns and ride four wheelers! On Monday we headed out with Jim & Juanita to do just that! We have picked up a few new toys since the last time we went shooting so we were MORE than excited to try them out! While we were in the gun shop buying Rich's new toy I fell in love with a sweet little number. The men in the store said that since the hubby bought a gun I get to go buy a new purse. I laughed, bags are not my thing. I told them, "Nah, I will just buy a gun too!" They all laughed and then I shocked the crap out of Rich and the rest of the good ol' boys by plopping down my charge card and telling the store owner to box it up for me. Rich just stood there with his jaw dropped. It was pretty hilarious! I BOUGHT MY FIRST GUN!!! Now it was finally time to try it out!

After giving the kids many many lessons on gun safety over the past few months, we decided to let them shoot my new 22!

We took some spins on Papa's four wheeler and tooled around the trails. After we were all four wheelered out (and almost out of ammo) we took a short drive over to Grandpa  Buttar's grave, which I hadn't ever seen. It is so beautiful and the mountains and blue sky in the background are just breathtaking!

As always, we had a fantastic day shooting and riding and laughing it up! MAN I miss this place - but I miss these people even more!!!

Reggie Roo's BIG DAY!!!

We were incredibly grateful that our time off worked out with Reggie's blessing. Andy and Jenni rearranged everything so we could all be there. It was such a beautiful day. Andy's blessing was perfect. The spirit was so strong. Reggie looked like even more of an angel than she does every other day. 

I jacked these pics from Jenni - Thanks, Vive : )

We all went to church for the blessing and then back to Jim and Juanita's to fill our bellies of course!

We had such a wonderful day with family celebrating the cutest baby ever! 

PICTURE DAY!!!

What do Bowmans do when everyone is in town and we have a new sweet member of the family? PICTURE DAY!!! Ashley Mae was nice enough to squeeze us in ridiculously short notice. We had a fantastic time and took some ridiculously cute pictures even though it was int he middle of a freezing cold rain storm! The little kids sure were troopers through the rain and wind! Thank you so so SO much to Grandma and Grandpa for spoiling us rotten with these great memories.

WE LOVE YOU!!! 

Here are some of our favorites... and you can see even more sweet pics on Jenni's blog post!
http://andyandjennibowman.blogspot.com/2014/11/bowman-family-pics-2014.html

This picture is extra special because Ari won't let anyone hold her! She had so much fun catching rain drops with Rich. It was adorable and everyone was shocked that she was so smiley! 

Uncle Rich has a gift : )

Trick or TREAT?!?!?!?!

Time to pull the costumes out of our suitcases and fill some candy bags! It's HALLOWEEN! We have not been trick or treating with The Bowman clan since 2009! This fun day was way overdue! Stef, Micah, Kayla, James, and baby Ari drove up to hang with us. It was SO good to see them. We missed them like crazy. The last time we saw them was 10 months ago for Christmas and Ari's baby blessing. Ari has gotten SO big and even more cute! Ugh - It just sucks living so far away! So grateful to be here now though! Anywho... HALLOWEEN!!!...

First on the agenda, make a spooky dinner with Grandma! They made mummy dogs and witch fingers. They always have so much fun cooking with Grandma! She is a much better sport with helpers in the kitchen than I am : )

Next thing to do, rake leaves of course! The grandkids were all playing outside so Papa put them to work! They were all over it. They had so much fun raking up piles and playing in them. At one point they buried Bailey and called me outside because they "couldn't find her." Then she jump out and "scared" me.

Elsa, Batman, Robin, Masquerade Ball Princess, Spidey, and Doc McStuffins all had an absolute BLAST trick or treating. They looked so cute all dressed up! We didn't get a pic with Reggie the ladybug though : (

While we were walking around the neighborhood Bailey had a death grip on Andy's hand. It was so cute!

 It felt more like a Texas Halloween than Utah! It was in the high 60's! Awesome!
The kids all got a ton of candy and had a fantastic time. The night ended having to drag Doc McStuffins off the front porch were she was divvying out the goodies to the neighborhood kids and prying the candy bowl out of her hands. Let's just say they all slept like rocks that night! So fun having Halloween at Grandma and Papa's again!!!

Meeting Miss Reggie Roo!

Back in August we got pretty amazing news. My new niece Reggie was born!!! We were so excited for Andy and Jenni!!! The only downside was we weren't able to be there to meet her :( It was nearly November by the time we finally got to kiss her sweet chubby cheeks for the first time. Rich had some time off and the kids had a couple days off of school so we packed the van and headed to Utah! The drive went pretty well - we are hard core and drove straight through the night and into Halloween day. We had great motivation to get there before trick or treating and WE WERE BEYOND READY TO MEET REGGIE!!! Unfortunately a giant heard of SHEEP near Bear Lake had other plans. Seriously? There were SO many sheep. I have never seen anything like it! We were all dying laughing in disbelief. They surrounded the van in the process of crossing to the lake. It was NUTS! Eventually they all crossed and we were headed to the canyon and into our beloved Cache Valley!

Eventually they all crossed and we were headed to the canyon and into our beloved Cache Valley! We might have made a pit stop at Mandarin Garden for some tiny spicy chicken to go before heading to Grandma's. Maybe. Then we ate ourselves stupid, showered and napped for a minute before meeting the baby girlie! It was definitely an emotional afternoon meeting our sweet girl for the first time. Reggie is just the cutest thing in the whole world! Pictures, while crazy cute, do not accurately represent the immense cuteness she exudes in real life. We are all so in love! Perfect start to a fantastic vacation!!!

October Cards Fans & Punkin Heads

Our beloved Cards made it into the playoffs this year! We were all just a little excited!

Rich and Bailey even developed a "cheerleader move" to celebrate when they did something well. Crucial strikeout? CHEERLEADER MOVE! Bailey would hear Rich hollering "YEAH!" and come running for Daddy to throw her in the air. Hilarious and pretty stinking cute!









Braxton had the double rally cap rocking on several occasions. He got to stay up later than usual to watch the games and then he would pass out HARD.







He sleeps in this crazy position ALL THE TIME! HOW is that comfortable? Apparently it is! GO CARDS!!!

Rich and I found a sweet new walking trail close to our apartment! We packed a picnic dinner and took the kids out to explore it. We had a great evening even though the walk back was in the rain : ) 

In preparation for Halloween our good friends, the Smiths, came across the river to hang out with us at Eckert's Farm! The kids played hard riding carnival rides, playing mini golf, going for tractor rides, and drinking tons of apple cider thanks to "Disneyland Dad" James, The kids bat their eyes and ask for anything and he buys it. MY moochy kids apparently figured this out too. It was SO hot outside and the line was SO long to pick pumpkins out in the field that we convinced the kids to have custard and pick their pumpkins at the farm store instead. Score! We had a great day. After the farm we ate ourselves stupid at a great little barbecue joint. It was so good to have friends come visit us in Illinois! We love you guys!

September Shenanigans

We had some random fun this month! First we got to go with the Doellman's to their FIRST CARDINAL'S GAME! Chris had gone before but this was a rookie experience for Amanda and the kids! Sad part - 5 minutes before leaving for the game Braxton started feeling "gross" and then he puked and spiked a fever :( SO sad for my biggest Cards fan! Rich took one for the team and stayed home and took care of my pukey little boy. It was FRIGGIN FREEZING! We were all bundled up in blankets and then it started raining on us! Bitter cold drizzle fell basically without stop for SIX INNINGS! I was so proud of the kids, they were super hard core and stuck it out till the 8th inning! Frost bitten and WAY past bedtime! We had a blast though! I brought Rilea and Dylan back to our place for a sleepover so Amanda and Chris could have a night at a hotel to celebrate their anniversary a little late. SO fun! I just love these little goof balls!

Rich and I picked the kids up from school one day and he got a random amazing idea... "Hey, let's take the Metro Train and go downtown!" I love spontaneous family fun time! Even though we live in Illinois now we are still about the same distance from Down Town STL! We drove a few minutes to the Metro station and bought tickets for the kid's first Metro Train ride! They were SO EXCITED! We didn't have to fight traffic and we got to enjoy the scenery (and the people watching) on the 40 minute ride. We took a long walk around the Arch, had races up the HUGE stairs separating the Arch from the Mississippi River, and then got hot chocolate at Starbucks before heading back home. I just love this city and all it has to offer! LOVE IT! The Arch is so fun to take pictures of - it is just breathtaking!








































St. Louis started a cool art project called "Cakeway to the West." They placed 4 foot tall cakes in 250 significant locations throughout our region, part scavenger hunt, part history lesson. We have had fun finding some of them. The kids were excited to find one by the arch! Here is the website for these cool cake sculptures - http://www.stl250.org/cake.aspx

Random and weird - We bought a new hair detangler and Kenz used it on bug. It dripped onto her face and she had a terrible allergic reaction. It was so crazy! Her face swelled up and turned bright red where the spray had touched it. Thank goodness a quick run to Walgreens and a swig of Benadryl in the aisle took care of it. Hopefully that never happens again. Scary!

McKenzie's grade at school has been working on some patriotic songs for the birthday party/fair of the city of Belleville. It was a great excuse to go explore our new town and have a super fun day! Kenz sang her heart out! The kids got to try rock climbing for the first time ever. They LOVED it! They did so great. i was shocked! I, on the other hand, did not do so hot (I forgot to post that picture by pure accident)! It was fun though : )

Next we played at the petting zoo and went wild on the carnival rides. The girls were in heaven. B - not so much... his face was hilarious! He is his father's son! He looked like he was going to puke 20 seconds in! Sad but HILARIOUS! Nothing a snow cone can't fix!

One of the kid's favorite things we did was painting! An incredible artist was painting the town square and fountain and he let each of them have a turn at helping him! They were in shock that they got to help! They LOVED IT! How cool is that?!?!?!

We are now members of our local YMCA! We discovered that they do free rock climbing one night a week. The kids are JUNKIES! They cannot get enough! I am honestly so surprised and impressed at how brave they are and how fast they have learned it. It makes me a little (okay a LOT) nervous seeing them all up so high and being helpless down on the floor. Braxton can scale the hardest section super fast! Kenz fought her fear of heights and made it all the way to the top and so did BAILEY THE THREE-YEAR-OLD! Bug is like a little fearless spider monkey up there!They have the harnesses on the lowest possible settings and the staff was shocked at how well she did and how quick she picked up the technique. So fun! We love the Y!!!