So just a heads up- this is LONG, like ridiculously long. I guess that is what happens when you are too lazy to upload pictures in small batches and you just do it all at once. That and you are trying to Summarize 3 months in one post- yep it may be a LOT (like 100) pictures. So with that warning you may want to just skim the pics or wait until I have a more organized post all together :).
August was a busy and fun month adjusting to a baby just a few weeks old, putting on the 3 on 3 bball tournament for Salem Days, other Salem Days activities and just trying to cram as much summer fun in as we could while it was hot!
The 3 on 3 tournament was a great success! We couldn't publicize as much as the tourney before, but we still had a good turn out-About 55-60 teams! It went so much smoother this time by not allowing any day of registration! I had all of the brackets and schedules done the night before (even though I had to adjust it because we had a team call at 11:30 the night before!) and we had court monitors to help keep score and record everything so I could seed it for the tourney.
Alli got to dance in the Salem Days pageant/program. They had a few practices and she loved performing. They danced to Phineas and Ferb "Summer-Where Do We Begin" and she had so much fun! We still actually do this dance at least once a day it seems! We had a great time at the parade Saturday morning and then we just hung out and got naps in and rested up-it was wonderful! Alli still does this dance for everyone who will watch it. She loves the song so much-I guess we will be having Summer all year round :). My mom was also asked to be in a few parts of the program and since she really doesn't love to perform I had to put those pics in. And after the program are "the best part" as Alli says-the fireworks.
My pictures uploaded basically in two groups-one from the camera and the other from Ryan's phone. So I am going to just do captions for each pic because it basically goes August-October and then back again and seeing as I am soo behind I am not going to take the time to fix either half of the pics....
Notice the blurry arm because he was constantly moving it!! This was the night before the first BYU game.
Just chilling-probably about 6 weeks old here.
Labor Day-Ilene helping Ryan put a basket/shelf together. Below-at the park Grandma getting cute smiles from Cam Man.
Just my cute girls watching a show-probably with a blanket on top to make a fort.
Alli and Ilene have their little gymnastics classes because there is way more energy than I can use up at home some days! At gymnastics there is a ball pit at the end of the long trampoline and Ilene loves this part of her class so much. She is a fast and skilled little jumper! We also have realized that while we realized she is busy, she truly is BUSY compared to the kids in her class. Like they are walk back from the end of the tramp for their next turn and she RUNS. They may tentatively bounce down the tramp or at the least take their time-does she? Nope she bounces skillfully and quickly down. But I tell you what she keeps her hands "glued" on her "hips" like her teacher told her to. I say "hips" because it really is more like upper thigh, but then are stuck on there! She just loves the whole thing and I love it because it is a parent and tot class and it is during Alli's class so it works great for everyone! And they both love their class and teacher.
The middle of September we took the girls to a BYU game. It kind of turned into "Where's Cosmo" but we all had fun eating a cougar tail and watching as much of the game as we could.
Alli taking pictures on the phone as we are driving.
Ilene is a sticker maniac and she is doing her "cheese" face here. She is constantly putting these on her arms, legs, and anywhere she can as often as she can.
Just our sweet boy! Ryan was getting the girls to bed with Cam in there and he caught this one.
Before the BYU game Alli really really wanted a BYU hat and when we went to get her hat Ryan saw this one for Cam and really couldn't resist getting it. So it will probably fit in the spring, but Ryan wanted to try it on a lil early.
Ilene is also a little "sucker monster". They found some suckers I had stashed in the car and seriously had half the bag opened and in their hands. Notice the squinting shut eyes :).
In Sept we also fit in a lovely date. Probably the week after the BYU game because Ryan was headed out of town the next week-yep it was Sept 22. We bought a groupon for a zipline "tour" of Provo Canyon. There were 5 ziplines and they were really fun! Our guide was crazy/awesome and he would do different things down each one. So we had to try out some different things as well. We both successfully made it upside down on one of them, I did some backwards time, and Ryan did a superman "dive" off one platform.
Then after the zipline we went to the Z. Chop Haus restaurant at the Zermatt resort. I was seriously not loving the picture taking, but I did seriously love that fondue. I could definitely each that gruyere fondue every day for the rest of my life.
The next week Ryan had a few business trips in a row. These were from the first one.
Alli having a lovely breakfast of cookies, Airhead rope things and Pringles-she did actually have oatmeal before this.
In between Ryan's work trips (he went Monday-Tuesday and then again Friday-Saturday) Alli had a field trip and since he was mia most of the week he went to work later than usual so he could come. It was a lot of fun. We went to the Red Barn, did a hayride to the pumpkin patch and got a bunch of pumpkins. Then we came back for apple cider cake donuts-my idea of a great field trip!
We met Ryan for dinner after his second trip and in the restaurant they had a gift shop and this lovely mask was in there.
Ilene sporting a bunch of goodies from his Olympia trip. She put all of these things on herself and then we noticed it matched her shirt she was wearing.
Ryan showcasing his shirt he won for completing this obstacle course. This course is crazy. He took a video walking through it and this picture doesn't show the whole thing obviously. The parts you can see in here are the Tarzan ropes and the reverse incline (the green tall thing with the planks going across) so the ropes you had to get across without touching the floor and then you climb up the green thing, but it is slightly tilted backwards. There were some crazy monkey bars and a giant wall to scale among a few other things that I don't remember. Suffice it to say there were like 250 people who did it and only a handful actually got through (including some some Air Force spec ops and some of the people who helped set it up)-Ryan being one of them. So pretty much he is super tough for his size and he is smart about how he does things. Oh and he never gives up :).
Us looking quite rough eating dinner the next weekend in St. George.
Ilene showcasing her ice cream my mom brought her after she finished her marathon.
Alli showcasing her fit throwing skills (great parenting right here!) after Ryan took a bite from her ice cream and we didn't give her a brand new one. Also to note-this was her second ice cream :). She had already eaten a giant banana/chocolate bomb pop.
Having a great time hiking!!
Alli and Ilene using their giant muscles to move the rock!
My cutie girls!
Love these people!!
Cameron Friday morning before leaving for St. George-apparently he was really excited?? Haha we love his big chubby face and his adorable smile. I really can't get enough of this lil guy!! Sometimes it is so hard to lay him down for his naps because he is just smiling at me soo much-but I do. Because this kid likes his sleep and he likes it most in his bed all wrapped up with his pacifier. And when he is past when he is supposed to be laid down he is grumpy quickly.
The super cool petting zoo we stopped at randomly on the way back from St. George.
Ilene getting her EKG at her cardiologist check up. She had a little cold and her poor eyes were watery.
Goofy girl playing on the deck!
At her check up Monday the ped cardiologist was concerned because her murmur hadn't gone away from her appointment in March like we were hoping (they usually do in kids her age). So he was thinking there was a small hole in her heart causing the murmur. We scheduled a sedated echocardiogram later in the week so figure out if there was a hole and if so how big it was and if it required fixing right now. Getting her echocardiogram later in the week. They sedated her so we were in the hospital and after she had a little meds (not even the real stuff in her iv) to help her be calm they wheeled us down and just had me hold her on the bed as we went down from peds to cardiology for the echo. We had two awesome nurses and a great NP. Seriously such a fun group of ladies to hang out with during the procedure and the best part is we were with her the entire time.
After the echo, in recovery waiting for her to wake up. She got a little too cold so they put some heated blankets on her to bring her temps back up.
Cute big guy all ready for the BYU-Oregon State game. Actually this was the day before. We were doing Halloween stuff the day of so he was my pumpkin man.
Cat Woman. Alli has seriously worn this mask and cat tail so much the past week. For the first three days after she found it at grandma's and asked to keep it she wore it non-stop. Luckily her excitement for it has slightly calmed down a bit the past few days.
Ryan's parents were here for Cameron's baby blessing and Ryan got tickets to the Oregon State game from one of our friends who helps coach. These lucky guys were on the front row-I am still just a little jealous of his dad that he got to go to the game with Ryan and they had front row seats! O/well.
Ilene doing puzzles with Grandma Bowler.
Grandpa Bowler reading a story to Alli.
There is that cat costume again :).
And now we are back to August again.
Funny girl with a messy face.
Ryan's grandpa and his wife came to visit us when Cam was about a month old. They brought an adorable quilt!
The next week we were lucky enough to have some of our best friends come visit from Texas. We have known Jake and Tanya and Emma since before we were married and some of my favorite memories of my life are with them in Indiana! We moved to Indy about 6 weeks after we got married and spent our first summer there. It was a GREAT summer and that is mostly because of these guys. We became great friends quickly and started eating dinner together every night. Tanya and I would switch off. I would hang out with Tanya and Emma during the day while Ryan and Jake were out selling and I was off work at Moe's Southwest Grill :) http://www.moes.com (If you ever have the chance eat there and get the queso-seriously amazing!). Emma turned 3 that summer-she turned 9 this summer! Anyway so Jake's sister was getting married in August so we got to see them when they came up for the wedding! We went to the reservoir and had a bbq. The next night we got to go to their sweet Haley's baby blessing. Just a few funny memories with Jake and Tanya. It is always a good idea when doing grocery shopping to make sure you have a car with you. Our apt complex was right next to a Meijer's grocery store and most days one of us for sure didn't have a car and we would share and somedays neither of us had one. Well one day we walked to get some groceries and I (being super intelligent) forgot about the car factor. We checked out and went outside only to remember that we had walked the 1/3 mile from our apt to the store. This was seriously unfortunate as I had bought a watermelon, a bag of flour and some other things :).
We also had some geese in one of the ponds in our complex. One morning Ryan and I decided to trap one of the babies that would come up on our deck. This is one of the funniest memories I have since being married. It came in our appt, we closed the sliding door and the mother and baby started freaking out (understandably so) so much the baby pooped. Disgusting, but funny since Ryan was holding it. We quickly put it back outside :). Jake and Tanya had some raccoon issues at that appartment.
All of our kids. Crazy that it used to just be the 5 of us eating dinner and now eating together there were 11!
My cute lil man about a month old.
Alli's first day of school!!
Great time hanging out with our neighbor Doug. Notice the cosmo kids club shirt-Alli had just gotten it in the mail and she was loving wearing the oversized shirt!
Gymnastics class.
My little monkey!
Sweet little boy chilling in his carseat during class.
Ilene loving on her baby. She kind of freaks if she doesn't know where "baby" is. She used to called him "Bum Bum" for Cam Cam, but lately it is baby. If he is hungry she wants me to feed "baby" his milk. She will say baby and do the milk sign.
Whipped cream painting.
Back to the field trip. Sweet girls and their handsome daddy.
Alli and Ilene with a few of Alli's pre-school friends.
When Ryan was on his second trip we went to another BYU game.
Alli cheesing it posing with her phone she took in.
Aunt Kacie had some glow bracelets in her purse-lots of fun during the game! We only stayed for the first half, but we had fun!
Cam loves his baths. But lately he will turn his head like he is trying to drink the water. He will get his mouth open and be trying to lick it. He splashes like crazy, jabbering and smiling the whole time. But it is still like it surprises him whenever I put him in. He kind of freezes up (the water temp is always fine), but then he instantly relaxes when he realizes what it is.
And just another one of my cute lil man. Can I just say I am obsessed with him!! Even though it is crazy at our house and sometimes I don't know what I am doing with 3 kids or how I can give them each the love and attention they deserve I can not imagine my life without any of them. They truly complete me (along with Ryan haha). Their smiles, their laughter (yes even and especially from Cam) and the way they want their mom (Alli), mommy (Ilene), or waaah (Cam). Sometimes I think about the fact that I don't really have an "identity" aside from them. I don't really have many outside interests anymore, but the truth is that they are still there, but right now I have 3 little human beings that are far more interesting and captivating than anything else I could possibly find. Yes I want a break at times, but give me 15-20 minutes and I am truly back to missing them and wondering what they are doing. I love being their mom. I love Alli's quick mind and her amazing memory. I love seeing her grow up and seeing who I am becoming as she stretches me. She is such a beautiful little girl and I hope to help her develop confidence and kindness. She struggles at times with Ilene as all siblings do, but man if Ilene gets hurt or needs help Alli is right there to help her. And hearing her sweet sweet voice as she patiently talks to Ilene and helps her just melts my heart and brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. And she is so great with Cam. There are times she doesn't love holding his bottle (but Ilene is right there to do it), but she loves to hold him and make him smile. Ilene is so similar, yet so different. She is her own little person that is for sure. She just loves to do anything Alli is doing. Last night at a football game for one of our neighbor boys they were running back and forth for 20-30 minutes just laughing and playing together. They are really becoming best friends. When Ilene wakes up she often asks for "A A"and if not "A A" then "baby". She has such a great capacity for love. Alli will like her alone time occasionally, but pretty soon she says "I wish Ilene was here to play too" or when Ilene wakes up and we have been playing together she will tell me "it is more fun when we can all play huh?" Yep Alli we have a lot of fun together. Ilene is so busy, but at times she will sit and do a puzzle or play with legos for long stints of time. She loves lining things up or putting them together. She is slightly afraid of any "scary" animal whether it is a figurine or a picture she will come to me saying "rar" and is so nervous until I fix the problem by moving it. Yet she is so fearless in other ways! She has so much joy in her little being and such a mischievous twinkle in her eye. But she knows that we adore her happy spirit and that she will be able to get away with far more than she should! She is giving Alli a taste of her own medicine. If Alli upsets her Ilene will bite or hit :(. We are working from both sides on this one! But as soon as Alli is at pre-school Ilene starts asking "A A back?" A A back home? and when I ask if we should go get Alli her face lights up!! I love it. I love seeing them hug each other-which is very often. If either one is hurt the other is quickly by her side to hug her and try to cheer her up. They will have their fights, but it will be quite the surprise if anything can truly come between those two girls. Ilene gives such sweet kisses, hugs, and blown kisses (accompanied by a loud BYE). She chants ee I oo for BYU and also chants dada home dada home. And last but not least our little Cam man. He brings so much joy. I love seeing both of my girls interact with him. He is such a sweet, happy, mostly mellow baby except his crazy amounts of smiling and arm/leg movement! It takes very little to make him smile profusely-smiling at him, talking to him. I feel so so blessed to be the mother to these 3 beautiful little kids-even if I am going crazy at times!!
