Family Pictures

These are the family pictures we had done in November. One of my young women from years back took them (wow, that made me feel old). She was just about to deliver her second baby and she was all over the place! She is so talented and such a darling girl. I adore her. Check out more of her work here. The black and whites of all these photos are amazing, but I just loved all the vibrant colors!

Nursery Preview

The count down has begun. I am finally starting to feel like it is time to get ready for this baby. We have begun work on the nursery. I couldn't find nursery bedding I loved anywhere so I decided to sew it. Momentary lapse of judgement perhaps. Here are the fabrics I am using. The bumper pads are done and the dust ruffle is under way.

Dust ruffle material

Bumper pad material

I want to sew a little flag bunting similar to the one above and below.

The crib is in the process of being refinished. After four babies gnawing away at it, it is looking a little shabby. It is going to be the color of the birds on the wall. Brave? Maybe.

We painted this cute branch with birds on the wall. I saw several similar ones on the Internet in vinyl. but I am cheap and didn't want to pay for it. I found a graphic I like online and printed it onto a transparency. We borrowed an over head projector and projected it onto the wall. We traced in in pencil and then painted it. I outlined the branches with a black paint pen to give it a more finished look. I am pretty happy with the results.

Getting ready to trace a bird that is flaying away. Carter looks fascinated doesn't he? He's a cute kid and so very helpful.

I have had a few requests for a picture of a pregnant me. This is as close as your going to get people.
This is Carter putting on the final touches.

The final product. I still need to outline the birds but definitely not in black. Not sure what color though.

We painted another little bird above the window. We hung some sheer off white curtains that puddle on the floor.

I am in the process of finishing this little number we found at the DI for $20.00. This is the Kilz primer I used. If you use this primer you do not have to strip or sand your piece of furniture. It is going to be a cream color. It's going to look cute I promise. Well that is about as far as we have come so stay tuned for more updates.

Pregnancy Update: I have been on a Progesterone shot since I was about 14 weeks along. This is a once a week injection to help me stay pregnant longer as I tend to deliver early. I had a severe allergic reaction to them at about 25 weeks and had to stop taking them. I am now on a blood pressure medication that is suppose to relax the blood vessels and make the contractions slow up a bit, but not stop them. It is a little bit riskier because it can cause a person with a normal blood pressure to have abnormally low blood pressure, so we are keeping an eye on that. I am having tons and tons of contractions every day, but what is new? With all my pregnancies I have had contractions from 20 weeks on. With Bowen they had to stop labor at 32 weeks and Coop was born at 35 weeks. We really don't want that again. We want to be able to take this little girl home with us from the hospital and enjoy her. I am 31 weeks now and praying to get to at least 36 weeks. Its getting closer, maybe I should look into getting a car seat!

2009 Holiday Highlights

I know, I know, everyone is sick of hearing about the holidays, but I feel the need to get it all documented before I can move on to more exciting things. (Pregnancy, nursery, etc.) So here is the holiday run down. Our holidays started off with a bang on Thanksgiving. We went to northern Utah this year. We had Thanksgiving with the Bowen side at Bruce and Melissa's. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. The next day was the Cluff celebration, affectionately known as "Thankmas". Pam and Ben came from Texas and so we celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas in one day! And boy was it a celebration. We started early with a lovely Thanksgiving meal (I know, every pregnant woman's dream--two Thanksgiving dinners). Then we moved directly to the Christmas portion of the day with a Christmas program of singing, storytelling, and all the kids dressing up for the nativity. That was one huge nativity! Lots of stable animals. Thank you to my SIL Michelle's blog for the pictures, I forgot my camera.


Grandma directing traffic. She is a master planner!




Look at the cute stable animals, don't they look thrilled?

When you celebrate "Thankmas" you get really tired. It was so fun to be with Carter's family. We never get to see them as much as we would like. They make us laugh. Thanks to Pam and Ben for always making a way for our families to get together. You two amaze me!

After arriving home to St. George we broke out the Christmas decorations. The kids are getting so big and helpful. I could practically sit and direct the decorating from the couch! Everyone helped decorate and they did a mighty fine job.

Next, it was on to the Christmas village. This is the kids favorite part of decorating. I prefer not to document my pregnant self, as I am not one of those darling pregnant women, but Carter caught me here, and maybe someday I will be able to stand to look at it!

This year Grandma and Grandpa Cluff did the 12 days of Christmas for our family. The kids could hardly wait to have scripture study every night so that they could open the gift for that day. Grandma Cluff included great Christmas stories and spiritual thoughts. Definitely a highlight for our family this year.

And as if we were not lucky enough, Grandma and Grandpa Bowen did the 24 days of Christmas this year! We let the kids open this gift first thing in the morning. You've never seen kids jump out of bed quicker---EVERYDAY! Amazing. Some of the highlights were, a gift certificate to go get ice cream at Sonic, giant Christmas pens, and new jammies. Thank you to our amazing grandparents who always think about making us happy.

We spent most of the Christmas holidays warming our tootsies by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, doing puzzles and reading Christmas stories. It was such a wonderful and relaxed holiday. I LOVE having my kids home with me.


Carter and I were invited to a friend "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. We searched the DI high and low and just couldn't find anything ugly enough. So we made our own with lots of hot glue, sequence, pom poms, felt and...................

battery operated lights! The party was a blast and believe it or not there were uglier sweaters than ours! We love our friends here in St. George.




Next on the Christmas agenda was the annual Bowen Santa party and brunch. We all look forward to this party every year. This year we had some amazing food. Quiche, fruit, sour dough pancakes and a hot chocolate bar. It was delicious! Then Grandma read stories to the grand kids, we sang Christmas carols and in before we knew what was happening Santa Clause appeared right before our eyes. Cute, cute santa right? The kids went wild as he held each one on his lap and gave them a special gift. It was such a fun day especially because everyone in our family was there, even Nate and Heather from Alaska. It has been a long time since we have all been in one place. Thanks mom and dad for creating wonderful Christmas memories for our family.










After Christmas was over my family came down to St. George for a week to ring in the new year. Everyone except for Jackie--she had her baby Jane on Christmas day! Se she sent her kids down while she,Kasey, and baby Jane recuperated. It is so fun when my family comes here. We saw movies, played games, went to Vegas shopping, golfed, ate and visited Pirate Pizza.

Ashley and Weston trying to win tickets playing Skee-Ball. Grandma and Kate in the background.


Nate and Hank trying out the shooting range.

We ordered the biggest pizza on the menu, and it was BIG! We polished it off though.



Most of the gang enjoying their pizza. The rest are off spending our life savings trying to win a plastic sword worth a dollar.

Nate and Heather's cute little family, all the way from Alaska. We miss them terribly. All in all I would have to say that our holiday was a rousing success. We loved every minute of it. The best part? Being with those who love us the most.....our family.

The Year of the Pinata

So every year for Christmas my parents give us money. It is a great gift, but what makes it even better is the way they give it to us. Each year they come up with a creative way to give us the money. One year it was all in one dollar bills stuck together in notepad style and stuffed in a dirty old DI purse. Another year is was sewn into a Build-A-Bear. We got it in a sealed Monopoly game replacing the monopoly money, the list goes on and on. My parents are so fun and every year we are to excited to see what idea they have come up with.

This year my dad brought out a wrapped wooden bat for each couple. We all opened them and wondered what in the world we were supposed to do with them. Then the boys noticed that the bats looked as though my dad had drilled through the wood and corked them. Carter was getting ready to go out in the garage and drill it out to see if the money was in the hollowed out bats, when out came my dad with an armful of pinatas ( he had gone to all the work of drilling a hole in the bat and plugging it just to throw us off!) He handed them to us and we knew right away what to do with them. It was a blast-each of us breaking our own pinata to see what was inside. Carter and Jackson made short work of ours and soon candy was spilling out everywhere. My parents had painstakingly wrapped the bills around Tootsie Rolls, and in Dots boxes! It took us quite a while, but we finally figured it all out. It was so much fun, and so kind of my parents, they always make things so enjoyable and exciting.

What is this for?

Carter and Jackson going for it

Kasey breaking his pinata a non-traditional sort of way





Kevin and Ashley with their loot

The Annual Pie and Pajamas

Our family's favorite holiday tradition is "Pie and PJ's" night. We wait until it is very late and then we put on our new pajamas and head to the Village Inn. We order our favorite slice of pie and a hot chocolate and then we talk, laugh and eat until we are satisfied. It is such a simple tradition, but those are always the best. This year Courtney brought her cut friend Tianna. She is a joy to have around. Sometimes you can catch us doing Pie and PJ's more that once during the holidays. The whole crew in front of the pie case....it is so hard to decide.Courtney and Tianna enjoy a little hot chocolate while waiting for pie.

Jackson enjoying his pie.

Bowen and Coop hamming it up.

Christmas Morning At Our House......

It wouldn't be Christmas morning without the customary ringing of Santa's sleigh bells. That's how my kids know it is legal to come downstairs. And they did...like a stampede. This is the third year in a row we have been home for Christmas and we love it.

This is the first picture of the morning. Look at the excitement and some exhaustion from trying to stay awake all night.


Cooper opening his favorite gift- a remote controlled airplane.

This year all Courtney asked for.....clothes. Remeber those days? Santa threw in a few surprises.


Bowen asked for a Boston Red Sox backpack and books. Here he is with a new football.

Jackson asked for an ipod. Needles to say he knew that would be about it on Christmas morning and he didn't seem to mind.


We got all the kids these scripture hero posters and I was really surprised at how much they loved them. Cooper got Daniel and the Lions Den, Bowen got Ammon , Jackson the Stripling Warriors and Courtney got Mary, Mother of Jesus. They are beautiful.

Every year we invite people form our neighborhood over who don't have family around to go visit on Christmas morning. We do a Christmas brunch. This year we had over 40 people. It is one of my favorite traditions. We had quiche, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, muffins, juice and a hot chocolate bar. We love having our home filled with wonderful friends that have become our St George family.

People usually stay for two or three hours and visit. We just love it!


Christmas is my favorite time of year. This year when my kids went back to school I cried most of the day. I love having them home, playing games, watching movies, baking and doing puzzles. We had a simple and relaxed holiday season leaving us lots of time to remember our Saviors birth and the true meaning of the season.