Guacamole & Football players

So today the boys were eating chips and guacamole.  First Jaden said matter of factly, "Football players eat guacamole."  Then, a few minutes later he asked me, "Do football players have lockers?" I said,  "yes of course." Then he responded, "Ooohhhh so thats why football players eat guacamole!"  I looked at him quizzically.  He said, "They can put it in their lockers and eat it at half time!"  Needless to say we giggled at his logic.

School is almost out!

Hurray!  I can't wait.  I am so ready for school to be out.  I am tired of homework and all of the structured routines.  I just want to be together as a family and make good memories.  This year at Payton & Jaden's school they had a goal to read 70,000 books.  The principal always does a fun party with the kids if they meet their goal.  They finally reached it just a few days a go, so today was their Western Reading Party.  They played fun games out side like sack race, barrel riding on a stick horse, wheel barrow race, 3 legged race, a stick pulling game (just like Joseph Smith - said Jaden) a carriage ride pulled by Klidesdale horses and even ice cream.  They had a lot of fun old antiques, showing the kids what it might be like to churn butter or iron clothes with the old heavy irons.  They came home super excited about their special day. 

Mother's Day!

Every Mother's Day, I always tell my boys that the main thing I want is a picture of me with my boys.  So here is the photo from this year.  Aren't they just handsome.  We had to get out the tripod for the pictures though because Jeff had to stay after and count tithing as he is the ward membership clerk and we had fast Sunday today because of Stake Conference last Sunday.  I am so overjoyed to be a mother.  There were years and years where I couldn't even dream about a day like this.  I am very blessed.

Payton's Baptism

Payton Jeffrey Lerwill was baptized on May 12th by his father Jeffrey Lynn Lerwill. He normally would have been baptized on May 5th but w had stake conference and so they moved the stake baptisms to the following week. He was so excited and he has really taken the decision to be baptized seriously. I know he has a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.  It was such a special day.  All of our extended family was there except my brother who is in Denver.  He even has 2 great grandparents alive that came.  My dad's dad, Dee Bowen "Gramps" & my mom's mother, Phyllis Moss.  It was special to have them there for this.  Gramps got up after the confirmation and asked if he could share a story about how the Holy Ghost saved his life while he was in the WWII in Korea.  It was very spiritual and I'm so glad to have my kids hear this amazing story from his lips and through his tears.  It was awesome.  The whole day just went so well.  We had amazing weather and were able to have a big luncheon at our house for everyone.  I fixed prime rib (my 1st time ever) and thanks to my mom's amazing recipe it turned out great.  Everyone was drooling and it was gone in no time. Payton was absolutely glowing the whole day.  We are so proud of him.  I am full to the brim with love for my family and for my savior.  Nothing could be sweeter!

My mom, Grandma Bowen, made an amazing book for the grandkids for their baptism. 
She took photos and family history information and made a baptism heritage book.
She used Heritage Makers and made a digital scrapbook.  It full of baptism stories
from all of his ancestors with their photos & testimonies.  It is really special.  She put
so much time into it, it will definitely be something to treasure.  Hopefully Payton can
learn of the wornderful heritage that he comes from & continue in righteous decisions.

PAYTON'S BIRTHDAY!!!

I can't believe he is eight years old already.  What happened to my baby? He turned 8 on Friday, May 4th.  He was really looking forward to this birthday for lots of reasons.  He got baptized and he got to have a friend birthday party too.  We took them to "I Jump", an indoor trampoline park in Idaho Falls for an hour of jumping craziness.  Then we came back home for pizza, presents and more play.  It was a super fun day for everyone.  It has also been tradition for Grandpa Bowen to make the boys their own Fly Fishing Rod for their 8th birthday.  He loves to fish as was really looking forward to that as well.  Grandma & Grandpa came over for cake then next day. 

Payton's cake.  An M&M swimming pool-complete with a diver going in headfirst and 2 guys floating in inner tubes playing with a beach ball.  Making a far out unique cake has always been my tradition that I have done with my boys for their birthdays.  Its basically my gift to them each year.  Grandma's can't wait to see what the cake is going to be this year. 

2 days before his birthday, Payton and Zack were playing catch with a baseball and Payton missed and caught it with his lips.  The strings on the baseball ripped 3 cuts in his lip.  He is loving baseball this year.  He  is playing in the "minors" and is on the same team as Zack and his cousin Skyler.  Jeff & Uncle Ryan are coaching it together so its been real great memories so far.  They have learned a lot and Payton is getting really good at playing catcher.

 

Playing Dodgeball at I Jump

Zack with an "in-the-air" release.

These 3 trampolines ended in a great big foam pit.  They boys had a blast doing all their gymnastics tricks into the pit.

Zack said, "I love showing off for teen agers!"  The older kids were all so impressed with the tricks he could do.

So many trampolines....so little time.

PIZZA!!! Bryson, Skyler, Zack, Payton, Jace, Braxton, Bryson, & Jaden

 

One of Payton's favorite gifts was a new metal detector that we got him.  He is going to have a blast hunting down treasures in our back yard, at the cabin and on vacations. 

Happy Birthday Payton!! We love you.

Is your attitude in the toilet?

Jaden, our 6 y.o. has about grown out of funny sayings, but today he rattled out a funny one.  He was in the middle of cleaning the toilet in the upstairs bathroom and was bragging about how good he is at cleaning the toilet.  He learned early on how to clean toilets helping me clean at the cabin after guests at our hunting ranch.  I have always praised him up & down for this as I would love to have a helper for this job!  So, he thinks he's pretty good at it by now (which he really is - he's the best out of the 3 boys for sure).  He's just talking away, saying "Mom, I'm really good at this! I'm probably the best toilet cleaner there is." "This is one of my talents!" Agreeing with him, I said "You bet, just keep it up.  Someday when you're married if you will help your wife clean the toilets, she will be so happy to have your help. She will know you love her to help with such a gross chore."  to which he responded.."Oh mom, it's not gross, you just have to think about flowers & bunnies! Just turn your head away and think about flowers and bunnies and really that's all you have to do." I told him, "You're right its all in your mind and your attitude in how you approach the task."  What a good lesson for today.  Hope you're attitude isn't in the toilet!

How to Hide Old Age...

The other night Jeff was watching football, (a favorite thing this time of year) and Payton climbed up into his lap to watch a bit with him. After a few minutes he turned and looked at Jeff and said, "Dad, if you love football so much, why don't you just go play?". Jeff replied, "Payton, I'm too old to play pro football." Payton innocently responded, "Dad, just wear your helmet and no one will know that your bald!" We have been laughing for days over that and I just had to write it down before I forget.
Alana