What was he thinking?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

Okay, I have a question, what possesses a five year old boy to think that using two glass nail polish bottles to make music would be a good idea? Any answers? I mean really, you find yourself banging two nail polish bottles against each other, do you look down at your hands and think, "Hey, this is pretty cool; I am glad I thought of this!" Of course, that is until the inevitable happens, one of the glass bottles brakes sending nail polish all over your mother's bedroom carpet. My next question is how do you not want to kill your son after that? How do you keep from looking at him and saying, "What in the world were you thinking?" "Were you thinking?" Maintaining self control becomes even harder when he simply explains, "I was just trying to make music." Is he nuts? Is he trying to make me crazy? Or is he trying to see how white trash he can make my carpet? Was it not bad enough that he already christened my carpet with a Now and Later in October?! Is nothing sacred? I'm sorry, I refuse to give in and let my house look like a looney bin. I am determined to teach my children to respect belongings and property, even if it means I loose a little sanity along the way. Well, if you excuse me, I have to see if I can get the nail polish out; if not I have my trusty scissors in hand, because an area where the carpet is a little shorter is better than bright pink polish lines, at least in my book. Wish me luck!

(By the way, for those wondering what I was doing during Braden's music experiment, I was helping Brooke clean her room; I was in fact not kicked back eating bon bons, but that is what I wish I could do right now. Well, maybe not eat bon bons, but a nap would be nice, very nice!)

Here they come to save the day

I present to you our resident super heroes; as you see, they have been practicing their super hero poses, and they are ready to take on evil everywhere!

There is nothing like going home, if your home is Myrtle Beach, SC

Well, last week the cuties and I traveled back to Myrtle Beach to spend a week with my sister. Luckily the trip there was fairly uneventful; Brooke even learned a new vocabulary word along the way. As we were riding down 378, Brooke suddenly exclaims, "Look Mama, it is where dead people go to live!" I looked over to discover that Brooke was pointing at a cemetery, so I quickly explained that we call those cemeteries.





Anyway, the trip was spent going to the beach, the pool, playing a Wii for the first time, lots of eating together, and just having fun as a family.





Monday: We arrived, hung out with Elizabeth at her house, and then went to get Central Park hamburgers. For those who have not experienced Central Park hamburgers, you don't know what you are missing! I spent many teenage days going through the drive thru of Central Park, making sure not to forget a order of fries on the side (their fries beat McDonald's and Burger King any day).

Tuesday:

We met Paul (my bro) at Chili's for lunch and then went back to his apartment for a few games on the ol' Wii; I was a Wii newbie, and now I am officially hooked! After a few games of Wii, we swung by the Tanger outlets for a little retail therapy and then headed back to Elizabeth's. Here are a few pictures of the cuties all ready for bed.

Wednesday:

We went to the pool, looked at Carla's animals, and then went to Pizza Inn for supper, where Emma ate most of my pizza; that girl has an appetite! We also painted Emma's toenails for the first time; she couldn't stop staring at them and touching them.

Thursday:

We spent the day with Daddy. We went to the beach during the day and at night we dined on delicious Spaghetti a la Daddy. It was great getting to all spend time together: Elizabeth, Daddy, Braden, Brooke, Emma, Paul, Amanda, and I.

Friday:

We had a cookout at Elizabeth's along with a little Christmas in July party.

Saturday:

Mama, the cuties, and I met Buffie and her family at the beach, and Saturday afternoon we went to go see Kung Fu Panda for the 3rd time.

Sunday:

We went to church and spent the day together.

Monday:

We packed up and headed home.

Sorry, I don't have more details; I guess I was enjoying myself too much to write everything down, but I did take some more pictures (not as many as I usually take though). Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, it is official; I am now 33 years old, time sure flies. My dad asked me if I feel any older, and my answer like every year is no. I look in the mirror, and I know I look older; you know, a few more wrinkles here and a few more grays there, but my spirit feels the same. In fact, as I age my ability to see the young girls hidden in elderly ladies' aging bodies is becoming easier. I see past the gray hair, the stooped posture, the wrinkled faces, and the slowed movements, and I see the little girl running with abandon giggling wildly, the young teenage girl falling in love for the first time, the young bride excitedly taking her love's hand in hers pledging her love and devotion for eternity, the young mother holding her baby for the first time, the older mother filled with bittersweet feelings as she sends her children off into the world, the new grandmother filled with immense love as she holds her first grandchild, and the elderly woman wishing everyone could see past her appearance and see the true beauty she still possesses within, the spirit that has grown with wisdom but is still young and alive. I think as I age, I also realize how much we each need each other and the wisdom we each have to share. I also realize how important the advice was I received from my parents as I was growing up. They continually counseled me to work on my inner spirit, discover what I was passionate about, discover what made me who I am, develop my talents, set goals, get my education, and make sure that I had more to offer than mere beauty. My parents let me know that outer beauty fades over time, but not even time can take away your inner beauty. So, as another year has come and gone, I am grateful for my parents' wisdom and counsel; I am also grateful for the memories I have made, and the memories that are yet to come.

Here are just a few of the memories I have already made:

Today on Mama's blog, she posted this sweet and very biased tribute; it's not good manners to toot your own horn, but it is always okay if your mama does it, especially since everyone knows all mamas are biased (I especially like how my sweet and very biased mama inadvertently forgot to mention my growing collection of gray hair).

Happy Birthday Carrie!

written by: Jayne Bowers

Today is the birthday of my oldest child, Janna Caroline. 5’3”, eyes of blue, a dark cloud of lustrous, shiny hair framing her pretty face, she’s a young woman with many gifts.

Always perceptive even as a small child, Carrie has the ability to size up a person within a few minutes. I’m not talking about being judgmental but rather about getting a sense of the person’s personality and “spirit.” Can the person be trusted? Is he a bad guy…or gal? If you ever meet her and feel those pretty blues staring at you, watch out; she’s trying to “get your number.” At this moment, I’m looking at a pencil sketch of Carrie, Elizabeth, and me that hangs in my dining room. Carrie was 3 years old. I recall remarking to the woman who drew it that she looked so intense, and the artist declared, “That’s because she is.”

Carrie has a great personality, too. Extroverted and generally upbeat and smiling, she’s been a talker and charmer since Day 1. I recall many times on the beach when she’d wave to passers-by and then look at me with puzzlement if the strand walker didn’t wave back. At that time in her young life, it didn’t occur to her that perhaps the person hadn’t seen her. If Carrie saw him or her, she figured the person saw her. Piaget would describe that charming attribute as childhood egocentrism, not because she was stuck on herself but because she was unable to see things from another’s perspective. But I digress.

Here’s another example of her charm and friendliness. When she was 5 years old, the principal of her preschool stopped me one afternoon and said, “The best thing you can do for your little girl is to teach her that you need more than a pretty smile to get through life.” Thank you very much, Mrs. McBride, for your unsolicited advice!! Actually, smiling can give you a good start and open a lot of doors. Plus,a smile is sort of a universal language that’s understood everywhere. Of course, there are many different types of smiles, but that’s the topic for another day.

Carrie’s always been able to think through things, determine exactly what she wanted, and then go for it. After graduating from CCU, she moved to Georgetown and then on to Charleston. Why? Because of the adventure and because she had decided it was time to get married. She wasn’t going to settle for anything less than the best, and to her the best was an LDS young man with values like her own. In Charleston, there was a much better chance to find Prince Charming than in G’town. I’ve always thought it interesting that she and Rich moved to the same area at the same time. She met him at church one summer evening about nine years ago, and well, the rest is history.


Now the mother of Spencer, Braden, Brooke, and Emma, Carrie’s days are pretty full. She’s a loving wife and mother, faithful friend, gourmet cook, techno-savvy creator of DVDs, photographer, scrapbooker, teacher, dancer, homemaker, party planner, and decorator. You should see her apple green kitchen walls—very inspiring.

We're Off!!!

The cuties and I are off to Myrtle Beach to spend a week with my sister; I'll have plenty of pictures to post and stories to share when I get back. Pray that we have a safe trip and my sanity stays intact.

Cry Me A River

Cry me a river, these days I could probably do just that; I am not typically a weepy or over emotional person, but this pregnancy is just different. Even when I feel the spirit usually, I get overjoyed, want to dance, shout for joy (heaven no, I don't do any of the aforementioned actions, at least not in church, I just feel like doing them), but my first response is never shedding tears. In fact, I remember asking my mama when I was younger if crying on the stand at church meant your testimony was stronger; I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me. I knew that I felt the spirit, but it didn't make me want to cry, it just filled me with so much joy sometimes I felt like my body couldn't contain it. Mama luckily reassured me that a testimony and the spirit effects everyone differently and for some people that means shedding tears. Well, these days the spirit (well the spirit and the cute little stinker growing inside of me) makes me cry, A LOT! It also makes almost everything turn into something spiritual. Several days ago, Braden and I were watching the following video (LOVE the country music videos on youtube), and I start to just ball. I then go off on a,

"You know, Braden, this life is very hard. There are going to be many times that things happen, many times you are going to fall down. We all fall down sometimes. When I lost your big brother Spencer, that was a really hard time for me. It was like I had fallen down, but I knew I had to get back up. I cried, I mourned, and then I got back up to run my race again. Braden we are in a race, and if we get up every time we fall, we as a family will return to Heavenly Father and Jesus' open arms. Being with them again as a family will be the sweetest joy you will ever feel, and it will make everything you and I experience in this life worth it."

You would think Braden would be looking at me like I was a little loopy about now, but he understood everything I had said. He had felt the spirit too (of course he is my tender hearted one). Braden looked at me and said, "When it gets hard, and I fall down, I will get up, dust myself off, and keep going." Then he said, "Can we watch it again?" So here it is for you; I hope you also are touched by the spirit of its message while you watch it. I know many of you have seen and heard it before.

(you'll need to scroll down first and turn the music off for full viewing enjoyment)

My Little Mermaid

Today Brooke had her third swim lesson, two more to go. I am sooooooo proud of the progress she is making. Initially I had offered the lessons to Braden, but he wanted no part of swim lessons. He in fact informed us that Rich would be teaching him, thank you very much! Brooke however was ecstatic when we told her she could take them. Christy, Braden's preschool teacher, is a certified red cross instructor, so she is teaching Brooke. I have to admit though, after the first lesson Brooke informed us that she was done; she decided one lesson was all she needed. I wrestled with whether I should let her quit or not, being that she is only 3, but then I decided it would just set up a pattern for life (and its not like I had signed her up for fire breathing lessons). Christy and I did talk about adjusting the lessons a little, so now Brooke is allowed little breaks throughout the lesson and a little time was shaved off; one hour was a long time. Since then, Brooke has made progress, and she enjoys it. In fact, when Rich got home this afternoon, all she could do was brag about her newly acquired swimming skills. Here are some pictures of our little mermaid.

Pure Heaven

Today, I had to go to the dentist, and it was pure heaven; not the actual visit, just the ride to and from the dentist. LaNae was watching the cuties for me, so I got to go solo. It was FANTASTIC!!!!! I got to listen to whatever music I wanted, however loud I wanted, and the best part, without any interruptions! Now that is what you call heaven, at least that is heaven to a mother of 3 young children whose husband has been away all week; Calgon take me away!

Just as a little added extra, here are pictures of the cuties' dentist visits yesterday; yes, I did schedule my own on a different day intentionally, and my sanity is glad that I did!

And what did Emma do the whole time, look cute and get into everything she could get her hands on; you know, typical and adorable Emma.