Mesa Southwest Museum Field Trip

Friday, I took all the day care kids, Alanna and the grandkids and Jamie to the Museum. This is our third trip. We love it. I'm standing next to Nickolas(4), Jesse(2) and Hailey(3).Tristen, Cameron and Ashlynn posing for me.Tyler, Sierra and Cameron.Alanna with Devon and Regen and Nickolas.
Alanna, Nickolas and Sierra. They worked on this huge floor puzzle along with Jamie.

This was a moving picture and you could stand behind it and we could see them in the movie. Can you find Alanna and Tyler?

In the jail cell, the doors were very heavy and creaked so loud, some of the kids were too afraid to go inside.


There is a really neat feature outside, the kids get to pan for gold. They would have spent more time out here, but they were getting soaked and it was so hot. Below is Tristen, Nickolas, Tyler, Ashlynn, and Hailey.
Cameron was showing me his little pieces of gold.Jamie and the kids.
Alanna is helping Jesse and Hailey.There is a room in the Museum that has games, puzzles and many more activities, here Jamie and Tyler are playing Dinosaur checkers.

Alanna and Ashlynn This was so cool to look at.

Regen was done sitting in the stroller.
Jesse is measuring his foot compared to a dinosaur foot print.

A big scary T-rex, he's animated an roars!

Thirty Happy Years!

Today we are celebrating our 30th anniversary. I am the luckiest person to have found such a wonderful man whom I have had the opportunity to share five fantastic children with, and now, nine terrific grandchildren. We have lived in Denver, Colorado (three times), Ft. Polk, Louisiana, Fort Hood, Texas, Fairbanks, Alaska (twice) and presently, Phoenix, Arizona for the last seven years.

We have had a few trials in our thirty years, but they have only seasoned us and made us stronger. We are so blessed to have such wonderful and supportive families who have been such a wonderful example to us, and who have been there when we needed them. Thankyou to both of our parents for believing in us and living your lives in such a manner that we could pattern ours after.

I'm very grateful for the knowledge that we share in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That has been the foundation and cornerstone of our marriage, and I believe, is what gives us the strength to endure our trials and gives is hope for our future, not only in this life but through the eternities. I love you so much Kirk, thank you for thirty wonderful years and I'm looking forward to many, many more years to come.

Girls Camp

Alanna left this morning at 7:30 for Girls Camp at Camp Lo Mia, about 3 hours north east of Phoenix. She will be gone until next Monday. She invited a non-member friend who goes to Young Womens with her, so she was happy to have a buddy. Jennifer went also, she's lived here as long as we have, she is 16 now and will be with the older girls so that will give Alanna a break. Jenn is verrrryyyy intense, but is super excited to be with the girls and experience camp for the first time. This is Alannas second year, we had fun sewing pajama pants to match all the girls in our ward, and buying all the camping essentials. I left my camera at Tylers aunts house so I don't have any pictures to post, but will snap a few when I pick her up on Monday.

Devons been sick for almost two weeks with an ear infection with a miserable cough and cold, and now Regen has a yucky nose and April and Alanna are sounding stuffy. Hopefully Alanna can kick it quick and won't be too miserable at camp.

April leaves Saturday for Alaska for almost two weeks. She is the Maid of Honor to her best friend Heidi...they've been friends since Jr. High. She is excited to go back to Fairbanks, but is not too happy about flying, the doctor prescribed her something for flying, hopefully it works for her. I get to watch Devon full time, hope he feels better soon.

Hope everyone is doing well... love, Debbie

Lake Tahoe

We went for a day trip to Lake Tahoe yesterday for Memorial Day. The nurses said the girls were going to be in the hospital for sure a few more days, so we decided to go. I don't remember ever seeing such clear beautiful water. The colors were spectacular, many different shades of green and blue. It was snowing above 8,000 feet, we drove through a white out. The weather was cloudy and about 50 degrees. We got out and walked through some of the tourist shops and took a few pictures and had lunch. It was really nice and beautiful.
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I loved the size of the trees and pinecones. It was so green and pretty and smelled so fresh, kind of like camping.

The babies are soooo cute!!!

I arrived in Reno Friday night and after finding my lost luggage, we finally made it to Michelle and Barry's around 12:30 am. It's been cold, overcast and drizzly...very weird weather. We went to see the girls Saturday morning and I was able to hold and feed Chantrell first, then Brenna. They are so sweet and small and cuddly. They are both so close to coming home, they just want to make sure that they are eating enough and gaining weight.

This is me holding Chantrell after her dad fed her and her mom bathed her. Isn't she sooooo cute!!! They removed her feeding tube.

This is Brenna after Michelle gave her a bath, she was crying and so in went the binky.

Michelle rolled Chantrell out of her towel after she bathed her and I couldn't resist her nakey bottom, they are so perfect and pink and plump.

This is a video of Chantrell, if you have a weak stomach, maybe you better not watch...no babies were harmed in the making of this video :)

Don't worry, here's Chantrell after her bath, all safe and sound, and no feeding tube.

Chantrell again, looking so content. I'll keep you all updated and will send more pictures later.

Happy Mother's Day 2008

I'm posting almost a week late, but I had a wonderful Mother's Day and hope everyone else did too. Kris and Jamie came over on Saturday with Kaleb, Kylee and Cameron and we celebrated Mother's Day with them. Kaleb and Kylee were going to be leaving for Alaska for the summer so it was nice to spend the day with them. On Sunday, Ashley, Regen, April, Devon, Aubrey, David, Kirk, Alanna and myself celebrated after church. Kirk made Salmon Foil Packet Dinners that went out to the grill. Inside the packet was salmon, cherry tomatoes and asparagas. Oh... were they good, then he made garlic mashed potatoes and Aubrey made a beautiful layered fruit, angel cake and pudding desert.

Kris and Jamie and kids gave me this bamboo place mat and runner set and the candle holder...so cool.

April gave me this beautiful bouqet of Irises, it was so spectacular and I should've taken a picture of them on Sunday, today they're starting to turn, darn. Alanna gave me a bath and body gift card...a-shopping I'm a-going, yah. I also cut may hair, I love it, so easy to care for and nice and cool too, long hair in Phoenix summers is unbearable.I picked out eight shrubs, the other 4 are in the front. You can also see the extension of our patio the Kirk and his father built, I love it, as you can see, it's shady there now and all day long because of our patio roof and the grass wouldn't grow there. When we watered, we had mud and black mold, so hopefully the grass will fill in the patches. and the shrubs will fill in and give a nice mini privacy hedge and be a pretty divider. The shrub has tiny purple flowers.Aubrey and David gave me this pretty frame, I still have to put pictures in it and they also gave me new cutlery, yah!! We had the missionaries over for dinner Monday and it was so nice to be able to set the table with matching silverware.Ashley gave me this new frame for my wall, I need to add my own pictures to this one too. Isn' t it awesome.

Hopefully everyone is doing well, I would love to hear from Lisa, Brett, Kay-Lynn and Mom, time to update your blogs or send new emails. Love to everyone, Debbie

Crazy week!

It has been awhile since I posted, I have all kinds of excuses ranging from school, to watching day care kids, plus grandkids, plus my own kids, and planning for another wedding....so, now with one class and final left, the wedding over, I have a small free moment to say hi. It was so much fun to have Jen, Brian and Zoey stay here for the wedding. It was total chaos as we had all the grandkids stay over and we had to get them ready for the wedding and transported on time for pictures. Jen just laughed and said it helped her homesickness, it reminded her of all the crazy, chaotic times at the Bowmans. We also had Vern and Mary(Kirks parents) come from Houston for the wedding. They left this morning, it was really good to visit with them and Kris and Jamie really appreciated having everyone come for the wedding.
This past month we had to have a dryer vent specialist come out and clean the vent that leads to the outside ( I didn't even know such a service was offered until I saw the truck down the street) Our dryer had not been drying efficiently for some time. So, he came out and an hour and a half later, he said after pulling out birds nest and all kind of packed debris and lint, it was probably the worst he had ever seen. Needless to say, our clothes are drying much quicker. While Kirks parents were here, Vern helped Kirk lay a small brick patio extension, fix the pool pump, and fix the hot tub. Today, the bee guy is coming...yes, we have bees again, luckily they're in the front eaves, far down the front sidwalk far away from the interior of the house. It has definitely been busy.

Baby Shower

I'm finally posting my pictures of the baby shower. I was busy orchestrating the games, I should have put Aubrey or Alanna in charge of the camera. I did get a few, so here they are. The cake was so cute and all the decorations were adorable. Michelle looks so happy.

We are playing measure the tummy game, everyone is guessing how long they should tear their piece of toilet paper to go around Michelles tummy. Her tummy measured 14 pieces of Charmim toilet paper. Alanna won the game after three way tie with David and Ashley.
Here is Lisa and Brian guessing how long they should leave theirs.
Aubrey and David decided they needed a live model to measure their piece of toilet paper on, so David accepted the job.

The next game was the poopy diaper game, here is Aubrey examing the contents.
Here, Michelle is showing everyone the lovely poop (candy bar). The object of the game was to guess what kind of candy bar was in each diaper. There were six to choose from.Sometimes the only way to guess is, you got it, yummy!!!It was good to see everyone, we missed Erica and family, but we're glad that Vince and Anna are on the mend. We also missed Brett and Family and of course Mom and Tiff. It would have been awesome if everyone could've been there, but we know you were there in spirit and we had a great time and good food.