A birthday wish come true

I know it is almost a month since her birthday. I know I didn't take any pictures at all. I know, I know, I know. And that is what makes this post suck that much more. However, Abbey said it was the best one yet!

We decided to take our ENTIRE tax return, and go to Utah for Abbey's birthday. We went for a week. We saw all of the family out west including driving up to Idaho to see Bryon and his family. It was a world wind trip. Brent and I even saw Grandad for a whole 3 hours! (He flew in to ordain Will to a high priest). Wow it was a great trip but back to the birthday girl

Abbey is now 9! WOW I have really mixed feelings about it too. On one hand, I am so glad she is growing up. She helps me out so much with Jackson. She is so smart and it shows, and she is one of the most compassionate 9 year old I know. She is always willing to help out with the kids, and is now dabbling in the art of cooking with me at dinner. I have had to hand over the reins a little bit too. I know she is still a little young, but I want to encourage her learning to cook. Last night in fact, she helped me make spagetti. I wish I took some pics while we were in Utah, but I didn't bring my camera. We went to church and then had spagetti at Pennie's. Then that evening the Oakesons came out for brownies and ice cream. It was great to see everyone.

So for now, big girl, I love you. Dad loves you too. We know that you will become a beautiful daughter of your Heavenly Father. While we get to raise you, you will be in our hearts and prayers everyday. You are on your way to be a great young woman with a personality that everyone will crave to be around. You are such a great girl already!

Love you

Mom

Just because she so knows me

Okay so this is an email I got from an awesome friend who just knows how to brighten my day. I love you Dene.

This just goes to show how much I really don't have any secrets! Especially about being messy!

I was a little bored today so I Googled myself - yes, that's right, I Googled "Dene Brooke." I like to see what other people see if they were to ever Google me.

Well, imagine my surprise when I saw something about Dene Brooke recipes. You are so funny. You do know that I don't make them up, right. I just change

the names (sometimes) and then make it so often that everyone thinks it's mine.

There's a new one I tried called Cake Balls. So easy and the kids would have fun making them. Found it on a blog called Bakerella.

I used a box Red Velvet cake. Bake it according to the instructions on the box. Don't get fancy and make layers - just a regular

cake pan. After the cake has completely cooled, crumble it up (yes, Katie, with your hands) into a big bowl. Then take a can of

cream cheese frosting - see, I didn't even have to get anything dirty making the frosting because I used the ready made kind.

Anyway, mix that can of frosting in with the crumbled cake. Come on, Katie, let the kids do it with their hands. You might even

need to get your hands dirty too.

After the frosting and cake are completely combined then roll it into small balls and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with

wax paper. Put the cookie sheet with the cake balls on them in the fridge - or the freezer to speed up the process. When they are

cooled and set enough - melt some Almond Bark - the same stuff you use for the Elk Droppings. Roll the cake balls in the melted

Almond Bark so they are completely covered.

Depending on the season you could melt some white Almond Bark and put food coloring in it and drizzle it over the chocolate covered cake ball,

Like pink and red for Valentine's day, green for St. Patrick's day, Red, white and blue for 4th of July, or red and green for Christmas.

Whitney is make this for her Book Club in Columbia. They are reading Twilight - again. Whitney is going to call them "Blood Balls."

Can you believe she sent that? Well I can. I love you Dene!

My little Phineas and Ferb addiction

Okay so if you have kids, you have to have seen at least one episode of Phineas and Ferb. I think it is hilarious and of course Jackson absolutely loves it. I know he is only 4 months old. But I can put him in front of something else and he cries. Phineas and Ferb, he is kicking his legs when they sing, and totally in awe the rest of the time. Even Brent has his favorite episodes. Dr. Dufinschmirtz is his favorite!

So in honor of Phineas and Ferb, here are my favorite clips.

Squirrels in my pants

Gitchi Gitchi Goo
Busted
And Brents being the one where Isabella has her tonsils out. Dr. Dufinschmirtz is the best in that one.

When I figure out how to post the video on here I will. But for now please look at them on Youtube. They are hilarious!!!!

March Madness

I know if you are a college basketball person then you know what March Madness is, and believe me we do too! GO WILDCATS! But that is not the meaning of this post.

March is just going to be absolutely crazy for us. Hunter and Caroline started Tball and Baseball this week, we have piano on Tues., Branch presidency, Work, and Girls camp planning, and Abbey's birthday to look forward to. Oh yeah and we are going to Utah for a week at the end of the month.

Needless to say we are going to be busy.

I also moved to a new salon. I was a little nervous about the move, but I am so happy there! The owner is so good to me. She lets me come and go as I need to. I have learned a lot from every stylist there. All of them are totally okay with me asking questions, and observing if I am not busy. They say they have even learned from me too! That makes me feel good.

Jackson turned 16 weeks on Sat. He just got his 4 month shots and did great. He is sleeping through the night which is awesome. He is such a good baby! He is so happy and loves his entire family. Brent said that J.J. likes him more than the others did at this age, but that isn't true. They all loved him and being with him, he was just gone a lot so it didn't seem like it. Now however, Jackson is quite content with just hangin with dad.

Caroline's reading is coming along great! I am so proud of her. She has worked really hard to get better at reading. Now if we can just stop kissing boys in class and getting caught we will be okay.......

Hunter is amazing! He is such a great student. He brought home his report card with straight A's I was so proud. He loves to read which is great and his math is just like dad so what can I say. Super stud Tip is on a roll.

Abbey is busy studying for FCAT (State standardizing tests). She is working really hard to do well on the tests. She just wrote a 2 page paper on Teddy Roosevelt and it turned out really well. Her piano is coming along just great. We have an excellent piano teacher who is also in the primary at church. Abbey has been playing for us at FHE and doing a great job. Her next recital will be coming up soon I can't wait.

As for Brent and me we are just trying to keep our heads above water with the kids right now. We love having them active and doing things, it just takes it's toll on us old foagies. But we love it.

Paul moved in with us this week and is hilarious. I really did miss having the Irwins around and now we will be getting them back with us. Paul will be staying with us until the end of the school year when Stacey will bring the kids down to live in Florida. I am so excited to have them around again.

Well Go Cats. Go Craigs. March Madness here we come!

In the spirit of Valentines day

Brent and I met the night of Brent's homecoming. After serving a mission in Jacksonville Fl.

He came to a YSA dinner (not official) but we were all there from the singles ward. He came in with another girl named Holly. They were not dating, just lived in the same home ward. She brought him to the dinner and game night but left him hanging all by himself! Me being the not so shy person that I am, walked right up to him and said, "Hi, my name is Katie" Brent being the new guy says in the most southern of accents "Hi, my name is Brent"

OOOHHHH, I love me some southern accent!

That night I hung out with him. He played some games with the crowd (I know now that he would never play those cheesy games ever again, but he played them none the less).

We said good night and he was gone just as fast as he came.

The next night was family night. We met in the mountains for a bonfire FHE. Brent was there when I got there!!! Yea! I was all dressed up in my work clothes, but I still had fun. Brent was sitting by the fire and I went to sit by him. We started talking but then he said that he was kinda warm by the fire and he excused himself to go sit by a picnic table. Me not wanting to show him how much I liked him waited a few min. before going to sit by him again. Next he asked if he could ask me a weird question. I said sure. He then asked if I liked professional wrestling. The funny thing was, that I did. My dad used to watch it and it was one of the things I still remember about him. So it wasn't that weird to me. Any way we ended up talking most of the night.

Tuesday that week, we played volleyball. The YSA's were all there. No Brent. So I asked if anyone had his phone number to call and invite him out. Luckily someone did. So Brent came and we had a blast playing Volleyball.

Wednesday that week we went to SLCC to a murder mystery night. Of course I positioned myself next to Brent (are we seeing a pattern here? I am not a stalker!) The actors did a great play, and on the dinner tables, there were these note cards. On them they read, Who did it? Who died? Motive? So after we all filled them out, there were a few left on the table. I snatched one up and wrote the following:

Who did it? Katie Bowman

Who died? Brent Craig

Motive? He wouldn't ask for her phone number!

I turned it over and slid it in his direction.

INTERCEPTION! I friend of mine grabbed it, and read it. Then he flipped it back down, slid it over to Brent and said "hey man you need to read this" So Brent picked it up, and read it. Then finally he leaned over to me and said "so whatcha doin on Monday? Do you want to come over and watch Monday night RAW?" Of course I do!!!
"sure that sounds great"

So on Monday night, I go to his house. I ring the bell and he is home alone. We go to the basement to watch tv. His parents were supposed to be home anytime.

Every red flag in my YW head is going off. No one home, in the basement. WHAT??? Oh well he is cute!

So we go to the basement and about 30 min later, his parents are home. His mom comes downstairs to introduce herself and I instantly loved her! She was so nice. His dad was parking the car. So then Brent's dad comes downstairs. UMMMMM WHAT THE HECK?

"well hi sister Bowman, I really enjoyed your talk last month, how have you been?"

"very well thank you sir."

"Okay well you kids have fun. See you later"

"Okay..."

and they go upstairs

My heart is pounding. Brent's dad is the high councelman for my home ward!!!

So I say to Brent "you could have told me your dad was a high councelman!"

"oh I thought you figured that out"

"dude, Craig is a pretty common name"

"oh, sorry"

And so at the end of RAW, he walks me to my car and asks if he can call me again. I said sure. and then he leaned in and kissed me goodnight! WOW!!!! He finally got that I liked him!

Brent and I saw each other everyday after that crazy week. We dated steady for a month and then he asked me to marry him. We continued to see each other everyday until he went to Owensboro for a week. Longest week of my life, but he came home to me.

We met on Oct. 11th, and were engaged by Thanksgiving, and were married on May 13th. This year we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary! I am so happy to have him in my life! I love him and he is truly my best friend. He makes me laugh everyday. And I am glad to have him as my eternal companion. We have a beautiful family and I am so happy that he is the priesthood holder in my home.

I love you Moneymaker!!!!!

Gulf Breeze, Florida, Local Weather

Gulf Breeze, Florida, Local Weather

Quilts by Katie

So funny story. Well not really funny just coinsedental I guess.

I started reading my girlfriends blog and she happened to post about quilting. I had been thinking of this post for a while, and now I have to post it to show off my new amazing hobby

Liz turned me into a quilter I guess. I was looking for a baby quilt for the baby and couldn't find one that I liked. So Liz said, "why don't you make one? They are not that hard and you get to pick the fabric".. Yeah, Liz, I don't even sew the button's on Brents pants.....

After some encouraging words and her promise to help me I went to the fabric store. I spent like 3 hours picking out the right fabric's (its hard to pick out the ones that all go together) Anyway, after picking out fabric Liz said okay lets go home and rip them up/

WHAT??? Rip $40 worth of fabric? um Liz, are you sure?

Yep, it gives the straightest lines.

Okay....

So we rip and then she says,"Now you have to iron the strips"
Ahhhh, Liz, I don't even own and iron!

Ok, you can borrow mine

So here I am ironing and finding that this is not what I signed up for at all

Then the fun part started. Liz had this book that walks you through how to make a "Log Cabin" quilt. I loved this book! It made sewing the squares a piece of cake!

So after the squares were made, I had to sew them together. Not hard at all.

Then I had to put the batting and back on and pin each center square to the back.

Then Liz taught me to hand quilt. Not hard just time consuming

After that was done, we added the binding. (This was the hardest part) just because the binding can slide. YOu have to keep it pinned on and sew over the pins. But the finished product was one of my proudest "Homemaker" moments

So Liz made the comment, "I have to warn you, that this is an addicting hobby" sure, Liz....

WEll it is and as soon as I finished JJ's I started on one for Stacey's baby

And I loved it too!

As I was finishing Stacey's, Brent said "when will you make me something?" "You always make things for other people, when can I have something?" So I embarked on my hardest project yet.
A king size quilt for our bed with Utah fabric and KY fabric. After having Pennie and Rosie get the most important pieces, I was off. It is not finished yet. I sewed the squares together and sewed the top together, now all I need to do is the borders and finish the edges off and my crowning achievement is done.

I have to say that this is my new favorite thing to do. In fact I might be embarking on a huge project here, but I can't post it just yet. I will let you know soon