Gotta Love Them Reunions!

These 3 day reunions seem to work with us. The Ashton side had one 2 years ago. Now the Fowlers got together last weekend to hang out and have some fun. There was even a little Reiki involved one day, which unfortunately I have no pictures of.
Here's some hard evidence of the fun we had:

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Three of my cute nieces on our way to catch us some fish at Arlington. Notice the girls all have our Fowler Love pink T's on.


Building a fire to roast some Hot-dogs/Some Mores.
I can remember 4 years ago, it was this very spot that Austin tried to create a fire without our supervision using lighter fluid. Flames rising 15 to 20 feet in the air. Major major trouble that kid.


Look at these precious Grandkiddos. One day they'll be bringing their own little families to the 3 day Fowler Fest. This is where it all started...




And... I saved the best for last. Granddad and Grandmother with all The Originals. Some more original than others I might add. Take note of the boy in the center doing the splits. Ouch. That's what years of being a Master Yoga Instructor will get you. Photos like this. I wanted them to do something crazy. Make a silly face. Maybe show some funny expression.
Who followed through here? Is this as crazy as it gets folks?

I'm glad I could hook up with this fine family...I love them all.

Top 10 reasons to visit NYC with your 12 year old.

Following a tradition that we started with Ace, BWD and I took Coby on his 12 year old vacation.
We chose NYC again because it's like visiting 6 countries for the price of one.
Here's the top 10 reasons why you should consider going here with your little loved one:

1. If you love to people watch, there is no better place, period. We saw and heard people from all over the world! Anything goes here. You can dress any way you want, look at freaky as you want--you not only fit right in but you are embraced.
2. Conquer your fears. Take a 30 minute walk down 125th street and Harlem and see what it feels like to be the only Caucasian around. Be led into a dark alley by a little Chinese lady trying to avoid the police so you can buy a Coach knock-off. Ride in a taxi.
   
3. The Pizza. The Soups. The Pies. The Sandwiches. The Breads. The pounds you will gain will be well worth it. Coby especially liked the cannolis.
   
4. You will appreciate good old home conveniences like hopping in your car to get to the grocery store in 5 minutes, being able to see for miles and miles, and the smells around you.
5. Visit all the places you've read about in books or have seen in movies. Grand Central Station, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, NYC Library, Apollo Theater, Broadway, Empire State Building, SoHo, Ground Zero and Wall Street.
6. Learn how to commute by Train, Subway, Taxi, Bike Carriage and Ferry. And of course, Foot. We walked miles and miles each day.
7. Phantom of the Opera. Fabulous.
   
8. Laying down in a comfy bed at the end of the day. Even more Fabulous.
9. The Manhattan Temple. Truly an escape from the chaos around it. And the guard outside the door is totally entertaining.
10. You will leave there with a new found love and appreciation for your own cost of living.

We heart NYC.

A Change is a Comin'

Lots of changes around here these days, that's left us with well, less change.
First BWD's car broke down. Starter. BWD tried to fix it, but alas...1,000 dollars later...it was fixed.

Next, our dryer. I had a feeling about this one when I saw a pencil go down the lint catcher. Any other dryer might have not had an issue with this but ours was 17 plus years old and that just did it in. BWD tried to fetch it out but he couldn't. Another couple of thousand dollars later we got a brand new beautiful set. I'm not so sad about that pencil now as my clothes have never been more clean and dry.

Then our vacuum broke. There was no replacing this because BWD actually fixed this one. Thing is now that there is no ON/OFF switch. Ya gotta be ready to go when you plug that bad boy in.

Coby turned twelve last week as well! This is going to cost us a chunk of change because we are keeping with tradition and going on a big vacation with just BWD, me and Coby. He wanted to go to NYC which was so much fun with Ace, so we are more than happy to go there again. We'll be staying with my brother Keith and his cute family.
For his birthday, he invited a few friends to spend the day with. They rode their bikes to McDonald's, ate lunch, then went on a scavenger hunt at the mall, then we all drove to this really cool place called Castlewood Canyon. They have these waterfalls that you can play around in and they all had a total blast. With the exception of Austin getting lost as we were hiking there and having the rangers go out to find him, it was a great day. UNTIL we started for home. We got caught in a total hail/rain storm accompanied by streets flooding. I felt like pulling over and crying but instead I chanted "please get us home" until we pulled into our neighborhood.
All in all though, a fun birthday for a fun kid. Coby You Rock.

Here's some of my favorite things about him:
1. Self motivated. But especially motivated by sweets.
2. Can pack a bag like a pro.
3. His Faux Hawk.
4. His piano playing.
5. I've never hand to remind him to do his homework or study for a test or practice piano.
6. He's sense of humor is great, he makes us laugh all the time.
7. Very organized and very reliable.
8. Loves chocolate with a passion.

Also, I have to mention a pretty cool phenomenon. Sydie pulled me outside telling me I "have to see this" and I'm thinking she found a red ant or a weird looking spider or something. We go across the street to my neighbor's house and I couldn't believe my eyes!
Hundreds and Hundreds and Hundreds of ladybugs. All over every leaf and branch. I've never seen anything like it. It was kind of freaky; like Amityville Horror but with ladybugs. And since Ladybugs are a good omen, I'm thinking GOOD change will be coming our way. :)

Getting Even

Always starts innocent. Someone throws a small little snowball that just shaves the side of someone's leg. Then all hell breaks loose! Every man/child for themselves! See Coby going in for the kill? He's going to take that snowball and & aim for BWD's head!
He shoots, He scores!!!! The look on BWD's face is priceless. Watch out Coby!



After all was said and done Coby might have gotten the worst of it.
But he started it!

Now, if some of you can't afford to go to the spa and lay in a mud bath, here's the next best thing according to Ace. Snow Burial. He describes it as peaceful and relaxing.
Katrina tried it and described it as cold.


We'll be remembering this day when it's 100 degrees outside and we wish it would snow...

Sydie is finally Seven

The long awaited day came and went...Sydie's birthday!
We had a great day together.
She requested blueberry muffins for breakfast and I delivered.
She wanted her nails done (from a professional) so we (including Katrina) went there after breakfast.
While the girls were getting their nails done, I got my peds cured. I thought, what the heck, haven't had them done since last summer so I might as well!
The lady who sat me down in the chair was sick, hacking, coughing, blowing her nose, which should have made me turn and run but I didn't.
She proceeded to snort up the snot and hawk it. Is there a word for this besides disgusting? She did this twice. The first time I was mortified. The second time I closed my eyes as not to see the stuff coming out into the garbage can. Then she cut my pinky toe with her file and shortly afterward put alchohol on it. I tried not to scream but winced and bit my lip.
The girls loved their nails though--I guess it wasn't ALL bad.

Sydie wanted to go to Hawiia for her birthday. So instead we played Hawiian music, threw some umbrellas into the cupcakes and served Hawiian Haystacks to make up for the fact that we couldn't.
Here are some of my favorite things about this 7 year old o'mine.

• She is always writing me love notes. Today's read: " I love my Mom. My mom is the best mom ever. I love her so much and I will love her forever."
• She loves to play cars but she is extremely girly girl too.
• She has such a sweet disposition. She usually does what we ask her to do without arguing.
• She gives out hugs to all of us all the time.
  
• She reminds me to buckle my seatbelt.
• She can lip sync and dance like a rockstar.
• She gets in cleaning moods quite often. Usually right before going to bed.
• And before going to bed she always says "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite and choose the right". Every time.
  

So Happy Birthday Sydie Dear. You are my Sunshine!

Fried

So yesterday a little before 3:00 I decided to highlight my hair. I usually don't attempt to do this kind of thing right before my kids get home from school, but I had the urge so I just went ahead.
I wanted to be quite a bit blonder so I used the highest level of peroxide and this light blonde color and weaved away. Chunky weave btw.
I checked about 30 minutes & it wasn't quite done. Normally, you leave this kind of thing on for around 45 minutes at the most, so I thought I'd rinse it in 15 minutes or so. That's when things went wrong.
Sydie needed help with homework, Coby wanted to make Chocolate chip cookies, & I realized I needed to start the dinner right then or I wouldn't get the chance later. Well, needless to say my window to rinse my hair passed. Next thing I know, Katrina is telling me she'll be late for gymnastics if we didn't go right then.
I dropped off Katrina and raced home as it was now 4:45. My color had been on for an hour and and 30 minutes. For those of you who need help with the math that's TWICE as long as it should have been. Oh well, I thought, it can't be that bad. HA.
I washed it, combed it out and started to blow it try to see the end result.
As I'm drying my hair I notice it started to look and feel different. I looked at my brush and screamed. What was this white weird-ish substance on my brush! I took a closer look to find that my hair was breaking off about about 3 inches from my scalp and the ends were fried. FRIED I tell you. What was on my brush resembled what looked like really fine melted plastic. I basically disintegrated my hair!!! This is bad for a person with oodles of hair, but for someone like me that has a total of 250 hairs on her whole head this is beyond a disaster.
It's bad people. BAD. Next time you see me I may have a pixie cut. UGH.

MEMORIES of Moab

Our Spring Break family vacation turned out to be even more fun than I thought! Quite a few families from our ward and surrounding wards went out to run the half marathon. We ended up being able to stay in these cabins with everyone and not only had family but friend time too. Our kids had a blast and I'm thinking this will be an annual event for us.
Here are the top 6 happenings of the trip:

• Got to sign up (late) to run in the 5 mile race! It was a fun race to run in, & the weather was perfect.
• Learned just how much Katrina talks in her sleep. Just about every hour she was shouting something out. She seems to get out her frustrations in her sleep.
• Treated rashes on 3 of 4 of my kids from the hot tubs. Turned out that quite a few other kiddos got them too. Neosporin and Benedryl did the trick to fix it.
• Hiked Delicate Arch and listened to Sydie cry about climbing up the trail the whole way. She did get distracted by a lizard or two which was lovely. Once we hit shade she felt a lot better.
  
• Visited a place called Hidden Arch which is a MUST-see. It's basically a .5 mile walk down to this really soft cool sand that's enclosed within these rock walls and towers with a cute little arch within that kids climbed on top of. Our kids favorite spot for sure. We tried to revisit it the next day but that day happened to be a lot colder and WINDY. And I mean Windy. It was a like a scene from Hildalgo. People had wrapped themselves with blankets where you could just see their eyes in order to not get the sting of the sand hitting you from every direction. Not worth it. We basically got back into the car and ended up sitting it out in the cabin until the winds let up.
• ATV-Monday. Everyone either rented (like us) or brought up their ATV's and we basically went out all day to a couple of different spots and had a total party. Favorite place and most beautiful scenary was by far Onion Creek. Loved loved loved it.