Halloween 2010

Although many things have happened in our life over the past few months we failed to post them here. At any rate let me tell you about the past couple weeks. Today, we decided it was time to take down the trampoline for the winter. As Wendy and I were in the backyard we sent the girls to decorate the front door with little pumpkins. All of a sudden we hear a thump and Brayden (who was supposed to be taking a nap) crying. As we ran to the front of the house we quickly discovered what the fuss was about.

Braden had pushed the screen out of his bedroom window and took a head dive to the ground - 8 feet below! Wendy and I both said quick prayers in our hearts and checked him over. Considering we have a concrete flower box under his window we were extremely concerned. We count it as a miracle that he has nothing more than a couple bruises (and a whopper of a goose egg) on his head. Can you imagine, falling 8 feet from a window and falling through a bush with no sprained wrists, broken bones, scratches or even a concussion? We put an ice pack on his head and knelt down and said a humbling prayer of thanks. Brayden must have something important in his life to be spared such a fall.

Brayden decided it was time to take a nap at that point. We checked on him regularly to make sure he was still doing well. Miracles do happen. Quite humbling when they happen so close.

Since our neighborhood was doing its annual trunk-or-treat we dressed up and shared our breadsticks at the potluck. Here are some pictures.

Brayden is butt naked which is why he is not standing - potty training in progress.

Since we are sharing here you might as well know we are expecting an additional boy to the above photo round about March 1, 2011.

And Murphy strikes again. . .

Adam mentioned that we just bought a tramp for the kids. They LOVE it! The wonderful thing about having a tramp in the backyard is that when I tell the kids to stay in the backyard they actually obey! Phenomenal! For this reason alone it was worth the money, though we still got a great deal on it. It pays to shop around and watch ksl classifieds.

But life goes on and "Murphy" paid us a visit. (Not meaning any disrespect to my wonderful and adored cousins) For the past year or two I had noticed a hard-water bloom on the foundation wall of the house under the kitchen sink. So we watched it to see if it grew or subsided, it didn't do either. Then two weeks ago when my parents were visiting, my dad rested a hand against the wall of the downstairs guest bedroom while he put his shoes on and the wall just collapsed under him. Oooohhhh, that can't be good. Yeah, it wasn't.

We had a plumber over last week and he diagnosed the problem. We had two hairline cracks in the kitchen drain pipe. And apparently they're pretty old judging by the ruined insulation, wet drywall, and hard water deposits inside the wall. We had a few bids done by reclamation companies who treat mold, and a few calls into our insurance agent, to discover that the cost for said repairs is going to be at least over $1000 out of pocket, possibly more. One bid came in at over $2000. And mold repairs are not covered by most major insurers--those *%^#$*@ insurance companies and their fine print.

I'm reminded of an episode from "The King of Queens" where the Heffernan's find mold in the basement that would cost $12,000 to repair. And apparently Doug was informed of said problem by the agent/seller before closing on the property. When Kari confronts Doug about his "stupidity" he responds with the excuse that mold sounded like a good thing because mold makes excellent gourmet cheeses!

So now, I'm cursing the trampoline and the money we spent on it. Though honestly we didn't pay anywhere near that amount and we did promise the kids we would get them one when our family reached certain milestones. But it always works that way! Just when you save up and buy that more expensive item you're so excited about, "Murphy" sideswipes you with an emergency that hits you in the gut. Not that I'm complaining, it really could be a lot worse. Fortunately, none of us have symptoms from toxic mold, so I'm hopeful that the repair won't be too bad. Here's to calling in the plumber sooner than later.

In a Jam . . .

Our local grocer had a spectacular sale on red raspberries and blackberries so we picked up a couple flats and made about 18 pints of freezer jam. Some raspberry, some blackberry, and some mixed. All of them are good, but the blackberry is outstanding. I never realized how good blackberries are. We are looking forward to the raspberries in our yard to ripen. I can see that they are loaded this year.

By the way, this is what our backyard looked like a couple weeks ago. I will take another picture in a few weeks. With all of the rain lately our garden has been growing quite well. We also added a trampoline at the kids repeated request.

Where we've been

We put our rental house on the market for sale or rent (cue the Boxcar Willie music) this past week. We have had two different families in that house over the past 4 years so it has needed a little sprucing up. Fresh paint, a good washing, new carpet and some flowers make a house just like new. At least we hope so. We haven't minded having renters except when they fail to pay or leave the house unclean. Of course, Wendy and our friend Malissa have cleaned every last inch of that house now. It is amazing how much dust can accumulate over a short period of time. I guess we need to stipulate in our next contract that your cookbook must have the deep fried recipies removed prior to moving in to the house. You would think people consider oil an essential vitamin.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the place.

http://www.utahrealestate.com/949232

Busy Busy Busy. . .

What's been going on the last two months? Well, let me tell you! Christmas was divine, we spent it quietly at our house, enjoyed Christmas dinner (Adam's favorite ham), and played and relaxed. We spent time trying out the new sleds the kids got. And did some fix it projects. In fact, Christmas Eve Adam had all the equipment to replace some baseboard and re-tack some carpet in one of the basement bedrooms that had leaking water last summer. He pulled the baseboard off and noticed some mold growing so he started cutting out the bad drywall. The further he went the worse it got until he had pulled out the bottom half of one whole wall and ripped out all the insulation. Yikes. The verdict is that it looks like we may need to have someone come in and replace all the studs before we can put the wall back together. Adam suspects that water from the roof or sprinklers is pooling against the house which means that he will find himself digging all the dirt away from that foundation wall this summer. Just please don't disturb my favorite lilac bush!! The damage may have extended itself to the bedroom next door meaning that my lovely green guest room might get torn apart as well.

Anyway!! Since that project had to be put on hold I put Adam to work painting our family room a lovely light brown. It is not as dark as the kitchen but in the same color family so it really is pleasant. It makes the whole room brighter. We spent Christmas night painting the family room. Had it all knocked out in about 3 hours. And no taping off. (Man we're good!)

Fast forward to January. We started doing some initial research/preparation for selling our rental house this spring. We know it's not the height of the market but we know it's the right time to do this deal. We spent about three weekends in a row putting tile in the entry and one of the bathrooms. There is more work to do but it's easier to do some things without tenants underfoot. We have scheduled new carpet to be installed the first week of March and plan to have the house ready to go on the market a week later. This has been such a HUGE (and I mean HUGE!!!) learning and growth experience for us. We've learned the most from our mistakes and are grateful that we did enough things right through sheer naivete to keep us from being wiped out like many friends of ours. I recently read "The Richest Man in Babylon" which I have had in my library for years but never got around to reading it. Wow!! The reasons we succeeded in this investment are all outlined in that book. Nice to be able to finally identify what those are! Here's a couple that were pertinent: 1)Set aside ten percent of your monthly income for emergencies, 2)Live within your means and use a budget, 3)When investing don't take on more risk than you have emergency funds to cover, 4) Never invest in things you don't understand or with people who are unscrupulous or naive about the investment. There's more but I don't want to put anyone to sleep.

Now onto February. Our brand new (to us) van started having problems a few weeks ago. Since it's so technologically advanced, the security system is tied to a microchip in the engine deactiving it when the alarm is active. For some reason the alarm has been going haywire whenever we unlock the door meaning that we couldn't start the car. Up til yesterday we've been able to shut off the alarm eventually (after ten minutes of humiliation in a parking lot) and start the car. But not that day. We finally had to disconnect the battery, call a tow truck and have it hauled to a dealership to have the blasted thing repaired. This morning they called and said that the problem was an after-market car alarm that a previous owner had installed. It was messing with the original wiring and causing it to go off at random times. They removed it and the car worked like a charm. YEAH!!! So here's a bit of advice to anyone out there who is thinking about installing some nifty gadget to their car. DO NOT PIMP OUT YOUR CAR! YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WALMART PARKING LOT WITH THREE KIDS WHO ARE TIRED OF WAITING FOR TWO HOURS!

Stay tuned for more CREZY adventures . . . !

Christmas Letter

It's the most wonderful time of the year. . .

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone during this blessed season. We have enjoyed a very nice year and look forward to the coming year with anticipation.

Updates on our family:

Adam: Still working for Freedom Roads, telecommuting from an office in Blaine Jensen RV in Kaysville. The option to move to Chicago is still out there apparently, but we're not really interested. Serves as secretary in the EQ and teaches priesthood, too. He is really good at being Mister Mom in the evenings when I'm at work. It's been a great lesson for him to learn patience and humor at the hands of our three children.

Wendy: Still working for the Postal Service part time and teaching 6 piano students during the day. Oh, and raising three kids on the side! I serve as pianist in Primary and like not having to stress about my calling. (I figure the Good Lord knew this is all I could fit on my plate right now!) I volunteer in Sabrina's classroom once a week and teach Moira pre-school at home.

Sabrina: (5 almost 6) Started Kindergarten this year. Loves school and her teacher. Has had some difficulty with finding consistent friends, but we're trying to teach her to be an independent soul and not NEED someone to make her happy. Out of 23 kids in her class, 7 are girls so she plays with boys a lot. She is reading up a storm and excelling at math and science as well. Very smart kid. She is also enrolled in dance classes but keeps telling me that she'd rather play soccer. I tell her that we can sign her up for soccer after she completes a full term of dance. *grumble grumble*

Moira: (4) Is learning to read and write this year from Mommy and looking forward to starting Kindergarten next year. She loves to sing and play by herself (despite Brayden's invasions) and LOVES dance classes. She can't understand why Sabrina doesn't LOVE dance too. She is a very loving little girl and keeps me company with her precocious conversation. She grew out of her toddler bed this year so we got her a regular twin bed and she thought it was an early Christmas!! She is very grateful for all the wonderful things she has and tells us so repeatedly.

Brayden: (almost 2) Has made great development strides this year. He now has a vocabulary of about 30 words or so. But he makes up for it in being able to out run, out compete, and out maneuver everyone else in the family. He is a true boy and loves to throw balls all around the house, climb and jump off of EVERYTHING and tease his sisters to no end. Just yesterday he split his lip on both sides (in and out) and we were afraid he'd need stitches, but not quite thank heavens. Then this morning he climbed four shelves in my pantry to get at a crystal bowl that holds suckers and dropped it on the floor. It shattered of course, very sad since the bowl had been a wedding present. We are looking forward to Christmas with him since it will be the first one he is really aware of. !! How exciting!!

We are grateful for our testimonies of the restored gospel and of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wish His peace and love upon all of you dear friends and family this season and throughout the coming year.

LOVE, the Bowers

Have some Christmas cheer. . .

Our ward party was last weekend, (much more fun than last years!) and I signed up to bring a jello salad. It had been one of those days, hauling three cranky kids to three different stores to get everything that I needed and finally getting them home for lunch and down for naps. I didn't feel like it but I went ahead and started my jello salad and as I was putting it in the fridge I realized that I had to rearrange a few things to fit the 9x13 pan in. I grabbed the pickle jar and was moving it out of the way when pickle juice started pouring into my jello! AUGHGHH!! I confess that I dropped a few choice expletives at this point. And I was on the point of pouring the whole pan down the drain but remembered that I didn't have any more jello and I would have to go back to the store to get some more (Heaven help me, not another trip!). So I did what any slightly insane, sleep deprived mother of many children would do: I tried it! And I could only sense the faintest hint of pickley something in the background so I said "good enough" and popped it back into the fridge. I eventually added canned fruit and topped the whole thing with cool whip. Voila!!! One lovely-looking jello salad that noone would suspect of hiding other flavors! And the best part, people actually ate it! So there, who says we can't mix vegetables in with jello salads!

Happy Holidays everyone!