May Day in Mendon.....

Well, it was time to go "Straying and Maying" in Mendon again. This year was the 147 year for the traditional Mendon May Day. But when we woke up, this is what we found. Really....Haven't we had enough??????

Katie was part of the May Day court and she had to get up early to get ready. She looks happy for early on a Saturday. The rain didn't ruin the hair. She really looked beautiful all day.
The May Day Celebration starts on Friday Night with a community dance. The queen and her court get introduced and then they get to dance. After that they get to dance with their Moms and Dads. Eric really looks forward to getting to dance with his girls.
Katie and Eric danced to the Song "Butterfly Kisses" and Eric didn't even cry. It was pretty exciting. It is fun to live in a small community with such long running traditions.

Katie actually danced the Maypole for 5 years when she was in elementary school and she liked seeing the queen and her court every year.

This year she got to be in the court and when we were leaving the church one of the little Maypole dances said..."Look mommy! There is the Princess..."

Katie waved good-bye to her new-found little fan.

The little girl squealed, "Mommy! She waved back to me!"

I think it reminded us all that we are being watched and looked up t0... especially when you look like a princess.

On Saturday Morning all the young girls in town braid the May pole. They had to do it twice this year since we had to do it in the gym and there wasn't enough room to do all 5 polls at once.

Grandma June is "Mrs. Mayday" she leads everyone singing the May Day songs. So she was pretty excited to have another granddaughter in the court.

And Charlie came to see the Princess too...

All in All it turned out to be a pretty fun day.

It's Dance Season Too....

It has also been Dance season the last little while. Katie didn't dance this year, but Erin did. She is dancing in four different competition numbers this year. So we thought maybe you would like to see one. This is her Hip Hop dance. We were kind of far away so it is hard to tell which one is Erin. You just have to look for the red pony tail. Good Luck!! Hope you enjoy.

Toe Update......

This is so so so gross we had to share. This is Katie's pore big toe. The doctor cut her toenail off again. This is the third time this pore toe has had to grow a new nail. She should be able to wear a shoe sometime this week. We don't know if that will be before the end of the softball season. Katie is just happy she got to keep her whole toe and it doesn't hurt quite as bad as it used to.

Season Ender???????

The softball season came to an abrupt end for Katie last week when she tried to get an out at second base and the other team slid into her toe. The same toe she lost the nail on last year. It looks worse this year. She goes to the Dr. in the morning. MC has only won 1 game this year. It has been a long..long...long season.

Oh well, I guess there is always next year.

It's Official......

WE HAVE POM-POMS!!!!

Charlie Came to Visit....

Charlie came to visit all day Saturday. His Mom and Dad made plans and we got to tend Charlie while they were gone. We were all a little nervous because the last few times he has come to Nanna and Papa's house it hasn't gone well. Charlie missed his Mom and Dad and cried the whole time they were gone. I guess he finally decided he likes us because he only cried for about 2 minutes and then we played all the rest of the day. It was soooo...much fun. He must of had a good day too. His mom said he slept for 12 hours that night. I guess we wore him out, but we sure did have a great day with Charlie.

Softball News.......

Well, MC finally got to play some softball this week. The girls are playing 4 games this week. It has been a little bit of a stressful softball season so far. We were hoping that Katie being a Junior this year would get some varsity playing time but so far it had not proved to be the case. Katie was feeling bad because she was the only Junior that hadn't played any varsity innings this season. But she decided to keep her head in the game and keep practicing hard. Her Dad promised her that if she just kept working hard she would be ready if she got her opportunity. She became the teams biggest support. She cheered that loudest and the longest. She has kept her head in the game and tried really hard to stay positive. Then a couple of days ago she got her courage up and asked her coach what she needed to do to get to play. They told her it was her batting that was holding her back. So she just kept working on her bat (we already new she could bat). So she was just patient. I have to say she was much more patient than her mother. Then yesterday she finally got her opportunity. They put her in the fifth inning. Playing third base, the first inning out in the field she got a pretty put out on a bunt play. Then when she came to the plate she hit a beautiful single up the middle that scored a run. The next time up she hit an even more beautiful double over the right fielder's head, and then came around the bases to score. Mountain Crest lost 13 to 4, but Katie helped to score 2 of their 4 runs. Then, in the Herald Journal this morning it said that the one bright spot in MC's game was their hitting, "Katie Bowen had a great day at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with a double and a single." She made the paper. It was great day in Bowen Softball history. It just goes to show, you just need to keep working hard and be ready for your opportunities. YEA FOR KATIE!!!!!!

OK...OK...I'm back

I know it has been along time since I wrote. I must say we have had a long, dreary, and relatively uneventful winter. But just lately life has started to pick up again.


We knew when softball season came along we wouldn't have a coach in the family but we were pretty sure we would still have a mustang player. Katie was a little nervous at tryouts. But she made the team again. Now, if it would just stop snowing so they could play a game (or even practice outside). She has been to St. George to play a few games. But that was about a month ago. Hopefully they will play at Woods Cross tomorrow. I guess we will see what tomorrow's weather brings.

Congrats To Kate!!!!!

So, a couple of weeks after Softball tryouts Erin brought home a stack of papers from school and wrote an interesting note on the calendar. "Cheer Clinic and tryouts" WHAT!!!!!!!! Erin surprised us all and decided to try out for MCHS cheerleader. She took a lot of teasing from her siblings. But she was determined. She filled out all the papers in the application, and got an OK at her physical. Then she was off to 3 days of Cheer clinics. She also had three sleepless nights with practicing cheers late into the night. It all paid off. Erin made the Cheer squad for the 2009-2010 seasons. I think Katie was even a little excited for her at the introduction assembly at school.




Congrats To Erin!!!!

It's About Time

OK....It has been long enough I need to catch you all up on our lives. We last left off at Erin's birthday...After Erin's birthday and before school started we decided to go on a little vacation. We got a free Condo in McCall Idaho. So we loaded up the mini van with Eric, Terri, Katie, and Erin and headed north to Idaho.
Now you might ask, what is in McCall Idaho? I know we were asking...Here is what we found.
First of all they drive funny in Idaho......This picture was taken through the windsheild of our car. It was a little weird to look up to see a truck heading toward you...





Erin and Katie bought Crayons and Coloring books and those fuzzy marker posters to entertain themselves on the almost 6 hour ride.

This is what we found in McCall. It was beautiful. We had so much fun. I think we were all sad when we had to come home.






We rented a kayak and a canoe, we went swimming and we skipped rocks











The next day we got a wave runner and we went to the beach.











We played all day and we watched the Olympics at night and then when we got home it was time to do the Corn.


Eric and the Kids video of doing Corn...It's almost as good as being there.

After the Corn was all done, it was time for school to start. Erin and Katie looked very cute for their first day of school. Then it was Katie's 17th birthday. I don't know how that can be. It seem's like just a few years ago she was just a little baby in my arms. She is growing up into a very lovely young lady. (That is what her Dad would say)

Then all the kids went singing in the rain. We have been blessed with children that usually really like each other. And they find creative ways to entertain each other.










So I guess if I tell you that Eric and I are still alive and well, Brandon is staring in "Twelve Angry Men" at the theater (it was hard to picture Brandon as an angry man), Heidi and Katie are still playing softball, and Erin might get to dance with the Junior's group this year, you will be all up to date with the happenings of our family. We will now go and do more stuff to blog about.
See you later.

Birthday Bash!!!

It's Erin's birthday. She turned 15 today. We had t-bone steaks and cream peas with potatoes. We all got on our party hats and wished Erin a very happy day.






We made a german chocolate cake and we all sang a roaring rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Then she blew out all the candles. Erin got a new digital camera for her birthday.




Erin is growing into a beautiful young lady. Her eyes sparkle with a bright light. She always keeps us laughing. We love her very much and wish her a very happy year.

High Aventure

The other night Katie and Erin decided to have an adventure. They climbed in the van and went to Walmart at 11:00 at night to get cookies and strawberry milk. Then they came home to sleep out under the stars. They slept out in the front yard.

I can only guess what the paper boys thought in the morning when they came by. As far camping out goes I guess they felt like they were really on a high adventure.

Like Mother Like Son

When our oldest daughter Betsy started driving we were always looking for her keys. We even had to hire the locksmith to make molds of the key hole in her car because she had lost all the keys. Well, Charlie came to visit last weekend and guess what he left behind. You guessed it!! His keys. He is getting an early start. But then practice does make perfect.

Moose on the Loose

A few days ago we had a Moose come to visit our neighborhood. He found a nice shady spot in our neighbors front yard by the pond. He was the neighborhood entertainment for most of the morning. Then the DWR came and tranquilized him to take him back to the mountains. Erin got to help load him in the trailer. It was very exciting. I love living in Mendon. We are so close to the mountains we get to have wild visitors every now and then.
It is almost like living in a mountain cabin all year long.

I think I need to figure out a way to not be so busy and spend more time enjoying the place we live. It was a very good day when the Moose came to visit.

Some Fun Came to Our House

Eric is always working so hard and he hardly ever

takes time to have some fun. So I bought him a

motorcycle. We suprized him with it a few weeks ago while he was calling play by play at the softball games. I think he was so shocked he didn't know exactly what to do. I hope he gets to have many hours of fun with the wind in his hair and the bugs in his teeth.

I think Charlie was born to be wild.

Manna from Heaven?????????

Yesterday morning as we were getting ready for work we loaded our last roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. We then talked about stopping at the store on our way home from work to buy some more of said toilet paper. Then we hopped happily in the van and headed off to work. We got to the bottom of the street where we had to stop at the stop sign.

We looked left, there were no cars coming...

We looked right, and there were still no cars coming...

But there were white blobs on the green grass about every 20 yards going down the street.

We turned to see what it was.

We found rolls and rolls of toilet paper left by the side of the road.

Some people get manna from Heaven and some people get toilet paper.

Happy Birhtday to Heidi

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Heidi, Happy 24th Birthday to you!!!!!!

I took 3 dsays but we finally got to eat the German Chocolate Cake her mom baked for her.

It was "Knee High by the Forth of July

Look how his garden has grown. We were going to take a picture of the corn being knee high on the forth of July like the song says but we got busy and forgot. So a week after the forth of July this is how tall it is. My mouth is starting to water for corn on the cob.

Eric does such a good job in the garden. It is looking beatiful. He even made purple flowers grow on our vines.

Usana beckoned... What a "Journey"!!!

Well... I don't even know where to start.... but it has been one fantastic weekend...

We had a really good time last Friday night celebrating our daughter's birthdays (Betsy and Heidi) on July 11th at the Usana Amphitheatre...

Oh by the way, Happy Birthday girls!!! They weren't there... Heidi was in St. George at a softball tournament and Betsy was being pampered by some "maid" named Daveed.... see her blog for details... it is in my list here in my blog...

Anywho.... We went with some friends (Phil and Karen Zobell) to go see a really great concert that featured...

and.....

Can I just tell you what a great concert that really was??? Other that it was really loud, it was a real treat to see these bands... And as I mentioned in my last blog... I will report on this using my new good buddy.... yes.... youtube..

The first band was Cheap Trick... and I have to admit that I remember them but wasn't too sure what some of their songs were... so I looked up some of there music on the Internet and wow... I remembered some of the songs but never was a real fan...

During the concert, the lead guitarist, (on the left) blew two amps and boy was he loud!!! They played hard and long and occasionally I even recognized some of the songs.... For example... this one was probably there most famous...

Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sCOf6MsH0o

The lead singer was very entertaining and the the lead guitarist was really a clown... and boy did he have some cool guitars!!!

Well, I waited patiently for my new favorite song and lo and behold... here it came... It was entitled, "The Flame" and other than it was too damned loud, it was still a treat.... Well here... you listen to it!!! Lord knows, I've wore it out!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBbnYdVaj8E

Then here they come... One of my favorite bands was next.... Yep.... Heart.... Growing up, I was really a big fan of them because they had such a variety of hard driving stuff and great ballads. These ballad were often the creation of some even better music videos which resulted in my falling in love with Nancy Wilson, the red-headed guitarist (especially 12 sting) and singer!!! She was a looker with a even better chassy!!! Whoops, my inner self slipping out there.... my apologies. The lead singer, her sister, Ann Wilson had put on about a 100 pounds but she still had a great voicea and belted out those old time favorites... like this one the someone turned in to youtube from the Salt Lake concert... Listen!!! It's called "Alone".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhjsJQXhdc4

And then they got into classics like "Magic Man"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lduWkKFqA8I&feature=related

And then they played my favorite... "These Dreams"... I wonder why??? I pull up the original "ballad video" for this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LLaeRUsWr0

And what would this blog be without noting one of my favorites...

Barracuda...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgGdMHXIQJI

Whew! I am exhausted!!! We really need to move on!!! We still have to talk about the creme de la creme... Yes the next feature on this night of rock bands and good music...

The feature band was Journey... But where was Steve Perry, the salty tenor voice who sang all of the those beatiful ballads and great songs??? My brothers and sisters of the blog world, and family and friends... He has been replaced!!! His name is Armel Pineda... a 40 year old Phillipino lad... Let's listen to his story as was shown on CBS's Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqux8KYyJac&feature=related

There... now that you have mopped up your pride, lets listen to some of the new star's sound... Hmmm... sounds alot like Steve Perry, eh??? Don't get me wrong, I AM A STEVE PERRY FAN... I love his voice... but Armel may have taken over....

It was amazing to watch the energy he had throughout the 1 1/2 hour concert... he sang his heart out, he ran ALL over the stage, jumped from the drum platform, spun piroettes on the stage and on and on and on... he was amazing...

Let's check out a few things by the New Journey... who coincidently now have a new album... entitled "Revelation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUkksIV8dC8

This video came from the Salt Lake concert again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgEc-LORc2c

And then there were the ballads.... how about a little bit of Lights followed by Open Arms and Only the Young.... oh yea....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUWJ8bf09BU&feature=related

And then I was nearly moved to tears by the last encore song... He was incredible and was so full of passion... ya know... like Steve Perry...

You will see what I mean from this video from Chile again... Here is the last one.... Enjoy... Tonite I told Marty Knowles (him being a tenor and from the famous May Day Barbershop Quartet) that I wanted him to sing at my funeral... The Flame by Cheap Trick and this song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aCBB670Kwg

Good night all!!! Enjoy the music again... Journey is back!!! What a "Revelation"!!!