Happy First Day Jake-o!

Today is Jake's first day back at ASU. He has an awesome, but very busy schedule. He works all day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Has classes from 7:30-5:45 on Tuesday and Thursday. Then Monday after work he volunteers/interns out in Fountain Hills for 4 hours. Then on Wednesday after work he has a long lab from 4:30-7:30. Can I just brag a little bit about my husband? This man is great! He works so hard at the things he does. Doesn't matter what it is- school, work, church callings. He's such a go getter. I know if I did all the things he does I would come home so pooped. But not Jake. He comes home so excited to see me and Ty and so ready to take him so I can have a breather. Then he most often sets the table and gets to work picking up things and doing cleaning that I somehow didn't get to that day. For real? I never thought I'd have someone that great. But I do! I love you Jake!

Nannying

I start a nannying job today for a family out in Queen Creek. I'm excited/nervous! They have 2 girls- 5yrs. and 2 1/2 yrs. old. Hopefully I can take some pointers from Nanny Deb and Nanny Stella. Wish me luck!

Utah trip and 4th of July

I'm so mad. I tried to be really good and sat down to document our 4th of July trip to Utah. Right as I was finishing up, blogger decided to delete all of my text. So I've just got some pictures for you. But admit it, you usually just go right to the pictures anyways. Thanks to everyone who made our trip to Utah so fun!

Ok... I'll give quick explanations: this is "The Red Mansion" where I lived my junior year of college. It was getting a much needed face lift while we were there in Provo. Oh how I miss those days.


Jake and Mike playing Battleground

Fun at the Lake

We went to visit Jake's brother's grave

My dream home in Mapleton, Utah. Someday... someday...

Tyler loved the lake. It was so much nicer than any of the lakes here in AZ. You could actually swim in it!

Tyler and Eli with their cousins Maise and Bridgette

As usualy, Ty fell asleep after playing in the water. He's so sweet.

I love America!

Tyler slept through the whole Firework show at Layton High School. Good boy Ty, good boy.

Jake and his brother Mike (and his wife) ran a 10K on 4th of July morning. Jake did awesome. His best time yet!

Ty was so proud of his daddy!

We went hiking with the Bartons on my birthday. It was such a blast. Thanks Bartons for making it fun!

The boys with their boys.

We got to stop in and visit my cousin Jamie and her husband Bryce at their new home. It was so fun to see Jamie. We've been "best cousins" since... forever!

Photo Shoot

I love my sweet Tyler! He is such a joy to have in our family and makes us smile everyday. He's getting over an ear infection and some pretty bad congestion right now. It's made for some pretty restless nights. But then my little boy smiles at me and all the frustration leaves. How can you not love a sweet face like this:



Thanks Raylene for the photo shoot!

Soccer Games

Jake's been playing in an indoor soccer league for the past couple months. It's out in Queen Creek at the new Barney Family Sports Complex. It has been really fun to see Jake play. He's never really played soccer before and ended up being one of the team's greatest players. He's one of their top scorers! His all time high was 5 goals in one game! All of the guys on the team come up after the games and tell me what an animal Jake is. They're all so impressed he picked it up so fast. I love watching Jake play because he gives it his all, but doesn't get to worked up when the refs give bad calls and stuff. Their season just ended and his team only lost one game (and that was because they had 1/2 the team with red cards and they didn't have enough players to play!). This picture is of Jakey boy with his 2 good friends that he grew up with: Curtis and Jesse. Check out how sweaty they all are. They seriously never stop running. It's crazy! I love having an athletic husband. I can't wait for Jake to be able to teach Tyler how to play sports. I think it will be so fun!Tyler with Grandma Richardson at the last soccer game.

Baby Idol

Alright. Listen up all ya'll! So my best friend, Raylene, has one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen. Raylene has entered little Brooklyn into a Baby Idol contest that one of the local radio stations is doing. I'll let her tell you the rest. Here is her blog post pasted here:

(the picture we entered)

"Okay everybody, I heard about this radio contest from my sister so I thought I'd send a picture of Brooklyn because I know I think she's stinking cute. Mix 96.9 is doing "Baby Idol"-Season 3 and the top 200 contestants will battle it out in round 2 where they will then narrow it down to the Top 50 finalists. The Top 50 will then compete in the Finals Round where the Grand Prize Winner gets $2000.00 and the title of Mix 96.9 Baby Idol.

This is where I need everybody's help. Today, Friday May 1st starting at Noon, people can begin voting for their favorite baby. Her picture is located in Gallery #2 (I think like the 10th baby) but here is the direct link to make it super simple for you to find it. (Click here.) Just click on "Vote for me" and enter your email address to vote for her. You can vote for her everyday from a valid email address. To make it worth your time, I'm giving away a $50 dollar Gift Certificate to any store/restaurant of your choice if Brooklyn becomes the next Baby Idol. All you have to do is cut and paste this post onto your blog and then leave me a comment on my blog (or email me at bradbowles3@gmail.com) telling me you voted for Brooklyn and also that you posted this post on your blog too (to help spread the word)! If you have a facebook account, you can also upload this picture of her and tell people to vote for her there as well....and then you will have double the chances of winning the gift card. (send me a message on facebook if you do, so I know to enter your name twice into the drawing) Since this is an ongoing contest to try and narrow it down to the cutest baby...every time/day you vote for her send me an email or comment, and you'll have an even better chance of winning the 50 BUCKS!

If Brooklyn does happen to be the next Baby Idol, I'll be using a computer program my friend created to randomly choose a winner out of all the comments left on my blog, email, and facebook. There are tons of cute babies entered in the contest, but if you think Brooklyn is cute too, she'd love your vote every day....! It's never to early to start saving for your kids college education...and to help pay for the next baby on the way....(40 DAYS left!) Thanks for everybody's help! You rock!"

So go ahead! Vote for sweet Brooklyn. Vote for her everyday! Vote for her from all of your email accounts!

Swimming in April!

Sorry that the pictures are out of order, but I'm a little out of practice. It kind of makes the post anticlimactic, but I'll get better! It has been pretty hot here the past couple of days so we took Tyler swimming on Wednesday at my parents' house. The water was pretty cold, but my sister Cindy's girls loved it. Ty absolutely loves his baths every night, so I thought he'd like the pool, but the poor little guy did not like it at all! But he sure looked cute in his swimming trunks and sun hat. Hopefully he'll like the pool more when it warms up a bit.

Ty fell right asleep after the traumatic experience of sitting in the pool.

He sure is sweet!

This was his face after taking a little dip.

Happy Ty before entering the pool. No, Jake doesn't usually pop his collar, he was just trying to keep from getting his neck burned. He he- I love him!

I wanted to post the video of him getting in the water- it's pretty funny, but I tried and it just takes FOREVER to upload. Am I doing something wrong? Do you have to compress the file or something like that? Any suggestions?