A bit of my own family history

Well folks it's been a long time since I last posted anything... And since this is the first post of the year, It's gonna be a long one. But don't worry, it's mostly pictures ;)

This year has been very busy, full of family get-together's and things that only grown-us have to deal with (why is it that we always ask what people want to be when they grow up? screw growing up.... My childhood was perfect! And i do mean that btw, and I defy any who would say other wise!)

My last post was done right in the middle of the rainy season here on the coast, well it turns out there's a good reason to endure all that soggy-no-fun rain. Look at these amazing blooms! Every single one is from my yard and I wish you could all come a visit just to enjoy them!

I mentioned the family get-together's. Besides Jada's 4th birthday, Tiegan's 1st birthday and spring breaks, the biggest by far was the get-together for my Grandpa Laniers funeral. I really enjoyed the whole thing, is that wrong? It was fun to see family I haven't seen in a while, visit the farm again, and my favorite part, listen to all the Grandpa stories. i was blessed enough to be the one to scan all of the many, MANY Lanier slides and I found some amazing pictures, all of which I am so grateful to have! I held it together for the most part of the funeral, there were 2 things that made me loose it though. One of course was the slide show that Jen Lanier made, I wish I was tech savvy enough to post it, it's amazing and fits Grandpa's life so perfectly! She put it to the "So God made a Farmer" speech given by Paul Harvey  (here's a good link with a bit of back ground http://www.oregonffa.com/LiveToServe/Blog/SoGodMadeFarmer )

The second thing that made me loose it was when my uncle Ben was giving the 'Life Sketch'  talk, he talked about my Grandpa and his brother who had died at a young age. I was sitting next to one of my Mom's cousins, when he leaned over to another family member and and said something about Duane (Grandpa) and Gus (brother) having a 'rip-snortin' good time when they finally got back together.  Of course I was a mess and then all of the grand-kids went up to sing a song right after that. I guess that's just how it goes :)

Daniel complains that he always looks like a single parent in the pictures so here's one of us at Multnumah Falls in OR. Can I just say that we spent several hours in the car before this?

The rest of the pictures are either Lanier slides or pictures that Chelsea scanned. All of them make my heart happy....

Growing up, we spent EVERY vacation down in CO on the farm, and while it's not the green mountains that I love, the farm is still near and dear to me. I find allot of the Lanier slides hauntingly beautiful and so perfect....

Grandma during a trip to Yellow Stone

I love this picture because my Mom looks like a rebellious teenager that doesn't want to be hanging out with her family. haha The irony is not lost on me, my Mom and I bumped heads on more than one occasion over the same thing when I was a teenager. 

Another hauntingly beautiful, perfect picture....

My Mom goofing off and posing on a motorcycle 

My cousins, Deanna, Lana and Stephanie at Lowery Ruins, CO

Ok, I have no idea who the guys is in this picture, my Mom told me this was at the swimming hole at Bradfield Bridge.  But this picture, and the next few tell a story..... It must have been a hot day,

Because a fully dressed man was tempted to go for a float......

.....only it looks like he floated a little too far.... :) the whole scenario makes me happy!

OK. The rest of these picture are of me as a child. Why would I post so many of myself? Why the heck not?! I was ADORABLE!

Me, Chelsea, and Tabby playing in the leaves

Chelsea and I wore matching outfits... allot..... but we were dang cute!

And once in a while, Whitley got to be all matchy-matchy with us :)

yup, dang cute!

I love this picture, mostly because of Chelsea's fit she's throwing here!

We were in 'Jazz It Up' dance at the time, we knew how to pose

Chelsea and I enjoying our favorite Colorado past time, posing for pictures! lol nope, 4-Wheelin'!

Mom, Chelsea and I sledding. For all my friends and family who sucker into the cheap sleds at walmart, they don't even compare to a GT Racer! Perfect for being pulled behind on a snowmobile! 

Pants are just annoying when your playing in the mud

This totally looks like Tiegan to me....

bahahaha

My cousin Zack came to visit and got to go to the Thanksgiving party at school with me!

Like I said, a perfect childhood....

My Baptism day

Me and Johnny taking a nap

These pictures are feeding my vanity :)

Another one of me and Tabby. I was born on Tabby's 5th birthday, we're good buddies

I have no idea what I was doing, but clearly my Mom's wedding hat and my training panties went together....

I really loved that hat

what a cute pink winter bundle I was ;)

A Birthday party for me and Tabby

I loved that blanket so much that I ended up taking a pair of scissors to it :/ I guess Jada got her scissor fascination from me....

look at that carrot hair!

Cool baby!

Me and Johnny having a good time!

Well friends I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do. Stay tuned for more, I am now working my way through the McCombs slides :)

Our lives here in Longview WA

Wow. It's been for ever since the last post. I guess blogging is like the diary you want the world to read. Believe it or not I'm even worse about writing a journal : /

So... Longview... what is life like in Longview..... Well, for starters, it's wet. It rains allot, but we get enough sun that  the girls and I go on frequent walks to Lake  Sakagawia. Yeah that's right, we are living on lake front property :) hahaha it's no as impressive as it sounds though. The lake is... more like a very large, long, banana shaped pond. Longview is different from Overland Park, and we miss everything OP had to offer us and most especially our friends! Longview is a lumber town and the emphasis on education is lacking a bit and you can tell ;)  For the most part people are very friendly, but occasionally I run into people (at Walmart of course) that I think should just stay home. Clearly they are too stupid to realize how stupid they are. But the same could be said of any where really.

Speaking of stupid, the roads her are S-T-U-P-I-D!!!!!! I have never been so turned around any where in my life! I've always been able to tell where my North, East, South or West was, but not here! stupid roads with your stupid drivers, and stupid stupidness. First of all, Kelso and Longview are the same town, not on paper and people around here say differently, (stupid ppl) and even though there's no separation of the two, they insist on numbering their roads differently. For example, If I'm driving on 1st street in the actual Longview boundaries and I cross into Kelso, I am no longer on 1st, but some thing stupid like 5th!!!!!! Even though I stayed on the same road. Stupid. Another thing that makes the roads so stupid around here is that they have this big round-about and all the major roads come off in spokes from it. but then more major roads will spoke off of the lake. These spokes do not coincide :( on top of said spokes, is your average plot road ways, but wait! there's more! on top of the two off kilter wagon wheels and the stupid Longview vs Kelso roads, there are 3 rivers that make things a bit more complicated, the Columbia, the Cowlitz and the Kalama river.

Stupid towns, with their stupid people and their stupid roads.

Before I go on to the possative end of it all, just one more complaint. The Paper Mill. Stupid stupid stupid. I would have never though that a mill that makes normal paper would STINK so bad! It's not all the time, mind you, but when I have that awful smell seeping through my kitchen window while I'm doing dishes, it makes me a bit more than grumpy.

The ever famous Voo-doo Doughnut in Portland

Ok, positive stuff..... our location is FANTASTIC! not just the location of our house here in Longview, but the location of Longview itself! being right along the Columbia means great beaches! I love the Columbia! Seattle is just up I-5 (not really high on my list, but cool), Portland is just an hour south, which means no tax shopping!

This is the beach in Longbeach, WA

Feeding the seals at the aquarium in Seaside, OR

 Mt St Helen's is just up the way, so great hiking! 50 minutes west of us is the ocean and did I mention something about loving the ocean?! Do you like antique shops? Astoria is THE place to go for that! Want a nice beach to play at where they let you pick up all the shells you want? Want the perfect place to take your kids for a vacation? Or maybe just a romantic get away for you and you special some one? Holy heck people, Seaside is the place for you! I LOVE SEASIDE!

Enjoying the beach at Seaside, OR

Two cool ladies

Hiking Mt St Helen;s

Tiegan walking in the sand at Willow Grove Beach along the Columbia

Feeding the ducks and geese at Lake Sakagawia

Swimming at Willow Grove

 The list of things to do around here just keeps going and going! So basically what I'm telling all of you, is that if you want a lot to do for a shorter vacation, or maybe a lot to do on an even longer vacation, come visit me!!!! I will house you, feed you (I'm a darn good cook if I do say so myself) and I will be your tour guide :)

Meet Jada's best friend Krissa

Who is Krissa? Why Krissa is Jada's imaginary friend! But I have to admit that I am very impressed at how detailed Jada had made Krissa's life. First of all I was informed just this morning that Krissa has a big brother and "sister baby and brother baby". Krissa is three and has brown hair, blue eyes and lots and lots of dresses. Krissa is very generous and is going to make a strawberry cake with cream for Jada's birthday  and is going to make chicken nuggets and fries for her lunch.

 Her favorite color is red and her favorite animals are baby goats. Krissa also has a dress up box with fairy costumes for everyone, and I do mean everyone, including Daniel :) She has a pet bunny,  a pet dog and a pet turtle! Krissa is afraid of monsters and loves her pet bunny, whose name is Bubble. And the bunny named Bubble is named Bubble because it has the amazing talent of blowing bubbles! (who knew a bunny could be so talented). 

 According to Jada, Krissa is always making a birthday cake for Jada's birthday! Krissa loves Jada and her best friend is Jaci! And that, my friends, is just what I have been told this morning!

Hahaha Let me count the way I love this kid :) (I'm referring to the 3 year old- not the goat)

Our Sad Pathetic Little Vacation

So, guess what comes after graduation.... job hunting! Of course Daniel's been submitting resume's left and right, and it's paying off! He's had several phone interviews and so far ALL of them have turned into site visits! According to one of our good friends in the business world, a site visit usually means a job offer, and so far that has been the case! Which brings me to the topic of our pathetic little vacation :)

We went as a family to Desloge MO so that Daniel could see the facilities there. Desloge is located about an hours drive south of St Louis, so about 5 hours from OP. We get ready to head out, excited because it's a job interview, and they are paying for us to go down there. So we set off and well, we knew that Jada would handle the trip just fine because she is an excellent traveler, and it turns out so is Tiegan! We get to our hotel and the girls and I hang out in the room- mostly watching Dora and feeding Tiegan, while Daniel head out to see the clinic.

The girls and I slept pretty much the whole way. I woke up around the time we were driving by the St Louis temple, and all the buildings and neighborhoods are all REALLY nice and well landscaped. So I was thinking that maybe living in MO wouldn't be so completely terrible- I was wrong! Desloge is a DUMPY little hole with a population of 5,000. I was surprised to see that everything was surprisingly brown :(  Lucky for us, our hotel was actually in Farmington, MO so it was quite a bit bigger, but honestly, still just as dumpy. So there was NOTHING for us to do while Daniel was out, but to sit and watch Dora and feed Tiegan ;) Daniel was gone for about an hour and a half and when he came back, we got ready to go to dinner with 2 of the ladies from the clinic (also paid for by them). Dinner was nice, it was at some steak house- cody, carly, carston...... some C name steak house. The ladies were nice and chatty, and the whole affair was not as awkward as it could have been :)

Jada enjoying her own queen size bed

At the steak house..... what ever it's called

Tiegan lounging on a bunch of pillows

Afterwards we drove around the town...... it was ....... ok. It had a super walmart so that's a plus, right? But that's about it. We went back to our hotel and Daniel and Jada went swimming. Tiegan was eating and napping so I stayed in the room with her. They come back wet and ready for bed, we go to sleep and get a good nights sleep, right? WRONG. Tiegan had an air bubble that just wouldn't come out, so her usual "I'm-waking-up-once-a-night" thing was actually "I'm-waking-up-3-times-tonight-and-you-have-to -entertain-me". And on top of that, Jada swallowed some pool water that made her sick so she ended up crying for a good portion of the night until she finally vomited on my shirt, her pj's and her blanket. Then she felt better but didn't want to sleep, so after reading a couple stories and watching so disney channel she went back to sleep, spread eagle on a queen size bed. I look over at Daniel on the other bed and he's doing the same thing. Since Jada was easier to move, she and I shared a bed for the remainder of those early morning hours :) But despite the un-fun night,we were blessed because while one child was awake, the other was fast asleep :)

The next morning we packed it all up (it's amazing how much crap you need for an infant) and headed home. Tiegan did really well on the way back home, until we were about 30 minutes outside of the metro area where there was a bad wreck and traffic was stopped for miles and miles while authorities tried to clean the mess up. Well the wreck was bad enough that they made every get off the high way and drive down some local side roads to go around. From what we could see, a semi hit a road workers truck.... how the semi managed to get both front tires bent underneath it like a hover craft, we're still trying to figure out. (in case any one was wondering- the semi won. we saw them towing the road worker's truck away in pieces) but it didn't look like any one was seriously injured. Despite the excitement, Tiegan was not interested at all. She was pissed that I wasn't holding her and she couldn't get it through her head that it's the law that we all wear seat belts.... Babies can be so irrational some times :) Once we got back on the high way and got back up to speed, she went right back to sleep.

So the lesson we learned from our little trip was that Daniel is going on the remainder of the site visits alone, and from now on I refuse to travel with a newborn until they are 6 months at least. It is way to stressful dealing with them in cramped spaces with limited resources to help out. Also, even though Daniel got a job offer from them, we most likely will be kindly turning them down. They weren't completely honest about the clinical environment and what work was needed to be done. And that is the story of our sad pathetic little vacation.

Tiegan's Surgery and Daniel's Graduation

So your all probably wondering "Surgery?!" Well, little miss Tiegan is a bit of a squeaky breather. Or was a squeaky breather. She had laringo  malacia, is basically an under developed larynx. So she had a quick surgery on Thursday to essentially trim some skin in her throat. (Daniel could give you a better idea of what went down- honestly all that medical jargon is over my head and I don't give a hoot) Tiegan is doing great and recovering quite well. Actually there's not real bad down turn in her behavior. She's still just a happy content baby that likes a good tight swaddle.

She was fairly happy right before the surgery, that is, until she realized I wasn't going to give her the bottle when she wanted it. But you just can't explain to a 6 week old baby that they shouldn't have food in their tummy right before/during a surgery. For some reason I wasn't able to get that through to her : / Isn't she just the cutest little baby in a hospital gown?!

So that happened Thursday and she was released from the hospital early Friday morning. And Friday evening, Daniel had a grad dinner thing. It was suppose to be this nice sit down dinner thing with awards and what not's, or so we thought. So we got our good friends to babysit both girls and we go to a ........ Bar. Needless to say I wasn't pleased. I did NOT get dressed up for one of the first dress-up-nice-to-go-out dates in I don't know how long, to go to a frickin' bar and watch other people drink. :( The whole thing was awkward and unpleasant. The ironic thing is that of the people I met, the one I had the most in common with was an RLDS mother who was older than my Mom, which is especially weird considering most of Daniel's class mates are my age. But for the most part I saw nothing but a bunch of slutty girls drinking beer and doing nothing else. Worst date night ever! I will mention that it was an awkward and disappointing night for both Daniel and I.

And Saturday Daniel graduated! Yup, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Dr Daniel Antonio Bowman DPT!!!

Our first Family Photo with Little Miss Tiegan

Jada is my favorite part of this picture :)

So Congratulations to my favorite person in the whole world! Now we can finally enter the "real" world :) What ever that means....

3 Weeks Old Already?!

Hey all! I have a quiet house at the moment so I thought I'd add a post with some pictures! But it's mostly for the pictures :) We are all doing great! My Mom and sisters left last week, it was kind of depressing to see them go, but some how I am managing. Actually Daniel has been a huge help and gave me a 5 hour nap yesterday!!! It was heavenly :) And Jada has had a few play dates that have allowed me to pull our lives back together while she is gone and Tiegan is sleeping. So my thanks to all who have been such a great help!

This picture is not Jada and Tiegan (obviously) but Jada and Holly enjoying a drive in Holly's new ride! This picture was taken either before, during, or after the Saturday morning conference session. I have no idea which, but they had lots of fun and we discovered that Jada is a horrible driver :) I guess it's better to figure that out now instead of later :)

Look at that beautiful girl! She's a great sleeper, especially during the day :) I found out that for her, all she needs is a tight bundle and something over her eyes and she's out like a light :) she isn't half as stubborn as Jada, thank goodness!

We did a photo shoot, who can resist a baby in a basket?! then add in the flower? Simply irresistible!

My beautiful girls! Jada is such an amazing big sister!