Serious spring fever, and some sad news.

Ok. This is for real. And 2 of these jeans are only a month old! And one isn't even pictured because he's wearing them today. With a BIG hole in the knee. What do I do people? Ridiculous.

And it doesn't even matter where I get them. Jeans from the Gap or from Ross wear out in the same amount of time. Anyway, I think we are ready for Spring to come so we can cut these all off and make them shorts. It's either that, or we are moving to warmer weather. Somewhere like...TEXAS.

This is also for real. And if I sound upbeat and optimistic about it it's because I'm a fake. Because in real life I'm heartbroken. I'm sad to leave our families, friends, cute neighbors/hood, and our house :( After A LOT of thought and prayer, Jared has decided to leave the family flooring business and expand his horizons. He was offered a job with a medical device company selling wheel chairs last Thursday. He accepted the job Saturday, we put our house on KSL looking for a renter on Sunday, and had it rented out by Monday. It all happened so fast that now it's sinking in and I'm so emotional about it. I know it will be so good for our little family, but seriously, I love it here. Parker is OBSESSED with his cousins, has the funnest group of little friends, and loves preschool. We love our neighbors, our ward, my job (i know it's only one client, but i love her!), we have so many incredible friends that are going to go on with their lives without us. And we're not going to be here to see it. It makes me really sad. We have to be out of our house by March 20th. I really should be packing instead of blogging, but it hurts too bad to take pictures off of the walls. I feel like I just hung them up! Anyway, I've now caught up on my blog. So it's okay for me to harrass all of you who don't. That's going to be my only way of keeping up with you all so please don't be as big of a slacker as I was! We will miss so many of you it makes me cry everytime I think about it. (some of you...not so much) Just kidding :)

18 month old skinny bum.

Tage was 18 months old at the end of January. I can't believe it. But what I can't believe even more than that is that this is what he looks like 90 % of the day.


His 18 month stats were phenomenal. 5th percent for weight still, 50th for height, and what do you know, he's now off the charts for his head. So basically he looks like a lolly pop. But that just makes him all the more edible :)

January and February

We had a great New Years. We spent the morning being very lazy. The boys practicing their art skills and me chilling on the heater watching them. With daipers all over the house for some reason.

That night we went to their house

and had a killer time playing the butt game. It's a family favorite. Here is Jared spelling out a difficult word. Like e-g-g-n-o-g or something with his booty. So hot.

My dad with his 2 tag-a-longs :)

Here is part of the fam. that was there watching all the butt spelling. My mom must have been too embarrased to look :)

This is how we survived January. No offense to you Swens, but we don't really like January.
Tage played a lot of dress up,


Lot's of inside games like hide-n-seek. Jared got suckered into playing for the 100th time with Parker and found himself stuck in this uncomfortable spot. It was a good one though!

again entertained ourselves with Tage's crazy hair do's.

Poor baby has asthma and the inversion was killing him. He was so patient and learned to just sit in his high chair and hold his medicine in his mouth. So cute and so sad at the same time.

And this kid is now in nursery at church! Look how proud he is :)

We did a lot of baking in February. It's a good thing I had such a great little helper! And that he wore my grandma's old apron so that he didn't get dirty!

Pink sugar cookies (i think we ate these all month long)

On Valentines day this year we had Stake conference. So I celebrated Valentines day with my 3 Valentines the Friday before. I made shrimp scampi and steamed asparagas. Then we had chocolate dipped goodness for dessert. We love to dip stuff in chocolate :)

Haunted...

This stupid blog! It just won't leave me alone. It haunts me while I'm sleeping, showering, running, playing army/soldier with parker, sitting in church, and in everyday conversation with people I love (some of you won't give me peace until the blog is updated. Geez, relax). Just kidding. Kind of. So I think I'm back. For now anyway. The problem is that I want to be a good blogger. It helps me to keep tabs on my life and forces me to remember the little things each day that make me happy/sad/frustrated. One of my goals for this new year (3 months ago) is to focus more on positive things in my life. I figure there is so much negative around us, everywhere. And though it's important to be aware of what's out there, I'm going to try, especially on this blog, to focus more on the positive parts of being a mom, wife, and woman in today's crazy world. One of the saddest parts of my neglect to the blog is that you have missed this

turn into this


And he was so much fun to watch grow up.

So I've decided to still post some highlights from the past several months so that they can be documented. It's going to be REALLY, REALLY long. Here goes! (the most recent will be posted last so scroll down to see it in order :)

October thru December

Happy Halloween! (It was only 4 in a half months ago. I'm doing pretty well!) For some reason I don't have any pictures of my boys together on Halloween. They were both little army guys and they looked adorable. I can't bellieve I don't have a picture of little army Tage :( This will have to do.

I talked Parker into using a marshmello gun instead of a "real" pretend gun. He thought he was a tough guy.

My mom finally retired! Hooray. She has done hair for over 35 years and her body is falling apart. So we had a last minute surprise retirement party the day before Thanksgiving since my brothers were in town.

We invited a few of her long time clients (as many as we thought would come on short notice)

Then each of her 6 kids put together a skit based upon what our lives were like growing up in the beauty salon and memories we had of my mom at work. I don't know if I have EVER laughed so hard in my life. I thought I was going to pass out when Tobes came running in with those hedge clippers. Oh man. THAT was funny. Here's my brother Andy demonstrating what he used to do in front of the mirror every morning :) Don't tell him I said so, but he would have made the best "drama nerd" :)

My mom with all of her grandkids (except for the one in Daiana's belly)

Some of our favorite winter activities include:
sitting on the heater with blankies every morning,

eating banana snowmen,

and playing in the snow! Well, not my favorite, but that's ok. We finally had a chance to enjoy all of the snow. It was Tage's first experience and unfortunately for me, he loved it. He wants to be outside constantly now.

Parker and his daddy built two enormous snowmen in our back yard. They were both festive (with Christmas candy for eyes and mouths) and also very multi cultural.




My parent's are going on a mission next summer, so for Christmas they wanted to do something more than just give gifts to their grandkids. They wanted to give them a memory! So they (along with my cute sister, Wendy) hauled all of the older grandkids up to Heber City to ride the Polar Express. Parker is still talking about it. What a fun idea. We will sure miss grandma and grandpa next year :(

Parker had his preschool Christmas program with Ms. Hilary. He had a lot more fun than it looks like in this picture.

He was so funny. He knew all the songs and actions perfectly but he got a little nervous and stood there with his hands in his pockets most of the time. but when it came time for him to give his part; "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there". He said it loud and clear. I was just glad he didn't dramatize it like he did when he practiced it at home. It was hillarious.

Wow.

Each year we have a family sleepover by the Christmas tree the day before Christmas Eve. Parker LOVES it.

We had Christmas Eve at the Bowcutts house. Here is all of the caos to prove it :)

Parker is such a gem to pose so nicely for the annual Family christmas tree picture. Now he'll know what a goof he was at this age.

Ahh, Christmas morning...

Parker's favorite gift from Santa was bionacles!

Tage's was a mini basketball hoop to hang from his crib.

and an orange :)

putting bionicals together. It's a good thing he has a good dad! I took one look at that and started hyperventilating.

Christmas breakfast. Why is it that my favorite part of any holiday is the food? That's messed up.

And what kind of a Christmas would it be without Tage's crazy hair?

We had Christmas dinner with my family. It's just not the same without the Cedar/St. Goerge Springers. We sure missed ya.

And of coarse, the classic Santa picture.