Trying out something new.

The boys are involved with all sorts of activities whether it be sports or camps and poor Claire has sat and waited on the sidelines to be of age to do some of those things.  When I noticed the pre school Gymnastics class offered at the Rec Center I signed her up!  We got there and I noticed that there was only one other girl there that day and so I knew the class was going to be small.  Thus, giving me the courage to ask the teachers to let Bella try the class out even though she's only 2.  I knew that Bella could do everything the older girls could do.  The teachers were also convinced after about the first 5 min of class.  They ended up letting Bella join the class and so every tuesday and thursday the girls were sooo excited for Gymnastics.  In the beginning Bella couldn't do a front roll, but by the end of the week she could.  Claire loved getting to wear the leotards probably the most.  As the classes went on they grew in size and we parents sat on the sidelines just grinning and laughing at how cute they all were.

Enjoying the fruits of your labor.

After months of dreaming of a lush, green yard my dream has finally come to a reality that we've been able to enjoy this summer. It wasn't easy though. I spent many hours raking and raking, spreading seed and alfalfa on the seed (a wonderful trick I might add; I saw results in 2 days as compared to just some sprouts here and there after 2 weeks of waiting without the alfalfa on top). Anyhow, one day I'm mowing the lawn, the kids are inside playing video games (we let them on the weekends only) and I'm thinking to myself...."I wouldn't be a good parent if I didn't make my kids learn the value of work. I have two boys who are perfectly capable to mow the lawn. They're gonna sweat with me dang it!" So, I turned off the tube and within minutes of teaching them how to safely maneuver a lawn mower Bryce was mowing lines all over the place. I told him he could do it however he wanted. Once he figured out what he was doing was going to take more time he finally decided to go with the standard lines. Cameron could barely push it so I helped him a bit. We raked the grass clippings, sweat some more we then enjoyed a nice push pop. I want them to learn the value of work, that's it's not always easy, but good for you. You know what I mean. They have a long way to go though before they can mow lawns for a business. :)

Til' we meet again Grandma

In August my Grandma Smith passed away peacefully in her sleep. Bless her heart. The funeral service was nice and I loved seeing my cousins whom I haven't seen in years. These flowers were in bloom the day of the funeral which happened to be one of my Grandmothers favorite flowers. They lined the side of the road everywhere. Very pretty and they will always remind me of her.

Thankfully I was able to have a nice visit twice before she passed.Once with my mom, and sisters Jeanine and June. Next, with my other sister Janet who drove down from Idaho. It's been a year and a half since I last saw Janet and so the reunion with her and her kids was very nice. We knew our Grandma was going downhill fast after getting very sick with kidney stones and diabetes. It's been 8 years since Grandpa died (the day Bryce was born) and we're all happy knowing that she'll be reunited with him. I'm so thankful that I know the true meaning of life and that Family is the most important thing.

My first visit with her this summer she was already bedridden and not very coherent in her speaking, but when all of us girls came in and she saw us standing beside her bed she started to cry and mumbelled, "You're all here, you're all here." There wasn't a dry eye in the room. We had to communicate by writting on a dry erase board because her hearing was so far gone. It broke my heart everytime I would leave thinking of her just laying in bed day after day and that it was going to be the last time I saw her alive. But, I must say I was a bit relieved knowing she's reunited with her husband.

Looking back on this summer I was thinking how often I was able to see my sisters and parents. It's reminded me how much they mean to me and how if you let yourself get too busy family relationships can slowly fade. When we get together it's always a big laugh fest.

I loved my Grandma very much and I have very fond memories of her. Mostly, from my childhood when my sisters and I would come and spend weeks with her in the summer. If we weren't playing hide and go seek, walking down to the park, or learning how to crochet, we were begging her to make her delicious burritos with mac n cheese. It still makes my mouth water just thinking about her canned pickles! What I'll miss most about her is her pleasant face and her laugh. She had a contagious laugh; one that sounded like someone from the south and the laugh would come straight from the belly! (hard to explain, but I can just hear it now). My dad tells me that I resemble her a bit. I think I do share some of her features. I love you Grandma; I know I'll see you again someday.

Restoring Honor 8/28 Rally

Glenn Beck asked for people to write in and tell about their experience at the Restoring Honor Rally and this is what Jesse wrote:

First, I would like to say thank you to Glenn Beck and all of the supporting staff that helped to make this such a pleasant and inspirational experience. I will have to say that I have attended a couple of the TEA party events but never felt inspired to attend an event of this magnitude. This event was different. I am the father of four young children aged 8,6,4 and 2 and have a busy Optometry business. This was not something that financially or functionally made any sense. As I continued to listen to the program and watch the television show, with the support of my sweet wife, I felt more and more inspired to attend this event with my Father and my oldest son Bryson who is eight. He is a very smart and inquisitive child that also listens to Glenn Beck in the morning on the way to school. He is very interested in politics and sometimes to our amazement very bold about telling people about what he believes in. We are from Las Cruces, New Mexico so this was quite the trip, so we decided to get there on Wednesday and leave on Monday. We wanted to experience the Capitol with all it has to offer.

We first went to Arlington cemetery on Thursday, then experienced the Smithsonians and the Mall on Friday (we were wanting to go to the Kennedy center event but like many were unable to secure tickets). We had a wonderful and very inspirational experience leading up to the Restoring Rally honor. I felt that getting there early and seeing the Changing of the Guard at Arlington cemetery, seeing the patriotic exhibits at the National History Museum and all the history instilled a very real and deep sacrifice that has went into the Freedom and Founding of this great country. I think these experiences helped prepare us for the rally, and the rally made the trip to Mount Vernon that much more enjoyable the following day.

So we had properly prepared ourselves for the Restoring Honor Rally and let me say the Rally did not disappoint. It was so inspirational and cemented a bond between the Three Generations that were there My Father, Myself (his oldest child of six) and My Son (my oldest child). When you mentioned the eight year old that was maybe out there, I looked at my Son and I knew at that moment that the course of his life had been altered and he had found a moment that would anchor him and help shape him for the rest of his life.

The whole experience was wonderful and many times I found myself holding back emotions and a few times tears freely fell from my face. The tone of the rally was just perfect being above the fray of the politics of the day and concentrating on the core morals and principles that will shape the politics but not addressing them directly. I felt this was a stroke of genius - and gave very little for the Piranhas of the media to feed on. For the rally we found a nice place under the shade of the big trees right under where the V-formation of geese flew. Thanks once again for the effort that was put into this event and while all the effort was big, the pay-off was bigger. The water tents and the monitors were a nice touch and allowed for a more enjoyable and connected feel for the event.

Thanks again,
Jesse Sowards, O.D.

Welcome to the Family Laura!

Congratulations Sam & Laura!!! We're jumping for joy too Sam! :)

Let me bring you up to speed...

Bella is still scared of the car wash.

She's at a safe distance without getting too wet...uh oh, she's going to need some clean pants....make that clean clothes....ok, now goggles! Thank goodness our front yard will be landscaped when this pond dries. :)

The only time I'm grateful to be working out in 100 degree weather. The outcome was worth the dehydration. We did good Greg & Gary!

This is a machine to make you feel like you're in a hurricane. It reached 80 mph but I took this picture at 47 mph winds....hummm sounds like springtime in New Mexico!

Awe....soft bath rugs to lay on in a basket. A pleasant way to shop with little ones.

Bella enters the "Terrific Two's!"

I know it's the "terrible two's," but I'm convinced that by saying that will jinks Bella's attitude into a little monster that she isn't. I'd have to say that Bella just grows more precious everyday. There's just too many cute moments to post, but I'll just name a few that pop in my head now. Instead of saying NO to everything, her most frequent words are "LOOK, LOOK momma!" Actually, just the past week or so I've noticed a huge leap in the amount of words she's saying. She's so interested in everything. Bella wants to be doing whatever it is I'm doing, whether it's vacuuming, watering the lawn or folding clothes. She's right there saying, "I try!" Her face lights up when her Dad or brothers come home. When it's time to say prayers we usually let her pick who gets to say the prayer and most every time she picks Bryce. She loves to say his name. In a lot of ways she acts like Bryce. We feel very blessed to have her in our family. I spend a lot of time in the Garden which means so does Bella and Claire. The time we've put into it has paid off though. Here's Bella smelling a fresh cucumber. Her favorite thing is to see the chickens. Claire was so excited that her chicken "Goldie" let her pick her up. Now since our sunflowers are about 10 feet tall I think the kids feel like they're in a jungle. I hope I can pass on the love of Gardening to my kids.

I couldn't help but make Bella's birthday cake a Twilight theme. I figured that this would be the only time that she wouldn't mind the theme. She doesn't care as long as she gets to eat cake! Next year I'm sure she'll have an opinion about what her cake will look like. Plus, the Edward doll is an addition to the Barbie family. It was all I could do to keep her hands from taking Edward off to her room to play. So this is Edward in "The Meadow." As fast as she's growing up it won't be long before we have an "Edward" at our doorstep trying to sweep Bella off her feet.

Skateboarding...Bryce's new passion

As you know we bought Bryce a skateboard for his 8th birthday. Since then it's "hey mom...dad, can you take me to the skate park?" "Gee mom, maybe after you run errands we can go to the skatepark?" (Even though it's 100 degrees outside!!) or "mom, I was thinking we could go to the skatepark so that I can try this new trick, it's called the ...........blah, blah, blah." Bryce has been doing tons of research and learning all he can about skateboarding and so he's always throwing these terms like the double twist half pike, the 90 degree tail whip,the alley, the 180 degree alley, and kick flips just to name a few. He checked a biography about Tony Hawk and finished it in one afternoon. He's wanting to learn everything he can; it's fun to watch. These pictures are actually about a month old and he's improved to much and has gone through several boards (working his way up to the faster boards) and he's decorating his room with the old boards. The past few nights we've had a "driveway picnic dinner" so that we can eat and watch the kids skate around. It's been perfect because the Thunderheads start rolling in so we get a lightning and X-games show all in one. :) Don't worry the lightning is far away.

Cameron also has picked it up, but is a little less aggressive about it and tries to do the same stunts with his skooter. (I'm ok with that, skateboarding scares me.) The girls for the most part have been good sports about spending so much time at the Skate Park. If we get there when it opens in the morning we have it to ourselves and the girls get to run wild! Bella's such a crazy little girl. She's been jumping off things as soon as she learned how to walk. She landed this jump too. :)

Like I mentioned earlier, this happened several weeks ago. Bryce has improved tons and is getting a lot more air than shown here. I'll video him next chance I get to show the difference a few weeks will make. This is just what Bryce needed I think. He works so hard, he'll come in just dripping in sweat after practicing. I like seeing him work so hard for something he wants; it'll be a good lesson for him to learn.

Back from the Big Apple!

I

love NY

Ok, this is going to be a long post. Jesse out did himself when he sent myself to New York with 2 of my sisters, niece and my lovely Mom for 5 days. I'm not going to bore you too much with all the details, but I'll just give you the highlights of the sightseeing...which is actually A LOT!
Day 1: I should probably mention that the night before we left I didn't get a wink of sleep. I arrived to my moms house around midnight and we were going to have to get up around 3:30 to get ready and leave for the airport by 4:30; our flight left at 6 am. We were all just too excited to sleep. Same on the plane...couldn't sleep. Needless to say our energy level was just about ready to collapse. This is the apartment Jesse rented for us. It was so newly renovated that they were seriously sweeping up from the construction dust. It was so clean and comfortable. We saved hundreds as compared to staying in a hotel. I found this place on http://www.homeaway.com/ and it was located on 30th & 5th.

Here is the view from outside of our apartment. Just a few blocks from the Empire State building. I can never get over how tall the buildings are. This picture cracks me up, because we were all wearing a shade of green except for my mom and so our shirts are completely blended in with the background. Plus, Jeanine was trying to tell the camera lady "wait!" and she just quickly took the picture. Ha ha!
After flying in and settling into our apartment, we set out on the town. We mainly just sat at Harold Square while watching the people and cars go by. I could never get tired of watching people. Just enjoying a pretzel and taking in the hustle & bustle of the city.








Day 2: Up and out by 8 am, ready to shop! I think we walked the most on this day. We walked and walked up and down Broadway and 5th Ave. Down to ground zero and then took the subway back to Union Square.












We found what looked like a safe alley and there were some neat backdrops so we stopped to do some silly poses. Just needed a good laugh to get the endorphins running because around this time we were just about to drop like flies. We found this store called "Joyce Leslie" and we found some good deals there and that's the place where I did my Micheal Jackson impersonation. (inside joke between my mom & June)

I had to take my family to this restaurant called "The Bald Man" chocolate factory. The exact name of the restaurant slips my mind. I went to this place 3 years ago with my sister n law Connie and it was sooo delicious. The food lived up to its ability to make me smile. We just couldn't stop laughing (must have been all of the chocolate we were consuming). We walked home home exhausted and really sleep deprived; hit the hay.
Day 3: 4:40 rang the alarm. It's funny when you know you have an exciting day ahead of you, it makes it easier to roll out of bed although, when our feet hit the floor they were screaming! :) Our legs were so sore!! Normally, there's no way I'd get out of bed at that hour. We woke up this early because Miley Cyrus was performing a free concert in Central Park for the CBS Friday concert series they have every summer. The subway was quiet except for a few questionable people. It looked like it did in the movie "Ghost" when Patrick Swayze is learning how to move things as a ghost. I thought any minute a piece of trash is going to fly in my face. When we got to the park the line was very long, but surprisingly we were able to get up close to the stage. Bret Michaels was also there singing the duet "Every rose has its thorn" with Miley. It was interesting to watch them in between sound checks and commercial breaks. They seemed very nice and would crack jokes at each other. They were both very good performers. I caught a glimpse of Emeril, but sadly didn't get to taste any of his food. :(
We activated our New York City Pass (best bang for your buck if you're site seeing) and started at Madame Tuso's. We all screamed when we turned the corner and saw "Edward" so of course I had to get my picture with him. We also had a good time acting for the camera with The Hulk.
To me my mom looks like she just slammed her hand in the door! ha ha! If I had it to do all over again I would of acted like I were fainting. The screaming just isn't original. :)
We hopped on the bus tour to take a load off our feet and loved our tour guide who really knew the city well. We toured through Harlem and Upper side of Manhattan. Amongst all of the heathens in Times Square I was surprised when we came across the LDS Missionaries. These poor boys were probably very hot in their suits, but they were cheerful and upbeat. The highlight of this trip for me would have to be going to see the Phantom of the Opera and the Statue of Liberty. We lucked out on the tickets. We were able to sit in a box seat looking down onto the stage. Let me just say that The Phantom of the Opera is AMAZING!! The singers just brought tears to my eyes; so powerful!!! AND, the sets were also incredible. My favorite part was the beginning of the show after the auction. The chandelier which was sitting on the stage covered with a dusty grey cloth was sparked to life and lifted above the audience. That's when I knew "this is gonna be gooood!" The main characters nailed their performances. Their voices sounded just like the recordings you hear if not better. It's amazing that as many times as they perform this show (I think twice a day) that they perform it as if it's their first. My sisters, June, Janet and I used to listen to the music as kids and so seeing the show was just a dream come true for me. I hope it never leaves Broadway. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but at the end of the show I noticed others snapping some so I got my quick shot.

The Statue of Liberty meant so much to me to visit. I've been doing some reading on our country and how it was formed (thanks to Glenn Beck) and just walking the grounds of it was very humbling.Here's just a random shot of the city near Fox studios. The buildings just seem to go on forever. With our NYC Pass we were able to take a tour of NBC Studios. That was very cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures for obvious reasons, but we looked at the studios for NBC Sports, Conan O'Brian, and Dr. Oz, but the most exciting for me was the SNL studio. Even though I'll probably never see a show I can at least say that I sat in one of the seats. Too bad SNL isn't as funny as it was in the 80's & 90's.
We took our pictures with the character pose and I can't remember what show this was, but Jeanine picked this out and I totally think that Jeanine needs to go for this hairstyle. You look good Jeanine!! For some reason the lady made June's head WAY to big for her character. We had a good laugh. I've left so much out, but those were some things I wanted to share. I love you Jesse for allowing me to take this time away from my responsibilities and spend some Q time with my mom and sisters. Bella who has always loved her daddy now just adores him and is a complete daddy's girl. Claire was probably the one who missed me the most. :) Karen, thank you so much for watching the kids while jesse was sick and at work. You're an amazing and wonderful mother -n- law. :) As much fun as NYC was and always is I'd have to quote from the title of the song: "New York is not my home."