Granny T

So I went to Grandma's house to get some pictures of her with things that I remember about her. These are a few of the pictures I took. If anyone wants copies, I would be happy to make a CD for them. I am hoping to get to Grandpa soon too.

Sara

The Year of the Bowles

So I realize the year isn't quite over yet, and there could still be some events worth mentioning by the end of the year, but as this is a new blog I thought I would just higlight the big events of the year thus far. There aren't many. In fact, after the title, this whole post could be rather anti-climatic. But although there aren't many things to write about, it doesn't mean the events worth writing about aren't exciting.

As all of you should know by now, Kelly James is now Kelly Green, courtesy of Eric Green and Company. Yes, Kelly was married (and looking stunning, by they way!), and her family didn't grow just by one, but by three. The new additions are Jenna, 8, and Andy, 4. It was really fun to see how many of our family were able to make it to celebrate Kelly's day. It was also somewhat disappointing, because there were so many, how many we didn't really get to visit with as much as we wanted. I am not discouraging big groups from coming to future events, just mentioning we all had wished we could have spent more time with those who were there! And for those of you who didn't really get to meet Eric, there will be lots of time in the future and in the meantime you'll just have to take it from us, he is a really great guy.

As for the Hess's, we also had a new addition July 26th. Her name is Katie Lynn, and we think she is as cute as the others. We are really enjoying the

new addition, and she is so much less tempermental than the

rest of them have been, and as the rest of mine have gotten

more tempermental as I have had them, I was pretty sure I just wouldn't have a quiet one as I would lose her! So we'll

see if she stays as quiet as she seems now, and than my new goal as mother will be to make sure she doesn't get lost in the shuffle, as the rest of mine do that job all for themselves, and they are very good at it.

Mom and Dad flew over to Missouri, spent a couple of days, and took the Hess kids home with them. It was really nice to have peace and quiet as I did not sleep for four days, not to have to take care of the rest. Katie had broken her clavicle during delivery which made for a lot of doctors and just general busyness for the first few days, so it was a blessing in disguise when they left before the baby was born, even though I personally cried for two days because of that fact. It is a blessing I may not have again. The airplane trip was a little more eventful than she bargained for! Mom said it was like Olivia was on Speed. I should mention here that Olivia doesn't need Speed. Olivia is Speed. So if you imagine Speed on Speed, on an airplane, with my mother.... Oh the possibilities!

The last exciting thing is the baptism of Alex and Emily! Mom and Dad flew us all over to Washington so we were able to baptize Emily and Alex together, and because we planned it special, we had an entire room full of family and friends, there was not a stranger in the room. Aunt Tana (Duane's sister for those of you who don't know) and Uncle Casey did fantastic talks, and we were able to have other family help out as well such as Grandma Thomas play the piano and Aunt Lori lead our music (because the rest of these Bowles are pretty much music deficient). I don't know about anyone else, but I thought it was one of the best baptisms I have been to in a long time. We were also able to bless Katie after the confirmations, so we were able to have everything done at one time. It was an especially huge gift from my parents that they did for us, and one we will remember for a long time. To make it extra special for Alex, it was on his birthday, so we were able to have two celebrations in one.

Well, that would be all for now, I'm sure there is plenty more to talk about, but those are the big ones for this year so far. Enjoy the pictures, and thank ySara for showing us all how to blog!