Fowler Family

Birthdays and Valentine's Day!

2012-02-13T08:16:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

One lucky little boy

Troy and I love our Saturday night date nights. We have been able to get a group of friends together to trade off babysitting so that we can have a date night most Saturdays of the month.
Well a couple days ago we were able to have a very special date night. Not with each other but Troy with the girls and me with my son.
Troy, Katelyn, and Kylie were invited to a Daddy Daughter Valenintes Tea Party.

These two girls and I are so blessed to have this guy in our life!
He sure does love and take care of us in way that makes us feel like we are the luckiest girls alive.

I love this time in our life that Troy is the most important boy to our girls, I know that won't last forever!

Oh Mason, I sure do love this boy. I know he loves his mommy too but I know he is a Daddy's boy and loves more than anything to hang out with his daddy.
I was all excited to have our own little date night with my boy but when Mason saw Troy leave with the girls he was devastated. He was so offended that Troy would take the girls and not him.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Mason cried for 30 minutes straight. I timed it. I don't think he has ever cried that long for any thing in his life. I would try to hold him and talk to him but he didn't want to have anything to do with me. Apparently it was my fault he was left. I felt so loved, haha. Finally he let me hold him and talk to him. And then we back to our usual selves, making faces at each other, being silly and laughing, playing, and snuggling.
We made popcorn and snuggled on the couch watching a motorcycle movie that we got at the library. It was perfect.

My cute date

Being silly

This is the face he makes when he is showing me his muscles.

Katelyn and Kylie's 5th Birthday!
It thought it was about time to post about Katelyn and Kylie's Birthday since I will probably be posting about another "birth" day pretty soon. Only 7 more days until baby brother will be here!

It has so crazy to think it has been 5 years since these precious girls came into my life!
The time has flown by.

And a birthday can't ever pass by without me remembering their birth and how early and tiny they were and how I am so grateful that they don't have any serious lasting effects from being preemies.

The girls opened lots of awesome stuff from their Grandparents.

Katelyn and Kylie have always loved animals so much and they have recently started to really be obsessed with Dinosaurs. Their favorite movies to watch are Dinosaur documentaries, they told me they want to be paleontologists, and they definitely know a lot more about dinosaurs than I do.

So I tried my best and made them a Dinosaur cake for their birthday.

We had some friends over for cake and ice cream and a few games.

I love my girls so much!! It is really sad to see how fast my babies have grown up but it is also exciting at the same time. They are such big helpers, fight less with each other, are able to do so much for themselves and for me, and are learning new things like crazy. Happy Birthday Girls!

Lately. . .

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just like Dad.

Troy grew up riding motorcycles and rode them a lot during his High School days. It was a sad day when he sold his bike the summer we moved out to Iowa.
Mason loves trucks, motorcycles, trains, tractors, and anything like that. He especially loves to play with this little motorcycle that belonged to his dad.
Mason also loves to sit and watch Troy's old motorcycle videos. The longest we have ever seen Mason sit still is when he is watching them with his Dad. Good think we still have a VHS player.

I should be a little worried about Mason's love for Motorcycles and his lack of fear to be thrown up high, jump off things, and to try crazy things.
But I am actually really excited to get that first motorcycle for Mason and for Troy to be able to get a bike again.

Mason also treasures pictures of his Dad on motorcycles. He loves looking at them.

This pictures was when Troy was younger and this wasn't his most recent bike that he had before we moved, but Mason loves this picture and likes to carry it all over the house.

With the way Mason looks, his love for motorcycles, his love for hitting a golf ball, and with all his flannel shirts, he is his daddy's little twin.

These two little girls are also a lot like their Dad in so many countless ways, but here is one of them:
They absolutely love to look at his surgery books.
This foot and ankle surgery book is, in my opinion, disgusting. It is way too detailed with amazing photography and I can't even stand to look at the cover of it.
Katelyn and Kylie will spend an hour looking through this book together. And they do it all the time.

They especially love when Troy sits down with them and describes each picture and the surgery in a very detailed way. And the girls are totally amazed by it and act like they understand everything he is saying.

Hmmm, maybe there are 3 future doctors here?

By the way Troy is having fun participating in lots of surgeries these days.

Dinner Time

Dinner time at our house is loud, crazy, fun, messy and it is my favorite part of the day.
Well, when Troy is with us. Sometimes he has a night class or has to work but when we are all together as a family it is such a fun time.
I love to have us all together as a family and for some reason the kids are extra entertaining and funny when we are all eating. I just sit and laugh at them and the things they say.

Mason is extremely independent and ever since he was 12 months old he refused to let me feed him. He wanted to do it all by himself. He is actually really good with a spoon and fork and isn't too messy but occasionally when we have soup or spaghetti it can get all over.

Also he fought sitting in his high chair. He hated it and he just wanted to sit up to the table with all of us. So a couple months ago we finally just put his high chair in the garage and he has loved being at the table.

The girls stopped taking naps at a very young age and don't really fall asleep during the day that often.
So it was so funny when one night I told the girls to sit up and eat their soup and one minute later I found Katelyn like this:

Kylie and I were laughing so much and I let her sleep like that for about 5 minutes before waking her up so she could eat.

I say this often, but we have such great friends.
It seriously brings me real physical heartache thinking about moving away from this family.
We have had so much fun with them.

The Rodeo!

2012-01-16T13:49:00.001-08:00

We have some great neighbors who gave us some tickets to go to the rodeo. We had such a great time as a family and the girls especially loved it. After three hours it was getting late and we kept asking if they were ready to go home but they didn't want to ever go.
One of the highlights for sure was a little show they had in the middle of the rodeo where this guy had trained monkeys to ride dogs and they rounded up some sheep. It was so fun to watch!
Also before the rodeo we were able to go see the horses and the bulls and they also had free pony rides.

My Boys

2012-01-14T10:33:00.001-08:00

Mason had his first dentist appointment this past week! Katelyn and Kylie were such great examples and showed him how to be brave. Mason did great and kept giving me this look like he was just a little confused. He loved getting a new tooth brush since brushing his teeth is one of his favorite things. His teeth looked good, just getting a little crooked from his pacifier. But as of Christmas break he has been pacifier free except bed time and nap time. And even then we have put him to sleep without it a couple times and he has fallen right to sleep. The dentist said it wasn't bad and his teeth should just correct themselves. It was actually easier than I thought to take his pacifier away. Just have to work on sleep time now and to keep his fingers and thumb that he now loves to suck on, out of his mouth.

As for my other little boy, I can't believe we only have 5 more weeks left until he will be here! 37 more days.
Two ultrasounds ago he was measuring only 2 1/2 weeks behind and i was really excited but at my last ultrasound when I was 33 weeks he was measuring 3 weeks behind again and they estimated that he weighed 2 pounds 11 oz. which is smaller than Katelyn and Kylie were and they were born at 30 weeks. So it does make me worry a little bit. But the kind ultrasound tech reminded me of something important. She asked if I have been able to enjoy this pregnancy at all. I told her that it has been hard because I have just worried a lot. She then told me to try and just enjoy these last weeks and reminded me of the miracle of pregnancy. And she is right! It is such a miracle to be pregnant and I am going to enjoy every last minute I have left of this pregnancy.
This little boy may be small but he is tough! He throws out some kicks that actually hurt pretty bad. I know my other kids were really active but I don't remember their kicks hurting.
Coming up with boy names is super hard but I think we have narrowed it down to three. Either Tyson, Tanner, or Tyler.
My favorite is Tyson but I don't know if I want both of my boys' names to end in son. So we will have to think about it a little longer. Any suggestions are welcome!

The ultrasound tech had a hard time getting a clear picture of this boy's face! It is squished up next to the placenta and he constantly has his hands covering his face. Plus the umbilical cord was up by his face too. But I love the picture of his hand. And the glimpses I got of him looks a lot like Mason.

My sweet boys:

Warm winter

2012-01-05T19:22:00.001-08:00

Today was such a warm beautiful day! We spent about 6 hours outside today with only our light sweaters on. Some at the zoo and then at the park. I even woke mason up early from his nap to go play outside. When we got home from the zoo I checked the weather and it was 67 degrees! This is crazy for January in Iowa.
The first winter we were here was the worst winter in Iowa in a hundred years. We had weeks and weeks of negative degree weather. Terrible ice storms, tons of snow, and a couple of blizzards that left us literally snowed in. They couldn't plow the apartment complex for a couple of days and most of the cars were buried anyway.
They are saying that this may be the warmest winter Iowa has seen.
Kind of crazy to be here to experience both the extremes!

Our Iowa Christmas!

2011-12-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

We decided to stay in Iowa this year and we are so glad we did! We really missed family and since this was my first Christmas away from home I was a little homesick but we had a great time with just our little family. This was also my first Christmas without snow! It has been a really mild winter so far and we even enjoyed a few days that were close to the 60's. So unlike Iowa. But one day I showed the girls how to cut snowflakes and they spent the next couple of hours making snowflakes and then hanging them up. So I didn't miss the snow too much.
We loved having Troy home for 2 weeks and we also loved not having to make the long drive home. We were able to go and do lots of fun stuff as a family and the girls especially loved going swimming and using their new goggles that Santa brought them.

It was also nice to be able to see the preschool Christmas program this year.

The girls and their teacher, Miss Stacey. They love her!
Santa even came to the preschool.

We didn't even make Mason sit with Santa, he just started to cry as soon as he saw him.

The girls with Aubrey Webb. We were sad that Brooklyn was sick!

Our Christmas Tree

We wrapped 24 Christmas books (some ours, some the libraries) and every night in December the kids got to unwrap one to read.

We had some fun parties during December. Troy and I went to his work party and it was the most fancy dinner I have been to! We had to dress up and we had a great time.
One night my friends decided to just have a girls night Christmas party. We had such a great dinner and it was fun to spend time together without the kids!

On Christmas Eve we had another party with a few families that were also staying here for Christmas.
Our cute little nativity.
Brooklyn took her role as Mary very seriously. She was perfect.

Cameron - the cutest baby ever to play baby Jesus.

Present exchange with the other kids!

The kids all watching a movie so the parents could have fun playing minute to win it games.

Getting a little crazy. There were a few times I couldn't breathe because I was laughing so hard.
It was hilarious.
Mason and his buddy wondering what their parents are doing. Of course Mason has a golf ball in his hands.

Christmas Morning!
It was so fun to see how excited they were! At 4 o'clock in the morning Katelyn came and got in our bed and was wide awake. She said, "Mom, I think Santa came!" It was fun to see how excited she was. She lay there wide awake for a little while then she then told me, "I better go back to bed in case he comes back." It is so incredibly fun to celebrate Christmas, or any holiday, with kids. I love seeing their excitement, and it makes it so great.
On Christmas morning we had to wake all the kids up to hurry and get them ready for 9 o'clock church. After we got home we had huge, delicious breakfast and then we finally let the kids start on their presents. Thank you family for all the wonderful gifts.

Santa!

2011-12-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

The girls had fun eating a yummy breakfast at the church this morning and then going to see Santa Clause.

They both told him they want Dinosaurs.

The girls have always loved Santa, but Mason has some of my personality in him.
I have lots of pictures like this when I was growing up.

Mason is terrified of Santa just like I was when I was little.

Haha, I love this picture!

Our Thanksgiving

2011-12-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

This is a little late but we had a great Thanksgiving weekend and kept up our tradition of eating with our good friends Erin and Brady Rhodes and their cute family.
Last year, they were still living here and we went to their house to eat and this year they made the trip from Chicago to have Thanksgiving with us! They stayed at house for 3 nights and since they have 3 kids as well it was crazy but so much fun. I was terrible at taking pictures and regret that I didn't take more.

Katelyn and Kylie were so excited that Cailyn and Peyton were coming. I made an Advent Calendar for a countdown to Thanksgiving. I also meant to print out gratitude quotes to put in all the squares to read everyday and little Thanksgiving activities in some of the days but didn't get around to it so will have to for next year!
For the girls it wasn't a countdown for Thanksgiving, they were counting down to square number 2: the day when the Rhodes were coming.

Our Cailyn and Peyton countdown.

The girls had fun moving the turkey everyday.

I have decided that I love advent calenders. When a holiday is coming up the girls are always asking how many more days and it is hard for them to understand months, weeks, and days.
Advent Calenders give them a visual of exactly how much time is left. I eventually want some sort of advent for every holiday.

Katelyn and Kylie had fun making these turkeys with me.

On Thanksgiving day Troy and Brady worked at the country club while Erin and I finished up dinner preparations.
The kids had so much fun playing together and it was an actually pretty warm day so they spent a lot of time outside.

After a huge and yummy dinner we got everything cleaned up and put away and then and Erin and I left the kids with our husbands and went to a movie. Afterwards we were debating on whether we should do some Black Friday shopping. Last year we went and were shopping until 3 in the morning.
This year we went and saw how long the lines were and I think that cooking all day while taking care of the kids and both of us being pregnant (she is expecting here 4th too, a little girl in January) just made us way too tired so we went home and went to bed instead!

The next day we took the kids to let them burn some of the energy off at Monkey Joes.
Love them all.
Brady and Erin are from Texas so I love that their kids call me "Miss Carrie."

It was sad to say goodbye again and wished they lived closer!!

Snow!

2011-11-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

There is something magical about the first snow fall of the season! The kids were so excited to wake up and see snow this morning. I told Mason it was snow, and he said "snow" perfectly.
The girls were so excited to get home from preschool so they could go out and play in it and they had such a great time. Mason had fun too but he is at that awkward age where his huge, bulky snow clothes make it hard to run around in and when he fell down he couldn't get himself back up. I couldn't stop laughing at him. Here is the beginning of many more days playing out in the snow!

Baby Update

2011-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

I know many friends and family have been asking and wondering about our little baby.
Thank you all for you prayers and concern.
I had an appointment yesterday and feel so much better and more at peace after the appointment.

The baby was still measuring 3 weeks behind, but I am so glad that he is growing and the growth isn't falling behind even farther.

So just a little info about intrauterine growth restriction. There are two kinds:
asymmetric and symmetric.

Asymmetric is usually found later in pregnancy and the head growth is on tract but the rest of the body is smaller and this is due usually to placental or nutritional problems. They usually just deliver early and then the baby is fine.

Symmetric is more rare and found earlier in pregnancy. This is where the head and the body are both small and behind on growth. The cause of this is usually a Chromosome problem.

My baby has symmetric growth restriction.
There are three chromosomal problems that are associated with symmetric growth restriction and they are trisomy 21 (down syndrome)

trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome)
and trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome)

I was scared when I learned about trisomy 18 and 13 because babies with those usually end in miscarriages, and if they continue to grow then they can be stillborn and if they live to birth they usually don't live very long after.
Because of this I was determined to get an amniocentesis because I was scared that I might have to prepare to face my greatest fear: losing a child. I knew that was something we had to know and prepare ourselves and our kids.

So I went into my appointment scared to death but after the ultrasound we were asking the doctor about trisomy 18 and 13 and he was almost positive that if the baby had one of those he would be able to see different problems with the baby on the ultrasound, like heart problems.

Troy and I both felt relieved and when the doctor asked if we wanted an amniocentesis because of the possibility of down syndrome, we both felt like it wasn't necessary anymore. Yes, it would be nice to know for sure, especially because my kids don't have small heads, they have abnormally large heads, haha. Like 10% and 5% for weight and height and 90% for head circumference. But now that we know that trisomy 18 and 13 are out of the picture we can't really do anything else to prepare and plus I was scared of the risks, although small, that come with an amniocentesis.
So we will just wait and see what happens February 20th (the day of my scheduled c-section).
We will love this baby (we already do) no matter what, down syndrome or not, and will deal with things when the time comes.

I feel so much better, so much more at peace with everything.
I know this baby is growing and that he probably won't have to be delivered early.
I know why trials are necessary even though they are not fun at all. It definitely causes us to rely more on our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the enabling power of the atonement. Trials cause us to search the scriptures a little more diligently and to pray a little more earnestly. This past month has been really hard for me with the stress and the worrying, but I have come closer to my Heavenly Father. I am still worried and still don't feel like I am strong enough to deal with this. But that is why I can't rely on my own strength. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's love and the help and strenght that he has given me!

Halloween Week!!

2011-10-29T05:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

I love my little pirates!!

Yes Halloween is a week long event for us and we love it!
On Wednesday we had a party at the church for the kids.
That night we went to the DMU party that they have for the kids every year.
Friday the girls had their preschool party and
then that night we had the ward trunk-or-treat.
On Monday we will hopefully get some more trick-or-treating in and go to the mall.

At the DMU party, painting pumpkins.

And playing games!

Eating treats with some of our best buds: Ava, Brooklyn, and Aubrey.

Dad's Halloween costume. Just kidding, this is what he gets to wear everyday.
And he came right from the clinic and met us for the DMU party.

My four favorite people! This is why I love Halloween!

Because they love it.

Have a Happy Halloween!

The plan. . .

2011-10-28T19:57:00.001-07:00

4th year. It is coming, and it has been the topic of much of our phone calls at lunch, date night, and late night talks. It is so nice to finally have the plan.

4th year for podiatry students means leaving Des Moines and traveling around to different programs for rotations. And then one of those programs will be where they will spend a three year residency.

So much of our conversation is to what programs Troy should rotate at. There are a total of 225 programs (haha, yes I counted) and they are located in every state in the U.S., except Wyoming and Idaho of course. A lot of them are on the East coast and in California.

It has been so hard trying to decide where to go, because not only does Troy need to go to a program that will be best for him but we need to decide what part of the country we want to be living for the next 3 years and maybe even longer since most people end up staying where they do their residencies because they get to know doctors and have job offers.

So with that said and with much research on programs and prayer, here is the plan:

In the beginning of May we will pack up and move to Shelley, Idaho where me and he kids will be living in an apartment close to family. Then in June we will all go with Troy to Minneapolis, MN and will stay all of June and hopefully some of July with him in an extended stay hotel or already furnished apartment. Then me and the kids will head back to Idaho.
So in June, July, and August Troy will be in Minneapolis.
In September he will go to Columbus, Ohio.
In October he will rotate at Cincinnati, Ohio.
In November he will rotate at Greeley, Colorado.
In December he will be in Salt Lake City, Ut.
In January he will be in Seattle, Washington.

At the end of January he will then fly to Texas to interview for a residency program. (This is where all the students will go and people from the programs so they can interview all in one place.)
And then finally for Febraury, March, April, and May he will be able to be with us in Idaho. He will just set up some elective rotations with local doctors, finish his capstone project for his masters program and take one of those months as a vacation month.
Then at the end of May we will come spend a couple days in Des Moines for graduation!
Sometime in June we will be moving to one of those places for the next 3 years (and probably more!) of our lives.

Whew! Kind of crazy and exciting. Yes I am also already dreading being away from Troy for that long. I spent a month away from him this summer and I missed him a million times more than I thought I would. But with the girls being in kindergarten and how much it would cost to travel with him, we realize this will be the best thing. I am looking forward to living closer to family for a year! And we know that Heavenly Father has guided us and led us in these decisions, just like we know we were supposed to be in Iowa. It is all in His hands!

Troy's Birthday and Church

2011-10-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Troy!!!

Today Troy celebrated his 28th birthday!

Katelyn and Kylie were so excited that it was their Dad's birthday and everyone at church today knew it was Troy's birthday because the girls told everyone, "Guess what! Today is our Dad's birthday!!"

Wow, me and the kids are SO extremely lucky to have this guy in our life. He is an amazing husband and dad. Seriously, I can't believe how lucky I got to marry someone like him, someone that loves me and his children more than I ever thought possible.

These two girls made me so proud today. It was their first primary program ever and they did such a great job singing and then saying their parts loud, clear, and memorized in the microphone. They worked so hard to memorize their parts and were able to say them perfectly without help. They also made me a little sad today as well because it is days like these that I see them growing up way too fast.

And speaking of growing up, Mason gets to share his half birthday with his dad's birthday. He turned 18 months old today. He had his first day of nursery today. Yay!! We finally get to learn at church again, haha. I was worried about dropping him off, but he didn't cry at all and when we came to pick him up after church, he didn't want to go. He had a great time.

Troy was able to go to the Apple orchard with us on Friday.
This is the third year in Iowa with pumpkin patches and apple orchards and Troy has never been able to go with us until this year. School was just too busy. We are really liking how third year is going. I am pretty sure the kids thought it was a million times more fun having Dad there.

Troy and the girls were busy finding things hidden in the maze that they had on their card to get a prize and Mason was just taking his time and exploring everything.
Me and him eventually got separated from them and had to find our own way out.

Baby Update

2011-10-17T20:52:00.001-07:00

Thank you for your concern, prayers, calls, and texts. It really did strengthen me today.

I had another really long ultrasound today from the technician and the doctor. The doctor said he couldn't find anything wrong with the placenta, which is a relief to know that the baby is getting the nutrients he needs.

But the baby is still measuring really small and his conclusions were that either the baby is fine and just small or he has some sort of genetic disorder.

I had the option of having an amniocentesis to find out for sure if it is a genetic disorder, but I decided not to today and to just wait for a few weeks until my next appointment and see how things were going.

Something that scares me is that he said if the growth keeps slowing we will just have to deliver early. I have had premature babies before and all the emotions and everything we went through with that came back to me today and just leaves me kind of emotionally drained.

We just have to wait, that is all I can really do right now, and just pray that the he continues to grow like he should.

This Week

2011-10-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

This past week has been long, so very long. But full of lots of joy at the same time. I have seen lots of little blessings over and over again and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me see them and comforting me again and again and letting me know he is aware of me.

I wanted us all to stay really busy this week and have lots of fun so that I could keep my mind off something that has caused me a lot of stress, anxiety, heart ache, and of course as a mom, a lot of worrying. (I will write more about this later on in this post).

So I have completely enjoyed my awesome kids this week.

I took them to the apple orchard again and soaked in the beautiful, warm weather.
Seriously, I am in love with the Iowa fall.

We came home and made one of my favorite things: caramel apples.

So good!!

We have played outside a lot and we have caught lots of bugs and frogs this week. My girls can't get enough. They have been so funny with bugs. They loved them when they were little but then went through a stage where they were scared to death of them. I think this is because they watched my reaction around bugs. When they finally got over that and realized their mom was a wimp, they fell in love with bugs again.

This week we caught a caterpillar and we were so excited to keep it and watch it's process of becoming a butterfly. But it died a couple days later, I think it is because Katelyn and Kylie played with it too much. They have caught lots of grasshoppers and crickets, will keep them as a pet and play with them until they die or until I make them take them back outside.

When I say we (well the girls) caught a lot of frogs, I mean like 12!! I let them keep them in a container for a day before I finally persuaded them to bring them back by telling them that the frogs probably missed their families.

Me, Katelyn, and Kylie had a fun girls night and went to the movie theater to watch Dolphin Tale. It was such a cute, good movie. We all loved it.

We also had fun making and decorating Halloween cookies this week.

Saturday was the best day.
Mostly because Troy was able to be with us.
We went out to Denny's for breakfast, ate a ton of food, and then headed to Omaha to go to the zoo. It is amazing and even if you spend 6 hours there you still wont see everything.
The Omaha Zoo is one of Katelyn and Kylie's favorite places ever.

We have discovered that Mason may not be as obsessed with animals as his sisters are.
This is what he did after the gorilla turned and looked at him. He did the same thing when we got him too close to the lions. We thought it was hilarious. So of course, we had to do it a couple of times to see his reactions.

Mason wasn't too interested in all the animals and was definitely more interested in the airplanes flying over head, the zoo train, and the big trucks on the drive to and from Omaha.

This week we were also able to see our precious little baby with an ultrasound and the ultrasound tech. told us that she was 100% sure it was a BOY! We could tell as well, he wanted us to know that for sure he was a boy.

I am so glad that Troy was there with me and that we were able to witness together this sweet little guys spirit. His profile pictures showed us just how much he looks like his brother and sisters. I loved seeing and counting all of his fingers and toes and seeing his hands open and close. He also kept putting his hands up behind his head, by his face, and in his mouth.
I also know why I have to go to the bathroom a millions times in a day. He is using my bladder as a trampoline. His feet are resting right on it.

This little boy is also the cause of all my worrying this week.
He was measuring small and 3 weeks behind on growth. If he had been my first baby I would think it was just because I am small, but my other babies were always right on track with growth, even my twins. Also my amniotic fluid was low which could mean that there is a placenta problem. And at the ultrasound I had when I was 14 weeks, his growth was right where it should be.

The doctor was pretty concerned about it and I now have an appointment tomorrow at a high risk center to have more ultrasounds and some tests done. And I am scared.

I love this little baby, our son. I love him so much. I love him like I love Mason, Katelyn, and Kylie. And to know that something is not right is really heart breaking for me. I want to fix it, just like when something is wrong with my other kids I do my best to make it better. But this week I have felt so helpless, not knowing what to do or how to make it better, or even what is really wrong.

During the day I stay busy, but night has been hard. All the kids are sleeping and I have way to much time to think and worry. I feel him moving a lot at night too, which is a constant reminder. I am also very aware that I am not as big at this point as I was when I was pregnant with Mason.

Like I said at the beginning of this post I have been very blessed this week with comfort. I am so grateful for Troy and his strength. That he can hold me and that we can cry together. I am thankful for the priesthood and that Troy can give me blessings.
I have amazing kids that are examples to me. Before bed we always sit down and read scriptures and say a prayer. Sometimes I am so tired I just lay the kids down, ready to skip the scriptures but they always remind me if we have not read them yet or haven't said a prayer yet.
I gave Mason his breakfast this morning and then we were all busy doing our own thing getting ready for church, but I looked over and Mason was folding his arms, ready to say a prayer for his breakfast. I love them so much.

And because of them, Troy, and my Heavenly Father, I will get through tomorrow.
Please keep us in your prayers!

October and Michelle!

2011-10-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

October is my favorite month. I love the beautiful weather, colors, fall decor, Halloween, and everything else about it!
This year's October started out perfectly.

October 1st was a very special day for us! I always look forward to General Conference and it was such a surprise/blessing to hear the announcement of a Star Valley Temple. I never thought my beautiful mountain home town would have it's very own temple. There are lots of members of The Church of Jesus Christ there but we have the Idaho Falls Temple and the Rexburg Temple only 2 hours away. Star Valley is also very small. No stop lights, no mall, walmart, or target. Just a small, beautiful place. I am so excited for my parents and the temple that will be built there!! And I will always remember this conference and our prophets announcement.

Also on October 1st we were lucky enough to have Troy's sister Michelle come visit us for an entire week. I love Michelle so much and she has always been such a great friend and sister.
I couldn't ever say enough about her. She is an amazing person, seriously I am always in awe at the person that she is and the talents she has. Thanks Michelle for putting up with us for an entire week! I know it is sometimes (well most of the time) crazy at our house and it meant so much to me to have you here!

Here are some pictures of our week and of course since you hardly see Michelle without her camera, she took pretty much all of these, so thanks Michelle for letting me steal them.

Playing candy land with Aunt Michelle.
Michelle really helped out with the kids so much, it was great.

Kylie caught a frog to show Michelle while they went for a walk.

On Sunday morning we made yummy muffins, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and an egg casserole and then listened to conference, took naps, and then went and walked around the lake at the mall so we could feed the fish.

Monday afternoon we took the kids to the pumpkin patch.

Love the corn pits!

Yes, Michelle and I had a lot of fun. . .

We loved these and played tag on them for a really long time. Someday Michelle. . .

Checking out all the pumpkins. I told them they could each take home a pumpkin they could carry. Hmmm, maybe if they all pick it up together, haha.

The tractor ride out to the pumpkins. Mason loved the tractor.

The pumpkins they picked out to take home.

Pedal go karts.
Michelle beat me. Every time.

Katelyn

Favorite picture out of the almost 600 pictures Michelle took this week. Haha, love ya Michelle!

Kylie

Loves airplanes

On Tuesday morning we went to the Apple Orchard

More corn!

We all took turns getting covered in corn. It kept coming out of our clothes for the rest of the day and I am still finding pieces of corn in our house.

The best slide ever!

The only not so fun part about this place. My kids DO NOT like hay or corn mazes. Maybe they are a little claustrophobic like their mom.

Michelle and I made lots of yummy things and ate way too much food.
Mmmm, anything with peanut butter is good.

And we watched lots and lots of movies, made way too many trips to hobby lobby, and stayed up WAY too late every night. It was so much fun.

Working on our wreaths during the late hours of the night.

All done! And this is just one of the crafts we did!

Katelyn and Kylie had swimming lessons and gymnastics this week and I know that they were excited to have Michelle watching.

On Friday I took Michelle to Nauvoo for the day. Troy was a awesome and stayed home with the kids all day.

Thanks again Michelle, it was so fun and we miss you!

Chicago

2011-09-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

This last week we had a chance to go and spend a couple of days with some friends in Chicago. We've missed them since they moved there so it was nice to see them. We didn't do any of the downtown Chicago things that you normally do when you go there. This was the main reason for going...

I got a ticket to go to the BMW Championship golf tournament at Cog Hill in Chicago with Brady Rhodes. I was going to go by myself but Carrie wanted to see her good friend Erin so the whole family went on the 5.5 hour drive. This tournament had the top 70 golfers of the PGA tour and there was quite a few that I wanted to see. I especially wanted to see Rickie Fowler. I'm kind of partial to him for obvious reasons! Here are a couple of pics I got of him from the Saturday round.

Just finished and walking off the 18th green.

Back on the driving range

Technically you weren't supposed to have any cameras. I had no idea about this rule so when they asked if we had any cameras when we got to the entrance there was no way I was going all the way back to the car just to drop it off. So I decided to snap a few pics at the end.

While Brady and I went to the golf tournament on Saturday Carrie and Erin took the kids out for some fun. Katelyn and Kylie were so excited to see Cailyn and Peyton. They went to a place that had some animals, which unfortunately they couldn't pet, a carousel, golf, and some other little things. They had a good time and we look forward to the next time we get to have fun with the Rhodes family.

Cailyn, Katelyn, and Kylie making their dads proud. Mason and Carson. On the way home we decided to go and stop by Lake Michigan. It was a little bit cold, rainy and windy so we didn't spend a lot of time there but it was neat to see how enormous this lake is.

Our 2nd trip to Wyoming and Idaho

2011-09-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

2340 Miles
37 hours of driving
About 7 tanks of gas
A LOT of stops along the way to go the bathroom. (And it was mostly me that had to go).
15 movies
50 - the amount of times I told the kids we were almost there
5 pacifiers that Mason kept losing
5 very sore bums
3 - 3 in the morning that is, the time we finally pulled into my parents house, and then ours on the trip home.
1 extremely messy and stinky van
=
4 wonderful days filled with lots of smiles and lots of memories and little moments that I love and live for.

Yes, we made the crazy long drive home again for the second time this summer. The drive is long and boring and we drive all of it in one day, but we have always had at least 2 weeks to a month in between the drives. This time we only had 4 days.

But after the trip was over and we were back here in Iowa, Troy and I both totally agreed that every one of those miles was worth it. And here is why:

We were only able to spend a day in Wyoming at my parents house but I had a good time with my sister and my mom and Katelyn and Kylie were able to have lots of fun with their cousin, Halle. They ate popsicles on the swing and played house under Grandma's dining room table.

We then went to Idaho.
The kids loved having Grandpa Fowler around so much and spending time with him.

He took us fishing! It was fun to see how excited the girls were to go dig up worms. They love to fish. It was a perfect day. The weather was beautiful and my kids were so happy. Mason loved throwing rocks in the water.

Katelyn and Dad

Kylie and Grandpa

Finally after 2 1/2 hours the wyoming girl (me) was finally able to get a fish on the line, which I quickly handed to Kylie since it was a children's fishing pond only, haha.
So proud of her fish.

They put it in the cup that their worms were in. It was so funny to see how much they loved that fish, they even named it, but then talked about eating it.

The kids loved riding the little 4 wheeler and little motorcycle. They couldn't get enough if it. When Troy was taking Kylie around the yard she yelled out, " This is the best day of my entire life!"
That little sentence definitely made the drive worth it.

Mason was obsessed. He is so into trucks, cars, airplanes, motorcycles, and that kind of stuff right now. One day we watched the dump truck for like 10 minutes and he didn't move a muscle. Which is totally not like my crazy, can't hold still for anything, Mason.

So, the reason we decided to come to Idaho again was because Troy's little brother Cody was getting married. He married Kinzie on September 3 in the Idaho Falls Temple. We are excited for them, and we were so glad that we were able to make it to their wedding. I loved sitting in the sealing room next to Troy surrounded by family. It was a very spiritual moment for me.

Oh Jared, what would we do without you? Seriously he is like Katelyn, Kylie, and Mason's second Dad.
He takes care of them and entertains them all day.
The girls tell Troy and I that they love Jared more than us, haha.
Everything they do they want to show or tell Jared.

And, um, yes, we ate way too much candy on this trip. . .

We were also happy that we were home to be at the blessing of Trent and Lindsey's sweet baby boy, Logan.

Logan was pretty lucky to have every single one of his Uncles there to stand in the circle. That will probably never happen with any of my kids! I have a lot of brother-in-laws!

Speaking of baby blessings, I was able to make this blessing dress for my sweet little niece Evalyn who was also blessed on the same day, but in Utah. I have not met this girl yet and am not sure when I will but she is such a cute girl and I am happy for Megan and Calvin and their beautiful family.

Idaho trip number 1

2011-09-11T19:41:00.001-07:00

I already posted pictures from our Idaho/Wyoming trip that we took earlier this summer, but my awesome sister-in-law (who just happens to always have a camera in her hands) sent me some pictures that she took.

Can't get enough of the water!

Katelyn

Michelle and her brothers. What a lucky girl!

And the three girls lucky enough to have Michelle as a sister-in-law! (And to be married to her brothers)!

And this is why my girls have no fear. They have been thrown back and forth between their Dad and Uncle Jared since they were just little. They love it.

Haha, we spent so much time in the little swimming pool and since swim diapers are so expensive I let this little guy show off his dimples once in awhile.

Oh I love this picture. Mason, you are loved.

Such a great family. I love them.

Troy and his brothers.

The 4 Fowler Grandchildren

Idaho trip number 1 - The Kids

2011-09-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Michelle took some great pictures of the kids. Thanks Michelle!

Katelyn

Kylie

Mason

Baby Fowler

2011-08-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today I was lucky enough to be able to get an ultrasound and see our baby.
I had an appointment this morning and the doctor tried for a few minutes to hear the heartbeat, but couldn't find it. She then had me wait for 30 minutes so I could get an ultrasound to make sure everything was alright. It was such a long 30 minutes and I was so worried. But I was finally able to go in and see this little stinker kicking and moving around like crazy.

After doing some measurements she figured my due date was off about a week and the new due date is February 27th.

She also said she was 90% sure that the baby is a BOY!!
I was so surprised to find out today what we will be having, I was not expecting it.
We are excited for this sweet little baby and to maybe be adding another boy to our family!

The Berry Patch

2011-08-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed out to this cute and fun Berry farm. I always miss huckleberry picking in the mountains and picking the raspberries in my parents garden, so this was the perfect place for me. It was actually a pretty big farm with a ton of apple trees, blueberry and current bushes, cherry trees, raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry plants, pumpkins patches, and a green house full of tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumber.

We all loved the blackberries the best. The girls had fun finding the ones that were dark and putting them into their buckets. Plus they tasted amazing and they are such pretty berries.

Even Mason picked a few.

But he just mostly ate them.

Then he decided to get just get down and eat them right off the bush!

Silly boy with a messy face and messy hands that left purple stains all over my pants. It was worth it though.

We picked blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast.

And yummy fruit pizza for dessert after dinner.

Some other exciting things this week:

We found this toad right outside our door the other night. Not as cute as the little frogs the girls like to catch, but they still had fun with him.

I don't know why I keep taking pictures of these frogs and toads. I have to get close to them to take the picture and the entire time I am scared to death that they are going to jump on me. My girls are so different from me!

Katelyn and Kylie had swimming lessons everyday this past week and they had so much fun and did awesome!! With all the swimming they did this summer they had learned to swim underwater before they even started swimming lessons. Their teacher told me she wanted to move them up two levels but found out we can't so she said to just move them up to the next level.

Kylie gave a talk in primary today and was so sweet. She wasn't scared at all and spoke so loud and clear. I was proud of her and it brought a few tears to my eyes! I love my kids.

Corn Festival and the Iowa State Fair

2011-08-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

August is a fun and busy time in Iowa! Last Saturday we went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival and yesterday we went to the Corn Festival, came home for 2 hours while Mason, Troy and I had a nap, (the girls just played) and then woke up and went to the Iowa State Fair for the rest of the day! It was all bittersweet thinking this was our third year of doing this stuff and thinking that it will also be the last year. We have loved Iowa.

There is nothing better than sweet corn from Iowa!

The corn festival is in a small town called Adel, about 20 minutes from us.

There was a parade to start of the corn festival.

Loving the parade, but mostly the candy.

Watching the parade and getting lots of candy!

After the parade they give out free corn, and you can eat as much as you want. Seriously, some people come with coolers and fill them up! We learned this year that they have 7 tons of corn ready to hand out to everyone!

A big yummy stick of cotton candy after eating lots of corn.

Having fun at the Fair!

We were exhausted by the end, but it was such a great day!

Zoo

2011-08-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

The zoo. It is an amazing place according to my 4 year olds. We have been to the Des Moines zoo probably a million times now and it is so funny that to them it never gets old and each time going they act like it is their first time. I stopped bringing the camera a long time ago because we go there so much, but the other day I decided to bring it and was glad I did because we actually saw some new things.

Like this dinosaur exhibit going on through the summer that the girls loved!

And we also fed these cute birds for the first time as well.
They give you a stick with some food on it and you go into a big cage filled with birds.
They come and sit on the fence by you and even on your hands, arms, and shoulders.

This one decided to land on Kylie's head!

Just another great day at the zoo.

Balloon Festival!!

2011-08-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we were able to go to our awesome Hot Air Balloon Festival. I can't believe this was our third year coming to this fun festival!

The girls were able to ride a few rides and then we stayed for the firework show.

We loved these fun balloons.

It was a super hot and humid day. We were all drenched. We drank lots of water bottles.
It felt so good when the sun went down.

The best part of course was watching the kids faces and reactions. They loved every minute of it!

So Happy. . .

2011-07-29T18:34:00.001-07:00

This picture makes me so happy and it reminds me that my family is a little piece of Heaven on this Earth. I am seriously so in love with my husband and I am so grateful and love Troy and all FOUR of my children.

We are so excited to announce that baby number 4 is on its way!
I am 11 weeks now and due February 17.
A little brother for Mason would be awesome, but a girl would be
fun too, so we will take either!

Frogs

2011-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yes we are glad to be home.
The first week was pretty hard to adjust, the kids were all sick and the weather was so hot. Especially coming from perfect Idaho and Wyoming weather.
It was over a hundred degrees all week and with the humidity the heat index said it was 115 and 116. But we are past the sickness and it has cooled down slightly so we have finally come out of our cool apartment and have been trying to enjoy Iowa life since we are now on the countdown with only 9 1/2 months left to live here! So we are trying to live it to the fullest. We have been swimming like crazy and the other night we went out and caught some frogs!

Our apartment building has a pond right by it and we often walk down to it and watch all of the frogs, but if you go there after the sun has gone down, all the frogs leave the pond and come up in the grass and parking lot. (Yes there are a lot of smashed frogs everywhere).

I did not want them in the house. Katelyn and Kylie were so sad to say goodbye.

The girls couldn't have been happier with their frogs than if those slimy, yucky things were
adorable, fluffy puppies.

Katelyn's prayer that night went like this:
Heavenly Father, thank you for making frogs, thank you that mommy and daddy let us catch frogs, please bless the frogs that they will be safe, bless the baby frogs. Please let us catch more frogs tomorrow. And that was the end of her prayer.

Our trip home to Idaho and Wyoming!

2011-07-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Wow! We have been so busy the past couple of months!! I decided to take the kids and go visit family for a month while Troy stayed here, studied and took boards, started rotations, and worked. It was a great month, we had lots of fun with family, but I was SO happy to see Troy again after a month of being away. It made me realize even more how much I really really love him and how wonderful he is as a Dad and a husband.

My little brother was so awesome and flew out to Des Moines, stayed for a couple nights and then helped me drive the super long drive from here to Wyoming. We left our apartment at 5:30 in the morning and made it to my parents house at 10:30 at night. Whew, what a long day. The kids actually did really well, and I just have to say how grateful I am that we have a portable DVD player. Thanks Jared!

We had a couple late night Wii competitions.

We also took Jared to the Incredible Pizza place to ride go karts and play mini golf and
walked around the lake by our mall.
We love going there because the kids love to bring bread and feed the hundreds of fish that come eat the little pieces.

Mason liked having the fish nibble on his fingers.

We had such a good time playing with Grandmas and Grandpas, and Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.

The kids love playing in Grandpa and Grandma Fowler's yard.

I loved being able to meet my two new nephews.
I wish we could have stayed long enough to meet my new niece Evalyn McDonald who was born only a week after we left!

Nathan Call

Logan Fowler

The kids loved seeing this guy. They missed their Uncle Jared.

Welcome home Elder Fowler!
It was fun to be home for when Cody came home from his two year mission in Slovenia.
We have missed him.

Troy even got to talk to and see his little brother using skype on the phone and ipod.

I took this picture at the perfect moment.

Mason wasn't sure what to think about his Uncle at first but soon after warmed up to him and always wanted Cody to hold him.

Kinzie waited faithfully for the two years Cody was gone.
And now they are engaged and are getting married on September 3.
We have always loved this girl and are so happy she will be part of our family.
Plus, she has horses so she is pretty much perfect in Katelyn and Kylie's eyes.
We always have fun going over to pet the horses.

Mason loved getting pulled around on Cody's big suitcase!

Granite Hot Springs

Me, Melissa, Megan, and Mom

Grandma and Mason

After swimming we had a campfire and a picnic.

Katelyn and Grandpa Dee

Mason was buddies with his Great GrandpaMy beautiful little niece Grace.

Grace and Mason

Katelyn and Jared, she slept like this for a long time.

Our Trip Home!

2011-07-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July at a family favorite: Murphy Lake. We have spent many summer days there canoeing and fishing. I have lot's of memories at that lake and I love that my kids will have lot's have fun memories there too.

Mason loved all the mud and water. Seriously, he couldn't stay out of it. These pictures are pretty fresh. After awhile he was covered with mud.

My nephew Landon with a few fish he caught. Calvin and Hannah paddling the canoe.I loved this little guy in his life jacket! All ready for a ride in the boat.

Katelyn and Kylie fishing with my sister. Haha, I love my dad's fishing hat.

Mason hanging out with some of his cousins, Cody and Halle.

Katelyn with her fish she caught!

Katelyn, Kylie, and Mason were able to go fishing with Grandpa and Grandma Fowler too, but Troy and I were out on a date so I didn't get any pictures. They had a great time and Katelyn was again the only one to catch a fish.

We had a fun time going to Rigby Lake with my sister Sarah and her kids. We used to go to Rigby Lake all of the time when we lived in Rexburg, I miss it!

Jared was able to take some time away from school and go to the Idaho Falls zoo with us. Thanks Jared! Grandma was able to come too.

Buddies

The kids loved feeding the goats.

Swimming

2011-06-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

We have gone swimming every day this week since Tuesday. Sometimes twice a day (before and then after Mason's nap). We love it! We are lucky to have a swimming pool at our apartment complex that is right next to our building.

And then the water parks opened on Saturday so we had to go there. This water park is exactly half a mile from our house (we measured it on the way home).
We got water park passes for each of us in our family that allows us to go to 3 different water parks here in West Des Moines, and all I had to pay was 10 dollars!
We love Iowa.

Mason loves the water.

He fell plenty of times:

But just got right back up and was ready to go again.

Friends

2011-06-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

I know I have said this many times, but we sure do love our friends.

Thanks, Ashley for the pictures.

Memorial Day

2011-05-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent Memorial Day in 3 different states.
We went to a yummy breakfast provided by our ward here in Iowa.
Then we traveled to Missouri to visit some church history sites.
We crossed the Missouri River and entered Kansas to go to a Science Center that was free for us because of our membership to the science center here.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

This is where we stopped for lunch and even though there wasn't much here, it was so beautiful and peaceful and was my favorite part of the day.

At the LDS visitor's Center in Independence, MO
The saints spent two years in Independence. They received so much persecution while living in Missouri.

The Community of Christ's temple right across the street from the Visitor's Center

Liberty Jail

This was another very spiritual place for us to visit. This jail was so small and dark and it is crazy to think that Joseph Smith and 4 other men spent 5 winter months here. Joseph Smith received 3 revelations here that are in the Doctrine and Covenants now.
The Beautiful Kansas City, MO Temple
The open house will be this Fall and it will be dedicated next spring.

This Past Week. . .

2011-05-22T18:15:00.001-07:00

Sad Day:
Sometimes Sundays can be rough. Sometimes we get completely worn out and it seems like Sundays are the days we have accidents.

Mason tripped at Church today and received a very deep and large gash in is head. Poor little guy, it was so deep and we though he might have to get stitches. Luckily when Troy was coming out of the bathroom holding paper towels to Masons head we ran into a graduate of DMU who is doing is residency. He took Troy and Mason to his house and put some dermabond on the cut. It looks so much better now than it did earlier. It was wide open and deep. Mason really only cried for a few minutes and it hasn't bothered him at all today. But I feel so bad for the poor little guy.

Good times at the zoo with Erin, Cailyn, and Peyton Rhodes

.

Katelyn and Kylie finished up Gymnastics this week. They have had such a great time with it!
It is such a nice outlet for them to get some of their energy out and they can run and jump and do all the flips they want. This is why I teach piano lessons. The money from that goes to this:

Katelyn doing a flip on the bar

The girls do awesome on the balance beam!

Troy also finished his 2nd year this week with a test on Wednesday and then we were able to enjoy a long weekend. Amy brought over these foot shaped sugar cookies that were cute and yummy.

Whew. I can't believe he is done with two years. It has been very busy, stressful, and hard, but we made it. Tomorrow starts a new chapter of school with clinical rotations, studying for Boards, and an entire new wardrobe. From here on out, Troy has to be in a dress shirt and tie. Goodbye shorts and t-shirts.

Our plants are dong great.

The carrots and green onions

Cilantro

Corn

2011-05-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."

This saying is on a plaque at my in-laws house and I LOVE it.
It is a good reminder to enjoy the little moments because they are what bring joy
into my life.

I have been really trying to focus on the little things that are precious and have realized that even my typical day is full of them. So here is an overview of the past couple weeks and the little moments that have meant a lot to me!

A couple nights ago I was able to have a piano recital for my students.
All my students were able to make it except for one.
I love these kids!

Teaching has been so fun, although very challenging. But it really made it all worth it to see them play for their parents and friends.

Troy and been so supportive. He helps out when he can with the kids so I can teach and the night of the recital he went over to the clubhouse and set everything up and then sent me home afterwards and cleaned up everything by himself.

Lucieli and Radhika

I love playing duets with my students.

Shreya and her Mom, Pravi, are some of my favorite people ever!

Me and Sabarish

We had fun eating cookies, brownies, and pop afterwards.
Madison is playing a song for her sister. I have only taught her for 7 weeks so she was very brave to get up and play in front of everyone. I am pretty sure we are related to Madison. Her dad (from Idaho Falls) is related to the Waltons in Star Valley, and so are we!

Aspen, my very first student here in Iowa.

A couple days before our Recital I had a Pizza Party at my house for all my students!
It turned out great, and we had a lot of fun.

Grace Tidwell
This girl is awesome because her name is Grace Elaine, which is my niece's name and she is also going to be 6 this summer and acts so much like my niece. We also call her Gracie.

Playing a Fowler Favorite: The M&M game.
I had a few games planned, but we had so much fun playing this game that we ended up playing it the entire time.

And introducing two brand new students:

Katelyn and Kylie!!
I was going to wait until they were older but they have been begging me to start teaching them, so here we go. . .

The weather has been so warm and we have had so many fun moments siting outside in the sunshine, playing for hours at the water table and in the little swimming pool, riding bikes, going for walks, and playing at the playground.

We also decided to plant our own garden.

You have to plant corn when you live in Iowa
We also planted cilantro, green onions, carrots, green peppers, and some flowers.

So we bought dirt at walmart and ended up not having enough so instead of going back to get more, Troy grabbed the shovel, I got the container, and all 5 of us walked right across the street to the corn field and, shh. . . don't tell, but dug up a little rich, clay like, Iowa dirt.

Yum, don't mind if I do. . .
Masons favorite food: dirt, crayons, paper, and side walk chalk.

Boys + Dirt = Love

This was definitely one of those seemingly small moments that was so big for me.

The hot, humid weather has paid off. Here are some tiny plants peeking through the dirt and it had only been a WEEK since we planted the seeds.

Mother's Day Weekend/My Birthday Weekend was full of so much fun.

Our neighbor gave us and some of our other student friends tickets to go to a
Professional Bull Riding event.
It was such a small thing for him to do but it meat a lot to us and it was fun to be able to go do something that we would have never been able to pay for.
We were lucky and got some really close seats.

The PBR Event was on Friday. On Saturday we went miniature golfing, on Sunday we enjoyed Mother's day and on Monday we celebrated my birthday. We went out to eat and then went to the park.

The weekend before that will also be remembered.
We used to always go to the pet store so the girls could see and pet the dogs. Well, that pet store has been closed down for awhile, so we decided to take the kids to the Animal Shelter.

We fell in love with this dog:

His name is Tobey and Troy and I both agreed that if we were currently living in a house, this dog would have been adopted that day. He had the sweetest personality and was so gentle with the kids. It was hard to leave him and we really miss him and talk about him every day.

Katelyn and Kylie, with their friends Brooklyn and Aubrey were able to go to a 2 hour open gym at their gymnastics.

They are a lot more brave than I am!

They love jumping off the platform or swinging on a rope into this foam pit.

Trying to get a pictures of all four of them was impossible! Me and Ash chased them around until we finally gave up, but I got a couple of cute ones. Just wish Aubrey was in them!

Brooklyn and Aubrey gave the sweetest cards, written by their parents, but spoken by them to Katelyn and Kylie. I was asked to read them over and over, and they will be kept and cherished in their baby books!

Easter

2011-05-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

April 23 was a busy day for us. We celebrated Mason's birthday and it was also the day before Easter so along with the cake, presents, and balloons, we also enjoyed decorating eggs and going on an awesome Easter Egg hunt.

They made some (well actually a lot) of really pretty eggs!

A couple in our ward (Katelyn and Kylie's primary teachers) invited us to an Easter egg hunt that turned out amazing! They live in one of the most beautiful places in Iowa. It was so peaceful, and we didn't want to go home, we had such a great time.

Our Iowa style Easter Egg Hunt

Tractor Hay Ride
Mason loved this.

Campfire and s'mores. What a perfect way to end an Easter Egg Hunt.

I had to take lots of pictures of Mason since it was his birthday and we were in such a beautiful area. It was kind of bright though so it I had to take a lot of pictures to get some with his eyes open!

Mason's 1st Birthday

2011-05-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Mason turned one last Saturday on April 23. Can't believe it has been an entire year, it has gone way too fast. We have a little boy now and not a little baby. I can't imagine life without this little guy!

I fixed pancakes and eggs for breakfast, his favorite!

Of course, you have to get the syrup, right?
The best part!

Mason's favorite part about his birthday: the balloons! He has been playing with them nonstop.

Thank you Grandmas and Grandpas for the cards and all the new summer clothes! He is all set for summer now!

Mason's present from us. A water table and a little chair just his size!

Mason loves the huge fish tanks at the zoo and loves to watch the fish swim around so I thought this would be a fun cake for him! The girls loved making this cake with me.

We loved these chocolate rocks, they looked real!

This was not his first time trying cake and especially ice cream. Mason doesn't really like cake, so he didn't get too messy, but he loves ice cream!!

Mason at 1 Year:

Mason has such a sweet personality and has brought so much joy to us!

He loves people! He stares and smiles at people until they look at him and then he smiles a ton at them and can't get enough of people talking to him. He is not shy at all and will go to anyone.

He loves his mama. No matter where we are he will be playing and then every once in a while he will come up to me to check on me and I will hold him and kiss him and then he will get down and be on the go again.

Mason can't hold still. He is just like his sisters this way. He is also fearless like they are. He is everywhere. He walks so good and can get going pretty fast. He loves to climb. He also loves when we chase him.

Mason is a picky eater. Opposite from his sisters. The only vegetable he will eat is frozen peas.

He loves meat, cheese, yogurt, and soup and is pretty picky about fruit too.

Katelyn and Kylie can make Mason laugh so hard. He loves to follow them and he loves to wrestle with Kylie.

Mason is a light sleeper, opposite from the girls. It is a struggle at nap time to keep the girls quiet enough for him to sleep. He sleeps great at night though. He sleeps from 7:30 to 7:30 everynight.

Mason puts everything in his mouth, it drives us crazy!! He especially loves to eat crayons and chalk.

Mason loves fish, puppies, water, throwing stuff, and being outside.

We love this little boy and are so grateful for him!

DMU

2011-04-17T17:13:00.001-07:00

Last night we were able to go to the 2013 podiatry class Rite of Passage Ceremony.
This is a ceremony honoring the the 2nd year students for the past two years of academic study.
They will now start into the next two years of clinical rotations.
It is crazy to think that time on the DMU campus is pretty much coming to an end!

Troy doing his job as the VP of his class and announcing an award.

Reciting an oath.

This was a pretty bad picture of the class, but there was a lot of people trying to take pictures so this is the best shot. Troy's head is sticking up and he is looking right at me.

With our good friends Erin and Brady Rhodes.

With some other friends:

Troy, Andy Evans, Lance Nethercott

Amy Evans, Makenzie Nethercott, and me!

P.S. Amy - there is a certain picture that I promised not to blog, but it will make me laugh forever, ha!

I am proud of Troy and all that he has accomplished the last two years! He has studied and worked so hard. I am excited that the hardest part of this journey is now behind us, and we are both looking forward to his rotations. I know that he his excited to start practicing
all that he has learned.

2011-04-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Dad's Day at preschool!

Ever since the last year's Dad's Day, the girls always ask us on Preschool days if it is dad's day or mom's day. They love having us go with them! So they were pretty excited on Tuesday that Dad got to go spend the entire preschool day in their classroom.
Troy told me that they had tadpoles and Katelyn and Kylie were the only one's that would touch them. That does not surprise me!

The weather has been so warm the last few days. Time to get out the swimming pool!

We have been spending lots of time outside.

We have a cute family from Iraq who are our neighbors. And although we have a hard time understanding each other, they are so nice and giving and my kids love their kids!

Troy had a busy week last week! The first part of it he was extremely sick with strep throat and then from Thursday to Sunday he went to Cleveland, Ohio to play on a basketball tournament. The tournament was podiatry student teams from podiatry schools all over the Country. He had a good time but has been really tired this week and trying to catch up on everything.

Tornado!

2011-03-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Last night was the first time since living in Iowa that we had to actually camp out in our Bathroom!

This picture I found on the Des Monies news website is the actual tornado that hit close to home last night.

We have heard the Tornado sirens about 4 other times while living here but this was the first time that they just would not stop. So I kept checking the weather website and when it said to go to a basement or room without windows and also the fact that it looked like the tornado was headed right towards Des Moines, that is when I decided that we better head to the Bathroom. We were all a little bit scared. Especially since Troy was at work!

The girls were scared because we had just checked out a book at the Library about tornadoes and had learned all about them! Sweet little Kylie told me that she was scared and wanted to say a prayer.
When I checked the weather again it said there was a tornado just 7 miles Southwest of Des Moines, so pretty much just south of us here in West Des Moines!
We only ended up staying in the bathroom for about 30 min. once the tornado warning went away. We are glad it passed over fast!

The kids watching a movie in the bathroom.

The spring in Iowa is pretty crazy and I have never seen thunderstorms like the ones that we have here. I just hope that we don't ever get that close to a tornado again!

Omaha

2011-03-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Omaha with our good friends. We were able to switch off babysitting and go to the temple. After the temple we went to the children's museum in Omaha which was free since we have a science center pass here in Des Moines.

Me and Mason

I love this sweet boy so much!!

Me and Ashley

and our Idaho boys. . .

Riding Bikes

2011-03-20T12:21:00.001-07:00

Katelyn and Kylie LOVE riding their bikes! We have been going outside almost everyday so they can ride them.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day has always been fun in Iowa! We went to the Downtown St. Patrick's Day Parade again this year. The parade was 1 1/2 hours long of candy, necklaces, and lots of green!

This boy didn't even need to wear green with eyes like those! They matched is shirt perfectly!

Of course everything is more fun when done with friends!

2011-02-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so just some random pictures! On Valentines day we definitely got to hang out with some people we love!! My good friend Erin Rhodes and her kids joined us for a fun day since
our husbands had tests.

And thanks to those husbands for taking the kids swimming yesterday so Erin and I could spend all afternoon (and some money) at an awesome craft fair! We had a ton of fun.

On Valentines day we went to this amazing muffin shop and the muffins were delicious!

Kylie, Cailyn, Katelyn, Peyton

We then took our kids to this fun place called Monkey Joes that had big inflatables to jump on. Our husbands surprised us and showed up towards the end. We were glad to let them take over going down the slides with the kids.

Mason, with his best little buddy, Carson Rhodes.

Last Friday we had a little bit of warm weather so I was able to take all these kiddos to the zoo!

1 mommy and 5 kids: sometimes chaotic but overall super fun!

The favorite toy among the Fowler boys in this house:

It is never too young to start, right?
Seriously Mason loves Daddy's golf clubs, and he knows where to find them.

These pictures show how good Mason is at balancing and standing on his own. He was also swinging the golf club around but kept his balance!
He stands all the time all by himself. On Valentines day he took one step! And then about a week ago he took two steps and then fell. We have tried to get him to take more, but he his so fast at crawling that he hasn't shown interest in walking. But he does like to stand all by himself without any support. He is getting so big!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

We Love all of You!

2011-02-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Mason, I love your little chubby fingers. . .

And those big hazel eyes. . .

Thanks for being such a sweet little boy!

Mason sat and chewed on his favorite snack while I taught my Saturday morning lessons. He is so patient and so sweet.

Katelyn loves to write. She can't get enough. She loves to write her name and then she asks me how to spell random words and people's names while she writes them down. Almost everyday she asks for a piece of paper so she can write! She fills up a paper with words, and then asks for another one.

So when I told her she had to sign her name on all of her Valentine's cards for her class she was really excited and had fun doing it!

My little left handed girl Kylie can also write her name very well. She just doesn't have the patience to write anymore than that. Glad I gave her the shorter name! She is usually off running or jumping around or making Mason laugh. She is an awesome sister to her little brother.

Katelyn and Kylie's 4th Birthday.

2011-01-30T20:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet girls! I can't believe it has been 4 years.
We love you!!

On Saturday we had a birthday party with some friends.

Our winter themed cupcakes: Snowflakes, penguins, polar bears, and snowmen.

Thursday was their actual birthday, and they waited patiently all day for Dad to get home so they could open their presents.

Wednesday we decided to head to The Incredible Pizza Place one last time while the girls were still free! They got to spin the birthday wheel and won a 5 dollar game card and 100 ticket points.

These cars were a little bit slow. . .

So we decided to race these cars.

2011-01-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

Mason loves his bath time!! He can't get enough of it! And he does not like to get out until he is ready. . . like 1 hour later!

2011-01-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics!!
Katelyn and Kylie started gymnastics last week at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance.

It is long past overdue! They love to climb and jump and do flips and they don't have any fear of doing this! They could do flips an a bar underneath our table when they were only 18 months old.

I took them to register and we went when an older class was in session with Chow himself as the coach. We sat and watched them for a long time. They had so much fun watching the older girls I couldn't get them to leave.

I am very excited about this place!

This is Chow.

And this is Shawn Johnson. The Olympic Gold Medalist from West Des Moines.
She still trains here and some of the Moms say they see her once in while. It would be awesome to meet her! Especially because she is shorter than I am.
It will be nice to have a place to take the girls to let them climb and jump! Especially during these cold winter months!

We had a great Christmas break. It was fun to be with family. We spent the week before Christmas with Troy's family and then Christmas Eve we went to spend some time with my family. The driving was of course long but the roads were not too bad. On the way back to Iowa we decided to not stop for the night and left at 8:30 Saturday morning from Wyoming and got home to Iowa at 4:00 Sunday morning!

Mason eating a candy cane at Michelle's basketball game.

Kylie sitting in between Grandma and Grandpa, the perfect place to be.

The girls with Aunt Michelle. I am so glad that we were able to go to her basketball game.

Snowmen are a fun tradition at the Fowler's!

Grandma Lu!

Christmas Morning!

My cute little brother Jared with Mason.

Hannah with Mason. She takes such good care of him!

Christmas afternoon sledding. Love the snow. Love the mountains.

The girls love getting pulled behind the 4 wheeler.

Mason with Uncle Calvin

While in Star Valley we were able to see our good friends, Greg and Kacey Baxter. We went to pizza hut and went bowling. It was so fun to see them!

We had lots of Christmas parties!

Here is Troy and the girls at the podiatry class party.

Troy and I didn't see much of the girls, they were hanging out with Casey, a girl in Troy's class. We had her over for dinner once and the girls love her.

Podiatry class of '13. Well, some of them.

What We Miss

2010-11-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Number 1

We miss Jared!!

We have such an awesome brother and uncle. He came out when Mason was born and then spent Thanksgiving week with us.

We had so much fun with him here, and were truly sad to see him leave.

Mason loved him!

Thanks for coming Jared!!
We really do miss you!

Number 2

Friends.
Who are gone for the next couple of months on rotations.
Please come back! We miss you.
Life for Katelyn and Kylie is just not the same without these two cute girls.

They have done so much together that almost everyday Katelyn and Kylie ask to play with Brooklyn and Aubrey, sometimes to the point of tears.
Everytime we go somewhere they ask if Brooklyn and Aubrey are going to be there.

Number 3

The snow!
So I actually like snow, especially around Christmas time. And I am jealous of all the snow that my parents and parents-in-law are getting.
So we are all patiently waiting for it to come here!
If it is going to be cold anyways and if my Christmas tree is up, then please snow!

We got a sled today. And since there is no snow outside, this is what we did for a big portion of our afternoon:

Holding on for his life!

He loved it! And sat like this for a long time while his sisters took turns pulling.

We even decorated snow flakes for Family Home Evening.

Number 4

Katelyn and Kylie's life before they even knew what an ipod touch was let alone how to use one.

Just kidding it is not that bad, but I definitely have to set a time limit for this "toy".

All of the students at DMU were just given an ipod touch for school, and the girls love to play games on it!

Uncle Jared!

2010-11-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

Katelyn and Kylie were pretty excited when they woke up Monday morning and I told him that Jared was here!

Troy's brother Jared came to visit us for Thanksgiving week!

Buddies

Miniature golfing and Go karts

We were able to take Jared to Nauvoo on Tuesday and Wednesday

2010-11-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

These pictures are for Aunt Lindsey!!
Lindsey is from Alabama and when we went there for her and Trent's wedding her parents gave us Alabama shirts and they have seriously been Troy's favorite shirts. He wears them all the time. So we were pretty excited when her sweet parents sent this little outfit for Mason! Now he can be just like Dad!
He is even pointing to Alabama!

Love you Lindsey!

Do you see all that drool? He now has his two bottom teeth to show for it!

Ok, for the past month Mason has been learning to crawl, and he has finally mastered it this past week. He can move. . . . fast. He is always on a mission: the girls' room.

Even if I bring him back to the family room, he makes his way down the hall to go check up on his sisters and see what they are doing.

This past week he has also started this. . .

Pulling himself up to standing!
Today he pulled himself up to Katelyn's bed and moved his feet along until he reached the little table at the end of the bed.
What happened to my little baby!!!

Dear Troy,
Thank you so much for taking all the kids today and doing the grocery shopping so I could teach piano lessons. Thank you also for bringing back these:

You know how much I love fresh beautiful flowers. Ever since working in a flower shop in high school I have learned to appreciate them so much. Seriously every day I have flowers on the table I soak in the beauty, smell, and joy they bring. And when it is time to throw them away, I just about cry.
And thank you not only for this time, but the many, many times you have brought them home this past year and the past 5 years of our marriage. And I love how you choose something so different every time.
(Some more on our piano because they wouldn't all fit in the vase).

Troy, thank you for remembering all the little things that make me happy.

Some Halloween Pictures

2010-11-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome Halloween week!

Katelyn and Kylie loved having a little puppy!

So I always thought Mason looked so much like Troy and that is what everyone thinks too, but he looks a lot more like my baby pictures than Troy's baby pictures! So I had to put this one up of me to compare it with Masons picture.

Same eyes, nose, mouth and look on our faces!

Halloween. . .Here We Come!

2010-10-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treating at their favorite place in the world: the zoo!

My little bugs!

Katelyn and Kylie better get real comfortable wearing these costumes since they
will be pretty much living in them this next week.
All we are going to do the next few days in party.

Here is our Halloween schedule:
Yesterday: Trick or Treating at the zoo
Today: Halloween party with lots (and I mean lots!) of friends!
Tomorrow: Troy's Birthday!!
Tuesday: Trick or Treat family night at the mall
Thursday: Des Moines University family Halloween party and
Halloween party at Preschool
Friday: Friends birthday party
Saturday: Ward dinner and trick or treat.

Whew! I think that was everything. So if you see a little ladybug
and bee running around it is because it is not even worth changing out
of their costumes!

Have a Happy Halloween!

October

2010-10-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

I will admit right now that the summers here in Iowa are way too hot and humid for me. And unless we are sitting in a swimming pool, it is sometimes
hard to enjoy it.

But there is nothing like an Iowa October.
It is beautiful. The weather is perfect.The humidity is not bad.
And we love the pumpkin patches and apple orchards that come with this season.
We have loved everyday this month.

So here we go, a million pictures, but I had to update now since we are headed to the Apple Orchard again tomorrow!

Center Grove Apple Orchard

Katelyn, Kylie, Aubrey, Brooklyn

A huge jumping pillow!

The little school house that was so cute

This corn pit it definitely the favorite thing to do at the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch.

Don't ask, I have no idea what she is doing. All I know is this picture makes me laugh!

I should have explained better to the girls what a hay maze is. They were not expecting to get lost. Me and Ashley were talking and then the next thing I knew the girls were crying because they couldn't find the way out! I should have felt bad but me and Ash couldn't stop laughing! It was so funny!

The Pumpkin Patch

We spent another beautiful October day at our favorite pumpkin patch with
some of our other best friends.

Peyton, Cailyn, Kylie, Katelyn

Playing in the corn again. . .

And of course, the first of October brings Conference weekend.
Saturday night during the Priesthood session we got together with friends and
had a girls night (well girls and kids night) making caramel apples! Yum.

After the Sunday session we ventured out to this little pond close by
to feed these wild Geese.

We LOVE Sundays because we get Dad all day.

It was seriously a perfect day.

I love October!