September Trip with Lindsay-Loo!!

Lindsay and I had a great trip in late September/early October to the East Coast. We met in St. Louis and then flew together to Baltimore where my oldest sister Sharon picked us up...and then we headed to antique country in Pennsylvania! This was Lindsay's first real "let's go antiquing" experience. I think she couldn't believe that it could actually go on for 5 days! Sharon knows everything "antique" and I always feel confident in her opinion of whether something is a good buy or not.
Add my niece Pammy into the antiquing adventure and it becomes a real "trip"!!

Pammy is all about pink, leopard anything, Harley Davidson, and bling!! She's my niece that is 2 years older than I am.

How fun is it to have a birthday while you're antiquing!! Which is what I did. These girls snuck around to find a fun little something they new I'd love. This little chest is actually two drawer sides from an antique sewing machine put together...perfect for lots of little things! My sister Sharon, me, Pammy, Karen (my nephew Scott's wife), and Darlene (my nephew Preston's wife). So much fun to spend time with all these gals.

Couldn't pass this up! Yep, I know that I have one kind of similar to this, but this one is actually quite a bit bigger, has a lot more storage space, was pretty darn cheap, and is in perfect refinished condition. It's currently in storage at my sister's house...can't wait to go retrieve it at some point! Who will the one I currently have go to??

Ahhhh...live and learn. Whenever you go back and look at something several times and even take a picture of it...sure sign that you should have bought it!! This looks SO much like Claire to me and I really wish I would have bought it, in spite of the price. I'm hoping someone else didn't fall in love with it in the intervening 8 months and that it will still be at the Covered Wagon when Sharon goes back in April. One can hope.......

We were in one antique mall and this cute little lady was walking around pushing an umbrella stroller with all of her finds in the seat...I commented to her about what a good idea that was and she said something fun in return. As we were leaving, they were also. A young man opened the door for her, and her daughter (on the right) said, "Gee mom, when you're 105 people are so nice to open the door for you!" I overheard that and couldn't believe it...seriously, she's 105 years old and still antiquing strong. We decided to name her "The Antique Antiquer"!

My very handsome nephew Scott Carter...loved Scott and Karen's home!

Also got to stop and see Chrissie. She is Sharon's oldest grand-daughter (one of Pammy's daughters) and this past summer sweet baby Vayda joined their family of two little boys. Little Vayda is darling. There was quite a bit of concern about her kidneys...one of them isn't functioning, but she is very strong. A decision is coming in the future as to whether surgery will need to take place, but for now she's healthy as can be! I can't believe my oldest sister has as many great-grandchildren as she does...crazy!!

Once we were done antiquing in Pennsylvania we headed back down to Virginia to spend some time at Sharon's house. Stratford Hall, where George Washington was born, is a couple of miles up the road. I love all of the history in the area.

One day we also headed to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home...loved it and it was a perfect day! Again, I love the history and spending time with Lindsay and Sharon!

The area around Monticello is absolutely beautiful!

Lindsay and Thomas!

Another day we headed up to Maryland to visit the Washington DC Temple. I have such wonderful memories of when this temple was built and how we were able to take people through on tours before the dedication. Lindsay really enjoyed being there.

The way cool thing about Facebook is being able to hook up with old friends! From 7th to 10th grade I attended a private school in Maryland. One gal stood by me through thick and thin...Laura! Earlier this summer she found me on Facebook and we were able to figure out a time to meet while I was back there visiting. What a great friend she was and is!!

I did NOT make the same mistake twice! When I saw this window I stopped breathing for a minute (OK, a few seconds)! This picture simply does not do it justice. It's dark outside while Sharon is holding it up, but with light coming through it, oh, the colors are just so beautiful...all these jewel tones and colors. Sharon wouldn't let me bring it home on the plane...oh well. So it is waiting for me in Virginia also. I can't wait to get it cleaned up and hung in the perfect place. All in all it was a fantastic trip. My oldest sister is very much like my mother to me. She was always there as I was growing up and I spent a lot of time at her home, with her kids...sweet memories. One night Pammy and Lindsay and I spent a couple of hours looking at my dad's slides...Pammy has this cackle of a laugh that is just her. I can hear it in my mind so clearly.

September!

Love the fall season...maybe it's because my birthday is in September. Whatever...this September was sure a busy one and here's a few highlights!

This picture is not quite in the right place, but oh well. When I got out to Utah Katie, Claire, and I did a little shopping up in Park City. Claire loves mirrors! I love this picture of her.

"Deer in the headlights" look by me! We LOVED Mary Poppins...it was amazing!!

Not quite sure when it was, but at some point I watched the Davis kiddos for a weekend. They are so much fun and I love each one of them! Kim and I are trading "services" kind of...she's Sarah's physical trainer and I give the older three girls piano lessons. Working pretty good! I headed out to Utah for a quick trip to help Lindsay at a wedding show she was doing at Thanksgiving Point...she's doing wedding announcements on the side. I crammed a lot of visiting in in just a few days. I was able to meet Holly's family - Chris' new in-laws. While in Bountiful for that visit I stopped over to see my Uncle Paul, my dad's last surviving brother. He was doing amazing. Two of his daughters, Christine and Pinkie (my cousins), live close by and it was great to visit with them. My Uncle Paul will be 95 (?) I think this month...wow! He served in World War II and this is a little information about his service!

Paul O. Huber joined the Army in January, 1941 and was assigned to the Field Artillery, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

On November 8, 1942, Huber and his men landed at Algiers, North Africa and captured an airfield. They fought with only small arms because the wrong ammo had been shipped and didn’t fit into the breaches of their cannons.

On July 10, 1943, Huber’s unit took part in the invasion of Sicily. During the brutal, six-week battle, Huber single-handedly manned a mountaintop observation post. Disregarding enemy shells raining down around him, he directed U.S. artillery on Nazi positions. For his gallantry, he was awarded the Silver Star.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944 Huber landed in the second wave of invaders on Utah Beach. Acting as the 9th Division’s liaison to allied paratroop forces, he forced his way inland to the French town of St. Mere Eglise and again was exposed to enemy tanks and artillery. For his actions he was awarded the Bronze Star.

At the city of Cherbourg, Huber helped accept the surrender of a German General and Admiral and the 4,000 enemy troops manning the garrison. Shortly after, he was given a battlefield promotion to Major.

Huber and his unit went on to fight in both the Huertgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. During March, 1945 his unit was one of the first to cross the Rhine River into Germany, utilizing the famed Remagen Bridge. He remembers watching the damaged bridge collapse, stranding U.S. forces in German territory. The University of Utah honored him on Veteran's Day this year, November 11th (also my dad's birthday!).

Pretty cool, huh??

Cousins Jayne and Lindsay. Fun stuff...Jayne and her husband, Ta, are adopting a little girl from Samoa. Paper work is all finally coming together and they are headed there during the Christmas break to pick up baby Poppy! Can't wait to meet her!

Love my sister Becky!! She always puts on a great meal when we come to town!!

That trip was just the beginning of a very crazy 4 months!!

My Missionary Named Marshall!!

Marshall has been called to serve in the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission. He left on August 26th to serve in Brazil for two years. Marshall has been preparing for his mission pretty much his entire life and he was so excited. We had all tried to guess where he might go...we kept thinking it might be somewhere that he'd be able to use his 4 years of high school french. However, he was needed in Brazil, is learning Portuguese and loving it!

Rich has given Marshall his haircuts for most of his life...one more! To say that Marshall loved his cell phone and computer contact (namely Facebook) would be a huge, huge understatement! We had an appointment for Marshall to be set apart as a full-time missionary with President Holt Monday evening. Early that afternoon he handed me his phone and told me he'd turned it off and was ready to move forward and leave that all behind. In my mind I had expected for him to hang on to it to the very last second, but I was so pleased. It was an amazing transformation - those last 24 hours. We could literally sense the new mantel that had been placed on his shoulders. President Holt gave him an incredible blessing. The three of us left his home filled with great anticipation for what the next two years would bring.

After leaving President Holt's home we headed over to Lottawatta Creek for one more super yummy meal! Love this pic of Rich and Marshall!

August 26th...early in the morning. Sarah was on her way out the door for Seminary. One last hug and a bucket of tears for her big brother! These two have been great friends the last several years.

Marshall's flight left around noon, all as planned. He headed for Dallas where he met up with a couple dozen other missionaries also headed to Brazil. Rich and I headed for Cheesecake Factory and drowned our sorrow in a piece of Red Velvet Cheesecake...oh, so, so, so yummy!

Those first few days that your missionary is gone are filled with tons of anxiety! We finally heard he was there and all was well by the weekend. He looks so happy here!

Marshall and one of his first instructors. His first stop was in Sao Paulo at the CTM where he worked on learning the language and missionary lessons for approximately 8 weeks.

He left Sao Paulo for Porto Alegre in mid-October. This is a pic of President and Sister Pavan, his Mission President and wife. I don't even know these people, but have such appreciation for the service they are so freely giving. I know they will bless my son's life in ways that I could never even dream of.

This is a fairly recent picture of Marshall at the Porto Alegre Temple. I'm so glad that there is a temple in his mission and that he will be able to get there occasionally.

The first weekend in December and Marshall had his first baptism...so exciting to see people's lives change for the better!!

Marshall's first companion was named Elder J. Souza ("Souza" is a very common name and so they add an initial) on the left...he's recently finished his mission and gone home to Rio, and his second companion is Elder Quieroz from Salvador. Love the fact that they are always with a companion!

I am attempting to keep a much more detailed account of Marshall's mission experiences in a blog dedicated totally to the mission...check it out at www.elderbowerman.blogspot.com. I LOVE having a missionary. I am amazed...I don't think I could do what he's doing. We had a great conversation with him on Christmas Day. He sounded so happy. He talked a lot about his routine, how he does his laundry, the members, the area, etc. Moms live for these phone calls and I'm already mentally calculating how long away Mother's Day is when I get to hear his voice again.

Where, Oh Where, Did My Summer Go?

My goodness...here it is, the late evening of August 17th! I've been doing this "mom" thing for some time now, and so it has always seemed as though when summer is over for the kids, it's over for me, too! Sarah begins her junior year at Edwardsville High School tomorrow. She's just a tad bit excited. Sarah is very involved in marching band and they just completed their two week band camp last Friday. Her first year she played the flute, last year she was playing a xylophone thing, and this year...

she has a brand new synthesizer keyboard at her fingertips! She's pretty darn excited about the whole thing. Their performance this year is entitled "Essence". There are several classical sounding sections, and then towards the end it gets a tad bit more jazzy. To say she was having a good time would very much be an understatement!

These pictures are very not in order of the last month, but oh well! It was a blast to have all of the kids come home on August 5th to spend some time together before Marshall leaves on his mission. This was actually the LAST picture they took together, late Sunday night...one more group hug! Most of the pics are from that weekend.

Sweet Baby Claire has arrived at the stage where she is pure entertainment! She started walking before she was 8 months old! It's so funny to see this little person cruising around like she owns the world.

I have been stockpiling toys for my future grandkids for quite some time. I was pretty excited to pull them out, unpackage them, find the perfect basket for them and watch Claire be amazed at what Grandma had found! Well, was I put in my place. She immediately went for a box of oranges that was sitting on the floor in the kitchen...threw and rolled them all over the place! And then she found the broom and entertained herself off and on with it for quite some time. She also found a bottom drawer in the kitchen filled with measuring cups and wouldn't leave it alone until one was broken...oh well. I do remember always having a kid drawer in my kitchen...guess I'll have to figure that one out. Not the last bit intimidated by the size of the thing!

This picture was taken after church on Sunday. Marshall and Rich both spoke in Sacrament Meeting since all the kids were there. Marshall, Chris, Dustan and Mike Barnard also sang...delightful! Chris' girlfriend, Holly Beecher, also joined us for the weekend. Yep, my hair looks pretty funny because I'm trying to grow it out one-more-time (for Rich!). I feel like a teenager with braces and cute little clips in my hair! (We missed Joseph...he needed to visit North Carolina with Claire the following week...she's had her share of airplane rides lately!)

Saturday mornings Rich and I have been hitting the bike trails in and around Edwardsville...totally fun! Katie, Claire, and Lindsay joined us for the ride and we had a blast!
Especially Claire!
So much so that she crashed...sound asleep!
This picture was taken late at night, after the Open House for Tyler and Miranda Conkle which was at our home on the evening of August 7th. I couldn't have done it without all of their help! We were all pretty worn out by the end of the night. Love these kiddos and it pleases me to no end that they are all pretty good friends and enjoy each other's company!
Thought that this was a super cute picture of Katie with the bride, Miranda. They were sweet high school friends. I was so glad to have had the privilege to be part of Miranda's special day!
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Conkle! Sweet!

Another group shot...outside! Funny thing...I found these darling shoes for Claire. They were a little too big, but we put some extra socks on her and it seemed to work out. I had no idea when I bought them that they had this incredible little feature...they squeak when she walks! She figured that one out fast and it was rather hysterical.

The girl loves pickles!

Claire looks very much like her daddy, but she definitely has a "Katie grin", wrinkled nose and all!

Oh, I love this little face! Way too cute!

So, back in July my oldest sister, Sharon, came to visit me from Virginia. She's also known as my second mother because she has two kids older than I am and I spent quite a bit of my youth under her direction. She means the world to me! We weren't able to have our "sister get together" this year, but I managed to twist Sharon's arm enough to come to see me for a visit. We had a very, very busy week together. One of the things we did was to go over to Independence and visit Liberty Jail where the Prophet Joseph and several others were imprisoned for many months one very, very cold winter. It is heart-wrenching to think about the conditions they endured and the lessons they learned...a great spiritual experience.

OK, so these are way out of order...I'll figure this out yet. But anyway, before my sister arrived Rich and I took off for the weekend and headed over to the Kirtland, Ohio area - another site rich with church history. Here we are in front of the Newel K. Whitney store. I don't think there are words to put to the feelings we experienced as we spent time in this particular building and learned of all that took place there.

OK, so what are the chances? We got to Kirtland and went to the place where we waited for the tour to start. Shortly thereafter in walks Terra Reed and her sweet family! Terra and I work together in Relief Society at church. She had been visiting her family in Ohio for several weeks and they decided to spend some time in Kirtland that same particular Sunday afternoon, at the same time...amazing! So, in the short space of 3 weeks I had been to Nauvoo, Kirtland, Independence, and back to Nauvoo...way cool! (And so had Bluebelle!)
OK, my sister Sharon is phenomenal when it comes to refinishing furniture. She's been at it for decades. She and her husband own a little antique store in Virginia called Elderly Treasures. So, it seems this way anyway, whenever Sharon comes to town I have a little project for her to help me with. Her expertise is invaluable! This time it was this cute little 6 drawer spool chest that I found last summer. I was pretty thrilled with how it turned out...and I think I have this process down...

...which is a good thing, because I have several projects to work on! While Sharon and I traveled I-70 between St. Louis and Independence, we stopped at almost all of the antique malls along the way. Artichoke Annie's, mile marker #137, was by far the best. We found it last, unfortunately, and spent almost 4 hours there...and only because it closed! Good thing, though, is that it's only 1 1/2 hours from my front door! So here's several before pictures...and probably I'll have the finished pictures up about this time next year if I'm lucky! Cute little, fold-up victorian rocker. Need to find some perfect material to re-upholster it also.

This dresser is in great condition with all the original hardware...got it for a steal and can't wait to see how it turns out! Not sure which one of my kiddos will end up with this one.

This mirror will look super cute above the dresser! I thought I had one more picture...guess not...one more item is a cute trunk. I'll definitely post before and after on that one.

So, all in all, it was a great summer and I'm headed into a very busy 3 months...yikes! We have been so lucky to have had a relatively mild summer, as far as the weather goes. Hope yours was fantastic, too! Marshall leaves in one week. Lots of packing still left to do...wish me luck!