HARK A BABY IS BORN... 9 months ago.

Fox is 9 months old now! Wow, how the time has flown. Today we visited a pumpkin patch with Grandma Fernandez and Uncles Tony & Ethan

California!

We made it to California! Now we just have to move our stuff down to enjoy it with us :) more adventures to come soon

28!

See this guy right here? I love this guy. This guy is the best there is, and I don't care who knows it! He recently grew one year older and wiser too. 28! Sheesh! I still think he doesn't look a day over 24 (when we started dating). Awww memories.....

But now on to the future! Bigger and brighter things! Year 28! Woo!

We started off the day right with a primary program practice. They sang him a very cute and enthusiastic, "You've had a birthday, shout HOORAY!" They congratulated him on turning 25, to which we both looked at each other and shrugged, "eh, sounds good to me"

Then since we were already in our sunday best, we headed over to the temple. We attended the temple last year for Colt's birthday, and I am thinkin that this is a start to a mighty fine tradition. It was simply wonderful.

The week before his birthday, I asked Colt what he wanted to do for his big to-do, and he said that he wanted to try the new indoor skatepark. (these things are a big deal here, since it snows from october til june. Siiiiiigh) We looked it up and watched some videos. Afterwards, I stared wide eyed at my hubby, and asked, "Um, do you really want to go here? It looks a little....Xtreme."

Xtreme is more extreme.

Colt - "hmm, we will just have to go and find out!"

So we called up some skate friends to meet us there, and Colt waited in line to get a helmet.

I was very thankful that they had this rule, birthday ER trips aren't my cup of tea.

We walked into the warehouse and were blown away by the pure chaos of it all. There were kids of every shape and size zooming around everywhere, on scooters, bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, doing backflips, flying over things, scaring the pants off of the motherly instincts.

Wear your helmet! Don't go so fast! You are too little for that! AH! OH! *faints*

(what AM I going to do when I have kids!? Because I know they will want to do crazy things like their crazy father...heavens!)

Anyways, Colt had fun and I got to slide down one of the ramps on ma butt. Yeah I participated!

(afterwards, Colt confided in me that it was really Xtreme, and he was really nervous. Aw.)

Check it out

Just look at it though! Now add like 100 more kids zooming everywhere. I ran across the floor for my life, like I was trying to cross the freeway.

Next on the awesome birthday adventure, we went to Classic Fun Center with our super friends The Packs! We rented some rollerskates, Colt tied his flannel shirt around his waist, the lights dimmed and the disco ball lowered. He held my hand, I blushed. He was like...totally dreamy. Siiiiiigh.....

Huh?

Oh.

Then we played arcade games! While we were still in our rollerskates! I also found out that it is hard to play skeeball when your feet have wheels on them! Gabrielle and Riley were totally fun, and Colt and I won the jackpot on a game! 300 tickets! We then proceeded to buy switch blade combs for the boys, and candy for the girls. Warheads! Wut wut!

Then we went to Buca DeBeppo. Yum yum yum. We asked if we could sit at the table that is inside the kitchen because of the birthday boy, and they obliged. It was great. I highly reccommend it if being loud when you are with your friends is your thing. Its our thing.

Sorry Riley, that waiter took horrible pictures, and this was the best one I could find. Don't worry, I didn't tip him!

(hey don't look at me like that, I tipped our REAL waitress)

Thanks Packs, you know how to rock a party.

Now, I just want to put this out there before you read on. Im totally going to toot my own horn here, because you know. I CAN. But, I rock at cakes. I love baking them and I take pride in how they turn out. Usually I am not disappointed. But this time....this time....

I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.

You guys, I don't know what in crap-ole happened! I made the best frosting. (blackberry cream cheese. Made with REAL blackberries folks.) I made the best cake. (dark chocolate fudge, plus a funfetti layer thrown in for kicks). And I was going to put a divine layer of berry preserves in the middle of the layers. It was going great, I knew it was going to be amazing.

But that cake was all like.

NOPE.

Im gunna fall apart and ruin your day! Because I CAN. Suck it!

It was awful. I was positively P.O.ed at this cake.

STUPID CAKE, I COULD HAVE LET YOU BURN YOU KNOW.

My sweet SIL had to put skewers through it to hold it together long enough for me to frost it. But the frosting just started pulling it towards the left for some reason? and soon it looked like the Leaning Tower of Crapcake.

I put the little flags on it last minute, in my desperate attempt to make it look kind of cute.

ATTEMPT=FAILED.

But you know what. THAT CAKE WAS FREAKING AMAZING. It may have looked like poop, but it darn well didn't taste like it! UH! YEAH! WHAT!

Oh, to end that awesome birthday, the most awesome birthday present!

I think he likes it.

Hey husband, thanks for being born.

Heaven only knows who I would be with out you.

Love you forrrrr-evvv-errrrr.

P.S. This is my 28th post! Most appropriate for the celebration of a 28th birthday!

P.S.S. Colt's first call on his phone was to me, from the bathroom, 5 feet away.

Ain't I the luckiest!?

ANOTHER THING. Colt wanted me to tell you that he could have skated more Xtreme if there weren't that many kids there. He just wanted to make that clear. Don't worry hubbz, you are still pretty xtreme in my book.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Love, The Bowdens

What's up Doc?

Hello World, its been a while. A lot has been going on in the Bowden household, mainly a lot of medical hooha. Just warning you now, this is going to be a long post. We will really know how much you care if you read through all of it. ;)

Im going to get my whining, I mean story, out of the way first. A few months ago, I was having some horrible jaw pain, which then linked to awful ear pain. I could barely eat on the right side of my mouth, and I couldn't get through the night without some major Ibuprofen. I was sooooo worried it was my wisdom teeth. I had had some major gum and tooth pain before and a dentist friend said it was because of my wisdom teeth. I hoped and prayed that it wasn't the cause, but as time wore on and the pain worsened, I almost payed my father-in-law to grab the pliers.

I didn't have dental insurance either, so that was a big stress also. No oral surgeon would take payments, and they were charging rates that made me cry a little inside. I concluded that there was no solution and I would have to live with this pain forever. What was I to do!?

My wonderful mother suggested that I call my relief society president and ask her if she knew any solutions. I thought this was a bit silly, but called anyway. I tried to be strong in asking her, but the pain, and pathetic-ness, kicked in and I sobbed like a baby when I called. She told me of this place, that sounded like the exact place I needed. I called and made an appointment and nervously waited.

Thats when I found out, I am terrified as HECK of the dentist. It was like somebody punched me in the face and was like, "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CALM ABOUT THIS, THEY ARE GOING TO TEAR OPEN YOUR FACE!" Then I started panicking. I couldn't change my mind now, I was in too deep. I made an appointment just five minutes prior. But I couldn't shake this fear that my mouth was going to be hacksawed and I was never going to eat solid foods again, and Colt was going to have to sell me to the circus.

Finally the day came, I shook all the way to the reception desk and weakly gave her my name. She handed me this clipboard of papers, and told me to read all of them and sign them at the bottom. Colt and I sat down and started reading the papers.

Colt--"Ooooh, sometimes you can have more than 4 wisdom teeth! Thats weird!"

Me--"DON'T TELL ME THAT. THEY CHARGE 200$ A TOOTH, WE ARE SHOOTING FOR 4 OR LESS HERE."

Colt--" You can't suck on a straw afterwards because you can dislodge your blot clot and get a really painful condition called "dry socket"

Me--"STOP TALKING."

Colt--"You will have bruising from the pliers for a couple of weeks."

Me--*face in hands* "I want to die.."

Then they called my name and I had to get the X-Rays done. Then they told me to go to Surgery Room 4. It was down this hallway of doors, all of which were surgery rooms. I walked down it imagining horror movie type scenes on the other side of the fogged glass. What was I getting myself into!?

Does anyone else start to freak out more when they are left in a waiting room? When I was sitting in the dentist chair, waiting for the surgeon to come in, my anxiety took over and I was snot faced and puffy eyed when the surgeon finally arrived. He was surprised I was crying already, and I told him straight up that he was scary. Then this conversation happened.

Oral Surgeon--"Sooo, who told you that you needed your wisdom teeth out?"

Me--"Uh, a friend....who is a dentist. A dentist friend."

OS-- "Hmm, because where you told me you are experiencing pain, you don't even have a wisdom tooth there at all."

Me--*dumbfounded look on face*

OS--"And your other wisdom teeth aren't even close to being ready, and I don't think that they will ever need to be pulled."

Me--*feeling even more stupid and pathetic* "But...but....but...it hurts!"

OS--"Thats because your very back top right molar doesn't line up with your bottom right molar, so it is growing in sideways, and that might be the main cause of the pain."

Me--*horrified*

OS--"So I am just going to pull that one out."

Me--"huh....uh...ok...I guess..."

Then, POKE, PULL, BAM! I wake up at home with bloody cotton in my mouth, and glazey eyes.

Colt said that it happened so fast, he didn't even have time to really sit down in the waiting room. And evidently Colt and I did this great dance number in the driveway, trying to get into the house. My legs don't work too great when I am medically high I guess. I got plopped down on the lazy boy, and was given a bag of ice.

aint I pretty..

All in all, I am glad that is it over, and I am glad that the guy poking me with the IV covered it with a blanket so I couldn't see it. Colt said that when he put it in, blood spurted out onto my arm. If I would have seen that, I think I would have passed out faster than with drugs.

I still have a big hole in my mouth, but at least Colt didn't have to sell me to the freak show.

Part 2. The Great Thyroid Mystery!

It was the last week in August, and it was the night before I was to hop on a plane to go visit family in the great North West for 10 days. We were laying in bed, when I looked over at Colt, and noticed that his neck looked swollen. I asked him about it, and he said that he didn't know what I was talking about. We looked in the mirror, and noticed that there was an egg sized lump in the lower front of Colt's neck. This concerned me greatly, and I was freaking out a little because I was about to leave him to go on vacation for almost 2 weeks! I made him promise me that he would try to get to a doctor when I was gone. Evidently there is this thing with men, that they won't go to a doctor by themselves, they have to be either nagged, pushed, or dragged to one. Or they have to be an inch from death. Seriously. what is up with that.

So finally he went to the doctors (when I was back home of course) and met Dr. Bloink.

Best. Doctor name.

Anyways, I guess Dr. Bloink is BYU's main "lump guy". He was concerned with the lump on Colt's neck and sent him to get a Thyroid scan. It was all radioactive and what not. We hoped it would give him super powers, but no such luck.

This doctor was kinda weird. He didn't even tell us his name or bothered to learn ours.

This was the picture from the test. As you can see, there is a reasonable sized lump in his thyroid. It is a cold nodule, which in medical terms, means that it is in the thyroid, but it isn't functioning like the rest of the thyroid. Or, it isn't part of the thyroid.

So, after that, Dr. Bloink told us that he needed a ultrasound. Another day, another appointment later, they saw in the ultrasound what they thought was a lot of cysts. A lot. We were feeling better about this, because that meant that it wasn't hurting anything, and that they could dissolve all by themselves, and no one would be the wiser. Dr. Bloink said that it just might be a goiter.

Goiter, man, does that word just gross anyone else out? Goiter...... *shudder*

But. Right after the appointment with Dr. Bloink, we got a call from him saying that, another technician from the ultrasound place looked at Colt's file and said that he would need to come back in for a biopsy. They needed a second opinion.

That is another thing that scares me. When doctors say that they need a second opinion. Scary times all around.

Not stoked for this biopsy thang.

Zombie faces always lighten the mood.

Patching the poor guy up.

Lets just say I wouldn't give the "Greatest bedside manner" award to the doctor who did the biopsy. He was a grump! He injected the numbing meds into Colts neck, only to start the biopsy 2 seconds later! No time to let the lidocane (sp?) start taking effect. My poor husband, my heart broke for him. From what I could tell from looking at Colt when it was happening, it must have been a very, very, painful experience. There were definitely tears going on for the both of us.

:(

I guess if it was a cyst, the fluid that they drew out would have been a yellowish clear color. Colt's was this nasty chunky blood. The doctor said it was the most blood he has seen in one of these biopsies. He then made Colt feel even better by saying that if there was too much blood, they would't be able to get a good reading and they would have to do this whole fun experience again. He then told us, that he doesn't think that it is a cyst, but he is not sure what it would be at this moment. We are still waiting for results.

We are praying for the best, but its this waiting game that is driving us up the wall. All of the "what ifs" are scaring the pants off of us. But we know that what ever it is, we can get through it together.

GO TEAM BOWDEN!

What a trooper.

Love Bites

I have neglected this blog for so long, I don't know were to start.

Yeah.....sooooo..

Anyways...

Here is a recent tale of love, betrayal, and a good dose of "WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?!".

(a little bit of history before I tell the story. M.C. Hamster is our adorable, loving, Chinese Dwarf Hamster. We affectionally call him just M.C.)

It was late at night, and Colt and I were getting ready for bed.

Me--"You know, M.C. probably doesn't have that much longer to live, we have had him for over a year and a half, and they only live about 2 years."

Colt--"Well thats depressing, go get him, and lets let him run around for a little bit"

I go and grab the little guy, and we corral him on our bed. I am laying on my stomach, with my chin on my hands. Front row seats to the adorable scurrying.

Me--"Isn't he the cutest!? Aw man I hope he never dies.."

Colt--"Me too.."

Then he scampers over to me, and starts tickling my face with his dainty whiskers. I wasn't wearing my glasses at the time, which I chalk up to poor decision making on my part, because next thing I knew, my eye lid was gettin chomped on.

Nibbled? (I don't know what a good word would be for the tiniest of bites)

I threw back my head and was like, WHAT THE CRAP IS HAPPENING. It was like the movies people! Horror!

He wasn't letting go either. Poor little MC was trying to find a foot hold on my face. His little limbs were flailing every which way, and were scratching up my nose and my cheek. I don't blame him for freaking out a little bit. If I bit on to something and it moved and took me with it, I would be flailing like crazy too.

Meanwhile, Colt was just staring at me. I am going to say it was shock. (Do people laugh hysterically when they are in shock? Hmm..) But then he did come to my rescue and got the little

twit off my eye. He then promptly took him and plopped him into his cage.

Colt--"M.C. in your eulogy it will say, "The day that we talked about MC dying, was the closest we ever came to killing him."

But you know what...

He still my one and only MC.

Guilt

Dear Blog,

Im so sorry I have neglected you. I promise to repent and change my ways. I don't want you to think that any of this was your fault. Mom and Dad still love you!

Please don't talk too badly about us to your future therapist.

Love,

Us