Asa Bowen is Two!

The King of the house has turned two...He is full of antics that make us shake our head, laugh, or grit our teeth in frustration. But we wouldn't have him any other way. 

Asa still loves balls. If he sees a ball on someone's shirt he must point it out and the shirts he has with balls on them are his favorite. 

Shoes are also a favorite, he knew cleats were essential for soccer. 

He went through a phase of giving kisses to everyone, even baby dolls. He would cry for the baby and then shush it while covering it with kisses. Pretty tender. 

He also loves to carry Buddy around and even wear his shoes and hat. 

This old state fair hat is also a favorite. 

He can be quite the tease. If babies or toddlers are crying in church he immediately starts imitating them. He also enjoys making silly faces at everyone sitting behind us. 

He's still hit and miss with nursery but loves it so much if I stay in there with him. 

Goggles are another essential accessory. He also loves to pull Tanner's ties down and put them around his neck. 

We're still working on learning to be soft...but he's got the apology and pat on the back down. He's had lots of practice with that one. He also still loves to carry the cat around with his two little hands gripped tight around its throat. I really want to think he doesn't understand why that isn't ok. 

"I a nack!" He has decided that snacks are not fruit or cheese sticks...

Anytime I ask, "Who did this?" whether it's a good thing or not, he immediately chimes in, "Me! I did!". 

This is the face he most often gives when someone takes his picture. Serious mean muggin. 

Randomly he'll run up to me and say, "Mom! High Pive." After a high five he always follows it up with "knocks" all with the face of someone who has a very important job to do. 

Whenever he leaves the house he yells, "Bye Mom!" and also yells a very enthusiastic "de do!" after diaper changes. 

His favorite books before nap or bedtime are Bobo, Goodnight Gorilla, and any book with real pictures in it. He wants certain songs to be sung at bedtime, I am Like a Star and Jesus Said Love Everyone. I can sing any other song before that, but we must always end with those two songs. After tucking him in he says, "night, teep tight."

He never falls asleep in my arms so when he finally did in Nauvoo I about melted with his sweetness. 

He loves water and is dumping it on our floor multiple times a day. He also enjoys scrubbing out laundry in our utility sink, whether it needs it or not. 

He loves helping out and his little grunts as he tries to lift things are the cutest. 

If he's happy he wants his brothers, if he's sad and I'm not there, he wants "Miah". 

He sure is blessed to have all these older siblings who love him so much. 

Eliza is so good at keeping him entertained. Lately he does great in the role as prince. 

He and Vivi are really good at flooding the bathroom during bath time and getting into fist fights. They do have their moments of playing together nicely...and we cherish them. 

He wants to be just like his daddy. He has so many mannerisms that remind me so much of Tanner. 

While he looked like this in family pictures...

His personality is more like this: 

We sure love this happy little boy who has us all wrapped around his finger. Here's to another year with our Ace-man! 

July

Boy oh boy did we have a July!

We started out the month getting together with church friends to shoot off some fireworks. Tanner was the designated Firework launcher and no one was injured...there was one "firework" that we learned a little too late was more of a rocket, and it came down real fast. Thankfully it didn't impale anyone, but lesson learned; if it looks like a rocket, it probably is. 

The fireflies mixed with the fireworks were just magical, but I couldn't really capture it. 

We didn't have plans for the fourth so I decided the day before to throw a party at our house. I made the kids do a bunch of yard work that morning in the sweltering heat, but they persevered. 

Chet was excited to help make the flag cake and because I made two this year, he got to decorate one all by himself. 

Aunt Heather really outdid herself with the face paint

Tommy's was my personal favorite. 

We set up our big slip and slide and had a bbq. It was so nice to visit with good friends and felt more like a holiday. We just might have to make it a yearly tradition, if only to get some yard work done around here. 

The next day we decided to go to Melrose's celebration and it was a hoot. We had to find shelter right after the parade for a torrential downpour but it was beautiful after that. We especially loved the frog races; all our kids participated. I was Asa's little helper and Mariah claims I was a little too enthusiastic "helping" him. She was horrified when I was basically doing it all on my own while Asa wandered off. "All the other parents were encouraging their children and then there you were, all by yourself trying to win the race while Asa walked away!" I'm just pleased that I may have finally embarrassed her, a right of passage for a teenager. 

I got to go to Girls Camp this year and was so happy to be there. Tanner came up to help with the canoeing and stayed a night as well. I followed him around like a puppy when he first got there...he loved it. 

Mariah got a bulls eye with axe throwing. I was just pleased when I actually hit the target. 

Tessa came to camp and these two had a blast together. We were so happy she came with her bright/never knows a stranger, personality. We had two nights of solid rain, one with a tornado watch, but we stayed dry and safe. The last night I got some earplugs and slept like a baby.

Esther flew out to watch the kiddos for us and Heather was there as well during the tornado watch. I'm so thankful for their help. Esther helped the kids make a Little Red Riding Hood video with them. 

Vivi made herself a vanilla wafer sandwich one day and was very pleased with her creation. 

We got to go down to the Hiltons' and celebrate Elsie's first birthday. We just love that little ray of sunshine so very much. 

We went to Nauvoo to watch one of Kathleen's shows on Sunday afternoon and had dinner with the cousins. Gordon was way too fun with Eliza and Vivi. 

And then we got a kitten. One of our neighbors found her and asked if we wanted her, even though we were leaving in two days for our Crossley reunion I said yes. And then Barry, our contractor came over and promptly volunteered to watch Skippy (the kitten) and Josie while we were gone. Which was a huge life saver. We are so grateful for good friends who come in clutch. 

Ty's family stopped in for a couple nights on their trip out and we had fun fishing, going to the pool, riding in the motorhome, and taking out the go-cart and Ace. 

Lisa was teaching Asa the joys of riding bikes. 

We headed to Nauvoo Thursday night planning on watching the pageant. But that was cancelled because of thunderstorms. So then we headed to the cousins' airbnb to spend some time together.  

Grandpa (in the background) had the right idea here...

The youth had baptisms early the next morning and then we tried to see as many of Kathleen's performances as we could. 

Eliza, Benson, and Jack got to be flag bearers for the opening ceremonies. 

The littles were in awe of Kathleen. Ok, I was too. 

Vivi loves her Uncle Ty

The kids got to wear missionary tags during one of the vignettes and Vivi snagged Kathleen's. We'll have to recreate this picture one day if she serves a mission. 

Eliza and Vivienne loved playing "pioneer" while the rest of us recuperated between shows. 

That night we went to the British pageant. The littles had fun running from station to station and then ate their weight in snacks during the pageant. It was so fun seeing the Chad Crossley family perform. The next morning the adults had a wonderful time in the temple for an endowment session. I always love the opportunity to go to the temple, especially with family. 

We headed home that afternoon to do some yard work and get our house ready for guests later that next week. We had a wonderful ward conference the next day and then that evening we headed to the Hilton's for the official Family Reunion. 

Only half the group got the silly face memo in this group picture, which makes it so much better. We missed Tiesha's family this year. 

Eliza's pretty flowers in her hair...The cousins ran hard the whole time. Even though it was crazy hot, they played ultimate frisbee and created their own water balloon tag to beat the heat. There was also lots of ping pong, pool, board games and intense wrestling matches. The older girls made an awesome scavenger hunt as well. 

I barely so my big kids because the were constantly on the move with their cousins. 

Bethany is a good sport with her cousins...and her aunt. 

After Missouri we headed home and hosted Chad, Grandma, Heidi, Heather and Brittany's family at our house for a couple days. The weather calmed down and was down right pleasant. The big kids spent most of their time riding the go-cart and Ace around the property and then spent an afternoon on the giant slip and slide. 

More fishing was done as well...now I just need to have canned corn next time so they can catch the grass carp; I'll be ready Gordon. 

These kiddos wanted a "family picture". 

 Vivienne and Miriam decided we should have a tea party with "muffins" so thats just what we did. We spoke in British accents, recited poetry, and went through several bowls of sugar, as one should at all tea parties. 

Eliza posed them for this picture and was very proud of herself. 

My house now feels empty...who's coming next?!

June

 It was nice to slow down a little in June, but we still had some summer adventures. 

We went to the Albia rodeo and got to see some brand new lambs. It was fun to cheer on the Snakenburgs with team roping and barrels. 

Tanner surprised the kids with a go-cart and they have had a blast zipping around the property. 

Asa got to play whiffle ball with the big boys at Wednesday night activities and he took his position very seriously. 

Josie found a nest of baby rabbits and we had fun snuggling them before moving them to a safe place for their momma to find. 

We decided to be brave and take the whole family tent camping for the first time since Eliza was a baby. 

First we stopped at Onondaga Cave State Park and took a little cave tour. The kids loved their first cave experience. Then we took a windy back country road to Johnson Shut Ins State Park. Our campsite was one that you had to walk into and the kids were such good helpers packing everything in. 

Asa insisted on taking this loaf of bread the whole way. What should have been a five minute walk turned into fifteen, but we were in nature to slow down, right? 

It started to drizzle just as we were setting up camp so Tanner made the tent the first priority. We made a fire and roasted some hotdogs and just as we had finished dinner and setting up the tent, the rain came pouring down and it didn't stop all night. But thanks to Tanner's tent skills, we all stayed dry. 

Asa was thrilled with the sleeping situation. He kept flipping on everyone's beds, every once in a while he would miss the pads and conk his head on the wooden platform, but he'd jump right back up and keep going. We finally had to basically hold him down for him to fall asleep. 

We woke up the next morning to more rain so we spent the morning around the campground waiting for it to clear. 

The kids loved the creek by our campsite. 

After lunch we headed to the shut ins. Asa fell asleep so I sat in the car and worked on my Father's Day talk while Tanner took the other kids down to the river. 

When Asa woke up we headed down and showed up just in time to rescue Vivi and Eliza. They had quite the tale of Dad trying to hold back the water with his body so they could get through narrow passages more safely. I was grateful I got there when I did. But the story made for a good analogy in my talk. Tanner and the older three continued down the river while I went up to calmer water with the younger three. Asa spent the time throwing rocks in the river like it was his job. One right after the other. Mariah and Austin had a scary moment through one chute but besides some bumps, bruises and a little emotional trauma, they came out alright. Apparently the higher water levels from all the rain made the water stronger. 

After the shut ins, we headed to Elephant Rock

At first the big kids were so tired from the shut ins I didn't know if they were going to do much climbing, but they caught their second wind and were soon running and climbing all over the place. 

We went on a hike that ended up being a lot longer than we thought and towards the very end it started to pour. But that didn't dampen our spirits and we had fun learning all about quarries and granite and mushrooms, thanks to some people who were foraging and willing to show us their haul. 

We went back to our campground and enjoyed time around the fire without any rain. I've decided that a toddler and campfire don't really mix, and Mariah, Tanner, and I spent all our time trying to keep Asa alive. But there were small pockets of time where I almost felt like I was relaxing. It was nice. 

We slept much better that night, exhaustion will do that to ya. Asa was still excited about the sleeping situation, but I was able to turn some classical music on my phone and he calmed right down and fell asleep. We woke up the next morning to rain, surprise surprise. But we were able to pack up fairly quickly and after showers we headed out. We stopped at the cousins in Kirksville on the way home for dinner and then headed back to our own beds. 

Tanner got to baptize a dear friend on Father's Day and my talk went well. We are all so grateful for the wonderful dad he is. 

We had more days driving the go cart, Ace, four wheelers and the neighbor's side by side. Trey was so great about taking the littles for rides. 

The oldest four got to do Missoula Children's Theater Wizard of Oz. 

Eliza was a kaleida and was so fierce and sassy and especially loved her song and dance. 

Austin was farmer Munchkin and came up with a great accent for his lines. 

Chet was the Professor and Wizard of Oz and had awesome comedic timing. 

And Mariah was such an expressive, sweet Dorothy. They had such a wonderful time. 

Asa got to sample some of Tanner's creami creations and had a pretty awesome 'stache. 

Eliza, Vivi, and Asa decided to pamper Mariah before a tea party that Eliza had decided to organize. 

I took the boys to see Annie and besides their "horribly uncomfortable" dress clothes, they really enjoyed it. Mariah watched some friends' children so they could go to the musical as well and we all had a great time driving home that night way too late. These big kids are so fun, even if they only want to wear basketball shorts.