on the rest of the days of Christmas

Christmas week was amazing filled with family and friends and fun adventures. I have pictures, but that would mean I need to log out of my current email and log into a different email to post them and I don't want to do that. Christmas is such a magical time and despite family drama and icy roads it's the time of year we all look forward to.

Now that the week is over it's time to throw out the old wrapping, put away the decorations and look forward to a new year. I just wrote on the last page of my current journal. This journal is one I started back in March of 2009! Almost 4 years of memories. I was obviously sucking it up in the writing department, but I'm glad I was able to fill it up. No offense blogging world but there is nothing quite like writing down your feelings and experiences on paper.

I'm going to get a massage tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! One full hour of the therapist working on my upper body is just what the doctor ordered. I'm not even taking off my pants so they realize I'm serious about this focus-on-my-shoulders-thing.

oh and by the way, I'm kind of over this winter thing. I know it's only looked and felt like winter for the past week, but I have been thinking about Summer and it's making me miss it! I love the winter, but I could go for some Summer rays right about now.

on the 2nd day of Christmas

on the 2nd day of Christmas

my BFF came to visit me! We exchanged gifts ( i got another charm for my Pandora bracelet ) and then we went to Sacrament Meeting to listen to the Christmas program. I love Christmas songs and it was a perfect way to start off the next few days!







and of course there was hot chocolate involved. Bart's throat likes hot over cold so he has been having a few glasses each day, and I can't let him suffer through that alone right?? I had this HUGE canycane that I added to the mix making it delish.

The Bowen's 2012 Christmas Card

Happy holidays! We just wanted to update everyone we love, and anybody else who cyber stalks us, on how our year went. We meant to finish this earlier and send it out, but Bart has been stricken with Mono and is rendered useless until further notice.

                The year started out great. Megan was in her second semester at the University of Utah and Bart was halfway through his first year of teaching, contemplating his life choices. He soon realized teaching is about 15% inspiring young minds and 85% punishing the little &%$@ who disrupt the class. We regularly argue who is to blame for the bad behavior of these kids. Bart says it’s the parents while Megan says it’s the children.

Our upstairs neighbors and their small yapping dog finally moved out…followed quickly by an even larger more annoying dog. Our apartment adventures have been memorable to say the least. We live in a place invested with dog owners who have no time for their dogs, and so these dogs bark and cry all day long. We regularly dream about giving a bacon sponge to the dog downstairs, but have had self-control so far. This has further encouraged us to start thinking about buying a house, which will hopefully be in next year’s Christmas letter.

We decided to take a vacation in the early spring to California. On our way we discovered a little town where the people are literally outnumbered by livestock 7:1. At this point we were lost on our journey. Bart was willing to stop for directions but there was not a soul to be found and let’s be honest, cows aren’t that friendly.

Angel’s Camp, CA was a great place to vacation….if you’re collecting social security and have a subscription to AARP. We stayed for 4 days. Our trip later took us to San Francisco but we only stayed one day because come on, what would a young couple like us have to do in the “Paris of the West?” After biking from the pier across the Golden Gate bridge and back (which only took us 2 hours), we decided not to stop for lunch to save us money on the rental fees…but Bart was quickly reminded  how Megan gets when she’s hungry, and looking back he would have gladly paid the extra fees. After fighting a herd of retirees for a table at the local chowder shop, we decided to head back to our hotel for a nap (because remember, we’re 80 years old).  We were pleasantly surprised by the location and classiness until we got to our “room” which was really just a bed squeezed into a 5x5 closet and yes, that included the bathroom. We decided to tour the city at night, which left us incredibly lost for a few hours…but we got to see the side of San Fran that few tourists ever get to see.

The summer was an exciting time for us this year. Bart was a coach for Kearns High School Football which meant Megan became very familiar with the bleachers and Bart was socially absent for most of the season. Megan also got her first grown up job as a morning producer for ABC4. We are both feeling very blessed that we have jobs we love. The rest of the summer was spent running. Bart started training for a half marathon and Megan started watching Bart train for a half marathon. He completed it under his goal time and lost 30 pounds in the training process.  

     

We really do live in a great location. We love the area. It’s close to work and more importantly, close to the mall! In an unrelated note we will be pushing back the purchase of a house.

Since Megan is now working full time she’s napping a lot more, but the naps kind of suck since she really hates the couch. Bart however still enjoys taking naps as often as possible.

Many things happened in the political world and Bart was so happy to announce that this was “our first election in love”. A very exciting time in the Bowen household! In other social news….Megan thinks it’s stupid that women are wearing pants to church to send a message. Bart was all for supporting it except his disability prevented him from realizing his “purple” tie was blue.

Megan is still a student and finds joy in going to class (HA!) She finally learned how to spell available and resturaunt….resturant…restarount? Moving on…        

    

                During this season of giving Bart wants an iPad for Christmas and Megan wants new couches. But hey, we don’t always get what we want right? Just two days into Bart’s Christmas break he finds out he has mono and should be resting for the next 3 weeks. Bart is keeping busy by taking pictures of his nasty infected tonsils and sending them to random family members. On the plus side we have plenty of pudding, applesauce and soup in the house.

                All jokes aside, Merry Christmas everyone! We have missed our friends who have moved away, and enjoy living so close to our families. We are truly blessed and during this time of year we are grateful for our happy and fulfilling lives. We wish all of you the best and a Happy New Year!

On the 4th & 3rd day of Christmas

Wow I am really struggling with this whole post-a-day thing! I always have good intentions but at the end of the day, my pillow > my blog.

On the 4th day of Christmas

work was stressful and I had a 10 hour day, but I got through the week and that's what I'm proud of! it was Bart's first day of Christmas break but he was still sick so he spent the day in bed with hot cocoa, ibuprofen and Netflix. Since Bart was out of commission I went to City Creek Center with my sister and did some last minute shopping. I am pretty much done, but she hadn't started yet (she's my father's daughter :). It's nice to go shopping with someone who actually likes it, who knew?! I really enjoy City Creek, even if 80% of the stores are out of my price range!

On the 3rd day of Christmas

we found out Bart has Mono. We took him to the instacare since his tonsils were swollen to the point he couldn't eat, and he kept getting random fevers and other weird symptoms. After telling the doctor he was sick the week earlier for a few days he tested him for Mono and BAM he was right. This doctor wasn't an idiot either, it was a Christmas Miracle! It was probably the most pleasant doctor experience I've ever had and I wasn't even the patient!

I dropped Bart off at home and went to get his prescription and find food that doesn't require much chewing (pudding, apple sauce, yogurt and soup are on the menu for the next few weeks). I also picked up some Lysol wipes. I know it might be pointless, but I scrubbed my apartment as best I could to hopefully clear some of the germs away. I know at this point I have been exposed to Bart and his germs for long enough that if I'm going to get sick, there's not much I can do about it at this point, but that doesn't stop a girl from trying! So now my apartment smells like Lysol and Pinesol instead of death and that makes me feel a little better.

On the 7th 6th and 5th day of Christmas

on the 7th day of Christmas

we saw Savoir of the World at the Conference Center.

It was beautiful. When the little children angels went on stage I thought of those children in Connecticut. It was nice to participate in something that reminds everyone the true meaning of Christmas 

on the 6th day of Christmas

I made treats! See post HERE. it was so much fun and even Bart asked the questions "since when did you become domesticated?" baby steps I say! baby steps

on the 5th day of Christmas

Bart is sick again. He's back to having a fever and being a crazy person. Last night he was my insta-heater which was nice, but I hate that he's sick. Tomorrow is his first day of Christmas break so hopefully he'll be able to rest and get feeling better for the weekend festivities.

once you pop the fun don't stop

so back in September I went to the dentist, and since then it's been like a Pringle commercial, the fun just hasn't stopped!

I went back today for the 7th time and guess what? i have to go back tomorrow! 8 times in less than 4 months.

it's funny really. right? this is funny? i'm going to laugh and "fake it 'till I make it" at this point because honestly I don't know what else to do.


...except maybe never go back to the dentist....