Other Happenings

January and February have been busy months around here and I've had a hard time wanting to keep up with the blog.

Westley spent a lot of January sick with the stomach bug on and off. We finally got a doctor to run some more tests on him (he had a whole battery of tests run in December) but they came up with nothing. He was referred to the gastroenterologist, but now, of course, he hasn't been sick since the last part of January, and we couldn't get an appointment until March, so we will probably end up canceling that appointment.

We have had lots of really cold days so we've been cooped up inside a lot. I have no desire to go out there when it's below freezing with a wind chill, so we generally just stay at home.

During January and February, Westley and Travis both gave talks in primary in church. Travis was so cute because he was so excited and not shy at all. Westley wrote his own talk and even used a visual aid (the hand in the glove thing to represent life, death, and resurrection).

I am now 35 weeks pregnant, and right where I was when Westley was born. I am getting very uncomfortable. It's hard to breathe pretty much all the time and if that's not the problem, he is pushing on my bladder or just moving around inside hurts. Plus I keep getting the pinch on my sciatic nerve, so it hurts sometimes just to walk. It will be nice to have him out of me, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a newborn yet!

A Day of Tubing

On Aunt Jamie's birthday, Corey and Jamie took the kids tubing at this great place in the mountains. I didn't go due to being 33 weeks along in the pregnancy. I figured they probably wouldn't let me tube, and even if they would, I wasn't sure I wanted to. So Westley got to leave school at lunch time and Caleb got to miss a day of school, and they went.






They had a great time. Even Eliza loved going down on the tube. There were people there that were quite surprised about how Eliza had no fear going down on the tube, but I've taken her tubing before in the hills out by us and she has loved it. Maybe next year we can all go and leave the new baby with someone to baby-sit, since I didn't get to go.

Mother-Son Circus Date

On the first Tuesday in February, I picked Westley up from school early and took him to the Jordan World Circus that was showing. We arrived in time to check out some of the pre-show stuff and we got some cotton candy and nachos and enjoyed watching the tiger tamer and the acrobats and some of the other acts. It was a lot of fun, but if we go next year (as a family) we'll definitely bring blankets and warmer clothes because the arena wasn't very warm. Westley was quite surprised and excited when he found out it was the circus that I was taking him to. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the performance--our camera just doesn't take far away shots very well, even when you zoom in.

Popcorn and a Movie

For Christmas, Aunt Jamie got us a family set of popcorn buckets that have our names on them. Very cute! Anyway, a few weeks ago on a Friday or Saturday night we let the kids eat popcorn from their buckets and watch a movie from Netflix, probably "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". They sure loved it! Since we have an air-popper and corn can be quite cheap, it makes for an inexpensive, fun thing to do on a weekend night.

Tumbling Class

In January, Eliza and Travis started a tumbling class that I signed them up for through the city.


Travis is a natural and loves it. He is already doing cartwheels and was among the first of the kids in the class to be able to do the bridge all by himself, which he was able to do on his first attempt.


Eliza is getting better, and we were told by the teacher that she has a lot of coordination. The problem is that she is among the youngest in the class and has a very hard time staying focused. She is also more into dancing and twirling around, so I'm thinking of keeping Travis in the tumbling class and signing Eliza up for a dance class somewhere.

Junior Jazz Basketball

This year we signed the boys up for Junior Jazz basketball. They had a lot of fun with it and hopefully we'll be able to sign them up next year.

Westley taking the ball down the court.

Westley on defense

Caleb at practice before a game

Caleb dribbling the ball

Both boys had very little basketball experience before the season, but both improved quite a lot by the end. When the weather warms up, I hope to take them to a nearby park to practice shooting and playing or have Corey do that. I wish we had a regular driveway and could get a basketball hoop for the driveway, but that will have to wait for some future house!

End of the Year 2010

This year sure went by fast. We were able to purchase our rental home this year, so we are planning on staying put in Riverton for a little while longer, at least a few years. Another fun thing was hosting our 10-year-old niece for a few weeks this summer who flew up from Arizona to stay with us. And we also got to have a Fowles side family reunion in Arizona and Jenna’s whole family was able to be there–all 16 grandchildren and 13 adults! We all stayed at her parents’ house in Mesa which made for a crowded house, but a lot of fun. After the reunion in Arizona, we were able to head over to California for a few days. And, of course, the biggest news around here is that we are expecting baby #5, another boy, due in March 2011! Eliza will have all brothers, just like her mom.

Corey started this year at the American Fork store as a 2nd manager there. He was transferred in the middle of the summer to the West Jordan store and then a few months after that, he was transferred down to Orem, which is where he is working currently. He is still working hard to get his own store, hopefully sometime in the near future. He keeps quite busy with work and when he’s not at work, he enjoys having as much down time as possible.

Jenna started taking violin lessons in January, after not having played seriously since the 9th grade. Currently, she is part of the Herriman Community Orchestra and hopes to be able to continue that next year. She was able to attend BYU Women’s Conference in April and the Casual Blogger Conference in May. Other than that, it’s business as usual–endless loads of laundry and chasing after children.

Westley (7) finished first grade and started second grade this year. He got glasses over the summer. Westley did baseball in the spring, took swimming lessons in the summer, and has just finished flag football. He started piano lessons this fall also. He is excelling in school and loves being a big brother.

Caleb (6) started kindergarten this year. He has a half day and attends in the afternoon. He is doing well in school and loves every minute of it. He also did baseball and swimming with Westley and started piano lessons as well. He learned to ride his bike this spring and recently lost his first tooth.

Travis (4) continues to be full of life and laughter. He also did baseball and swimming this year. As many of you know, he’s been having some problems with his eyes and has recently undergone some neurological testing. The neurological tests came back with strange results–two cysts in his brain–but we learned that they are nothing to worry about. The eye problems will be corrected with glasses for now, and hopefully that’s all he’ll need.

Eliza (3) is a little girl with a huge personality. She adores her big brothers, who adore her in return. She recently became potty trained and is very excited to be such a big girl. She loves all things girlie which is a huge change for our family of boys.