The Newest Bowen

We welcomed a new addition to the Bowen family yesterday..."Bo" Bowen, Caleb's new Lab puppy! He is absolutely precious! Bo seemed to be drawn especially to Eli. Here are a few pictures of the newest Bowen.

'Tis the season...

Let's take a poll. How many of you are allergic to poison ivy/sumac/oak? Any or all of the above? If so, I am sooo sorry! I have been blessed in that I have never had a problem with these dreaded little plants. My sweet hubbie, however, is not so lucky. He can simply breathe it in and start itching. If he gets it in one spot, he's pretty much guaranteed that's it's gonna go everywhere.

Well, Seth was weed-eating around the yard one day last week. Two days later, you guessed it, those little red bumps showed up in one tiny spot. And the next day, his legs were completely eat up! We both knew he'd end up having to go to the doctor, but Seth wanted to experiment with a few home remedies first. Here are our results:

Scalding Hot Shower: uncomfortable, in my mind would worsen the itching
Results: did NOT work

Oatmeal: hot, gross, a mess to clean up
Results: did NOT work

Salt Water: easiest of our supposed remedies
Results: did NOT work, according to Seth...not enough salt

Therefore, our next option...

Salt: yes, rubbed straight on the wounds....it's okay, go ahead and laugh
Results: burned somewhat, shocker, yet did NOT work

And finally...

Bleach: that's right...it's so bad, we're resorting to straight up chemicals
Results: it smelled like feet and NO, NO help at all

Although, some of these temporarily relieved some discomfort, they accomplished nothing that over the counter medicine doesn't do. So, yesterday, Seth went to the doctor, got his shot, steroids, and some trial meds. Moral of the story? If you are severely allergic to poison ivy and find yourself in Seth's situation, just go to the doctor. The rest is a waste of time. :) Although, kinda funny to watch.

Six P's of God

At the beginning of this year, the elders at Maysville decided to start a "young professional" class on Wednesday nights. Seth's dad has been overseeing the class, but the guys have been teaching it some. Seth taught this week, and he did an amazing job as always. He always puts so much time, thought, and effort into his lessons to try to make them applicable to whomever he is speaking to.

This week he discussed facing adversity...something that we can all relate to in one way or another. You can turn to the Bible to see many examples of how you can handle adversity: Job, David, Paul, Jesus, Joseph, and sooo many others.

Seth gave us a list of reasons that we have to be optimistic through adversity: The Six P's of God.
(1) God's Power
(2) God's Provision
(3) God's Protection
(4) God's Presence
(5) God's Peace
(6) God's Promises

All of these things should bring us comfort every day! We have an amazing God and he WILL take care of us, no matter what we face! If that doesn't put a big smile on your face, I don't know what will! :)

Weekend in Henderson

This past weekend we took a trip to see my parents. We hadn't been up there since Christmas, so we figured it was about time we paid them a visit. We also took Seth's brother, Caleb, with us. It was a wonderful weekend! It started off perfect with this precious little face greeting us in the driveway.



Luke and his momma came over for dinner, so we could see our little man! He is growing and changing so much! Still one of the happiest babies I've ever seen!

The next day Dad took Seth, Caleb, and I to the river to do some fishing. Really it was just the boys who were fishing. I was just along to soak up some sun. :) As I used to tell my mom when I was little...I was not born to fish! Anywho, the guys didn't have too much luck fishing, as you can see.

But we had a beautiful day to be out and enjoyed it tremendously! Maybe next time the fish will be a little more hungry! We spent the rest of the weekend watching FHU baseball, eating, playing games, and did I mention eating?! All in all, it was one splendid weekend!

The Day Has Finally Come!!

We are DONE with the bathroom!! Well, other than cleaning up and putting the door back up. :) But I consider that close enough to done! Here are a couple of before and after pictures. I will post more soon!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

These are a few of my favorite things....

....about the spring and summer! I love it when the weather starts to warm up and all the plants start to turn pretty colors again! It just puts a smile on my face!




I also looove the smell of fresh cut grass! I think it reminds me of growing up in the country...someone was always outside working in their yard.

I also get excited about the warm weather because that means camping is just around the corner! We already have plans to go camping with my family Memorial Day Weekend! What could be better than a few days to soak in the sun, play in the water, grill out, and make smores?!

Then there's watermelon. What is a beautiful summer day without some cold, juicy watermelon? YUM!

And finally, it means that it's time to be planning our summer vacation!! This year Seth and I are going to NYC to see the Mets and the Yankees play in their new stadiums. This will be Seth's first time in New York, so we are also planning on being typical tourists, maps, cameras and all! More to come on this later!

Painting...

Good Monday morning, everyone! I hope a wonderful weekend was had by all! We had a great weekend! Friday night, we were lucky enough to have a night at home with nothing to do....ahhh, how nice! We ate and watched tv....it couldn't have been better. :) Then Saturday, we won ALL three of our baseball games! Maybe that's why I am in an unusually good mood for a Monday morning.

Anyway, I have some more pictures to share! While Seth was gone, my parents also helped me paint our master bedroom. Well....Mom helped with the painting. Dad helped move furniture and "supervised." And by supervise I mean watch basketball from the comfort of the couch. :)

I had been meaning to paint and put up new curtains for a few months, so this was the perfect opportunity. I had to take advantage of my helpers while they were around! Here are some pics of the finished product.

We also painted our bathroom while we were at it. Back before our current bathroom renovations got started, we had plans for this one as well. However, due to the craziness that the guys have gone through for our first bathroom, I'm pretty sure this one will get left behind. We're not too crazy about the tile all over the place, but the blue makes it look a little better. This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea. :)

The work still continues of the current renovations. I will try to get you an update on that soon!