Hiking in the Snow, Christmas and a BREAK!

So I can't ever remember how to put my pictures on in chronological order so they start from the most recent! This will be the backwards story!:) First I will start with my "BREAK"!!!! I am taking a break from doing hair for 2 weeks! I LOVE to do hair, but my family, myself and my disgusting house has sufured miserably! I am having a hard time saying NO when I have other, much more important things to do. My 3 1/2 year old does not even understand that he needs to sit at the table while eating dinner because WE DON'T EAT DINNER TOGETHER! I will buy groceries and they rot in my fridge because I am too tired from doing hair all day that we just end up eating cereal! My front room where my clients come in is in ok shape but the rest of my house is not clean. I get so uptight that I don't want to clean up or cook because it is too overwhelming! So this leaves me with a much needed break and a change coming in my hair business! It pains me so much, but I have to put my family and myself first. My 3 year old wants to play with me not with himself which he does VERY well by the way:) Anyway, the dynamics of my life are changing and I have to change with it or it will be pure misery!

OK enough of the venting! We had such a great Christmas. It was really fun this year with Mitchell and Garrett! Mitchell absolutely LOVED Santa! He was so cute with him. He told him that he loved him! Garrett could not care less either way. Santa came to our house and brought all that they asked for. Ben got me a massage at a spa, and an iphone, and Ben got a new receiver as well as Jazz tickets, although I didn't notice when I bought the tickets that one of the games was on Sunday....such a ditz! My parents gave us both an ipod nano and that is Ben's first ipod, he is certifiably OBSESSED! Our friends and families Christmas cards were so fun this year. I think that is one of my favorite things about the Holiday's! Now on to the pictures!


Mitchell got a leapster 2 from my parents and a Thomas hat! It is SUCH a cute hat and the only hat will wear!



Garrett opening presents!




We all match!



The biggest snowman we have ever seen. It was just at a park in Park City!



Mitchell was just plain tired at my Mom's house. But couldn't go to sleep until Thomas was next to him!



Garrett on the other hand had plenty of energy to open gifts from Avo!




Just after Santa came!



Christmas eve jammies!






Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma Gowans



Garrett got his first haircut! His first tooth and said his first words ALL on Christmas Eve! "DaDa" ... I told Ben that I was taking all his gifts back because Garrett saying "DaDa" was the biggest gift!







All of our friends went hiking in the snow up Neffs canyon. It was SOOOO fun! I wish I could do that everyday! When we got to the top, there was a rope swing and Mitchell loved that! Than we sledded down the Mountain which was so fun! I can't believe how cute my 3 boys are... LOOK at those faces!!

One of Ben's best friends died this this past Saturday November 28th. There are no words for how this has effected us! He was such a great friend to Ben. His wife is a great friend of mine, and there children are the cutest, sweetest kids! I just have to keep believing that there was something in heaven that needed only Brian. It has been very hard to understand why this happened, how this happened, and what kind of purpose there is for this to happen! We will miss you Brian! We are NEVER going to forget about you!


Brian Daniel Buttars 06/02/1978~11/28/2009 Brian Daniel Buttars, beloved husband, father, son and brother, passed away due to injuries sustained in a dirt biking accident. Born June 2, 1978, Provo, Utah to Daniel P. and Jan Buttars. Married Colette Fitts, the love of his life, on April 5, 2001 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Brian had a passion for life and lived it to the fullest. He had a wonderful smile and brought love and happiness to all he knew. He loved his family; Colette, Cole, Hallie and looked forward to the birth of another son. He loved skiing, boating, especially at Lake Powell, and dirt biking. Brian served an LDS mission in the Philippines, Olongapo Mission. He graduated from the University of Utah in Business. Survived by wife, Colette, children, Cole Daniel and Hallie Ann; parents, Daniel and Jan Buttars; sister and brothers, Courtney (Jared) Geisler, Jordan (Kelli) Buttars, Chelsea (Miles) Lowder, grandmother, Fern Hutchens; father and mother-in-law, Randy and Susan Fitts, 10 nephews and six nieces. He will be dearly missed. Funeral services will be held Friday, December 4, 12:00 p.m. at the Sandy Granite Stake Center, 2535 E. Newcastle Drive (9040 So). Visitation will be held Thursday, December 3, from 6-8:00 p.m. at the Bull River 3rd Ward, 1920 North 500 West (Lehi) and the morning of the service at the Sandy Granite Stake Center from 10:00-11:30 a.m. Interment Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 E. 10600 So., Sandy. Online condolences may be made at www.cannonmortuary.com. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the Brian D. Buttars Memorial account at any Zions Bank.

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my family! Tyler and Trish welcomed us into there home up in Midway, and it was the perfect setting for Thanksgiving, it is SO beautiful up there! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I LOVE FOOD! HAHA! No I just love it for the fact that it is low stress! Anyway here are some pictures of the day!


This has been the talk of our house! "Mommy, Santa Claus will bring me a Thomas from Tylers house" ALLLLLL DDDDDAAAAAYYYY Lately! So cute though! He gave it a hug goodbye and said " I will see you when I come over next time.." (a bit teary eyed)!!



We miss Allie.....Photo shop?????



Cutest boys ever! Funny little mans:)!

Halloween and some other pictures

I am always catching up these days! So you can just count on me putting up a post every few months! Things are going well in the Gowans house hold. Benji is very busy these days I know what it's like being a single Mom for the last couple weeks:) It's pretty hard, and I am grateful for his hard work but I look forward to when it slows a bit! We are all healthy and pretty happy around here! We are ready for the holiday's....I think! Here are some pictures of the past couple weeks.


This is NOT the greatest picture of my Dad, but he retired this week after more than 33 years at the US postal service! We had a little surprise party for him and he WAS surprised! It was an emotional day.... you would think that it wouldn't effect me because it was not me, but it did. I reflected on his faithful service to our family, going to work EVERYDAY, literally, he had 10 1/2 weeks of annual leave that he hadn't even used and plenty more sick leave. He was such a great employee and a wonderful example to me of service to our family! I love you Dad, and hope you know that!!!!



These next 3 are a day I spent at Gardner Village with just me and my boys. And I took these pictures with my little point and shoot camera! THESE are MY boys!





Halloween! Mitchell was a Frog and Garrett a Fly! I didn't get a good picture of them together, so this is as good as it gets!




This is a picture of Garrett's surgery clothes! I forgot to post pics! He is doing GREAT by the way!


And finally, These have been my projects! If you want one let me know I will sell them for 30 dollars, they are double sided and great for all seasons! They have been fun!

Peeping Tom and Garretts Surgery!

So you have all been asking about the story of the "peeping tom"! Well last Wednesday night I had just gotten home from YW's and the kids to bed. Ben had been home all night and than left to help some friends. I was cleaning the kitchen and than poured a bowl of cereal to go get in bed and watch tv and went to turn off the light. When I turned the light off, the house was dark and I heard a noise, not really a scary noise just a noise in my kitchen. I was trying to turn on a lamp to leave a light on for Ben and as I turned the light on, I turned my head towards the "noise" and there was a man looking in my window, like with his hands cupping his face touching my window. I scooted out of sight and thought for a minute, "was that Ben"? and I waited for a second than I ran and got my phone and called Ben. I said "where are you"? and he said he was on his way to Home Depot and I said "were you just in the back yard"? he said no and I said "ok I am calling 911" He said, "What's wrong"? I said, there was a man in our Kitchen window looking at me, I made eye contact with him" and said "I'll be right there, stay on the phone" He came home and checked everything out and couldn't find anything. When the guy made eye contact with me, he scooted back than ducked and I assume he ran. I ended up reporting it to the police and they have patrolled the neighborhood. It has shaken me, I can't help but think why he was there, to break in?, to just "peep"?, I just can't stop thinking about it and especially since the police said that he most likely knows me! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO scary! I have not slept the same or felt the same since. I sure hope that it was at random and he NEVER comes back!

Garrett's Surgery
Garrett had surgery to fix a birth defect on his "unit". I was so nervous about the anaesthesia mostly, but it was just hard to send my baby with a strange man calling himself the anaesthesiologist. He was very nice, but I still cried. Anyway he just did SO great! Oh I am SOOO glad it is over. I was told that it had to be done since he was 2 weeks old, so I have DREADED it and I am SOOO glad it is OVER!!

I Lost Mitchell in the store
The other day, we were at the grocery store. And he is a very crazy little man sometimes, but I feel like I have control of him most the time! He slipped behind an isle and it was close to the door. I lost him that fast, he was just wondering the store, I started yelling his name and this worker woman said "have you lost your child" I said yes and she alerted ALL store employees. He was found MAYBE 2 minutes later! I tell you it was the single most SCARY 2 minutes of my entire life thus far. With all the abductor, peeping tom and just weird couple weeks, I am walking looking behind me all the time. So when they found him I wanted to SMACK him, but instead I cried. He saw me crying and he kept saying "sorry Mamma" I felt sick and so grateful that he was not taken!

Anyway, we are all doing well, just ready to go to bed!

What in the H!

So a while ago I read a blog post from my friend Heidi's blog, and I never laughed so hard. I couldn't believe people! SO today I will 1 up Heidi, and we can laugh now but REALLY! So I went to Napa auto parts to get some parts today. This one is on 1300 S. and OF COURSE when I got there Mitchell had to go potty....why does he need to go potty when we are out???? Anyway, I ask this guy if they have a public restroom and this is our conversation:
Me: Excuse me, do you have a public restroom?
Guy: Ummmm, well, Yes
Me: Ok thanks, Mitchell come on lets go!
Guy: OK I will take him
Me: No thats OK I will take him
Guy: No I can take him
Me: NO I will take him THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guy: OK well.....do you have to go?
Me: YES!!!!!!!!
Guy: Ok, follow me.
Me: THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
(as we walk down like the longest hall EVER!!! I can not believe I just had this conversation)
So we get to the end of this hall, and he says
Guy: OK here we go
Me: No I will just take him in here with me
Guy: That is Woman
Me: I KNOW?????? WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guy: OK I wait for you
Me: WHAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK than we get out to the store and I am standing in line to get my stuff and LEAVE while Mitchell sees a candy machine. He say's Mom I want some candy I say
Me: Mitchell we are going to eat lunch so lets wait, plus those are peanuts not candy
Than this old women calling herself KAT shows up by our side and says
Kat: I have some candy, why don't you come in the back with me
Me: UMMMM NO I don't want you to eat candy before lunch!
Mitchell than is mad and crying and this women...KAT... comes up with candy and grabs his hand and he starts running away and crying because he is scared and yelling Mommy, Mommy! And she opens his hand and puts candy in it!
I could not believe what just happened in the last 10 minutes!!!! I can only laugh!
What in the world, I know my kids are cute but I am not STUPID.... You can't take my kid to the bathroom and you can't take him in the back with you to get "candy"! What in the HHHHHH

So later this evening around 9:15 I caught a peeping tom in my window!

I am still a little upset about that one!!!!

That would be my day!

What's been going on!

These are just a few of so many great pictures that my dad took of our family! He did such a great job. Thank you dad!!









I got a new car! It has been the highlight of my last couple weeks......I feel so dumb that my car even matters that much to me! But it is so fun!



Mitchell started preschool about 2 weeks ago. He was so excited to go. He loves his backpack it is so funny. He walked in and made himself right at home. I went with him for orientation the first day. Than the following week he went by himself. He HARDLY said goodbye to me! It was so funny, but a little sad for me. When I came to get him, he had been put in the "time out" chair because he just wanted to play. So when I brought him on Thursday we had a few talks and so I was hoping he would be better and he was a little better but his teacher says he has a hard time listening! So I have determined that starting school at his age is a good thing. I think he will do better in the long run if he learns school structure a bit younger. Anyway, only time will tell. Is he handsome or what!


These are some pics I took of the boys! I have a FILM SLR camera and out of 50 exposures these were about the only 2 I liked! Oh I LOVE digital....maybe one day!


Just a quick update on Garrett. He is 5 1/2 months now and I CAN'T believe it! He is SUCH a great baby!!!!!! He is laughing, rolling over on his tummy and getting stuck than crying till I come help him, has both feet in his mouth just about every chance he gets, wearing almost all 9 month stuff for length not weight, still spitting half of his bottle.....its a joy to try and stay clean all of 1 hour these days! But he is WELL worth it! These boys have me wrapped around their finger! I love it!