Here's a photo of Kate

We have these gorgeous blossoming trees in our front yard.  This week most of the blossoms fell of the trees and onto our grass.  It is so pretty with all the pink petals all over our lawn.  I forced Kate to take a photo laying on the petals. 

It's Great To Be Eight! Kirk Got Baptised on May 3, 2014

This was one special day for our family!  We are so proud of our son Kirk.  He is really growing into a fantastic kid.  Kirk was so excited to be Baptised.  Kirk had a lot of supportive friends, family, and primary leaders attending.  He invited a good  non LDS friend Evan Johnson.  The entire Johnson family came, it was the first LDS baptism they had ever been to.  They were so gracious, and kind and even got Kirk a nice card and came to the dinner afterwards.  One fun note, if you notice on the program I put that "Father Dan Mower" as the one performing the baptism.  They thought Dan was really a "Father" like in the Catholic Church.  We all laughed about that one.  Kirk told me after he was baptized that he wanted to stay clean and pure so if he ever makes a mistake he will repent.  I am so proud of his decision to follow Christ.

I took a million pictures, and Kirk was a really good sport, we had tremendous support from family. 

This is Kirk with Bishop Evans.  He is such a phenomenal Bishop.  He did a great job at the meeting.  One thing that I just wanted to write about Kirk is that he is extremely sensitive to other people's feelings.  I went on a field trip with his class a couple of weeks ago.  He and another little boy were sitting in front of me and a were talking to another little girl on the bus.  The other little boy called the girl Fat, and I was about to confront him and make him apologize when Kirk immediately with out hesitation pipped up and said to the girl "you are not fat, you are not".  I was so proud of my little boy.  He is such a great example to me.  He really is a sweet little guy, with a tender heart that wants to do the will of the Lord.   Below is the Program.

Easter Pictures 2014

Easter Egg Hunt

It's that time of year again!  I feel like I just barely put all the Easter baskets away and now it's time to pull them out again!  We had a blast doing the annual Mower family Easter Egg hunt last Saturday.  We always do this big egg hunt with all the grandchildren the day before Easter.  The kids loved it.  The weather was amazing.  You couldn't have ordered a better forecast.  Beautiful sunny, and warm.  I don't think I can remember a more pleasant Easter.  Many times in Utah Easter can be down right cold.  There were plenty of eggs for the kids to find, then after wards Grandma Mower had all the kids draw a number.  They started with 1 and had each kid go into the laundry room were there was a stash of toys.  They had fun picking something out.  Everyone got something different, but everybody was happy!  I made the kids wear their family picture shirts.  They made the perfect Easter Egg hunt clothes.  So bright and pretty.  I just love spring.  Everything is in bloom right now in our yard.  I really should take a picture.  The tulips look gorgeous, and our trees that line our drive way are in their gorgeous pink splendor.  Dan only likes those trees in the spring when they have their blossoms.  I won't let him pull them out because I LOVE them in the spring.  Even if the blossoms only last a week or two, they are so staying!  

Temple Square Photography

Kirk and I went to go and get his Baptism pictures done on Temple Square last night.  It was a fun night for us.  We don't get an opportunity to be just one on one very often.  Kirk was such a great sport and we shot for over and hour.  Temple Square was breathtaking.  All the spring bulbs and blossoms were in bloom.  We had an interesting experience.  I usually carry a camera case, but it can be cumbersome to carry while shooting.  I set down the case and was shooting pictures of Kirk.  When we finished in our spot, I looked around and the case was gone.  I was sick.  I new it wasn't coming back, I figured sombody walking past just stole it.  Kirk felt so bad he almost started to cry, and insisted on saying a prayer to find it.  I told him that it had been stolen and a prayer probably wouldn't help.  He didn't care he said I'm going to say one right now.  Right then on the spot he bowed his head and said in a whisper a sweet pleading sincere prayer to find it.  He wanted to continue to look, but I told him that we might as well finsh shooting.  Luckily my key's, and phone were in my pockets.  I was still sad, I could replace the case for my birthday or something, but I knew that I wouldn't be replacing the portrait lens that was in the camera case. The next morning I looked at my voicemail and I had a message from the Conference Center.  They stated that someone had turned in my camera case to the lost and found, and had it!  I was in shock.  Clearly God is aware of this faithful eight year old little boy, and answered his prayer! 

Ben's Be-lated Birthday Party

Today we finally got a chance to celebrate Benjamin's birthday.  As you know we were in Nauvoo when he turned five.  With all the crazziness for the wedding, the trip, and on top of it all sick kids, we finally had a chance to do a party.  I decided to make it easier on myself and have it at the fun zone.  Ben invited a few of his friends and we went during the day time when it wasn't crowded.  When I say not crowded I mean completely empty.  I've been to the fun zone quite a bit, and it's usually not to busy during the day when school is in session, but we were to only ones in the entire place.  We had the whole thing to ourselves.  It was really fun.  I brought some cupcakes, we sang and opened presents.  It was fun.  I think Ben had a great time.  Some of the activites they did were aracade games, jump houses, and pirate's cove.  I can't believe that Ben is five years old.  Some of his favorite things are chicken nuggets, fries, ninja turtles, legos, and playing with friends.  Ben is very social and is always up for making new friends.     

St. Louis Museum

The last day we were in St. Louis we went to the City Museum.  This is the most unique museum I've ever been to. I imagine that it was made by a bunch of hippie's who are into art, welding, recycling, and tunnel's and mazes.  There were mosaic's everywhere from floor to ceiling.  Everything inside the museum is recycled from old item's from the city.  There were so many tunnel's that it was almost a little unerving as a parent.  Kate crawled up one and then we didn't see her again for 20 min.  The tunnel's lead all over the place.

Here is Jence inside a ball pit. 

Ben riding the train

Kate spent most of her time making arts and crafts in the art area

Kirk and Kate in front of a mosaic.  There were lot's a mirrors, tiles, and tunnels and tree's.  Imagine being in a crowded alice in wonderland movie.  The kids loved every second of it.  They even had a really great circus, and also a kind of ecclectic museum with unsual things like snakes, insects, door knobs, ect....  There was an outside portion with lot's of slides and rope bridges. This was probably the highlight of the trip for the kids, but it almost gave me a ulcer since I worried about the kid's getting kidnapped in a huge crowded museum with mazes in a large city like St. Louis. We had to watch them really closely. 

 Below gives you an idea about one of the tunnel's.  This one was good because you could actually see your child climb through it, but most of the tunnel's were not see through, so you don't know where they lead, or where they are going.  Fortunately there was a six year and younger play area, that was enclosed so a parent could stand  at the door way and know that the child wouldn't be able to escape.  The kids were exahusted afterwards.  They went to bed early, and slept really well that night.  That was great since we had to be on a 6:30 am flight home the next morning.