Makin' Waves

This is one of our favorite parts of 

summer

... swimming with the boys ...

 Plenty of:

laughing

splashing

jumping

dunking
racing

Oh so much noise

and i love every. single. minute.

Peyton was doing his own thing today

He doesn't want in on 

who can make the biggest splash

and

he doesn't want to see 
who can swim the fastest to the end of the pool


He is into his new snorkeling gear ...
{he cracked me up all day long}

We are trying to
keep it cool by the pool

Walking on Sunshine

This is my view of our evening walk.

Kosmo, Sadie and Jack

Sam on the ripstick

Even in this heat

{it's still like 85}

all three dogs cannot wait to
 get their leashes on

and

Sam always wants to come with us too

and that ...

makes my heart happy!

Now Playing ...

What else can you do when it's 100 degrees outside?

catch another movie

We got invited to see Captain America

with Kevin and Kim

Wow, what a treat!

Kim works for AMC and we got in for FREE

I didn't know anything about

Captain America

I didn't know what his powers were 

or what his story was

It was pretty good and I surprisingly liked it


{although I am in desperate need for a girly movie}


I'm a little excited about seeing all of these
Super Hero movies
come together next year in
 The Avengers

I don't think Kevin will be asking us me to go to another movie
it drove him crazy that I talked in the movie
{i was just trying to explain parts to Sam}


I guess I really need to stop that!

Food Fight

Okay, here we go again!

I am done wearing this fat suit

I have been wearing it entirely too long

I think I've been lazy

I know I have been lazy

I'm done

I so want to be done
I am not supposed to be overweight

I want to wear cute clothes

I want to feel good

I want to be pretty

I want to be healthier

so, we are competing in the

Kansas City  Slimdown Challenge

through Cerner Health

We are Team Gravity

{we don't like the name either}

we are:

Sheri Bowers

Brad Bowers

Kevin Sheets

Lana Mulligan

We all weighed in today

the competition starts tomorrow

and ends October 5th


The top prize is awesome
and though we may not win first place
{I secretly think we really will win}


 if we meet our own goals
we will definitely be winners




Together we will do this!!

Full of Hot Air

I have been saying for the past three years

that I want to go to the Hot Air Balloon Fest in Colorado

it is Labor Day weekend every year

and looks 

amazing

we still have not been

Well guess what I found ...

The Great Midwest 

Hot Air Balloon Festival

here in Kansas City

well actually in Olathe

but still

{not eight hours away}

I called my mom and said

pack up John and go get Grandma

we gotta go

it's been soooo hot

but maybe if we went in the evening???

still so hot

we found a shady spot

planted our chairs and waited

 and waited

{the FAA kept holding it off because it was too windy}

and finally... 

There was an older lady sitting behind us

that pulled me and Brad aside to tell us how special

she thought it was that we were spending time with our parents

she actually started to cry as she told me how important

the memories and the time spent are.

She said that she

 had lost her husband

and both of her parents within three years and

it made her remember of all the things they did together.

She told me that it was a good example to my son
and to please always cherish my family

and keep creating memories

oh, if she only knew

just how much I do know

{sniff}

I seriously think that Sam loved 
the corn on the cob
more than the hot air balloons!
weird kid

so massive and so beautiful
 and so worth the wait!
- and the heat -

He had a second ear of corn
on the way out to the car


this crazy kid of mine

Look what's sprouting up ...

Sam's Garden

!!!

We stopped by Grandma's Saturday 

and took a peek at Sam's garden!

He has a bell pepper and a jalapeno!

everything is growing

There should be squash and cauliflower soon

he was so excited

asking Grandma if the strawberries are doing okay

and looking for buds on the squash and the cauliflower

he just seems so concerned and so proud of it all

{I can hardly stand how cute he is}

t

Then we all jumped in the car and went to Zona Rosa 

for some Yogurtini

Grandpa had never been, so we couldn't wait to take him.

When I was young, mom and John used to take us to

TCBY {the countrys best yogurt} all the time.

It was a family thing that we did often

It was a delicious evening

from mom with love

Hey there my sweet boy,

I just read about a young boy that took his own life last week, it sounds like he was being bullied by some kids that obviously had no idea how much they were affecting his life.  I have just been so sad reading about this and it made me think about you starting middle school this year and how hard life can feel sometimes.

If only this boy, his name was Hunter, if only Hunter knew that it wouldn't be this bad for very long.  In a week or so things would have gotten better.  The bullies would have moved on to someone or something else.  I wish he could have remembered that lots of people loved him, his family and so many friends.  They are all devastated.

When you are young, you don't realize that things really will get better, sooner than you think.  It sometimes doesn't seem like it, you think everyone will remember an embarrassing moment, or something you've done, but I promise, in a week or so, no one will even care.  You have to trust me on this, I've been there, things always do get better.

If kids are mean to you and they make it too hard to ignore them, please remember that your dad and I are here for you.  Your cousins, your grandma, your friends ... please always remember that you can talk to any of us, we will help you through anything.  There is nothing that we can't get through together, nothing.

Let this be a reminder to you, to never be mean to other kids, no matter what.  Try to stand up for the kids that are different or don't have as many friends as you do. Be confident in yourself and be proud.

So, my sweet boy, I know that we have have talked to you about these things before ... but after reading about Hunter, I just felt like I needed to let you know again.  Please be strong my son, and always remember that we love you more than anything in this world!

Photo by Brian Kvidera

To handle yourself, use your head

To handle others, use your heart

Words to live by

I love quotes and sayings
these are some of my favorites

Transformers 3

... Dark of the Moon ...

Whoa, we loved this movie

definitely the best out of the three

Sam and Keaton were so excited

from the very beginning

I loved how the story line

 connected in with real life

a scene of John Kennedy in an interview

 about Apollo 11 and the space race,

to Buzz Aldrin confirming that 

the "one step for mankind" was actually 

an investigation into a crashed spaceship on the moon

McDreamy even had a part in this movie

that was a nice surprise for me
even though he was a bad guy

I know that a lot of the guys 

are upset that Megan Fox isn't in this one

I am here to tell you that 

Rosie Huntington-Whitely

is not to shabby to look at either

the action scenes are bigger and better,

the music is so much louder

and the autobots are tougher than ever!

We loved it!

Keaton in Kansas City

for an entire week!

We brought him home with us

last weekend when we were visiting his family

at the lake

It can be like a little vacation week

for him

I have lots of activities planned

First up, was of course Fourth of July

{I already wrote about that in my last post}

Keaton really wanted to eat lunch at Fritz's 

in Crown Center

so I thought we'd make a day of it ...

We found a Rain Forest exhibit 

they learned a few interesting facts

We went to The Crayola Store

there is always something good to do there

They changed into swim trunks and 

played in the fountains

for almost an hour!

Later that night ...
a water balloon fight!

There has also been video games, toy stores, bicycle rides, 
hide n seek in the dark, tree climbing, a trip to the candy store,
open gym, playing with the neighbor kids, a movie,
whew ... I'm tired!

finally a little down time

We have kept ourselves pretty busy and

it has been a really good week!

{a few disagreement here and there

but for the most part, a lot of fun!}