Bowcutt Family

Halloween 2009

2009-11-13T21:29:00.002-06:00

After a long absence, I'm back. My husband started working from home and took over my study which has my computer in it. Between that and many many kids sports activities I've been busy and just lost the habit of being on the computer.

Halloween was like normal at the Bowcutt's this year. Jeffrey talked us into a strobe light and a fog machine this year. Our front door was a lot of fun. Here is our friends that came over for our traditional chili and cornbread before tricks and treats.

Michael did a fabulous job on the pumpkins this year. I just have to brag.

I hate carving pumpkins. I'm glad we have kids old enough to do it all by them selves.

Except Sara and Eric. We helped them.

This picture is too small to see but here's the list.....Jeffery was a rapper, Emily was a diva, Adam just had a sword through his head with blood dripping down on to his shirt, Eric won best costume as Harry Potter and little Sara was a pink Poodle. She finally let me put the costume on her. Before this she would just carry it around hugging it. She was of course the funnest at Trick and treating. As soon as she understood what was happening, it was all over. She almost ran to every house. She made it all the way down our long street before she pooped out.

I love Halloween. Until next time.....and it will be sooner I promise.

Costa Rica

2009-03-25T17:13:00.003-05:00

Michael and I had so much fun in Costa Rica. We just returned last weekend. There is a lot of pictures so just go through them quickly. Above is one of many different flowers around most of which I've never seen before.

Michael and I did a zip line down from the top of a mountain. It was the coolest thing I've every done. We are zipping down ten different lines from tree to tree until we finally reach the bottom. Here is Michael getting off a line.
Here he is just coming in to a platform.

This is the view. You can see the ocean in the distance. This is my uncle Mark. We are waiting our turn for the next line.

You can't see the end of the line but this is the longest line of the ten. You can't even see the platform we just came from. But if you look close you can see a guy coming in and follow the cable into the trees.

Michael is getting ready for a run.

Here we are in our gear.

This is a restaurant that we ate at. It had a cargo plane in the middle of it. This is only the front of the place. The patio is where we ate at the top of a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The food was good too.

This is one of the beaches we swam at. Monkeys tried to get into my bag. I had to shoo them away.

This is the beach right down from our hotel in the town of Jaco. The sand was black and full of beautiful colored rocks and shells.

Michael and Gary(one of Michael's employees) are having fun in Jaco shopping.

This is Gary and Suzie. We spent most of our week with them. We just finished lunch.

And this is the view from my seat!

We took a boat ride right into the mangrove forest. This is off the main river that dumps into the ocean.

Here is a crocodile. It is estimated to weight about 800 pounds and is around 12 feet long.

Our boat driver went on the banks of the river and pulled out some chicken and lead the crocodile out of the water. Right when he opened his mouth, he dropped the chicken in.

I must say, this man has some serious issues to do this everyday. He did admit that he has been bite before.

Here he is before the croc came out for lunch.

This is a picture i dedicate to my brother Ryan whom I bought this camera from and gave me lessons on how to use it. The camera is more sophisticated than I and I was proud of this sunset picture.

Our company party was at a beautiful, exclusive restaurant overlooking the ocean right at sunset.

It was a magical night.

We took a horseback ride up to a lookout and then hiked down to a beautiful waterfall. It was hard work but worth it.

This is me on the horse. He was very nice to me. But I was still sore the next day.

Iguanas were everywhere. Even all around the hotel grounds. They ate any food that fell on the ground. The waiters had to shoo them away.

There was a marina in walking distance from the hotel. It was the largest in the area. This isn't a good picture of all the boats but a pretty one of the mountain range behind the hotel.

This is a view from the stairs coming down from the main floor to the pool area. The hotel was called "Los Suenos" golf and marina resort by Marriott. It was unbelievable. The food was picture perfect art every time a plate was brought in front of you. You know how much I love to cook so I took extra note of the care, work and creativity that went into each dish. I was never disappointed.

This is a view from the balcony of our room.

We had a wonderful vacation. It was like a dream. We have some special friends that were willing to watch my children so we could enjoy this trip. I just want to again say thank-you to them.

So if you are contemplating a vacation......DO IT! It is worth every dime.

Everyday use white bread recipe

2009-03-05T12:47:00.003-06:00

I had a few of you ask me for my white bread recipe. A good loaf of bread is over two dollars now. Unless you find a coupon or buy something that you cant even put peanut butter on, bread is not worth the price when you have a family of seven that eats east 1 to 2 loaves a week. So I started making my own bread. I have posted my honey wheat bread recipe which is good but my kids whine a little about it. They would eat it if I made them but if I was going to boycott store bought bread all together I needed to find something else. I made up this recipe from my many years of baking and came up with a winner. It slices well for sandwiches and has great flavor. So here it is:
(I'm going to type exactly what I do and put the ingredient list last for those of you who aren't big on baking then you'll know the tricks I use)

First put two cups of flour in your mixer(I use a kitchen aid)
then put 1/3 cup sugar, 2/3 powdered milk, 2 tablespoons instant yeast and a half cube butter
pour 2 and 1/2 cups HOT tap water on top and start the mixer right away. Use the batter hook first if you have a kitchen aid. The temp. has to be hot. I just turn the tap on and let it run until I have the hottest water possible. By the time the water mixes in with the yeast it is the right temp. especially because you've added all the other ingredient with the yeast so it will mix well.

Add 2 teaspoons salt and let mix. Change to the bread hook and add 4 more cups of flour.
Let the mixer do the rest. When dough is soft and sticky cover with a towel and let rise for 1/2 hour. Put the hook down again and mix for a few seconds and cover again. Let rise for 1/2 hour. Punch is down and roll out into a ball on table with a little flour. Cut ball into two and place in greased bread pans. Let rise another 1/2 hour. Cook at 350 for 20 mins only.

It seems like a lot of steps but the mixer does all the work. I just takes a while for the rising but it is worth it. I've been making this recipe every two to three days. My kids have really enjoyed it. There sandwiches fill them up more. I still sneak in a loaf of honey wheat bread every now and then. I love not having to run to the store just for bread when I run out. Enjoy

1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup powered milk
2 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups hot tap water
6 cups flour
350 for 20 mins

Sara and some sugar!

2009-02-27T20:29:00.002-06:00

I was just stepping out of the room for a minute from making strawberry jam and look what Sara found......my sugar bucket. She was licking her lips and enjoying herself. What a mess. Notice the sugar on ALL four fingers.

Bowcutt update for Feb.

2009-02-20T15:17:00.006-06:00

I'm such a slacker. Here is an update for the Bowcutt family.

I love to craft as you may know. I had a friend tell me about a fun Easter craft. This tree is made of blown out eggs. (I didn't make the bunny)

As some of you may know, Eric had an accident two weekends ago. He was hit in the mouth with a golf club. He lost one of his front teeth and had 8 stitches in both lips. He is doing just fine now. He was such a trooper.

This is another craft idea I had for the front door. Not sure I like it but it will do for now.

Today was so nice. We went to the park in our neighborhood. It is warm and beautiful outside this time of year here. Sorry to brag to the Utah folks but this is why I love living down here. The weather will be great for the next several months.

As you can see his stitches healed just fine.

One day I was talking on the phone in the living room. I could hear Sara playing with my drawers in the kitchen. This is her favorite place now that she learned how to open the doors. I couldn't hear her anymore and when I turned the corner this is what I found. I you look close, she even has her thumb in her mouth.

Last month we went to Austin for a Heart of Texas Wrestling Tournament. Adam had so much fun. Right now he is in El Paso for state finals. Now we are switching to baseball. I'll keep you posted with pictures of the boys playing ball.

We miss all of our friends and family that we don't get to see often. Our prayers and love is always with you.

Something to sooth me during the cold winter months

2009-01-15T17:45:00.002-06:00

Confession.
I'm addicted to Pero.
It is a hot instant drink that is made of Barley. I love hot chocolate but there is something different about the taste and smell of Pero. Postum was a drink that made by Kraft that was very similar but they stopped making it. You can find a jar on ebay for over twenty five bucks sometimes. Pero isn't in the stores here in Texas but I found it on thedrugstore.com. If you enjoy hot drinks and don't drink coffee or tea this is a great product.

Heart Plate?????

2009-01-10T14:15:00.003-06:00

I was addicted to my pumpkin plate so much I just have to keep going.

So what do you think?

A Sara update

2009-01-10T14:04:00.008-06:00

Sara is growing up so fast. She is almost 10 months old.

This is Christmas eve with dad.

She loved moms sauce.

Sara is climbing on everyone on mom's big "red" chair.

Grandpa Bowcutt is holding Sara in Florida.

This is the Sunday before Christmas.

She is such a joy in our family.
We love you Sara!

Christmas 2008!!

2009-01-10T13:05:00.017-06:00

Let me walk you through our Bowcutt Christmas experience....

You enter our home and find all is peaceful.

Things are quiet here.....

.....and here.

But soon you will see the change in atmosphere.

As we enjoy our Christmas eve traditions such as a big dinner, a gift to Jesus, carols around the treelite room and Christmas PJ's, the children sense the Christmas presents are around the corner.

The calm before the storm........

My favorite part of Christmas.....the screams of excitement.

Now just look at the faces of the dear little ones as they embark on a present fest.

Could you see happier kids?

I think I love Christmas more as a parent then I did as a kid.

Happy New Year!

Sorry it's been so long!!!!!A quick update before Christmas.

2008-12-12T09:41:00.001-06:00

Ok. I've put the pictures out of order but this is an update of whats been happening with the Bowcutt's since Halloween.

This is the most recent picture. I took this picture two days ago when the temps. dropped and one afternoon while waiting for the bus for my kids to come home, it started snowing!!! It's very hard to see in the pictures. It's a very big deal for Houston to have anything white come out of the sky. It collected a little on the grass and roofs after the sun went down. But it was gone by morning.

On our way to Tallahassee to see family for Thanksgiving, we stayed in Pensacola Beach. Our room was right on the gulf. It was beautiful.

One of my husbands employees gave us tickets to the Renaissance Festival this year. I put the pictures in backwards...this is the kids on the way home.

This is one of Michael's managers, she was in the performance representing France.
Her costume was unbelievable.

The kids are enjoying the show. O ya. I forgot to mention that Adam broke his right arm at school falling off the monkey bars. He doesn't get to wrestle until after Christmas.

While we were in Florida, we got family pictures taken.

I will update again after Christmas. Things are busy. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Adam's first wrestling tournament

2008-11-03T13:09:00.000-06:00

Adam had so much fun. He looked good. He has been practicing for two months now. And this was his first tournament.

He looks good in his gear don't ya think?

Here a picture of one win.

Here is a picture of his first pin.

Adam ended up wrestling four matches and won three. He was second place and received his first metal. He was so excited. Dad was so proud. He coached him through every match on the mat and wants to help coach the team when football is over. I think we just found another sport our family is going to be very busy with.

Halloween!!

2008-11-03T12:56:00.000-06:00

Halloween has come and gone. Life is going too fast.

Here are the kiddies and some friends that came over to trick-or-treat with us.

Eric is examining all his candy.

Eric is Nemo again. He is now old enough to understand Halloween so he was so fun this year. He out lasted all his friends. He went trick-or-treating for almost two hours. His goodie bag was overflowing. This is a picture of our front door. The pumpkins were cute this year as usual but this year Jeffrey insisted that we put something scary out. We bought a cauldron and put dry ice and floating brains and eyeballs in it. I had many comments from the guests that came to our door.

Emily chose to be Sharpay from the High School Musical.

Adam is a storm trooper from Star Wars.

I didn't get a picture of Jeff. He left early to trick-or treat with his friends. He was some scary swamp dead guy. Eric was even fooled.

We had a good time.

My Pumpkin craft.

2008-10-17T13:50:00.000-05:00

I never had painted anything like this before and I have done a lot of painting as some of you know. This was hard and fun at the same time. So what do you think?

I did this with some girl friends. We followed a craft book and they all ended up looking similar but different. You work hard on something and it never ends up looking like the picture and so because I've seen the picture and you haven't .....I want your opinion.

Jeffrey's Football game

2008-10-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey has had a fun season this year. He is our quarterback and plays free safety sometimes. I took some pictures from the last home game.

Here is the crowd of proud parents and friends. Football is serious business in Texas.

Jeff is ready for his game.

Here he is passing the ball.

Emily and Adam both have jerseys to wear to the game. Sara just loves to be outside.

Michael has been working hard as president of the league and is gone all day Saturday but the boys have so much fun and they are learning a great American tradition...football.

Bowcutt children update!

2008-10-17T08:58:00.000-05:00

We were outside one night enjoyed the cooler temps and I got my camera and took the best pictures of my kids.

Sara is six months old

Eric is three now.

Jeff will soon be twelve.

Emily is nine.

Adam is six.

I love being a mom. It is hard to adjust to a baby again and having five now is no picnic but I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

Gas lines galore!

2008-09-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey took some pictures of the gas lines at this Shell station down the street. You can't see very well but the line wrapped around the corner and into a neighborhood.

It kept going and going....

and going.

On our drive, he took a picture of a tree limb that had fallen down. This is only one of many just on this street. Not to mention the whole trees that fell as well. I think Heavenly Father wanted to prune the Houston area.

The distruction that you see isn't even the half of it.

There are people that are going without food, water or power still. My husband has been bringing in lunch to his call center everyday. The employees have no power or water at home so they love to come in a work where there is food and water. A lady came up to Michael and gave him a big hug and told him "thank-you! I havn't eaten in two days".

The stores are now getting supplies and the gas lines are going down. There still are many without power and will have to wait until next week or the week after for it to turn on.

Thank-you for your prayers. Things are getting better slowly.

We are O.K.!!!!!

2008-09-13T15:41:00.000-05:00

This is in our neighborhood. We went to check on a friends house for them and we couldn't get to their house. The water was too high in three directions.

This is one of the lakes in our subdivision. It is completely under water and spilling out to the street.

One subdivision over, huge trees fell.

This is the other lake in the middle of our subdivision. The path usually goes all around the lake but it is underwater.

More trees fell just a couple of houses down from ours.

Our street looked good compared to others. Don't you think?

The sunset on the eve of Ike was breathtaking. As I took this shot I turned around to walk back home and I saw this......

Is kind of hard to see but the tower of dark clouds frightened even my children.

Here is another look at the first lake. We couldn't get to the end of the street the water was too high.

This is a street not in our subdivision. Every street looked just like this. Some were worse.

Here is my husband going to check on our friends house. I dropped him off where the water started. They live just five or six houses down but with it still raining and the water up to Michael's thighs he came back to the car soaked through.

Our family feels blessed that we didn't even get a scratch. These pictures don't even come close to showing what a memorable experience this was for my family. Say your prayers for all the families that didn't get so lucky.

Hurricane Ike!!!!!

2008-09-11T23:55:00.000-05:00

Dana Tucker and Michael are putting boards up on our windows. I never thought we would ever do this being so far north from the gulf but, they predict 75 mph winds in my zip code. Ouch.

Eric is trying to help dad.

I will try to take many pictures to show you what Ike has in store for the Bowcutt's.

Last Chapter for Vacation

2008-09-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

Confession...

I have been out on facebook. Someone talked me into joining, and that was it. I have neglected my blog because of facebook. I have found so many friends from high school and from my home town. It has been so fun. The kids have started school so I have a little more time. Jeffrey has started football so I will take pictures and blog them.

My Sister and I and our kids had a great time watching the Forth of July Parade in Corona.

My Aunt Pam and Grandparents in Utah had us over for a BBQ and got to see Sara for the first time.

We met Michael's brothers and sisters and their kids at the Hoggle Zoo in Salt Lake City.

We saw many of our friends while in Utah. Emily had so much fun visiting with her favorite friend, Allie Biddison. We miss there family terribly.

We had a wonderful vacation. I love visiting our families back west. The drive is long but we make it fun. I know our kids will have these memories for the rest of there lives.

Summer Trip 2008 Chapter 3

2008-07-26T22:00:00.001-05:00

During our vacation, we did a lot of eating out. This is my family at our number one stop, In-N-Out.

Sara had so much fun shopping.

My mother blew up a huge water slide in her back yard. The kids played for days. Grandpa raised his eyebrow at the mess it made on his grass.

Uncle Trent took Jeff out on the boogie board. He hit a few waves.

Eric had a blast at the Huntington pier. We had to go to the beach twice. I miss the ocean. I forgot how much cooler the water is than the gulf of Mexico.

Summer Trip 2008 Chapter 2

2008-07-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

We got to see a lot of people while we were on our trip. Here is some of the family we got to see in California. Jason is my brother in law, April's husband.

This is my brother Ryan. He is currently working in Yosemite National Park and will be attending USC film school next year.

This is my dad.

Kristi and Kami are having fun.

My mother looks so young for being a grandma.

I have so many other pictures to post. Another chapter will be coming soon.

By the way....Jeffrey took all of these pictures. Pretty good don't you think?

Summer Trip 2008 Chapter 1

2008-07-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

I'm going to have to post our summer trip in chapters. Two and half weeks is just too long. This is the first chapter. We attended a dinner at my sister, April and her husband Jason's house. He is a wonderful cook that attend cullinary school. He prepared three appitizers and homemade pasta.

Here is one of the appetizers.

Here is Jason cooking his fresh pasta. The pot was huge. I volunteered to clean it out.

Here is the final dish.

My sister just returned from a trip to Hawaii with her hunny. I'm looking at her pictures.

I will do another chapter soon!

Sara is growing up!

2008-07-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

Michael took the kids to see W.a.l.l.e.
While they were gone, I took this picture of Sara. She smiles all the time but this was my favorite picture. She is talking a lot and eating carrots, green beans and all kinds of yummy food. She is a joy in our house.

Summer BBQ?

2008-06-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when you mix a summer BBQ with some friends and a Texas thunderstorm.........
The kids were so sad so we put up our jump house in my living room and had a wonderful time inside.

Emily's Birthday

2008-06-24T18:29:00.000-05:00

Emily is having fun with dressing up with Sara.

Emily invited many of her friends from school. They ate dinner then went into the dinning room for beading.

Emily had butterfly cupcakes for her cake. The girls had so much fun. I can't believe she is 9 years old. She is growing into a fine young lady.

Bread Recipe

2008-06-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

I have had many people ask me to post my honey whole wheat bread recipe. Here it is:

5 cups hot water

3 T. yeast

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup honey

2 T. salt

10 1/2 cups wheat flour

1/2 cup gluten flour

Put one cup of the flour and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add the water then oil, honey, salt and gluten flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour or more as needed until the dough comes off the sides of the bowl. Let set 5 mins. Roll out and form into loaves. Put into greased loaf pan(s). Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 30 mins.
I can only make half of this recipe in my kitchen aid mixer. It will make one big loaf or two small ones.

Sara is getting bigger.

2008-06-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

Sara had a new dress to wear to church this sunday. We made her a matching bracelet.

This is how mommy gets a full nights sleep everynight!!!

You can't tell but she is smiling and talking during this picture. She is so happy most of the time. I can't believe she will be three months old soon.

Memorial Day Weekend at the Hoyt's

2008-06-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

This is the Hoyt's new lake house in Grandbury, Tx. We spent the holiday weekend with some family we love and miss dearly. My Aunt Gaylene and Uncle Scott were gracious hosts'. Jared and Amiee and their four children were there as well as Jonathan, Abby, Taylor and Brianna. We had a full house.
We had fun on the boat. The children couldn't get enough.

When they were tired they watched movies in the theater room.

They spend many hours in the pool.

Eric shows how we all felt after our fun weekend. Dispite going through many cases of coke and snapple, we pretty much cleaned out the pantry and fridge. The parents stayed up late and the children played well together. You can't ask for a better holiday weekend.

First Swim Meet

2008-05-19T09:24:00.000-05:00

Emily and Adam are on our neighborhood swim team. We had our first meet this last Saturday. I can't believe how good the kids did. They both swam a 25 free and 25 back which is one length of the pool. They have a lot of kids on the team and they go all out with timers and officals. They season lasts for 5 more weeks. I'll keep you posted on how they do. Sara and Jeffrey had a great time too.

Sara's Blessing Day

2008-04-28T09:03:00.000-05:00

Sara had her day. On April 27th 2008 Sara Bowcutt was blessed by her father. She had on a beautiful cream dress. She didn't even cry. The blessing was wonderful. Michael talked about how our family had been waiting her arrival for a long time and how she will grow close to her family and mother. He also mentioned how she should try to make friends easy and stay close to her Heavenly Father.

It has been a joy to have a little baby in our home again. What a wonderful blessing we have to receive these little spirits from our Heavenly Father. What love and trust He must have in us to raise them right. It motivates me want to be a better mother.

Sara is a reminder of where we came from. She brings to this earth a fresh new spirit of love. I feel as if she spent time with loved ones up in heaven before she came here, specifically grandma Poole.

2008-04-27T06:35:00.000-05:00

Kristi and Kami came for a surprise visit. Everyone kept it a big secret. My husband left earily from church to go to pick them up from the airport. When I got home I screamed. I have never had anyone surprise me like that. The middle row of my van was all car seats. The other children had to climb over to the back when ever we wanted to go somewhere. Kami is growing so fast. I wish we could see them more often. Kristi was so much help for this new mother of five. We had so much fun.

Adam's 6th Birthday!!!

2008-04-27T06:28:00.000-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Bowcutt were here for a visit. We went to Adam's lunch on his birthday. Grandma gave Sara a cute purple outfit. We had a lot of fun. Adam had a baseball game on the night of his birthday so we brought birthday cupcakes and the whole team sang to him. The kiddies are growing up.

Sara's is 3 weeks old.

2008-04-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

Sara is growing on me already. She turns 4 weeks old today. Here are some pictures I took last week. She loves the bath. I dressed her in red and had to take a picture. Her eyes were so blue in that color. It was the first not wearing pink.

Eric's 3rd Birthday!!!!!

2008-04-07T12:56:00.000-05:00

Eric is groing up. He wanted a Lighting McQueen cake. The kids had fun playing with one of his presents on my kitchen table.

Michael is a proud papa!!!

2008-03-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter

2008-03-24T22:32:00.001-05:00

Sara is now two weeks old

Sara & Mom on Easter Sunday

First Easter

Our Blog

2008-03-24T21:55:00.000-05:00

After many, many attempts of family & friends to get the Bowcutts to start a blog, here it is - (created initially by Melissa's brother). We just had our fifth child - Sara Bowcutt - who was born on March 10th, was 8lbs 13oz, & 21+inches long. Here are a few pictures of our family when Sara was born.