Shopping with the boys

The other day something wonderful happened.

The Big Guy Lowe said he was taking the boys out shopping.  Their plan was to get ready for Mother's Day.  I couldn't help but smile. 

I love The Big Guy Lowe.  I love my boys.

This is a picture The Big Guy Lowe took when they were out on their adventure.

What a happy group of cuties!

I sure love the man/boys in my life. 

Happy Birthday to The Big Guy Lowe!

Happy birthday sweetheart.

You are my greatest love, truly my best friend, and I treasure the joy we call daily life (even when there are less-joyous times!!).  Thank you for choosing me.  Thank you for choosing our family.  Thank you for choosing all that will ensure we will be a forever family.  I love you dearly babe, and celebrate this day with all my heart...for this day brought the greatest happiness into my life.

To celebrate we had a fun family party.

Daddy recieved white shirts (plus one blue shirt) as requested.

He also received some new dress shoes, as requested.

But the biggest surprise came when he opened his gift from Grammie Lowe.  She had received some help as to what would make the biggest surprised smile come to the face of her son...I'm not telling who gave her the hint though...  :)

XBOX 360 driving games should only be played with the steering wheel and pedals...who knew? 

We then celebrated with a fun ice cream cake!

The birthday celebration was to continue over the weekend as The Big Guy Lowe and I were able to attend a Gun Show, eat at our new favorite Thai restaurant Pok Pok, and then headed to see Avatar in 3D.

We had a great day!  I love you babe and wish you all the happiest birthdays...always. 

11 years with my best friend

It's an interesting thing--time.

Some days seem to fly by while others drag on and on.  The same seems to happen with weeks, months and years...and then somehow, you take the chance to look back at what you've experienced, what you've accomplished and produced, and you wonder how so much could have happened in such a short time..

11 years.

December 30th 1998 The Big Guy Lowe and I were married for time and all eternity in the Portland, OR Temple.  We laugh as we look back at our wedding preparations.  We had both recently returned from serving full-time missions for our church; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I was finishing school at BYU and The Big Guy Lowe was enjoying a bit of time with his family.  Within a month and a half of The Big Guy Lowe returning from Holland we were married.  Amazing.

Was our marriage a fairy tale story?  Not at all.  We had a lot to learn about eachother as we hadn't spent that much time together.  Long distance relationships are wonderful in some aspects, but are lacking in others!  We did have a lot of work ahead of us, to make our relationship the loving, respectful, fun companionship that it is today.  I'm so grateful we chose to work at it.  We have been so greaty blessed because of it.  We truly are best friends.  We choose to spend time together as often as possible.  We love eachother dearly and are still in love with eachother.  We have learned how to work together, as a team, making us stronger because of it.  Do we still have our challenges?  Of course, but together we can overcome them--together.  I love you babe.  I feel the love you have for me, for our children.  I see how hard you work so that we are well taken care of.  I am humbled by the faith you live your life by.  I thank my Heavenly Father daily for the blessing you are to me.  I love you.

To celebrate the years we have shared together we make sure to set aside special time for just the two of us.  This year our overnight in the city was wonderful!

We started by bringing flowers to each of our mothers and thanking them for all they did 11 years ago to help make it possible for us to be married.  Back then, the thought never crossed our minds about the challenges a family would have to face planning and attending a wedding so soon after Christmas.  We're grateful!

Grammy HB then came over with the gift of watching our boys so we could celebrate.  Thank you for loving our boys so much mom, and for loving us too!

The Big Guy Lowe and I then headed out!  First on our agenda was getting lunch!  We have been wanting to try a new Thai restaurant.  We had heard this place was extremely authentic--not serving many of the regular dishes that people in the states are familiar with.  Pok pok was AMAZING!!!

You just have to love the shots you take of yourself!

But the food...let me show you the food!  These are the spicy fish sauce wings.  Not what you expect at all--and so good!

The green papaya salad was spicy and delicious, and the satay were wonderful too.

After eating, we went to look at some cars.  For some reason, The Big Guy Lowe seems to think it would be fun to have new cars--but he always thinks that.  Good thing I'm the voice of reason. It doesn't mean we don't have fun looking.  You just never know when the right car will actually speak to you!

So we headed to the Audi dealership to look at an S5 (the Big Guy Lowe actually wants the rs5, but Audi won't say when they will be available in the States yet)

and for me we looked at the q7.

Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with the q7's space inside.  In order for me to change from my XC90, I'm going to have to see greater space inside without moving to a standard size SUV or minivan.  At least that's what I'm saying right now.  I will say that the s5 sounded beautiful though!

After looking at cars we headed to our hotel to check in.  We stayed at the NINES and loved it! 

It's always fun trying out new hotels, and this one was great from the Club level, location, decor, right down to the heavenly bed.

Nice.

We had dinner at Russel Street Bar-B-Que where the pulled pork sandwiches are amazing!  And followed that up with our favorite bread pudding at the Portland City Grill.

After dinner we enjoyed the rest of the evening together.  The views from our hotel were amazing.

Right on to Pioneer Square--their Christmas tree was beautiful!

And interestingly, we could see across to the hotel we stayed at 11 years earlier.

We have been greatly blessed these past 11 years.  I love you babe.

Happy anniversary.

Missionary Breakfast

The Big Guy Lowe and I were both blessed to serve full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred to as Mormons).  I served in the Ohio Cleveland Mission and The Big Guy Lowe served in the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission.  We both have a great love for sharing our testimonies of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his restored gospel; we also have great respect for those that are willing to do the same.  In fact, on the list of things required for marriage, both The Big Guy Lowe and I included that our "future spouse would want to serve more full-time missions for the Lord".  Pretty Awesome, eh?  I know, he's amazing and I get to be married to him forever!!  (Love you babe)

Throughout our married life, different callings continue to prepare us for the time in our lives when we will be able to be full-time missionaries.  Now is no different.  With The Big Guy Lowe's current calling he has opportunity to work with the missionaries on a very regular basis.  Our family is greatly blessed because of this.

This past Saturday we had a breakfast and short meeting for all the missionaries in our Stake (Stake is a term describing a group of multiple congregations or wards).  I believe we had 18 missionaries over!  It was wonderful!!

We made German Pancakes, bacon, sausage and Brother Freeman brought over his wife's delicious fruit salad.  No one went away hungry!!

After eating, The Big Guy Lowe shared a Christmas childhood experience.  One particular Christmas he wanted a specific GI Joe helecopter.  (He still remembered the details about it, but I don't! lol!)  Christmas morning he opened a gift that wasn't the helicopter.  His youthful disappointment and lack of gratitude was openly shared.  His parents had given him a very nice gift, but he didn't recognize that  because his own desires got in the way.  He then shared how his actions that Chrismas make him feel bad to this day, but continue to teach him the importance of gratitude.  He then likened his childhood experience to the greatest gift we have been given in the life, teachings, death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  A challenge was extended for each of us to evaluate our personal appreciation of the gift of our Savior--as our Heavenly Father intended.

It was so nice having all the missionaries in our home.  There was a wonderful feeling that stayed with us long after they left--we all felt it.  I love that our boys get to be around missionaries and see their example of serving the Lord. 

Today, I am grateful for missionaries.

What is a date?

Really, what is a date after you've been married for over 10 years? Wow, I love saying that. I was asked recently what The Big Guy Lowe and I do when we go out on dates and it made me stop and think.
I guess there are the very official dates that we've been on--like when we went to Wicked (unfortunately, we didn't end up being great fans of the show even though we had heard so much about it. Not wanting to get on my soapbox, ask in person if wondering why). We did have a great time together though as seen in a shot from our cellphone (cameras weren't allowed).
Another night we went to see the semifinals for State Lacrosse as the team the Big Guy Lowe used to coach was playing. Go Kings Way!!

Rather intent on the game isn't he? This guy loves Lacrosse! Unfortunately our team was eliminated that night, but we had a great time taking with the parents of the players, the team and just being together.

I know, everyone is thinking "So cute--I wonder who the photographer is?"


Really though, we do spend a lot of time together. We get babysitters--or kid-sitters as our oldest has asked us to call them. They are generally used when we go workout together in the evening or on our twice a month temple trip. We love our time together and make sure we get it. Part of that comes on a daily basis though as our boys have a bedtime of 7-7:30pm.

That's as much for us as it is for them. Looking at it that way, we have daily dates, but we choose to use them discretely. ;)
I like the sound of that!

Chillin' with a dum-dum (lolipop that is)

I never get texts during church, so you can imagine my surprise when my phone vibrated letting me know I had received one during the last hour of church. It was from the Big Guy Lowe! He was just informing me that he was out in the car with our Littlest for the last few minutes of church. I was a bit concerned, knowing how our littlest gets very tired and cranky during church as it coincides with his nap time. I quietly excused myself from Relief Society meeting (a class for all women 18 years and older) and headed out with the plan of providing any source of help I could offer. What I found made me laugh and laugh--two boys, chillin' with a dum-dum.

It has been said that music soothes the savage beast (a common mis-quote actually). I would like to add that lolipops do as well.

The Littlest Gardener

Just a normal Saturday activity for our family--gettin out to do some yard work. Nothing crazy, most of the time, the ususal activities. I do have to say though, I think 14 months might be a little young, but we believe in learning to work at an early age!


Such cuties! You can't help but feel good after a job well done!

When is a safe not safe?

Some things really burn me up! I especially despise spending good money on things that fail--only after the warranty has expired. Case in point...our safe.

We researched safes and for the money felt we had purchased a good product. Everything seemed to be great and time passed. Then, last night, it refused to open. It showed that the combination was correct, but the locking mechanism refused to release. After many attempts to open, research online, and a discovery that the warranty had expired a while ago, the decision was made to open the safe by force. The company actually gave suggestions for accomplishing this--I guess we missed that bit of info when we were researching! Hmmmm.

So the Big Guy Lowe's morning project today has been conquering the safe. This is what I found just a few minutes ago.

Notice the power tool in hand and the cut around the safe?

I think this picture is probably more accurate as he was pretty happy to purposefully use one of his power tools to destroy something!

So for the time being an empty diaper box has taken the place of our comfort-inspiring safe. Who would've known that pampers could provided security in more ways than one?

Interesting way to start the weekend...I wonder what's next!

Learning the ropes with Daddy

I've got to say, The Big Guy Lowe is my best friend. He is the person that I would choose to spend time with--any time with. He's the person that best understands me and knows how to help and love me. There's never a question in my mind that he is doing his best for our family. He is truly the most amazing person that I know, and I get to be married to him; we get to be partners for time and all eternity. That's a pretty awe inspiring thing to be able to say. While I can ponder on these things, and even get pretty emotional as I feel such intense gratitude and love for him, I wonder what the Little Guy Lowes think. They are never left out. Just a few examples of their time with Daddy from recent weeks~

While at the playground, our oldest asked Daddy if he would "time him" while running. That started a running/racing boot-camp that the boys ask for every time we are at the playground now.
"On your marks..."
"Get set..." (you've got to love the squat, er, racer stance)

Then a big team cheer when we were all finished!

Then there was the day the boys were asking about baseball. The Big Guy Lowe bought a beginning bat and for the next few hours we all played outside as he gave instruction. A tee-ball instruction for our middle boy--the 2 year old,

and hitting from a pitch for our oldest--the 6 year old.
Nope, couldn't leave the 1 year old out of spring training!

There are more pictures of Lego building, cleaning, golfing, dancing, reading, relaxing and snuggling that show how The Big Guy Lowe loves his family, more than I can include in just one post.

Is it obvious that I love how The Big Guy Lowe loves our family? He tells us and he shows us. He works hard to provide for our family. He serves at church and provides a wonderful example for his sons. He is a part of keeping our home in running order. He is the best Daddy that these boys could ever want.

In case you Little boy Lowes ever wonder, I love your Daddy completely.

The Birthday Boy

As many of you know, the Big Lowe Man in our family loves cars. Last year for Father's Day I gathered pictures of his past cars, had them enlarged and then framed with an engraved plate identifying each of the cars--HE LOVED IT and hangs them in the garage (where they belong). So when car shows come to town, and this one happened to open on his birthday, we go. In this particular room at the show, my dearest car fanatic experienced a bit of a dilemma--what car would he choose next.
Would it be the new BMW M3(he has mourned the day he sold his mystic blue beauty),

the Audi S5

or the Porshe 997 C4S.
Ahhh, some of the fun choices life has to offer! We had a great time.

Then for dinner later that night, we made one of the big guys favorites--Eggplant parmesan (one of our recent cooking feats)! Here is our middle boy helping prepare the eggplant for cooking. Yea, we're starting the boys early. :)

Followed by the Lowe Family traditional birthday cake (can you see that the candles make a 33 on the top?


It was a wonderful birthday. We love the Big Lowe Man in our family so much. Happy birthday always, my love.