6th year first kiss anniversary

Six years ago today was the first time Austin kissed me! November 25th 2003! I remember it well. We went to the dollar theater in Sugar House and they weren't playing any movies we wanted to see and so we were standing around trying to figure out what we should do instead of a movie. I guess we came to the conclusion that we should kiss. It was a real Zowie!

Today I asked Austin to hold my ring while I did some pull ups and when I was done I went to get my ring and Austin was examining it closely. When he gave it back to me he said "this ring has Rachael written all over it!" I got all teary eyed. It's crazy how my ring is so much a part of me. I remember when we went to the Shane Company I was looking for this exact ring. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one. I'm so grateful that Austin and I have continued to fall in love over the years. Not to say we haven't had our rough times and looked at the exit sign a few times. But we've worked through it and I plan on keeping my wedding ring and having a hundred more kissing anniversaries every November 25th.

A day in the life...

I took this picture today. Alayna was falling asleep in Austin's arms as they watched Bolt. Austin has been at his night job for 4 weeks now. I hadn't noticed until I took this picture that he has lost some weight! Lookin' good hottie!

Zoo Trip

We got season passes to the Zoo this year and this is the first time we got out as a family to go to the Zoo (Austin has taken the girls without me a few times). India doesn't care much for the Zoo but Alayna loves it.

Alayna's Second Birthday

Our little Alayna just turned two. This is her birthday party at Bampa & Goggy's house!


And these are the matching outfits that Great Grandma got the girls

Julie, JC & Ines!

My friend Julie, from France, came to visit us! She brough her husband JC (pronounced ge-say) and Ines (pronouced Enos). We had a great time getting to know her husband who is an airforce mechanic. They came the beginning of September and left on the last day of September. They toured all around Utah, Arizona and Nevada. While they were in the area they came over for dinner and then on another day we went to Lagoon together. I wish France wasn't so far away so that we could see them more often. It had been 8 years since I had seen Julie. She looked amazing!

Halloween at the Scary Bowen House

Auntie Kim being an Aunt for Halloween and Nellie pulling off some article of clothing :) Ow Ow!!

The cutest couple contest winner, the Pink Lady and the Greaser oh and cousin Caleb off to the side.

The most hideous couple contest winner

A the Frightening Couple contest winners

Scary Scott

The Mini Vampire, watchout, she bites!

Maid Marian & Robin Hood turned Zombie (we did a spook alley at the Bowen's house and the gorgeous Maid Marian got into the Zombie makeup

All Hallows Eve

Super Girl to the Rescue!

Super Girl and her trusty sidekick Bumblebee

Dora PJs

Oh, my gosh! These girls are so cute in their Dora pjs! We have a pj party almost every night. This cuteness should be illegal!

The Hoveys House

The Hoveys are a great couple. They are very cautious and calculating. They knew that now was a great time to buy and their lease was going to expire the end of October so they jumped on the opportunity. We house hunted for a few days and found this darling house. The owners had done a nice job in updating and caring for the home. It also has a practically new garage in back. I am so excited that we were able to find such a nice home in their price range. I also hope they enjoy the $8000 tax credit!

Derek's First Home

Derek is an amazing guy! He's a young, single, hard working dad who's been toying with the idea of buying a home for about a year or so. He originally called on one of the houses I was selling and I just kept in contact with him until he was ready to buy. I think we only went house hunting once or twice and we found "the one". It is an awesome house with a large backyard. His kid will love playing in this backyard for many a year to come! This deal was a smooth one. Jon Hasebi, the loan officer got this one through the hoops in a few weeks. It was nice to just sit back and wait for the loan docs to be ready. :)

Chris's New House

Wow! This deal was insane! Chris looked at about 40-50 homes before he found this beauty. Then after we got it under contract the silly appraiser couldn't get the value to come in. He insisted on using a property that was in a distressed situation that sold for less than most homes in the area. It was the nicest home by far that we saw and we felt like the value was there (after seeing 40-50 homes in this price range you just know the values). But that's not the worst part! The appriaser made a note on the appraisal that there was a possible crack in the foundation. We had to pay an engineer $400.00 to go out to the property to certify that it was ok and not a problem. The engineer laughed when he went to the property because the crack was on the outside cosmetic covering that was on top of the foundation. Duh! What a waste of $400. Oh, well Chris now has a gorgeous home!