New Address

These past couple of weeks have been exhausting. We've been selling stuff on KSL and Craigslist, packing, cleaning, and moving from Provo to Houston. Send us an email if you would like our address since I'd rather not post it for the world to see. Maybe I'll eventually get around to posting a prego update, more details about the move, and about my baby shower while in Louisville. For now, I'm ignoring all the boxes I need to unpack and things I need to organize so I can go to bed. Happy Memorial Day!

iPhone App Competition Results

During March and April Derrick and two friends participated in BYU's iPhone App competition. They spent hours designing an app for a charity called the tipping bucket. For those of you who want more info on the competition, there are two other posts about it here and here. Anyways, the exciting news is that Derrick's app received the most votes for the audience choice award during the final event! Each member of the group received a free iPad. Congratulations again Derrick!

More Catch Up - Birthday, Anniversary, and Mother's Day

Besides Easter, we've had several other holidays to celebrate during April and May.

Birthday

As Derrick mentioned in an earlier post, my 24th birthday was April 9th. Derrick was very cute and worked to do a lot of little things for me. He got up with Zach so I could sleep a little longer. While I was sleeping he helped Zach color a birthday card for me.

When I got up my presents were wrapped and on the table. I got the new sewing machine I'd asked for, a bag of my favorite candy from the BYU Bookstore, and a closed circuit security camera to use as a baby camera in Zach's room. Derrick always has to find a way to sneak something technology-related into my presents but this one ended up being really fun. Now we can see what Zach's doing while he's shrieking and making knocking things around while in his crib. My favorite time watching him was when he picked up his blanket, wrapped it around his waist like a skirt, and started marching back and forth in the bed :).

Derrick came home from work with a dozen orange roses. We went out for dinner then had Melissa and Nate, Jason and Cassie, the Johnsons, and the Estradas over for cake and ice cream. Derrick made a "better than whatever" cake the night night before it turned out amazing. Zach provided the entertainment as seen in the video below.

After everyone left and we got Zach to bed, a couple from the ward came over so Derrick and I could see Clash of the Titans in 3D. The movie was pretty terrible but it was fun to get out together.

3rd Wedding Anniversary

Derrick and I have now been married for 3 years. It's pretty crazy to think of how much we've had happen in those 3 years. Some of the bigger events are when I graduated from BYU with a BS in Communication Disorders, Zach joined our family, Derrick graduating with a Masters of Information Systems Management, expecting our 2nd little boy, and getting ready to move to Texas for Derrick's new job.

Over these past few years I've seen more and more that Derrick is the perfect match for me. We have so much fun together, he works hard, and he takes such good care of Zach and me. I love you babe!

To celebrate, Derrick brought me a bunch of tulips. He got brownie points for this one since he'd caught the hint I'd dropped several days earlier that I really liked the ones I saw while we were driving past campus :). He got off work early and we went to do a session at the Provo temple while Melissa and Nate watched Zach for us. After they left Derrick made a fancy steak dinner and we had a fun night hanging out at our apartment. We thought it was great that we didn't need to do anything fancy to have a really enjoyable anniversary.

Mother's Day

Although this was my 2nd Mother's Day since Zach was born, I'm still getting used to the idea that it's now a holiday for me too. Though it's a lot of work and pretty exhausting at times (especially since I've been prego with #2), being a mom has been the greatest job. Zach brings so much joy to my life. He keeps us laughing everyday and I love him so much. It's also such a joy to see how he returns that love. There have been times during this pregnancy where I've been laying on the couch and not feeling up to getting up to play with him. Several times when this happens he'll start bringing me books to read him and cuddle with me while I do so. I love that he's come up with a way to play with me that I can manage when I'm not feeling so great.

Since we had 8:00 a.m. church we didn't do anything to celebrate Mother's Day until afterwards. Ward council was cancelled so Derrick got to be with me all day. After getting Zach down for a nap we made stuffed french toast for lunch. It turned out amazing. We then took Sunday afternoon naps. After a dinner of my choice made by Derrick, we called/skyped with our amazing moms/mothers-in-law. We both feel incredibly lucky in the mom department.

Choppin' the Hair

As some may have noticed from pictures of Zach, his hair was getting pretty shaggy and curly. As further evidence of his need of a haircut, here's a picture of what his hair looked like if we tried to give him a faux hawk (sp?)

Zach didn't like getting his haircut at first but once I pulled out the digital camera and started showing him movies of himself (one of his favorite things to watch/do), he calmly sat until Derrick was done.

This finished product. For some reason Zach kept pulling this deer in headlights look every time I tried to take the picture. This was the least scared looking of the options.

Some of the pieces cut off were over 2 inches long.

It took me a day or two to get used to the lack of curls since I was so used them and I think the shorter hair makes him look older.

Master Derrick Bowenn

After 5 years at BYU Derrick earned his Masters of Information Systems Management. He's done a great job balancing school, work, and family and we are so proud of him. Both sets of parents made it out for the ceremonies and we really appreciated their love and support. I loved having backup in keeping Zach entertained through commencement and convocation. It also helped that instead of walking back to his seat after picking up his diploma at convocation, Derrick walked straight out of the Marriott center. Zach had reached his limit for the whole thing by then and we weren't even close to half way through all the names of people graduating from the Business School.

Derrick (as well as Melissa and Nate who were also graduating) sat with us during the ceremony for everyone - commencement? I get the names mixed up.

Reading books with Grandma Bowen

Derrick looking hott in his cap and gown. I was told to hold Derrick's diploma cover and wasn't purposely trying to hide my baby bump.

Zach really liked Derrick cap. Too bad the flat inside made it keep falling off.

Easter in GJ

Over Easter weekend Derrick, Zach, and I drove to Grand Junction to help celebrate our nephew Ryan's 3rd birthday (which was April 1st). It was fun to see that Zach and Ryan are getting close enough in age to interact and play more.

Ryan and Zach in Grandma and Grandpa Bowen's new, big bathtub. Zach is still lining animals up every chance he gets.

As part of the birthday celebrations we all went to Chuck E Cheese. It was a nice deal for us since Zach only wanted to play on the slide and even had to be dragged away at the end. Because we didn't buy tokens for the different games and such our visit was free.

Between birthday celebrations we enjoyed watching as many of the General Conference talks that Zach would let us. There was a big focus on families this time around and I've really enjoyed being able to go online and listen to or re-listen to the different talks.

On Easter morning, Ryan and Zach woke up to find Easter baskets waiting for them. Since there was already candy in his basket it was hard to convince Zach to look for eggs. With some persuasion we got him to pick up some of the eggs and put them in the basket.

As a final note on Easter weekend, Derrick's sister Tonja had her baby on Easter morning. Her name is Ellen Grace and she is a very cute little girl.