This really is NUTS!!!

I have spent my entire life fearing and staying away from nuts. They have been my bitter enemy and I have lived my life asking the question: "Does this have nuts?" Buffet dessert bars and pot-luck dinners have not been fun for me because I avoided everything with the chance of eating nuts!
You may remember a few months back a post I did about accidentally eating a peanut butter sandwich which I thought was a sun-butter sandwich. I immediately took benedryl to counteract the allergic reaction--but there never was an allergic reaction! This has left me completely confused. I've ignored the thought of not being allergic to nuts: there's only one way of finding out and it could mean a trip to the ER! Like my brother Jason says "You are playing with death when you experiment with nuts!" (He too has had several experiences with near death experiences at the ER eating nuts!)

So on Saturday my dad asked what I wanted for a treat for the big football game. I said I wanted M&Ms. What did he bring home? M&Ms--with Peanuts! They are Nate's favorite--thanks a lot dad! Well Nate is absolutely convinced I am not allergic anymore and has tried encouraging me to try eating nuts (on several occasions). So what does my kind husband do: puts a peanut M&M in my mouth. I chew it up, swallow and wait....I wait...and wait....nothing. No itching yet. I try another one and again I wait and wait. Nothing! I must admit I don't like them as well as almond M&Ms but they were pretty tasty--honestly anything with chocolate tastes good to me! So I try a few more. Now there still could be a chance that I have allergic reactions. My worry was I would wake up in the morning with my eyes swollen shut with hives.

Well--I woke up this morning with no hives! What does this mean? What is happening to me? Have I really been cured and I no longer have nut allergies? So far I know that I can eat almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, and now peanuts! What is going on? I am a little curious what other nuts I can eat but I think I will just take it slow and not doing anything too drastic!
PS: The bag of peanut M&Ms is almost gone thanks mostly to me! Yum!

A strike--a spare--and only 99!

Lowry Family Bowling Party!

Our family had their own Bowl party down at Tooele Bowling Alley--Saturday we headed down to knock down a few pins. It is so much fun doing things as a family! Let the good times roll!

With the competitive nature that I have you would think it was do or die-but really we were just out to have a fun time. I was thrilled with my spare and then a strike! Yes!--but I didn't beat my goal of getting 100: I missed it by one point!! Oh well, I beat my little brother Scott and that was good enough for me!!

What a great little bowler--and a great little brother!

Caleb wanted to get in on the action as well!

Bowling and pizza? Now it really is a party!

Papa and the little guy! Having a fun day bowling!

Thanks bro for such a fun game of bowling!

Me and my buddy Blake! We are good friends and I'm glad he is my brother!

Mara was all about doing the bowling all by herself! She even got a strike! But it wasn't knocking down the pins she liked best it was just rolling the ball down the ramp: whatever happened beyond that who cares! After she let go of her ball she jumped up and down and said "I did it! I did it!"

Ty on the other hand was totally into the entire game of bowling--he thought it was great to watch his ball slowly roll down the lane and knock down the pins! He too jumped up and down after every roll! Little buddy even got a spare! Way to go Ty!

Who's the man? Nate's the man! He got the highest score bowling! I don't think it's in the Lowry genes to be great at bowling--but Nate sure has got what it takes! Way to go Nate!

We might have to start making it a tradition for Lowry Thanksgiving Bowling! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Thanksgiving Round 2!!

What could be better than Thanksgiving dinner? Having Thanksgiving dinner TWICE! Friday was spent with the Lowry family and it was great having everyone there. Jason and his family came out and both my California brothers came home--it was really nice having all the family together!

In the morning we had a family photo sesssion--my dad took these snap shots but more to come when we get our pictures back from the photographer!

Dinner was fabulous! Way to go Mimi! What a great feast!

Wow! Check out this plate! My mouth is watering and I want to eat more right now! Everything was delicious!

While everyone ate Thanksgiving dinner Caleb crawled around and played on the floor--then he decided he wanted some of what we were eating so he sat right up and chowed down! It looked like he ate a lot--but after he was done there was more food on the floor than in his belly!

The kids sure loved being together with their cousins: especially Ty and Kate! They were the best of friends and had a great time going on a treasure hunt, playing games, doing puzzles, and just hanging out together!

Papa with all his grandkids! What a lucky grandpa!

I love playing with my nieces--little Anna is such a doll. She kept running into my arms and squealing in delight! Caleb got a little jealous and wanted to play too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Here is the cutest little turkey I have ever seen!

On Thanksgiving we headed to Alpine to spend Thanksgiving with Nate's extended family. Grandma Card did a wonderful job on the Thanksgiving Feast! Our favorite was the BBQed turkey, ham with pineapple, and the selection of pies!

This was Caleb's first thanksgiving! Yum Yum buddy! Chow down!

Ty enjoyed playing football with cousin Mark and his dad! What a beautiful sunny day to enjoy a good game of catch!

We went for a little walk up the cemetery hill as a family and enjoyed the spectacular view of Alpine and the mountains.
This is called 'ride that horsey' daddy is the horsey!!

Little cousin Amelia who is three kept calling Caleb "the big huge baby" all day long! Mara is holding the 'big huge baby' and he seems a little bigger than she is!

What a great day spent with family! I pondered on things that I felt thankful for and in no particular order I am very grateful for:

husband
family
children
the gospel
friends
joy
Jesus Christ
food
sunshine
good health

education
technology
laughter
memories
testimony
transportation
life
books

Price is Nice!

Nate and I had a little get-away together while in Utah. It was our first get away since we had kids--although we still had little buddy Caleb with us it was a nice break. (Don't get me wrong: I missed my kids like crazy and talked to them on the phone as many times as I could!)
Ty and Mara had the time of their lives with Mimi and Papa!
(Thank you so much mom and dad for taking good care of the kiddos for us!)

So where did we go for such a nice get-away.....
PRICE UTAH!!!

Why Price?
Because we are moving to Price in a month!! Yay! Nate will be working on the Manti La-Sal National Forest. He's not super excited about the new job but we are all pretty dang excited to live closer to family!

There will be many things we will miss about Oregon: our friends, the ocean, my beautiful kitchen, driving down the coast, exploring Portland, eating Tillamook ice-cream! But I will not miss the rain and lack of sunshine!

Nate and I drove down to Price for our house hunting trip. Because our home in Oregon hasn't sold we are not in a position to buy a new house yet...so we found an apartment to rent until our house sells. (Let's hope it sells quickly!) We found an amazing realtor who helped us become familiar with the area and also we looked at a few homes.

We are excited for this new adventure in our life. We will be moving after Christmas--which will be here sooner than we can think!

Home for the Holiday!

The sixteen hour drive home wasn't too bad--it was well worth it to see our family! Nothing says the holidays better than being at home with family! We truly enjoyed catching up with everyone and seeing aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and grandparents!

These little cousins sure are cute together!
"We love ice-cream!"

Aunt Chelsie and Caleb--he loves strings!

A daddy sandwich!

Cute buddy!

The kids had fun with the pattern blocks!

Two cute Auntie--and grandma!!

Auntie E and Garrett!!

We celebrated a birthday while we were home--that cake has too many candles!

"I love Aunt Chelsie!"

"What are you doing up there Mara?"

"We love Aunt Beanie!"