And so it begins...

It seems like all my friends are getting blogs now so I decided I would jump on the band wagon and get one too! I've been meaning to do this for a while to keep everybody up to date on the happenings in the Bowles Home so I guess if it takes peer pressure to do it then so be it!

For our first entry I thought I would put a little something to catch you all up on our lives...

Our family began in 1999, when Jeremiah & I fell in love and got married in Provo, Utah. In November of the same year, while living in Salt Lake City, Utah we were blessed with our first beautiful little girl, Ashlynne Ligaya. We became an eternal family in the Bountiful Temple in Bountiful, Utah on May 27, 2000. Shortly there after we moved to Mesquite, Nevada where we found out that we were expecting our second little blessing. During my pregnancy we moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where Brinton Korban was born in May of 2001. He was born with a lymphatic malformation which is known as Cystic Hygroma. More about that later. In April of 2002...guess what?? Yep we were expecting our 3rd precious baby a little girl we named Elise Natalya, born in December of 2002. No babies for awhile and our family was complete. In July of 2004 we became pregnant again but unfortunately I miscarried that baby at 11 weeks gestation. Although it was an unexpected pregnancy it was very hard for us, but of course we knew that the Lord knew what he was doing. Finally, in January of 2005 we became pregnant with our 4th child a little princess named Julianna Kate who was born September of 2005. Her birth was VERY different because she was born at home with a midwife attending the birth.

For now our family is complete and we are very happy.

Now a quick breakdown of each Family Member:

Jeremiah works at an Architectural firm here in Las Vegas. He LOVES his job and he is very good at it. On the side he designs custom homes, pools, landscaping etc. He is a WHIZ!

I, Alida, enjoy being a mommy to my beautiful kids and a wife to my amazing husband. I work part time at a law office and co-teach a children's musical theater class once a week. This works out well for our family because I am able to make extra income so that the kids can enjoy extracurricular activities.

Ashlynne is 7 years old. She will be 8 in November and CAN NOT WAIT for her baptism. She is such a good girl and an amazing example to her brothers and sisters but especially to her father and I. Ashlynne is extremely intelligent and a great student. She was the only one in her first grade class to get a special award for being on the all "A" honor roll all year. She loves to read, but isn't that fond of math. Ashlynne has been taking piano for a year and she loves making up songs on the piano. Most of her days are spent DANCING. She enjoys classes in Ballet, Jazz, and Tap and Musical Theater. This last year she was part of the performance/competition team. She participated in 2 numbers one with the whole group and a special trio. The went to several competitions and performed at several locations including Knotts Berry Farm in California. She loves dancing!!

Brinton is 6 years old and the typical all American boy. As I stated earlier Brinton was born with Cystic Hygroma, a large water filled cyst which which was located in his neck and jaw on the right side of his face, because of this Brinton has had to endure numerous surgeries to correct the problem. He has also had several other issues arise which have been linked to the cystic hygroma such as a hemangioma and most recently a squamous cell papilloma ( a precancerous warty tumor which was on his tounge.) Through all this he has been such a brave and wonderful boy. He is the sweetest little boy who loves Spiderman, Rescue Heroes, Star Wars and Transformers. He takes Karate lessons and will be getting his orange belt soon. Brinton is learning to play the Cello using the suzuki method. He has a great teacher and he enjoys every lesson. Just today he learned to play Old McDonald. He looks forward to serving a mission in Australia one day (although that fluctuates between Australia, Russia, and New York!!!) He did very well in Kindergarten and he is so excited to be going into first grade at the end of August!

Elise is a big ball of energy! She NEVER stops...she even talks in her sleep!! She is very mischievous but you can hardly get mad at her because she is so adorable! She loves to put on fashion shows for us. She puts together very interesting outfits and models them for us like a pro! She takes dance class called "Storybook Ballet" (if you are here in Las Vegas ask me about it!!) Its a predance class where they do ballet, tap and some tumbling. In the June Recital her class did a dance to LOVE SHACK and she had a blast! She is so fun to watch!! She is getting ready to start an academic Pre_kindergarten class 5 days a week beginning in early September. She has not been in any type of preschool program so I think it will be fun for her.

Julianna is the baby, she will be 2 in September! She LOVES Elmo! Everything is Elmo this and Elmo that. From her elmo sweater she insists on wearing in 115 degree weather to her Elmo blankie. She has elmo movies, elmo books, elmo bedding....its ELMO-RIFFIC at our house. She talks a lot and is taking after Elise in the mischief department. She will be starting dance class (yep that's right!) in September.