Indiana Mae Fowler

Sadly it has been over a year since my last post but I thought maybe I would pick it up again! Casey and I had our first baby girl on March 19th, 2011. She weighed 7lbs 9 oz at birth and was 21.5 in long. She is a doll and such a blessing in our lives. Its so crazy how different it is having an addition to your family and yet it feels like she has always been with us. She is a perfect baby. She sleeps most nights 8 hours straight. She is 3 months old now and has started smiling a lot the last few weeks! Except when she got her shots... I was shocked at how sad I was when she cried during shots. She slept them off for the most part but I could tell she was a little 'off' the next few days. Poor thing! I swear there are some days that when I wake up she looks bigger than the night before. She is about 12 lbs now and has soft fuzzy hair all over her head. It also looks like its getting a little lighter.. At birth it was very dark brown. Here are some birth pictures.

Bryan Elementary

Tonight was so awesome. I would usually blog two days in a row, but Bryan Elementary is definately blogworthy. Target does service projects throughout the community all the time and I signed up to do one set for tonight. Bryan Elementary is a school with 60% of the kids living at poverty level or lower. So we had a readathon(cat in the hat themed) to promote reading to the kids no matter their home situations. It started with a dinner in the cafeteria/gym/auditorium and then multiple classrooms were set up for different activities. I was mainly in the room where we made paper hats to look like Dr. Suess's Cat in the Hat. When I first got there, I went into the hat room and a little girl came and hugged me. It was a little weird until I realized it was my neice Kearston that I havent seen her since my wedding. Later another voice said my name and it was Jayden. They are getting so huge! I cant believe she is 12 and he is 9 or 10.. I cant remember. But I havent seen him in a couple years. Pretty fun.

The other rooms consisted of facepainting, story telling, arts and crafts, and word searches/mazes. Later one of the HR executives came back with the target beach balls, and gave me a red shirt to show I was a Target volunteer. Sweet a new shirt for work! It was such a fun night and some of the kids were so funny and enthusiastic about everything. I'm going to think about it a little more... but after tonight, I want to be in the Big Brother/Big Sister program.

Happy Birthday Casey

Casey's birthday was Feb. 16th so about a month ago I decided to take him to Home Depot and tell me exactly all of the tools he would love to get eventually. I had to be stealth yet still ask a lot of questions like what brands were the best and what not. I decided to get a mini router for work because not only was it the cheapest tool, but it was something he had been talking about wanting before the Home Depot visit. I just needed to figure out when I was going to buy it when he wasn't around. Probably right after work or something. So the day is about a week away and we go to Home Depot together(something we do often) and while there he wants a table saw.. Bad.. So we talk about it and even though it was 3 times as expensive I got it for his birthday anyway. He knew what he got but he was so excited and I couldnt say no. On his official birthday, we didnt do very much. We went to work then to my parents to hangout. Later my Mom came home and had bought him a machete, also something he really wanted. When we went home, Casey's brother Nick came over and brought him a present too. Not just any present, an insanely huge flatscreen TV!!!!! Unbelievable! Who gets that for a birthday present! That night we tested it on King Arthur, one of our favorite movies. The next day, my parents took us to dinner at Olive Garden. It was so good. I love leftovers.
Two weeks later Casey's parents had a birthday dinner for him at their house! It was well worth the wait. It was like Thanksgiving all over again, literally. We had mashed potatoes, yams, turkey, beets, stuffing, corn, and everything you would eat for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so good! After we ate until stuffed we hung out in the living room telling scary stories. I guess it was like Thanksgiving and Halloween combined. I made Casey's cake. Rainbow chip of course... Only the best. I felt so bad though because I forgot to get candles... Rookie mistake. All that Bobbie had was a number 9. But as long as he got to blow out a candle and make a wish... which reminds me.. I wonder what it was? Maybe I can get it out of him.;-) I'm so terrible with surprises/secrets. All in all a great day of hanging out with family.

Our Latest Quick Project/s

At the Fowler apartment, we have run out of room for furniture. Naturally because Casey is a carpenter, there is always a new project when he isnt working, and sometimes even when he is. Well, now that we have absolutely no room for anything else, he decided that he doesnt like the furniture he has built and wants to completely redo everything. When I say redo, he really just wants to change the color of the stain or paint it. Its nice because we have never had to buy furniture, but stressful to think he wants to change the color of our furniture already after having it for only a total of 6 months. But, its his hobby so I support him.

When we were first married, Casey went to habitat for humanity and got a record player cabinet. Its deceiving because the doors look like they open but they are just for decoration, so we had no storage area for DVDs or anything. But we got it for free so we made do with it temporarily. We didnt keep it the 70s oak finish, we painted it and made our own upgrades.

But anyway, finally bringing me to our project, was that he built a new one! And it looks soooo much better! Before... After..

What a Vast improvement. Great job casey!

Now for my project!! Im not much of a woodworker, so to speak, so this project makes me feel cool! I work at Target and any extra signing that they are about to throw away, is sometimes up for grabs. Most of the time their signing isnt something I would take because it has a model in the picture or will say something along the lines of 'expect more pay less'. Not really something I want in my home.. It just so happened that we were resetting the candles because many more were coming in, and they were getting rid of a candle sign. This one I had to keep! The moment I got off of work Casey and I headed up to my parents to work on building a frame for it in the shop. He told me what to do, but I almost did it completely by myself! Whoohoo, First project down many more to go!

Highlights from the Last 6 Months of Not Blogging

1. Moved into our first apartment!

2. Bought couches, and made pretty much the rest of our furniture.

3. Completed my first olympic triathlon

4. Turned 21 and can now buy my own booze... just kidding. haha

5. Watched general conference with a family about to be baptized(since then they have been baptized) Totally awesome!

6. Got a new haircut that I love! (Picture will come later!)

7. Went to a halloween party dressed as a smurf and casey was the hulk.

8. Received multiple callings in our new ward. Casey and I are Ward missionaries and sunday school teachers, he is an elders quorum teacher and I'm relief society chorister.

9. Casey bought hunting licenses and went many times by himself and sadly didnt get anything.. but all in due time.. it was his first season.

10. Spent Thanksgiving at the Caudles house and made my first set of pumpkin pies and casey made 3 pudding pies.

11. Throughout the holidays my shift has switched from starting at 6 am to 4:30.

12. Black friday I worked for 10 hours and calculated that I walked a full marathon and maybe more throughout that one shift!

13. Put up our first Christmas tree as a married couple!

First Ironman!

This picture is hard to see but Im coming through the finish line with the red hat on. Haha, yeah right! So, by the title of this post it sounds like I did my first ironman this year... gotcha! I watched my first ironman from the sidelines... I know, not as impressive but I came to the conclusion that Ironman competitors are crazy... And here are a few of my reasons why: Ironmen/women are crazy because they

1. Swim 2.4 mi, Bike 112 mi, and finish with a marathon(26 mi)

2. Wear tight and sometimes revealing clothing
3. Push their bodies to the limit

4. Sometimes get injured during these events

5. Spend thousands of dollars on equipment and entrance fees

6. Wear brightly colored clothing and polka dots (even men)

7. Average at 40+ years old

8. Keep up a pretty steady pace the whole race

9. Finish in only 1 day

10. Come in all shapes and sizes from giant to dwarf

With that said, I think the craziest part of all is that I really want Casey to do it! I think he would love it and he could use a new focus at the gym. He told me he has always wanted to do it, but who knows what will happen! Thats at least 1 year away. As for me I'm keeping my focus strictly to my exercise program. The days are counting down til the triathlon:-)

See Spot Run

This last week was the start of my new job at Target. Training training and more training! I had no idea that my position was so intricate. My trainer is one of those types of people that has no enemies because she is a friend to all and the nicest person ever! My coworker on the other hand.... she is nice, but very opinionated and.... well, lets just say I know the gossip of the entire store. She likes to tell me all of the updates with old employees and their relationship history as well as the current. Its kind of nice in a way because I feel that even though I'm new there, I have never skipped a beat. And then on to my supervisor/boss. We are considered the babies of the team because he is 26 and I'm 20. The others are over 40. Overall we have fun and get a lot done! Our job consists of rearranging the entire store. A lot of work that will always keep us busy. I love that I can get a full 40 hours a week... but I feel sorry for those that are scrounging for spare hours. One thing that I need to get used to is the early hour. My desired waking hour is 9 am... For work I get up at 5 am, to be to work by 6 am. Fun stuff. Who knows, maybe one day I might actually become a morning person!

Our First Camping Trip!

For memorial weekend we went up with the Gattens to the St. Joe River. Its a trip that they do every year for rafting, camping, shooting guns and so much more fun stuff. We drove to the St. Joe camp site and started unloading things on Thursday night. Mark and Randy Fowler got us this tent for our wedding so we were super excited to use it! We figured that if we could get the tent up without any frustration or difficulty, the rest of the trip would be a peice of cake... (the tent would be our true test). It took us about 10 minutes to put it up, if that, and it was quite roomy. It was a perfect place to sleep for the night.

The next day Casey went bear hunting with Rick and Brett. Casey just tagged along hoping to see some action. They saw a lot of bear tracks but no bears. They opted to go th next morning in hopes of getting one.. They were pretty determined. In the meantime, our neice Savannah hung out with me the whole day. I can honestly say that I think she wants to be me! Later Noah joined the bandwagon and we went on nature walks looking for forts. It was super fun for all of us. At around noon, Mikin and I went for a run. It was nice to go running, but it probably wasn't the best time to go. It was super hot and the majority of the road had no shade so the sun beat down on us vigorously. We thought it was a little over 3 miles, but it was only 2.8: so Mikin being a half-marathoner decided that wasn't enough mileage... She did the route again later that night. I wished I would've gone!
On Saturday, Rich and Bobbie came up for the day. Casey and I went with them up Prospector Creek and it was then that I found out that Bobbie is extremely scared of heights. Casey borrowed BJ's 4-wheeler and I took my parents. Prospector winds up a steep mountain where the side of the road will drop off several feet. The whole time Bobbie was telling me to stay on the mountain side and to slow down. I couldn't help but think how funny it was that she was scared, considering all of her kids are daredevils.

Later that day the group went rafting. We hit all of the rapids perfectly and only a few people fell out of the raft. The water was super cold but the weather was beautiful so it was easy to warm up. Bobbie was about to go, but I think she got a little intimidated at the last minute. I think she definately missed out!

Mikin and I went running again but this time Missy and Angie came. Angie hadn't been running at all but she picked it up and ran 2 miles without stopping! I couldn't believe how well she'd done. Thats definately something to be proud of! Missy and I kept going and went a little further than Mikin and I had the day before. It was super tough. Not only can Missy go a lot farther, but she is a lot faster than I am. It was awesome because I knew I pushed myself to keep up with her.
On Sunday we were bad and didn't go to church in St. Maries. We didn't want to drive 45 minutes one way. So instead the went on the 4-wheelers up prospector to the very top and the boys were on mountain bikes. We Look so cool!
Janalee took JJ for his first 4-wheeler ride. He loved it and by the end he was asleep.
The girls. You can tell Missy is really flexing... she has some serious guns.

Crazy Casey. I think that BJ and Casey were having a competition. He was doing hand stands on the sand hill and BJ was doing flips. Shortly after that they rolled a log down the mountain... Unfortunately it stopped after about 10 ft because of the snow.

This was a bonding moment. Just kidding!
And to top off a great day, we shot guns at a nearby shooting range. This gun is Ricks and I think its an AK 47.... It was fun to shoot, but a little intimidating!

Moses Lake

This last weekend Casey and I decided to go on a camping/"quadin" trip. Rick and Missy's family went and few of Casey's extended family. I was a little nervous to ride a sport 4-wheeler because I had never been on one before, but Casey was teaching me step by step how to use the clutch so I was a little at ease. After riding around for awhile, I got used to it, but in no way was I able to keep up with Casey. Then I switched to a different one that was "automatic". When I heard the word "automatic" I thought it was like a car. So I jumped on and gassed it. It was a pretty slow 4-wheeler and at first I thought I was doing something wrong.... Turns out I was. Hours later, Casey was riding close behind me and told me that I was revving the engine too high. I stopped and he explained that automatic means that you dont have a clutch but you still have to switch gears. The 4-wheeler was a lot faster once I learned how to use it correctly. I felt really dumb.
I stole Casey's borrowed 4-wheeler and Missy, Roseanne, and I went on our own adventure. We mainly followed Missy around and tried doing the same jumps she was. It was a blast. When we came back to camp, I saw Casey's truck drive away into the dunes, so we decided to chase after him. We made it to a pretty big jump and I started going fast. I put it in third gear and was hauling up this hill. I got to the top and felt like I had serious air! Apparently, I got about 15 ft of distance! It was awesome, given I was scared to death, but still awesome! And the best part was that Casey got to see the whole thing!!! We cant wait until this summer when we go to Utah for Coral Pink sand dunes!

Hundreds of Shells

Tuesday was Grand Turks, Caicos Islands day. We were so fried that we decided not to play on the beach, even though the weather was sunny and gorgeous. The beach wound around, so we went to explore and see what we could find on the shore. We found shells shells and more shells. Conch shell after conch shell, and most of them were in pretty good shape. For some weird reason all of them had a quarter size hole in the top. Casey thought it could have been from the birds pecking out the inhabitants of the shell. Casey also saw a sand crab and took a picture!

Funny story... Casey was walking on the rocks next to the water where it would occasionally splash up and hit him and me. While standing there, he wanted me to take a picture of him 'pretending' to pee into the ocean. Why not? I did. I think the sound of water got to him because shortly after that he really did have to go. This is the real deal.