Snowflake, AZ!

First of all, I needed to post this, because I think he is so handsome! Derrek just cut all his hair off!  Whoot-woo is all I could say!   

Here is a picture of him a month ago and the other one is how he looks this week.  I guess he's really serious about sending in his mission papers :).  We are excited for him and know what a huge and scary step it is for him to take in his life.  He will not regret it, though, and will learn more about himself and the Lord through this experience. 

Okay, now onto Snowflake...

We moved, actually, to Show Low, AZ, which is about 20 minutes from Taylor/Snowflake.  We found a house, but it was to buy only, and my parents are so helpful because they are helping us to purchase it and we will rent from them, basically.  We are in a little house in Show Low for the time being and are grateful that we could move into this until we find what we need, especially since the rent is only $500 and it will help us get back on our feet.  When we moved in, all the utilities were shut off, and wouldn't be turned on until Monday (we moved there on a Saturday).  So, Scott's boss and is family (The Brubakers) took us into their home for a few days until it all worked out.  They have just been so amazing and kindred spirits.  There was absolutely nothing to rent in Taylor/Snowflake, but tons to buy. A lot of it, we found, was just junk, but we think we found a decent home that is well built.  We really hope it all works out because we have already started going to that ward.  It is actually in the ward of Scott's new boss.  I had a hard time with that, at first, because I didn't want to mix the two, but they are so friendly and we feel like we have known them for awhile and I am finding that there really is no way to escape always being around people in a small town :).  Every event and every thing that happens, everyone is there.  I forgot that is how it is in a small town, but I also forgot how much I love it.  After moving in, I had the pleasure of driving the rental truck back to Mesa.  We saved $200 by doing that.  I was so freaked out and then once I got on the road, I was almost embarrassed with myself on how much I freaked out.  I really didn't want to have to drive it, especially in the city, but by the time I got to Mesa, I was so comfortable with it, that I pulled it up to the pump at the gas station before turning it in.  I got to spend the day with Jennie and Heidi and so it made the trip totally worth all the stress!  

Scott LOVES his job.  He has had to learn some things that he hadn't learned from Bunker, but other than that, it is going really well.  He's working at Silver Creek Mortuary with Jason Brubaker.  There are others we have met through them and through the ward that have made us feel like we were long lost friends!  The kids even noticed how friendly and helpful people are around here.  If you  need something, a person will contact everyone he/she knows to help you get what you need.  I heard that the only animosity that goes on around here is whether or not you live in Taylor or Snowflake.  If you move to the other, supposedly you are a "traitor" which is funny to me because the kids all go to the same Junior High and High School.  

Alec and Calvin get asked EVERYWHERE we go, "Do you play football?".  It's almost becoming funny.  Alec is actually thinking about doing it and I am not sure about Calvin.  I really want him too because I think it would really be good for him, but I don't know.  Our family met the coach's father-in-law at one of the restaurants in town and he wanted to know if the boys played.  Then I was able to get the football coach's phone number from him and this last week I called the coach.  I keep hearing that this is not a normal football team and from talking with the coach, it seemed that, yes, they played football, but that it was more than that to them.  That's why I want Calvin to try it.  Anyway, who knows what will happen with that.  Tomorrow the boys were invited to come weight-train with them, so we'll see if they go.  

The boys are in heaven here.  They really love the slower pace and nature.  They have bought a pellet gun, for starters, and have been out every day trying it out.  We went to the 4th of July Rodeo (on the 30th of June!), and had a blast.  All the wards in Taylor are assigned to work food booths as service to the town.  Our ward was assigned to work the Navajo Taco Booth and our family signed up to do it from 5-7pm...probably the busiest time, but we got to meet a lot of people and had a great time doing it.  Scott kept saying, "that was really fun".  The boys all helped and had a good time doing it, too.  I felt that I was finally starting to feel like I belonged there.  I'm the one that's been struggling, but I think it's because I feel I can't settle yet because of all the house stuff.  I want this job to last forever and I have a hard time wanting to attach because it hurts to leave.  I'll work it out and I'm sure I will jump in, just like I always do.  It's just taking me a little longer this time.  Anyway, I played softball with the ward this week and was glad they called and asked if I was going to come and play.  It was fun.  We have all been able to go to the temple and love that you can go to any temple and have the same blessings and Spirit and guidance/comfort.  I love that I have kids that allow me to go and actually love it when I do.  

While at the Rodeo, we sat next to the Larson family (in our ward...we are loving their family).  They have lived here all their lives and are just great.  They have one son married, one on a mission, and then Katie (17), and Nick (13) who have befriended our kids (and four other kids, I can't remember their names!).  Katie asked Alec and Calvin over to their house for movie night after the rodeo.  I am so grateful for other kids that welcome my kids in.  They will never know or understand what a blessing they are.  So, Alec and Calvin went and had a great time.  Donna, Katie's mom, told me today, "I asked Katie what she thinks about the Bowler boys and if they are good boys and she said "Mom, they are good boys and fun to be around"".  I just thought that was great and a compliment.  Anyway, the story I wanted to get to is that on the way home, Alec hit a rabbit and what did he do?!?!?  He turned around and picked it up and brought it home!  So, this morning, I woke up to the boys skinning it and gutting it!  Then, Dallen wanted to eat the meat, but that was a big "NO!", and then we found out at church that the wild rabbits during the summer have worms in their insides and are not good to eat.  The boys are truly loving the country and I want to know why it's okay to do this in the country and not in the city, as much?!?  Oh well... 

I think that is all that has happened.  We haven't been able to move Derrek here yet.  There is no room for him, so he will stay with my parents for a week or so before our Bear Lake family reunion, and then one week after and then we will move him here at the end of July.  Hopefully the house will close by then and we can move into it.  We are all wanting to feel settled.  Oh...here is a picture of my kitchen (and pretty much the rest of the house looks this way).  I just had to document it, for memory sake :)

I have left everything in boxes, we have sheets and push pins for draperies, and a cooler for a fridge.  I think with the amount we will spend on ice, we should have just bought a fridge!  Oh well, too late now.

Some days it feels like it is all closing in on us, but we are quick to remember that it is a blessing and it makes it better. We could really be homeless and or living in a tent or something like that.  I am just grateful we aren't!  We love living here.

One thing constant is change!

Where to begin?!?  So much has been packed into less than a month that I am not sure how much longer I can keep up this pace!  It's almost exhausting, but a good exhausting!

A couple of days before we left for St. George for Derrek's graduation, we had two major things happen.  The first was the Sunday before, we all found out that Scott's dad got remarried.  We were all in shock, especially because he has only known the woman for two weeks.  But, in my opinion, I hope it works out for him.  Here is a picture...

Her name is Terri Lynn, but there was a bishop with her same name and so she is now going by Ivy Lee.  Her 94 yr old mother lives with them, too.  She is an accomplished pianist and vocalist, and Chuck seems happy.  It's been hard on a lot of us, and for my little family, it was just another reminder that Grandma Ruth is really gone.  Heidi is the only one that has met her, because they are in the same ward, so I can't tell you much about her.  But, I hope it works out for him.

Then, the second big event is Scott's job.  It's been a really weird experience, and the only explanation I have for it, is that it is meant to be.  For about a month Scott has been trying to find out what his new position and pay will be at Bunker so that we can see what we need to do on our end.  We thought they would tell him when he graduated, but nothing.  It was just really weird.  Why couldn't they just say something.  Scott and I had speculated about what might be happening.  Then one morning he woke up with a very distinct feeling that he needed to reject the offer that they were going to propose.  We have lived on $10/hour this whole last year, and a whole lot of miracles.  We knew it couldn't continue in that grand of fashion, but we knew that it could work out.  So, the night before we were to leave for St. George, they finally called Scott in and offered him a very generous offer for what they were going to be having him do.  But, it wasn't the intern position that they had said he was to have and basically it was a more glorified grunt.  He has loved working there and realized that this offer was very generous for that position.  Even while they were "gushing" over his importance to the team, he was reminded about his feelings a few days before and graciously declined their offer.  He came home and said "I feel like I just stepped off a cliff".  The next morning we left for Derrek's graduation (I'll get to that in a second!).  While in St. George, we figure that we could make things work if they could offer $2 more an hour.  Bunker said that they were going to hire a Funeral director and a grunt instead, which didn't make sense considering they could have Scott in the funeral director position for less than a licensed funeral director.  It was just not making sense!  We just couldn't believe that this could be the end of our journey with them.  We had a great time in St. George and came back on Memorial Day.  That Tuesday, Scott talked to them again, and they basically said, you can stay until you find a new job.  Again, he felt like he had just stepped off that cliff.  So, Wednesday (the next day) we were focused on "now what?!".  He decided to contact others in this business and see if what Bunker was offering was fair and if he needed to go back and plead for his job.  He called a guy here in Mesa and basically that guy confirmed that the offer from Bunker was very generous because of the amount of graduates that come out of the school looking for work to intern (40 every year), and they can hire them for really cheap.  So, Scott thought about St. George and other places where he had met others.  He remembered this one guy in Snowflake, AZ  that had helped him with a graveside service and this guy had made a real impression on him.  He was rural and decided to see what it was like working rural and what kind of pay he could earn as an intern in a rural area.  Thursday he called him and Friday, Scott and I drove up to meet him and his wife, Anna.  His name is Jason Brubaker.  The boys had gone on an Aaronic Priesthood Encampment Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so it was perfect timing for Scott and I to just get feelers out without the boys having to see and watch all of this.  It would have really wound them up.  Friday we went to Snowflake and it was a really good day.  Jason and Anna are great and so friendly.  Jason started telling us that he had just had an opening and was needing someone.  We did not expect it at all, but by the end of the day, Scott had a job offer.  We looked at the offer and about died.  It was more starting the internship with Jason than Scott could earn after getting his license two years later with Bunker.  And that wasn't all of it.  There was incentives to being a team member and a representative of Silver Creek Mortuary.  It was crazy!  We went to the temple there and just sat in awe.  We didn't know quite what to think about all of this.  We came home and told the boys the next day about the experiences we had had while they were gone.  They all said, "I know we are supposed to move".  We asked them to fast for their answer on Fast Sunday and then we would talk about it as a family, but we all already knew.  So, Sunday night, Scott accepted Jason's offer and that was just last Sunday!  We went up this week to look for a place to rent...Nothing is available.  I had a thought to call my parents to see if they could/would help us purchase a house.  Our credit is trashed from our foreclosure, and it just wouldn't be possible otherwise.  My loving parents are willing to help and we are so grateful because that opened up a whole bunch of possibilities, considering there really wasn't any other options!  So, this last week we were able to go twice, but still nothing.  I have packed the house and we have told the land lord that we will be out by this next weekend.  He has been amazing through all this and we are so grateful for them.  I never really realized how good I am at packing!  Kid's rooms are done, kitchen, almost everything.  I have about one day of all the odds and ends and then we are packed!  Today, of course, the kids wanted pancakes...packed; orange julius...packed!  If it wasn't packed, they wouldn't want it!  The kids have been amazing through all this and are really excited to move there.  I was so relieved because the move from St. George to Mesa about killed them.  I wasn't sure I could or they could handle another trauma like that, but it's been the opposite and I feel that is a huge blessing.  It has made this craziness tolerable.  So, tomorrow we will go up again to see if we can find something and then we will know what we are doing (hopefully).  Through all this, there has been constant peace and thoughts of "be patient" and I know that in a month we will be looking back grateful for the Lord's hand in all this (we already are!). Derrek graduated!!!!  He had high honors and was in the National Honors Society.  Here are some pictures of that day...  The graduation was awesome.  It was only an HOUR long!  I have never been to one so short!  He also graduated from Seminary (shown with his best friend, Brandon).  Derrek is just amazing!  He pushes himself so hard and achieves his goals.  My mother was AWESOME and put together a little graduation party for Derrek, mostly so family could congratulate him and so that we could see people as well.  It was such a weight off my shoulders and I really appreciate all that she did for us that day.  Derrek, then was off to Grad Night and it was quite the ordeal!  I am impressed with the talents of some people.  It was themed off the movie "2012" and they were seated in an "airplane" in the auditorium (pictured above) and were given a drink and peanuts!  They watched the movie and then then fun began.  They went into the gym where it was decorated like they had landed on some island or something.  They had tons for the kids to do.  They had a wedding chapel and races, and food and pictures, swings, etc.  Then Derrek said around 2 am they had a "Minute-to-Win-It" competition, and Derrek won prizes from that.  They fed them breakfast and I think it ended around 5 am!  Crazy kids!  But he had a blast and I am glad.  The boys really had fun hanging out in St. George, but Calvin and Alec said that they don't think they would move back any time soon.  That was a shocker to me because for half this last year that is all they talked about.  We really enjoyed seeing all our friends and family.  Here is a picture of us visiting with Grandma Nyquist and Grandma Gilgen (both at the Beehive Cottages).

Two last things...my parents just received their mission call to ROME, ITALY!  My parents were really hoping that they would get to go there.  They will be gone for two years and leave October 1st.  I am so happy for them.  They have wanted to do this for quite awhile and have really worked hard to achieve that goal.  Derrek has started his mission papers and so in the next month or so, we should know where he is going.  Hopefully, we will have a place by then, so that he will know where he is leaving from!  It's just been crazy.  So grateful to Steve and Michelle for letting Derrek stay another month.  We had no idea that all this was coming, but Derrek felt that he needed to stay until July, and we are grateful that he hasn't had to deal with the anxiety and craziness of our life right now.  We are so excited for our missionaries!  Derrek will be gone and back about the same time as my parents.  If Alec goes when he is 19, then he won't see my parents for 3 years, and if Calvin goes when he is 19, he could possibly not see my parents for 4 years!  That is just crazy...but I know it will all be fine.  

Well, I think that is all that has been going on!  I am just grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives.  I am grateful for this journey and all that I have learned about myself and continue to learn so that I can be a better person.  We will really miss our ward and friends we have made while here in Mesa.  They will forever be in our hearts.  They took us in when we felt like we had broken wings.  They mended our hearts and loved us unconditionally, especially the boys and the rough time they had moving here.  I am glad for Facebook for the fact that I can constantly be in touch with these good friends.  They have a deep place in my heart forever.  It was fun re-uniting with Thelissa Blackhurst (Martineau) after 20 years and my old roommate, Jen.  I hope we get to do this again :).  I love that we are friends forever, especially in the Gospel.  We can all move around, but we are always connected.  Anyway, pray for us.  We'll let you know where we land.  

G-R-A-D-U-A-T-I-O-N!

Yep, that's right!  Scott graduated Mortuary Science school...with honors!  I think his overall GPA was like a 3.99 if not a 4.00.  His lowest grade this last semester was a 96%.  He crammed 2 years into 1 1/2 years.  He has been working so hard to pick us up out of the dust and hopefully his hard works starts to pay off.  

Bunker hasn't given him a proposal of what he will be doing for them now that he is an "intern" (he has to get his intern license, hopefully soon...it costs $400! and then intern for a year as an embalmer and then another year as a funeral director and then he can get his license as a Funeral Director).  They haven't discussed pay, either, and just found out that the guy to do that will be gone all this week...so, I guess we'll find out soon enough.  I am kind of worried because we haven't heard anything really promising from those who have already been doing this with Bunker for a couple years.  Scott loves working for Bunker and really loves the people and the opportunity it's been to work for them.  He has learned so much this last year that he wouldn't have gotten to had he not been working for them.  I guess we'll just have to see, and most importantly, we trust the Lord.  He has blessed us this far, and we know He will continue to do so.

Calvin and Alec got it stuck in their heads that they wanted to shave Shep (our Australian Shepherd dog).  This is no small chore.  So, Aunt Heidi had some dog clippers that she let them borrow...come to find out after the dog was done being shaved, they used Scott's hair clippers instead ("they worked better").  Scott went to clip his hair this morning and found a nice surprise.  At least they put them back, right?!?  The funny thing is that we thought Shep was fat, but it turns out, it was all hair!  He looks like he did when he was a puppy!  I tried to get some pictures to show...

Shep as a puppy (6 months old)

Shep (and Angel) at Christmas 2011.  Look at the coat!

Alec and Calvin displaying their work of art.  No more mane :(

This isn't the best picture, but you can tell all the hair is gone!

He looks like a puppy again.  It's pretty funny.  We'll see if it helps during the summer.  He actually liked being shaved, just not around his face, so the boys used the scissors for that.  They did a pretty good job.  It's still a little weird.

This is the last full week of school for the boys.  It's been a long hard year with all the adjusting they have had to do.  I'm proud of them.  I know it's been hard.  Derrek graduates next week (I am sending out announcements...just have to get stamps!).  He has worked really hard too, and will graduate as a member of the National Honors Society, too (just not in Mortuary Science!).  

Today is Mother's Day.  Scott always works so hard to make it a great day for me.  He made me breakfast in bed (pancakes, an orange, and cup of milk), he let me have a nap, and made lasagna and french bread for dinner.  The boys have been giving hugs (especially Dallen and Ashton) and Alec made me some no-bake cookies, and Ashton made some brownies.  Calvin helped Scott clean up (he is always good at noticing that stuff).  They have been trying their hardest not to fight and have done pretty good.  I am grateful to be a mom.  I never really set out to get married and have kids.  I actually was on the fast track to work in retail as a Fashion Merchandiser or something in that area.  Then, we felt we needed to start our family soon after we got married and along came Derrek.  I know the Lord knew what would be best for me.  I would grow and learn and become a better person through my trials and joys of being a mother.  They have all taught me more about myself and how to better myself in ways that would have never happened had I not had them...all of them.  

Derrek and I when he was about 1 year old.

 I am thankful for my mom.  I was thinking of all the things she did for us growing up.  She was and still is always behind the scenes, working.  She plans the fun and my dad heads the fun, but it is my mom that does all the behind the scenes stuff.  She taught us how to be independent (or maybe I was just born more that way), but I do remember thinking how lucky my sister-in-laws were for getting husbands that knew how to cook, iron shirts, clean, wash and fold laundry, etc.  

My mom taking us to a ball game here in Phoenix...her favorite pass-time.  She loves to watch a baseball game while ironing.  I never understood that!  She liked to iron, too!  I love you, mom!

Then that leads us to Scott's mom.  We miss her a lot, especially on Mother's Day.  She is forever in our hearts, though.  She taught us how to truly love others no matter what they act like.  If there is anyone that ever showed Christ-like love, it was her.  I don't remember her ever saying anything bad about anyone.  I know she would get frustrated with people, but was quick to forgive and move past anything that caused frustration.  I see a lot of her in her kids and her grandchildren.  She was a hard worker, and SO willing to help in any way that she could.  She could never sit still!  She truly loved her kids and grandkids.  They were her everything and she showed that.  She was full of hugs and reading books to them and playing games.  We truly miss her.

Dallen and Grandma at Disneyland...best week ever!