Sunday, January 24, 2010

Home is definitely where the Heart is...

Well after months of searching, then more time closing and finally more time renovating I am proud to say we are settling in to our first Bowler family house. We have made a home everywhere we have been, but this is much different. We are finally property owners. I know, I know we're getting all growed up right before your eyes.
It's amazing what marriage and kids do to you. I was comparing myself to the "Family Man" earlier this week. My entire life was solely dedicated to advancing my career and being a "huge success", but I had no idea what I was missing.
While I still want those things, it is no longer what gets me up in the morning.
Now I want to jump out of bed to provide for my family rather than impress corporate. Now I want to spend my weekends finding fun for the kids instead of counting down to Monday. It's been a complete 180 over the past few years, and here we are... settled and very happy.
I heard a saying that "you spend your life thinking about what you want to do until you reach that moment when you discover what you are meant to do".
Standing beside Meredith, raising Jackson and Pryce, enjoying our new home and taking on whatever comes next solidifies that sentiment for me.

Friday, January 1, 2010

The Top 9 of 09

2009 is now behind us and overall it was one of the best year's of our lives. Sure there were challenges and frustrations, but I want to look at the bright side. So here is a 'Best Of" wrap-up...

#9. Jackson going to Pre-K at the Little People's School

It was a Big day when he loaded his back-pack uo for the first time and made his way to class. Of course it took Meredith about a month before she would let him go in by himself, but that's what Mommas do. He has loved every minute of it asking us each night if he gets to go to school the next day. It's awesome to see him get excited about it.
#8. Being nominated for an Emmy Award
Not only was it awesome to be honored with a nod for my work, but it was a rare chance for Mert and I to get away for an evening to ourselves. We had a blast. Sadly we did not bring home the hardware, but we'll try again next year.
#7. Meredith becomes a full time stay at home Mom.
We worked very hard to make sure we would be able to give our kids the experience of having Mom at home with them while they grow up. It was a huge leap of faith, but after all of our prayer and worry we embraced the fact that the good Lord will always take care of us. There may be obstacles and stress along the way, but he will provide. This is one of those things that we agree is so important for the kids in their early years. I remember we made the decision to just go for it on the way to visit my grandmother before she passed. It was a call that neither one of us regret.
#6. Preparing for the birth of our new addition


What a year. Just weeks after our wedding we discovered we were expecting. Were we shocked? Uh... yeah, but we were thrilled at the same time. Little did I know the adventure that it would create just preparing for her arrival. So many ups and downs filled with the perfect blend of worry and joy. I'll never forget the day we found out we were getting a little girl... I thought "Wow, that's GOD's sense of humor". Of course that was only the half-way point there was much more to come. The entire 9 months are safely embedded in my memory. A wonderful time I will not soon forget.
#5. Jackson experiences his very first Ranger game
This was one of our best Father/Son days. Jackson and I loaded up for a road trip to Ft. Worth where we met up with Pap'pa for a day at the Ballpark. Then Jackson was treated to all of Pap'pa's spoils including nachos, peanuts, soda and more. We all sat back and enjoyed the game (well, Jackson was a little more interested in the planes over head)and we plan on making it an annual event. AWESOME!
#4. Our first holidays as a foursome

After a long year waiting for Pryce to get here we finally got to reap the rewards as a group during the holidays. We traveled and shared laughs with our entire extended families and shared time with each other that will always be special. Oh and to top it off we had a White Christmas. It was perfect.
#3. Celebrating our one year anniversary
No one can say Mert and I do anything halfway so we applied that attitude to our BIG day. It seemed like so much was packed into our first year of marriage that we had earned it. So we dropped off the kids with Grammie and Grampie and treated ourselves to a magical night at the W in Dallas. We wined and dined one another and spent the evening relaxing. It made it easy to remember why we fell in love in the first place.
#2. We purchased our first family home.
There are many days that are special to me, but this was the proudest I have ever been. It was knowing that we were doing something so monumental for our present and our future as a family. It was a long process packed with stress, but it was worth every minute. We were all together for the closing and we immediately made our way to our new digs afterwards. What a GREAT day!
#1. The birth of our beautiful baby girl Pryce.

The largest blessing of all this year happened September 12th when our daughter finally arrived. We spent months talking to her and imagining what she would be like, but we had no idea.
Our precious Pryce has changed my perspective on just about everything. Her little smile fills my heart and I think she is just as adorable when she is crying. It's probably true that Pryce will have her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. What can I say?

So there it is the Top 9 if '09 for the Bowler clan. We had an amazing year1 We only hope that 2010 brings a little more excitement, I mean really we get bored so easy. Just kidding... we could really use a break, but we're not counting on it. there's always something on the horizon for this family so stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.