Bowen/Jensen Family Visit, and Graham at 6 months

Starting Memorial Day weekend, we headed out to to the Intermountain West to let Graham meet all the family he hadn't been introduced to yet.  It was his very first plane trip, but he did really well!  Got a set of wings and everything.  Anyway, this was what greeted us when we made it to SLC:

One happy Meemaw-- think she missed him?

Graham with his wings.

That Sunday, we had decided to hold a barbecue and invite all the Bowens and Bulkleys we could.  Mom handled the invites and logistics, and Troy served as grillmaster.  It was great!  We were thrilled that so many people were able to come and say hi to us and the little guy!

 Hangin' with Aunt Cheryl

Bowens, shooting the breeze

Some of our fun adventures from Utah were our trip down to Provo:

 Two equally beautiful sights, both demonstrations of nature's beauty.

We took Graham on a stroll through BYU, so it will be familiar to him.  Cougars for life.

We took advantage of the great weather to go hit the links at the nearby golf course.  Mandy was very protective of the pink ball:

 Bowen boys rocking the golf cart in style.

Troy celebrating the day's only par, which entitled him to a free ice cream

We also went up Big Cottonwood Canyon (just like last year, at my request) to enjoy the mountains and Mom's dutch oven chicken and dumplings:

 Mandy showing off the goods.  And the baby.

 This is what happened when we left Troy and Mom to their own devices to try and obtain more firewood.  Learned our lesson.

 Just beautiful.

 Dinner's on.....

 Little guy was tired, but he was a trooper.  Don't worry Graham, Mommy and Daddy aren't huge campers.

Mom was also kind enough to watch little guy one evening so we could celebrate our anniversary (4 years, going strong) with some temple sealings and a lovely dinner.  Besides these adventures, we didn't spend too much time away from home due to naps, feedings, and so forth.    But that didn't stop us from enjoying our time together, whether it was bowling:

 Don't I look like a pro?  Pretty sure this was the game where I lost to both Mandy AND Troy.

Lots of passing the baby around! 

Or strolling through a new nearby store (with a ferris wheel inside!):

 I think Dakota liked it more than Troy did.

 What did I say?  COUGARS FOR LIFE.

Or, just hanging out at home:

 Graham sure loves his Meemaw

 General tomfoolery

Awwwww.

Then we made our way up to the north country (Idaho, not Canada) to spend a week with the Jensens, where the good times just kept rolling!  Graham got to meet his cousins:

And go watch them at their swimming lessons!

We tried our best to keep Grandpa from giving him snacks, but you can't stop everything:

 A lick of licorice can't hurt, right?

Grandpa was pretty pleased with himself.

And just like in Utah, we spent some quality time at the Jensen homestead, meeting uncles:

Playing with Great Grandma Brewer and shenanigans

And just enjoying the weather and the views.

We also went golfing with the Jensen Family.  This post makes it sound like we are golfers but we are not...as shown by the scorecards.

What a great trip!  Thanks to everyone for taking care of us while we were out there with you!!!

Also, as the last couple of pictures indicate, Graham just keeps growing and learning new things.  Before our trip, he learned to sleep in his crib rather than a swing-- just in time, right?  He has now passed the six month mark, and he has been rolling (much to Mandy's relief) as well as eating some solid foods.  Bananas are the clear favorite (must take after Grandma Jensen), but he's also had avocados, sweet potatoes, pears, peas, and oatmeal.  And he's sitting up on his own, too.

Look at that handsome little stud!!

Now he has started scootching around when on tummy time.  He moves himself sideways and backwards a little.  Crawling isn't too far away!  We're excited, and terrified.  Mostly terrified.  More to come soon!