Bowling at the Bowl...

The kids and I were in need of some distractions, so last night we took an impromptu visit to the Bountiful Bowl while Bryan went to the Priesthood session of LDS General Conference with his brother.   

My kids are so cute, can I just say that?! :)  Something magical happened as soon as they put their little (yet constantly growing!) feet into those stylish bowling shoes.  Maybe it's the special powder they put in the shoes to protect the unsuspecting public from a massive outbreak of athlete's foot, or maybe it's just doing a little something out of the ordinary.  Whatever it was, my kids were an absolute, total joy tonight.

Zerin, being the oldest, also being (so far) the most competitive member of our family, is used to winning, and being the best.  So I was very proud at the level of sportsmanship he demonstrated as he lost to his 3 year old brother and younger sister :)  The best part of his was he started out with pretty great form, but when he realized the younger kids were getting better results with their toss and throw approach, by the end that's what he was doing in an effort to just get the win :)

BEFORE he changed his form :)

I was so proud of Liah!!!  And not just because she won with a lane shattering 92 either :)  Usually activities like this end in tears with her, but not only did she not cry a single time, but she was her sweet happy determined self the whole time.  I nearly cried...or maybe I did...I can't remember ;)  She wanted so bad to hold the ball just right and to put the right fingers in the right holes.  Even though it was WAY too heavy for her, she kept at it.  It was fun to watch.

Yes, my daughter is not only a pro bowler now, but a budding fashionista.  Yes, those are capris with knee socks.  Yes, I let her go in public like that.  And yes, she thought she looked like a million bucks :)

Aeden is slowly becoming just as competitive as Zerin.  But the funny thing with him, is he just didn't get the point of keeping score :)  Another thing he didn't get was the concept that we don't THROW the ball, it's more of a roll.  I'm pretty sure we have permanently dented that lane...lane #10 if you go there check it out! ;)  He, as always, was just happy to be there, happy to do his best, happy to be sporting such awesome shoes.  I think he climbed on me at least 5 times while we were there to hug me and tell me 'Thank you so much, Mom!'  He is such a wonderful little blessing :)

Aeden, eyeing the line.  That's about the level he let the ball go from each time :)

Asher was so funny.  We had him use the little special ramp, which he thought was awesome.  He tried a couple times without it, but realized he was getting far more pins down WITH it than WITHOUT it, so he made the switch.  About half-way through the game, he decided he not longer wanted me supervising him.  In fact, after I made sure the ball wasn't going to fall on him, he'd hold the ball on the ramp, and tell me to 'Move back Mom!  More.  More.  Okay, good.'  Zerin, however, was allowed to stay and help.  Older brothers are much better coaches than moms anyway, right :)     Asher would stand there after he bowled, every muscle frozen, until the pins would fall down, when he would scream like a little girl, and then take 10+ seconds to figure out the right amount of fingers to hold up for how many pins he knocked down :)  His efforts and strategy paid off, because he came in 3rd place!!!

Asher kept somehow pushing the ramp at the same time he was pushing the ball, so Zerin became the official ramp holder.  

I didn't get any good up close pictures of Belen, but she was so so funny :)  For those of you who don't know, when Belen gets tired, she doesn't act tired...she acts wired!  Bryan jokes it's like she takes speed 20 minutes before bedtime because she can't hold still...she's up - she's down -she's spinning around...it's pretty funny.  Being a Saturday night, they had all these happy fast pop songs on...and also being close to her bedtime, she was in form, let me tell you.  She danced almost the whole time.  And then she'd bolt to find people to wave at.  Luckily there were only 2 other groups there most of the time so it made it easier to keep track of my little lightening bolt.  We started off using the ramps with her, but she liked it better when I would hold her and then she'd push the ball and I'd roll it.  She clapped every time a pin fell down...which with me bowling holding 1.5 children, was at least half of the time :)

They were playing "We like to party!" overhead.  You can kind of tell from her heels being off the ground a bit, but she was jumping up and down in a very white, no rhythm whatsoever, kind of way :)