Saturday, September 29, 2012

Two Very Good "Patriotic" Videos~ By Kyle

The song in the first video is from the movie "Last Ounce Of Courage", and is sung by Justin Unger (one of our family's favorite singers).

The second video is one that our Grammie and Papa sent us a few days ago. It is a very encouraging video for the conservative teen who thinks he/she is alone in their views.

 
 

Friday, September 28, 2012

Updated Favorite Season's Results!~By Kyle

Alrighty then! Thank you all for your comments! Here are the updated results:

Spring Summer Fall Winter
Daddy 0 5 3 1
Mommy 1 0 5 3
Kyle 0 3 1 5
Caroline 0 5 3 1
Valerie 0 3 5 1
Victoria 0 5 3 1
Timmy  0 5 1 3
Joe 0 5 1 3
Hannah 0 1 5 3
Kari 1 5 3 0
Lydia 0 5 3 1
Richie 5 1 3 0
Carolyn 1 0 5 3
Papa 1 3 5 0
Grammie 1 3 5 0
Totals 10 49 51 25

 
Wow! Fall makes an amazing late comeback! And also, winter fell flat! Sheesh, no Christmas spirit yet? (It's only less than three months away!) Or no love of snow? I was the only one that gave winter a 5, and spring (ick!) got more points among you blog follower folks than winter! Oh well, happy fall!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Favorite Seasons~ By Kyle

 
He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting.
Psalm 104:19

With the "official" start of fall last weekend, I thought it would be fun to take a poll to see what the favorite season is in the Bowes' household! 5 points are awarded to the favorite season of each person, 3 points are awarded for second place, 1 point is awarded for third place, while the least favorite season gets zilch.

Here are the results;

Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Daddy
0
5
3
1
Mommy
1
0
5
3
Kyle
0
3
1
5
Caroline
0
5
3
1
Valerie
0
3
5
1
Victoria
0
5
3
1
Timmy
0
5
1
3
Joe
0
5
1
3
Totals
1
31
22
18

As you can see here in often rain drenched Washington we think pretty poorly of spring, we all love summer (except Mommy, who is still Arizona shell shocked), and fall and winter are a pretty close second.

 
So few faithful blog followers, what are your favorite seasons? Comment below or send us an email, and I will update the tally. I have a feeling the Arizona folks who comment could drastically level out the poll since summer I am sure is their least favorite season; it should be interesting.

 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Horse Beach Trip 2012! ~ By Victoria

Here is a video showing Caroline and I with our horses at the beach! We had a great time once again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQebMprSFi0

Friday, September 21, 2012

Last Ounce Of Courage Movie Review~by Kyle

 
Yippee! Yesterday we went to see our second "conservative" movie this week! Only this time it could not be labeled as a homeschool social study so us older kids had to pay :0/, and this time we stayed outside the theater room while the previews were playing :0). I was very excited entering the theater to see this movie but left the place two hours later feeling a tad disappointed. I expected a rousing message through this film that would call all true Americans to take a stand for their faith, families, and freedoms.... this movie fell considerably below my expectations.
 Here is the synopsis for the Last Ounce of Courage:
 

 A grieving father is inspired by his grandson to take a stand for faith and freedom against a tide of apathy and vanishing liberty. Alongside fellow citizens of courage, faith, and integrity, he is a champion for the cherished principles we the people hold dear.
 
A rousing synopsis is it not? One would guess that this movie would be awesome. You would expect this champion to call his fellow citizens around him to repent and fall on their knees before the Lord, and to take a stance on all the big political and social issues like Homosexuality, abortion, the removing of Christ from Christmas, and schools banning prayer... stuff like that. Well did the champion, or rather the small band of champions, do these things? Well, kinda. The whole movie was basically centered on putting Christ back in Christmas, a just cause to be sure, but what about the other issues of homosexuality and abortion? Not one single mention to either issue. What about boldly proclaiming the name of Christ? Yes, the champion in the movie did this several times during news interviews and later raised a cross with "Jesus saves" on it! But he never really shared his faith on a personal level with others. Also there were several rather corny elements to this movie that really tampered with the message and made it almost like a "feel-good" type of movie. Probably the corniest part being about an old guy who we see pop up several times during the movie. In one of the scenes this guy helps the main character when he is in jail by giving him a radio to listen to a Christmas play in which the main character's grandson gives a touching speech. The only hitch to this is that the play was not on the radio, the old guy disappears before the main character can thank him, and when the main character asks the jailer who the old guy in the cell next to him was the jailer replies, "there never was a man in that cell." Later we see this same old man wave to the main character before with a glow he vanishes.
On a lesser note do not expect to get awed by the actors or quality of this movie. The actors do their jobs well, but the cinematography is definitely a step below the big company movies. In the end I think we need to cut them some slack on this though. As far as I know this is the company's first movie, so it is on the level of Flywheel, Sherwood Picture's first movie. There is definitely room to improve.
Overall I would say this movie is 55% inspirational, 25% of a tear-jerker (you will cry several times), 15% corny, and 5% unprofessional.
So in the end you need to see this movie and support it. Close your eyes tight and pay the insane amount of money to see it in theaters, or even better buy it on the first weekend it comes out on DVD. You will be (mostly) glad that you did.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Decorated Star Strikes Again!~ By Kyle

(My first try at a "sports" article :-))
He is incredible! He is amazing! He is my little bro Joe-Joe "Snuckes" Bowes!




Joe-Joe Bowes, pictured with several of his trophies above, wrapped up an incredible fair season Monday with an unheard of and record breaking showing at the 2012 Puyallup Tractor Pull Show. This all came after a surprising decision by Joe-Joe to not compete in the Mutton Bustin competition at Puyallup (in which he finished third last year), but perhaps this decision paid off in the end. You see this was no little thing; the pool of  players who entered the tractor pull was numbered at fifteen or so including his older brother Timmy Bowes (who would finish second in the competition), and Joe would need all his strength to pull off his amazing victory. As he pushed his way through pull after pull of elimination rounds little did Joe know that his main opponent would be his brother Timmy, who stayed with him till the fourth round and earned a well-deserved second place. But after Timmy just barely was unable to make it all the way through the fourth round the stage was set for Joe-Joe... and boy did he come through! He pulled 200 pounds, the amount of weight the 10-year olds start out with, all the way to the finish and became only the third-or-fourth tractor-puller in the history of the event to enter into the fifth round. In the fifth round he was tasked with pulling 250 pounds, the amount the twelve-year olds start with, and pulled this massive amount of weight quite a ways before falling just short of finishing that round.
 So what is next for this champ? The future can only tell. Keep riding your bike hard Snuckes! And we will see you next year!
Below is the video coverage of the event.
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Obama 2016 Movie Review~ By Kyle


It all makes sense now!
 Have you ever wondered about the strange things Obama does? Why he supports Muslims, why he whispers to a Russian delegate supposedly off microphone, why he refuses to let us drill our own oil, why he decreases the amount of nuclear warheads we have in our country, why he does nothing to ease the unrest in the Middle-East, why he does nothing to try and balance our budget, and why he passes a healthcare law that IS COMPLETLY unconstitutional? Do you want to find out? You definitely should!
2016: Obama's America is a documentary about Obama's background and how it shapes his "beliefs" now, and how these beliefs shape his plan for our country. This documentary also shows who Obama's friends and mentors were and are, and who his father really was like that Obama based his book Dreams From My Father on.
You need to go see this movie! But be warned, you will walk out of the theater with goose bumps all over you. This is unlike any thriller or scary movie you will ever watch... because it is true. You will begin to understand what our world will be like in 2016 if Obama is reelected, and it will confirm in your mind that this is the most important election in America's history.
I will post more on this movie later.
P.S. If you do see the movie, you might want to wait outside the theater till the movie commercials are done. We saw about four movie trailers and learned what movies we definitely will not be watching.