thank you, everyone, now I know what to do next spring.......thin the branches, keep the sturdy limbs, let them get a bit taller, and wait FOREVER until they fill up those big 10" bowls they are planted in....I started this game to teach myself patience <LOL>

LOL bonsai will definetly do that. its a lot of staring and planning for next seasons work. ive learned tropical trees help to get through the summer and winter when the deciduous and pines are left alone

but I have no room indoors for plants, just 2 acres outdoors, which gives me plenty to do. These babies have been out in Texas sun, rain, and cold for 3 years, that's why I "overpot" my bonsai, even though that is esthetically 'wrong'

Aha!
after a bit of googling, I have determined that these babies are Scotch Pine,
which is great because they live in Texas.
Also, that the style I'm going for is Yatsubusa,
so they will look like bonsai in another 10 years......
Thanks for everyone's input, I'm glad I'm here.
~Traveler in Thyme
Blanco County, Tx, zone 8-9

Little tip; When u want the trunks to thicken plant them in the open field. Not into bigger pots as this will hardly thicken the trunk, and if it does it will take longer.
If it is scotch or any pine believe 10years is a small amount of time to make these little ones into mature looking trees.
Nursery's for example they grow pines in the open field because they grow so slow and it takes at least 4 times the amount of years you want and with a lot of work each year ( pruning etc and maintenance) to make it into a pre bonsai ready to be worked on.
After all these years they are planted in training pots for several years to let them get use to living in pots and establish a solid root system before they even get worked on.
After that they will need some more years of refining after styling before they are bonsai.

Yamadori had that same amount or even more time to develop and still need lots of work after collecting.
They even will take between 5 and 10 years to become bonsai.

Short story; 10 years won't do sorry.
But 10 years in the open field is always better than in a pot if u want to achieve something close to bonsai.
And go slow on pines it's the only way.

I suspected that the gorgeous bonsai you see in books were "wild caught" as I like to think of them.
I will need to build raised beds with the special soil mix, as our alkaline, chalky clay won't do at all.

The custom soil I mixed myself, with plenty of red granite gravel, seems to keep them quite happy,
but they are really just babies...probably 5-6 year old rooted cuttings I bought as Christmas trees.
They all have interesting root flare, and might do for root-over-rock someday. We have a lot of rocks <LOL>

Hate to be a party pooper, but what you have in the pic is not a scots pine, but some type of picea.