Boyer's Blah Blah Blog

The Best Teacher I know

2011-09-01T15:22:00.006-05:00

Public service Announcement
Please don't ridicule my attempt at blogging I am not near as eloquent as Hilary!

I saw this on Hilary's Facebook wall and I thought I would share it and and a few thoughts about my wife the Teacher.

"My son still calls your class his "golden year""

This comment gave the idea to post on the not yet dead blog (Facebook has really Killed this thing).

Every time we are out somewhere we usually get a "Hi Mrs Boyer" very cheerfully I might add they truly love her and she loves them. ( I would usually hide from my teachers )

She has been nominated for teacher of the year many times. and in 2005 she won for her school. This tells me of the respect she garners amongst her fellow teachers.

The amount of contact she has with her former students is amazing to me she is friends with them on Facebook, and most of those Hi Mrs Boyer's are not from current students.

And to finally one of her former students is a Returned Missionary and starting his Sophomore year on the BYU football team.

I love you Hilary and you are the Best Teacher I have ever seen ( I am Biased get over it). I know you wonder if you do any good I can tell you do I can see it.

Keep it up

The One Where I Have My Gallbladder Removed

2011-03-18T23:20:00.000-05:00

***Warning - Some Gross Pictures Involved Here***

Friday night, the 25th of February, we went to Cara's Music in the Cafe' at her junior high school. She and the other girls who play the French Horn played a song they'd been practicing. We had light refreshments and then went for dinner to Cara's choice of Red Lobster. Who doesn't love their garlic biscuits?? After dinner I wasn't feeling well, took some Ibuprofen (which I'm really not supposed to take) and went to bed.

In the middle of the night, my back started to REALLY hurt. I've had this pain before. The pain was all the way across the middle of my back. It also hurt just below my ribs right in the middle of my abdomen. It hurt to breathe as well. I woke Bryan up and he tried to adjust my back because we thought I had a rib out. This has happened at least on four other occasions... Then I went back to sleep.

The next morning we got up cleaned the house and went to Jordyn's first soccer game of the season. Afterwards we came home to make dinner for the missionaries. We try to have them over for dinner monthly. My pain came back while we were cooking and about 5 minutes into dinner, clammy and sweating from pain, I excused myself to go to my room where I promptly threw up. Bryan found me curled up in the fetal position... With the elders fed and returned home, Bryan took me to the emergency room.

Because we just moved up here in October we weren't quite sure where the closest ER was so Bryan looked it up online and it said the closest one was Southwest Surgical Hospital. This is directly from their website.

"At Southwest Surgical Hospital, we’ve made emergency care quick and convenient. ER patients are typically seen with no wait time, allowing you to get better, faster. Why spend hours waiting in the ER at a large hospital when fast, convenient care is so close?

Our emergency room is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology, allowing us to handle any emergency that you or your family may have. We understand that visiting the Emergency Room can be a daunting experience, which is why we are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of compassion and care, making your visit to our ER as quick as possible." Sounds good, right? Not so much on a Saturday night...

We arrived and no one was there. It was oddly empty. The same nurse who checked me in was one of two nurses total at the SWSH emergency room. There was one doctor who came to visit with me. They took blood, gave me a puke bag (best thing EVER) and tried to put an IV in. I was severely dehydrated and it took three tries to get an IV going on me. Morphine for the pain and something for the nausea helped.

On a Saturday night SWSH runs with a skeleton crew. No laboratory open? Oh, we have to send your blood work to an off-site lab. It'll take 4 hours. No x-ray technicians? We'll have to call a guy to come here. He's only an hour away. Enter the guy with the portable ultrasound machine and his van with a lift. Yes, I'm serious. "Congratulations! It's gallstones..." Yikes! I never once thought that's what it might be... So now that they figured out what my problem was they were unable to help me anymore and I needed to transfer to North Hills Hospital - only a couple miles away. Bryan asked if he could take me there himself. No can do. Because I had an IV in they needed to transport me by ambulance. Seriously?

Still hanging onto that puke bag... Riding backwards in an ambulance guaranteed that anything that might have been leftover in my stomach now came out. Not my finest hour. We got to the hospital around 6 am on Sunday morning where they'd been waiting for me to arrive. The guy in the ER promptly takes out my IV (because "it's not in correctly"...) and jabs me twice more before he gets a new one in. They take me upstairs to room 522 and schedule my surgery for 12:30.

My surgeon, Dr. Husain, was loud and bouncy. He put three holes in my abdomen and removed the gallbladder laprascopically. He said it was especially full of stones. The doctor tried to release me Sunday night but I wasn't feeling very good and was shaky and weak. My nurse convinced the doctor to keep me overnight.

That night in the hospital was awful. I don't think the nurse on the next shift thought I should have stayed. I know she wasn't expecting me to stay... In the middle of the night after I asked for something for pain she would only bring me Tylenol. Really? Tylenol? They kept pumping IV fluids through me and when I would need to go to the restroom she acted like I was an inconvenience. I couldn't wait to get out of there and when the shift change in the morning came I totally ratted her out to the supervisor nurse. She was appalled and said she should've asked the on-call doctor for pain meds.

Monday morning Dr. Husain came to discharge me but after looking at my blood work and seeing my liver levels super elevated he sent me for an MRI suspecting rogue gallstones had blocked my common bile duct. My skin and eyeballs turned yellow and I looked jaundiced which was kinda freaky. The MRI showed the suspected blockage and I was scheduled for another procedure called an ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) that required general anesthesia again at 2:30 pm. To get to my common bile duct they went through my esophagus and stomach and I had to be laying belly-down the day after having my gallbladder removed. Strange. Glad I was not awake while they were doing all of this...

Here are some of the pictures they took while doing the ERCP. You can see all of the gross, "muddy sludge" and stones they took out and pushed down through to the bowels. Sorry if the photos make you squeamish. I think they're pretty cool.

I got to eat a liquid diet finally after this second surgery. Yum! I was finally released on Tuesday afternoon. Thank goodness! Wednesday went by pretty quickly. Thursday I was back to nauseous and dehydrated and ended up back in the ER getting a CT scan to make sure nothing had been perforated in the second procedure. This required three more IV sticks. That brings the total to NINE since they put in a just-in-case IV during the gallbladder removal on Sunday. Sheesh! The CT scan showed no damage thankfully.

We had many friends from church and neighbors come to visit and bring meals. My teammates from school helped me out immensely in so many ways (Lesson plans, bringing Jordyn home, Marie brought us dinner one night and Jennifer actually took me to the last ER visit until Bryan could get there) and Bryan's job gave us giftcards to help with dinners and all the time he needed to take care of me. We were definitely watched over and protected during this time. I could feel all of the prayers and the love coming right at me.

So let's see...

3 emergency room visits

2 nights in the hospital

1 ambulance ride

2 surgeries

3 doctors

1 ultrasound

1 MRI

1 CT scan

9 IV sticks (4 that actually worked and 5 blown veins)

countless blood draws

5 days out of work

Final bill????

I really shouldn't have started to add this up...

We'll gladly accept any and all donations... :)

Klingensmith Wedding #1

2010-12-12T20:45:00.000-06:00

Bryan's sister, DeAnn, had 3 of her 6 children get married this summer. Kelsey and Aaron Tucker got married at the end of June in the Jordan River Temple.

The happy couple

The Bungalow in Pleasant Grove, reception site.

Grandma &Grandpa Boyer

The oldest Boyer grandchild, Kris, getting a youngest grandchild sandwich.

The food at this reception was AWESOME and they kept bringing it out!!

Cara caught the bouquet

Jordyn needed her own flowers too... It was a great day for the family.

Warning! You may not want to scroll down...

2010-12-12T20:13:00.000-06:00

We have some friends, the Stoneciphers, that we met through Cara's YMCA volleyball team. They are awesome people. They have two daughters who just happen to be the same age as our two daughters. It just made sense to be friends. We sat by them at all the games, went to lunch together once and were invited to dinner at their house at the end of the season in June.

Here is Dave giving Cara a ride on his custom painted motorcycle. He drove her around the neighborhood and then offered me a ride. I said no thanks...

Then he offered Bryan a chance to drive the motorcycle...

The following is evidence that Bryan should have said no thanks as well...

Burns, bruises, meat scraped off his toes, wounded ego and total embarrassment were the injuries.

Thankful that it wasn't much worse!

Girl's Camp 2010

2010-12-12T19:45:00.000-06:00

Our tribe name "Mahanamakamaka" (Friends with the light of Christ)

So I was called to be the Girl's Camp director for our ward this year. It was especially exciting because it was Cara's first year to attend. She was not offically in YW yet but because she was going into 7th grade she could go. The poster above was for our fundraiser. It was a total success!

How many YW can squeeze into the Bishop's truck?

The before picture

Our Iron Chef Dutch oven masterpieces

Catching fish. Cara was really good at this!

Singing Camp songs. Some of these are the same as when I was a youth...

Leading a song at lunch time. "The Princess Pat"

Safety goggles? Check.

Sharp-shooter

Swimming on the last day of camp.

The Last Supper

I loved spending time with these girls. Especially the one in green next to me. The week was full of fun memories and I feel blessed to have gotten to go for her first year!

Hmm... I'm thinking someone was bored...

2010-07-02T20:06:00.000-05:00

The Sunday before we left for Utah one of our favorite young men sat right behind us... the next thing I knew Jordyn was showing me the sacrament program that Josh had drawn a picture for her on... She didn't appreciate the fact that he'd drawn her brain as an acorn!

Not to be outdone, Jordyn decided to draw a picture for him! Here she is holding me on her shoulders while Josh can only hold a furry dog and a furry cat on himself while he's getting stormed on. Jordyn adds that he falls over from this as well.

Then (and this one made me laugh so hard it was almost embarrassing!) the next one came over the pew. I had to look really hard to see Jordyn underneath the sumo wrestler...

Finally, Josh drew Jordyn being sawed in half by his magician alter ego.

Here is the artist himself - Josh Green. I actually think he's quite talented but maybe we shouldn't sit in front of him again... ☺
Sorry for the photo quality it was my camera phone...

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

2010-07-01T19:11:00.000-05:00

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History got a major face lift last year. When it reopened we decided to get a family membership.

My camera batteries died before long but I did manage to snap a few shots of the girls digging dinosaur bones together....

Constructing houses...

And doing some major shopping.

The museum also right now has a Leonardo daVinci exhibit that is spectacular and very much hands-on as well as a 4-D movie on Barnett Shale. The girls love the part where is shoots water out at you.

We'll be back soon!

Trampolinas

2010-06-29T18:31:00.000-05:00

The girls love to jump on the trampoline when the sprinkler is on underneath. It makes me happy when they can play and have fun together!

Cara says it looks like she's sitting on the fence in this picture!

Kindergraduation

2010-06-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

Jordyn's kindergarten year was a very good experience for her! She absolutely adored her teacher, Ms. Kennedy and learned many new things that she would come home and tell us all about. Her reading and writing skills increased by leaps and bounds. I am amazed by her progress! The end of the year culminated with a song-filled morning kindergarten graduation.

Here she is in the middle of the pack singing, "The World is a Rainbow". I remember singing this song when I was in elementary school. ☺

Getting ready to sing "A Toody-Tot" and hanging out with her buddy Nazir from Pre-K. He's a great friend to Jordyn!

This is Ms. Kennedy. Jordyn says, "She is beautiful and nice and she loves me a lot each and every day! She taught me about things like being nice to people and she loves when I listen to her. She likes to talk about things that are really good like writing center and home center. I love Ms. Kennedy two thousand!"

We love you little one.♥

Jordyn's First Straw Hole

2010-05-11T22:40:00.002-05:00

I tried my best to not be such a freak about Jordyn's first loose tooth. I really did. Good intentions...

In the end, after over two weeks of that tooth jiggling, wiggling, and tormenting me, I had Bryan hold her arms while I jerked it out quickly. I swear that tooth was taunting me. Jordyn was actually happy that I got it out - I promise.

In this photo you can see that Jordyn had been avoiding brushing around the loose tooth for awhile. Actually, don't look. It's not pretty...

Here she is with her trophy. I doubt there's a kid out there who was more excited to lose her first tooth. ♥

Stake Conference Shout-Out

2010-04-20T23:04:00.000-05:00

We attended Stake Conference on Sunday.

We expected to see old friends from 5th ward. We expected to be uplifted by some great speakers and beautiful music. We expected to have sore buns after sitting for 2 hours on folding metal chairs.

We didn't expect Cara to be mentioned in a talk. Seriously.

Sister Gennell Jones was Cara's primary teacher in 5th ward when the stake realigned two years ago. Two years ago?! She is now the 1st Counselor in the Stake Relief Society. She prefaced her comments with, "I was teaching primary a few years ago and there was a young lady in the class who, I hope won't mind me sharing this..." My ears perked up and I thought, "Could she be talking about 5th ward?" She was speaking about testimonies and she said something to the effect of how she was impressed with Cara's ability to have a strong testimony even though she was the only member of the church in her whole school. You should have seen Cara sit up quickly and look around shocked that someone would remember her! People around us started turning around and pointing even. It was completely unexpected.

It reminded me again of how blessed I am to be the mother of these two sweet girls. It brought up a good discussion about how others ARE watching and paying attention to what we say and do. It was almost as if I watched Cara's self-esteem rising. Awesome.

Sometimes I feel that I don't deserve them. We'll see how I feel after we get through the teenage years. :) And actually, we sat on the last row of cushy chairs...

Whirlwind Weekend

2010-04-12T11:39:00.001-05:00

Many months ago I agreed to go on a scrapbook retreat with some of my oldest, dearest friends. The dates happened to fall on my birthday weekend and I figured that would be a nice birthday gift for myself. As the date came closer things started accumulating for the same weekend and I started regretting the decision to go on the retreat.

Here's a list of all the things I missed while I was gone this weekend:

Bryan got tickets to the Ranger's game Friday nights. Jordyn managed to make it through a whole game and they even stayed for the fireworks.
My school's Family Fun Day. Only THE best school carnival you've ever seen. Complete with ginormous rock climbing wall and Cara performed a flag routine with the Ensemble girls and a dance routine with some friends.
Cara's volleyball game where I'm told she was a rockstar.
Jordyn had a friend's birthday party to go to.
My dear friend's oldest child, Charlie, got baptized on Saturday night.
Both of my daughters bore their testimonies in church on Sunday. SO sad I missed that one!

Needless to say, Bryan had some serious running around to do to keep up with the weekend's activities...

While I did miss out on way too much family time, I did enjoy myself immensely.

I completed all the work I took with me. I honestly didn't think I would get as much done as I did so I could've brought more to work on.
I spent more time laughing this weekend than I have in a LONG time. My face hurt from laughing not long after I arrived.
I got a break from the hustle and bustle that each weekend seems to bring whether I'm ready for it or not.
Had many deep conversations about life and children.
I actually slept in until 9:30 yesterday morning. I can't remember the last time that happened!
Bryan made dinner Sunday and Cara baked and frosted a cake for me.

It really was a great weekend! Can't wait to do it again!

All I Can Say is Wow...

2010-03-25T08:35:00.000-05:00

This is what it looks like when your 11-year-old misreads the recipe...

These are my Grandma Perkins chocolate chips cookies. Instead of a cup and a half of flour, Cara only put in a half cup... I think it's hilarious that the chocolate chips are resting on top of the flat, flat, flat cookie crisp.

Is it bad that I ate some anyway? ♥

Excuse the picture - it's with my phone camera...

Snow Much Fun!

2010-02-11T19:31:00.004-06:00

So it's nothing compared to the slamming the east coast is taking but for Texas it's a BIG deal!

Bryan says it's the most snow he's ever seen here and he's a lifer...

We've got 8 inches of snow and it's still coming down. School was cancelled for tomorrow before we even left the building today. That's a first!

Our usual Texas snowman is a foot or so tall...

Jordyn and our neighbor buddy Cole.

Just don't eat the yellow snow, right grandma?

I don't know why she thought this was so fun but she slammed numerous snowballs on her own head...
That's a full-on Daddy snow angel. Love it!

The is the backyard around 4 this afternoon. There's so much more now - it's intense!

River Trails Performing Ensemble

2010-02-10T19:25:00.005-06:00

Cara is in her school's performing ensemble. The group made up of 5th and 6th graders sing, dance and play musical instruments. The kids practice at least once a week during their recess and then every Wednesday after school for an hour. Our music teacher, Mrs. McKenna, is very dedicated. I wish I would've taken a picture of the whole group but I was focused on my own cutie...Playing the xylophone (only it's not an ordinary xylophone - it has a special name that's escaping me right now...)

Here they are doing a hand/body-slapping, stomping rhythm dance. In the background you can see the buckets the boys did a "bucket song" with. It was really cool!

Here's a short video of Cara's solo in the "Tropic" song and then everyone joining in. She really enjoys being a part of the ensemble group!

Sugar-Booger

2010-01-09T21:09:00.003-06:00

Four years ago we innocently went to tithing settlement at church. Bishop Roueche took care of business and then announced that his dog just had puppies and looking directly at Cara and Jordyn asked, "Girls, wouldn't you like a puppy to bring home to your house??" Talk about sabotage!

Two weeks later we brought home a bundle of white fluff whom the girls named Sugar. She is a Heinz 57 dog - half chihuahua and half mutt...

Cara has always been the one to take care of and love on Sugar.

Jordyn, 2 years old, squeezing into Sugar's crate (which didn't last too long because I couldn't take the crying Sugar would do when we put her in there...)

Cara and Sugar had a special bond. Having a dog has been a mixed bag. She's been a great friend to Cara all these years but recently we've decided that she would probably have a better life with someone else. Except in the summer time she spent A LOT of time by herself. We would have to remind Cara way too much to feed or water or bathe Sugar. She was constantly digging out under our fence. Do I need to mention the dog hair issue? But the worst was every time we left town we would have to ask our friends to keep her at their houses. I hated asking. Really.

So a nice woman who works with Bryan said she'd be willing to take Sugar for a trial stay with her. For a few weeks Cara was pretty resistant to the idea. We never really pressed it but each time Sugar got out or rolled in poo or tried to eat food off our table (Grrr!!) I could see she was thinking about it. On Wednesday, while Bryan was still in the hospital, she came to me and said I'm ready to let her go.

Saying goodbye this morning. Sugar has been so tolerant of Jordyn all these years, putting up with being picked up and getting her tail pulled.

This is Babs and her dog Brady. Bryan said he thought she had a few dogs already. When we got there five dogs greeted us! Five! That's a lot of doggie love. We stayed and visited for over an hour and Jordyn made herself right at home... Sugar will have furry friends and a huge backyard on a lake to run around. Babs has invited us to visit anytime we want and we're looking forward to going fishing with the Millwards in April. Babs' daughter, Amanda, has already posted pictures on Facebook for us and says Sugar's fitting right in. It makes it much easier to swallow that she's in a happy home.
We'll miss you Sugar but thank you Babs!

The Offending Appendage

2010-01-05T20:35:00.004-06:00

This actually looks a lot better than it did yesterday. It looked more like Fred Flintstone's foot then but it is now angry, red and spreading across the top of his foot.

Doctors are saying he'll be in most of the week until the redness goes away completely.

We've had a lot of support from friends down here and many kind thoughts and prayer pledges offered up to us. It means a lot. Erin helped me yesterday by driving one of our cars home from Dallas and then she, Kevin and Jacob visited Bryan tonight when they were in town. Jordyn got to play with her BFF Alexandrea Washington after school. Cara stayed home tonight to work on her homework and was visited by the Brittons. When I walked in tonight it was a major Mario Kart Wii party happening at the house and I was so happy to have such good friends.

We're praying Bryan gets out sooner than later and that all will be well with his foot.

Can You Spot the Difference?

2010-01-04T21:41:00.004-06:00

Hmm... didn't I just post this picture yesterday??

The location has changed from our comfy living room into Baylor University Medical Center - Dallas.

Not cool.

At least we're still smiling...

I'd recount the whole story but it's late, I'm tired, and chances are we're Facebook friends and you know the story already. ♥

Nothing Like a Good Nap...

2010-01-03T19:05:00.002-06:00

This is what 9 am church means to me...

Ahh... the return of the Sunday afternoon nap. Yes!

Our "Fun" Day

2010-01-02T22:07:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we spent the day cleaning and organizing the house and raking the leaves. The girls helped out readily with the promise of "today is our work day and tomorrow will be our fun day."

Anyone who's traveled along I-30 will recognize this blurry picture as the Ripley's Believe it or Not and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum. For as long as I can remember Cara has begged to visit. She's into stuff like that. We figured today would be a great day for this one.

It was full of the weird and creepy alike. They even had an exhibit of the life of Christ. That was unexpected... On a side note, it was interesting that they went from birth to teaching at the Temple to the Sermon on the Mount to the Last Supper to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Entirely skipped was the Garden of Gethsemane and the Atonement... if you're gonna do it, do it right...

Next it was off to fly kites at the park. We spent a lot of time getting a new Star Wars Millennium Falcon 3-D kite put together only to find at the park it did not want to take off into the sky. Rude! These cheap-o CVS brand kites I had in the closet for an "I'm bored" day flew like nobody's business though.

Glad we could all enjoy a fun day together at home!

Grandpa Boyer

2010-01-01T23:07:00.005-06:00

I promise to update this blog more regularly but I just had to post this video of Bryan's dad with Cara in the van on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. He thought she was letting him listen to a song but she was video taping him... So sweet!

Mac is an awesome grandfather and a great father-in-law.

Can't. Stop. Smiling.

2010-01-01T23:00:00.002-06:00

This was Cara's Christmas gift this year. A sweet, pink 8gb iPod that can hold her tunes, allow her to watch movies, has FM radio service, and make video recordings...

She loves it! ♥
We may never get her back...

The Return of Pudge

2009-09-07T16:57:00.004-05:00

Here he is! Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez! Back with the Texas Rangers!

August 19, 2009 Pudge was traded back to the Rangers from the Houston Astros. Pudge has always been our favorite Ranger and when he left as a free agent in 2002 a little sparkle left my eyes... really.

So Bryan got 6 tickets to the Ranger game on the 20th from his office and we decided to invite the Koenig girls to come with us so our girls wouldn't be quite so bored. Two days later Pudge was traded back to the Rangers and suddenly we were scheduled to be at THE game of the year! It was exciting! The crowd was electrified! The hot dogs were $1! Could life get any better? When Pudge ran onto the field and was introduced the crowd went crazy. It was a deafening roar. Well, even though the Rangers ended up losing, the game was a blast and the Return of Pudge was everything a Ranger fan could've asked for!

Here's how the girls spent the game.... See? Not bored!

Gotta love it!

Pre-K Graduation

2009-08-30T21:15:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know I just posted that Jordyn started Kindergarten last week but this is another "catch-up" post that I just couldn't skip.

She attended Hurst Hills Core Knowledge Pre-K program and learned all kinds of new things! She learned many, many new songs and poems. Her social skills improved dramatically. She can count to 100 and recognize all the letters and sounds. I could go on and on... This Pre-K program was different in that it was tuition-based ($600/month - ouch!) but it came right out of my check so I didn't really miss it AND when summer came and they stopped deducting the money it was like a huge raise. :) Besides I would have spent pretty close to the same for daycare anyway, right? It was also a full-day Pre-K with after-school care until I could pick her up at the end of my day.

Her Pre-K graduation was super cute! They walked in to "Pomp and Circumstance" wearing these card stock caps. This picture fully captures Jordyn's bubbly personality!
The children sang three songs that all had motions and hand gestures. I REALLY wish I could figure out how to post video because it was seriously precious. They sang "Each of us is a Flower", "The Three Little Pigs", and, one that I sang way back in my elementary days, "The World is a Rainbow". Here she is in her flower hat.

Being a good mom, I sent Jordyn to school wearing shorts under her dress. The kids were up on the stage for their performance so you could see Jordyn's shorts every time she raised her arms and even sometimes when her hands were down. Oops! We were probably the only ones who noticed though... :)

This is her teacher, Mrs. Mathis. She just adored Jordy. The principal at Hurst Hills, Mrs. Gallian, passed away last year from cancer. On the day of her passing, Mrs. Mathis told me that she was very upset about it and during nap time Jordyn crawled up on her lap in the rocking chair and she just rocked and rocked her crying silently. Jordyn can sense when people need a love and she was able to comfort her teacher. I love that about her.

Mrs. King, the Pre-K assistant.

Proud parents!
I checked Cara out from school to come watch the program too. One of the great perks to having your mom as your teacher! Congratulations Jordyn on a job well done!

Camping with the Dinosaurs

2009-08-27T19:28:00.007-05:00

Check out this cool tent. It was a Christmas gift from my mom a few years back and has been woefully under-used. So any time we can pull it out of the garage and go camping - we do! We spent a weekend at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glenrose,TX with our friends the Petersons and Koenigs.

Six adults+seven kids+one dog and one armadillo = lots of fun! Cooking a hot dog for dinner. The kids spent a lot of time at the fire "cooking". There's something about fire that, as a kid, is just awesome. Okay, as an adult it's still awesome... I think the most interesting thing the kids tried to roast was watermelon.

Court, Erin & I chillaxing. It almost looks like I'm asking for a refill on my plate...

So excited to be camping!
In the middle of the night Bryan ventured off to the bathroom and crossed paths with this friend. He rustled around the tent to get the camera out and snapped a quick and blurry picture of Mr. Armadillo's back end.

In the morning we ventured out to find some dinosaur tracks. Mission accomplished!

Then it was time for the river. The kids and some of the adults followed the river downstream. The water was not too chilly but the bottom and the rocks were slippery. It wasn't long before the girls went from this...

...to this...

Even Erin slipped and fell in!!

The waterbugs!
Dinosaur Valley State Park has a few ginormous dinosaur statues that originated at a World's Fair somewhere and then were shipped here. The kids were entranced.We were going to go check out a big dinosaur museum but the majority of the exhibits were outside and just as we pulled into the parking lot we were caught in a downpour and decided against that idea. It was a great time with great friends and lots of laughter and memories!

So happy together!

2009-08-24T21:09:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day of school. I've been back for a week now doing "teacher things" but it was the first day with students and, hence, the girls first day. This will be the only year all three of us are together. It's really actually very exciting that I don't have to drop anyone off or pick anyone up this year! Cara is in 6th grade, Jordyn is in Kindergarten and I am firmly planted in fifth grade. :)

Here are the annual first day of school photos...

Little Jordyn in front of her kindergarten classroom. Doesn't she look so tiny?

Too much...

2009-08-24T20:33:00.006-05:00

So, I haven't blogged for a LONG time. Mostly because I'm so overwhelmed with things to blog about and it was easier to just avoid it altogether... I feel kind of bad because my visitors number is still going up and I imagine the disappointment when there is nothing new here.

Just get ready because I'm gonna get it all on here and anyone out there can read at their leisure. With that said, here is a list of future blog posts:

~~Camping trip~~
~~Jordyn's Pre-K Graduation~~
Rainforest Cafe celebration
Piano Recital
Bathroom Renovation
Bear Lake
Helper Cousin Visit
Cara's birthday
~~the Return of Pudge~~
and more...

Jonas Brothers + Oldest Daughter = Heaven

2009-06-30T13:03:00.000-05:00

My first guest blogger is a lovely, talented soon-to-be eleven-year-old girl. Her name is Cara. You may have seen her featured on this blog before… (Any comments from her mom will be in blue.)

This is no ordinary post. This one is about what happened on June 20, 2009 from 7 to 10 pm. My birthday present. This is about my night with the Jonas Brothers.

It all started during the school year, when my friend, Pheobe, the crazed Jonas fan, mentioned their first show of their world tour and how she had gotten tickets to it. I began to feel very jealous of Pheobe.

Ok, now skip ahead to June 19, day before the concert at the new Cowboy Stadium. I asked mom about going to the Jonas Brothers concert in San Antonio on August 13, my birthday. My mom said they were all sold out. But then she said she would check on EBay. (I really did not want to drive to San Antonio...) Sure enough, there they were - Jonas Brothers tickets. Except that these were tickets to the concert tomorrow night!!! And they only cost $60.00 for 2!! (This was a STEAL! They were tickets on the floor! When we got them the face value of the ticket was $85 for one...)

Next night. We are on the road and it is packed so my dad dropped my mom and I off on the side of the road by the new Cowboys stadium, we took a couple of pictures in front of it, and walked in. Inside we looked over the edge and were amazed at what we saw. Did I mention that we got floor seats?!
When we got to our seats, Honor Society started playing. Then about 30 to 60 minutes later, Jordin Sparks sang about 4 songs. (No Air, Tattoo, One Step at a Time.)

Then, we waited 1 & ½ to 2 hours for the Jonas Brothers to perform. (I don't think it was really that long but it felt like it...) When they came on stage everyone was screaming. We stayed in our seats for about 20 minutes and then moved closer so we could see better.
This was a cool rotating stage they played on.
The two above pictures were taken of the jumbo-tron screen. The one below was with my camera of the stage. We were close! (I didn't bring my camera but now wish I had to get better pics for Cara...)

The back of someone's t-shirt...They sang, in order, Paranoid, Poison Ivy, Live to Party, Play My Music, That’s Just the Way We Roll, Fly With Me, A Little Bit Longer, Much Better, Year 3000, Tonight, Gotta Find You, Turn Right, When You Look Me In The Eyes, Sweet Caroline, Hold On, BB Good, World War Three, Battlefield(Sang with Jordin Sparks) (AWESOME!), SOS, Lovebug (my favorite with cool waterfall action...), Before the Storm (Sang with big surpise guest Miley Cyrus), and Burning Up. In the middle, they showed a video of Joe Jonas dancing to Beyonce’s song Single Ladies in a leotard! The video is at the end of the post. At the end, my dad came and picked us up around 10:50 pm. We got home at 12:00 pm. (It took us FOREVER to get out of the parking lot and drive less than 4 miles to our house...) But I had had the best night of my life.

Thanks Mom! You are the BEST!

Fruit & Veggie Co-op

2009-06-29T12:43:00.004-05:00

My ward started a fruit and vegetable co-op several months ago. The cost is $20 and they make a run every other week up to the Dallas Farmer's Market. You never know what you're gonna get but it's always a fun surprise.

So what does $20 get you this week??? When it's all boxed up like this it feels like Christmas morning opening presents...

Here it is all pulled out and sorted...
...tons of apples, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cherries, red peppers, corn, cantaloupe, lettuce and a pineapple. If anyone local out there wants in on the co-op, it's open to anyone. The more, the merrier!

I'm pretty excited about the pineapple because of this handy unitasker I got at the most recent Pampered Chef party I went to. It's called a pineapple wedger.It's just like an apple wedger but larger and makes fresh pineapple SO, SO, SO easy! It cores and slices the pineapple for you! I pink, puffy heart it so much! It says it is also useful cutting cucumbers and pears but I haven't tried that yet...

With the red peppers I'm gonna make this tasty dish I found on this blog awhile ago. It is delicious and makes a TON. Seriously. If you're taking dinner to someone this recipe will make a 9x13 for them, a 9x13 for you and some to take to that single sister you visit teach as well.

Ingredients:

12 oz. grilled chicken breast (marinate in olive oil and garlic salt overnight, then grill on barbecue for best flavor)

½ pack thick bacon

48 oz. (3 boxes) penne pasta

2 large red bell peppers- diced

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp paprika

Gratinata Sauce:

2 tsp butter

2 tsp chopped garlic

1 cup Marsala wine OR 1/3 cup apple juice + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar +enough chicken broth to equal 1 cup

1 tsp Dijon or dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chopped rosemary

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

8 cups heavy cream

Directions:

Saute garlic in butter in large pan. Add Marsala wine, mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and heavy cream. Let it reduce down or the sauce will be too runny. (Learned the hard way...)Cook pasta according to directions. Cook bacon. Slice chicken into medium-bite size pieces.Combine sauce, cooked pasta, diced chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, Parmesan cheese, and paprika and mix thoroughly. Spread in pans. Top with chopped rosemary and mozzarella cheese.
Bake @ 475 for 10 minutes. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator the day of. Cover with foil and bake @ 375 for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes.

Number Of Servings: Yields one 8×8 and two 9×13 casserole dishes.Preparation Time: More than an hour

Enjoy!

A Special Surprise

2009-06-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

Funny Story.

We were out for an ice cream on Wednesday night and got a phone call from Bryan's dad who is on a mission in Oakland, CA.

"Where are you guys? I called your house...". Bryan answered that we were just driving around and the next reply was, "Good, then you can go pick up a stranded sister missionary from the airport!"

Sister Galli was on her way home to Argentina when her flight was delayed getting into Dallas (sound familiar?) and she missed her connecting flight to Buenos Aires. The airline offered her a hotel room since they only have one flight a day to Argentina and the soonest she'd leave was the next evening.

Apparently she was distraught at the idea of an entire day by herself in a hotel and tried to reach her mission president (in a mtg.), his wife (no answer), and finally the temple visitor's center where she got Sister Boyer on the phone. ☺

So what do you do with a sister missionary for a whole day? The girls were initially a tad distressed over the whole no TV, radio, Wii thing but got over it pretty quickly...

Here's a rundown of the day:

Make homemade waffles and fresh fruit for breakfast
Look at Sister Galli's missionary farewell book with Grandma & Grandpa's picture and letter in it
Wash Sister Galli's clothes (since she'll have to wear them all day today and tomorrow too...)
Ballet lessons from Sister Galli
Take Sister Galli to the park and have swinging contests
Spanish lessons from Sister Galli
Go to lunch at On the Border (because they don't have Mexican food in Argentina. Who knew?)
Play Pictureka and Disney Trivial Pursuit with Sister Galli
Sing every song learned in Pre-K for Sister Galli
and finally, take her back to the airport for her flight back to her family!

It was a fun day and a great experience for the girls and I!!

San Diego Part 2

2009-06-19T14:07:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we went to the harbor to take a tour of the USS Midway. It is a Naval air craft carrier that is docked at the Broadway pier in downtown less than a mile from our hotel. The Midway was launched in the 40's and continued to serve the Navy all the way up to and including Desert Storm. It was decommissioned in 1992 and then was turned into a museum that opened to the public in 2004.

It's hard to get a full-length picture of the USS Midway. It's that big. Visitors can tour the ships bridge, flight deck, hangar deck, mess deck, primary flight control, Tactical Flag Command Center, enlisted and junior officer quarters, the captain's and admiral's quarters, sickbay and an engine room. Additionally, over 25 restored WW2 and postwar naval aircraft are on display in the hangar and on the flight deck including the Top Gun Plane and the type of Huey my dad used to fly. We took the self-guided audio tour that's provided and stopped at 60 different points of interest.

It was actually very intriguing and educational and I learned that while my father was stationed in Korea in 1976? he flew touch-and-go's off the USS Midway. Very cool tidbit! If you're really interested there is a website with tons of photos here.

This is the view from the flight deck of the Midway in the foreground is the statue called "Unconditional Surrender" (lol) of the famous photograph of a kiss in Times Square on V-J Day in 1945 when WWII ended. You can see how large it is with the tiny people surrounding it. In the background is the Coronado Bridge that we took to our next stop.
We went on to Coronado Island for lunch and a trip to the beach. We ate at a Mexican place called Azul Coronado where Bryan enjoyed the swordfish tacos. He says they were delicious... Any time I see a sign that says Gelato, you can bet I'm gonna stop... :)
Another friend I teach with suggested we check out the Hotel del Coronado. It is a beautiful beach resort on this island off the San Diego Bay. It's got these red turrets that are gorgeous. We walked all the way around this hotel to get the big picture. Shops, weddings, surfing, multi-pedal bicycles... you name it. Pretty darn cool.

We drove down the coast past the Naval Amphibious Base to get to a little less crowded area and stopped at the Silver Strand Beach. It was awesome to walk into the Pacific Ocean, see the seaweed wash up onto the shore and feel the powerful undertow.

After all the walking at the zoo and miles traveling through the USS Midway and the walking all over Coronado Island, I was beat. Dead dog tired. So my honey took me to see this...

So, so, so good! It was an awesome way to end an awesome trip! Our flight home was much less traumatic, the girls were happy to see us and sleeping in my own bed again never felt so good.

San Diego Part 1

2009-06-17T14:09:00.016-05:00

So, after such a stinky start to our vacation, Bryan and I got some much needed rest and began Day Two of our trip.

On a hot tip from our niece, Amanda, to have breakfast at Richard Walker's Pancake House on Front Street.

This is what Bryan got - Applepancake. It's more like an apple pie you eat for breakfast. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I spent most of last night researching how to make this at home because it was GOOD! Seriously. It kind of deflates when you dig in but the effect of the puff pancake was awesome.

Next we headed to the San Diego Zoo. It is huge. Just huge. We got there and took a 40-minute zoo bus tour to get a feel for the place. 40 minutes. That's big. They have a sky tram that takes you from one side of the zoo to the other and we ended up riding it three times. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of some of the zoo life.

We spent about six hours at the zoo and probably walked ten miles and finished it off with the sea lion show. Here's a clip of the little girl who was lucky enough to get a kiss from the sea lion!

After the zoo, we changed at the hotel and went to the San Diego Temple . It was gorgeous on the inside and outside. Very, very cool. There's an atrium at the top and a grand staircase that is unbelievable! By the way, my skirt was STILL wet from our airline fiasco the day before... :)

After the temple session we found a German restarant (again - thank you GPS!) called Kaiserhof Restaurant. I had the Schnitzel with spaetzle, cucumber salad, bread and green beans and Bryan got the Rouladen and red cabbage. I was in heaven!! Yum!

Every Day's an Adventure

2009-06-12T00:41:00.005-05:00

If you know my dad at all you know all about this 'thing' he does. He does it every time - without fail... You say, "Hi! How are you today?" and he says, "Every day's an adventure!" Really. Every time. It's actually quite endearing.

Today Bryan & I had an adventure of the boring and frustrating kind.

Back in February we were planning to fly to Utah to attend Bryan's parent's mission farewell. We went to a Boy Scout spaghetti dinner/silent auction and bid on 2 Southwest roundtrip tickets to the destination of your choice. Obviously we won the tickets. Then we discovered that the Boyer's wanted the girls to come too. (Of course they did - who wouldn't want to see those two cuties???) So we ended up driving the whirlwind trek to Utah in March and ended up with 2 unused tickets to anywhere we wanted.

Bryan and I haven't been on a vacation alone together since before Cara was one. I know. It's sad. So after much thought and debate, we decided on San Diego. We made arrangements for the girls to split our time away with Suzy & Courtney (thanks you two!), packed our bags and planned a VACATION!

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30 am and we had to be to Dallas by 7 which means leaving the house by 6:15 which means waking up at 5:30... So we had the girls spend the night with Suzy even though we were still in town the night before we left.

That night we were treated to a ginormous thunderstorm complete with tornado warnings and massive lightning. When we left for the airport the roads were clear and the rain had stopped - apparently only momentarily. We got to the airport and found our flight was delayed and then eventually cancelled because the storm picked up again quickly and the plane from Austin that we were getting on couldn't land. They had to go back to Austin! What? It was, it seemed, the storm of the century.

To make a LONG story short we had to trade out our tickets twice and finally got on a plane at 2:20 to Albuqureque, NM where we found ourselves delayed again!!! We left there at 7 pm and suffered through young babies whose poor ears wouldn't pop and two drunk guys on the plane who had foul mouths and dirty minds. Fifteen hours later we arrived in San Diego. Phew!

Picked up our rental car and a Garmin (GPS is a beautiful thing!) and checked into the gorgeous Westgate hotel. The lobby smells like roses and is a re-creation of one of the anterooms in the palace of Versailles. It's right downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp Quarter and boasts such former guests as Sean Connery, Katherine Hepburn, Robin Williams and Richard Simmons (ha!).

When we got to the room and opened our suitcases we discovered that they were soaked through! Apparently our luggage sat outside in the rain the whole morning in Dallas Love Field. Really? They couldn't bring it in? Or cover it? I mean SOAKED. Our room looks like a laundry mat exploded when we finally had everything laid out to dry... and we lost a whole day of plans.

But, we made it. We're here and we're together. That's really all that matters.

Today. . . . .

2009-05-20T20:22:00.009-05:00

Today. . . . . I am copying Lynne's blog.

Today. . . . . I actually showered before Bryan. He's usually the first one up and smelling fresh and clean whilst I stumble around bleary-eyed trying to get the children ready for school before I take care of myself...

Today. . . . . As I was dropping Jordyn off for her ride to Pre-K she did the whole puff-your-cheeks-out-and-swallow-a-gag-like-you're-gonna-puke thing. In someone else's car. I panicked, jerked her out quickly, took her to my school where I called Bryan to pick her up and stay home with her (I'm out of sick days...). The doctor says it's a virus. Great.

Today. . . . . I wished Jordyn had strep - for the sole reason that it can be treated with antibiotics and be a memory quicker than quick.

Today. . . . . I edited 45 biography/research papers. Ask me anything you want about Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, or Eleanor Roosevelt. **Note to self - next year no multiple biographies allowed - first come, first served...**

Today. . . . . I intercepted no less than 5 notes - one of which would make a sailor blush scarlet - and worried more than ever about the world and what's happening around us.

Today. . . . . I talked to Cara about the difference between the "New Testament" the Gideon's handed out at school and the one we use at home. Why do we need to dumb down God's word? We don't. I love that girl.

Today. . . . . I finalized plans for Enrichment Night next Tuesday. Oh, you didn't know I was released as Primary President last month? Hmm... Could it be because I haven't blogged in over a month? Yes, Enrichment Leader now...

Today. . . . . I played Mafia Wars on Facebook. It's slightly obsessive, I know. Blame my sister, Alison.

Today. . . . . I am thankful for my friends whose blogs I still stalk every day. Even though I might not leave a comment - they are read, they make me smile and I feel connected to you all from my peeps close by to those hundreds of miles away. Thanks.

Lastly, this horribly grainy picture taken at the end of "Today" is for Samantha. Love you!

It's Bluebonnet time in Texas!

2009-04-11T09:34:00.013-05:00

If you're from the great Lonestar State you know what I'm talking about.

It's the annual search for the best spot to take your children's picture surrounded by the state flower, the bluebonnet! Seeing vanloads of people stopping on the side of the highway to snap photos is a common occurrence and this year was no different.

Suzy and I decided to try our luck yesterday since it was a school holiday and she's never taken bluebonnet pics (which very well could be illegal around here...).

We found a great spot off Spur 408 and Grady Niblo which allowed us to park under the overpass and shoot pictures somewhat below the highway which ended up being much safer! :) It was a little too windy and was kinda chilly but most of the pictures turned out super cute.

Dancing Fever

2009-04-02T21:50:00.004-05:00

Our school district started to participate in the Dancing Classrooms program last year. Every elementary school's fifth grade class gets to have 10 weeks of professional dance lessons during their PE time at school. You might have heard of Dancing Classrooms from recent movies like "Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas.

It's a good thing.

It has been so fun to watch the students go from "I don't want to dance at school," and barely willing to touch a member of the opposite sex to every one of the kids wanting to be on the special dance team made up of twelve students who represent the school at competitions!

Cara has really enjoyed learning all of these dances. The kids learn the Merengue, the Waltz, the Swing, the Tango, the Rhumba, the Fox Trot, a Heel-Toe Polka and the Cupid Shuffle. The culminating event for the 5th graders is a performance for the school during the day and an evening performance for parents which was tonight.

The gym has horrible lighting so the pictures aren't that great... Here's Cara introducing the Merengue where "the hardest part is keeping the party in the 'basement' and the 'upstairs' still." Ha!

Dancing the Fox Trot with Mikko who looks to be counting the steps. :)And here she is dancing the Tango with Michael. What a fun night!

If I can figure out how to upload video to the blog I'll add it soon!

Cough, cough, hack, hack, wheeze, wheeze

2009-02-25T21:08:00.004-06:00

Wondering where I've been lately??

Me, too.

It's not pretty, folks. I've been battling what was diagnosed as bronchitis and then turned into pnuemonia. It knocked me down - hard. Ask the girls. Thank goodness for Bryan. Seriously. I'm slowly getting better. The cough is the worst because I cough so much it gives me a huge headache. By the end of the day I'm done.

I'll try to post soon.

Pajamagram Plug

2009-02-08T18:26:00.004-06:00

I am a serious pajama girl. If I could live my whole life in pajamas I would give it major consideration... I'm not sure pajamas in church would go over well.

So, Bryan got me a pair of pajamas for Christmas. He ordered them online from a website called Pajamagram and, bless his heart, he thought I would enjoy this particular footed pair.

I might actually like them - if I were 50 pounds lighter and looked like this jammy model... As it is, I tried them on and they left nothing to the imagination. Every lump and bulge said, "Hello!" to everyone in the room and the fanny flap (that, as a bonus, can be embroidered with your name) wasn't very easy to manage.

Because he is a good man, Bryan encouraged me to find a replacement pair of pajamas. Pajamagram has a great return policy and so after I checked out the website and all they had to offer, I exchanged them for this pair.

This is more like it. They are SOOOOO comfy cozy. The fleece is soft and snuggly and the ribbon trim around the ankles, wrists and neckline reminds me of my baby blanket.

In a word: Yummy!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

2009-02-01T00:43:00.022-06:00

I have a love/hate relationship with my girl's hair.

I love it when it's clean and fabulous-smelling. I love it when they let me actually "do"it. On the other hand, I hate it when it already looks ratty five minutes after I just "did" it. I hate it when it's so long it becomes unmanageable. A certain 10-year-old I know still needs help washing it and only puts conditioner in it under death threats.

Jordyn has had issues growing hair, period. She's had exactly two trims in her five years on the planet so far. She's been begging for a hair cut for a LONG time now and Cara finally consented to a hair cut for herself. So, despite just getting over a stomach bug that forced me to leave school early on Friday (that's another story... I'm just glad I didn't hurl in front of my students... can you imagine the mental scarring that could've inflicted??) we set off to the magical land of Kool Kuts for Kids.

Jordyn's before. A windy afternoon...
Cara's before.

That's some long hair!

We went at the best possible time because the girls got right into the chairs and it seemed like people just streamed in behind us. Jordyn entertained her self by watching Barbie's Prince & the Pauper and Cara got to play Star Wars Lego on whatever game system they have there.

Without further delay, the finished products...

Jordyn's after. A sleepy smile...

Cara's after!!

Isn't that adorable?! They cut off 12 inches of hair that Cara is going to donate to Locks of Love. She looks so grown up! It's crazy to me how time is flying so quickly. I was pleasantly surprised that Cara loves her new 'do. So far there is no haircut remorse and I hope it stays that way. ♥

Knock-knock. Who's There? Old Lady.

2009-01-31T22:07:00.003-06:00

So, Jordyn's latest yellow face on her behavior calendar at school???

It's a good one.

"Yodeling in the bathroom."

Yes, I know. Only Jordy...

Old Lady who? Yo-del-a-hee-hoo.

Head West Young ... wait ... Old People.

2009-01-28T21:32:00.005-06:00

I hacked into Hilary's blog to post Extended Boyer family news.

We just got off a conference call with my parents and all my family while my parents opened their mission call. They have been called to serve in the Oakland California Temple Visitors Center. They report to the MTC on March 16th we are very excited for them.

Congratulations Mom and Dad.

Love the Texas Boyers.

Ice, Ice Baby

2009-01-28T16:27:00.003-06:00

I doubt I've ever seen school cancelled the night before an ice storm but there's always a first time for everything... I got the call last night from my team leader who told me to sleep in!

So, what time was I up?

7:15. The girls were up and outside checking out the "winter wonderland".

Nice, I know... I did however, refuse to get out of my pajamas until noon! Bryan didn't have to leave for work until 10 am. It was great! :)

Seriously.

2009-01-13T23:00:00.005-06:00

It seems like every time a look at Cara lately she's got a different book in her hands.

"That's just my personality, Mom."

I can balance two books at the same time but she's got FIVE going on right now... As Jordyn likes to say, "Wha?"

First there was this one. She's reading the unabridged version (of course)...

Next, there was this one... I've been trying to get her to read the Percy Jackson series for a long time but she didn't pick it up until her friend at school suggested it... Go figure...

Then there's this one... gotta love Eragon. The movie didn't do this book justice. Do they ever?

And this one she read aloud at least three times after her first initial reading. Once to me on the drive home, once to Jordyn before bed, and once to Darby when Suzy's kids came over to play...

And, finally, some light reading... "My second grade teacher started to read this to us but never finished. I just needed to find out how the story ended."

She just flip-flops back and forth between books depending on her mood like it's nothing... hmm...

You win some. You lose some.

2009-01-13T22:40:00.004-06:00

There's a girl in one of my classes...

She's a hard-worker. She asks questions. She's a smart girl. She really, really tries.

Yet, she's borderline failing. How can that be?

I'm not a diagnostician, but I'm 99% sure she suffers from dyslexia. All of the common markers we, as teachers, look for are there. Reversal of letters, atrocious spelling, last one to finish, not able to easily decode words, struggles matching up correct sounds with letters, etc...

So, I send a note home requesting permission to do a screener test - to see if I'm correct or if something else is the problem. Mind you, there is a problem.

Her parents are NOT interested in labeling their child. They don't want something as horrible as dyslexia in her file.

This is only the 5th grade. Her coping skills have taken her this far but, I've got news for them, it only gets harder from here.

The dyslexia training would give her a new set of skills. It could be the difference between being a C/D student who wouldn't dream of college (because it's too much work) and an A/B student who moves on to higher education.

I sometimes just don't think parents are able to see the big picture. We're too busy trying to protect our children that we don't see that we're hurting them.

I really believe these parents will look back on this later and say should've, would've, could've. You know?

There are much worse labels I can think of...

Like failure, wasted potential, or drop-out.

My current label: frustrated.

Could you tell?

Happy New Year.... VOMIT, VOMIT, VOMIT............

2009-01-04T19:01:00.008-06:00

Round 1 - 5:00 am - New Years morning Hilary calls to me from the girls room, "I need you." As I was coming to consciousness I heard "fluid" being poured into a bucket. The "fluid" was the contents of Jordyn's stomach.

Round 2 - 5:30 am - Everything has been cleaned up. We (Me, Hilary, and Jordyn) are settling back into our bed now, with bowl in hand. Again, more comes up from the tiny stomach. Strip our bed of sheets, take them to the garage for cleaning, and set Jordyn up on the couch with a towel under her to catch anything we don't.

Round 3 - 6:00 am - Here we go again. This time we are more prepared. Can you see a pattern? The poor child wretched every 30 minutes from then on. Eventually, obviously there was nothing left in her belly but the heaving continued. She got pretty good at knowing when to sit up and find her bowl. This lasted until about 10:00 am.

I went to bed about 7:00 am and slept until 9:30 and then it was Hilary's turn to sleep. She slept until 12:30. Needless to say we were very tired on Thursday.

Below is a picture of how Jordyn spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

So NOT normal!!
This is a girl who hardly sits down, ever.

Hilary took Jordy to the Dr. on Saturday thinking she might be dehydrated and need an IV (she had eaten half a piece of toast and some water since Thursday). The Dr. said she had Strep, gave her a shot for that, and pretty much said nothing about the PUKE.

We did notice a change in her for the better Saturday night. Sunday she has pretty much returned to normal. Thank goodness.

Hopefully the rest of 2009 is better than Days 1-3.

Happiness Is...

2009-01-02T12:27:00.001-06:00

Can I get an amen?

Silent Night, Holy Night

2008-12-31T00:08:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite photos this year was taken at our Stake Nativity.

My little angels joined by the Koenigs, Manns, Petersons & Teemants.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

2008-12-30T23:35:00.012-06:00

Our Christmas in pictures for your viewing pleasure...

The results of a gingerbread house Family Home Evening, truly a group effort.

Our traditional Paintbox Christmas Cookies. Yum-O!

Our little bit-o-everything Christmas tree right after Santa left.

The gifts Cara and Jordyn bought for each other... :)

The Parks mall had $5 ice skating on Christmas Day. We had a blast! Cara is quite the skater and, well, Jordyn hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. But there's always next year!

A Thanksgiving to Remember

2008-12-30T22:32:00.012-06:00

We asked Bryan's brother, Trent, to come down over Thanksgiving to help him put a new roof on our house. My in-laws decided that sounded fun and they came too. We don't get too many visitors around here so we welcomed the company.

The boys got up on the roof to investigate what they were dealing with. Here's what they found...

10 layers of shingles.

Most houses have one or two. We thought we had three and that was pushing it.

They decided they did not want to take off 10 layers of shingles and we would hire professionals to take care of the roof. At the time it sounded like a good idea.

So, after the next morning's soaking rain that leaked all kinds of havoc into our house, they tarped it all up. Now, no roofing company is going to do the job until it warms up a bit... I'm sure I'll update that situation when I have better news...

My girls love Uncle Trent. He's tons of fun to play with and talk to. Ask Jordyn... :)

We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner (if I do say so myself)! The only thing on the wish list of food that didn't get made was the mincemeat pie my father-in-law asked for. It's not on my list of specialties - yet. But everything else was delicious especially the turkey that Bryan was in charge of.

The next day we braved the mall and went to Dick's Sporting Goods where Cara and Trent scaled the rock climbing wall. She's tried it once before but only made it halfway up before letting the heights get to her.

Getting the gear on and instructions from the wall workers...

Trent made it up the advanced side of the wall in record time.

Cara made it all the way up to the top of the beginner's side. She did AWESOME!

Grandma & Grandpa Boyer are turning their mission papers in (if they haven't already) and we're glad they came to visit before they leave. We love you!

Leven Thumps author, Obert Skye

2008-12-10T21:31:00.002-06:00

Recently Cara got to meet Obert Skye, author of the Leven Thumps books. When I say recently, what I really mean is October but who's keeping track anyway??

If you haven't read these books, they are quite enjoyable. It's about a land called Foo where "nothing is impossible". So the fourth book, The Wrath of Ezra, came out on September 30th and he happened to be in the DFW area on October 2nd!

He actually spoke at several schools in my district the same day (including the one Cara used to attend before I took last year off and the one Jordyn goes to now for Pre-K) and Cara and I were sad to learn he came to River Trails last year and we missed him... There was an on-line podcast I showed in class where he gave kids some great advice to "Dream Big and to Be Great" and two other things that I can't remember because it was way back in October, allright?

BUT Bryan took her to Barnes and Noble to see him that night.

They stood in line for a LONG time but when it was her turn he signed her book and poster and offered her some candy from Foo. Normally I don't condone taking candy from strangers but, hey, it was from Foo... Before she went, we practiced lots of things she could say to him like, "I'm LDS, too." or "I think Clover is the funniest character." but alas, she said nothing. He was very nice and Cara was star-struck, I think. :)

The picture is from Bryan's cell phone but the look on her face says it all!

Happy Mega-Late Halloween

2008-11-23T15:38:00.005-06:00

So, I had a request for Halloween pictures from my friend, Tobi, at Army Wilkinson's...

How lame is it that these are all I took???

Seriously.

On the way home from trick-or-treating with the Gee's in White Settlement... Her name should be Sleepy instead of Snow White...

Candy Face. Enough said?

Cara was Hermione from Harry Potter again. You can see her Hogwarts tie in the photo. Long story.

She wanted to be Padme from Star Wars but all we could find was this costume.

Sorry, too sexy for a 10-year-old, in my opinion. Searched and searched for an alternate.... Thought she might like to be a jedi knight instead. Nope... that didn't work...

...so even though this is last year's picture, this is how she looked again...

Thinking about doing a staged photo shoot for my little princess - we'll see...

Five Fun-Filled Years

2008-11-18T22:40:00.005-06:00

Happy, Happy Birthday Jordyn, Dear...

You have brightened our lives immeasurably, little one. You have lots and lots of love to spread around. You make us laugh every day. You are a ray of sunshine in this world!

You and your 'noculars.

Harriet Potter

One of your most creative pieces of art...

The scariest week of our life was when you had RSV at 2 years old and were the tiny girl in a bubble. Thank goodness for bunny...

Bluebonnet Beauty

The awesome stroller at the themepark in Branson, MO.

3rd birthday - 2006

There's no place like home... my favorite smile.

4th Birthday - 2007 Princess 'Tea' Party

You are sure growing up nicely, Jordyn.

I lub you.

No, My First Name Ain't Baby....

2008-10-23T22:36:00.003-05:00

....it's Janet. Miss Jackson if you're Nasty!

Flashback.

1990.

Rhythm Nation 1814 Tour.

Frankfurt, Germany.

Me, Samantha, Chris, Laurie, Ryan (and probably other really important people that I'm forgetting. Shar, were you there?)

It was awesome - to say the least! I remember Ryan and Chris just dancing all night. I'm pretty sure if I tried hard I could remember the distinct odor of sweaty Europeans. I remember laughing and singing and staying up so late driving home.

Now Flashforward.

Last night.

Rock Witchu Tour.

Dallas, Texas - American Airlines Center.

Me, Suzy, Janet. Again.

Janet and I are both eighteen years older now and we're both a bit chubbier but she worked it! The dancing was awesome. There was a lot of choreography from the music videos that was easy to recognize and made it so much fun!

Bryan was able to score tickets for me to the concert. His company has season tickets to EVERYTHING at the AA center and when the family he works for isn't using the tickets they offer them up to the staff. We've seen things from sporting events and the Ringling Brothers Circus to Blue Man Group and the Harlem Globetrotters for free - with parking passes. I know, it's a sweet perk of his job.

I was fresh off the disappointing news that New Kids on the Block (my first concert ever!) tickets were offered but they were playing on a Sunday, when Bryan called and asked, "How much do you love me?" I knew it was something good and I was RIGHT!

The concert rocked! An incomplete list of songs that I can remember:

The Pleasure Principle

Control

What Have You Done for Me Lately

You Want This

Alright

Miss You Much

Come Back to Me

Let's Wait Awhile

Nasty

Doesn't Really Matter

Escapade

Love Will Never Do (Without You)

When I Think of You

All for You

That's the Way Love Goes

Black Cat

Rhythm Nation

Runaway

She also played at least 4 songs I didn't recognize from her newer album as well. The costume changes were fabulous. And did I mention she danced her tail off? Aside from one of Bryan's co-workers who was extremely inebriated and one racy, S & M influenced song (yikes!) it was fun, fun, fun and brought back memories of my fellow 'Bergers.

Major points, hon. :)

5 Things Tag

2008-10-23T06:40:00.000-05:00

Got tagged by my niece, Amanda :)

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Had a newborn daughter. Cara was born in August.
2. Was living in Taylorsville, UT
3. Working the over-night shift for First Security Bank in the balancing department
4. Had been married for two and a half years
5. Was nearly convinced that no one would ever hire me for a teaching position

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. Field trip to the Amon Carter Museum of Art in Ft. Worth
2. Jordyn soccer practice
3. Pick up Rx from Kroger all the way across town
4. Hook up replacement Dish Network DVR
5. Finalize details of Mock Election I'm in charge of at school on Monday

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Marshmallow Popcorn
2. Lemon Poppyseed Bread
3. Chips and queso dip
4. Kit Kats
5. Brach's candy corn and pumpkins

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay off all of my parents and in-laws debt and bills
2. Pay off our debt
3. Travel Europe with Bryan
4. Take my kids to Disney World
5. Upgrade the living quarters and hire a cleaning service - Pronto!

5 places I have lived: (just five??? There's MANY more!)

1. Ft. Ord, CA
2. Ft. Rucker, AL
3. Heidelberg, Germany
4. Provo, UT
5. Arlington, TX

5 jobs I have had: (again I had to pick and choose...)

1. HYA Summer Camp Counselor
2. BYU Bookstore - Twilight Zone Cashier
3. Rustic Inn Motel - Moab, UT
4. First Security Bank - Teller/FSR/Balancing
5. 5th Grade Teacher

5 people I tag: (I can't remember who's done this one...)

1. Suzy
2. Samantha
3. Shar
4. Tobi
5. Gwen
...or anyone who want to!

The Orange Folder

2008-10-13T13:09:00.006-05:00

This calendar is in Jordyn's orange folder. It's a way for her Pre-K teacher, Mrs. Mathis, to communicate with me about Jordy's behavior every day at school.

She made it through all of September with green smiley faces. But because I know Jordyn so well, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and, as you can tell, it seems it has.

Her first yellow face, on the 3rd was for being "disruptive at group time - out of seat being a dog." Sorry, but that cracks me up. It's very Jordyn-like.

The other, on the 8th, was a green face until at the end of the day it was crossed out and became yellow. This time Mrs. Mathis needed more room and wrote her note on the back that says, "playing with friends around her 'spanking' them. I asked her to stop, settle down & pay attention but a minute later she slapped Drew really hard on the bottom." We had to have the 'it's never okay to hit your friends' talk...

Jordyn is a ray of sunshine. I don't want to squash her personality or try to get her to fit into Cara's mold (although that would be a lot easier for me...) but trying to get her to understand that there are better times to pretend to be a dog - say, at the "home living" center - is difficult. She is very stubborn and head-strong (I haven't a clue who she gets that from...) and she does not handle being disciplined well.

It's a good thing she's so cute because it's pretty darn hard to be upset for long at this face.

My Top Five

2008-10-11T22:46:00.004-05:00

Top 5 reasons why I haven't blogged recently...

5.) Teaching Language Arts, Reading, Social Studies to some awesome kids this year (1st 6 weeks done!)
4.) Rainbow Roses soccer
3.) Primary Program preparations
2.) Bryan's minor surgery in the nether regions - probably TMI...
1.) Did I mention teaching??

So tired... must rest... I promise to try a little harder to be a little better...

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

2008-09-25T21:22:00.003-05:00

YOUR REAL NAME? Hilary Anne Boyer

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name> plus'izzle') Hilizzle

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal) Green Tiger

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street) Anne Natches

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name) Boyhiper

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Red Rootbeer

YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (Men: father's middle name and mother's middle name-Women: mother's middle name and father's middle name) Faughn Lauster

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your {current or former} pets) Black Sugar

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Lady Town & Country

NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Tom William

TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Willie Waterloo

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Summer Daisy

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing rightnow) Cherry Cami

HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Cheerios Magnolia

Give it a try... it brought a smile to my face.
:)

Rainbow Rose

2008-09-21T13:56:00.008-05:00

It's begun. Soccer season. Jordyn gets to play this year and I'm ready!

Jordyn plays on a team of all girls called the Rainbow Roses. She's not the fastest player out there but I'm quite certain she's the most enthusiastic...

These were the smallest pair of shorts we could find (funny, huh?) and she didn't like the feel of a tucked in shirt so we went with the tied in the back look. On a hot tip from Suzy I found cleats at Kid to Kid for $7.55. Sweet!

Jorydn played the entire game, running up and down the field. I think it's the most continuous exercise she's ever gotten and she did really well! Bryan, Cara and I had an awesome time watching her have SO much fun and cheering her on from the sidelines.

She got to play all three positions - forward, defender & goalie. When I asked her what the best part of her soccer game was she said, "Running around and getting the ball! Mom, did you know you can't touch the ball with your fingers? If you do Coach Jack said we have to run around the ball 3 times..." I love it.

Pre-K Princess

2008-09-15T21:35:00.001-05:00

I tried to get Jordyn into the Core Knowledge Full Day Pre-K program that my district offers before I started working this year. It would be tuition-based, meaning I'd pay for it, but it's just a little more than I was already paying Suzy to watch Jordy.

No dice. She was #20 on the waiting list and good luck, sista.

They called!! She's in!!

Before school

She's already been attending for a week but factor in my copious amounts of free time and you get a post with pictures today...

She's been singing songs, has her own packpack (as she calls it), locker, and nappy mat. In full day Pre-K they are mandated to have a one hour rest time - thank goodness!

Last week they had a unit all about apples. Johnny Appleseed, graphing apples, counting apple seeds, painting apples, apple pie, apple juice, applesauce, etc... Trust me, we heard a lot about apples. So far today she's sung songs about little fishies in a line and the G-R-E-E-N song.

After school

Look how small she looks here... my little girl...

It's good stuff!

An Update

2008-09-15T21:13:00.003-05:00

Here's a better photos of my niece, Maya. Look at all that hair!!

Thankfully, she's home from the hospital and doing fabulous!

With big brother, Thomas, right after birth.

Meet Maya

2008-09-08T22:03:00.002-05:00

This is my newest niece, Maya Emery Garcia. Don't let those tubes distract you.

She is Jill & Jared's little miracle. They've been married for 10 years now. They had Thomas right away - he just turned 9 - and then no news for years and years after that...

Now they have Maya and I'm SO sad that I live so far away. She was born Friday night in Tooele and as you can see has TONS of dark hair! A few hours after birth the doctors sent her to stay at Primary Children's Medical Center's NICU in Salt Lake because she was having difficulty breathing. She's now being treated for pneumonia and is scheduled to stay for a seven day course of antibiotics.

Everyone I talk to doesn't sound too worried. So I'm going to take a page from that book and just be excited for her arrival and send my prayers and positive thoughts that way!

Love you Jillian!

Child Labor??

2008-09-08T21:57:00.005-05:00

Look who Bryan got to mow his lawn last weekend.

She LOVED it.

Look at this hot and sweaty face... She's been begging to cut it again already.

You know he's gonna milk that one next summer, right?

I was going to blog but...

2008-09-08T21:53:00.004-05:00

...I had to catch up on all of the posts I've missed these last few weeks.

Seriously. How does anyone who works blog?

P.S. Like the red nails? hee-hee

First Day of 5th grade

2008-08-26T22:04:00.002-05:00

So, here she is.

The day finally came and went. I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that she's in fifth grade... All these years I've taught fifth grade and now she's one of my students. That's odd too. But good. We'll see how I feel about it in a month - but for now, it's good. I'm so tired right now (gotta get used to that work schedule again...) that I only have time to post a few pics. Below is a fun and unexpected surprise from the Popcorn Factory that was delived to the school on Monday from the sweetest hubby in the world. I'll try not to eat it all the first week... kidding... maybe...Yummy popcorn, peanuts, chocolate coated pretzels, Jelly Bellys, chocolate chip cookies, and fudge cups. And to think I was going to start my diet soon... hmm... maybe next week! :) Thanks, hon.

Time to Face the Music

2008-08-14T17:38:00.003-05:00

So, yes, I am going back to work.

And, no, I don't want to talk about it.

Okay, I'll talk about it...

It's all about the benjamins. We've tried to make it work as a one income family but we're just squeaking by. If we didn't have so much debt maybe I could continue to stay home for at least one more year but we'll never get out of debt if I'm not working. It's a nightmare of a Catch-22.

This is River Trails Elementary School. It's in the same school district I was in before I took a year off. I'll be teaching 5th grade language arts and social studies there. It's a fairly newer school (2002) and is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Oakwood Terrace where I spent my first eight years teaching both economically and academically.

I tried to get back on at Oakwood mostly because I knew them, they knew me, I know the drill, etc... but they rezoned and actually lost a teacher unit. The cool part is when the principal at River Trails heard I was looking to come back she actually called and recruited me on the phone. All before I even submitted an application. That's a very nice feeling.

Cara will be going to River Trails with me and Jordyn is on the waiting list to get into the district's full-day Core Knowledge (tuition-based) Pre-K program but will be with Suzy for now. I've been doing "new" teacher meetings and inservices and am quite sad to see my freedom running down the street but I am excited about change and new challenges.

So there it is. I've gotta remember to use the crayons I have in my box to make the most beautiful drawing I can...

Happy 10th #2

2008-08-13T16:49:00.008-05:00

I thought I would add to the CARA Worship today on your Birthday. I have added a few of my favorite pictures from the supply I have here at work. You are truly a blessing to our family. Yes we do consider you a miricle.

I love your Cotton Candy Mustache! Thanks for the picture Uncle Trent.

This is right before you got a bloody nose (from your knee). We still had fun though...

This was really cool you look just Hermione awesome costume.

I love you CARA!

DAD

Double Digits Already?

2008-08-13T06:50:00.001-05:00

Happy 10th Birthday Cara!

You've been walking around for two weeks now giving us a countdown until your birthday...

"Four more days, Mom! Then I'll be 10, Mom. Don't you feel old, Mom?"

No, honey. I still feel like I did on that day ten years ago when you came from heaven to join our family. It really does feel like yesterday. Your birth brought so much joy into our lives. Daddy and I weren't sure we would even be blessed with children so imagine our delight when we found out we were going to have a baby. You were our first miracle.

I'll spare you the newborn pictures. Those first few months are blurry in my memory... Feedings, diaper changes, gallons of spit-up and crying stand out though. By six months old you were much happier and so, so adorable.

By age two you were very talkative and already had many books memorized. "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" was a favorite. Your love for music and singing also started early on.

When you had your tonsils out Grandma Davis flew down to help me because I was sure it would be traumatic for you... I was wrong! By the next day you were eating potato chips and we had this "pink" picture taken of you two days after your surgery...

Your fourth birthday party at Chelsea's Tea Room was so much fun! Even though you're not smiling in this photo it's one of my favorites of you. You have always been a child who doesn't ask for much. You're happy (most of the time) with whatever you are given and I appreciate that!

Our special announcement for Grandma & Grandpa was super fun. It's doubtful that anyone could have been more excited to be a big sister than you were! You told everyone and anyone who would listen what was coming up for you.

I love that you love science! I'd like to think I had a little to do with that... It's really something that you are very gifted with. You love to ask "Why?" and that little question is the reason you are so smart. Don't ever stop wondering why...

You take your role as big sister very seriously. Thank you for being a friend and example for Jordyn. She thinks you're fabulous, you know. So do I.

The sheer number of books you've read amazes me. I love that we share many of the same favorite books. You finished the Harry Potter series before you turned 9... I love that you'll bring a book into my room and just want to be near me while you read. That we have that connection is awesome, Cara.

You are growing into a beautiful person but don't grow up too fast... You make me want to try harder to be a better mother and I love you for that.

Thank you for being willing to try new things. You can do anything you want to do if you just work hard and continue to practice. Believe in yourself. Trust in the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Munchie. We love you all the way around the universe and back!

Just in case you missed my Olympic highlights...

2008-08-10T17:14:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd share...

Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime??

2008-08-04T17:08:00.002-05:00

Well if your last name begins with a B and ends with an OYER then you are at the pool!!

A bunch of our playgroup friends from our former ward all bought pool passes to the city pools this summer. It has been a sound investment! My original reasoning for spending the money on pool passes was that if we weren't at the house it wouldn't get messy - and to a certain extent that's been true. But even better than a clean house is water-loving kids who look much healthier with a little sunshine and always come home from the pool tired and ready for an early bedtime. ☺ It's nice that I get to socialize with my friends too.

I have one week left of my summer before I'm going to be going back to work. We're going to enjoy it!

The 2008 swimming crew: Beans, Boyers, Jeffords, Koenigs, Petersons, Wurtz' (and Allens not pictured...)

The Never-Ending Weekend...

2008-08-03T21:10:00.003-05:00

It all started Friday with a 5 AM wake-up call to leave the house by 5:30 to get to my doctor's office in Dallas by 6 for a 7 AM appointment. Yes, you really do need to arrive that early... Normally when I have a 7 AM appointment I'm home by 10 but things went swimmingly and I made it home around 8:15. Sweet!

Hung out at Suzy's house for awhile since I had to pick up my children - Bryan dropped them off on his way to work... Went home to try to get some cleaning done because I knew I'd be otherwise engaged on Saturday. Then watched Suzy's kids while she ran some errands. The kids always play well together and get along great, so that's nice.

Then it was off to Jennie Jo's surprise party that was disguised as a "Game Night". It was a lot of fun and we ended up staying so long that afterward I just went to buy my copy of Breaking Dawn. Let's face it, it was the most important thing to do on my list that day, right?

For such a big fan of the series, I had no game plan for getting my copy... My friend, Sandee, went to Borders and got a wristband. She asked how many people had reserved copies of Breaking Dawn and the clerk told her over 300! People with wristbands would be served after the reserved list was taken care of. My Twilight friends around here bailed out of going at midnight so I took myself to Wal-Mart. I'm not a huge fan of Wal-Mart. I can usually get better deals elsewhere... But I knew they would have it.

When I arrived at 11:30 PM I expected to see a long line like there was for the Harry Potter release. I found nothing. No sign. No line. Nothing. I asked the clerk running the self-checking area if they would be releasing it at midnight. He didn't know what I was talking about so he radioed the manager who confirmed that they would have it up front by the registers. I stood there by myself for about 10 minutes and then was joined by another Twilight fan named Stephanie (who asked my age and felt better about herself since she was only 23 and I was obviously a much older fan...) and then Sandee came close to 11:55. I called to let her know there was no waiting behind 300+ others and I was home by 12:15! It was fabulous.

I stayed up until 3 AM reading and then woke at 7:30 to press forward. Minimal distractions and forced feedings by Bryan were the only interruptions and I finished around 3:15 PM on Saturday. There were a couple times during the book when I thought to myself, "Okay, this is where Stephenie Meyer will jump the shark..." but overall, I closed the book feeling pretty satisfied with the story and how it ended. We'll talk later about that, I don't want to spoil it for anyone...

Housework, dinner and preparing Sharing Time for the next day (yes, I waited to put the last parts of Sharing Time together until after I was finished with the book... Are my priorities out of whack? Nah...) then kept me up until 11 PM and we were up for church by 7 this morning...

Phew! I'm tired. I need to rest up before I start reading it again... ☺

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

2008-07-30T10:13:00.015-05:00

My friend, Suzy, has had her niece, Grace, & nephew, Curtis, staying with them for the last 3 weeks. They will be heading back to Utah soon and she wanted to do something "Texan" with them before they left. So I suggested the Stockyards. How is it that we can have lived here for nine years now and we've never been? We turned it into a fairly major field trip with three brave women 'herding' eight rambunctious children through downtown Fort Worth.

We took the train to Fort Worth and then transferred to a bus that took us to the Stockyards. You can buy a day pass to ride the trains and buses in any direction for $3 per person. That's a steal of a deal! The novelty of riding the train is always something the kids LOVE to do so to ride the train AND the bus for the kids was awesomeness supreme!

On the train with Gracie & Curtis. I think Cara was doing her 'tough girl' face...

"The Fort Worth Stockyards is the history book of the livestock industry in Texas and is a one of a kind location with many unique attractions. It is the only place in the United States that has a daily cattle drive! Texas Longhorns are driven down East Exchange Avenue which is right in the heart of the Stockyards. For the history buff, museums and historic locations are plentiful to learn about our great history, from cowboys to cattle. Along the way, there are Texas Trail of Fame bronze makers in the sidewalks throughout the district." Cara loved to identify the stars and tell us what she learned about them in 4th grade. The cobblestone streets and rustic shops made you feel like you stepped back into the West.

This horse is named Gotch (as in got'cha) and his cowboy is the lead in the cattle drive.

The kids all got to pet and watch the cowboys do show tricks with their horses. This is Lil' Texas and he was smiling for us in this picture. His cowboy cracked his whip over and over for the begging children.We staked out a prime viewing bench and ate our sack lunches. This is right next to the Texas Cowboy Hall of fame and across from the Stockyards museum. Waiting for the cattle drive to start...Here they come!Check out those longhorns! Aren't they cool? They were just feet away from the kids who were mesmerized.
And there they go...
The water tower for the train that still runs through the Stockyards.
Thank goodness we didn't have to ride to Ft. Worth on one of these...My cowgirls.

Three tired mamas. Erin, Suzy & I.

It was a long, hot, fun, relatively cheap, and informational trip. I learned you can do the same train/bus deal to get to the Ft. Worth Zoo and the Botanical Gardens too. We'll have to do that with Bryan sometime.

P.S. I forgot my camera so all of these photos are courtesy of E & S. Thanks girls!

Who's Your Mama?

2008-07-23T10:04:00.002-05:00

I think this is no surprise to anyone... ☺

Who's Your Mama 2?

2008-07-23T09:44:00.003-05:00

This one shocked me though...

Me A to Z...

2008-07-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

My niece, Amanda, tagged me...

A = ADVOCATE FOR: Reading to your children
B = BEST FEATURE: My eyes (but I've been told that my "long, slender fingers" are nice)
C = COULDN'T DO WITHOUT: My family, Books, the pool
D = DREAMS AND DESIRES: To be able to stay home for good, to be financially secure
E= ESSENTIAL ITEM: my new handy, dandy planner
F= FAVORITE PAST TIME: reading, playing with the kids
G= GOOD AT: blowing bubbles, listening, making cookies
H = HAVE NEVER TRIED: karaoke (don't even ask...)
I = IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: pay off debt, take the fam to Germany, Austrailia, Tahiti
J = JUNKIE FOR: Junior mints
K = KINDRED SPIRIT(s): my crafty club & Cara
L = LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I used to wear 2 bras to play basketball in highschool. Imagine how many I'd need now... no, dont...
M = MEMORABLE MOMENT: April 25, 1996; August 13, 1998; November 19, 2003
N = NEVER AGAIN WILL I: use expired sunscreen
O = OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: Cheesecake Factory's Crispy Chicken Costoletta
P = not sure where the P went...
Q = QUOTE: "Every day's an adventure!"
R = REASON TO SMILE: Bryan's laugh
S = SORRY ABOUT: forgetting Trent's birthday
T = TAG SOME FRIENDS: anyone who wants to!
U = UNINTERESTED IN: Lost, sorry guys...
V = VERY SCARED OF: home invasion, public speaking, calling people I don't know
W = WORST HABIT: singing like an opera singer when I yawn (according to Cara)
X = X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: Hawaii
Y = YESTERYEAR DECADE OF CHOICE: Live in the now, people!
Z = ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

My Little Cheerleader

2008-07-13T22:25:00.010-05:00

So, I was doing Sharing Time today in Primary about missionary work. I had a suitcase out and we were packing it with all of the things that a missionary needs to take with them when they leave; white shirts, name tags, ties, toothbrush, Preach My Gospel, scriptures etc... (I even threw in a teddy bear for a cheap laugh.)

When I pulled out my scriptures I explained, "This was my first set of scriptures. I've had them for a long time. My parents gave them to me on the day I was baptized."

Jordyn's reaction was classic... no hand... volume WAY up...

"You did, Mama? Wow! You really did get baptized? Good job, Mama!! That's so great! Whoo-hoo!"

Yes, I did. Here's the evidence. ☺

Dad and I just before the baptism. This is one of two photos I have of my Grandpa Davis. I love that he is giving bunny ears to my mother. ♥ My father must have taken this picture since he's not in it. My mom made my baptism dress and the skirt and matching vest I wore to be confirmed in. As a matter of fact, she made Krysta's, Alison's & Jillian's too. She was crafty like that.

Ouch!

2008-07-11T09:18:00.003-05:00

How is it we can go on a two week vacation with almost every day spent in the sun and water and the first day back in our Texas sun they get scorched?

This was Tuesday night... Now they are golden brown... but seriously??

Posting Problems...

2008-07-08T23:16:00.002-05:00

Okay, so we've been gone for two and a half weeks and I have a problem...

Too much to blog about and no clue how to do it without going crazy.

So I've been putting it off for two days and finally decided just to post a bunch of mini-posts with brief summaries... I'm going to try to put them on in order but we'll see if that works. Otherwise just keep reading until you get to something you've seen before...
☺
♥ Hil

Thar's Oil in Them Thar Hills...

2008-07-08T23:14:00.003-05:00

My parents and my nephew, Thomas, came down to Texas for a few days because Dad had to check on some business with his brother, Ted, and their land/oil business. So the girls and I met them up in Wichita Falls to take a tour of the ranch.

It took me a long time to wrap my brain around the fact that my grandparents actually lived on the land out there... it's miles of nothing... It was neat to have dad show us around and point out places he used to hang out. There was a stocked lake that we tried unsuccessfully to catch fish in and Thomas was in critter heaven - mainly bugs but also horses, cows, turtles and huge bullfrogs! I also was able to visit the grave sites of my maternal great-grandparents and my Grandma Davis.

Mom's birthday fell while they were here and I took her to get a pedicure. ☺ And I got to make Father's Day dinner for Dad and Bryan too!

Tooele (Too-will-uh)

2008-07-08T21:33:00.004-05:00

We spent June 23-29th with my parents in the thriving metropolis of Tooele, Utah. That sleepy, little town is getting SO big. It's crazy!

My folks always try to have some fun stuff planned for when we visit and this year was no exception. Highlights include:

Monday: Chillin' with the fam. Sidewalk art. Sprinklers. Marathon Scrabble.
Tuesday: Church History Museum of Art. (There is a fabulous children's exhibit called "I am a Child of God"!). Private BBQ and swim party at Jill & Jared's work HQ.
Wednesday: Hogle Zoo (see below post.)
Thursday: We cleaned out the huge shed that has been storing mom & dad's things in boxes since they moved from Heidelberg in 1995. Found lots of childhood treasures and memories! Went to Amanda & Beau's endowment in Bountiful.
Friday: Wall*E. (not my favorite movie ever...)

A great week!

The Davis Family takes over Utah's Hogle Zoo...

2008-07-08T21:21:00.003-05:00

We love to go to the zoo! It was a hot, sweaty day and by the end we were all tired but happy.

Must-see animals on the list were:
Cara - The Ghost of the Bayou (white crocodile)
Thomas - red pandas (just saw Kungfu Panda)
Jordyn - elephants
Rusty - zebras
Tyson - giraffes

I also ran into an old friend from high school at the zoo. Our group split up for lunch and as I was just about finished eating, Cara came running up the hill to find me. "Mom, the umthanksforsharing lady is here!" What? She repeated herself 3 times before I figured out what she was talking about... My friend, Sue Richardson's, blog is called 'Um, Thanks for Sharing' and she was at the zoo as well! She recognized the girls from photos on my blog and talked them into going to find me. :) Thank goodness I got to see her there as best laid plans to visit during the Boyer week fizzled out... It really was good to see you Sue!!

A few more Walker Wedding photos...

2008-07-08T20:45:00.002-05:00

These were ones I took. The previous pictures were from DeAnn's computer since I wasn't able to upload my own. These were so good I couldn't resist...

Bear Lake 2008

2008-07-08T20:30:00.002-05:00

26 people.

That's how many people we had crammed in ONE condo. There was a lot of love squished in there with us! ♥ (We were just missing Scott, on a mission in Taiwan, and Amanda & Beau, on their honeymoon.)

Bear Lake 2008 Highlights:

Jet Skis
ROOK
Volleyball
Mini-golf
A better cooking duty plan :)
Sandcastles
Boyer family historical biographies
Rip-stiks
Family Baseball Game
Staying up past midnight every night giggling
GOLF tournament
BGA (Boyer Golf Association T-Shirts)

Walker Wedding #2

2008-06-29T18:42:00.003-05:00

My niece, Amanda, got married this week to a great guy named Beau Bramwell. They both took out their endowments Thursday night in the Bountiful Temple. Bryan & I had been in Tooele since we arrived in Utah and hadn't seen any of the Boyer side yet. So when we met for the 5:30 session it was the first time we'd seen them for awhile. Could there be a better place for a family reunion?This cutie squeezed into a crack at the Salt Lake Temple where they were sealed on Saturday morning. It was a tear-jerker of a ceremony and the Temple Sealer gave some really great advice. I can only remember a thing or two about our sealing so every time we get to attend someone else's wedding, it's a nice reminder.

The reception was held up Provo canyon at Conrad's Ranch and was beautifully nestled up in the mountains. The food, family and fun atmosphere was perfect.Cara with her girl cousin closest to her age, Taylor. They always have fun together.Jordyn followed Amanda around the whole night. She said Amanda looked like a princess and kept reminding anyone who would listen that "Amanda is MY cousin!".The happy couple leaving under a bridge of sparklers. Congratulations Amanda & Beau!!

On Holiday...

2008-06-28T23:52:00.002-05:00

We've been in the thriving metropolis of Tooele (pronounced Two-Will-Uh), Utah for the past week, attended the wedding of our niece, Amanda, all day today and will be in Bear Lake all next week.

There's been very limited internet access for us and I'm SO tired tonight that I can't even think about true updates but I thought I'd throw it out there...

~Hil

A great man

2008-06-17T13:53:00.006-05:00

My friend, Aubrey's, father, Bob VanDrimmelen, passed away suddenly on Saturday afternoon. We just got back from his funeral service today. I love the fact that in our church a funeral is always a celebration of life and an "I'll see you soon" and not really a goodbye.

Aubrey and I have been friends for a long time. Her husband, Jon, was our home teacher for at least a year. The first time he came over Cara, who was still pretty young, decided to hit him in the head with an empty 2-liter bottle. Nice, I know. Can you believe he kept coming every month? Jon & Bryan worked together for a year in an accounting office here in Arlington. Our kids love and play with each other very easily. When I needed a babysitter quick I could always call Aubrey. When we wanted to get out of the house, they were always up for a game night. They moved to Ft. Worth two years ago and we don't see them nearly often enough but one easy way we kept in touch was through her parents.

Bob was the stake Sunday School President. Jody is the stake Relief Society President. When our stake got all crazily realigned in April, we were lucky enough to end up in their ward. The Vans had us over for dinner just last month. Sister Van is someone who can make the impossible look easy. She's a fabulous public speaker. She is service-driven and always has a smile, hug and a "How are you, sweetie?" for me. In a ward that we knew practically no one in, that was exactly what I needed.

Brother Van was a master teacher. He had a knack for making you look at things in a completely different way than you'd have ever thought of. One time (before the realignment) he was teaching Gospel Doctrine (for his calling) in our ward. I'd read the assigned chapters ahead of time and was all prepared for what I thought the lesson would be... He turned it all around and asked how the temple related to the chapters. It was an "a-ha" moment for me.

By the number of people and cars at the church today you'd have thought it was Stake Conference. It was obvious to anyone there that Brother Van has touched many lives for good. I'm thankful that I got the chance to know and love him.

When things like this happen close to home it is always a good time for reflection and self-analysis. I've spent a lot of time thinking about my own parent's mortality as well as the things I can work on in my life to be more like Christ. Life is a blessing indeed.

Not sure what to think...

2008-06-10T15:45:00.004-05:00

Last night I had a weird dream.

I dreamt that Paris Hilton dyed huge chunks of my hair multiple neon colors. I know, odd.

Then her mother came to comfort me (as I was clearly distraught) and combed through my hair with a magic brush that erased all the colors. Her words, "That Paris! She's always such a kidder."

I don't normally remember my dreams. It's rare indeed when I do. Wonder why this one stayed with me??? Seriously.

Last Day of 4th Grade Party!

2008-06-05T11:41:00.004-05:00

The 4th grade teachers rented a 21-ft. water slide for the last day of school party. How cool is that? I doubt we'd have been allowed to do that at the school I was teaching at... They're also having a blow-out pizza party for lunch. Can you say excited? Cara was!

Here she is going down the slide. ☺

Six Word Memoir Tag

2008-06-04T21:02:00.002-05:00

My friend Samantha tagged me for this one, but really Tobi started it all...♥

Ernest Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were-

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Here are the rules of this tag: ☺

1. Write your own six word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4. Tag five more blogs with links.

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My six word memoir:

Reading is my drug of choice.

It's true. Ask Bryan. The pile of books next to my bed is another testament. I must have a book to read at all times. I think, truthfully, it may be a little bit of escapism but that's okay with me. It can get really bad when it's a long-awaited book like each of the Harry Potter books were for me. When Breaking Dawn finally arrives (like my friend Suzy says), I'll put out a bowl of Cheese Puffs and my family is on their own until I've devoured the book!

Now I tag:

Erin

Courtney

Brandy

Sue

Stephanie

Aubrey, you're tagged too!

It's the thought that counts...

2008-06-03T10:49:00.005-05:00

Cara and I tried to make an "end-of-the-year, you-are-great, thanks-for-all-your-love" gift for her teacher.

This is what it was supposed to look like (and it was pretty close):

After two days of planning, baking, freezing, and dipping we finished them last night. This is what it looked like when we woke up this morning:

I thought they'd be really cute in a flower pot with the green foam covered in bright paper crinkles, and they were - last night... I'm relieved they fell apart at my house instead of on her desk today although I'm sure it would have been a funny sight to see.

I guess those little suckers were pretty heavy...

Plan B is to put a nice plant in the flower pot now and give that to her tomorrow.

Between the cost of supplies for the cupcake pops and now the future plant, I should've just gotten her a giftcard to her favorite store or something...

Here are directions to make cupcake pops if you get the itch! There's even a video tutorial.

TAKS-Schmacks

2008-05-28T15:27:00.005-05:00

Cara got her TAKS test (state mandated tests supposedly to help No Child be Left Behind... don't get me started...) results on Friday and did very well. In fourth grade there are three tests - Writing, Math, & Reading. She scored 'commended' on all three!

At her school last year, they gave medals to the students who earned commended on their tests. At her new school, this year, they don't do that... So, I did. Two months ago. I knew she'd do well and I wanted her to feel like her hard work didn't go unnoticed.

We had a little family award ceremony and Bryan, Jordyn & I each put a medal around her neck. Cara beamed from ear to ear. I secretly felt kind of dorky about it until she said, "Mom, if you ordered these for me that long ago that means you really believed in me!"

Of course I do, silly, but nothing's better than believing in yourself. You go girl!

Eureka!

2008-05-28T15:01:00.004-05:00

This was one of those "Why didn't I think of this ten years ago?" moments...

Cleaning out garbage cans is disgusting and gross. Who likes doing that? Who wants to do that? Not me. We try to put grocery sack liners in the garbage cans but it doesn't always happen and then you have who-knows-what in there... gag.

So after I emptied out the dishwasher, I had a flash of brilliance and loaded in the garbage cans. Two of them were too tall to slide under the top rack but I was not to be defeated. I removed the top rack swiftly and let out a triumphant cry! I will win this one! (But who knew that top rack could be so heavy??)

Totally worked. Yes.

Shots Stink - Big Time

2008-05-28T14:33:00.004-05:00

So I finally took Jordyn to her four-year-old check-up. Things get crazy around her birthday in November and then I've been dealing with my own health issues that I sort of forgot to get her well-child exam until yesterday. Yikes!

She probably would have been okay with missing it after one finger prick to see if she was anemic (she's not), a TB test in her forearm (gotta call them back tomorrow with results), 2 shots in her left leg and 3 more in her right leg. That's seven ouchies in case you were counting. It was not fun at all.

I'm starting to see the logic in getting them all over with in one visit but, man, that's a lot of trauma for a visit to the doctor when 20 seconds ago you were feeling just fine, thank you very much. You know? They asked me to hold her arms still while they did the injections so, of course, Jordyn is staring into my face with such betrayal in her eyes. It was a sad, sad moment.

(You can see where three of her shots ended up along with nice bruise...)

Sometimes growing up sure stinks. Jordyn didn't cry long at all and she left the office laughing, actually, because they gave her six stickers as a reward for being such a big girl. :)

Take Me Out to the Ballpark

2008-05-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

I got to go with Cara's 4th grade class on a field trip to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where the MLB Texas Rangers play. We've been fortunate enough to attend our fair share of games at the Ballpark but this was a visit providing quite an inside look for the kids.

Our tour guide, Darwin, admitted to us after the tour that he'd only been working there for 5 weeks but you would never had known it. He was full of baseball trivia and information. He worked very well with the kids and answered any questions thrown at him like a pro.

This is the press box. It had three levels of desks and computer ports for the media. The kids got to see where all the announcing and reporting of the games happens.
This is the locker room. Tourguide Darwin is on the left. The kids thought it was cool that the major league players relaxed in there by playing video games and cards. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised...
The team is away for a few games so their lockers were not very full. Michael Young's cubby is the corner there with the orange boxes of shoes.

The kids loved being in the dugout. Darwin explained to them all about the bull pen telephones and showed them where the manager, Ron Washington, sits.

They didn't get to go on the field, (it was being aerated anyway...) but they stood at the edge of the dugout looking out and tried to imagine what it would feel like with the stadium full of cheering fans.
They also got to go to the Legends of the Game Museum at the Ballpark. The whole upper level is a discovery kids zone. Cara was trying to find the "sweet spot" on a bat by tapping on it with a wooden hammer in the above photo.
Cara, the catcher, and her friend, Johnny, posing in a fun cut-out scene. In the lower two levels of the museum are many, many displays with some really cool baseball memorabilia. "Legends of the Game features the largest collection of baseball-related artifacts outside of Cooperstown! With over 100 items from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the story of baseball's greatest legends is told through their jerseys, bats, gloves, words of wisdom, and more. Imagine coming face to face with items that were once in the hands of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, and many others."

This is one of Babe Ruth's actual jerseys, bats, & shoes. Very cool. Tourguide Darwin told the kids about Babe playing baseball with a lettuce leaf under his ball cap.

After the museum, the kids had lunch on Home Run Porch and got to ask any other questions they could come up with. It was a great day for a field trip and was lots of fun!

Field Day Fun

2008-05-16T11:21:00.004-05:00

After being rained-out yesterday, Cara's field day was this morning. She competed in three events:

Tennis-Ups (stand inside a hula hoop and bounce a tennis ball on a racket as many times as you can.) - 1st place Blue Ribbon!
Hula Hoop - good effort!
Class Tug-of-War - 1st place Blue Ribbon!

Each class made their own t-shirts with team names. Cara's teacher is Ms. Gant so they were Gant's Gators. I thought that was a pretty cute idea.

It was a beautiful day for a nice tug-of-war...

And of course, Jordyn had to be right up in the action and watched all of the competition going on with a front row seat by Cara.

Good job, Munchie!!

Jordyn's Latest

2008-05-15T13:19:00.004-05:00

Last night as I was getting Jordy ready for bed she had me laughing so hard...

Jordyn: Mom, I have one big boobie and one little boobie.

Me: Really? Hmm... You do?

Jordyn: (Very seriously) Yes.

Me: Oh. (pause) Which one is your big boobie?

Jordyn: (Pointing at her chest) This one.

Me: Okay. Which one is your little boobie?

Jordyn: (Chin on her chest, looking down) Hey! Where did that other one go??

Smooth Criminal Walrus

2008-05-14T09:41:00.002-05:00

I hate it when animals can dance better than me... This walrus has skills!

Mother's Day Depression?

2008-05-12T22:04:00.004-05:00

Mother's Day is supposed to celebrate mothers. And it does. But sometimes Mother's Day depresses me...

In some sick way I feel guilty getting so much attention. I look at my husband and children who just love and hug all over me, telling me how great I am and making me crowns and homemade cards and in my head I'm thinking, "Yes, I know you think I'm great but I could be so much better..." I know thoughts like that aren't coming from heaven but it doesn't change the fact that I have them.

Bryan and the girls really spoiled me this year... Two dozen roses, fabulous breakfast of waffles with ice cream and berries, roast for dinner, funny cards and a game for the Wii that I've been wanting (Guitar Hero!!). Don't misunderstand, it was all terrific ~ I just felt like I didn't deserve it.

My house seems to be in a constant state of disarray, I'm tired all the time, Jordyn's been watching her fair share of videos if you know what I mean... I have good days where I get tons done and I feel like I've really accomplished something but, lately, those days are few and far between.

Then I look at my two beautiful children and I squint really hard and try to imagine seeing them the way the Lord might look upon them. They make me want to "Try a little harder to be a little better." Cara is smart, loving, compassionate, very open to the spirit, and is gaining more and more confidence in herself every day. She is a huge blessing in my life. Jordyn is funny, very musically inclined, independent, affectionate and so forgiving it sometimes makes my heart hurt. The last few nights they've been sleeping in the same bed for some strange reason that I've yet to figure out... They truly love each other.

And then I think, "Maybe I am doing something right..."

Do You Believe in Magic?

2008-05-07T14:22:00.006-05:00

I hate, hate, hate my kitchen sink.

The kitchen sink should be one of the cleanest surfaces in our home. Unfortunately, quite often, the kitchen sink is full of germs. After all, the kitchen sink sees a lot of action.

I rinse our fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, and almost anything we can think of in the sink. I drain pots and pans into the sink. I wash dishes, glasses, and silverware in the sink. I rinse out paint brushes and other crafty items that need cleaning in the sink.

I've even tossed a child in the kitchen sink for a quick nighttime bath.

I can never keep it clean enough... It's an old iron/porcelain sink with numerous chunks of missing porcelain. It has a weird brass? drain on one side that is mysteriously multi-colored and difficult to clean. It seems like my sink's favorite thing to do is absorb stains.

I've tried comet, soft scrub, and, as the Fly Lady reccommends, even soaked it with bleach but nothing worked. That is, until my friend, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, came to visit. This thing ROCKS!

A quick swipe with the Magic Eraser and the yucky grime that used to be impossible to get rid of is gone! I know the 'after' photo still doesn't look that great but it really is a 100% improvement! My bathtubs come clean. Scuff marks are removed from doors so easily. The grossness that can sometimes build up on the lightswitches - gone! I love me some Mr. Clean. It's a piece of foam heaven. Seriously.

** A side note: The magic eraser should not be used to clean people... I heard about a child with "chemical burns" from a magic eraser and looked it up online. Apparently it's similar to a very fine sandpaper and the burns were actually caused by friction, not by any chemicals in the Magic Eraser. The company insists they are non-toxic. **

Iron Man Fan

2008-05-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

We saw Iron Man last night with Brandon & Suzy.

I've never read the comic book and actually don't remember seeing any previews for the film either but they said, "Free movie?" and Bryan & I said, "Heck, yes!". I guess that's my way of saying that I had no expectations of what the movie should or shouldn't be, as opposed to, say, a Harry Potter film or the upcoming Twilight movie...

Two words: Awesome! Okay, that was one word - but still... Awesome!

Robert Downey Jr. was great in this role. His dry humor and wit were perfect. Jeff Bridges was fabulous and I loved the bald look he's sporting. It had action and laughter. It had brains and brawn. Great, great movie! If you're looking for something to do this weekend - check it out!

And if you happen to see it at Studio Movie Grill, I highly recommend the Brownie Sundae. :)

Our Love Story

2008-05-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

Bryan & I recently celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. Twelve years already? TWELVE? A dozen years gone by and it feels like yesterday that we were newlyweds.

We met while I was attending BYU and Bryan was going to UVSC. He lived in an aprtment that was very close to the Y and, therefore, he and I were in the same BYU student ward, the 3rd ward. It might seem a little strange but in most BYU wards they divided the wards into 'families' so that you can have Family Home Evenings. Bryan was the FHE 'dad' and my roommate, Mindy, was the FHE 'mom' so we frequently met together at our apartment.

From our kitchen window we could actually see directly into Bryan's apartment living room. It was a little difficult to see anything past a disconcerting hazy (dirty!) spot that clouded much of the window but that didn't stop us from looking...

My roommate, Aleena, had a huge crush on Bryan's roommate, Jeff, so she talked me into asking them out on a double date. Bryan and I had a lot in common and, of course, I thought he was cute so I agreed. We planned this whole elaborate date, (BYU-style, if you know what I mean - and if you don't it means cheesy...) that revolved around the letter B. We made them a poster with some sort of poem on it to ask them out detailing our plans for Bowling, Banana splits, and Blockbuster.

All of my scrapbooking friends know how painful it is for me to actually post the following layout I made of our first date with my horrible handwriting and extensive use of markers... but, embarrassing as it is, I am glad I have it.

There was another group of people at Regal Lanes that night on a video scavenger hunt who were looking for people on their first date. They talked to us for awhile and documented the action. I've always thought it would be so cool to find that tape someday... This was probably the only time in my life that I had a higher bowling score than him. Bryan absolutely LOVES to tell people that I asked him out first...

To make a long story short, Aleena and Jeff never went out on another date but Bryan and I saw each other every day after that. He was very upfront and honest about his medical issues. He'd just finished a round of chemotherapy and had lupus which was wreaking havoc on his body. (It's actually a tremendous miracle and blessing that we have children now.) I did have people question the decision to be with him but I gave them all the same answer, "You don't choose who you fall in love with." I knew this was it very early on and so did Bryan. We were engaged in December.

Sometime in January, maybe February?, Bryan's kidneys failed and he was put on dialysis. The doctors did surgery to make a fistula in his arm but until it was healed and large enough to work he had these tubes inserted into his jugular sticking out of his neck that they did dialysis through. They are a little hard to see but maybe you can see them in this photo. It was fun to see the different looks Bryan would get when we went out in public... many, many double takes...

His health improved very quickly on dialysis and we continued to make plans for an April wedding. The dialysis tubes were a challenge to avoid in our engagement picture but I told the doctors they had to OUT by our wedding day! They did remove them the day before... phew!

Our wedding day was the best day of my life. Nothing went wrong, all of the people we love were there, and my parents didn't have to set up or clean up! I loved every minute of it! It feels like yesterday, really.

Since then we've gone through our share of challenges:

Bryan's many other surgeries (his kidney transplant - 6 months after our wedding, appendectomy, removal of his fistula, a hernia or two, removal of a non-functioning kidney, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting...
The house above our apartment burning down in Dec. 1996 and smoke-damging everything we owned and, no, we did not have renter's insurance... lesson learned.
Unemployment
Bryan's long and drawn-out college career
Moving so far away from our families

But we've weathered them together, hon. So here's to the next twelve!! I love you.

(To all my blogging friends: I'd love to read about your love story sometime!)