Four Princesses and Prince Creed

We're back! Check out Creed's first Sacrament Mtg Talk.

2012-01-31T23:37:00.000-08:00

Little Baby Lover

2010-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got a little girl who loves babies. My big girls have always loved stuffed animals and would play with babies but nothing like Cadence. She just loves babies! Whether they're real or baby dolls...she can't get enough of them.

Cadence trying to hold cute cousin Madison

Holding baby Asher. Every time he comes over, she has to get her turn holding him. She is so cute with him--patting him and being soft.

"Holding" baby Raegi who's almost as big as she is.

Her baby doll she got at the King Christmas Party

The cute little water baby my mom got for her with their matching nightgowns. This one is her new favorite. She's such a cute little mom.

Cindy Lou Who

2010-01-17T20:59:00.001-08:00

Last week Rachel came home with a note saying that her class was one of the classes that earned a "No Tardy Party". For this event, they got to wear crazy hair or a crazy hat that day and have a parade through the whole school. Rachel was so excited to do some crazy hair again. She wanted to do what we did last year, (Pippi Longstocking) but then I found some fun Cindy Lou Do's online. She saw them and was sold.

We think it turned out pretty cute!

School is in!!

2009-09-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Actually, school has been in for almost a month but I finally decided to sit down and do a post. It's been awhile. Rachel is loving second grade and has the nicest teacher. Tomorrow she gets to eat a special lunch with her teacher and get a special doughnut for reading 100 words in less than a minute. She's doing great in school but still comes home saying recess was her favorite part of the day.

Rachel's 2nd day of second grade

Elena is doing great in first grade. Yep, you heard right, first grade! We got her tested and the teachers encouraged us to push her up a grade. After a lot of prayers, fasting, we felt that this was the best route for her. She loves it!! It's so fun to see her thrive in her classroom. She's very shy and I've had to remind her to speak up when she's talking to the teacher but I know she'll get over that soon enough. I get to volunteer in both of their classes which has been nice.

Elena's 1st day of 1st grade

Creed had to hop in!

Creed has recently met his "new best friend" Gavin. Gavin and his family just moved into the cul-de-sac bringing friends for all of us. The first thing Creed says when he wakes up in the morning is, "can I have some milk?". The second thing is, "I want to go to Gavin's house." We have to remind him that he needs to eat breakfast, get dressed, make his bed, wait for Gavin to wake up, etc. before he can go over. They have their fair share of fighting but are so excited when they see each other. On Sunday, Creed asked if he cold go play at Gavin's. I reminded him that we don't play on Sunday but he'll see him in nursery. He begged to go to nursery the rest of the morning! We don't go to church until 12:30.

I don't think Creed could have gotten any dirtier

Cadence is getting so big. She has decided she doesn't want to walk as early as our other kids did, but I'm not complaining. She is a mover though. She can crawl up our staircase fast! We have to watch her pretty closely. She's still quite the mama's girl although she is better at going to her daddy now. She's developing such a cute and fun personality and is starting to mimic all we do.

Cadence found a new love---Pizza!

Ben is SOOOOOOO busy with work, church calling, etc. He did get to go down south for a few days for the elk hunt. His sister had a tag so he was there to help find and pack out. They found plenty of elk but didn't get one until he left.

I ran a half-marathon last month! I did it in 2:03 which was about 8 minutes faster than my practice time. Ben and the kids were all at the finish line with a dozen long-stemmed roses! It was a great feeling to be able to accomplish my goal. My next goal is to do a sprint triathlon probably in March.

Hopefully I'll be able to sit down more often to blog. Life is busy.

Portland Quick Trip

2009-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Ben here... Just got back from a quick trip to Portland, OR. We haven't been back since we moved in October. While the whole family wasn't able to go, I flew back for a whirlwind two days to attend a friend's wedding and visit as many people as possible.
I spent Friday night with our friends the Rileys. Nicole had their baby almost 4 weeks early on Wednesday, but they still let me stay in the baby's room... there was even a big bed already set up for me! Somewhat crazy, but Jeremy and I were up at 5:15 the next morning to go golfing in Woodland, WA with Jason (a good friend from OHSU). Don't worry all you moms, Nicole was very gracious to let me steal her husband and Jeremy was heading home to let Nicole take a nap.
I was then off to the first Catholic wedding that I've ever attended. Teresa Christianson is also a good friend from my job at OHSU and it was her big day. The church and bride were beautiful, the groom was ecstatic and the ceremony rather special. So much symbolism involved! Luckily, I had another friend from work to help explain all the rituals, rites and symbols. The dinner (chicken, asparagus, and prawns) was amazing, as was the after-party. --Quick note to anyone getting married: they had a photo booth at the reception that was quite a hit. You know, the booths where everyone crowds in and you get a strip of photos. The bride and groom then get a cd with copies and a slideshow of all the pics. Very cool.--
I ran up to OHSU Hospital this morning and found a few friends and acquaintances; somewhat nostalgic, but cool to see the unit where I worked for 5 1/2 years. Finally, I cruised over to Aloha to join our beloved Aloha 1st ward for Sacrament Meeting. It just happened to be Justin Ashby's mission farewell. I taught Justin a few times in Sunday School; it was neat to hear him give such a powerful testimony. There are now 9 missionaries from the A1 ward and will be 10 in 3 weeks when another recent grad heads out. Awesome!
I made it home to Logan and our empty house at 6 this evening. As Heidi and the kids are in Las Vegas (kind of a long story), I took off to go visit a bunch of people in the ward. There's good people everywhere! More stories to come... This weekend is the start of many summer activities for us. Good times!

A fine day indeed…

2009-05-25T22:12:00.001-07:00

Today was a rather pleasant day. We had both a mix of sunshine and rain today in Logan, although the rain only made the air smell wonderful and helped us enjoy the sun even more!

Daddy got breakfast in bed, we all slept in and then it was outside to play! We went to Willow Park with our friends, the Bishops. Nice playground for the kids, plenty of space to play catch or run around, and the girls even found a few puppies to play with. Other than Cadence and Creed getting a bit pink from the sun, it was a good time.

Ben then went to help a friend from the ward clean his new house before moving in this weekend, while Heidi and the kids had quiet time. It just feels good to help someone else, even if it means stretching one’s self to clean a ceiling!

The evening was filled with BBQ, good conversation and a serious game of Ticket-to-Ride. The kids were tuckered out, but that’s how it should be.

Ben was on-call for work all day, but had just a few calls and only ended up going in to the clinic once.

Of course, what fun day wouldn’t be complete without a little Wii action! Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess are calling…

Entered from Live Writer

2009-05-20T21:44:00.001-07:00

We just got a new laptop computer and there’s this cool new feature that allows you to one-click into the posting area of our blogs… This is Ben’s first attempt!

Rachel's Last Soccer Game

2009-05-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

Today was Rachel's final soccer game of her first season. She had a really great time playing this year and is excited to play again next year. Today she made 2 goals for her team and defended well. It's fun to see her enjoy something so much! Now Rachel's ready to start softball season. Great Job Rachel!!

Heading down the field

Drinking her water during her "rest"

Elena the cheerleader. She was so excited to cheer for Rachel's games.

Creed wanted to play soccer too...when he wasn't running for the playground.

Some of Rachel's team after their final game. They didn't do pictures for the team which I was sad about.

Sisters...So different...and look how much they love each other!

Cadence at 6 months

2009-05-16T20:50:00.001-07:00

Where does the time go!? Cadence is already 1/2 year old! She's growing too fast and changing every day. I forgot that once they start hitting those milestones, it doesn't stop! We tried her on rice at about 5 months.
She tried it but doesn't like it.

"Woah, you surprised me"

She'd rather eat the table

She likes to watch Rachel's soccer games...

...or do anything outside.

Since Cadence wouldn't eat rice, we decided to give her a cracker. She loved it!

Cadence is sitting up and rolling around. She moves so much. I'm not looking forward to the day when she starts crawling. She's still a good baby, although she's becoming a mama's girl. She's not sleeping as well at night but as long as Ben gets up in the morning with Creed, (who likes to get up anytime between 4:30 and 6:00) I'll get up during the night with her. She sure is a fun girl and is loved by her whole family.

Our Ballerina

2009-05-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Elena has been doing weekly ballet classes since the first of the year. She loves dancing and loves to perform. Her recital, while short, was so fun to see. It was held in the Ellen Eccles Theater here in Logan. Very, very cute...

Grocery Shopping--addiction

2009-05-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

So, I have become addicted to grocery shopping! At least couponing. I get 5 newspapers and print out my grocery list by which stores are offering sales and including coupons on the sale prices.

This is why it's so much fun though. The other day I went to Albertsons and spent a little over $85.00. I ended up saving over $215.00. Over 70% savings!

Yesterday I went again and spent $14 with a savings of $50. About 78% savings! So you can see why I get excited to go shopping. I'm building a food storage and not spending anything more than I was before.

I know...kind of cheesy but I have fun!

Soccer, Ballet, Potty, Sitting-up and "Wicked"!

2009-05-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

That, in a nutshell, is what we've been up to for the past few weeks. Ben here. I haven't posted in quite some time, but finally had a quiet evening at home... so here you go.
Rachel is doing great in school, but also happy that there's only a month to go till summer break. Heidi and Elena and myself have all gone to school to have lunch with her over the last couple of weeks. It's been fun to see her "in her element". Rachel's also playing soccer with two games a week, although it seems to rain during every game. That's a Utah spring for you, I guess.
Elena has one more ballet practice before the big year end performance. She's very excited for both her performance and the chance to spend a couple days at Grandma's house this week. It'll be her first couple days without any of the rest of us. I'm sure she'll have a blast.
Maybe it's premature, but we're potty-training Creed. He's 2 1/2 and doing quite well with it. We haven't trained a boy before and it's been interesting. Creed's done great though, with two dry days out of the last four... that's definitely progress. Directional flow is an ongoing issue... He keeps us hopping!
Cadence is sitting up on her own now. It's so fun to watch her explore this world. We'll sit her on the floor and watch her play with a couple toys for quite some time. She's a sweet little thing.
Heidi and I joined 5 other members of her family and my mom to see "Wicked" at Capitol Theater in SLC on Friday. It was AMAZING! As mom put it, "Broadway shows are done right." I didn't know much about the story before going, but we all loved it. Entertaining, funny, emotional and, of course, musically fabulous... just a few ways to describe it. Thanks, Sunnie! (Christmas present)
Heidi is doing "boot camp"! No, she didn't join the armed forces. Boot camp is a fitness program designed by the trainer that works at my office. Three times a week, she's up at 5:45 to go exercise for an hour... very inspiring. Keep it up, Heid!
I'm plugging away, enjoying life as much as possible. I even got out golfing a couple times over the last week or so. Work is going well... I maxed out at 36 patients in one day last Monday. Quite a day's work! Bishopric duty is going well. I was bumped up to 1st counselor today after the previous 1st counselor bought a house outside the ward. We average about 8-10 hours of meetings every Sunday. Busy, but lots of blessings that come with it.
Hope all that take the time to read this are doing well. Be happy! As Pres Monson said,"The future is as bright as your faith."

Boy Does Time Fly!!

2009-04-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well, at the rate we're going, we ought to just call this blog the Cadence blog. Today is her 5 month b-day. I can't believe how fast she's growing. She's really close to sitting on her own and does a lot of scooting around in a circle. The girls can really get her laughing, especially at night when they're supposed to be going to bed. She's the best baby a mom of 4 could ask for.

We all got to go to the Draper Temple open house. The kids were pretty good.

The kids all loved Disney on Ice. Even Cadence couldn't take her eyes off of all the lights.

Cadence Spent her 4 month b-day with her daddy and siblings in Fayette while I went to a scrapbook workshop.

I'm so messy, I had to take 2 spots at the workshop.

The biggest event this month, though, was Travis and Diana's wedding! We had a great time being with family, eating, and dancing.

3 1/2 months already

2009-02-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how time flies! Cadence is growing like a weed. She is such a good baby. She's content with two good naps a day, watching her siblings play, listening to the vacuum, and of course eating... which she does a lot. It gives Heidi plenty of time to catch up with her "Scrapbook Memories" show, which Creed and Daddy do not really enjoy.

Here's a few pics of our cute little 3 month old:

Happy Birthday Elena!!

2009-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe you're 5!! It seems just yesterday that we were in the hospital with you. You are such a good big sister to Creed and Cadence and a great friend to Rachel. Right now you love Kim Possible and watch it anytime I let you. You also love ballet and anything to do with dance. I love having you home with me every day and I'll miss you when you go off to Kindergarten in the fall.

Elena turned 5 on February 6th. For about a month she has been planning her "Tea Party". It was really fun! Rachel, Elena, and two of her friends enjoyed time at the "spa" where they got to have their hair and makeup done by Aunt Katie and I. During that time, they also got to do their own nails. After being pampered we took some "glamor shots" of each of them. Then on to the tea party. Elena was convinced that they were not going to talk with silly English accents, but having all of them sitting down in front of a nice tea set with "servants" (Katie and I) at their beck and call, the proper English came out, as did excellent manners and quiet voices. It was just as much fun for Katie and I to listen to them talk as it was for them to be there. They would raise their hands each time they needed something. If we forgot our towels on our arms, they would graciously remind us. Aspen also asked us if we could do a talent show after we served them. That sure threw us for a loop but Between the two of us, Katie and I were able to pull off "Be Our Guest", singing almost all the words, and doing some dancing too. It made us feel young again, but I'm glad the video camera wasn't out while we were doing our thing. What a fun birthday it was!

Cadence's Blessing

2009-01-11T19:41:00.001-08:00

As promised, here are a few pictures of Cadence's blessing day. It was a great day with family here to support us. One of the blessings of living closer to family is being able to participate in each others special moments. Cadence was really good all day and we were even able to capture her smile on camera finally. She'd been smiling for a week or so but by the time we'd get the camera out, she was done.

Holiday Recap... the abbreviated version

2009-01-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, we took a couple of weeks off from the blogging world. Mostly from the computer world in general. Minimal email checking, ESPN score checks, and, of course, blogging. It's not that we didn't want you all to know how much fun we were having during the holidays, we were just too preoccupied for anything else! Here's a recap of the holidays.

Dec 20th- King Family Party (The gift of wheels from Grandpa King. Rachel- Scooter, Elena- Bike, Creed- Tricycle)
Dec 22nd- Cache Valley Community Health Center Party- Ben's white elephant was a snowman full of treats.
Dec 23-24- Games and presents at the Hideout.
Christmas eve and day- Nativity with the kids. Completely done opening presents by 8 am. Favorite gifts received: Ben- Paintball gun (Fully automatic!), Heidi- Willow Tree Nativity, Rachel- Loud and Proud Cheerleader doll, Elena- Barbie Alexa doll, Creed- Cars Tent, Cadence- Clothes.
Dec 31st-Jan 2- Back to Cokeville. We played games until way late (2-3am) each night, ate way too much food, dipped in the hot tub, paintballed, shot some clay pigeons and generally had a fantastic time.
Here are a few pics, although we forgot the camera for the New Year's party. Enjoy!
Check back in a couple days for pics of Cadence's blessing day (Today, Jan 4th).

Happy Birthday, Creed!

2008-12-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, our little boy turned two! Creed had a good birthday and received lots of "boy toys". He was overly excited to blow out his birthday cake candle as well. Check it out...

So we tried again...

He's a wonderful boy and we're so blessed to have him!

Has it already been one month?

2008-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Cadence is already one month old! It seems like I was just in the hospital holding her for the first time. She sure has grown though. She recognizes her families voices and loves to be talked to. Her neck has gotten strong and she lifts her head. And this week we've finally figured out how to get her to sleep on her own. She loves to be reclined so she sleeps in her carseat. Last night she slept for 6 hours in a row and a few nights ago she slept for 5 hours. That's been great. She loves her tummy too which is nice during the day. Once in awhile she'll take her thumb which has been cute. The girls love her and Creed has finally learned her name. Some other popular names he was calling her were Jovie and Heidi. I don't know where he got Heidi, maybe because she was with me when people would say my name. She's been pretty healthy overall considering the sicknesses that have been going around. She's gone to 3 parties, to Sacrament Meeting twice, and numerous outings. We've had fun dressing her up and taking pictures of her. She is a good girl and we love her so much.
Only a few days old

Our little thumb sucker

Photo Shoot during Thanksgiving. Katie's such a great photographer!

"Tinkerbell" (Build-a-Bear costume)

One Month Old

Cadence Da Rappa

2008-11-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

No one was harmed in the making of this video... Enjoy!

Speaking of Elena...

2008-11-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

She has also started playing the piano. Her enthusiasm is fantastic; she's practicing every day. Rachel has also started, but she's quite busy with school. Here is a mini-recital of Elena's:

Look what Elena can do!

2008-11-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

Elena decided that she would take off her training wheels this week! Ben tried a couple of months ago to get her to ride her bike without them, but it was just a bit too early. Since Ben took this week off from work to be with the new baby and the rest of the family, Elena picked a perfect time. After only two days, look at what she can do:

Congrats, Elena! Well done.

Cadence comes home...

2008-11-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Quick recap of the last couple days: Heidi made a quick recovery. Cadence is about the most mellow baby ever. We brought them home today! The other kids are so excited! All's well in the Boyer home. :)

Cadence Grace is Here!

2008-11-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

Yep... It's a girl! The bundle arrived this morning at 8:25 am. Cadence weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches and was sucking her thumb within the first hour. She's calm, a great eater and BEAUTIFUL! The other kids have all been a bit sick this week, but came over for a few minutes to see Cadence. Heidi lost a lot of blood with the surgery and was zonked out a bunch of the day... but was on her feet this evening making laps around the mother-baby unit. More pics and stories to follow, but here's a start:

Isn't life grand?!

Five More Days!!

2008-11-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it's my turn to actually write something. Ben is usually the one who will post and put pictures up on the blog because if I can't get everything perfect, I can't post at all. So we've had sick kids this week. Rachel got sick on Wednesday, went to school Thursday and then stayed home again on Friday. Saturday, the girls had their Primary Program Practice and Pizza Party to get ready for today. They were both really excited to do the program but then in the middle of the night Saturday night, Elena came down hacking and not breathing well. She caught whatever cold Rachel had. Creed did the same thing tonight. I guess I should count my blessings that they are all getting it out of their systems before Friday.

Yep...Friday is the day! We are going to the hospital at 5:30 AM and I'm getting prepped for my c-section which is scheduled for 7:30 AM. These last 2 weeks have been SOOOO Slow! We are all excited to have this new one coming into our lives in the next few days. Most of our family have put in their guesses of what we are having, how much it will weigh, and what the length will be. Some were hoping that the winner would get to choose the name but after a few of the names they suggested, we told them the prize will definitely not be the naming of the baby. If any of you want to put your guesses in, we'll add them to the list.

My sister-in-law came to Utah from Tennessee this last weekend and we got to spend some time with her. It was great seeing her and chatting. She and I got to spend the afternoon and evening together shopping at Deseret Book, eating ice cream, and doing crafts at my "Fantastic Friday". The kids had a great time with her and Creed even chose to have her put him down to bed...and he went right to sleep for her. You can come back anytime Mel!

We started giving the girls quarters for extra jobs or things they do during the week. Rachel found a glass doll at the DI for $4.00 and loved it. I told her she'd have to earn money to get it herself. I bought it and it's been sitting on my dresser for almost a month. Rachel finally got enough spending money to pay for it!

What a game!

2008-11-02T19:24:00.001-08:00

BYU tried to give it away... but what a great finish! Watch:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Pumkins and Halloween!

2008-11-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

The kids all had a blast for Halloween. Ben's feeling old because Halloween seemed a bit anticlimatic, but the kids got lots of cavity causers so it must have been a success. The girls also had fun carving pumpkins. Rachel designed her own pumpkin face while Elena (with a lot of help from Heidi) did a mummy. Here's a bunch of pics...

Our Busy Weekend

2008-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Friday: Crazy hair day at Adams elementary. Rachel's hair was by far one of the coolest!

We picked up Katie, Adam and Jovie and were off to Fayette. We stopped in Lehi to pick up Lily (Heidi's brother Ben's baby) and were introduced to "Poo-gloos"... Sewer drainage system cleansers. Bart and Ben Brown have been putting them together. Pretty interesting. They look like black igloos (thus the name).

After arriving in Fayette, we ran over to the Pumpkin Patch in Gunnison to see the wide variety of pumpkins and squash and (the real reason) take a bunch of pictures of the kids in their costumes. Here are Rachel, Elena, Creed, Jovie and Lily:

Friday night was the birthday dinner for Heidi, Adam, Sara and Amy (although Amy was unable to come... Happy B-day!). As always, Sunnie cooked up some yummy food... Shishkabobs- very tasty. We talked, ate and then Katie, Adam and Ben played a friendly game of "cards" till well after 1am. Good times!

Saturday: Heidi, Sunnie, and Katie left at the crack of dawn for the big Scrapbooking Convention in Salina. 9 hours of crafts and sitting. They had a great time, although it didn't sound to appealing to the rest of us.

Ben left the kids with "Little Aunt Sara" and went to the BYU game with his brother Jason. The game was great and came down to the last play:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Ben then hung out at Brett's house till the rest of the crew arrived around 7:30 to pick him up. The drive home, with a new mattress for Elena on top of the van, was fairly uneventful, although we didn't get home till after 11pm. Traveling can be slow with four kids and a pregnant lady!

Sunday: We enjoyed a nice Sabbath at our new ward. This was our second time there and it seems to be a really good ward. We met with the Bishopric after church, so callings are soon to follow soon.

Creed fell and cracked his nose this afternoon. Poor guy probably could have used a stitch or two, but this bandaid seemed to hold him together for the time being.

Tonight was fun... We traveled to Garland, Utah (about 30 min from Logan) to visit Mac and Tiff Dameron. Mac and Tiff were some of the first friends we made after getting married and moving to Provo. We are excited to be closer to them again as both Rachel and Elena have new friends their same age.

It's sure to be another busy week!

Settling In

2008-10-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to our new ward! After Conference and a trip to Fayette last weekend, we went to our own ward today. It starts at 9am, which is good, except that Priesthood, RS and Primary is first. By the time we got to Sacrament mtg, Creed was DONE! Thoughtfully, we had packed plenty of snacks and he managed not to disrupt the whole building. The girls enjoyed their classes; Creed did well in nursery too, although he told the teachers his name was Sam. We're not sure where that came from. Heidi and Ben went to the marriage and family class, which was fun. Our ward's high councilman spoke, but his companion speaker didn't show. It "just so happened" that the stake president had come to listen to the high council member speak, so he took the remaining ten minutes. He's a funny guy and poked fun at the bishop for getting him to speak.

Ben started his job! His first day was Thursday and he was kind of thrown into the fire. The executive director and medical director were both in meetings all day, so he was just handed patient charts as they came into the clinic. Other than his own upset stomach (nerves, you know), the day went all right. Friday was much better as everyone was very supportive and happy to have him there.

We've discovered a fantastic kid's park, Ryan's Place Park, in River Heights, just south of Logan. Ryan was a two-year-old boy that drowned a couple of years ago. In his memory, the community came together and built this amazing park. The kids have been there twice so far and have loved it. Here's a few pics of the kids-

All-in-all, we're adjusting well. We're still waiting for our house in Oregon to sell, although the showings have picked up a bit after we lowered the price. We did receive one offer, a lease option that didn't sound all that great, but at least it was an offer!

We've arrived!

2008-10-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

We made it to Utah! Thankfully, it was a fairly uneventful trip, except for a very human friendly squirrel.

The kids were amazing on the drive. Creed especially enjoyed riding in the front of the truck. He could finally see over the dash!
We were excited to arrive in Logan. 7 family members and 5 elders from the new ward were all here waiting for us (we arrived a little later than expected). In spite of the late arrival, we unloaded the truck in less than an hour and were ready to listen to the kickoff of the BYU vs USU game.
We spent Sunday in Cokeville, watching conference. Good times with family... that's really what this move was all about.
We love our friends in Oregon, but are excited to be here closer to family. Pictures of the new place are forthcoming!

2 weeks left...

2008-09-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

It's sad, but true! We're leaving for Utah in 2 weeks! Ben passed his certification exam, leaving the house selling as our final hurdle. At this point, though, we're going whether the house sells or not. Ben starts his new job on October 16th in Logan.

Leaving Oregon will be strange and sad, but we're so excited to get closer to family (sorry Diana!). We love the Northwest and would definitely consider returning. Who knows...

Beaverton "Oldtown" Parade

2008-09-14T20:38:00.001-07:00

Saturday (the same day BYU beat UCLA 59-0- Whoohoo!!), we took the kids to the Beaverton "Oldtown" Parade. We're not sure of the reason for the big celebration other than a chance to extend the summer fun into the school year. The parade was a blast: lasting longer than an hour and providing enough candy for us to hand out at Halloween this year. The grand marshalls of the parade were the Roloff family (the stars of "Little People, Big World"). They live about 20 minutes from our house, although we've never watched the show.

Here are a few pics of the fun day.

Elena's 1st day of Pre-School

2008-09-14T20:25:00.001-07:00

Not to be outdone, Elena also required first day of pre-school pics. She was in pre-school last year, but, no matter, it is a new year! She was pretty cute in her first day outfit. She goes twice a week for 2 1/2 hours. Good times!

Rachel lost her first tooth!!

2008-09-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Rachel has been wiggling her tooth since the end of her Kindergarten school year. Lately though, she has been giving it a lot more attention.

After letting us all take turns wiggling it...

...and after biting into an apple during her second day of school...

...she finally pulled it out on her own!! She was so excited and told everyone she saw that she lost her first tooth!! She looks pretty cute with the gap in the bottom of her mouth, and she talks cute too. Her other bottom tooth is loose now so we'll be able to listen to her little lisp pretty soon!

1st day of 1st!

2008-09-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

First day of school! First day of school!
Rachel started 1st grade today! She looked pretty cute in her new clothes, which, of course, had been neatly placed out the night before. Mrs. Jackson is her teacher and Rachel already loves her. Rachel even gets to take her lunches in her new lunch box.

Also of note, Rachel is about to lose her first tooth! Each of the kids gets to wiggle it a bit every day. Should be fun to see her toothless!

"Laborious" Camping over Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-02T21:01:00.001-07:00

Whew! It was a quick trip, but taking 5 kids and 1 pregnant lady camping is quite an adventure! The Riley girls, Paige and Taylor, joined us for an overnighter along the Wilson River. We went on a hike, threw rocks in the river, ate lots of good food and had a pretty good time.

Sleeping was another issue. First Creed took forever to fall asleep, then Elena threw up (twice!), Rachel got scared, etc, etc. I'll add a video soon describing the event.

It was fun, though, to get out and enjoy Oregon before Rachel started school.

Rachel Turns 6!!

2008-08-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today is Rachel's 6th birthday! She's already been spoiled by breakfast in bed, presents and a trip to pick out a new CTR ring (one that won't turn her finger green).
Here are a few quick pics of her day.

Boyer Reunion: Days 5 & 6

2008-08-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

A quick note: Scroll down the page and start with Days 1 & 2... if you like things in chronological order, that is. Videos to come soon...

A staple activity, mandated by mom, of course, is taking family pics. Ben and Brock took turns shooting over 300 pics in the space of a couple hours. Thank heaven for digital! It's sure fun to see how much everyone is growing and changing. Here is a pinch of those 300:

These may or may not be the best of the pics, but I was in a hurry. For the rest of the pics and to make your own prints, go to our Costco web site. Call us if you don't already have the log-in info.

After the photo shoot, it was time for a different kind of shoot... Skeet, baby! As a group, we shot over 300 rounds of shotgun shells, at least 300 rounds of 22 shells and I'm not sure how many we shot with Travis' 9mm, but it was being shot the whole time too. Good times...

Taco salads from Melody were the next menu item... very tasty. We spent the afternoon finishing up the tournaments with Ben winning Pool and Ping-Pong and Mariah victorious in Air Hockey.

Not to be forgotten, both Friday and Saturdays were made a bit more interesting as the power went out for a few hours both nights. No matter, we pulled out the lanterns and played games. Jon and Ben even finished the pool tourney by the light of a couple flashlights!

Saturday night was also the combined birthday party for Jessica (15), Nathan (7) and Rachel (6). They were spoiled pretty good with presents and cake.

Definitely a highlight of the week... Travis and Diana got engaged on Saturday night! Congrats to both of you, even if Dad nearly passed out from the shock.

Sunday was, as usual, very relaxed and special (except for the everyone leaving part). Buck and Aubrey blessed little Mikayla and we all enjoyed a fabulous feast at the park.

It was a fantastic week! Other activities indluded plenty of Wii, cards, trampoline, movies, and plenty of talking and eating. We're sorry it's over, but what great memories. (that was a bit cheesy...) Anyway, enjoy the pics and soon to come videos. Call or write if you need copies of anything!

Family Reunion: Days 3 & 4

2008-08-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Bring on the Scavenger Hunt! Four teams all had a blast cruising all over Cokeville while the team of toddlers played with the babysitters and posed for their own pics. We went in search of 1) Water from the waterfall, 2) pics of the Wyoming/Idaho Borders, 3) An item from the visitor's center, 4) A pic on the park playground, 5) Making an airplane and flying it at the "airport", 6) A pic of wildlife from the wildlife reserve (most of us used flies), 7) Draw a chalk picture at the motel, and 8) Catch grasshoppers at the shooting range. Here's the pics from Team 2:

Team 4 won, but everyone had a good time... and drove very fast.

The afternoon was a "Pamper Party" for all the girls and Travis (who bought his way in by rubbing all their hands). The boys watched the kids and took turns taking naps. That watching kids thing is tiring!

That night we had Hawaiian haystacks from the Ben and Heidi Boyers and played pool and air hockey well into the night.

Day 4 brought the river run! I don't have many pics of it, but it was a great time. 20 people jumping in the water, having water fights with other boats, jumping off cliffs and weathering a huge rainstorm were some of the highlights. Again, everyone was pretty tired that night, but we had enough strength to eat BBQ salmon and halibut!

Boyer Reunion: Day 1 & 2

2008-08-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Whoo-hooo! After much planning, waiting and anticipation, the reunion was here! We arrived throughout the day on Tuesday and the party was on. The Hideout was ready... and the new room was amazing! It was definitely the gathering point for the whole week. We enjoyed enchiladas from Sarah and started the first of many games and conversations.
Travis surprised most (especially Diana) by arriving Wednesday morning. He drove all night from Seattle... a sign of good things to come. Then it was off to Bear Lake! We swam, played frisbee, ate good food and played on waverunners. Good times... and everyone was pretty tired by that night.

Creed's Reading?!

2008-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

He's at least sitting down for more than a few seconds! Watch...

Change of Plans

2008-07-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

Well, as some of you know, we are getting ready to move back to Utah for Ben's new job. The expected move date was August 4th for the kids and I, and then Ben was going to pack the moving truck at the end of August and follow us down to start his job as a Nurse Practitioner in Logan. We've had a couple delays though, so we are pushing our move date back until about mid-October. Hopefully by then, we'll have sold our house, found something else in Logan, and will be ready for the big change. We're glad to be able to have a few more months up here in Oregon. We love it out here. The biggest thing pulling us back to Utah is family, which we miss way too much to stay here. If anyone knows of someone looking for a house to buy, we live in a great place, in a great ward. We do get to go back for a family reunion next week though. We're excited to see all of Ben's family and spend some time with them.

Summer '08... So far.

2008-07-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Twinkle, Twinkle

2008-07-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ben and I have had some fun with our kids after having a busy vacation and an even busier time getting our house ready to put on the market. When we got home from Utah, we went to the Bruno's house to pick up a surprise for the kids. A new kitty! They were so excited to get a baby kitty and she has been a good sport with them always wanting to hold her. She's pretty cute. Her name was Tiger but that was before the Bruno's found out she was a girl, so we changed it to Tiger Lilly. The girls call her Tilly for short. It's been fun having a little kitty again in the house. Thanks Heidi, Emily, and the rest of the Bruno fam for saving her for us! We love her!

Creed has been learning and growing a lot, especially in the last month. He mimics everything anybody says so there seems to always be an echo in the room. It's so much fun to see him communicating and talking with us and the girls. He's such a happy baby, almost all of the time. He loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and even performed it on camera. The video is kind of long because we videoed both Tiger Lilly and Creed at the same time and don't know how to edit from our Video Camera yet.

Mexico/Utah Vacation

2008-07-14T22:18:00.000-07:00

We're home at last! We had a great time in Mexico and Utah, but we were ready to come home to Oregon. The slideshow has a bunch of our favorite pics from the trip (assuming Ben figures out how to put a slideshow in the blog!)
Will write more soon...

Ben turned 30 on the 30th!!

2008-04-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ben's golden birthday was this year on March 30th! I had all these plans of making it the best one ever but as always, I was a procrastinator. I gave him 30 reasons why I love him. That was a lot of fun! I was also finally able to surprise him! Shock him actually. He had no idea what I was planning on getting him for his birthday so when he got home and opened his new flat screen TV, he didn't say anything for awhile. I thought maybe he didn't like it, but he was just really surprised that I got it all by myself. (Well, I did have his our friend, Jeremy, help me research the TV's. I have no idea when it comes to electonics). Anyway, he loves his TV and I'm glad I was finally able to get him something without him having to pick it out by himself.

We had his birthday dinner on Sunday and invited the Riley's over to share some Chocolate Cream Pie, Ben's 'cake' of choice.

The girls sang the version "Happy Birthday to you. You're a hundred and two. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too!" Ben's face tells you what he thought about that.

Anyway, I'm still learning how to do this stuff. If I bore you for awhile, sorry.

New Blog

2008-03-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

So after looking at everyone elses blogs, we thought we should start one ourselves. Hopefully we can keep it updated. Tomorrow is Ben's last class of the quarter. He has one more quarter to go before he graduates with his Masters in Nursing. Then comes our next big crossroads.