Vanessa's Baby Shower

 WE had a baby shower for Vanessa on Sunday at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Nauvoo.  We tried to match the colors and decorations to the bedding set that she had picked out.  It actually turned out really cute even if some of it wasn't exact...as in colors mostly, lol!  Vanessa's mom made these cute little popcorn boxes that had silhouette cut outs of Vanessa's profile!

 The morning of the shower we had all the last minute stuff to do.  We had it all done with a little time to spare even! I was sick both days we were preparing for it so that made it annoying for me.  But, I wanted to be there and I was, even if I was a little out of my tree!

 Vanessa's mom also made these little wagons that were on the tables for mints and nuts.

 Trisha found a cake that Vanessa had pinned on pinterest.  So we went with that cake and made it a little bigger and used the bedding theme and colors.  Turned out pretty cute I think.  Joanne did an amazing job, as usual!!  The bottom was vanilla and the top was chocolate.

 The tables.

 Trisha made chocolate sugar cookies for mini fruit pizzas.  

Looks delicious! 

I totally forgot to take a plate when I left to go home so I actually didn't get to try any of the food except the vanilla portion of the cake which was yummy!

 We had tried to do all simple food that Vanessa liked.  I think we did great!

We had turkey sandwiches, deviled eggs, mini fruit pizzas, chips & dip,  and relish tray.  

The weather was sunny and warm.  I think I had a fever and nearly keeled over a couple of times, haha!  I also dressed for it being warm, that didn't help at all.  Everyone ate some food, played games, enjoyed present opening, and visiting.  

 Vanessa's mom also made a motorcycle diaper cake.  Cute! 

 Everyone had to put their thumbprint on the tree as the sign in sheet.  It will go in the baby book later. 

 The gift table!

 Jeremy and I(okay so me) got her a diaper bad, sock monkey jacket, bulldozer outfit, peace sign outfit, and a onesie that says:"I'm the favorite!).  Ya know, because the youngest is always the favorite!! haha! At least, so my siblings tell me!!

 She wore a beautiful blue dress for the occasion and looked fabulous!  

 The game table.

 Grandma and Grandpa Boyer got her a little girls outfit!  I don't think they notice as they were buying it!  Funny and cute!!  

It was a really good day.  I love doing things like that.  Now just waiting on the little guy to get here!

Cully Bear

I was sitting in the grass taking pictures of Cullen and Eden.  Cullen sat on the top step on the deck and pointed at me and said: "Uh, Mom, you don't have your shoes and socks on."  LOL!  This is his face as he said it, with that cute little closed mouth grin.  I love him.  I like to think about this cute little smile at times like right now, when he is screaming in my ear, "I want to watch Blue's Clues!!!" at the very top of his lungs.  He has already watched three episodes and now we are taking a break.  He doesn't like my logic.

Sickness is sick.  I am tired of it.  This stuff won't go away.  Blech!

Tortillas

 We had tacos one night for supper.  She usually eats those really well but this night she just wanted two tortillas on top of each other, plain.  Nothing else.  And she ate all but a few bites of both of them.  haha, she is such a funny girl!  And she ran away from the table too!

I love her face!  She is absolutely gorgeous to me.  I love her crazy, messy, curly, red hair.  I love her spunk. 

Lunch On The Deck

 We have been outside A LOT!  I asked Cullen if he wanted to eat on the deck and he said yes.  So I set his plate on the patio table and he said no, he wanted to eat at his table.  

 Then he started fishing...

I am so happy to be outside again.  Winter sucks.  It really does.  My whole body and spirit feel refreshed and alive every Spring.  Especially after such a long winter!  Can't wait to start digging in the dirt and playing in the yard.  Still waiting on swing set to arrive....

Boyer Anniversary

 Jeremy's Grandparents, Leon and Geneva Boyer, were celebrating their 72nd Wedding Anniversary a few weeks ago.  Many of the Boyers gathered at Debbie and Pat's house for a big meal and visiting. It was nice!

 Cullen and Daxton really like hanging out together.  

 Tristan and Alex climbing the tree.  

 This is Hendrix.  He is Josh and Angie Boyer's little boy.  They live in South Dakota and we don't get to see them very often.  It was nice that they could come visit for the anniversary.

 Dad and Froo Froo

 We got to see Cole too!  

 We love Milo!

 Asher and Dax

 Desiree and Hendrix

 My awesome son, Tristan the Great!!

Conqueror of the tree!

"do you have teeth?  Cuz, I have teeth." 

-Cullen

Cullen was so cute when he was talking to Lillian. He is so sweet! 

Later in the evening a bunch of the cousins got together to ehar Travis Walker play at the Wine Barrel.  It was an awesome night!  Cole got his guitar out and played with Travis as well.  Pink Floyd was the highlight of our night!! 

Older Cousins

 This was also at the Boyer 72nd Anniversary party.  Trying to get a group shot of these cousins.  It only took a few tries......

 Got it!

Coulter, D.J., Trisha, Josh, and Matt

Asher's Night Out

Last night Asher was the first one of the kids to do the Thursday Night Out.  I'm glad he chose Jeremy to go with because I have not been feeling well at all.  They went to Hardee's and Asher was SO excited!! Jeremy sent this picture to me while they were there.  And Asher came home and told me all about it and how much fun that he and Dad had.  If it had been nicer Jeremy was going to get the food and take him to the park but it was yucky out.  Asher was thrilled that he got a strawberry shake!  And got to choose whatever he wanted off of the menu. 

 I am glad that my kids see these things as a treat. I don't want them to feel entitled to everything.  I know some kids get to eat out all the time.  It just doesn't work that way in our family.  And I wouldn't want them to eat out all the time even if it made sense financially because we all know that most food served at restaurants like these is not good for our bodies to eat all the time.  Anyway, I think this is going to be a pretty sweet little tradition.  And something we all look forward to doing! YAY! 

Things

 The front above.

The back below.

We wanted one that could accommodate all our kids plus some.

  This pic has eight kids playing on it.
Features: 

Large clubhouse

Look out balcony

Ladders

New 10 ft. wave slide

Monkey bars

Rock climbing wall

Multiple swings

New 2-person glider

Covered picnic table and bench

Crow's Nest w/ telescope

We got the new swing set ordered.  We have been saying every spring since Tristan was born that we were going to get a swing set for the kids.  Every year life got in the way and we just couldn't swing (pun intended) it!  Jeremy and I are both really excited and the kids are too.  They keep expecting it to be up and complete every time they come home from school, haha!  We haven't even got it delivered yet! :)  We are hoping we can get it up in between all the rain (and snow and cold!)we are getting.  It is going to be interesting for sure.  It is all cedar wood and all the holes are pre-drilled so we are hoping that helps with set up.  We have a guy (Tony Freeman) coming over sometime to help us get our deck all spiffy too.  Also, we are getting some extra swing set accessories to put on the deck too to better facilitate playtime(war).  That way they can have two bases and what not.  Our swing set instructions say that we need to allow 6 foot of clearance on all sides in case of falls and have 6-8 inches of padding (we are using mulch) underneath.  We ordered a crap ton of mulch and I am sure we are going to need more too.  It's hard to tell.

My brother, Mike, my sister, Ginny, and her husband, Matt are in town right now working on projects at my mom's house and Mike's house.  Actually they are not in town right at this minute because they drove to Indianapolis last night to see Leslie and the girls.  Jeremy got together a real nice used computer to send to Leslie.  She had been without one since the FBI had come to her home and taken her computers, phones, Ipads, everything.  She is also only living on her part-time income right now and money is tight.  Russ and her have helped the whole family out (including Jeremy and I) so many times throughout the years that it feels good to be able to help her out too.  This is a difficult time in all our lives.  No one understands unless they have been through it.  I want him back.  We all do.

We got our family pictures taken last Sunday.  I want to wait until I receive the disc to post them all though.  The sneak peek looked really good!  Eden was not in the mood to have pictures taken that is for sure.  Tristan and Cedric did awesome.  Liam was in a really silly, hyper mood and so was Asher.  Cullen was just Cullen as usual.  He gave Tessa(the photographer) a hug when we were all done.  Cute, right?

Superstar

 One of Eden's current faves is playing superstar in the living room curtains.  I do not like her to do it because she will stand on the back of the couch and then lean forward all the way, while holding onto the curtains.  I just know that she is going to rip the whole thing out of the wall one of these days and come tumbling down.  I usually get her down about 17 million times a day.  But, when you look at that sweet little face staring back at you, it's rather hard to not smile. 

 SUPERSTAR!

Ugh

Oh my, what did I do?  I woke up yesterday feeling rather off but, tried to ignore it.  Last night and this morning it has escalated to vomiting, headache, sore throat, fever, chills, body aches, etc.  Ugh!!  It's all I can do to stay awake today.  My poor hubby is tired too because I couldn't get up with Eden because I kept running to the bathroom myself.  So, she was up all night again.  That girl.  I really hope she gets through this stage soon because good grief! 

Discoveries

We were at Grandma and Grandpa Boyer's 72nd Anniversary party.  A bunch of us were outside.  The kids were playing and we heard and airplane in the distance.  It was a small, private airplane and was flying pretty low.  We were trying to get the kids to look up at it.  I kept pointing up and saying 'look!"but, Eden didn't seem to get that I wanted her to look up....I think she thought I was holding up the number 1, lol!  I finally tilted her head back and she saw the plane....and everything else!  She was amazed that there was all this other stuff above her.  She kept staring up at the huge tree in Grandma Kelley's backyard and pointing after that!  It was really cute.  Her and Jeremy sat there for awhile staring up at the tallness of the tree.  Sometimes it's hard to keep in mind that little things like that are brand new discoveries for our children.  Precious Moments. 

New Thing

We are implementing a new family activity in our house.  Wednesdays will be "Wednesday Night Out" (or some other clever, cute name, if I can think of one) for one kid each week.  Every Wednesday evening one kid will get to go out with Mom or Dad (their choice).  We will take them somewhere to eat (here in town so we can support local businesses...something that is important to us) for dinner.  There are plenty of places here in town to keep us busy with each kid for awhile.  And then after dinner maybe to a park or a short drive or something like that.  We want to try to cultivate more one on one time with each child.  Tonight is our first night doing this and I hope it goes superbly!