PHOTO DUMP!

Here are the much anticipated pictures of various times and places. I apologize in advance for some of them being blurry. I have no idea why, but there you go.

Matt and our next-door neighbor. Matthew walked around saying "moo" for a VERY long time.

The cutest Tigger ever.


Josh and Ariel, I mean, Kaylee.


Army Jake.


Kaylee and my Mom baking pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.


Josh and my Mom on Thanksgiving.


Matt and my sister Megan.


The whole family, minus Daddy who was by this time in Kuwait. Don't feel too bad for him, though. From what he told me, he had an amazing Thanksgiving. Just think lots of good food and ice sculptures.


One of my apple pies. Be jealous that you didn't get any. It was good. :p


I missed with the whipped cream can. :D


Josh, Aunt Megan, and Kaylee having some story time. Kaylee is obviously riveted, but Josh knows when he's getting his picture taken!


The Boyer family's last night together in early November. When we grow up, we're getting a fire pit.


Jake and me at the BYU/UofU game. We had SO MUCH FUN!


GO USA!


The final score. As it always should be.



The kids. Just being strange.


These are foam houses that we bought as kits from Wal-mart. They were so much fun to put together, and weigh less candy-oriented than gingerbread houses. These kits are highly recommended.



Decorating the tree. The kids really got into this.




And that is that. There are the pics I promised. I'll probably update with more in about six months. Tehehehehehehe.

The all important update post

Well, it seems as though we are finally settled at my parents' house. It has been a crazy month, no question about it. I have pictures galore, but not too much time to post them as of yet. I promise that they are coming soon.

Jarum, I believe, is safely in Iraq. I haven't heard from him quite yet, but I'm not surprised, seeing as we're on opposite sides of the world and therefor on opposite schedules. And I know that with unpacking and stuff it will be awhile before he can contact me. But, I figure if he hadn't arrived safely, I would have already heard about it from other sources... so yeah. I know that he is anxious to be in a "permanent" place instead of training here, there and everywhere. He is very excited to not be living out of a duffel bag. He really wants to unpack, and I don't blame him one bit! He's sent me a few pictures. I will share those as soon as I share the others. :)

Jacob is happily settled in his new school. Everyday he comes home with a glowing report of how the day went. He's already been to a birthday party for someone in his class, and seems to be getting along famously with his classmates both at school and at church. That makes me so happy, seeing as he seems to be having the hardest time with Dad being gone. He gets better everyday, so that is a good thing.

Kaylee is enrolled at a three-times-a-week preK here in the neighborhood. It's not the PreK she's used to, but it is helping her to make friends and it does get her out of the house. She is also enjoying church, and that is a good thing. The kids (and the rest of us) are desperate for it to snow, though. Maybe tomorrow! *crosses fingers*

Matt is doing well. He and Josh are pretty much oblivious to the whole Dad is in Iraq thing. And that is good. To them, I believe, the six months will just fly by. Grandma Boyer sent Matt the cutest little doll with Jarum's face silk screened onto the face of the doll and dressed in Army fatigues. It is SO CUTE! Matt carries it around with him almost as much as he carries his blanket. Thank you so much, Sharon. That will really help him remember his daddy.

As for me, not much to report. It has been an insane month, no doubt about it. With such little time to prepare, it all seems like a whirlwind. However, I'm glad I'm in Utah at my folks'. I keep telling them I don't know what I'd do without them. It's nice to be so close to family. We really miss that, being back East. I look forward to calling myself a "westerner" again.

Halloween was great. It was the day before we left. We went to a church trunk-or-treat. It was a great way to distract us from the insane amount of packing/cleaning we still had to do. A huge THANK YOU goes to those who watched my kids for me so that I could get stuff done. You know who you are! LOVE YOU!

Thanksgiving was a blast (minus the fact that Jarum wasn't here). We went to my Uncle Boyd's new house. I have pictures of all of these things. Will share later.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand as an aside:

Dear Modern Technology, YOU ROCK! Thanks for giving us the means to communicate with my husband who is clear on the other side of the globe, yet feels as though he is in the next room. Thanks!

And that's pretty much it!

Oh, and if you want a Christmas card, I need an address. That is all. :D

Christmas Fun

My sister created this with all of the sibs faces, but I decided to make one with the kids.

Enjoy!

Life Right Now

This is our life at this moment:

Jarum going to Iraq. Kids and I moving home to Utah for the six months. Jarum found out about all of this on 10/22. House has to be emptied by 10/30. Cleaning inspection on 11/1. Leaving for Utah 11/2. I'm catching a cold. Jarum in Utah this weekend for Sealing of best friend (planned months ago). Excellent women in my church taking children so that I can get stuff done. Trying to find a place for the cat to live. Kids are excited about going to Utah. Jarum and I are sad Jarum is leaving, but don't feel worried (he's going to a green zone. To work on teeth. No guns). I hate packing. Black Widows in garage. I don't want to clean.

There you go! Pretty exciting life, no?

:headdesk:

Fall Festival

Jacob's school had a Fall Festival today. I thought I'd be brave and take the kids to it (all by myself, I might add, as Jarum was in the middle of taking another dental board exam). We had an absolute blast! The kids were well behaved, they had a great time winning prizes at the various booths, and they especially enjoyed riding horses! The best part was after all of the attractions and food the whole day cost me only $15! Now that is awesome!

Here are the kids next to the volunteer fire department truck. Matthew is into all things with wheels at the moment, and so this was a big deal for him.
Joshua spent the whole time in his seat, but he didn't mind too much. As long as he had food when he was hungry, he was a joy.
We were about to leave when we saw the horses. Two laps around the enclosure was a buck, so I let the older two kids have a go. Jacob is on a full-grown horse. He thought it was so cool.
Kaylee wanted to ride the pony. In every picture I took of her she looks so aristocratic. I think she is either imagining herself as one of her beloved princess or else she was just born to look good on a horse.
I told the kids that we could get ice cream at the festival, but when I saw the price I told them I'd get them ice cream cones at McDonald's. I don't know if you can tell, but Matthew is wearing most of his. When I pulled him out of the car he looked like he had a Santa beard. :p

We are very excited for Jarum to be finished with his test. He has vowed to never take another board exam. It's very stressful, but totally worth it when it starts to bring in extra money. We'll find out his results in about a month. Good luck, Jarum!

Anyway, I'm going to bed. I'm so exhausted from today. It was fun, but boy! I need some sleep! :D

More of Misty and the Kids

Well, it seems as though Misty has finally gotten used to us. She is a crazy cat that has turned out to be kind of standoffish, but loves to play. Go figure. She loves to run around the house chasing bugs, and I have noticed that our fly population has started to dwindle. YAY! She is still very sweet with the family, but she doesn't like to be snuggled much. Except in the middle of the night. That's when she turns on the purring for attention. But I don't mind. It's very relaxing.

Jacob received his report card yesterday and made straight A's, the Honor Roll, and another Good Citizenship award. Congrats, Jacob. You're, as they say in Boston, "wicked awesome!"

Other than that there isn't much to report. All is well. :)

Misty behind the computer desk. My, my, my! I need to organize that thing! *is slightly embarrassed at the state of her computer desk...*
Misty likes to hide in all sorts of tight spots. This one in particular cracks me up!

Best buds.Say what?
Kaylee has taken to getting her clothes ready for the next day by creating a 2D Kaylee. She even drew a head and arms, and even gave one of the arms her freckle. Hey, whatever gets her to get ready!
And I just snapped this today. I thought it was cute. He is so attached to that thing!

Misty

We recently acquired a new addition to our family. One of Jarum's assistants had an 11 month old Siamese cat but was unable to keep her due to an allergy. So we now have Misty in our family. We just got her last night, and she's still warming up to us. She is an absolute sweety. She's very patient and not at all cranky. She didn't even yowl during the night. WOOT! We are already deeply in love. We've told the kids that we're watching her for someone, just in case we decide she doesn't work out, but I seriously don't think that's going to be a problem. The kids are so very nice to her and even Josh just loves to look at her.

Our first picture of Misty. I forgot that cats' eyes reflect light. (d'oh)
She's kind of fat. But very cuddly.
Hiding in her bed. She feels safe in there, and we're perfectly willing to be patient until she decides to come out on her own.

Tybee Island

So the kids and Jarum had Monday off this week. We have been stuck in the house for ages, what with illness and Jarum studying to take the Georgia Dental Boards, so we decided to go to Tybee Island, right outside of Savannah. It was a beautiful day all around. It was in the low 80s, just slightly humid with a slight breeze. We went to the beach and just let the kids have a blast.

Josh and I spent most of our time in the cabana from our family reunion (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and just enjoyed the day. Jacob and Kaylee were in the water most of the time, and Matt pretty much hung out with his dad. All around good times.


On the way to the Island, Jarum commented that there was a frog riding on our car. I of course didn't believe him, until I saw the dang thing. Can you find the frog?Is that a beautiful day, or what?
The kids take over the construction of an abandoned sand castle:

Josh in the cabana:Seriously. How precious is that?!

Jarum's 30th

Jarum just celebrated his 30th birthday last week. We all had a really good time ribbing him about being "old." :D He pretty much had a whole birthday week, what with what we as a family did and then what his office did for him. He was spoiled rotten, but it was great fun.

What his assistant and co. did to his car at work:
Just a smidgen of the decorating we did at the house:
King Boyer (according to his operatory bay). The crown was hilarious. The kids got a kick out of it:
And then the operatory bay put this out on the entrance to our neighborhood. It was up for a whole week. And seriously, the helium in those balloons are still keeping them on our ceiling!
Happy Birthday, Jarum. You old fart!

New Camera

Hooray! We have a new camera! I'm so glad because I was totally feeling naked without one and feeling naked is not a good feeling. ;)

I've taken a few test shots to see how it works. I think it's wonderful with all of its bells and whistles.

Here is Jacob with his completely gappy smile. We love it. Especially his new found lisp. Now he matches Kaylee and Matthew in their manner of speech.Here is a picture of Josh on the "Auto" setting of the camera:
And a pic of him on the "kids and pets" setting. Which do you like better?
And here's Joshy just looking kind of surprised. I don't know what's going on with those eyebrows! :D
Kaylee being Kaylee. She has the most amusing facial expressions.
And here is the sweet Matthew sitting angelically in his booster seat on our way home from Savannah.

Enjoy the pictures! We'll be on the lookout for more photo ops. :)

Camera Broke

I have to apologize for my lack of updates on the blog. Our digital camera broke. :(

Anyway, we're all doing fine. Jacob has three gaping holes in his mouth from missing teeth (the Tooth Fairy has been very busy at our house this month!). If I had a camera, you would see the pic. Perhaps I'll need to borrow from my neighbor... Jacob has also been named Student of the Month for his class this month. He's the first of the year. YAY Jacob!

Anyway, Kaylee has finally made the adjustment to PreK and I have to say that she is much better behaved at home, as well. THANK YOU, PREK! She comes home everyday and tells me what she did and what she learned. She'll run up to me with random tidbits such as, "Mom! S-U-N-N-Y spells SUNNY" or "Pyramids end a sentence!" *giggle*

Matthew has mostly outgrown the tantrum phase and is now in his everything-I-do-makes-my-Mom-laugh phase. His vocabulary is coming along quite nicely and his facial expressions and such while he's talking are just hilarious. He's been a great help as the newest "oldest kid at home" while the others are at school.

Josh almost has the hands and knees crawl down pat. He still finds that it is faster to get around with the Army crawl, but every once in a while we'll catch him at "real" crawling. He has also learned how to pull himself up to standing in his crib, against the couch, etc. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff. And... I suppose he is!

Jarum is going to be getting a new job at Church here pretty soon. We don't know what it is, but we'll find out on Saturday. It's at the Stake level, or so it seems, seeing as we have to drive up to Savannah and meet with the Stake Pres. to get the call. I have to admit, I'm a wee bit nervous, but mostly excited.

And I had strep. Again. Anybody know how to perform a tonsilectomy out there? I'm not picky! :D

Church Luau

We had an excellent Luau at church last Saturday. We have a lot of Pacific Islanders in our congregation so the thing was done right! We had such a blast! The kids and I made candy leis and the girls were given flours to put in their hair at the door. We had so much food it wasn't even funny, but it was oh, so good! Pit-roasted pig, rolls, veggies, you name it! And a huge cake in the shape of a pig to boot! Kaylee and I got to share the snout. *giggle* There was also a talent show after the eating was over. We left early, though because I wasn't feeling well and because Jarum wanted to watch the BYU football game. :D

Anyway, here are some pics:

Kaylee with a new friend, just her age!
The Young Women dancing to Lilo and Stitch:
Jacob, bein' cute:
Kaylee, bein' cute:
Le Pig. It was SO GOOD!

LOOK! He's sitting up!!!
Oh, and that is the blanket I made for the occasion, seeing as they didn't set up chairs and told us to bring blankets. Plus, we needed a picnic blanket and I was feeling in a bright-colored mood:
The volcano. It seriously spewed steam. It was awesome!
Cowabunga, dude!

Now, for those of you wondering where Jarum and Matthew are, they wouldn't hold still long enough. Sorry!