Who's Up For Round 2?

Okay, so the Big Guy is everywhere now. We had to go to Walmart yesterday to buy some things that we need for the new apartment, and of course he is there. Andy had gone to take Chloe over to see the fish because that is her favorite thing to do when we go to Walmart and that was when they saw him. I had gone to look for Chloe a new comforter and sheets for her bed. We are trying to make moving fun for her by giving her some fun new things for her new bedroom. Once I finally caught up with them again I was informed that she had seen Santa again and he gave her a candy cane. She was so excited that she got to have her picture taken again with him. I think that we are going to be trying to set a new record for the most visits with Santa this year. At least Walmart gave you the picture for free.

An EWS Christmas

I always love going to the EWS Christmas party. It gives us a really good reason to get all dressed up and go out on an expensive date that we don't have to pay for. Andy has been really blessed to work for such a great company that really cares about their "Little People". They always have a huge company party on the 9th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in SLC. The food is amazing. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet with salads, steamed veggies, potatoes, prime rib, salmon and rolls...and the best desserts around. Andy was a little disappointed this year because they only had cakes for dessert, but the pumpkin cake was DELICIOUS!!!!! They had the singing group "Note Worthy" from BYU for entertainment. They were really good. It is an all female acapella group, and some of those girls had some amazing voices. It was a lot of fun to meet some of the new people that Andy works with as well as visit with some of them that we have gotten to be friends with over the past 5 years. My favorite part about the night is that I just get to spend a night with my amazing husband, and be so proud of how hard he works for us all year long.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

What a great day!!! We had so many Thanksgiving dinners this year and we have so much to be thankful for. We have a wonderful life and the best family and friends a couple of people could ever ask for. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to every single one of you who make our lives so full and so blessed. We were so lucky to get to spend so much time with both of our families over the holidays. My brother Kellis and his family came from Idaho the weekend before Thanksgiving and it was so much fun to see them. I don't get to see my favorite brother nearly as much as I would like to. I have always been so lucky to have gotten the world's greatest big brother. Then we had Thanksgiving day with at my mom's house. It was a lot of fun to hang out and eat and watch movies with my sister and her family for the day. On Friday we had the Boulter family Thanksgiving. It was great to have the entire family together for the day. We were so glad that Grandpa and Grandma Anderson could come down for the day. We don't make it up to see them nearly as much as we should, so next year we are going to try to make a few more visits to see them. We were especially excited to give Andy's parents their Christmas present. This year Tim thought of the idea of giving them a t.v. for Christmas and decided we should get all the kids in on it. We were able to get them a 42 inch HDTV with a stand to put it on. I loved seeing their faces as we brought up the stand first and let them wonder for a minute why we would give them that. When the t.v. came up the stairs it was great to see their faces. Mom cried, and I heard that Dad teared up a little too. It was so great to be able to do something so nice for them after all they have done for us. Thank you to all of our brothers and sisters for helping to make their Christmas great!! After dinner was over and the day started to wind down, the Boulter Brothers and Sister Band put on a show for some of us. They really ROCK!! It's true, the Playstation said so.

Santa Claus Is In Our Town!!!

Who new that Christmas was going to come so fast this year. We went to the mall today, 3 days before Thanksgiving and Santa Claus was already there. I was almost dealing with the fact that it is already Thanksgiving and all of a sudden the "Big Guy" arrived before the turkey. I just can't wrap my head around that one. So as usuall Chloe is so excited and wants to go sit on Santa's knee and tell him what a good girl she has been. She told him that she wants a new dolly for Christmas. I would think that she had so many babies that she would want something else this year, but what do I know. She had a really good time and loved the sucker that she got from Santa, no candy canes this year. Hopefully she won't be too disappointed if Santa brings something other than a dolly to our house this year.

Trouble in the Playground

I always new that kids were mean, but I never knew that they would start out being bullies by the time they were 3 or 4 years old. Chloe has come home a few times with scratches, bite mark, bruises and bumps a few times in the last year. Always when we ask her what happens it would be the same girl doing these things to her. Recently there has been a boy at her daycare that has taken over the job of playground bully. (Disclaimer: I am sure that Chloe is not always sweet and inocent and she has done her fair share of biting, hitting, etc, but not to the point that she has sent kids to the doctor.) Andy received a call from the daycare about 4:15 Friday afternoon telling him that Chloe had fallen off of the slide and needed to have stitches in her chin. We needed to come pick her up as soon as possible. I was just pulling into the parking lot at the Orem office of Osmond Real Estate to pick up my paycheck and drop off some files when I received the call from Andy. I ran in and ran out as fast as I could and was off. My heart was racing as we didn't know how bad things were and had at least a 30 minute drive to get there to pick her up and then another 10-15 minutes to get to the closest instacare. I know that really isn't a lot of time, but I tend to panic when I hear the words "stitches", "bleeding", or that my child is in pain. I am sure most mom's respond with the same panic and sense of urgency that I did. We called Grandpa to tell him that we would be late coming home for dinner and explained the situation to him. Luckily he and Grandma got off work early and he was just picking Grandma up from getting a hair cut a couple of blocks from the daycare. Just like Superman and Wonder Woman, they saved the day. They picked her up for us and drove her to the Instacare and we met them there. Things were not as bad as they could have been. She did have to get three stitches in her chin, but other than that we had just a few scrapes and bruises. Once Chloe calmed down a little we got her to tell us the whole story of what really happened. This story was confirmed by the teachers at the daycare. She had gone up the slide and was getting ready to slide down and a little boy (the bully) pushed her off of the slide. I am not sure which slide they were on or how high she fell from, but I am sure that things could have been much worse. I am sure that she had her special angels watching out for her that day. She was so brave getting the stitches put in. She had cried and cried and told the doctor that she didn't want to get a "Pokey", but sadly there were several. She held so still and didn't cry very much getting the stitches in. I was truly proud of her for being so brave when I really wanted to fall apart watching her in so much pain. The doctor gave her a prescription for a free ice cream cone at one of the local pharmacies and I am pretty sure that made it all worth it for her. This was definitely one of those times when I am so thankful for life's little miracles.

New Changes for the Boulter Home

There have been many new and exciting things going on at the Boulter home over the summer and continuing for the next little while. I will try to keep everyone updated on how things are going. It is so exciting to see all the changes and we are anticipating great things for this house. Mom and Dad have been working so hard to make a nice home and they are doing a wonderful job. It started outside this summer and has since moved inside. Dad poured cement and made a nice big patio outside so that we will have a place to gather our big family together for parties and family dinners during the warm weather.

Then they took it one step further and made a pretty garden full of flowers and trees. They used some of the cement from the patio and made stepping stones and each of the grandkids got to put their handprints or footprints and names on one. We had the first get together about three weeks ago to celebrate when Tim moved home from Vermont.

It was so much fun to see the kids running and playing and having so much fun. It was nice for all of us grown ups to be able to just sit around and hang out all in one place. We lined all the kids up on their little stones to take a picture and they had so much fun running from one end of the garden to the other trying to only step on the rocks.

We were missing a few of our cousins, so we sill have to take another picture of all the kids the next time we are all together. It is so much fun to see all of them in one place. I can't wait until next summer to see the garden in full bloom.

So then it was on to the inside of the house. Mom had actually started pulling wall paper off the walls in the kitchen several months ago thinking that she was ready for a new coat of paint and things sort of ballooned from there into a full scale kitchen remodel. Dad has pulled out the cabinet drops and the dropped ceiling. Eventually they are going to texture the ceiling, and there will no longer be any cabinet drops to be seen. Mom has bought all new appliances, countertops, and some new cabinets. She is going to re-paint the existing cabinets and all of the walls. She has done a really great job of picking out the perfect colors and her new kitchen is going to be a beautiful place to be.

Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

I can't believe that my baby just turned 4 years old!!! It seems like just yesterday that she was born. She has grown up so much this past year and is learning things so fast. Her new favorite words are "actually and probably". It is so funny to ask her a question such as "Do you need to go potty?" and she answers with "Acutally Yes, or Probably Yes". Such an attitude on this one. She is so special to us and I can't picture how our lives would be without her. I just love being her mom.

For the last several months she keeps asking, "Is my birthday this Friday?" We have been having to show her on the calendar how long the wait will be. For the last week have been waking up and saying "this many days to my birthday". Yesterday morning when she woke up she went running through the house, "Mommy, it is my birthday!!!...Grandpa, It is my birthday!!!...Grandma, It is my birthday!!!...Tim, It is my birthday!!!...Daddy, It is my birthday!!!" She was not going to let any of us forget. She was so excited to go to primary because she knew that they were going to sing to her and give her a present. All through the church yesterday she was letting people know that it was her special day. She is never shy and always has a way of making people laugh even when it isn't the most appropriate time for laughing. You just can't resist. After church we took some family pictures and laid down to watch a movie and take a nap before her party. Later most of our cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. came over to Nana's house for a birthday party. She has been adamant for months that she wanted a Tinkerbell birthday party, and she insisted that she wear her Tinkerbell halloween costume. We bought her 2 Tinkerbell cakes and she was in heaven. She had been so excited to blow out her candles, but then she ended up being scared of them when she couldn't do it. Daddy came to the rescue and helped her blow them out.

She loved all the presents that everyone bought for her and wanted to sleep with all of them last night. I am sure she will be busy for quite a while with all of the fun things. Thank you everyone for making her day so special and sharing your Sunday night with us.

We love ALL of you!!!

Trick or Treat

So I have been slacking all week long, but I finally downloaded pictures from Halloween. We had so much fun this year. After work we went to my mom's house for dinner. She always makes chilli on Halloween so that we all have a nice hot meal before going out in the cold to knock on doors for hours. Thanks Mom, it was better than mmmmm good!!! So this year Chloe had a hard time deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween and we tried really hard to just let her choose since she is getting older and is at the age where she has a definite opinion. She just couldn't make up her mind. She wanted to Abby Caddabby from Sesame Street, but the only costume we could find was at Shopko and it looked really cheap but cost a lot of money and wasn't worth a lot of money, so I sent Grandma to the Disney store on a mission and she came home with the cutest Tinkerbell costume ever. I am sure that Chloe will love dressing up in it for a long time. Thanks Grandma you do good work!! I decided a while ago that when we had kids we were all going to dress up and go trick or treating as a family rather than sending my kids off to raise all that rucuss on their own, lets face it, even though I am all grown up Halloween is my favorite and I love trick or treating. I had a really hard time getting Andy to dress up this year. He kept telling me that he didn't really want to and we should just save the money from the costumes to use on other things (I am sure he had a game in mind). Finally at the last minute he changed his mind and we went on a mad hunt a week before Halloween. The only costumes that were left at Walmart were really scary and I didn't want Chloe to so scared of us that she wouldn't have fun so we bagged that idea and went to Kmart. We found these really hillarious costumes that inflate with a little fan in them. Andy was a little hesitant at first, but he finally got into it, and it was so much fun to hear everyone's seam ripping laughs as we walked by. We had so much fun and Chloe came home with more candy than her little bucket would hold. I am sure I will have to throw some away next year so that she will be able to use her bucket again.

Halloween Play Date

The Relief Society in our ward had an awsome enrichment activity this week. All the preschool aged kids in our ward and their moms were invited to a Halloween party. Chloe had so much fun, and since all of the primary activities are usually held on a weekday this is the first time we got to do something like this together. Everyone had so much fun. We made little bats on sticks for a craft, sang songs, had storytime, played games and had a little treat with all of our new friends. We all had so much fun that we decided to make this a monthly play date and we will all take turns providing the different activities and treats. Chloe and I have the treat assignment for the next one in November, so if anyone has ideas of cute Thanksgiving treats let me know. This is all of our new friends.

Making Bats that we can fly.

Storytime was so much fun...

and so was singing songs.

We are so excited for next month.

I'm a BIG Girl Now!!!!

Guess What!!! I finally learned how to go to the potty all by myself! I have been trying so hard for so long and it finally happened. The Potty Fairy brought me a big big big Barbie a while ago and left her for me. She said that I couldn't have her until I learned how to be a big girl and not have any more accidents in my pants. I tried really hard, but it was taking so long and I just couldn't figure out how to not poop in my pants. Then on day the Potty Fairy took my Barbie away because I wasn't trying hard enough. I finally decided that I really really wanted that Barbie back, and I can finally do it without having accidents. As soon as my mommy saw me pooping in the potty I told her that we needed to call Santa Clause to let him know that I could do it. My mom asked me why I didn't want to call the Potty Fairy and tell her, but let's face it, she took my Barbie away. When I came home from school on Tuesday and went into my bedroom, my Barbie was there and she was waiting for me. The Potty Fairy gave her back and I love her. My Barbie is my new best friend. We share clothes and watch movies and sometimes she even sleeps in my bed. I am so excited that I get to be a big girl now and I don't have to wear baby diapers any more.

Wyoming or Bust!

We went to Wyoming again this past weekend and we had so much fun with Casey and Neika and their family. Chole loved playing with her cousins for a couple of days, and it was so much fun to visit them by ourselves. This is the first time that we have been there without the whole family since they moved there. We took a ride on the four wheeler on Sunday and Chloe absolutely loved it. If Andy would go to slow she would scream for him to go faster. The faster he went, the more fun she had. It was great to have one last ride around their property before they move. We saw so much wildlife in our adventures while we were there. There was a big herd of antelope out when we were out on the four wheeler, and there were moose and deer out a little later when Andy and Casey left to go hunting for a while. Chloe loves jumping on their trampoline and I even got on and played for a little with her. While we were there, Casey killed two skunks in his shed and we got to witness him getting rid of them. It smelled so bad outside for a while, and both of our cars got hit with the smell. I think ours has finally started to lose the skunk smell after about 5 days. It was so great to have a weekend away from reality, and Andy got to put in a couple of resumes for some different jobs while we were there. Hopefully something will happen and he will find a job that he can really love. Maybe we will be moving to Wyoming soon.

A Night Out With Friends

Tuesday night we went out on a double date with some of our very good friends Tad and Tami. Both of our anniversaries are this month, so we had a big night out to celebrate. Tad and Tami had bought tickets to go see CATS and asked us if we wanted to come with them so Andy called up the box office at Capitol Theater to buy tickets and the date was set. We had such a good time and are so glad that they invited us to share in the fun with them. We started out having dinner at an amazing place called Caffe Molise. It is authentic Italian food and was absolutely delicious. I would highly recomend it to anyone who was going out for a special occasion. They have an outdoor dining room and it was a beautiful night, so we decided to take advantage of it. After dinner, we were off to the theater to see the show. The cast did a wonderful job and we really enjoyed watching them. CATS is not one of my most favorite musicals, but I really enjoyed it and I was so excited that Andy finally got to see his first show at Capitol Theater. Hopefully there will be more to come. After the show we decided it was time to get home to our little one and to our beds since we all had to be up in the morning for work on Wednesday. We really had a good time and are so glad that we got to have a much needed date night especially since we were with such good company. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking such good care of Chloe while we went out to play for a little bit. You guys are the best!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

My Dad's birthday was this past saturday, September 13th. We took Chloe shopping for some presents that we could take out to the cemetary because I get tired of taking flowers out all of the time. Chloe found this little scarcrow and insisted that she needed to buy it for Papa's birthday. She was so excited on saturday morning to go to the cemetary and give her present to papa so we got up early and left for the cemetary with presents in tow. Once we were there Andy helped her put he little scarcrow in the ground so that it would stand up and she was beaming. I think that she was just so proud of herself that she picked out a present all by herself and delivered it with only a little help from her dad. We also bought a little rain guage that had these cute little garden gnomes. We don't really know what the point of that really was other than we thought it was really cute and we were running out of options. Before we left Walmart the night that we were looking for presents I took Chloe over to look at the toys and found a cool little '54 Chevy Bel Air toy car. When I was a little girl I used to buy my dad little toy cars for his birthday, Father's Day, Christmas or whenever I could think of a good reason to buy one. My dad really loved cars and he always wanted a '57 Chevy Bel Air, so I bought him the closest thing I could find.
My dad was an amazing person and he has been greatly missed by a lot of people these past three years. I really miss the advice that he used to give me whenever I had any life changing decisions to make, and right now we have several of those changes that need to be made and I wish that he could give me some advice now. He was always a great dad and did everything he could to take care of us, and I am sure that he will always be watching from the other side guiding us and protecting us.
Happy Birthday Daddy, I miss you so much and love you every day!!!