Buster

When my parents came last weekend, the girls insisted that Buster came too.  They requested that I call my mom and tell her to bring Buster along.  My girls have never really liked dogs until recently.  I think Buster may have something to do with it.  He is such a friendly, happy dog, and they just love him.  They have since warmed up to dogs in general and aren't as scared around them, even really big ones.  When I was scrolling through the ipod I found a whole bunch of pictures of Buster and thought they were so funny.  Someone was having a little fun with the camera.  He's a little scraggly and needs a haircut :)

Inspired

My girls were inspired by the circus.  I was suspicious of this set-up in their room, and on closer inspection...Barbie acrobats!  I laughed out loud.

 

A Decade of Olivia

Olivia turned 10 yesterday.  She is such a beautiful young lady.  10 year olds are definitely fun and funny.  She is starting to have her own tastes in things and likes to feel old and young at the same time.  She loves Elephants, American Girl, drawing, clothes, wearing necklaces, the color blue, historical fiction, chocolate milkshakes, and oatmeal cookies. She loves to read and reads and reads before bed each night.  She is becoming really good with little kids and is very kind to her friends.  We are so blessed with this girl in her our family.  My parents came for the weekend to celebrate and she has a party this coming weekend.  Lucky girl gets to celebrate practically all month long.  We took some pictures after church on Sunday and them before school, yesterday, on her birthday.  Here's 10 pictures of our ten year old.

 

The Circus

Last weekend we went to the circus.  I haven't been to the circus since I was a tiny little girl.  All I remember was that it was in an actual tent and I remember seeing clowns.  It's a very vague memory.  There was so much going on that my kids were mesmerized the entire time.  At intermission I told the girls that it wasn't over yet.  Sammie said with big eyes and a huge smile, "There's more?!"  They loved everything.  We saw trapeze artists, clowns, a trampoline act, people spinning from the ceiling, clowns, a dog show, tigers, elephants dancing, horses doing tricks, a tight rope act, someone shooting out of a cannon...and more that I can't even remember.  After the show on the drive home we were talking about all of the things that we saw and I couldn't believe it.  The girls were so giddy and happy.  I only had the phone to take pictures so they didn't turn out so great and things are a bit blurry.  Most of the pictures are from the pre-show.  We got to look at the animals and go on the floor and watch a few of the acrobats and the elephants!  Olivia loves elephants so it was a complete feeling of satisfaction that she got to see them up so close at the pre-show.  The elephant was literally walking right in front of her.

Grandpa Boyce

 I have been having a hard time trying to write put my thoughts into words.  This has been such a different 6 months with the passing away of 3 of my grandparents.  It has given me much to think about.  I am so grateful for my knowledge. 

My Grandpa Boyce is a special man.  He was always so interesting and funny to me.  I remember listening to his stories when I was young.  He seemed so adventurous to me when he talked about hiking Mt. Timpanogos, hitch hiking, and pulling pranks.  My grandpa had a great love of learning.  He studied geology and loved science.  I remember him pulling out calculus books just for the fun of it.  At one point he was trying to learn Hebrew.  I loved going over to his and grandma's house.  We would swim and swim, and grandpa would lay down a path of plastic from the backdoor to the bathroom.  I don't know what would happen if you actually stepped off of the path with wet feet, but I was afraid to find out.  It was the rule.  I remember his love for Hawaii and he would wear his favorite Hawaii shirts and hats.  He also loved the 49ers when I was growing up and he and grandma had matching 49er Starters jackets.  Remember those? 

He loved my grandma so much and I know that he couldn't wait to be by her side again.  And now he is.  He had a great testimony that he loved to share.  His favorite hymn is "How Great Thou Art."  When I hear the words to that hymn, I hear my grandpa's testimony in every word. 

I remember him grabbing my hand when we visited him the week before he passed away.  I had the same feeling that I had when I saw Grandma Boyce for the last time.  It felt like a goodbye.  I have been so influenced by my grandparents and I am so grateful for the examples that they are to me.  I have thought about each who has passed away this year and how they have taught me and inspired me.  I want to be a better person when I think about the lives that they led.  I am so blessed. 

Visiting Grandpa just a week before he passed away. 

 

 

My cousins! Just 4 missing.

I love Baking!

I love spending the mornings with my Abby.  She's really good at cracking eggs...and eating cookie dough.

Clarinetest

Olivia really wanted to play in the band this year.  I love this age that Olivia is; willing to give new things a try to discover the things that you love and don't love.  She picked the clarinet and I went and picked one up at the music store last week.  She was just trying to blow a sound out of it and actually made a pretty decent noise.  I love musical endeavors and I'll put up with the squawking and squeals while she gets the hang of it.

Pre-schooler

Abby was so excited to go to pre-school last Tuesday.  I feel so blessed that we have such a wonderful teacher who happens to be one of my good friends.  She has a special knack for teaching pre-school.  Abby's class is all girls this year.  6 of them.  She was happy about it.  Heather said it herself that she has been waiting to have Abby in her class since the day she was born.  I can't believe that next year she will be in kindergarten!