Deans

Shelby turns 5!

2011-08-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Shelby wanted a Diamond Castle party. So I did what I could considering this Barbie movie is over 3 years old and they don't have Diamond Castle stuff anymore! So I made this cake...

Then we decorated mirrors (that's a big part of the movie)....
Shelby had her cousins Elayna and Brianna over, as well as Emily... They made Heart necklaces...

... we also potted flowers (I don't have a picture of that). Here is my cake again. I made this way easy Marshmallow fondant, and it was SO fun to do! This is my attempt at making a Diamond Castle cake! (Thank you Caitlyn.. Shelby's friend from Idaho... who gave Shelby this cake topper as a farewell gift!) Shelby loved it, and so did I!!! I love making cakes for birthdays, and now that I found this recipe... my imagination is having a party!!

These pictures upload in a very non-order way! But we also had little sandwiches, which I used a cookie cutter to cut the bread, cheese and bologna. None of the girls ever liked bologna sandwiches before, but they all ate them up! I guess if you cut everything out in flower shapes, then they are more fun to eat! It was a fun party.

Celebrating our Countries

2011-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

My absolutely beautiful girls!!! What a blessed mother I am!

Hailey got on the table and dumped all the Parmesan cheese out. She had a great time playing in it!

So for Canada Day, we went down to Princess Island Park for the festivities. We enjoyed our time in the sun and with our cousins.. but were kinda disappointing in the lack of patriotism we felt. Oh, there were lots of flags and people out, but it just isn't the same as the USA. None the less, we are grateful to live in this free land and have all the freedoms that our America enjoys. We are truly blessed.
Hanging out with the Lee's listening to an awful performance on the stage! We just had fun laughing at her! (bad, I know!)

Because of the sorry July 1st we had, I did my best to make July 4th good. First of all, I was in tears the entire day, just thinking about being in Idaho Falls, and doing all the traditions that we did. So we tried to do them here. We put up the tent like we always do, brought out the mattresses, tv and fan. We had a Family Home Evening on America. We sang the anthem and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then watched our movie. We attempted to sleep out there, but being in Canada is a little different than Idaho. When the sun set around 11pm, the temperature dropped, and we all froze. So we all came inside! :)

Inside our tent.. yes, I flew the flag that day too (on our porch). I also made a flag cake we had for dessert. Such a fun day!

And here is the clan. We are pretty much always together. It can be crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Our 11 year Anniversary

2011-08-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

This year I was in charge of our anniversary. So at the very last minute, I decided to take us south to Cardston and Waterton. These pictures are all out of order, oh well. First we went to the Temple and did sealings.. kinda just to remember the promises we made when we got married and remember the blessings that await us as we live our marriage and lives righteously. Then we headed to Waterton to camp. It was SOOO beautiful and refreshing and wonderful. I couldn't be happier to be there with the most amazing man. I am so blessed to have Chad as my eternal companion.

We hiked into this waterfall. On the way in, some hikers were coming out and said, "did you see the bear?" Ummm, no. We got scared for a minute and turned back for a short while, but decided to push on anyways. It was well worth it. Such a beautiful waterfall. We never did see the bear on that hike, but on the way out of the canyon, we drove by it!! Gotta love seeing bears in the wilderness!

And of course we couldn't pass up the chance to fish in the crystal clear river. He didn't catch anything, but it sure was nice to be out there!

Here's the picture of us in front of the Cardston Temple.

Emily's Birthday

2011-08-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Emily turned 7 this year! Crazy! We went to Grandmas for a family party. She was lead by a string to the backyard where she was surprised to find a bike! Thanks Grandmas for a wonderful party and gift!!

Daddy helping her learn and Riley watching! Go Emily Go!!

This is the only picture I have right now of her friend birthday party. All the other pictures are on my phone and I can't get them off right now, so we'll do a catch up later. But Emily wanted a Chef Party! It was so fun. I made all these aprons, and the kids made their hats. Then we each made our own pizzas, smoothies and cupcakes! It was so much fun! Her friends were Caleb, Loren, Sydney and Jocelyn.. and of course Shelby!!

The four cousins! Laying in Riley's bed watching a movie.

Hailey.. growing up so fast!

Don't forget the helmet! :)

New Piano - Mother's Day

2011-08-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, my wonderful mother gave me the family piano. I couldn't be more thrilled and happy. So many hours as a child I spent on this piano, and now it is in my home! I can't wait to teach my children how to play and see which one will love it as much as me!

For Mother's Day this year, Crystal and I decided that we would treat my mom to lunch (since she always treats us on our weekly Wednesday lunch get together) So we went really different and got East Indian Food. It was.. interesting. Not my favorite, but definitely good. We are so blessed to have my mom as our Mother. She is special and wonderful in so many ways, I couldn't begin to list them here. I'm so grateful that I am living so close to her and have her in my daily life. Love you Mom!!

This is Emilys school project that we made. She got to do some research on Zebras (the animal of her choice)! It was fun to create this together.

Such pretty girls I have sitting at the piano. Reminds me of when Crystal and I would sit and play all our duets, or sit and sing our favorite hymns.

Cub Cars to Easter

2011-05-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here is little Miss Hailey looking so pretty in the blue dress.. just had to get a picture because I don't think she'll wear it again!

Mommy and all her princesses! Such sweet girls I have!

This is Riley's cub car that he and Chad created. I think it is totally awesome! Half American, half Canadian.. same as Riley! Too bad that it wasn't very fast.. kinda slow..kinda the last car slow! :(

Happy Easter!! We kinda forgot to color eggs until the last minute before Easter! So just before bedtime we were busting out some eggs! I don't know why Emily is on this kick of making funny faces in pictures! Oh well. Easter was wonderful. We had a big childrens party on Good Friday at the church, then on Saturday we had our own little easter egg hunt. Then on Sunday we went over to my moms for a yummy dinner and a big easter egg hunt over in the park! It was all so fun and wonderful to be with family again on this beautiful holiday.

Just had to throw these pictures in. It's not very often I get to dress up. Chad took me on a date this night. We went to Swiss Chalet for dinner. I remember going as a little kid, and of course Chad never has been, so it was fun and nice. Gotta love going on dates!

Our Trip to Utah!

2011-04-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we surprised our children on Saturday night and took them to Utah. They had no idea! We sat them down and asked them what they would like to do for Spring break and Emily said Swimming, and we said, sure! Riley said, "go to Utah" and we said.. "Hmm, okay! Let's go!" And they all flipped out! We packed them into the car and off we went! We drove to Great Falls that night, and the next day we headed to Idaho Falls!! As we drove into the city, I burst into tears. I knew that we shouldn't have come here. It felt like coming home. Our first stop was with the Hydes! Chad and Derek sat down and picked up right where they left off... playing Halo!

Darcie had a wonderful lunch prepared for us! It was so nice to talk and catch up. We love this family!

The girls played and played, then fought, then played some more! Just like old times!

After our visit with the Hydes, we headed over to the Droegemuellers for dinner! It was so wonderful to see our other best friends! And again, everyone got right into playing! Our friend Emma and Heather Douglass came to see us too! It was so much fun!

Then my darling Ausia came over to see us. She brought her little baby Emma! What a sweet little baby.

Me and Sarah, my dear friend. Thank you for the yummy food and wonderful visit! We love you all!

Then next day we headed to Utah. We decided to stop in Brigham City for some lunch. But we took the wrong exit and got the scenic tour of the city. We laughed so hard when we saw this sign. "Welcome to Brigham Gateway to the World's Greatest Wild Bird Refuge".. not the home of it, but the gateway! "keep on driving and at some point, you'll get there!"

Riley and Kole, best buds forever!

We went to the Dinasaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was so much fun, and the kids loved it! They had this wonderful table full of sand and water that the kids loved to play in!

We had to get a picture infront of the shark. When Riley turned one, we took him here for his birthday and got some video of it. So, 8 years later we come back! It was great!

Say Cheese Chad and Mike!

Poor baby girl. She had such a rough trip. She hardly got naps, and bedtime was at midnight everynight. Everytime we got in the car after that first day, she conked!

Riley and Atticus. Riley, as usual is so good with his little cousins. They had fun in the hallway of our hotel!

Emily and Sydnee. They played hard and good all week. There were occasional melt downs. It's funny how two girls can be so similar!

Emily and Matty. Matty was a fun little one to play with! We all love her!

Morning pictures, not so great. But thanks Papa Dean for letting us come and invade your house! We love you!!

Chad, Kolby and nephew Jordan! These three had much fun together. We love you guys too!

Me and Marcie, as beautiful as ever. How nice to have a sister like her. One who understands the fun that comes with being a Dean wife and mother!! Love you!!

And finally, as we headed home, we couldn't not stop in Ogden at Grandma's grave. We were there on April 3, three years to the day of when she passed away. Life is just not the same without you Mama Dean! How we love and miss you!

So all in all, our trip was fun and wonderful! We were able to see and visit with many people that we love and miss. It is sad to live away from your family and best friends, but we find much comfort in knowing we are where the Lord wants us to be. Perhaps the greatest part of the whole trip was to come home to Calgary, and all of us actually feel like we are home. :)

Random Happenings of March

2011-03-20T12:56:00.001-07:00

We took a drive out to the Calgary temple site, and what a surprise to us to find it going up! How wonderfully exciting to us. It will be so beautiful. We've only lived here not even a year, and we ache to have a temple close. For 10 years, we have lived within minutes of a temple. In Idaho Falls, we drove by our temple daily. Here, it's such a big ordeal for Chad and I to go to the temple down in Cardston. We can't wait for this one to be completed! And it's so fun for us to watch it be built from the ground up!

Hailey is so funny. I give her oatmeal to eat for breakfast, and she dumps it onto the table and eats with her hands. She wants to eat everything by herself. It's good, but also a little frustrating! Oh well.

Bath time.. in the kitchen sink! She thought this was great!

My wonderful neighbor made these little barrettes for the girls. I thanked her because now Shelby actually wants me to do her hair!

Riley Turns 9!

2011-03-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Riley. Can you believe you're nine? You are turning into a young man. You are kind and thoughtful and so smart. You are so wonderful with your baby sister. You are such a good friend. You are such a good son. Of all the boys in the whole world we could have been blessed to have, Heavenly Father gave us you. For that, we will be eternally grateful for. You, our only son, bring us much joy. You are precious to us. We love you!

Riley wanted a Lego Star Wars cake. Seriously, how many Star Wars themed cakes do I have to make?? I've made a regular Star Wars cake, and a Light Saber cake. I'm running out of ideas! Oh well, it turned out ok, and he liked it alot! It was one of the easier cakes that I've made!

Riley had a little party. Evan (from school), Brandon, Pierce and Brennan (from church) all came. We had pizza, cake and ice cream. Then the boys went and played laser tag. Fun was had by all.

February Love

2011-02-26T15:35:00.001-08:00

Riley had he Lord Baden-Powell Scout Banquet. All the cubs were asked to make a cub themed cake. This was Riley's idea. So Chad and Riley made the cakes. I shaped it into the triangle. I attempted to make a fondant, but it didn't work out super well, but it looks alot better than if I had just iced it. I outlined the wolf for Riley, and he filled it in. I think it looks awesome!

He won best wolf cub themed cake! Yay for him! He felt really good that he won something. There were totally amazing cakes there, but ya, I think ours was awesome!

Here is his sock puppet that he made, and they put on a little show for us. It was fun!

And now they are having a knot tying contest. He got 4 out of 7 right. I was proud of him. I try to cherish these scout moments, since I wont have any more of these "boy" events!

FAMILY DAY! We had a blast! My Dad was up from Lethbridge so we all, including Crystals family went to this most wonderful place called Cardel Place! It is right by my house and it is awesome. Here is Emily, Hailey and Taylor looking down on the swimming pool that we went to! They have this "river" that pushes you around in. Hailey just about fell asleep in it! I was just holding her in her lifejacket, and it just about rocked her to sleep! So fun!

Before swimming, we all went to this huge gym that had so much to do. Me, Chad, Crystal and Jonathan played badminton while the kids just ran. There was a little obstacle course set up, and floor hockey. Here Chad and Jonathan are playing some Basketball!

Then they set up this huge bouncy slide thing. Now THAT was fun. The kids went around and around in it having so much fun! It was so cute to watch them play in it. Even the adult had fun!

Here is Hailey jumping on the little trampoline on the obstacle course.

And Valentines Day. We went to buy the valentines day cards, but they were sold out from every store!! So, we made our own! The kids actually loved this way better. They decorated their cards all day. I cut out 72 heart cards and they stickered, and bedazzled them all! It was really great!

Featuring,.. Hailey!

2011-02-26T15:23:00.001-08:00

So this is Hailey's new favorite place to be. She climbs up here a hundred times a day, and loves to play on the computer. This day, she was just too cute for words, hence, the many pictures!

Riley was home sick with Strep throat, so he got some good gaming time in!

Just had to throw this picture in. Chad and I planned a really fun date. He won some gift certificates to a fancy restaurant at his work Christmas party. So, my sister took my kids, for the night! We had a great time. The food wasn't all that great, but we had fun anyways! Then the next morning we took the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cardston to go through the Temple. It was so beautiful and most needed. We loved every minute of it! On the way home we picked up a very distraught Indian woman who was on the side of the road. Poor lady. She asked us to pray for her, and her children's children! We did. It was a wonderful time with my hubby. Sure love him.

Fun Pictures

2011-01-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

For my Dad's 60th birthday, I made a slide show of our lives (rjboyer.blogspot.com) It was so perfect and wonderful! Me Crystal and Jordan all went and had our pictures taken for the occasion. It was SO fun! Let me tell you. Nothing is more hilarious than Jordan and when we are all together!

Like I said, So fun! This one we just had to take. I was hidden a little behind Jordan, but the look on his face is just priceless. Yes, that is a rug. :)

New Years Fun!

2011-01-05T21:23:00.001-08:00

So New Years Eve is my Mom's birthday. And it is tradition for mom and her kids to go out for lunch and some shopping. Usually it has only been her and Crystal, but this year, luckily, me and Jordan were here too! So we went to lunch... and had a wee bit too much fun! These are just some of the pictures we took, but we took a whole bunch of silly ones, and we were laughing so hard, the waitress brought us our utensils and very quickly ran away from us. We cleared the whole section out. It was hilarious! But that's what happens when you eat goat cheese with fig jam and spiced pomegranates! Let's just admit it, having Jordan around makes EVERYTHING hilarious!

That night for dinner, we got a lobster!! The kids went nuts! They loved every second of it. They wanted it to be their pet and were quite sad when we cooked it! They were good sports and tried the lobster. Since this was the first time we have ever cooked a lobster, it was a little overdone, therefore, a little chewy. This, the kids did not like. So hopefully we didn't scar them for life against ever eating lobster!

Happy Birthday Mom! You're the best and most beautiful Mother and Grandmother! I'm just so happy that I can be here with you and celebrate these wonderful holidays with you. I love you!

New Years Day dinner was at Mom's house again. First we fed the kids here at the kids table.
Then we sent the kids downstairs to watch a movie while the adults ate. Here is one half of the table...
And here's the other half. As usual, diner was awesome!
Jordan dressed in his authentic attire. He looked so cool, almost an Arab! It was so neat to hear him tell us all about life over there and teach us wonderful things about the scriptures and make them come to life. So awesome!
After dinner at mom's, we headed over to my Uncle Champs for more fun and crazy games! This is Hailey and Taylor playing on the steps. All the adults played a crazy game of Signs. So hilarious, especially with Jordan and my cousin Garrett. We were there till almost one in the morning! It was a fun and busy holiday season. But so wonderful to be with all of my family. I feel so blessed to be apart of my family. That's what it's all about isn't it?
Here's to 2011, hoping it brings happiness and joy for all.

Christmas in Canada

2011-01-05T16:49:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve was spent at Crystals house. We had a wonderful time. First we commenced the night with a surprise party for my Dad (finishing his 12 days of Christmas) where we read some letters and watched a slide show I made for him. It was wonderful. Then, as we sang Jingle Bells, Santa came to visit!! It was great. Hailey just about flipped out (see video below). Seriously, it was a Funniest Home Video moment! Of course we had Chinese and pizza. We tracked Santa and luckily got to bed before he got to Calgary! We are so grateful to be here to celebrate Christmas with the family.

Everyone loves Jordan. And we are so glad he is home from Jerusalem and has so many wonderful stories to tell us!
Christmas Jammies from Grandma.. sooo cozy and warm!

Christmas Day Dinner was at our home. We did fondue again! This is our meat fondue with steak, chicken, bacon and shrimp. Mmmmm
Here is the cheese fondue with bread, broccoli, cawliflower, potatoes, and ham.
And for dessert, chocolate fondue!! And not just any chocolate, Bernard Callebaut chocolate! With strawberries, raspberries, rice krispie treats, bananas and pretzles. This one got downed so fast we could hardly taste it! Chad worked really hard to prepare this meal and it was delicious! Thanks honey!

Papa and Hailey with her present that he got her, a little purse toy.
After we opened presents Christmas morning, Mom and Martin came over for traditional brunch Eggs Benedict (which was so good by the way!) Mom gave Chad this little plaque. It made him cry! So sweet. "A fisherman lives here with the best catch of his life"

Boxing Day we went to Moms for dinner. It was the first time that she had all of her kids and all of Martins kids together for dinner. (minus Katie) Mom of course has marvelous dinners and it was so yummy and this kids had fun too!
Mom, Martin and all her kids and grandkids... we are all here!
Me and Crystal.. her looking Fabulous by the way!
And here is everyone! Merry Christmas!!

Work Party

2010-12-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well, Chad's work had a Christmas party. It was help in Red Deer, overnight. They put us up in a hotel, and had a really yummy buffet dinner. I looked forward to this night for 3 months! My mom lent me some beautiful jewelry and shoes. So here's the story: I spent the day trying to get my kids all ready to spend the night at Crystals. My plan was to get ready at the hotel once we got there. Once there I quickly plugged in my curlers, then got dressed. I went to do my hair, and realized I forgot the clips to hold the curlers in! Great. Oh well, I'll just brush my hair and put it up... oh, I forgot a brush!! Geesh, so I'm brushing my hair through with my fingers, Chad's hair too. Then I get a run in my brand new nylons that I just bought! So, this picture is a good as it got! We had a blast though. Everyone was drunk around us, but we just had fun together. There was a dance too, that we danced a little too. But the best part was the chocolate fountain! Oooh, while everyone was at the bar, we were eating up all the chocolate. Mmmm, soo good!

Hailey's 1st Birthday

2010-12-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well, our little one has turned one! It has been such a wonderful year with her, watching her grow. She has brought us all so much joy, and we all love her oh so much. As always, on our childrens first birthday, we give them their own cake to dig into. Hailey did the best out of all the kids! This year, her birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day, so to celebrate, we also had a turkey dinner and our cousins and Grandma came! We all had so much fun!

This is one of the first times Hailey stood on her own. Yay!

And I had to throw this picture in. My Emily looked so precious sleeping with her bunny, and flag!

Halloween

2010-11-05T09:18:00.001-07:00

It's Halloween again. This year they all wanted scary faces for their pumpkins. It was fun and we got tons of seeds.. mmmm.

Here is Shelby at Joy School. The other girls, Emily, Miriam, Eyana and Brianna (and Taylor wandering!), all dressed up for a little party at Joy School. They had such a fun time. I think Shelby looks so beautiful in this picture!

Doing a little parade around the kitchen. They thought it was great!

Emily and Shelby wanted to be matching princesses this year. It was quite the ordeal trying to find the dresses in the right sizes. 4 stores later, I have matching dresses! But oh how beautiful they are. If only they knew what true princesses they really are.

Here is my Luigi! He's supposed to be holding his little inflatable belly! He loved this costume and looked so cute.

My little lion! This was Riley's costume when he was little. Hailey hated it! This was about as long as I could keep the mane on her!

Mario and Luigi! Here is Riley's cousin and BFF at the Trunk or Treat. We did the Trunk or Treat inside. I thought it was great. Everyone decorated doors and tables. And the kids were able to wear their costumes in their full splendor, not underneath coats! It was alot of fun!

In the gym doing the Mummy Wrap!

I made 6 batches of cupcakes for the activity. Apparently people were more interested in their candy than the cupcakes!! Oh well, my house sure smelled good that day!

Daddy being Mummy wrapped!

This is a very tired, hungry and unhappy little lion! Poor baby. We didn't have dinner and we were so busy that night we could hardly pay attention to her. But she did so good, until the last minute!

Riley's Investment

2010-11-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

Riley was invested into Cubs on October 28th 2010. It was so cute! I love cubs here in Canada. They have this whole "Jungle Book" Theme (I actually don't know how it is in the states). They stand in this circle and he has to walk around it to get to Akela (the pack leader). It was very nice. I'm so glad that Riley loves Cubs. He's working hard to earn badges, and I'm working hard to sew them on!!

Happy Thanksgiving... Canadian!

2010-10-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, our first Canadian Thanksgiving! It was so fun! Of course I wanted to have it at my house. I've been waiting 10 years to have Thanksgiving with my family! So instead of having just a roasted chicken that I normally make for Canadian thanksgiving, we made Turkey! Mom and Martin came over and Crystal and Jonathan too. We had soooo much yummy food. It was wonderful!

Here are the girls, sitting at their table. Such happy faces... this was the calm before the storm! We love our girls and they love each other. But sometimes things can get a little crazy! Normally they fight over who gets the "pink plates" and who gets the "purple plates". To avoid that, I had Crystal bring her set over so then everyone could be happy... but not all things go as planned. Apparently someone looked at someone wrong and the water works began! But it's fun. They eventually calmed down and enjoyed the dinner!

Here are the boys, after dinner, watching a little football. The poor boys get overrun by all us girls! They gotta stick together!

Before dinner, Chad, Riley, Jonathan and my dad all went to hit a bucket of balls. Dad couldn't be with us this year for dinner, but was able to spend some time with the boys before he had to leave. (We sent a huge platter of food with him though, so he was happy!)

For years, whenever my mom would come and visit me, we would say the night before she came, "So, would you like to come to dinner tomorrow?" and visa versa. Chad would always laugh at us and think we were weird, but it was a thing that we missed so much. Sooo, my mom finally said to me, "Do you want to come to dinner?" And we did!!! It was so fun! And of course so delicious!

Just had to take this picture. Emily and Shelby always play so good together. (Well, almost always!) But they were just playing in my back yard, sitting like princesses and having so much fun. It was cute!

Gotta love my Hailey Bailey! She is standing all over the place, and is always so happy. We love her!!

I sent Riley to a party for his friend, and he came back a Werewolf!!! Holy cow it was so cool!! Hailey was scared of him and wouldn't go near him! It was awesome!

First Day of School

2010-09-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

Emily starting first grade, er, grade one as they say up here! I was so proud of her and Riley. They were so brave going to a new school and not knowing anyone. Emily had a hard time the next few days. She said that it was too long of a day without me. But we resolved that with a special necklace and scheduled a date for us to go on.

So sweet.
Riley starting grade 3. Such a handsome dude!
What beautiful kids! I can't get over it. I'm so blessed that they are so smart too. Good good kids.

So Chad and I had alot of Food Stamp money left over from the States.. alot. So we decided to rent a van and drive down to Great Falls for a power grocery shopping trip. Hailey came with us, and this is her driving at our pit stop at the border!

The van was packed! We only had 2 hours to shop and we got as much as we could of everything. We couldn't spend it all, so luckily, we saw 3 sets of missionaries! We told them to get whatever they wanted! They thought that was awesome. Then after they got what they wanted, there was still money left, so we just gave them the card and told them to finish it up. It was soooo fun. To shop and get whatever we wanted. It also feels so good to have such a good supply for our food storage. It was worth the trip, and so fun to be with Chad and little Hailey.

Hailey does the cutest thing. She always scrunches her nose and breaths in and out. It is so cute! I love seeing her little teeth too!

Taylor and Hailey helping me unload the dishwasher! Such cute little ones!

Here is the date that I promised Emily I would take her on. She was nice enough to invite Shelby to come along. They got all dressed up with make up and everything.
We went to a park that we've never been too. They wanted to get into the baby swings. It was so funny as they just hung there... they are all legs! Silly girls.

Then we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate and Pumpkin Pie Steamed milk mmmmm. It was a fun time. I love my girls and I love how girly they are too. Such little princesses. So Precious to me.

Summer fun in Calgary

2010-09-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

This was so funny. My kids kept coming in the house and filling up ziplock baggie with water. I go outside in our backyard, and this is what I see... they are watering the thistles! Oh it was funny!

I was in the Mother's Room at church one day and I was talking with an old friend from High School who is in my ward. She was so nice and took pity on my plight of being trapped at home with all my kids and no car, so she offered to take us to the zoo! It was so nice. We of course picked the hottest day of the whole summer to go. Riley got a little heat stroke and was miserable the whole time. But the Calgary zoo is really neat. These dinosaurs really move and growl and stuff. The kids loved it!

For Shelby's birthday, she wanted to go swimming. So mom and Crystal came with her kids and we had little cupcakes and chips and had a fun time at the swim pool.

Shelby and Elayna loving each other. Shelby is wearing her new outfit and glasses that Grandma gave her.

It's not a birthday without a cake. Shelby wanted a Diamond Castle girl cake. So I just took the Cinderella cake pan we have and made her purple with brown hair! She loved it, and didn't even know that the cake broke in half when I was taking it out of the pan!
Happy 4th birthday my precious little girl. I can't believe how big and beautiful you are. You always make us laugh and smile. You are full of life and are so caring and kind and thoughtful. We love you!

Boyer Reunion

2010-09-12T13:26:00.001-07:00

Well, my pictures are out of order, oh well. The last day of our reunion, we went to Waterton. While driving out of the park, we saw this black bear right off the road. The kids were pretty stoked about seeing a real bear. We also saw a grizzly bear on top of Bears Hump when we climbed. That was pretty cool too. Gotta love the wild life in Waterton!

Me and Chaddy in front of Cameron Falls. He's so handsome!

Riley and his cousin Brandon. These two were inseparable. I don't even remember seeing them much at the reunion, they were always off playing!
Emily and her cousin Sydney.

Here are the Boyers: Barb, Champ, Lucky, Blackie and Rocky. I love these guys and I'm so thankful to have them as my family.

HELP!!

Here we are at the top of Bear's Hump. We climbed it! I remembered it being a nice little hike... ya, back when I was 16! Man it was hard! Chad had to push and pull me the whole way up. I'm glad I didn't bring Emily and Shelby. Chad had Hailey in the back pack, and Riley ran the whole way up! It was a beautiful view though once we were up there.

Blackie and Debra with their daughter-in-law Sarah and Grandson Tyson. Cute little family.

Just eating some chips!

Rocky and Suzie and Tanner were able to come up from Utah. What a fun time with them. I joke that I have to move to Canada to see them, since I never saw them when I lived down there!

And here we are, my brother and sister. How I love them. They sure make life fun for me! They are the best ever and I am so grateful to have them as my brother and sister.

This is with our husbands Chad and Jonathan. And while I love my sis and bro, it's not complete with out our other halves. Now we just need to get Jord married..... ;)

Just finished taking group pictures. Sitting on the porch of the cabin we stayed in. It was an amazing cabin! Room enough for us all to sleep and eat and play. So worth the money. We had so much fun all together.

It wouldn't be a reunion without Jordan trying to take Tate out with his Jujitsu! Jord did really good, and while he didn't tap out Tate, Tate did go and throw up! So it is a toss up at who really won. But everyone got into it. Chad and Jonathan, Cam tied one hand behind his back and let the kids go at him. It was fun.

Game time! Dip your nose into Vaseline, then into a bowl of cotton balls, and transport it to the bowl at the end of the table... quite funny to watch!

Wrap up the mommies with toilet paper game! Yay, that was fun!

Put the cookie on your head and get it to your mouth without using your hands game!

Hailey and Mia, Jeff and Sarah's little girl.

Riley and Brandon watching Jonathan, Chad, Jordan and Cam play Bacci Ball. They had fun. Down there at that net, me, Chad, Jordan, Crystal and Jonathan all played Badminton. It was one of the funnest times we had. Who knew that Badminton could be so fun! It was a great reunion. I feel very blessed to belong to the Boyer family. While we can be ridiculous and crazy, we can be serious and spiritual. I think we have a bond that is unbreakable. I don't think I'm the only one that knows that we could count on anyone to be there for us if we needed. Isn't family great?

Stampede.. Yee Haw!

2010-09-12T13:08:00.001-07:00

We went to the Stampede. It was really fun, but extremely expensive. We road the LRT (train) downtown to the grounds. We had Corn Dogs for dinner... 5 dollar Corn dogs! Geesh. The kids went on a few rides and they had a blast. They also got to "milk a cow".

Petting a pony. While we were in the stables, there was a mad cow going a little crazy. So we hurried ourselves out of there!

This is just a picture for my brother. "Lanolin? Like, Sheeps wool?"

Moving

2010-09-02T19:34:00.001-07:00

On the actual 4th of July, there were fireworks at the ball park... Melaluca field. The Hydes of course are right across the street from the field, so we headed over there to watch them. It was also the last time to hang out with our dear friends. Fun was had by all, as usual. I was grateful that it was late at night that we had to say goodbye. I don't think the kids quite grasped the concept that we were moving to Canada in the morning. I braced myself for quite the tear fest, but luckily, they were all too tired to know. Saying goodbye was too hard. We sure love the Hydes. Here is all 9 of our children!

The Monday morning we got the biggest U-Haul we could get, all the Elders and friends from town that we could manage, and in less than an hour and a half, this baby was loaded and ready to go! Sarah D. was the organizer in the truck, and I don't think that we could have fit it all in without her packing job!

So, our rent-a-car that we were assigned was a 2011 convertible red Mustang!! It was totally not practical, but way fun! Before we left Chad took our wonderful friends the Droegemuellers for a ride! I don't know what we would have done without their help. James vacuumed my entire house and Sarah swept out my whole basement. It shaved hours off of our time. How we have missed our amazing friends!

Here I am in Great Falls, just before returning my Stang! It was way fun to drive, helped to curb the tears that flowed, no, not really. I'm pretty sure I sobbed all the way to Montana. But at least I cried in style!

Once we got to the border, we had to wait for 2 hours while they processed the paperwork. No worries, by this time we are very good at waiting! But all those months of waiting for our LMO paid off, because we had no trouble getting through! Once clear, my Mom (who came down to pick us up with Crystal) brought out the Canadian flags! Oh Canada! It was quite the trip. Very very emotional, both happy and sad. But when you are doing something that you know is right, that the Lord wants you to do, it makes it all alot easier. Now a new adventure begins!

Utah Love

2010-07-22T09:53:00.001-07:00

TEN YEARS!!! Ten years we have been married. How wonderful. (this post is a little behind, sorry) We took a trip down to Utah to have one last Hurrah with the Deans. And little did I know, that Chad planned to wisk me away for the night... without the 3 oldest kids! So we took a little walk down by the Provo temple, and reminisced of days gone by. It was wonderful and such a beautiful night. I couldn't have married a better man for me than my Chaddy. How grateful I am to him and for his love and friendship. I hope the next 10 years are as adventurous as these last have been!

We stayed at the Hines Mansion in the Library room. It's the exact room we spent our first night in together. These stairs led up to the double jaccuzi with a skylight roof.

Model poses!!

Here we all are at the little slide park in Provo. Kent ordered us a 7 foot sub sandwich. Which was just enough.. until Taylor and Jordan got there.. I think there could have been another 3 feet to feed them!

Back at Spencers house for Father's Day dinner. All the boys were there and they had a slam dunk contest. They had a blast!

Kent was having a ball just watching all his boys and grandkids have so much fun. I don't think anything could have made him happier!

Shelby, Matty and Hailey hanging out in the shade.

Michelle, Marcie and Cassie. Such pretty girls!

Riley was having SO much fun with all his cousins and uncles and of course his Dad.

Can you get a more handsome group of boys together?? All the Dean boys minus Atticus and Alex. (Mikes youngest boys)

It was a little bright! But here are the Dean girls. We are only missing Kristy in here! Pretty girls.

All the grandkids.

Emily, who was deathly afraid of this dog at the beginning of the day, was holding the dog and never wanted to let go by the end of the day!

Fourth of July!!

2010-07-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the parade! We were so lucky to find our good friends Jolene and Eric! So they scootched over and we sat with them! The weather was nice and even cool, so it was great! The kids got lots of candy and had a ton of fun! Can you find Riley??

I just had to take a picture of all the American flags... wont see so many of them again in a long time. A beautiful sight.

We are all very proud to be American. These floats created very tender feelings with Chad and I. It is going to be very difficult to leave the USA. We love our country and will always be American. We know the Lord wants us to be in Canada, and that is a beautiful and blessed country as well. So it's all good. It's just good to see Old Glory in all her Glory!

Nothing like the afternoon nap after the parade and before the fireworks!

Sitting out by the river. We got there around 5:00. We just had a tiny little spot... sorry everyone around us! We got a little rambunktious! But I love being by the river with all the people. You can feel the excitement in the air!

Thinking of non-running games to play! Always a good match of arm wrestling between Emily and Riley!

This picture would be so good if it wasn't so blurry. How I love 4th of July. It is my favorite holiday. What fun we had! The fireworks of course were worth waiting for. A wonderful day.

Emily's Birthday

2010-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned 6 years old! She wanted an Ariel cake. I think it turned out great. We had our friends the Hydes over for cake and presents. During the day our other friends the Droegemuellers came with us to the Spray park in Rexburg. It was a very fun day.

My four beautiful children. How I love my kids. I could just eat them they are so cute!

Birthday and fun!

2010-06-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

Here is the Fisherman cake I made for Chaddy for his birthday! His birthday weekend he went on an overnight fishing trip to Henry's Lake, and could think of nothing else all month! So he had a fish themed birthday! I LOVE this cake I did. I love making cakes, it is so fun to see something so cute and yummy come together!

Of course we had to have our neighbours and friends the Hydes come over to help us eat the cake. And Uncle Jordan was there too! Happy Birthday Daddy!

Here is my so handsome little man! He went with Chad fishing, out on the lake and everything! Riley caught this fish all by himself! Yay Riley!

A few yards of bubble wrap = way too much fun!

I wanted to do something special for my kids teachers. They were such awesome teachers and I so appreciated all they did for my kids. So I made these sugar cookie flower bouquets! I think they turned out really nice!

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T12:49:00.001-07:00

I just LOVE this picture. It's so hard to find a really good picture of Chaddy. But here he's smiling so great, his eyes are so blue. He's so handsome. And on this Mother's Day, he treated me to an amazing breakfast in bed and dinner. He helps me in all I do as Mother. I couldn't do it without his help and support. He keeps me sane when I feel like going crazy. He always kills the bugs and opens the jars. He makes everything ok. I love you babe!

Nothing could mean more to me then the love of my 4 PRECIOUS children. They are my world. They have given me the title of Mother. They make me better than I ever could have become without them. How grateful I am for their amazing spirits, for their little hands that hold mine and their arms that hug me tightly. I love seeing the people they are becoming. I feel very inadequate at being a mother. I fail everyday. But I pray most earnestly that Heavenly Father will magnify my efforts. Thank you Riley, Emily, Shelby and Hailey. For without you, I could never be called Mama.

After our dinner, the weather was finally warm enough for us to go for a walk. We walked down by the river. We tried to take a picture with all of us in it...didn't turn out so fabulous... acutally, I love these pictures. So fun!

Riley went on a school field trip to the museum to see the exhibit "From Wolf to Woof." They had a great time.. probably more fun was the fact that Chad went with them.

Riley's Baptism

2010-05-03T12:09:00.001-07:00

Riley was baptized on May 1 2010. It was such a special day. Grandpa Dean, Kolby and Marcie and the kids all came up to be here with him. So we had a fun weekend swimming in their hotel pool as well. I was able to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, which was special for us all. Our best friends the Hydes and Droegemuellers, as well as Luke Pope and the Douglasses were all able to be there. Needless to say there were many little children gathered around the font! Riley is such a good example to all of them. We are so proud of him and his choice to be baptized. Then, as a very nice ending to a good weekend, on Sunday in Sacrament meeting, Elder Hallstrom of the seventy was attending our ward. After the meeting he came straightway and gave Riley a hug and told him how proud he was of him! It was so neat! It sure was a wonderful weekend!

Chad was able to baptize him. Very special.

Me and my boy! How we all love this little man. We are so happy he's our oldest son and brother.

Smile!!

2010-05-03T12:01:00.001-07:00

Here is little Hailey doing some tummy time! Just look at those blue eyes shining! She's so darling, none of us can get enough of her! She is just the sweetest little thing ever!

My beautiful Shelby! She was helping me unload the dishwasher, and she was just a talkin a way. It was so cute. I had to take a picture! I couldn't resist the cuteness!!! Love this little girl.

Riley and I were taking pictures of each other. This one turned out pretty good!

I love my handsome boy! He's such a good boy.

Twin Falls with Mike and Kristy

2010-05-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip down to Twin Falls to visit Mike and Kristy for Atticus's Birthday. It was so fun. The weather was beautiful, so we went to this nice park for lunch, then the boys played a game of Frisbee golf while the girls just visited and played at the park! It was great fun!

Shelby actually went with the boys, we all just walked for a while!

Pretty girls sitting on a log chair! They thought that was pretty cute.

Hailey got to sit in Atty's bouncer! She loved it! Atty was a little protective of his toys!

This was supposed to be a "Dean Boy" picture.. but Emily had to pose with them! Say cheese!!

Chad went fishing one day and caught a whole bunch. He took a few pictures and wanted me to blog them... so here are some!! He's a good fisherman and he loves it. He take all the boys fishing, and he loves to teach people to fly fish.

Hoppy Easter Every Bunny!

2010-04-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

As always, egg dying is a part of our Easter traditions. This time, after dying the eggs, there was sparkle paint to be put on. It was really fun!

Here are the kids holding up their Easter bunny treats, and their "golden eggs", as I like to call them - a little inside joke between me and Chad! They had fun searching for all the hidden treats. I kinda wish that the Easter Bunny and Santa would come every day... they went to bed so good the night before! Although they were up at the crack of dawn, and we wouldn't let them go out until 8:00! It was killing them!!! So funny.

This was SOOO funny. After hours of eating candy, Shelby came up to me and asked if she could have just one more egg. So of course I said yes, but only one more egg! So she runs to her room where her basket is stashed, and comes back with her huge chocolate egg!! You said only one more egg mom!!!!

Here is our little flower! She did not like to have this on! But she looked so cute!

Emily and Shelby are so darling. They wanted to go to the park, and I told them to go get dressed. So they put on matching outfits! They play so well together. I'm so grateful for these 2 beautiful daughters. They have so much fun together. It was a fun day at the park!

Precious!

Kolby and Marcie - Together Forever

2010-03-31T05:37:00.000-07:00

After almost 10 years of marriage, Kolby and Marcie made it to the temple! We were so blessed to be able to be there. I have never seen something so magnificently special before. Chad and I talked about how this is like the Prodigal Son parable. So much rejoicing when one son returns to the fold. To see them so humble and innocent in the temple was something I'll never forget. Witnessing them be married for time and all eternity was beautiful. But nothing will compare to the spirit that came when the 3 children were brought in. All dressed in white, they were nothing short of pure angels. Kneeling around the alter to be sealed together was so joyful I couldn't contain my emotions. What a glorious plan of our Heavenly Father!! To be with our families forever, never to be separated! Truly it is a Plan of Happiness.

Marcie wore this dress - it was Rozann's. She looked stunning. It was so special, she said she wanted to have a piece of her with her. Marcie looks gorgeous in anything, but she sure radiated this day! I told Marcie that there was no where in all of the eternities that would be more important for Rozann to be, than there in the temple with them. She was there, I have no doubts.

Just had to throw this picture in. Hailey just chilling with Daddy. She is so special and brings such love and joy into our family. We all love her. She did so good on our trip to Utah. I was so worried about her being left with a babysitter for so long. She did almost 5 hours without eating, and hardly fussing. What a good little baby.

Happy 8th Birthday Riley!

2010-03-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

So Riley has been studying Penguins in school. So I made him penguin cupcakes! They are so adorable! I love the icebergs with the rock candy on it! He loved them... so did I!!

The little penguin pulling his bucket load of fish! Love it!

We went to Leo's Place - a pizza place with a funland thing. Riley invited all of his best friends: Jacob and Conner Hyde, Jimmy and Sammy Droegemueller, Lucas Pope, and of course, Emily, Shelby, Hailey and Mom and Dad! Fun was had by all!

I can't believe he's 8!! He has been looking forward to this birthday for a few years! What a good boy we have. He is so special to us, and we are so grateful for him as our son and our big brother. We love you Riley! Happy Birthday!!

Wild Wild West!

2010-03-08T10:48:00.001-08:00

One of the favorite things for the Deans to do is to go shooting! So Grandpa Dean took us all shooting. He gathered all the kids around to teach them a few safety rules. It was great fun. Me, I was a little nervous around all the guns, but after a little while relaxed. Riley was nervous too, but he kept on going, and we couldn't get the guns out of his hands!

It was REALLY loud!!

Emily tried it, and did good!

Our own Wyatt Earp!

The view was so beautiful. I sure love the Utah Mountains. It was a gorgeous day.
Ooooh, something about a man and a gun!! ;)

Even me, the Canadian, tried my hand at the shotgun. Got a few bullseyes! It was really fun. Looks like I may be an American after all!

Not everyone had a fun time. Little Hailey had a hard time. She cried the most that she ever has. I couldn't get her to calm down for very long. Perhaps it was TOO loud and crazy for her. Poor baby.

Shelby tried her hand at the guns. She liked it too. "Don't mess with the dress!" She spent most of the time in the van watching a movie, but came out to shoot the targets too.

All in all, the Chad, Kolby and Brett families had a great time. Kent enjoyed it probably the most watching all his kids have fun doing the thing he loves. It will be a wonderful memory.

Beautiful Emily Elizabeth

2010-03-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

What a precious little girl I have. She is beautiful in every way. Totally and completely a girl. Feminine and frilly to the tee. She is so special to me, and I'm so grateful for her love and her help to me. I love you Emily Elizabeth!

February Love

2010-03-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day, the kids each got their own lollipop. That night we spent the night listening to the song "Lollipop" on the internet. They even stood in a line and went up and down to the beat of the song. It was quite hilarious! We also made heart sugar cookies (the first time they ever turned out) and took them to about 6 widows in our ward whom we love. It was a sweet experience.

Our friends the Michealis moved to Rexburg. They stopped by to say hi. This is Keeda, one of Emily's best friends, and her sister Kimber. We have good memories with this little family and will miss them lots.

Silly faces!

After Family Home Evening one night, we had some fun with games like "Sally-ally-ola" and Monkey in the middle, and then, arm wrestling! Emily sure gave Riley a run for his money. She is a tough little girl, and determined! Her face says it all!!

We Love Uncle Jordan!

2010-03-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

February 7th was Jordans 25th birthday!!! I still see him as a little 5 year old boy! But he is turning into a handsome, righteous man. I feel so blessed that he has come here to Idaho to go to school. My time with him as been wonderful. He can always bring a smile or laughter to our home. He lifts my spirits whenever he's around. He is a major reason I will miss living here. But now when he goes home to Calgary, we'll be there to party with him and the rest of the family! I sure love you Jordan!

I made him his favorite icecream cake for his birthday. The kids loved watching him blow out all 25 candles! He didn't even get any girlfriends!!

Well... these are his girl..friends. Ally and Thresia. Such sweet girls and wonderful friends of Jordan. We love them as well!

Emily LOVES the twins!

Group picture!!!

Jordan and his girls!

Say CHEESE!!! Chaddy and I just goofing around. I'm so grateful for my husband. He is my rock. He always calms my worries and anxieties. I couldn't ask for a better man for my husband and there is no better man to be the father of my children. He is the best!! I'll love him forever!

A Crazy January!

2010-02-04T16:10:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been a crazy January! We decided to up and move to Canada! So we put our house on the market, and started packing and painting! We took the kids bunkbeds apart so we could paint their room. So for a few nights this is where they slept... out in the living room. Now they sleep like this, just in their bedrooms. Oh I can't wait till we are back to normal.

So one of our best friends here took us to Leo's Place for a "last hoorah!" It was so fun. I can't believe in my 6 years of being in Idaho Falls, I've never been there. It was great fun, and the kids are still talking about it!

As always, my darling Chad is right in the middle of the fun!

Emily, Shelby, Augie, Abby, Riley, Sammy and Jimmy. I don't think Abby is too happy about us leaving! ;)
And here we are, the Deans and Droegemuellers. Life wouldn't be the same without them. They've been there with us through thick and thin. We love you!

Our little sleepy Hailey, with your hair sticking up. She's getting so big, I must be feeding her cream! But still as sweet as ever.

Here's me... trying to smile through it all. One of the hardest commandments to keep I think is to "Be of Good Cheer." It is so easy to get caught up in the stress of life that it can overwhelm you so much where being of good cheer seems ridiculous. But with the Lord, we can rely on Him to help make all things work together for our good, so in the end it will all work out.

My little fuzzy baby.

With all the space in our living room, the girls love to dance. It is quite precious to watch.

I love my snuggly... that my mom used when I was a baby!

Just thought I would take a little picture of our Joy School. This is Shelby, Emma and Augie making fun paintings.

This is a sample of my girls singing and dancing!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas dinner was so fun this year. We decided to have fondue! We had a meat and cheese fondue. It was so yummy and I think a fun tradition to continue!
Santa sure came to our house this year! We were so blessed with family and friends who love and care about us. Thanks so much to everyone!!

Christmas morning reactions!!

A little tired I think!

Shelby was so happy to get a little penguin in her stocking!

Riley with his nerf gun tag that he got.

Emily and her presents.

This picture is priceless! Emily, my little ballerina princess, all decked out and ready to go shooting guns!

My matching princesses! So cute! They wear these all day and dance around the house!

And little baby Hailey in her cute touque! What a fun and wonderful Christmas it was!

Because 2 People Fell in Love

2009-12-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

Grandma comes to visit!!

2009-12-31T10:40:00.001-08:00

Grandma bought the kids new touques and gloves. The girls were pooped after a full afternoon of shopping!

Hailey sleeping on Grandma's hotel bed. She was so little in that big bed!

Shelby had a little Joy School Christmas presentation... Grandma was able to come, that was nice.

Shelby wouldn't stand with the kids. Darius and Emma with Reyha (Darius's little sister) are the kids in her Joy School. It was a cute presentation of little Christmas songs. Shelby did eventually join in the singing!

Cool dudes!

Sweetie Hailey and Grandma watching the program!

Of course the funnest thing about Grandma coming to visit is that we get to go swimming in the hotel pool! We went twice and the kids LOVED it. They had so much fun. They said that they wished Grandma lived at that hotel!

Emily was a little fish!

My totally awesome family did the Twelve Days of Christmas for us. For the first day my sister recreated a flannel nativity set that we had as kids. I loved it so much when I was little, I wanted it for my own kids. I've searched everywhere for something like it, but to no avail. I was so grateful for this gift, along with all other 11 gifts. It was really special. I love my family!

The kids were just a tad hyper that night. I think this picture says it all! But we had so much fun with my mom here, it was so nice to be able to hang out and just be together. I love you mom!!

We all love Baby Hailey!

2009-12-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hailey and Grandma

Sleeping cozy with Daddy

Mommy and her little sweetie

Riley can't ever get enough of her!

Shelby loves Hailey, but it has taken her a while to warm up to her. Shelby is having a hard time sharing her mommy with the little baby.

And Emily is a little mother herself. I love to watch her rock and shush the baby. She is a good help to me, very motherly.

She's Here!!

2009-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hailey Jacqueline Dean was born November 25, 2009 at 7:56pm. To make a long story short, I went to my Doctors appointment at noon and was dilated to a 5, so he said to head on over to the hospital! After an afternoon of walking laps around the floor, a small amount of Pitosin, my Dr came and broke my water at 6:30. I had decided long ago to have this baby without pain medicine. As my contractions got worse, I regretted that decision! I had about 5 scream into my pillow contractions then it was time to push... if that's what you call it. I call it screaming excruciating burning pain! It didn't last long however, thank goodness. She was born posterior (face up) and weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces. Not an easy birth. But it was all worth it. It was defiantly an experience that I will never forget. And I couldn't have done it without my darling husband who held onto me for dear life. I love you babe! And little Hailey, I'd do it all again to have you!

They put "Thanksgiving" color bows in her hair.. red for cranberries and white for mashed potatoes! So cute. Later the bows were green and brown, and that was darling too!

The kids came to see her, they all wore the masks to protect themselves and Hailey from sicknesses. They looked so darling! I'll never forget the 3 sets of beautiful blue eyes looking at me with hesitation as they met Hailey. So precious. Chad has done this with all 4 kids. He puts his nose into her mouth to "trick" the baby. He thinks it's so funny, but it just makes the baby mad! Silly Daddy.

I am a blessed mommy, that is for sure!

Emily and her new sister.

Baby Hailey. So darling. I cry every time I hold her. I don't want her to grow up. I love little babies, and it makes me so sad to think she, most likely, is my last baby. I will earnestly try to treasure every moment.

Blast Off to Fun!

2009-12-02T09:30:00.001-08:00

After we bought our new stroller, the kids had at the box! They had so much fun with it. Nothing says fun better than a huge box!

Here is Emily with her new wings she bought at the DI. And Shelby was her "Prince" dressed in daddy's shirt. I thought it was cute as they walked arm in arm. Gotta love having a sister.

We promised our kids that once Chad got a job, we would take them to Blast Off - a fun place like Chuck-E-Cheese, to celebrate. They looked forward to it for weeks. On the Saturday that we went, they spent the whole morning cleaning the house to help speed up the process. We all had so much fun, and it was worth the wait.

Mmmm, pizza.

This was SO funny to watch the kids play the bowling game. Shelby and Emily were throwing the balls like a baseball! I was dying laughing, but they loved that game tons! Too bad the prizes were so dumb.

Oh the balls!! How they loved the balls! Can you see Chad buried in there?? Who said balls are only for kids??! If I wasn't 2 weeks away from giving birth, I would have been in there too!

Happy Halloween!!

2009-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

We all carved pumpkins. The kids drew out how they want their faces to be, then Daddy cut them out. Emily and Riley were pretty good about gutting the pumpkins, but Shelby hardly touched it at all! But we got tons of yummy pumpkin seeds that all the kids gladly ate! Mmmm. By the way, Shelby did have clothes on, but a touch of wetness got on them when she washed her hands, so she had to take all her clothes off. She's so funny.

Here is Optimus Prime. This was on Friday before school. The kids aren't allowed to wear masks to school, so we just spiked his hair cool. He had a ton of fun at school. We watched his parade, Chad stayed for lunch and for an hour after, just for fun. The whole class loves him there, even the teacher. It was a fun day. That night the singles ward in our stake had a trick-or-treat down by the river. It snowed in the morning, but by evening, it was beautiful!

And here is Gabriella from High School Musical. I think Emily really just wanted the head band that went with the dress. But she looked cute. We got up early to curl her hair, and of course, she did her own makeup. But she loves this dress, she wants to just wear it to school now for regular days! Pretty girl.

This is my princess unicorn! She wanted to be a unicorn this year. Luckily, my good friend Sarah had a unicorn costume! The shoes really were the cutest thing. (You can't see them in this picture) Shelby loved dressing up, but she did not like trick-or-treating. She his behind me or Chad while we did the candy getting! But by the end of Halloween at Boo at the Zoo, she finally realized that it isn't scary and it can actually be fun!

Here they all are as we are off to Trunk-or-Treat! It was a beautiful night. We only needed our jackets. They got a ton of candy at the church. I love Trunk-or-Treat. It is the best invention since sliced bread!

Our friends the Crenshaws gave us tickets to Boo at the Zoo. It was SO fun!! They decorated the zoo all up with lights and pumpkins and booths for candy. We could see most of the animals that were out too. It was a beautiful night and the kids had so much fun. I was worried I wouldn't be able to walk all through the zoo, but we took it slow and I did ok. It really was so worth it!

Here is where the big turtles were supposed to be, but instead, a whole ton of glowing pumpkins! It was pretty cool.

And the spoils of the night! We all of course had to go through our candy and organize them into all the different piles....

...then Daddy got to go through them and pick what he wanted!! No, the kids let him have a few things. But by the end of the night, I don't think anybody wants more candy. I have little baggies, and the kids get to pick 5 candies to put in the bag, and that's their candy for the day. They can eat it all at once, or spread it out through the day. It has worked pretty good so far!

Ahhh! The scariest of them all!! 5 weeks left to go! Man I'm ready! Can't wait for this whole pregnancy to be over and we can move on to... moving around again, cleaning my house again, sitting or sleeping comfortably again! All the fun things in life :) !

October Days

2009-10-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

My little beauty queen. She found this caboodle at the D.I. and HAD to have it. So now she has all her makeup in it, and almost daily she loves to sit and put on her makeup. She's getting pretty good at it too! It's just for fun, she normally doesn't wear it out of the house, but Daddy is not pleased with this past time of hers!

This princess of mine loves her "sparkley" dress. She pretty much wears this everyday. There was a while she had to wear it to church too. But alas, when you wear a dress everyday, it pretty much wears it out! So she no longer can wear it to church. The best is when she wears it with her snow boots, now that is a cute sight!

They really are precious. Sometimes I love to just sit and watch them. How wonderful it is to be their mother and see what beautiful girls they are turning into. How grateful I am that I get the blessing of having another of Heavenly Fathers princesses!

Ahhh, my little man. I asked him to take the garbage out for me. Now Chad tends to take everything out in one load, so as Riley was getting ready to go out, I told him that he probably needs to do 2 runs. But oh no, he piles everything on, it was so funny! He is becoming more and more like his Dad. It is so cute to see. I am so grateful that they have each other. They are the best of friends, and Chad is a wonderful example of all that a righteous man and father should be.

Sooo, I realized that there are like no pictures of us on my blog. So one night at like midnight, after long hours of homework, I take this picture of us. I realize that this is not the best picture in the world of me, (it's nice of Chad) but you will all have to give me slack, for I am 8 months pregnant and have unfortunately gained more weight than I would like. Oh well. Healthy baby right?? Never the less, here we are!! Say cheese!

A Month of Firsts

2009-09-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here is Riley's first day of school... okay, it's his second, but I forgot to take a picture the FIRST day. It was very action packed that day. Anyways, he starts second grade and he loves every bit of it. (Except homework).
This really is Emily's first day of kindergarten. She was so excited to start, but a little nervous. I had to follow the bus there and help her get to her class. She's so smart and loves school already (hopefully that will last the next 12 years!)
Shelby couldn't miss out on a photo op!
Here is Shelby on her first day of Joy School! It is SO fun to do Joy School and I recommend it to anyone with 3 or 4 year olds. Shelby loves it and is learning so much. I love to do it and prepare the lessons. It is so great.

Chad is the Priest Advisor in our ward, so for an activity one night they all came over to our house and cut up a bunch of wood for us! It was great. They all loved seeing who could chop the biggest piece of wood. (Chad won of course) But it was sure helpful. Now we will be nice and warm this winter!

And here is my pretty Shelby baby. She's all dressed up and no where to go! She loves her purple jacket that Grandma and Crystal gave to her for her birthday. She also has to carry all her purses around everywhere with her goods. Gotta love her!

And below here are my peaches! My very first attempt at canning anything! It turned out so good and it was soooo easy! I wish I could can everything!

August Fun

2009-08-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the start of our camping trip... this picture is out of order, but, oh well. We stopped on our way to Meadow Lake at Birch Creek. Riley found an ancient arrow head - (we knew what it was cuz our friend Bethany Crenshaw whom we went camping with, is like an archeologist or something). So that was pretty cool.

I thought my kids were so creative with this! On Sunday, Chad and I took and nap, so Riley and Emily "snuck" containers of water and put toys in them, then froze them. So the next morning, they got them out and watched them melt, played hockey and chipped away at the ice. They had a blast!

Back to our camping trip... it was SOOOO cold. We woke up this morning with a thick layer of frost on everything. I think it got way below freezing. It was a fun trip, although next time, I will try to find something to sleep on! We were on the hard ground, and for a pregnant woman, not so comfortable! Oh, and never fear, the bears didn't get me or the mountain didn't fall on me, so we're good! :)

We were able to have our good friends the Carrolls stay with us for a night on their way to Spokane Wa. This is Nicole and me.
Shelby took this picture of me and the kids. Not so straight, but cute enough!

Ahhh, the Spray Park in Rexburg. We just discovered this little gem of a place this month and have gone up 3 times. Its free and there are a whole bunch of fountains and slides. Riley always had a blast. Emily barely got in and never went down the slides, and Shelby... well, she didn't get in till 10 min before we left, and she was in her clothes, as you will see later on!

Me and my dry Shelby... like Mother like Daughter I guess!

And then there is Chad, my big kid. He got right in there the whole time, going down the slides and getting soaked. Riley loved that his Dad is the only Dad who is cool enough to do thoses kinds of things with him.

There is also a really big dry park. So we would go over there to "get warm". Shelby liked that much better. So they all climbed this monkey bar.

And here is Shelby who finally got in the water. Emily and her had so much fun. I wish that they would have discovered how much fun it was 2 hours earlier!!
LOVE this picture!!

We had a really go Family Home Evening this week. We wanted to teach our kids before school that it is not about what grades they get, but how their attitude and effort are what matter. So we put together an obstacle course that they could try their "hardest" at. It was fun and they loved it! Hopefully it taught the principle though.

Happy 3rd Birthday Shelby!! Here is her Dora cake...it took me 3 hours to decorate it! But I love to do it. She had so much fun as all the neighbours came over for cake! She also is very happy with her Diamond Castle movie, play shoes, makeup and toothbrushes she got for her birthday! *sigh* I can't believe she's 3!!

My model girls.

Canada Fun!

2009-08-06T07:06:00.001-07:00

Ok, this picture was down at the bottom, and for some reason got erased. But it couldn't be left out. This is me, Crystal and Jordan. Life wouldn't be the same without them. I love them soo much.

Ok people, this is going to be a big one. How do you narrow down 100 pictures?! I just did my best. Soooo, we'll start here, just before we left. Poor Chaddy got kicked in the eye by a young man at one of his activities! It looked so bad! He's all better now though!

This is my birthday party! I made myself a cake (it was supposed to be Emilys cake but I never got around to doing it, so I made it for my birthday!) Then our neighbours the Hydes came over to sing to me and eat the yummy cake! Fun was had by all!
This is the first night of our trip! We made it to a hotel in Great Falls, then after swimming - in which Riley almost drown (thanks to his uncle Jordan who walked into the pool and assuming he could swim, threw Riley into the deep end! Luckily, Riley managed to stay afloat in time for us to rescue him!) - we came back to the room, had some snacks and went to bed, after midnight of course!
We stopped in Lethbridge to visit my dad for a few hours. We ate McDonalds and went to this park to play and burn off some energy! It was fun!

And we made it! This is our first night at Crystals, they threw me a birthday party! 30 candles and all. The kids all helped me blow those out. Yummy DQ ice cream cake!

No trip would be complete without face painting! Look out for all the tigers!

And here is my new hair cut and colour! I LOVE it so much. Who knew that being a brunette would be so fun!

Here we are a Calaway Park. The kids loved all the rides...well, there were a few that Shelby screamed on, but, on the whole they loved it! I had a million pictures here, so I had to narrow them down a bit!

This roller coaster was the highlight of my day. The look on their faces just as the ride started was priceless, then slowly as they realized that it wasn't scary but really fun, the smile spead accross their face and oh what joy!

Mmm cotton candy. We needed like 3 more bags to satisfy everyone!

And here is the log ride. If only you could see the inbetween picture that they took as the log was going down! Riley was so freaked out. His look was pure terror! But here it is pure joy! He loved it. Emily, who hid behind Crystal was scared too, but in the end they wanted to do it again!

And here is Riley Park! A little wading pool that the kids loved! Riley couldn't stop jumping from this pillar onto the floaty! We had lots of fun! And we left just in time for the storm to come blowing in!

Ahhh, my sister and brother! They had fun running and frolicking in the water! Love them.

Jordan and Riley climbed this tree. Actually, all the kids climbed it. But this was a priceless picture. Uncle Jordan took such good care of Riley this week. (well, except for the whole drowning thing!)

And here is my long lost friend David Walker. We were able to get together this week. It was so fun and so nice to catch up a little. We were laughing so hard here. Good times! Thanks David for taking the time to coming to visit and for the gift! LOVE IT!

Now phase two of our vacation, our family reunion! Oh so much fun and wonderful to see everyone! Here Riley was going down the zip cord! I couldn't beleive he did it! He was so brave! He went like 5 times!

Shelby, Elayna and Brianna playing on the grass. It was so cute to hear them laughing.

Most of the reunion we all just sat in our circle moving with the shade. Here is Emily and her best friend Sydney playing a little game. They had so much fun together that I hardly saw them! Oh ya, eating Dill Pickle chips..mmmmmmmm. So good.

Riley had so much fun too, I hardly saw him as well. He was off with his cousin Branden as weekend. Down by the creek they caught some minnows with his bare hands, he was so happy and proud to take a picture to show his Dad.

Gotta love Old Chief. Nothing says Alberta better to me than this mountain.

This is just before we left to go home. There was no clouds all morning, but the moment I go out to take a picture, clouds come and hide Old Chief.

All of the Boyer kids. They had so much fun. It was the best vacation. The only thing that was missing was our Daddy. Other than that it was such a wonderful time to visit and play with all my family! Thanks to everyone who helped me.. Crystal for letting us stay, and for the dress :) Jordan for helping me with the kids on the drive and other times, Mom and Dad.. well, I couldn't have come without you, and pretty much could have had no fun with out you! Love you all.

Just Hanging Out

2009-07-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, this is the result of our Dean Girl Spa day. My beautiful Emily looked SO cute with her hair all curled. I hope that she lets me curl it again!

My beauty queen, always posing for a picture.

And here we are, just sitting on the couch relaxing. Gotta love having girls!

And of course, we can't leave out the handsome Riley! He was busy playing his Lego Star Wars while we were doing hair! (smart boy)

The 4th of July and Some Summer Fun!

2009-07-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

So my Dad came down for the week to visit. It was so fun to see him. We had fun just hanging out, swimming in our little pool and getting ready for the 4th.

Shelby took to Grandpa right away and didn't even play shy, which was really nice. Here they were just playing and being silly and reading all the library books that we got!

We went down by the river to have lunch and feed the ducks. There were hundreds of ducks and geese and they took the bread right out of our hands! It was fun, and lunch was really yummy too!

Our family tradition is to sleep out in the tent on the night of the 3rd before July 4th. And my husband, of course, does not do ANYTHING half way. So we had the matteresses from our beds, and the TV and DVD player. We watch a movie then attempt to go to sleep with all the many fireworks going off till 1 in the morning! (I actually got kicked out of bed and couldn't sleep, so I went inside to my own bed!) You can tell that the kids love this tradition and how happy they were by that top picture of Riley kissing Emily... that would NEVER happen on just any old day! It is so fun. Then in the morning we get up and go to the parade, come home and take a nap, then off to the river to sit till the fireworks! This year Grandpa went down to the river early to save our spot - more like fight off everyone who wants to steal our spot! Then we go down about 5 and cook hot dogs, eat candy and just people watch! The fireworks are the best EVER, and totally worth waiting there for 5 hours! It was great fun this year having Grandpa with us. We even got to meet Jordans girlfriend Thresia! What a fun 4th of July!

Chaddy loves to set off fireworks. We did our own the night before the 4th. Shelby was scared at first, but by the end she loved them. They loved to hold the sparklers, and this one firework called a snake. But it was very fun!

It took some convincing, but finally the girls were able to hold the sparklers and know that they wouldn't get hurt. I was the same way too!

So on the 4th down by the river they had a little carnival thing. There was facepainting, but it was 5 bucks a face, um, no thank you. But the kids wanted to have their face painted. So on Monday I bought some face paints. This was our first attempt. Since then, I have tigers running around my house... and of course the neighbours want to have their face painted, so, it's a whole coven of tigers around here!!

So Emily's birthday was on June 24th. We celebrated in Boise when we were there. But she has a good friend Abby, whose birthday is on June 29th. They have the same friends so we decided to have a joint birthday party! It was fun. Abbys mom made a unicorn pinata which was very cool. I made this rainbow cake out of cupcakes. It was a hit and very easy for the kids to eat! I can't believe Emily is 5!! Crazy.

Well some of the fun that we've been doing this summer is some good ol' fashioned fishing! We take the kids down to a little creek, or just down to the Snake River (where yes, I did catch my very first real live 12 inch fish on my daughters fishing pole using bread as bait!), and the kids love to look at the fish they "caught" (daddy usually catches it and the kids real it in).

Proud To Be An American

2009-06-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Finally, our trip was over! The kids enjoyed icecream at the McDonalds in Jerome. When we got home, our good friends the Droegemuellers decorated our fence with America decor. I was so excited. It was a perfect ending to a great trip!

I'm grateful that my family was able to be there with me. I hope my kids will remember this day and be proud that I was able to join them as citizens of this country.

Well, I did it! I have finally, after 9 years of marriage and almost 10 years of being in this country, taken my oath and have become an American citizen! It was a long road with many forms and much money, and alot of tears and headaches! But it feels so good to have it all done. Truly I do love this country and all that it stands for.

My Week At A Glance

2009-06-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

This past week we have all been pretty sick. But we have managed to fit in a wedding reception and an X-Box party! This reception is of one of my young women (when I was in YW), Raquelle Packer. She's the first to get married. She looked beautiful and I thought her wedding colours were very unique - bright pink and green - it was really pretty though. She got married in the temple so I'm very proud of her. Then I just snapped a picture of Chad and his buds playing. You will notice that there are three televisions. I think there were about 12 people here this night. They have a blast. I try to limit the parties to once or twice a month. The young men are always calling Chad wanting to game, but once in a while I do have to say no - I like to spend time with my husband too! Anyways, not too much happening but all is well none the less!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes!

2009-06-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

This week our Grandpa Dean came to visit us for a couple of days. That was really fun. We first went and got snow cones at our favorite spot, but that wasn't good enough. We then had to go to our favorite ice cream shop Reed's Dairy for some ice cream too! The next day Grandpa took me and the kids to a Pizza Parlor for dinner (Chad had to work) and we all had fun there too. The kids rode on the merry-go-round, played air hockey and got squishy balls out of the vending machine. Oh the joys of childhood! It really was a blast!

It Was A Miracle

2009-05-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know, my trip to Boise for my citizenship interview was a little scary. And you should all know the story. I just want to testify of how miraculous this was. The Lords hand was guiding the entire interview and the outcome. I KNOW that He does hear and answer our prayers. I also know that you can never be TOO honest. Always do what is right - let the consequence follow. And if it is right, the Lord is bound to bless you. And blessed I was. I will be privileged to become an American on June 25th. How I love the Lord and His endless mercies and boundless blessing! These pictures are of Chad and I at the Boise Temple. It really is a beautiful temple.

Spring Is Here!

2009-05-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

I can always tell spring is here by the blossoms on my tree. This is my favorite tree because when it blossoms it looks so beautiful. The color is a little hidden in these pictures because of the shade but you can still get the idea. It is usually in full bloom by Mother's Day. This year it was a week later. I just love spring, and I love these picts of my kids!

Emily's PreSchool Graduation

2009-05-23T10:08:00.001-07:00

My little Princesses

My sweet Emily is all done PreSchool and is ready for kindergarten! Part of the program was that they sang "Our Apple preschool has a girl and Emily is her Name-o" And she got to sing "E-M-I-L-Y" It was cute, and I'm proud of her for doing that because she can be a shy little girl.

Days At The Zoo

2009-05-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

It has been fun to be with my kids this week. Thursday, Emily's Preschool went to the zoo. So Shelby and I got to go with her. It was fun. She had so much fun running with her little friend Mea. Then on Friday, Riley's classes went. So Emily, Shelby and I got to go AGAIN!! How fun. The kids loved it all. They can't stop talking about it. I can't get over those Tortoises! Needless to say, I am totally worn out. Being pregnant this time around is hard. I don't know if it is because I'm getting older, or if I'm out of shape, or if having 3 other kids to take care of is the factor. I'm just thankful for Chad who helps me out completely without complaining. I love you.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great day. I recieved half a dozen roses from my lovely husband. They made my day. He also bought me 2 bags of cotton candy. MMMm. My favorite. I ate one then shared the other bag with my kids! Chad made us steaks for dinner which were delicious. Thanks hon! I gave my talk in church. I thought it went well. I love when people come and tell me, "that's just what I needed to hear today." Then I at least know that the spirit touched someone. But it was good. I actually like to prepare and give talks. So here are just a few more pictures that I have been taking. Riley is even in them!

2009-05-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just figured this out...sorta. These are just a few pictures that I've been playing with on my new digital camera (still figuring that out too!). They are not the best, but they will just have to do for now. That's a picture of Chad and our new computer. This is so fun. Be sure to watch for more fun, I'm sure I will go a little crazy for the first little while, but you don't mind do you?

Brand new

2009-05-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

So, here I am. But alas, I have no idea how to put a picture on here. Oh well, I'm sure I will figure it out soon enough. This is all brand new to me. But it is so fun. It is approaching the afternoon, which means my "morning" sickness is going to grab hold. So I need to go lay down. But I just wanted to get something on here. So stay tuned for more fun and games from the dean household!