Memorial Day Weekend

It's a tradition in the Boren family that on one of the days during Memorial Day weekend, we go clean the headstones of our ancestors. We drive to the Burley, Oakley and Twin Falls cemeteries then we clean the area and set flowers out.  I love hearing all of the stories about our ancestors that get told that day.  It is a day that I look forward to!

While we were in the Oakley cemetery, Sara found a headstone that was shaped like a tall podium with a bible on it. She spent a long time giving talks there!

The boys had a fun time climbing all over my dad's truck.

After we had finished at the cemeteries, we went with my grandpa to spend the rest of the weekend at his cabin in Stanley. It is always so beautiful and peaceful there. Paul and I took the kids on a short hike on the Big Boulder Trail by Livingston Mill in the White Clouds. We had also gone on a long drive down the east fork of the Salmon River. I remembered going there a few times when I was younger. It was nice to talk to my grandpa and verify that my memories were accurate!   We had a wonderful weekend and can't wait to get back!

A New Start!

Wow, after five years I am finally writing on our blog! A few weeks ago I went to a church activity for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we learned about blogging and photography. Also, with the encouragement of my new friend Debbie, I realized that writing a blog is something important that I should be doing. I want to do this to have a record of my family and to possibly help others. I had never really thought about how my blog could help others until I went to that church activity and heard from someone who had been searching blogs trying to find answers. So, I decided to change our blog from private to public.

Really Bad Timing

The Special Olympics World Winter Games is in Boise this year. It started last Saturday and the closing ceremony is tonight. The venue for Speed Skating is close to our house so I was really excited about watching some of the races. On Wednesday we met Paul over there for lunch and they were doing awards, we had missed the races that day. Yesterday was kind of busy for us so I thought that we definitely had to make it over there today. The schedule showed that there were going to be heats until about 12pm and then they would be done with Speed Skating. So I got Tyler ready to go, we just had to wait for Sara to wake up from her nap, then I could feed her and we could go. Everything was going okay until I gave Sara her first piece of cheese (it was tiny) and she proceeded to throw up for 5 minutes! I've given her other food and she's been fine. When I've tried to give her formula she always throws up for a few minutes, although not like today. I hope she's not lactose intolerant. Anyway, obviously I didn't want to bring Sara if she was going to keep throwing up, so we waited for a little while and she was fine. So we hopped in the car and pulled into the parking lot at 12:15!!! When I finally got the kids loaded in the stroller and we walked inside they were giving out awards. Speed Skating is over. All of the other events are done too :(

On a positive note, it was really neat to see the athletes get their awards, they were so excited! While we were there an athlete from Japan said hi to us and gave Tyler one of his pins! That was so nice of him that it made me tear up. Even though we didn't get to see any of the events, it was still neat to feel a little bit of the Special Olympic Spirit.

A Big Day For Sara!

Yesterday Sara was pretty sad about something and when I let her chew on my finger, I noticed that she had two teeth! Yay! Now hopefully the rest will come in quick so that she won't be ornery much longer.

Also, Sara started crawling yesterday! It's fun to watch her try and figure out how to get places. This has already been causing problems because Tyler usually doesn't want her getting his things. But sometimes he's really cute and will go lay down by her and talk to her or bring her toys.

Highlights from December and January

Here are some highlights of what we've been up to.

We celebrated my dad's birthday just before Christmas. Happy Birthday Dad!

We went to my dad & Paula's house for Christmas eve and had dinner with everyone. On Christmas morning, my dad, Paula and Jon came over to our house to watch the kids open presents and have breakfast. We later had dinner at Mike & Joan's with everyone.

A few days after Christmas we headed down to Logan for a week. The roads weren't that good for the first 50 miles and then after that they were a lot better. Paul and I went to a Utah State basketball game where I got to shake Big Blue's hand! (He's the USU mascot.) Paul went snowmobiling with his brothers and we got to spend lots of time with family. We had lots of fun staying up late and playing games with everybody.

Sara got her first tooth and she's learned to roll around to get places!

I got a membership to a gym with babysitting!! So far, it's been going really well. Tyler likes to go play there but Sara doesn't usually last very long - she's definitely a mama's girl right now.

Paul has been playing LOTS of basketball! He plays three nights a week and Tyler loves to see his games. Tyler has a basketball uniform that he probably wears twice a week and he's sad the rest of the time that he can't wear it. He has a few other shirts with basketballs on them that are adequate substitutes - most of the time.

Micron Children's Christmas Party

Every year, Micron hosts a Christmas party for their employee's kids. They had a toddler area set up that had some games and cars they could ride around on. Once Tyler found the motorcycle, he was very possessive and didn't want anyone else to ride it. At least it gave Paul and me a chance to meet other parents as we were trying to get Tyler to share with the other kids :) Tyler loved the swings and the slides! Sara was great as long as she could see what was going on and suck on her thumb.

Happy Birthday Paul!

Recently Paul had another birthday! I feel so lucky to be married to him, these four years have gone by fast! He's a great dad, it's fun to watch him play with Tyler and Sara. He's fun to be around and he's a great provider for us.

Thanks for all that you do for us Paul, I love you!

Thanksgiving

Tyler and Jon

Tyler, Grandpa & Jon

Sara was great while we were there!

Tyler and Grandpa

One of the traditions of the Borens is to go hunting while the turkey is cooking on Thanksgiving. This year was great because it wasn't too cold. Paul and I didn't hunt because we brought Tyler and Sara. My cousin let Tyler borrow her gun and he seemed to really like it.

For dinner we went to my dad's house with my grandparents, Mike, Amanda, Katherine, Steve, Ella, Loyd & Jon. The food was great and it's always fun to get together with family!

Kristina - Tyler loves the camo pants you gave him!

Stanley

Tyler has remnants of a chocolate chip cookie on his face.



A few weeks ago we went to Stanley with some friends to go visit my grandpa. I love going to Stanley! It was pretty cold but we still went on a little hike until it started to snow on us. We had a great weekend eating good food and playing games.

This is what happens when I leave Tyler alone for a few minutes. Yes, he is naked and he has eaten most of the brownies.



Someone gave Tyler a sport coat. He's looking pretty handsome on his way to church!



I was making sure his gloves and boots still fit and he didn't want to take them off.

5 Months Old!

Sara is 5 months old! It seems like she's lost some hair on the sides and she has a nice bald spot in the back, but her hair in the front goes past her eyebrows! She's been eating solid food for a few weeks now and she's getting better at using a spoon. It's so much fun to hear her giggle and talk! I love getting her out of her crib because she has a huge smile when she sees me coming to get her. One of her latest tricks is rolling over in her crib at night and getting stuck on her stomach. Then she'll cry until we flip her back over. Today was the first time I saw her do a complete circle and roll all the way over. Go Sara!

On Sunday the 2nd, Paul and I had to drive separately to church. Paul and Tyler left a few minutes before Sara and I did. I was excited because we were going to be on time for church! Sara was all buckled in her car seat and I was doing Sharing Time in Primary that day and I was all ready for it. After I put Sara in the car, I reached for my keys...and realized that they were in the diaper bag that Paul had taken with him! I was pretty sure we had a spare key somewhere so I started looking all over the house and all I found was a key to the car that Paul had taken. So I started calling people, hoping that they hadn't left for church yet and would tell Paul to come pick us up. No luck, everyone was gone. Paul called me five minutes before I was supposed to teach wondering where I was. I said, "you have my keys!!" He felt bad about it and came and gave me my keys. Sharing time ended up going okay because I had lots of time to look over my lesson while I waited for Paul.

Not Such a Good Day

Today was not such a good day for Tyler.

He tripped and kicked Sara in the head.
He dumped a box of cereal on the floor.
He put his hands in his dirty diaper and then grabbed his stuffed animals. (I have had multiple nightmares about this).
He sat on our cat.

However, there were some good things.

He pulled out the Book of Mormon reader and was looking at the pictures.
He was really good when we ran errands today.
He helped me make muffins.

Halloween

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Tyler was a basketball player, Sara was a pumpkin, Paul was a redneck and I didn't dress up. I think Paul is pretty cute, but not so much on Halloween...

The Park

Tyler, Sara and I went to a park with some friends on Tuesday. Tyler was having a lot of fun until I heard him crying. By the time I got over to him, his mouth, hands and shirt had blood all over! He was also covered in bark chips so he must have fallen and bit his lip hard. I had left my diaper bag in the car because I didn't think I would need it so I took him over to the car. He was so mad!! He thought I was trying to make him leave the park. Wow. Once I got him cleaned up he was off and running again. This is the best picture I could get of his lip - he wasn't very excited about having to sit still for a picture.

Rolling Over

Sara has been rolling around for a little while but today was the first time I caught her rolling over!





We went with some friends to pick pumpkins last week. It was a beautiful day! When we went last year it was kind of miserable. I thought I had forgot my camera, but I found it when I was going through my diaper bag once we got home :( Luckily, my friend brought hers. Tyler loved pointing out all of the "punkins". He also enjoyed throwing the smaller ones when I wasn't looking... There was a petting zoo and Tyler thought the camel was pretty neat. Sara wasn't so happy to be there, but once she fell asleep she was fine.

I was trying to get some pictures of Sara in her cute dress but Tyler wanted in on the action too.




Here's Tyler riding around on the "cycle" (motorcycle) aka the mop. He was very nice and gave his bear a ride.





We went to a church Halloween party last week. Since Tyler is pretty much obsessed with basketball (because he watched lots of highlights with Paul) we put him in a basketball uniform, but it's huge on him! He would have to stop and pull his shorts up just so he could walk. We'll see how Halloween goes...

This afternoon I took Tyler and Sara to an elementary school by our house so Tyler could play on the playground and play basketball. At first, Tyler didn't think twice about the playground, he just wanted to play basketball! He quickly found out that it's more fun to play with dad because he can lift him up higher to shoot. After he realized that he wasn't going to make any shots he wanted me to play. I heard lots of "Mommy, Shoot! Mommy Dunk!" It's fun to have such a big fan!

Some things I love

- My family
- That Tyler folds his arms and bows his head when we pray
- When Sara smiles at me
- That Tyler points out Jesus in pictures
- That Tyler thinks anything with a steeple is a temple
- Watching Paul read to Tyler & Sara
- Watching Tyler & Sara sleep

Pictures

Three Months Old!

Two days old - in the NICU

One week old and finally home! This is a bad picture of me, but it shows off Sara's Indian look.

One month old

One and a half months old

I can't believe that Sara is three months old already, it's gone by fast! She's changed a lot. When she was first born she looked Native American because she had red skin and black hair. Her hair is still black and so far her eyes are still blue but her skin has lightened up. I love her long curly eyelashes. When she was born I thought it was too bad that she hardly had any eyelashes and Tyler's are long and curly. She's getting a bald spot on the back of her head and it looks funny because the rest of her hair is so long. She also smiles a lot!