Utah Vacation Top 10

We recently traveled to Utah and had such a great time, we wished that we could have stayed longer.  These are the top ten reasons we loved our trip (in no particular order):

1.  Preston & Whitney's Wedding.  Although I did not capture many wedding shots (thanks to the torrential wind and rain that took place during the reception, wedding & luncheon), the wedding and everything about it was beautiful.  We are so happy to have Whitney join the family (as seen by the girls' reactions below when we told them that they were actually going through with it)!  The siblings got a chance to serenade the happy bride and groom with some Boyer humor and the minute the wedding and luncheon were over, the clouds parted and the sun shone, allowing the kids to run around free at last.

2.  Hiking.  We all got to enjoy a kid-friendly hike to a cute little waterfall.  Gabby was SO proud of herself for dipping in an inch of her toe into the cold water with Aunt Cami's help.  The twins enjoyed their hike in the slings.

3.  The Great Outdoors.  For those of us who apparently don't get summer until the end of July, it was refreshing to travel to a place where summer exists (despite during family weddings, of course, when it drops to the 50s with rain and wind).  We spent a lot of time enjoying the backyard!

4.  Old Friends and Carnivals.  Gabby got to meet up with her old best friend, Van.  The lack of sleep finally hit her at this rendez-vous and poor Van got an early witness of how moody girls can get, but he was a good sport.

5.  Swimming Suits.  There is certainly nothing better than summer time in a swimming suit (well, at least if you are a child and don't have to worry about how you look in one).

6.  Fireworks.  What would the 4th of July be without them?  I love that the kids were mesmerized by the simplest fireworks, even while it was still light outside.

The picture on the left of Gabby was taken about 2.5 seconds before she decided she would touch the finished end of the sparkler.  Ouch.  Party over.  But she did do pretty well considering her blisters....

7.  Family.  We feel pretty lucky to have two amazing extended families.  They certainly make it worth the pain of traveling with children.

8.  Boyer Cousins.  Isn't it amazing how cousins who never see each other can click instantly and form a tighter bond than friends that a child sees regularly?  Gabby LOVED her cousins.  This was the first time that she has been able to interact so much with them and she had a tough time saying good-bye.

9.  Zoey.  The Jensen cousin.  Although Zoey is younger than Gabby, she came home talking about her and still wanting to play with her.  I have a feeling these three are going to be close.

10.  The Freedom Run.  On the fourth of July we all ran a race.  The kids ran a 1K, the crazy people (aka Cami & Randy) ran a 10K, and the rest of us ran a 5K.  We pushed the girls in the stroller and my mom joined with the Boyer clan, too!  It was a lot of fun and something we would do again in a heartbeat.

Thank you family, for the memories!  We can't wait for the next round!

10 Meter Triathalon

Triathalon from Jennefer Boyer on Vimeo.

Claire took her first steps last week! Here is video coverage of many firsts, put together into an intense race. She will be 11 months old at the end of this week. What a champion!

Gabby's Song

Gabby's Song from Jennefer Boyer on Vimeo.

Gabby prefers to sing as she swings and it can get pretty entertaining.  In case you don't understand the words of this song, below are her lyrics (to the best of my ability).  If you are wondering why she refers to "Tangled" it is because she thinks that is the princess' name in the movie and she often calls herself that.

Just big girls are singing
Just big girls are singing
Just big girls; just big girls
Just big kids; just big girls
Just big kid girls
Just big kids and girls…

[Jason: What about babies?
Gabby: No. Just kids. Mommy said just kids.]

…Just kids are singing
All the time.

Here we go.
We’re going to put mud
We’re not going to put mud
On the counters
And counters like babies

Babies, babies, babies
Babies, babies, babies
Girls and babies, girls and babies
Girls and babies, girls and babies

[Jason: What about boys?]

How about Claire and Gabby?
How about Claire and Tangled?
How about Claire and Tangled?
How about Claire and Tangled?
How about Claire and Tangled and a boy?

[Jason: What about Daddy?]

And Daddy and Mommy
And all of our family
In our backyard.
Not really, we’re not in the yard
We’re in our family
Like [sic]
We are alive.

We are a family in the backyard
We’re not in our family
And this is a perfect thing
It’s so strange that we swing
Extra higher, extra higher
Extra higher, ex- ex-

Do you see me?
Extra. Do you see me?
Extra. Do you see me?

We don’t need our jackets
Like ice cream
We don’t need our jackets
‘Cause it’s not - we’re not too cold
To use, to use.

Tangled and Claire
Girls and Daddy
And me and Claire and Tangled
We’re all in the backyard
And it’s the whole park
In the whole park, whole park
We are magic….

We Love Daddy

It's rather fitting that our Father's Day post comes right after the playset post.  Jason is a better dad than I could ever hope for and is the ultimate example of self-sacrifice for your children.  The girls and I are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Anytime something breaks around the house, Gabby says, "Daddy will fix it when he gets home."  (Perhaps you remember that she also said that about her bottom when it was hurting her.)  She is also appreciative of her Dad.  Since the playset has been up, several times she has said something along the lines of, "What a wonderful playset!  That was so nice of Daddy to build it for me."  I love when she compliments him when he attempts to speak French, "Good job, Daddy, you said it in French!"

Claire lights up whenever Daddy gets home.  She is often the first to hear the door open or the sound of his voice and starts shaking her arms enthusiastically while saying, "Da-da-Da-da-Da-da!"  I am thinking (and mostly hoping) that we have a Daddy's girl on our hands....

How can you not love this dad?

The Project

Jason wanted to learn patience.

So he built this:

It took up every rare moment of free time Jason had for over a month (and it probably didn't help that we had to start over at one point because we mixed up two of the main posts).  But the playset is finished in time for summer.

And luckily, the girls LOVE it!

Now let the summer grilling and outdoor fun begin!

The End of Hibernation

Gabby models her recently injured face, one of the hazards of outdoor play.  But totally worth it.

The first weekend of June was a busy, but beautiful one.  We finally exited our home and spent some time enjoying what the area has to offer.  (These photos were all taken with my phone, so please excuse any blurriness.)

At a community event, Gabby got to "drive" a real police car and fire truck.  She even honked the horn to warn people that a 2-year-old was behind the wheel.

The next day we spent at a kermesse (carnival) at Gabby's new French school.  Despite her facial expression, I think she still had a good time.

And to finish off the day, we met up with some friends and went to the U2 concert.  Needless to say, it was awesome.

It also brought back memories of Jason taking me to a U2 concert when we were dating.

2005:

2011:

May

Since I appear to be a bit behind in the blogging world, I am going to do a quick month review via photos.  The great thing about posting photos that are nearly two months old is that you realize how quickly your children develop and change.  In May...

Claire started eating normal solids on her own.

(Now we can't get her to stop.)

Claire began cruising around the house, holding on to anything she could in order to follow her big sister's footsteps. (Now she is walking on her own.)

(How does she even make some of these faces??)

Meanwhile, Gabby worked on her drawing skills.  Below is a picture I walked in the room to discover her drawing.  She says they are Mommy & Daddy.  Well, at least she got the cheeks right.

She is getting great at writing letters completely on her own.  She'll even write her name without me having to tell her which letter comes next.  

This was a card she made for Meme's birthday.  

Otherwise, the girls just had a great month playing together and with friends.

Brooklyn & Gabby

Van & Gabby

(Great photos courtesy of Ashley.)

The highlight of the month for Jason and I was going on a date to see the broadway performance of Mary Poppins.  It was a such a fun and impressive show to see!

Coughing Symphony

A few weeks ago our entire household had a cold.  Claire thought she should cough if someone else did and Gabby thought she should join in if Claire was and Jason thought it was hilarious and would join in, too.  So this became my constant background music for the week.  Humorous at home, slightly embarrassing when grocery shopping.  Yet another reason to be grateful for good health....

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do I Owe You?

Brown Bear from Jennefer Boyer on Vimeo.

You've got to love when the kids start "reading" bedtime stories to themselves....

This is Gabby at age 2 1/2.

(PS  Yes, it is still light outside long after Gabby's 8PM bedtime these days in Seattle.)

Mother's Day

Thank you.  To Gabby, Claire & Jason.

For my best Mother's Day yet.

I am so blessed to be the mom of two precious girls.

Australia: Day 7

Apparently we couldn't leave the city without trying Australian meat pies, so Chelsea & Spencer directed us to famous Harry's.

Our last day in Australia, we explored Manly, a charming beach town that is just across the harbor from Sydney.  Our friends, Chelsea & Spencer, live here and were kind enough to let us stay with them.  After Manly, we went to Darling Harbour and explored the many things that beautiful area has to offer.  Since it was pouring the entire time, my camera never made it out of its bag there. We ended the day at an Australian rules football game.

Manly Beach

Sydney vs. Carlton.  Australian rules football.

We had great seats for this game, with one drawback - it was pouring and we had to just sit their and let the rain pound on us.  After we were wet enough, it was actually very enjoyable because we knew we couldn't get any wetter and we sat back and enjoyed the close game.

Australia, I will miss you.  Being able to explore without calculating nap times and whether or not kids can handle an activity, I will miss that, too.  But I have to admit, now that I have returned to my cute snotty-nosed kids, I am a whole lot more patient and happy.  I missed them.  And while I may think fondly of our rainy days in a distant city, every morning I realize I am where I want to be - with my two favorite little girls.  (Note:  When I say "every morning," I am not including the first 10 minutes after waking up to a child alarm clock.  But the rest of the day after that.)  :)

Australia: Day 6

Our sixth day, we returned from Cairns back to Sydney and explored the city on foot.  (By the way, we still have no idea how to pronounce "Cairns" since every time we said it with our American accents the Australians laughed at us and repeated back a completely different word.)  

Every once in a while, the sun made an appearance and I pulled out the camera from its rain cover.  Without the girls to take photos of and a husband who I had to trick into turning around to get any pics of him, we ended up with a bunch of scenery shots, which may not be particularly interesting to anyone else.  Posted is a condensed version.

The Rocks historic neighborhood.

Here we went to a museum and learned about some crazy facts about the colonists and the Aborigines.  For example, 2 years after settlers came to Sydney, the Sydney Aboriginal population went from about 1,500 to 3 due to a smallpox outbreak among other things.  A similar population decline took place throughout the country.  So sad.

One benefit of the rain: lots of rainbows.

Some views from the Pylon Lookout, part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

You've gotta love the one-handed photo shoot, with exposed arm.

As the sun went down, we walked across the bridge and checked out North Sydney.  If it weren't for the torrential storm, we wouldn't have discovered the view from under the bridge, where we had to seek cover.

Then back on the ferry to Manly for dinner with our friends.