The Boulton Blog: Bumpin' Up and Down in my Little Blue Sedan

This week has been very busy, it seems like it must have been much longer than just a week, and yet...it's all happened since Monday.

David: I may seem to be hearing things, but I feel as though David has started talking a bit. Just mimicking for the most part. He loves to say "Dada" and I'm pretty sure he copied me yesterday at my sister in law's house when I told the dog to go with his own little "do!" and again with a "Hi" when I was playing with him. He loves to act like he's talking on the phone, crawls all over the place, and eats every meal like it's his last. :)

Caleb: He is talking...a LOT and he's gone from acting like he's shooting everyone with a gun, to pretending he's shooting arrows at walls and floors. I must admit, I much prefer his new imaginary weapon of choice. He loves cats, he must have spent at least 90% of the time we were at his Aunt Melly's house chasing around the kitten she's fostering. He almost always knew where it was, and had a very hard time understanding that it needed breaks from his little grabby hands. Aunt Melly learned how good he was at climbing when he climbed over not one, but two baby gates, in order to get to the cats on Friday afternoon. He did a pretty great job in the car on the way to and from Paducah, and savored the breaks in between long stretches of open road.

Byron: He's been busy at work this week, but I think he had more fun than he wants to admit when he got to live like a bachelor for 3 days. He was able to stay up late playing on his computer, didn't have to put Caleb in bed a thousand times each night or change any diapers. I don't know if he cooked any meals for himself. He probably just went back to his old habits of snacking when he felt hungry, and was excited to ride his bike to Wal-mart to get caulk for the shower and some milk. I will give him credit for being excited about the boys and I coming home, and he did get a lot of cleaning done, and even mowed the lawn, but he'll probably miss all of his free time by tomorrow evening. ;)

Arielle: I suppose there's not much to tell. I discovered that I am capable of driving about 6.5 hours on my own, and am quite creative at finding ways to change diapers on 2 children in a fast food bathroom without putting the baby on the ground, but that's about it. :) haha

In General: Monday night we planned on going to Adventure Reef for Family Home Evening, but right as Caleb started to get into the pool, it thundered and they shut the place down. We thought about trying to wait it out, but then my mom looked at her weather app and it said it was going to be raining all night, so as we started walking out the car, it began to pour so we took Alyssa home with us and watched My Fair Lady instead. It was pretty great.

Tuesday night Byron and I had our monthly temple swap. It rained kind of hard for part of the way up, and I was glad Byron was the one behind the wheel. I was grateful for the time we were able to spend there though, and am so glad I have a friend who actually loves doing the temple swaps consistently.

Wednesday night we had our sisters for dinner. We'd never really met either of them, so it was fun getting to know them and they loved watching Caleb be all kinds of crazy since they both have all brothers.

Our Trip to Paducah: Thursday morning Byron loaded up the car for me while I got the boys and I ready to go. Caleb, David, and I (Byron stayed to work) hit the road around 8 am on our way to Paducah KY. Our first stop was in Cincinnati. We stopped to see my Great Aunt Shirley for a little bit. She had never gotten to meet David, and hadn't seen Caleb since he was a baby, so it was nice to see her and talk to her for a bit. The next leg of our trip, we headed down to Louisville. We stopped again at my grandparents house and Caleb and David enjoyed spending some time with their Great Grandma. She had cool new trucks and little planes for them to play with, and they were glad to be out of the car. After eating lunch there and playing some more, we were back on the road. The boys both slept for most of the last leg of the trip, and I was glad since there were some slow spots as we drove past disabled vehicles in the shoulder and some areas that were under construction. We hit Paducah right about dinner time so after walking around Wal-Mart to kill some time, we got dinner and went to the library my sister in law works at to surprise her (she knew we were coming but wasn't expecting us until after she got off work). We went home with her and I then tried to get the boys down for bed. David went down easy enough, but I ended up strapping Caleb into his car seat and driving around until he fell asleep. Friday morning we grabbed donuts at a cute little shop near her house before heading over to walk her bishop's dog. Afterwards we went out to wal-mart and when I didn't want to spend $13 on an over the top changing pad, she helped me decide to make my own. We picked out some fabric, bias tape, and binding, and headed back to the house. She was awesome and managed to make an adorable, custom made diaper changing pad for me in the short span of about 4 hours, and Caleb had a blast chasing the cats around and reading books with me while Aunt Melly slaved over her sewing machine. That night we took the boys to the playplace in her local mall, and then we went out for dinner before taking her bishop's dog out again. The walk felt good after stuffing ourselves, and when we got back to the house, we just relaxed for the evening. David went down to bed really well, but Caleb did not, so I strapped him in yet again and drove him to sleep. David was up at the bright and early hour of 6 am, so we hug out around the house, ate breakfast, and I gathered all of our things that had migrated into the different areas of the house. We ate lunch and went to the local candy shop that sells dippin' dots (they originated in Paducah, so obviously it was something you have to enjoy in their birthplace right?!) We got a small bag of gummies (they had all kinds of fun candy there) for Caleb to enjoy on the way home, as well as a special treat for Byron, and sat to enjoy our icecream. Caleb was really cute trying to eat it, but didn't complain all that much when we decided to help him finish it, and we headed back to the house where I finished packing things into the car and we said our good-byes. Driving back was a little harder since I didn't have defined stops to make and the boys didn't sleep as much, but it was un-eventful and I enjoyed listening to a new book. I made it home shortly before 10 and Byron helped me bathe and feed the boys before putting them down for bed.

Today has been quiet and peaceful. I'm looking forward to afternoon naps and maybe going for a walk this evening after dinner.

We hope you're all having wonderful weeks as well. We love you!