The Boulton Blog: Whistle While You Work It

This week has gone by so quickly! I thought I was going to get started on spring cleaning, but I found things to do that seemed more fun at the time, so I guess maybe I should really get on that this week. There's so much to do.

David: He's so fun. I love him and his budding personality. His smile can get me out of (almost) any sour mood, and his dancing can get me out of the rest of them. He loves music and dancing, enjoys taking my phone, and playing in the bath. The only thing that will keep him out of the tub is his Daddy's old mission camera since we won't let him take it in the water. He pretends to take everyone's picture with it, and even wants to "show" you the pictures on the screen (it no longer has batteries in it and he's dropped it enough times we're almost positive it doesn't work anymore) but it makes him happy, so we just try to keep track of it the best we can since it even helped wean him off the bottle of milk we've been using as a bedtime crutch.

Caleb: He had a good time at playgroup this week making new friends, and got to have two play dates with his friend Carter. Tuesday I wanted him to calm down a bit while I tried to get some things done so Carter came to our house to play, and Friday we went with Carter and his mom and baby sister to the park and got lunch at Wendy's before Caleb went to their house to play so I could run to the store.

He loved playing at his Great Grandma Lane's house this afternoon and playing with his cousin Carson. He was also excited enough about the corn and the cob and broccoli that he sat down to eat (the first time I've ever seen this happen in a social setting, He loves to play)

My little "Mommy Moment" for the week, was sitting with him in church today and watching him successfully count the shapes I pointed out in the dry erase book his Granny had brought as a quiet activity during stake conference. We have been working on counting fingers and such for the past week or so, and it was exciting to see it applied so well in another setting.

Byron: He has been working hard, riding his bike in all the lovely weather, rain or shine, and really enjoyed the camp out he went on with his boy scouts this weekend.

Tuesday and Thursday evening Byron mowed the lawn. He came in and since it was his first time mowing this year I forgot to ask him to shower off...so the pollen count inside my house was a bit overwhelming the past few days. :)

I think the camp out may have been the highlight of his week though. They camped at John Bryan State Park, located about 40 minutes north of us, because they really wanted to do some mountain biking on their trails. They manged to scrounge up enough bikes for all the leaders and boys, and the vehicles needed to get them all up there. They went biking Friday night since it was supposed to be raining Saturday morning, and did a night hike after dinner (they made their way back to the campsite with no flashlights, crazy boys). They went for another hike in the morning and had an overall good time. One of the leaders was gave the boy in charge of dinner a hard time about not having a lot of variety in his cooking repertoire since the scout always plans a potato based dinner. As Byron told me about it all I could think was "that dinner sounded awesome. He can come cook potatoes at my house!" haha

Arielle: I've reached my 18 week mark, but since I missed my 16 week appointment (I seriously shouldn't have scheduled anything for the day after my brother's wedding...without writing it down. Ugh) I still need to call and schedule my 20 week appointment and ultra sound. Hopefully I'll remember to do that tomorrow since it's only 2 weeks away!!!

Wednesday it was raining but we didn't completely cancel playgroup since it was the first time a sister in the Dayton branch would be joining us. I had a good time chatting with her. She has 3 beautiful children and seems so nice and fun. I hope she keeps coming back. That night while Byron was at scouts I got to facetime Alyssa. I stinkin' love that girl! I hope she loves Rexburg at least half as much as I do.

Friday was really fun. After swimming with my friend Saundra we took our kiddos to a nice park in Centerville and spent a couple hours going down slides and swinging with them. We grabbed lunch at Wendy's and after I ran to the store we got to hang out and talk about movie crushes and look at pictures she's been taking. I love impromptu time spent with friends and bonding with my little loves.

Saturday may have been my favorite though. My ward hosted a Relief Society Birthday dinner with a "Women of Worth" theme. They invited each sister to bring something that showcased a talent of ours, and we had a nice program where different members of our Relief Society addressed us, then we had some delicious Hawaiian haystacks for dinner. The talents were fun to look at. One sister brought one of her weaving looms (she can do just about anything with yarn and even spins her own sometimes.) There were various quilts and homemade goods, my friend brought a board displaying her photography, and another sister brought a kitchen-aid mixer she had sanded down and repainted a pretty blue. I don't have many of the projects that I have made here at home, so I made buckeyes and bread to share with everyone. They were a big hit, and it was worth the work it had taken that morning to do. I also brought some of the adorable hair bows that I made. One of the girls from my sunbeam class last year, and one of the girls from my class this year were there for the free childcare but came in at the end and loved them. When I overheard them asking their mom's if they could have them, I let them each pick a set, and it was fun to watch them run around with the bows in their hair while everyone worked to clean up.

I also had a good time sending some things to Alyssa! It was her first week of college and since she flew out she didn't take bedding. David and Keeley had given her their old blankets, but since it's fun to have something that fits your personality in college, I found a set on clearance and shipped it to her while also sending the second book in the Lunar Chronicles (awesome books by the way. I highly recommend them!) with some other small things.

In General: This week we didn't get to do much as a family since there were activites all over the place. Monday night we did a short FHE but didn't make it to the library because Caleb was tired and acting a little too wild, but we managed to finish the book of Alma this week (we've been working on it for an embarrassingly long time) and are quite excited about having gotten through the 63 chapters.
Tuesday night I got to go with my mom to drop dinner off for her friend. Her husband tore his Achilles tendon and had surgery that day. Afterwards we got to go back and enjoy the awesome homemade chicken and noodles she had made, and I even got to enjoy them again later this week since she gave me leftovers. Seriously one of the best meals...ever.

After getting to enjoy a regional broadcast for Stake Conference today, I really enjoyed going to my Grandma Lane's house. She made chicken and rice for dinner, which might me my second favorite meal...and had a salad, which seems to be my kryptonite right now... On our way out the door she stopped me and let me pick out some fabric from her stash! She had purchased a lot while making nursing ponchos to sell, so she has a ton of pretty fabrics and it was so fun. I'm looking foward to getting to use them and hopefully there will be a baby girl that I can make things for...soon...even if she's not mine. :)

I suppose that's all for this week. Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the many and incredible blessings Heavenly Father has for each of us. We love you!

I didn't take any pictures this week, so I snapped a few quick ones this evening. Hope you like them!