The Boulton Blog: Sing a Happy Little Working Song

This has been an incredibly long week, but it's over now and even though we got a lot done, there's still so much to do.

David: He's growing and learning all the time. He doesn't like reading scriptures before he gets his breakfast, and sometimes throws a fit, but we're trying to teach him to be reverent anyway and he loves turning the pages. He got a tricycle that he can reach the pedals on from his ever so loving Granny, and loves "riding his bike" with Caleb every chance they get. He knows so many words, and when I was talking to a friend who subbed in nursery last week, she was exclaiming over how well he communicates compared to the others in there the same age. I love him from first thing in the morning 'til last thing at night and can't get enough of his sweet hugs and giggles.

Caleb: I think he's ridden his bike almost every day the past week. It's been such an awesome thing for him...and all of us. We spend a lot more time outside and he's learning so quickly how to steer and go faster. Byron can't wait until they can go on bike rides together, and even though Caleb's only been riding a week, Byron is already talking about the day he can take the training wheels off. Crazy man. When I went to my OB appointment on Thursday my incredible parents agreed to watch the boys. Caleb had been begging to ride his bike so I took it to my parents house for him to ride that morning. My mom said he rode so long that he finally looked up and asked "Can I get off now? My legs hurt."

He loves chasing people on his bike and doesn't complain about wearing his helmet now that we finally have one that fits his head well. I was relieved Target was willing to take the helmet that was too small back, even though we had already cut it from the packaging. Yea for good return policies!

He says funny things all the time and I find myself laughing more and more every day.

My favorite quote from this week was from yesterday. The boys love to jump all over me if I lay on the floor, and right now, it's not the most enjoyable experience, so I was jokingly crying out that I was dying as Caleb tried, yet again, to flop on top of me. As I rolled away from him some minutes later so get up, I groaned and he asked "Mommy, are you dying again?"

He loves making faces at David and making the people around him laugh. Sometimes it creates problems, like when he's doing it in the middle of sharing time, but the rest of the time it's pretty cute.

Byron: He got to spend Monday and part of Tuesday morning at Scout Camp. He loved getting to do all the guy stuff, he was disappointed to find the archery range closed when he had some free time, but he got to shoot a rifle at the shooting range instead. He and the other man who was there for our troop had a little competition, started by the man running the shooting range, and Byron won! He shot all 10 of his clay birdies, and the other guy only hit 6 of them. I was impressed to hear that since Byron hasn't shot a gun the entire 5 years I've known him, he prefers bows and arrows, and the guy he was competing with is active military. He's been working since he got home to make up as many of the 10.5 hours he missed Monday and Tuesday in order to save as much PTO as possible since we have so much to look forward to in the next 3 months.

Arielle: This week has gone by so slooooowly. I didn't realize how bad it was until I felt like I was waking up to Friday every day for 3 days straight. When the weekend got here we worked straight through Saturday and with us being on the 1-4 church schedule, our Sundays are over before they being now, so Monday was here again way to quickly. Wednesday evening I got to attend the temple with my ward Relief Society. 25 women from my ward made it to the temple that evening and it was amazing being surrounded by so many familiar faces.

When I was a teenager, my Mommy asked once who the most beautiful woman I knew was. I reflect on it often, and as I was standing in the temple that night, surrounded by smiling, excited faces that shone with the light of Christ, I realized how beautiful each and every single one of them was. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and the knowledge I have of our eternal potential.

Pregnancy Update: I had my 28 week OB appt and labs this past Thursday. Gestational Diabetes is such a real fear for me and though I haven't heard back from my lab results yet, I'm praying every day that my sugar levels were normal.

Ezekiel moves around so much, and though I still feel like he's jumping around a lot, I can also feel it when he stretches now and while it feels really strange, I also enjoy it. As he gets bigger I know it will be less comfortable for both him, and myself, but for now I just love it. And so does Caleb. He puts his little hands on my belly and asks if the baby is moving. He also asks almost every morning if Baby Ezekiel is born yet. I get more and more excited every time I think about how much joy our little miracle will bring to our family.

In General: Friday night we watched my friends 4 children so they could go to the temple. We had all the kids in bed by 8, and I made an adorable bubble skirt for her 2 year old. I had made it previously, but with the heavier weight in the nice material, it wanted to drape instead of poofing, and I found a tutorial that solved the problem, so I disassembled it and made it new, and much cuter!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early, Byron was out of bed by 6, and I followed him about a half hour later when Caleb came into my room asking for eggs for breakfast. We got to cleaning and managed to get all the clutter cleaned up, furniture taken out, the upstairs hallway cleaned up and a cursory vacuum run in before our friends showed up around 9:45 with their vacuum and carpet cleaner (many hands make light work!) While my friend Saundra helped me finish cleaning up the basement and piling all the toys and furniture into the cleanest corner, Byron worked with our carpet cleaner on the stairs and Saundra's husband worked on the main level. They got out stains that I thought were permanent and everything looks so much better! I think they were here a total of about 3 hours and we managed to make our carpet look almost brand new again! Plus Saundra helped wipe down all the wood features in the house while Caleb and her son Carter played outside and David and her daughter Kamry rocked out to music in the basement and ran around playing with toys. It was an incredibly productive morning/afternoon and I love walking around on my soft, clean carpet.

That evening Gabrielle got home from her 8 day mini-mission and my parents helped us be there for her welcome home dinner by letting us borrow a car while we had ours in the shop getting new tires. The boys were both so excited to see her and spend time with her after missing her for 2 weeks, and I must admit, I was happy to see her smiling face too. She's such an amazing young woman.

Sunday my parents braved having us over again and we did what we always joke about, we ate dessert before dinner. It was a little strange going backwards, since I was just as excited about dinner (the best cinnamon chicken ever!) as I had been about dessert. You just can't go wrong with apple crisp and caramel ice cream. haha

I guess that's all the news from around here for now. We hope you're all doing well and having an awesome summer!