Jare Bear is growing up so fast!

Pulling off my socks...

Ollie and Eden feeding Jaren his first taste of rice cereal!

Eliza and Jaren

I LOVE these pictures of Jaren with Ed!

"I'm a STRONG BOY!"

I love it when he giggles!
Jaren and I looking at books

Happy Turkey Day!

Thursday, November 22nd - Thanksgiving Day

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at Ed's parents house and man... did I feed my face this year!!! Yeah... not happiness for me belly! We spent the day with David, Janine, Danny and his fiance, Jamie, as well as with our own little kiddies. We missed Randy, Naomi and Lydia. Hopefully our schedules will mesh next year!
It was our first time meeting Jamie and she was very sweet! We are happy to welcome her into the family. Oliver and Eden were ALL OVER HER!!! Oliver was just smitten with her and kept trying to kiss her! It was soooo funny! I can tell they will love her as their new aunt! They are planning a March wedding in the Rexburg, Idaho temple. We are crossing our fingers so that we can make it there! I'd love to see how Rexburg looks now (I graduated from Ricks College in Rexburg about 10 years ago).

We had a fantabulous spread of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables and rolls. I really did miss Janine's yummy homemade stuffing with sausage in it... oh... it is sooooo good!

She made pies for dessert as well! We had pumpkin, apple and cherry pies. Pumpkin is my favorite... with cool whip on top. And I'm not talkin' a "dollup" of cool whip, I'm talkin' half the container covering every square inch of pie! Jaren even enjoyed himself while trying out the "Johnny Jump Up" for the first time! Here is a video of him twirling around...

First Day of SNOW!

Wednesday, November 21st - OUR FIRST SNOW

Today we had our first day of snow! I went to pick up the girls at school and Mrs. Boehmer said the kids have been wound up since they realized that it was snowing outside!

As we were driving home, the flakes were coming straight toward the van. It felt like we were in space flying at light speed through the stars! The flakes were actually pretty big!

"Don't eat yellow snow!"

McKenzie and Eden. I can't tell if Eden is catching snowflakes or sticking her tongue out at me!

I let the kids play outside for a while in the back yard!when we arrived home. They were catching snowflakes on their tongues and running around in the snow. I did realize that it was about time to invest in a bigger pair of snowpants for Eden (as well as Oliver).

She must be waiting for a flood... no... a blizzard... Either way... she's wearin' some pretty sweet high waters!

Oliver hamming it up with Eden's mittens on!

They love winter. It's only just begun...

"Would you like some... Rubber Neeples?"

I had laid down to take a nap early yesterday afternoon. Suddenly, Ed came into the room and shook me to wake me up. He then said, "We have to find out where the fire is! I think there's a fire in the house!" I immediately sit up, still a little groggy, but when you hear the word "FIRE" it kinda gets ya goin'!

I sit up in bed and immediately the smell hits me! I get up and follow Ed through the dining room toward the basement. (He thought it was coming from downstairs). As I rounded the corner, I see Ed's eyes get big and his mouth gapes open and he says, "It's the nipples!" I was like... "WHAT?" "I forgot about the nipples!" Evidentally, he was boiling water on the stove and sanitizing the nipples for Jaren's bottles and FORGOT ABOUT IT! ALL of the water boiled out and we were left with burnt rubber nipples... hence the smell of something burning! It just REEKED!

Reggie and Arthur stopped by to drop off some movies they were borrowing and Reggie couldn't smell it because of her cold. Arthur came in from the car and chatted with us right as Oliver was spraying some Glade alllllll over the house! I could seriously TASTE it... he sprayed so much! Even Reggie said that she could smell it all now and taste it! At least they got to go HOME and get away from the smell! It was sick!

I saw the rubber nipple remnants in the pot in the garbage can and of course had to pull it out and get a picture of it! In case you were wondering... here is what burnt rubber nipples look like...

THE END.

Memories with Meghan

My friend, Meghan celebrated her birthday today and so I was going to do the same thing that she did for me on MY birthday last September. We've had so many fun and crazy times together! It's crazy that we've only been friends for six years and I feel like we've known one another forever! So, here are some things I love about Meg and some crazy experiences we've had along the way...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEG!

I love how we always break into song in different situations. It's almost always the SAME SONG that we bust out singing!

I love that we share a passion (obsession) for blogging!

The double date to Cedar Rapids before you guys were married. Who could forget Ed's bright orange vest?! It's like he was an escapee from the "joint" if you know what I'm sayin'! I also loved the picture of Ed and Garran in those goofy hats in the back seat! Ed the Bumblebee...

Who can forget when we found out Oliver was allergic to eggs... yeah... that was NASTY! Sorry about that!

The plethera of topics that you, Mandy and I gab about and almost wet our pants laughing at! Think of colored shapes... teeheehee!

PENI in a mexican restaurant... need I say more?

Chatting on the phone almost every single day, even though we only live like 10 miles away...

We understand each other's PSYCHO sense of humor!!!

Introducing you to the delicious Burek and having it hanging out of your mouth about to get into an accident! Fun times!!!

Stealing my entertainment center from Freecycle!!! Hehehe!

Ah... the stories from the other side of the line... ya know what I mean...

Shopping excursions and Garage Salin'

Playing 'MOM' and setting up "Man Dates" for our hubbsies!

Nauvoo on April 10, 2004... taking pictures of you and Garran with his brown shoes on! Hahaha!

Silly games our husbands play... (Frac in dees).

Yes... we ARE the paparazzi! Watch out! I'm sure ONE of us has a camera on us!

Bridal Shower... Baby Shower... at least we haven't showered together... we aren't THAT good of friends!!

Doing crafts and scrapping together! I love having someone equally obsessed with things as I am!

I know we've had so many fun times together and we'll have so many more as well! Hope you had a great birthday!

Love, Stac

Flashback Friday - Lips and Mustaches

Eden, Anne, Ollie, Braden, Jetsina, Sydney & Jayden

Oliver, Uncle Bryan, Eden

Grandpa Young with his stylish mustache!

"Pucker up... Buttercup!"

Gram and Mom

We had a Mom School Valentine's party in 2005 at our house for all of the kids. (Mom School was for our kids and we took turns teaching them for 2 1/2 hours every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. There were six of them ages 3 & 4 in the class.)

We decorated Valentine Mailboxes, exchanged Valentines, ate some Valentine Goodies and even made a craft. The best part was the foam mustaches and lips! Even Bry, Mom and Gram and Gramps got in on the fun!!! I just loved these pictures!

SPT

This week's SPT challenge is to take a few moments and focus on that special holiday *thing* that you are planning for this year.

I love the holidays and so it's hard to narrow it down to one *thing*. We have some special things that we do each year as well as things we'd like to start doing!

*I bring up all of the holiday books for the kids and I to read.

*I get out all of the holiday DVD's that we've been waiting all year to watch. "The Polar Express" is one of my favorites. I'd really like to see it at the IMAX movie theatre this year in Cedar Rapids.

*Picking out our gifts for our favorite couples... ORNAMENTS! We decided last year to pick out a special ornament for each of our couple friends. That way, if they ever move away, they can think of us at Christmastime when they are trimming their trees and be reminded of the funny or memorable event that the ornament represents!

*Making Christmas Cutout Cookies with the kids! YUM!

*Painting Christmas Ornaments with friends and family.

*Listening to Christmas music and putting up our decorations and tree.

*I'd love to get tickets for the "POLAR EXPRESS" train ride this year. You travel on the train in your pajamas, have hot cocoa, read the story and then get to see Santa at the end! How fun would that be!?!

We want to continue some of our traditions as well as introduce new ones each year in our family. I just LOVE spending time with my family and friends and let them know how much they all mean to me!

Happy Birthday, MOM!!!

Mother - Daughter Banquet at The United Church of Christ. She made us matching dresses!

Mother - Daughter banquet in 1984.

The "Pink Ladies". There's nothing more comforting than your mother, especially when you're sick.

Mom and me on my 29th birthday at Las Margaritas - September 2007
Happy Birthday, Mom!

Some memories and stories for you on your special day...

I remember...

...you would always make time to color with me even though I know you really didn't want to.

...swordfighting with plungers in Wal-mart when I was in Jr. High or High School!

...telling you to stop singing in the store, and then you started HUMMING to the music... Oh that ticked me off!!!

...burnt bologna. Enough said! Bry and I voting you off of "Survivor"!

...endless garage saling and Goodwillin'! Gotta love those bargains!

...going to your 25 year class reunion and people thinking that I was YOU! Golfing and you getting attacked by some birds when you were trying to find your ball under the tree!

...people saying we sound alike, look alike and laugh alike!

...playing "hooky" from school and going to the Williamsburg Outlet Mall with you and Chad!

...going to church and laying my head in your lap on the pew. You'd always rub my face and hair. Eating at Long John Silver's afterward.

...the familiar hum of the sewing machine. I still remember my favorite summer short outfits... the yellow seersucker outfit with the beach umbrellas on it and the lavender one with the large tropical flowers on it!

...ALWAYS going through your jewelry box when you were dusting off your dressers. (Eden does this.)
...going to the Cattle Congress every year when we were younger.

...just laughing at silly things or funny stories.

...going camping almost every summer with you and grandma and grandpa and doing the PB&J dance for the barges at night.

...when we had a family reunion and we were playing on the beach of the Mississippi in Clinton and we rode in the boat to QUICKS and ordered like 30 hamburgers and 5 pounds of fries!

...going to the Unicorn to eat and shopping on the day after Thanksgiving with you, Aunt Sue and Grandma.

...being sick and you taking me to Sartori to stay in the sick bay. Yeah... sometimes I faked being sick... just thought you should know that after all of these years! :)

...being sick (actually really and truly sick) laying in bed and you giving me one of my Christmas presents early... "Ribsy"... I read the whole book that day!

...being chased around the wall that separated the kitchen and living room with a wooden spoon because of something naughty one of us kids did.

...making little pizzas with you for someone's birthday and watching the "Beastmaster".

...going to the Mother - Daughter Banquets at church.

...having you always finding the good bargains at garage sales because I'm stuck in the kid's clothes sections forever...

...painting Christmas ornaments and decorating Easter eggs with us.

...ALWAYS making Christmas goodies and Christmas Cutout Cookies every Christmas... I LOVED THAT!

...putting on a Guns and Roses show for you guys... "Welcome to the Jungle... We've got fun and games..." What the crap was I thinking!?

...wearing our halloween costumes that you made... the Watermelon and the Strawberry. I won second place that year at "Squeals on Wheels". I was in first grade.

...going to see Grandma Boardsen in the nursing home and bringing her goat cheese. I'm so glad that you did that for us.

...you always making Chad and I a fort in the living room on the kitchen chairs whenever you mopped the dining room floor.

...when Chad and I would watch WWF wrestling and we would fly off the couch onto the stack of couch cushions and you didn't care... that was awesome!

...going to Rastrelli's last summer and telling me about when you used to work there!

I could go on and on and on... there are soooo many more things... I just always remember us laughing together! You are one of my best friends and I love spending time with you! I hope you had a wonderful 55th birthday! So... does that make you a Senior Citizen yet? :)

Love, Stacy

More About Me Monday - Palmerazzi

I LOVE taking pictures. Hence the name I dubbed for myself... "the Palmerazzi"! Ever since I got my digital camera, it seems like I take it everywhere I go! I would LOVE to take a photography class and learn how to take better photos.

I think my love of pictures is related to my love of scrapbooking. You need photographs to be able to scrapbook. Photographs tell stories that sometimes you can't convey with words. I also have always loved looking through people's photo albums and hearing the stories that go with the photo's. I've always been a picture person.

I wish I could afford a really nice camera, to get really crisp and clear pictures. Whenever I go in for a close up, the picture gets really fuzzy, which stinks. I've seen some of the cutest photos of baby toes and feet... but I just can't seem to get a good shot of them. Who knows... maybe someday I'll splurge!

I don't consider myself to be a materialistic person, but my camera is one of my favorite 'things' that I own. I really enjoy creating memories that will last for a long time. The kids and I, especially Eden, love to look at the photos and remember the day the picture was taken on. They remember some of the funniest things and shock me when they remember things that I can't even recall. It's fun to share that time with the kids.

Happy Veterans Day!

"Veterans Day is an American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is celebrated on the same day as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.) Veterans Day is largely intended to thank veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to United States national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty." (Wikipedia)

Thank you to those in our family that have served us...

Warren Young (left) (Grandpa) - Served in the U.S. Army during WWII.

DAVE YOUNG (Uncle) - Served in the U.S. Air Force as a Pararescueman for over 20 years.

BRANDON YOUNG (Cousin) - Currently in the U.S. Navy and serving near Iraq and his father, DOUG YOUNG (Uncle - passed on October 15, 2007) - Served in the U.S. Navy and as a Navy SEAL for over 20 years.

BRYAN BOARDSEN (Brother) - Served in the U.S. Navy as well as the Iowa National Guard.

Not Pictured...
EINAR BOARDSEN (Grandpa - passed on October 1, 1999) - Served in the U.S. Navy.

EDWARD SOLIE (Ed's Grandpa) - Served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

DAVID PALMER (Ed's Dad) - Served in the U.S. Army.

AARON PALMER (Ed's Brother) - Served in the Utah National Guard.

MONTE PALMER (Ed's Uncle) - Serves in the Army National Guard.

To Rake... Or Not To Rake... That is the Question.

Well... I decided that it was about time to rake up the leaves in the front yard since the leaves had mostly all fallen from the trees AND since we CAN'T afford to move... it needed to be done.

Our trees are some of the last ones to lose their leaves on our street... so our neighbors have their nicely raked lawns and then there's us. "Hey... I'm not gonna rake my yard if all of the leaves aren't off the trees yet! What do they think I am? A glutton for punishment?!?" Anyways... there were soooooooo many leaves it wasn't even funny! I'm sure with our luck it will probably snow by the time we get them packed into half ripped open bags, and then we will be left with a dirty crop or lawn circle rather, in our front yard! Too bad when we try to reseed in the Spring... we have neon green grass clumps dotting our lawn. As you can see, I don't know much about the different types of grass seed. It's like Grandma's Crazy Quilt over here on Oaklawn!

So... McKenzie, Eden and I all shared the raking responsibility. The girls took turns sharing a small rake and small plastic shovel to build up the massive pile of leaves. They LOVED running and jumping into it, and even pretended to be swimming amongst the leaves. I was hoping all the while that they wouldn't get impaled on a renegade twig and have to take an unplanned field trip to the local E.R.! No injuries... just fun!