Want to Win Free Buns?

Click HERE to enter to win some BUNS for the Fourth of July :)

I love 5dollardinners.com! The mom has some great recipes and they are all pretty healthy :) (many are gluten free....due to diet restrictions her family has but she also gives "gluten" ideas :))

Great GREAT Aunts

These Lovely and Adorable Ladies are my Great Aunts (but not Lynda of course...that is my baby sister). These fun relatives are my Grandma's sisters (in law).

Let me tell you about them :) Looking at the picture from Left to Right--The one on the far left is Barb. She is so sweet and friendly. She is easy going and a gem to have around. Out of 6 kids, she was number 4! The one in the middle is Mary. She is married to my Grandma's youngest sibling, John. Mary is a blast to have around and very talkative. She is easy to get along with and loves to tease! And on the right we have Mary Lou. She is friendly and talkative, very fun to be around but also very serious. I like that I can see a part of myself in all three of them. It reminds me that my Grandma had a big role in their lives as well as mine and probably rubbed off on all of us :) We also all share the same genes...well not Mary--she just go lucky and is like us! :)

They came all the way from TC to see us for a day :) We spent the morning in 90+degree heat shopping at the local flea market (with J and L of course). We dropped off the boys for nap time under Dad's supervision and headed to a local inn on a lake for lunch! We sat for a few hours and laughed the afternoon away! They are so much fun!!!! We had a wonderful visit and it was great to see them. They are already planning a trip back down to see us and perhaps camp in my yard!

Having my Grandma's sisters here for the day was such a great way to have a part of my Grandma close to me. I am grateful for such a loving and close family.

A Few Days of Pure Relaxation

To Celebrate my friend Kim's birthday, her husband surprised her with a trip to see me in Michigan! You see, Kim and I met when we both started our jobs in Goodhue, MN the same day! We became fast and true friends. She was the first friend I told when we decided to move and that was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have missed her dearly this past year and it was an AWESOME surprise when her hubby contacted me to plan this birthday weekend of relaxation! He sent us for a two night stay at Boyne Mountain. We spent two days being pampered at the spa! We got massaged, manicured, pedicured on one of the days and the second day we got cuts, colors and styles for our hair :) We took a chair life up to the top of the ski mountain (it is a ski resort in the winter), made smores at their campfire, played in the pool, napped by the pool, ate out, played down town, etc. etc. etc. It was a magical couple of days together!

Our Suite :)

View from the top of the ski hill!


Ready for the spa!

Happy Birthday :)

Today is my wonderful Husband's birthday :) Happy Happy HAPPY Birthday to him! :):)

Summer Fun

Playing in the wading pool at Grandma and Grandpa's Farm! Both Boys LOVED it!

Jack was thrilled when I let him made a MUDDY mess in the sandbox :)

Luke is helping me water my plants...... :)

Jack LOVES the sprinkler Aunt LJ gave Luke for his birthday. Sammy and Jack are having a blast here :) We use the sprinkler or the Slip n Slide OFTEN!

This face was just too cute to not capture! Luke was riding his little lawn mower and having a blast!

Summer Flowers

A few pictures of my summer flowers--Prennials or Annuals--I love ALL flowers :) I have been busy!!!

Mushy Brain

man my brain hurts. my newest grad class is a bear...i just finished my 13 page draft and i have no clue if i even did it right! the class topic: special education law. the class is complicated, and technical. the prof is a lawyer so he is confusing, and complicated...but very pleasant. i am not usually a nervous nellie about grades or my quality of work but i am nervous about this one! i have put over 8 hours into this paper and i don't even know if it what he is looking for..... i don't want a substandard grade.....

Father's Day

Father's Day was wonderful!

Jack and Luke gave Josh a great Father's day by only fighting a little bit and for the most part being very well behaved. We made him art work, gave him a "grill master" t-shirt, and a grill thermometer. We also made sure he had McD's for breakfast (his favorite) and BLT's for lunch :)

The rest of the day we celebrated ALL of our Father's....My Dad, his Dad, my grandpa and Josh. (we tried to celebrate my brother but he was unable to join us) All of our family came over for a HUGE bbq! (John and Lynda, Sarah and Aaron, Mom and Dad B, Mom and Dad J, Grandpa, and use four) Josh put the ribs on around 11 am and we did not eat until 4:40.....that is 5 1/2 hours of indirect heat :) He is so proud of his new grill with smoker attachment. He even has gotten into using apple wood to make a smoke ring on the ribs. His bbq-ing is AWESOME--so tasty :) We also had bbqed chicken, plus all the good stuff that normally goes along with summer bbqs.

We spent the afternoon and evening talking, eating, playing yard games and enjoying family company. It was a wonderful Father's day!

Aventures in Potty Training

Oh my oh my oh my!

Luke has decided to potty train :) He is doing fairly well--we are very laid back potty training parents. If he wants to use the potty, he can use the potty. If he wants to use a diaper, he can use the diaper. He is rewarded with "Potty Candy" when he uses the potty; therefore, he will often potty, "be done", get back on to potty again, "be done"....etc. etc. etc. because he is rewarded with a small whopper candy or choc yogurt covered raisin (BEST "healthy" treat ever). This has been happening for a few months. He really goes in streaks and we are okay with that.

Now, those with weak stomachs when reading/hearing/experiencing bodily "fluids", you may not want to read any farther :)

This weekend, however, Luke has really started asking to use the potty and also talks about his toy dog using the potty (a good sign to me). This morning was "special". He asked to use the potty....and the above little cycle happened (potty, candy, potty, candy, etc.). Because he was in the middle of this cycle, he was sans diaper so he could help himself on the little potty and let me know when he was done. Well....he only pees right not on the potty and all of the sudden I look over and Luke has POOP on his legs and we were NOT in the bathroom.....Jack's bedroom got little bits of poop all over it! I rushed Luke to his potty....on the way more fell on the cement floor of the basement....and only a teeny bit got in the potty :) But for that great effort of poop sans diaper (which has NEVER happened and he is afraid to poop), he earned two more potty candies! I then was left to clean the carpet, a few blankets, Luke's legs and Jack's feet! I thought I was done cleaning and put the "Green Machine" (great cleaning tool) away only to find MORE poop smears on Jack's carpet.... :) I just had to chuckle!

It was quite a potty adventure this morning!

Super Cute Future "Woo Woo" Drivers and Uncle Tom

These young men want to be future woo woo drivers and/or ambulance drivers :) Uncle Tom was great and squeezed in a visit to the fire station amongst our sadness last week. Thanks Uncle Tom! We love you!!!!

Summer "Stay at Home" Mom Days 1 and 2

Due to traveling "home" last week, this is truly my first week as a Summer Stay at Home Mom. Every year I go through the same feelings and same pattern..... it is stressful for me the first weeks (or month) as I try to find activities to keep the boys occupied, and get us on a schedule, the middle of the summer is trying to maintain our schedule and a teeny bit less hectic and stressful, the 3/4 part of the summer is wonderful and I love being at home and then the last quarter of the summer I am sad because I have to go back to work and LOVED being home with the boys. It is inevitable--I go through the same pattern summer after summer! This has been my norm for the past 7 summers :) (wait, hold that thought--Jack is only 3.8 so make that the last few summers).

Let me give you a recap of yesterday--

I got us up early and right into the day--I even got a shower before 7 am! I got us ready, had a full breakfast and only let them watch 2 shows on TV. I got us to the library and signed up for the summer reading program....it was after we left the library that things started to get frustrating. I really wanted to stop at the scrap book store (selfish me) and against my better judgment, I did. Oh the boys were naughty there! They continued to be naughty all the way home, through lunch and through nap. Luke laid down and slept but only after 20 minutes crying, "Mama's bed" and Jack...well he is another story! That child is getting harder and harder to get down for nap at home. He was out of his room every 15 minutes and I chased him back down every 15 minutes. After 2 hours of chasing, while I cleaned and scrapped, I finally let him out to use the potty and get up for the day. Because he did not nap, he was CRANKY for the rest of the day. He also lost TV priveleges for the rest of the day and all of his monring show time on Tuesday. He can earn that back by napping Tuesday. The afternoon, post nap, was tough as well! I did squeeze in a walk with the boys (with freeze pops to pacify the kiddos) and make a great dinner. I went to bed thinking, I must do better tomorrow!

Today we had many distractions. The first was Jack woke me up around 4 am (bad dream) so I slept on his floor and we did not get up until after 8 am. The second was we had to get ready quickly as we had a "basement fella" coming at 10 to check out the basement and give us an astronomical estimate to fix the water issues. We also had some new legos to distract us today. So far, Tuesday has been better than Monday. I convinced Jack we were tranformers and that transformers need to sleep to recharge their batteries. He also does not want to lose any more priveleges. I tis only 12:41 and Jack has been down since 12:20 (he came out once to use the potty and that "card" has been used...). We'll see how this goes!

Married Life

Our first date--Senior Prom 1998 :)

(scanned...sorry for the bad quality)

Today Josh and I celebrate 7 years of married life and 11 years total of "togetherness". We are blessed to have found the perfect soul mate so early in life. Our first date took place Prom weekend 1998. We officially started dating June 14, 1998 and had plans to date during the summer before we left for college. 2 months into college, on a chilly October evening, Josh proposed to me in his backyard while we were home for a short weekend visit. Without any hesitation, I accepted. We kept our engagement a secret for a while from our family :) Who knows why we did that--My only guess is that we were young (18) and thought they would think we were too young to be that serious! All four years of college, we lived 10 hours apart and talked on the phone daily (sometimes over 2 hours....this is before the days of "free" cell phone minutes...$$$$ ouch!). We kept our love alive with emails, phone calls, letters, mailed poems and carepackages. We graduated from college within a week of each other and were married a month later!

Our Wedding 2002
(scanned...sorry again)

I love the way God has led us together :) There was never any question in my heart or mind about whether or not Josh is the man for me. He loves me unconditionally. He accepts who I am, challenges me to strive to be the best every day and even calls me out when I am not being the woman I can be. He is the perfect fit for me. I love that we have been married for 7 years and know the next 50 (at least) will fly by as quick as these last 7! :) I love you Josh!

A picture from our date in March!

Thank You

Dear Friends,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the support, friendship, prayers, kind thoughts, phone calls, facebook, messages, etc etc etc. I cannot ask for better people in my life and I am grateful each and every day for such a wonderful support system.
Love,
T

Celebrating my Grandma

This week has been a sad yet joyful week for my family. On Sunday night/Monday morning, I got a phone call from my dad saying my grandma was not doing well. The answering machine got the call and by the time I found a phone he had already hung up. I called him back and remember hearing grandma was sick but it was so late and I immediately fell back asleep. When Luke woke me up at 4 am, I realized the answering machine was blinking and the phone call had been real. Lynda and I were up to Traverse City by 9:30 am. The events that followed our arrival are a mere blink of the eye....things happened so quickly and so slowly all at the same time. All of my grandma's sisters and brother (along with spouses) were at the hospital--along with the rest of my family (uncle, aunt, etc). We spent the day praying, talking and visiting grandma in her ICU room. She was sedated as she was completely relying on a ventilator for life. By early afternoon, we met with her doctor and it became clear there were difficult decisions to be made. Her life was completely dependent on the ventilator. For her to continue in such a state, she would also have to get a feeding tube and a tracheotomy. Even with these extra machines, her life would not be prolonged very long and her quality of life would be very different (obviously). That conversation was one of the hardest I have ever had to sit through. My mom and brother were so strong. Together, with my grandpa's support, made the decision to let her die peacefully and with dignity. We had lunch as a family and after prayed over my grandma with the hospital chaplain before removing my grandma's ventilator. We had 2 1/2 beautiful hours with my grandma before she went to Heaven. I was holding one of her hands as she died in my mom's arms. My grandpa and sister were also holding her other hand. It was so beautiful yet sad. The chaplain was an amazing asset for my family.

The days that followed were tough. I know my grandma is in heaven, she has no more pain, she has no more arthritis, she has not more worries..... it is us here on Earth that will struggle. My grandpa has been married to her for 56 years! They spent a lifetime building a family and caring for each other. A love like that does not happen every day. Monday night I headed back, picked up the boys from Gary and Lin's, and packed up our stuff. Tuesday and Wednesday were full of "small" tasks that needed to happen before the funeral and visitation. By Wednesday night, Josh arrived and made my life a bit easier. Thursday was visitation and Friday (today) was the funeral. I gave the eulogy to the best of my ability and shared in celebrating the life of my grandma. (If you would like to read it, email me taboyer@gmail.com) I am now wondering what will happen from this point forward.....

On a side note, even with all of the mourning and grieving this week, it has also been a week of joy and laughter. My grandma's family are such positive and loving people! We got so many days together this week to laugh, share memories and laugh some more. Josh commented on Thursday that the sounds in the room during the funeral visitation would have made my grandma proud! She loved to visit and laugh as much as her sisters and I am sure she was there in spirit laughing right along with us!



Prayers Please:
Strength and peace for my grandpa as he learns to live a life without the love of his life
Strength and peace for my mom as she holds strong for my grandpa to lean on and mourns the loss of her mother.
Wisdom for us all as we try to make sense of the medical errors that were made and how to deal with them.
Love--may love fill our hearts as we remember my grandma and celebrate her life by living ours to the fullest every day.

My Lovely Grandma

I am too emotional to blog at this moment and will blog more later. My grandma passed away peacefully today at 4:25 pm. She was surrounded by family. I know she has gone on to join God in heaven.

The Sound of Crying

I am the only one home to put the boys to bed tonight and Luke is having a VERY tough time. I have been putting him to bed for around 45 minutes now and he is still in his bed crying (at the top of his lungs) and yelling for Mama! Oh it just breaks my heart. I have gone done twice (which I should not have....oh I have a hard time with that) and he was okay the first time. I rocked him and he was almost asleep. I laid him down and he started back up. I gave him a little bit and then went back down when he was crying so hard that I thought he might hyperventilate. I rocked him this time to his soothing cry "Up-y-stairs"....he did not want to be in his room and thought my bed sounded better. I said no and continued to rock to his continued cries of "Up-y-stairs". I left him after a while back in his bed and that is where is continuing to yell from. It hurts my heart to hear him cry that hard but nothing I do comforts him and I am certainly not starting the habit of bringing him to my bed to sleep when Daddy is not home. Oh I pray he calms down and realizes he is okay. I pray for my patience and will power.

Update on Grandma

After a full 13 days in the ICU, Grandma is now in a REGULAR hospital room!!!!! :):) She still has a long way to recover but let me first give you some of the positives!
--She is only need an IV for antibiotics. She is no longer needing fluids.
--She does not need dialysis every day. They were using it to remove excess fluid but her kidneys are functioning better!
--She is FULL of spunk! She was teasing the nurses and her sisters!
--She is eating better--she can have whatever she would like and is trying to eat more solid food.
--She is in a REGULAR room :) (yeah I know I mentioned this but it is so exciting to me)
--At this time, she does not need surgery to fix the infection in her foot
--Her leg is healing pretty good and it sounds like if she needs a skin graft, she would only need it for a few tiny spots!

Things to continue to pray for:
--healing and strength for grandma
--smooth and stress free transition to the nursing home
--a spot at the nursing home to open up
--wisdom for the doctors
--decreased stress for my mom and grandpa

Thanks for praying for my family :)

Short Luke Story

Luke cracks me up. We gave him chocolate the other day at dinner time. If my memory serves me right, it was in the form of chocolate chip pancakes. As supper was ending, he looked down at his chocolate covered hands and chuckled as he said, "Oh Dog Poop" :) I said, "No not dog poop...chocolate. Go ahead and lick your fingers buddy." Luke then licked his fingers and smiling said, "oh Cow Poop".

That child is full of character!