and then there were balloons!

part 2.... fun!

seriously amazing time with melissa and her mom--late nights, good wine, tons of laughter, productive shopping, wedding chats, girlie giggly, baseball on tv, hot air balloon festivities, smiles, shared looks and so much more!!

the saloon that is at the reception site!

the girls!

hot air balloons above melissa's house! yes in new mexico all the houses look the same and i was amazed by the ROCK lawns! :)

linda and melissa!

seriously fabulous...i wanna be a vintage cowgirl

FUN. new mexican style!!! part 1 :)lots

oh i am a LUCKY lucky girl! i am the matron of honor for one of my bestest friends--melissa! she and i met in 1998 when she lived down the hall from me at Hope. our relationship got stronger over the four years and blossomed into more than friendship :) she is family. i took myself for a five day journey to new mexico to help her plan her upcoming wedding!

lots and lots and lots of wedding dress shopping! two days, four locations plus a revisit and SUCCESS! melissa narrowed it down to TWO dresses and since the visit a few weeks ago--she picked THE one :) it is gorgeous!!!! she is gorgeous!

beautiful ristra

the ballroom at melissa and chris' reception site

melissa :) and the working fountain for the reception!!

parking lot payment...new mexican style! you put your money in the hole....soooooo weird!

melissa and her mama linda :)

olde town albuqurque

outside a beautiful little {haunted} chapel in olde town

a wednesday

wednesday used to just be wednesday. wednesdays in october used to just be wednesdays in october. but i sit here tonight, listening to mythbusters on tv and am transported back in time.... two years ago, on wednesday 10/28/09, i got the phone call that tom was in a car accident.... the phone rang right as the theme song to mythbusters played.

for a long time i couldn't hear that sound without thinking of the phone call. that awful phone call. i couldn't help but think of tom at 9:04 on wednesday nights. i couldn't help but jump when the phone rang after 9 pm. in fact any time the phone rang, i automatically looked at the time.

i am making progress. two years have passed come this friday. it has been quite a while since i thought of him at 9:04 on a wednesday and i have not been jumping quite as much at the phone ringing in the evening. tonight though i am thinking of him. he is gone but not forgotten.  tonight is not just a wednesday but hopefully next week, wednesday will be back to just being wednesday.

BIG day

big day at the boyer household :)

jack tied ONE shoe!!!! woooo hoooo! we have been working on that for quite some time... it was not super tight nor did he get two done but folks we are making PROGRESS!

luke buckled himself into the truck! we also have been working on this for quite some time!!! woooo hoooo luke!

the farmer hug

as i tucked him in tonight, luke grabbed me tight. as he held on for more than a moment, he smiled and said he was giving me his best farmer hug :) what a sweetie pie i have even on his "not making great choices days" :)

uh oh! tooth bugs!

jack has gotten his first tooth bugs :( (aka cavities).... he is pretty darn worried about going back to get them filled. and quite frankly {and of course i will not be sharing this with him} so am i. he does NOT do well with things like this..... gives me flashbacks to the time at the ent where they had to strap him tot he papoose board to clear wax out of his ears that were infected. YIKES! with that said, i have a name in gr to call for an appointment for a pedi-dentist. i hope that helps!

and the award goes to....

LUKE! he has earned more ouch reports in 6 weeks of preschool than jack has earned ever! luke 4 to jack 0. :) fortunately the ouch reports have all been pretty minor..... got kicked in the eye on the playground, bonked his head on a table, bumped heads with a friend, jabbed a wooded hammer in his eye area..... thankfully that kiddo is one tough COOKIE! :)

the return

yes folks--hockey has RETURNED to our lives! there is an ice rink that opened up just FIFTEEN minutes or so from our house! josh is in 7th heaven :) right now he is playing on a sunday night league and open hockey on tuesday nights. we are so excited that he gets to play again!!!! :)

puppy girl is growing up

oh maxine louise o'henry boyer you are growing big my sweet lil' chocolate lab :)

cake pops.......

these marvelous little morsels of tasty goodness are so darn cute..... they look so easy to make. i mean how hard can it be to roll cake into a ball, dip it into silky smooth white chocolate candy coating, insert a stick and decorate?!?

upon finding these super cute pops in a magazine , the boys and i decide to create out own.
cake baked. CHECK.
cake cooled. CHECK.
cake squished up. CHECK.
frosting added and hands getting extremely goopily covered in brown goo. CHECK.
cake and frosting smeared on faces. CHECK.
white chocolate candy thingies melted and color added. CHECK.
melty chocolate stuff turns to goopy not runny melty stuff.  CHECK.
colors turn funny.  CHECK.
cake balls put on sticks and fall off into melty stuff instead of staying on sticks.  CHECK.
mama puts the balls on the tray, pours melty stuff over and kids decorate them on the tray.  CHECK.
skeletons, mummies, bats and pirates turn into "pokemon ball" and "balls with m & m pretties".  CHECK.
kids and mama insert sticks after.  CHECK.
HUGE mess on counter and table cleaned up.  CHECK.
dishes done.  CHECK.
kids put in bath for a full cleaning.  CHECK.

happy smiles of boys from seeing their creations. PRICELESS :)