picture says it all.....

grandpa and the boys

my boys getting a ride from grandpa dan down to the lake to get "weeds" for his compost :)

bikes

we are biking machines :) another family bike ride this beautiful evening--2.8 miles for luke and i, 4.4 for josh and jack. i think we have taken three rides in the past week. go us :) it is good bonding and we are having a fabulous time doing it! 

for a friend

i have a lovely cousin in law who is a dear friend. please add her to your prayer list as she is having a procedure tomorrow that is very personal. she will need your prayers as she heals, grieves no more children, and works towards being at peace.

much love and thanks!

how much?

i have amazing children. they are full of love and are so willing to share it with me. i love to hear them tell me how much they love me. usually i will start with something like, "i love you more than the moon" or "more than gravy". well tonight luke just melted my heart.

"mom, i love you more than the Earth....and all of the candy.....and root beer....and space"

i love you too buddy. to the moon and back inifinity times :)

THE dash

today i did the dash. the warrior dash just outside of flint. that makes me crazy, extra crazy or a bit of both. picture this: a five kilometer (3.2) run with major obstacles....you know like swimming in a big pond/small lake to floating barrels, jumping up on the barrels and then swimming across the shore, walking on a rope bridge with rope handles, crawling under barbed wire in a lot of thick mud, climbing up a WALL with just a rope and small wooden "foot holders", swimming under barbed wire in a nasty mucky pit, running up and down and up and down and up and down big "sleeping bear dune style sand hills", sliding down mucky hills, crawling up muddy mountains, climbing over a giant wooden sprinkler and jumping OVER FLAMES! yup i did all that today! and maybe more than i can't remember :)

oh mount morris warrior dash, you were fun! i had a lovely and adventure filled day with my good friends amber and mandy and amber's mom. oh so fun! the music filled the "arena" with a fabulous atmosphere, the people watching was spectacular and the free beer at the end was not bad....(all four sips....why can't they serve pinot grigio at the end?!?!?) :) i am wiped out and was filthy but i will be back!

you can't keep this warrior princess down!

a mix between a great live band in kilts and then a great dj with lots of good "pump you up" music!

three lovely friends: amber, mrs. d and mandola

princess warrior rocking the shades

pre race. notice the awesome double dare contestants on the ends! :)

seat protection

yeah he ran it.............

re use, reduce, recycle...... your shoes! :)

turkey legs, hot dogs and people watching!

clean up.....wet wipes, water, and clean clothes.........and a LONG shower when i got home!! :)

sweet wedded bliss....and a date

julie and ray were married yesterday! what a sweet and absolutely blissful moment for them! julie is a friend from college and we got to know ray at m's wedding a few weeks ago (j was in the wedding and ray was josh and vickie's "date" :)). it rained and poured ALL day long until about 20 minutes before the outdoor wedding. the sun came out with all of God's beautiful goodness. it was a stunning late afternoon and their love was evident! it was a beautiful beautiful time :)

and we were lucky. mom b took the boys before hand so josh and i could have a day date as well--nothing says true love like a sushi lunch at red ginger! :):) from there we ran a few errands and just hung out before the wedding. oh what a marvelous day!

oh did m and i have fun....oh so fun

m's parents--jake and linda

thankful thursday

i have a lot to be thankful for lately :)

in no particular order but ALL inspired by Tina posting her Thankful Thursday post :)

**a fabulous husband who has been EXTREMELY supportive as i have some stress

**a little guy who LOVES animals and is pretty gentle with most of them--blackie (grandma's cat) sure loves him

**a cute little puppy and pirate man (courtesy of our friends julie, emily and sarah at the art's fest)

**my parents who took jack and luke for a few days--good for all four of them to bond

**our dog.....need i say more--her unconditional love is appreciated :)

**living in the country--this is our beautiful view this evening on our bike/jog

**luke the lover of all outdoors activities and STILL TALKS THE ENTIRE TIME :)

she's so pretty

and i shall call her

GOLD DUST

welcome to the boyer family 2012 chrysler town and country mini van. i shall call you gold dust. you are beautiful and will be loved.

king of the wheels

it has taken 2/3 of the summer but man does jack-o feel like he is king of the wheels--2 wheels that is! today was the first time he has confidently ridden his 2 wheeler for more than "across the yard" :):):) WOOOO HOOOOO! he made it 2.4 miles and only stopped because i could not keep up the sprinting to be near him :) GOOD JOB BUDDY!

meal plan

i know it is already tuesday but here is the meal plan for the week :)

 

if you can't see it

monday: order pizza 

tuesday: bbq chicken 

wednesday:cast iron skillet fajitas 

thursday: mom gone...boys fend for selves with daddy

friday: cadillac...oops TYPO.....pork tenderloins on the grill

saturday: cadillac

sunday: date night

painting snafu....grr

ever gone to do a project to "tidy" up the house and it backfires on you? no? oh well let me indulge you :)

i decided my walls needed to be touched up--the "grant beige" walls and the "olive green" walls......and now i have blotches all over! BLEH! the paint is the same paint but NOT covering nicely at all :( so that means i am on my way back into town to get more rollers............. and will be painting ALL my walls :( :( :( oh sad day!

WHEW! what can you accomplish in 36 hours?

36 hours of FUN! seriously how much can the boyer family pack into 36 hours? well buckle in for this blog post folks!

**drive to traverse city

**met up with old friends (i mean i have know jason since 6th grade when he was my first boyfriend and he was josh's roommmate in college!)

**watched a downhill bike race complete with jumps and crazy turns that led to almost crashing into trees!! yikes!

**hiked the same bike course

**lunch with jason and his girlfriend jan at slapstick burgers in traverse

**more crazy mountain bike riding watching and hiking

**an entire afternoon of waterslides and swimming at great wolf lodge!!! this time the boys were big enough to go on everything!!!! and they LOVED it! no more fear of the water! :)

**first attempt for dinner at red lobster as the four of us--went pretty well

**an entire evening (like 3-4 hours) of magi-quest (it is kind of hard to explain but you have a wand and the hotel is set up with three floors of magical objects....and you have to go on quests to earn runes)--it was good fun for the boys, lots of thinking for riddles and great exercise as we used the stairs!

**a morning of magi-quest followed by a few hours of swimming and slides

**a visit to the traverse city history center to  see the "lego carnival" visiting--SO cool! lots and lots and lots of amazing lego creations on display! and an entire area for the kids to build and then race their creations. the museum was small but neat--a "pit" holding 2,000 lbs of cherry pits for the kids....errr...and this mama...to play in :) the most interesting part of this museum was a glass case holding about thirty objects--spoons, toothbrushes, a big piece of sharp glass, pins, bobby pins, pens, thermometers, etc. they were all swallowed by ONE woman at the old traverse city state mental institution when it was still open. the objects were all surgically removed--dated from mid 40's to early 50's. the story went that whenever she got upset by her routine being changed, people around her or whatever, she would swallow an object so she could go to the infirmary, have surgery and stay the two weeks there for recovery. it was interesting!!

**a visit to the old state mental institution where there are now shops so we wandered and i thought a lot about what it might have been like to live there. a lot of the people that lived there had cognitive impairments and their parents were not sure what to do with them or the doctors "suggested" they be put in the institution. i would love to read up on the history of that {oooooh new book for the kindle idea}. we ended this part of the journey with some sweets--toasted coconut ice cream anyone? :)

**drive to cadillac 

**visited uncle tom at the cemetery and watered all our relatives flowers

**long visit and dinner with my parents

**short visit with my aunt and uncle

**drive to farm--get max--drive home, put sleeping kids in bed

**workout for mama

ahhhhhh then feet up :)

crazy 36 or so hours but oh so fun. we have realized that now that the kids are older, it is getting easier to travel with them! ALL four of us had a blast! :)

3!

even after 36 hours of fun, i came home and did day 3 of p90! go me :)

P90

running hurts my heal....darn you left heal.... and i have not seen results with other things i have tried so....................

i bought p90....not ready for the x :)
day 1....okay
day 2....completed


goal...gulp....here is the brutal honesty....to get my weight down. i am currently at 166 (shhhhhhhhhhhh) and for a five' two'' frame that is too much and quite frankly my clothes got tight and i got bigger ones. i would love to be down to 155.

if you feel like helping cheer me on, i would appreciate it!

down by the river

we are so fortunate to live in western michigan where water is ample :) (ok well no rain lately means for lower water but at least we have some)

i took the boys for a walk the other afternoon and we stopped at the river's edge for a long time to play. here are a few shots i captured! :)

placating mom

present from luke

eye robot

luke the self-proclaimed eye robot :)

luke became an eye robot today :) he was a champ at this eye doctor appointment--he had one a year ago as well but this time he was able to do EVERYTHING the doctor and technician asked! the doctor said we should be VERY proud as he completed way more than the average "just going into kindergarten" child. he is just .25 far sighted in each eye but she said they do not perscribe glasses for that. she said he is out of the woods for farsightedness but could become near sighted in the future (like me) so we will keep an eye on that. to compare, jack's 5.25 far sighted in one eye and just over 4 in the other eye. so luke's vision is very good. GO LUKE! way to be our little eye robot!

wordless wednesday

more picture snippets....again :)

football practice from the air!

part of the hot air balloon ride experience was set up and tear down! here the group we were with are helping take down the balloon. it was amazing!

waiting for the zoo train

set up begins!!!