christmas day

Christmas morning we decided we wouldn't come out of our rooms until 7:00. (we had a rule every other day that no kids could come out of their rooms until 8:00 a.m. it really helped keep the house quiet.)

My boys woke up at 6:30 Christmas morning. I had to post this picture because I think it is a funny one of Cortney. We were so tired on this trip...too many late nights and early mornings.

Because we had a half hour before we could get up I at least was able to freshen up a little...which was nice.

Each family had a different spot on the couch for their presents...we all came in and just started opening. It worked out real nice.
These are our families presents. I wrapped everything real cute this year (thanks to clearance IKEA wrapping paper and ribbons).

The kids lined up in order by age (youngest first, another earl family tradition)...they were dying to go down.

How cute are they??

It might not look like it but this is Rob's excited face. He could barely believe his eyes.



Just the reaction every parent hopes for. Legos!

A wonderful surprised Rob...Martian Matter, just what he wanted. (it turned out being a really fun toy too)


We got our boys a wii, it has been fun so far. I am so glad that is what we ended up getting too...because I honestly hate toys (except legos) my kids never play with them and they are always just making a mess. I agonized over what to get them and wasn't sure if this was the right way to go...I am sure glad I did now though.



Rob has wanted Lion King 1 1/2 for a long time.


Oh yeah baby...bang ga roos (actually known as bendaroos) Rob loves the infomercial for these and has been dreaming of them for sometime. I love how he has his hip popped in this picture.


Group shot (henry was upstairs sound asleep)


Cortney handmade me this nativity that is on the table, out of recycled steel...it is so beautiful. It amazes me how crafty he is.


Yum, Hickory farms...My favorite....from grandma Jones.


The kids played rockband all day. We heard a lot of Yellow submarine, Hard days night, and Lucy in the sky with diamonds. I love LOVE hearing another generation becoming obsessed with the beatles.

The adults played A LOT of the new super mario game. A lot.


This was my view for most of the day....unfortunatly I am no good at playing but luckily watching isn't too boring.


Joey on crutches.


Rob and Hens.

The kids also swam a lot that day.
Jack.


Cortney flipping into the pool.
Jason told me later that Cortney jumped off of the balcony into the pool...Crazy guy.


Gg.


Oli jumping in.


The group in our PJ's. It was so fun to all be together...I love my family.

simply havin' a wonderful Christmas time

hmmm....I am having the best time on Christmas vacation. The boys had a wonderful Christmas this morning. I will write more about it later but in the meantime...

How cute is my Henry getting?? I love that he is getting bigger

I love him.

cortney

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. Cortney turns 33 tomorrow. Poor baby having a birthday next to Christmas...I think because of this he is always forgotten. This year however he bought himself a new racquetball racquet...so he made up for the past years of not getting anything.

Happy birthday Cort.

this sucks...

had to break out my fat pants today.

It is ridiculous how chubby I get when I am nursing. The day I had the baby I was my pre-pregnancy weight...today I weigh 9 lbs more. HELLO. That is crazy. I am honestly a bottomless pit when I am nursing...thankfully I can only nurse one more month. Then I have to start on my RA medications.

All I think about is Chili's two for $20 deal. Hmmmm. That sounds good doesn't it?

Oh...by the way, I guess another reason I am gaining weight (besides the 3 desserts I am baking and eating every day) is that I am on a pretty high dose of steroids right now...maybe that explains my roid rage too. hahaa.

I wish I had a awesome picture to post but I don't. Time is zipping past and I just can't get caught up.

Four days ago I realized I hadn't bought anything for Christmas yet. But now I think I am getting closer to being done. Plus I did my visiting teaching today (yay) and that is always a big relief. Neighbor gifts were baked today, now I just need to finish the tags. Oh...and I was late picking up Oliver from school today, the office had to call to tell me to come get him....CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? How embarrassing. I really feel like having this baby took all of my brain cells. I have never been that great without sleep...that must be it.

Anyways...just a random post.

funny rob

Last night on the way home from Cali's house Rob said:

"Mom we've got to hurry or I'll be late for my dance class."

Um...what a weird kid, he isn't in a dance class. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was the best. I love getting together with family...whether it be Boices or Earls. THis year we spent here in Utah with all of my brother's and sisters. It was great to Sam and Kyle and their kids. We really miss them being so far away.

The whole vacation was great, really all we did was sit around and hang out. The kids had a blast. It was so fun to watch them all running around...it really reminded me of my childhood and the great times I had with my cousins. It was fun to watch them but REALLY LOUD on my ears.

One of our few moments of quiet...here all the toddlers are watching a show on Cali's bed.

I can't get these pictures to go where they are supposed to go. Bahhhh...oh well. The day after thanksgiving the family loaded up and we headed to our favorite place on the planet...Costco. I love that place...anyways Oliver had my camera and took some random shots of us, I had to include them because I thought they were really funny.

In this one I love how you can see Henry's head poking out by rob's face. I had to carry him around that day...I don't know why he is usually really good at the store.

I had to include this one...because first off look at me chowing down in the backround. Don't even get me started on how much I can eat and how chubby I am getting...by far the hardest thing about being a new mom for me. Secondly I love Cali in this picture...here she is handing Oliver a sample. We have to hand out a lot of samples when we go to costco with our kids....it is pretty comical.

My mom reading to the little babies before bed. I love hearing my mom read...talk about nostalgia. hmmm...it puts me to sleep. I also love how grace is totally smiling at the camera.

Joey had in his mind a pear dessert he wanted to make. Here he is with Cortney's blow torch brulee'ing the tops. He also had two different sauces for them and an almond brittle. It was cute that he had that in his mind to make.

Oh the food, the food. You would be amazed at how many rolls my family can eat. I wish I could have more of that food right now. You would be amazed at how many rolls my family can eat.I personally made 7 dozen orange rolls (just like grandma), homemade cranberry sauce (I don't know how anyone eats the canned stuff), and the mandarin orange salad pictured above (a boice family tradition and my personal favorite). Hmmmm....I love the holidays.

Getting ready to eat.

Dad carving the turkey

A beautiful picture of Cali...our hostess with the mostest.

Mom and Henry.

After dinner we sat around and looked at the black friday ads, and surfed the interweb...I think we had like 5 laptops going.

And of course there was a lot of this kinda thing going on.

Then there was the BYU vs. Utah game. How stressful...I nearly had a panic attack. All of our Husbands and Sam went to the game. Cortney got Angelique's ticket last minute and he was so happy. What a great game. STRESSFUL but great.

Here Henry was feeling the stress...Sweet Fiona on the other hand knew we were going to win and stayed calm the whole time.

Here is a picture Cortney took of Andrew George (the guy that caught the winning touchdown) when he rushed the field.

We had a great Holiday. Oliver said...

"I am thankful to be able to feel the gospel...that is really what it is all about"

I couldn't agree more Oli...well said.

back and faster than ever

Yay! I have the internet again. That was a long depressing week for me...I can't live without the world wide web.

I feel like I have so much to catch up on.

First a HENRY update.

Friday night henry slept 7 1/2 hours straight with out waking up. When I fed him that morning I felt so much love for him I didn't know what to do. Usually he is sleeping 4-5 hours at a time I can tell he is getting ready to start sleeping through the night (I can't wait). He is also finally on a better schedule of sleeping during the day. Meaning...I am not rocking him to sleep and holding him all day but laying him down in his bed, he is sleeping for good chunks of the day.

He has also started smiling like crazy. I love it.

I don't have any great pictures but I know I will love to look back on these someday...

Henry sleeping. What a sweetie...he has a little bit of a pig nose...just being honest.

Cali, Tiffany and I went to new moon on the night it came out. We tried to get a picture of all three of us...this was our first attempt...

Here is our second. Oh well. We had a great time and LOVED the movie. We were all nervous wrecks eating dinner before the movie started. We went to Jason's Deli...because we knew we wouldn't get stuck in there and that we wouldn't have to wait for a table. It was a fun night. I wish I had time to do stuff with my ladies more often.

Cortney and Henry...funny picture. But cute nonetheless. Henry always has that startled look on his face. He has some powerful eyebrows (just like me...Cali told me he looks like brother Moote...all my Moses Lakies will know what I am talking about there...hahaaa...he totally does.)

Hopefully tomorrow I will update a little about Thanksgiving. It was so fun.

My parents leave again for another mission in a month...sigh...I am trying real hard not to sink into the depths of despair.

Boo hoo

We are getting different Internet this week so right now I have none. It is really hard for me. I am posting this from a signal I can get if I sit in my front yard.

bk

whoops...the first time i published this i did it on cort's blog...anyways.

I just asked Oliver if he wanted to go get a breakfast sandwich from Burger king (I have been trying to wake up early enough to get one since the baby was born)...he said

"you mean barfer king that place has the worst food ever"

What a food snob...I can't believe it.

go cougs

I had to run this morning to Michaels Crafts to buy some iron on transfers so I could make Henry and Fiona a shirt for the big game. I am a nervouse wreck.

Polar Express

I have so much to catch up on...yikes.

My cousin Kristy is marrying a very nice young man named Trevor. Cortney did their engagement pictures a while back and Trevor called me up and to thank us wanted to hook us up with tickets to ride on the Polar Express. Trevor's dad works on the Heber Creeper. Anyways...of course we jumped at the chance to go. My kids couldn't believe it and counted down the days. Oliver started drawing trains everywhere and telling everyone we saw about our up coming train ride.

We got tickets for Monday so we could beat the holiday rush. Cortney came home and we were all getting ready to go on up to Heber, and somehow we lost track of time and left late. When we got in the car we only had 30 minutes before the train left. I don't know how it happened. I thought we were leaving an hour early but NO...we were leaving when we were supposed to be getting there. Cortney drove like a maniac trying to get there in time. I was about to throw up. The whole way up I kept telling the kids we might not make the train but if we didn't we would go for ice cream or something and we would still have fun. Oliver was a nervous wreck.

Trevor's dad called wondering where we were (embarassing...I know) when we were still about ten minutes away. He thought we would make it and I felt better after that. When we got there EVERYONE else was already on the train and they were closing the gates. I ran with the boys and yelled for them to wait for us. We made it....I was so relieved. Oliver about died. It was a great time. Such a cute thing. The whole way up Rob kept saying all cool..."the polar express isn't real". He couldn't believe when we got there and it actually was. It was so fun. A big shout out to Trevor and Kristy for making it happen.

We have some major red eye in these pictures...so much I couldn't even fix them. Our little camera sucks...maybe it is because we are used to a faster camera...I don't know how people do it.

Henry slept in his little sling the whole time. I had wanted the boys to wear matching pj's but they wanted these ones...I didn't think it was worth a fight.

Cort and I and Hen, finally we have someone to take a picture of us...Oliver is just old enough.

I wish I had captured Rob's face when he first saw Santa...his whole face just lit up. Here they are getting a bell, the first gift of Christmas.

THe only picture with santa and his eyes are closed.

Lastly the four of us in front of the train. How fun right??

today I am grateful for...

Not ever standing in a line this long. How can it be worth it??

KaeLynn and I thought it would be fun to see what sales were going on at Toys R Us last night at midnight. I have honestly never seen anything like it. The line was a block long. Unbelievable. Check the video that I snapped. Needless to say we headed right home and she got what she was looking for, on their website for the same price as advertised...with free shipping. THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY.

mike's home

Michael got home from his mission in Paraguay last Wednesday. It was awesome. The kids were so excited. They counted down the days for about two weeks. It is weird that my last little brother Miguelito is home from his mission. I guess he is a big boy now.

The waiting was killing the kids...

Rob (after waiting 20 minutes he was "bout to barrrff" and ready to go home)

My parents were really excited. My dad stood like this to make sure we wouldn't miss him coming. They spent the week getting ready for Mike to get here.

Cali and I can't resist acting like total idiots when we see Cortney with the Camera.

Tyson's sign. All of the kids kept telling mike to dominate them. Cute. I remember my uncles coming home from missions...it's a pretty big deal.

Mom and Mike...he couldn't believe how long Mom's hair is.

that is a happy look on mom's face. I can only imagine how that will feel...pretty awesome I would think.

Grandma Aha and Mike reunited. Really Grandma is like a sibling to Mike. Being the last child in a big family gets lonely I am glad they had each other.

Look at that face...thats true happiness also.

Dad and Mike...oh and Cali. I had to put this picture on because all three people have the same nose.

The whole group minus Cort.

Oh man it is so great to have Mike home. He is so cute and just the same. What a good boy.

my husband's got skillz

With the Holidays around the corner everyone is starting to think about getting their family pictures done. Too bad I never get any done...the last one of all four of us was 2 years ago. Now I feel like I should wait until I can get skinnier (doesn't look like that is happening anytime soon...especially since I had 2 different dessert courses tonight...why can't I stop eating??). I think I will give up trying to be skinny and just take a family picture anyways.

Cortney had two photo shoots this weekend. He amazes me he really does. He just keeps getting better and better (if you ask me...hahaa). Anyways, I thought I would post some of his photos from this weekend because he never has time to take any pictures around our house...We still haven't done an official baby Henry photo shoot and it is killing me. Head on over to his blog he just posted some awesome pictures that he has done recently. And...if you are hearing that voice in the back of your head telling you it is time to get your Christmas cards out then send him over an email...cortneyboice@gmail.com and he will hook you up.

Wouldn't you like some pictures like these of your very own? I know I would...

www.cortneyboicephotography.blogspot.com

bath time

We keep meaning to take some pictures of Henry but by the time Cortney gets home it is dark out...and the weekends just get away from us. Sunday we did manage to get some pictures of him in the bath. Cortney kept saying that he looks like an alien. hahaa...babies do look like aliens a lot of the time.

I am in my pj's with no make up on in this picture but...I like it.

I love kissing my babies. Which is probably why we are all sick here. Baby Henry included. Poor thing can barely breath through his nose. Me and the three boys sat around watching movies and napping all day...well henry and I napped the boys mostly just watched tv. I hope we get better soon...I can't stand being sick.

My brother Mike D gets home from his mission in Paraguay tomorrow. I can't wait to see him.

poop

Henry has had 12 poopy diapers since 8 this morning. That is almost 1 an hour. AYE. It is pretty unbelievable. Especially since Fiona probably hasn't had 12 poopy diapers since she was born. I don't know how he is supposed to get any sleep with so much poop.

Robbie's birthday

So I just haven't had the time (or energy) to blog.

Henry is 4 weeks old now. He is awesome. Two days ago he started seeing things...like actually seeing them. It is funny because I told Cali Henry all of the sudden could see things and she said "yeah Fiona started seeing things yesterday". Babies really all do the same thing. Haahaa

I was on a 10 day course of antibiotics...it was about 5 days in when I realized that Henry had not slept in the night for 5 nights. It was horrible. Sure enough though now that I am off the medicine he is sleeping pretty good. He usually sleeps from midnight until 4 and then up again at 7:30 or 8. Not great but not bad.

Robbies birthday was on Wednesday, but I had Young Women in Excellence at the church that night....so Monday during the day I decided we would celebrate his birthday Monday. He was A DIVA on his birthday so it was good to get it over with.

Last minute mini cupcakes from target. He wanted a Jello poke cake but there wasn't enough time by the time I decided it was his birthday. He still thought these were great.

Opening presents. He loves presents.

He doesn't love SHARING.

Pet frogs!!! Yay! Cali's kids couldn't believe we got a pet. (if you can call them that...they are more like a living paper weight) These frogs are fed 4 tinsy pellets a week and you don't have to change the water or clean the tank. My kind of pet.

Rob was in disbelief.

For his birthday Rob REALLY wanted to be like Oli and go to the MAYAN. He calls it the Indiana Jones Restaurant. So Cali and Joe and kids and Mom and Dad headed up with us. The kids had so much fun. It was pretty awesome for the adults too because all of the kids were so good and they had their own table. So we were able to have good adult conversation the whole time. Rob sat at the adult table and just concentrated on his chips con queso and his fruit smoothie. That kid loves to eat.

The day before his birthday he and Oli were being so bad and I said

"if you aren't good we won't go to the indiana jones restaurant for your birthday"

To which he responded:

"okay if we don't go to the indiana jones restaurant we have to go to Teppanayaki"

That kid is so crazy and LOVES food. So funny that that is what my 4 year old thinks about.