December and Christmas

 Merry Christmas from the Borens!

This was our first Christmas at home with just our little family.  It was so simple and peaceful.  We truly enjoyed it.
Nathan directed our Christmas Eve production of the Nativity.  He built the set and designed the props and costumes.  He even had us rehearse in the days leading up to the performance.  Aunt Mel would be proud.

 This month has been...hmmm...words fail me...
Let me just say, I am SO glad we decided ahead of time to have a simple Christmas and to get as much as we could ready before Thanksgiving.
Clara had her 5th birthday shortly after we returned from our Thanksgiving transmission adventure in Arizona. 
 Clara requested pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake.  (With 4 birthdays sandwiched around Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we usually lose our appetites for birthday cake sometime around November 1st.)

 My birthday was six days after Clara's.  My "cake" was a tub of ice cream.  I did not have the energy to make anything.  In the past week, we had driven back to Flagstaff to get the van, David spent the next 4 days out of town, and I was just coming down with the respiratory infection that would be my friend for the next 3 weeks.  Blahhhhh.
 Also, I am expecting baby #4 in June, so I have been rather sick and tired anyway.  (I am 16 weeks along, feeling much better now, and very excited!)

 On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we took a short hike up to Battlecreek Falls.  The waterfall was half frozen and beautiful.  There is no snow in the valley, so we have to go to the mountains to see snow.

 By the time Christmas came, I had my voice back and could sing Christmas songs again, for which thing I am thankful.  It has also been wonderful having David home more over Christmas break.

Things to be thankful for

There is another post below about the rest of our trip to Arizona, but the drive back home deserves its own post:

We felt thankful on Thanksgiving Day, but by the time we got home from Arizona on Saturday, we had a new list of things to be thankful for. 

* We are thankful for our roomy van, with a working CD player and seating that limits the kids' physical interaction.

* We are thankful that our van has run reliably for the past 3 years.

* We are thankful that we were able to pull over safely after the transmission blew.

* We are thankful that the transmission blew on the edge of nowhere, instead of the middle of nowhere.  (There is a lot of "nowhere" between Phoenix and Salt Lake.)

* We are thankful for Clyde, who saw our smoking van, felt compassion for us, and stopped to help.  He piled us into his car, drove us 30 miles into Flagstaff, and spent about 2 hours helping us get a tow truck, find a good mechanic, and a place to get lunch.

* We are thankful for the kind mechanic who loaned us a car so we could drive the 8 hours home instead of waiting around in Flagstaff for 5 days.

* We are thankful that the kids could all squeeze into the back seat.  Nathan's booster seat wouldn't fit, so he got to be wedged in between the other two carseats. 

* Nathan was thankful to have two captive pestering victims within reach.  He SHOULD have been thankful we didn't put him in the trunk or tie him to the roof.

* We are thankful that nobody threw up in this car.

* We are thankful that the kids got to experience a road trip the "old-fashioned" way.  We played games, told stories, and sang songs together for the entire trip after discovering that the CD player was broken.

* We are thankful that the kids finally got exhausted from fighting and pestering, and fell asleep for the last 2 hours.

* We are VERY thankful to be home.

* We are thankful for Uncle Michael, who left milk and cereal on our doorstep so we would have something to eat in the morning.

* We are thankful for all the kind people who have offered to care for the kids or help drive when we go back to Flagstaff to pick up the van in a few days.

* David may not be thankful about this, but I am thankful that our van needed a special part ordered.  I now have a few extra days to recover and get the house in order before the 16-hour round trip to get the van.  (I.....am.....exhausted....)

* We are so thankful that the Lord took care of us and helped everything to work out so well.  It could have happened a lot differently.

Here are the backseat sardines, before the fun of this cozy arrangement wore off. 

I remember lots of trips like this with my family.  It's funny how these trips have become good memories, even though it wasn't quite so fun at the time.
Read on for an account of the rest of the trip...

Thanksgiving trip to Arizona

 For Thanksgiving break we drove down to Arizona to visit Aunt Marian, Uncle Ryan, and family. 
We stopped at the Grand Canyon on the way down.  The kids were not too excited about the canyon and were ready to leave after the first few hours.  (We spent an afternoon, night, and morning.)  They were really anxious to get down the road and see cousins.

Here is Nathan before the "Wow Effect" wore off.

We saw a lot of the canyon at dusk.  We walked along the rim, saw some elk, and went on a couple of short hikes.  Clara was intrigued by all the mule poop on the trail. 

The highlight of the trip for the kids was eating dinner at Wendy's and sleeping in a hotel.  We considered camping, but I was a stick in the mud.  Not interested in shivering all night, cooking and cleaning up breakfast, and packing up again in temperatures well below freezing.  Not worth it.  Sorry.

The kids enjoyed the watchtower.  Nathan suggested I put the camera up to the binoculars.  Pretty cool!

Arizona has beautiful sunsets!

 Finally with cousins!!  Nine kids, lots of noise, lots of action, lots of fun!!!!

We had Thanksgiving dinner with David's Arizona relatives.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone and get to know them better.

The next day, Uncle Ryan took us on a short hike along Merkle Trail in Usery Park.  There were lots of great rocks to climb on.  The kids had a blast at the playground in the park.

That evening we went to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple.  Wow! 

As much as I like the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake, I must say I like Mesa's Christmas display better.

We had a wonderful visit with the Chases.  The kids got along really well.  I wish we lived closer so we could see them more often.

Free Homemaking Tips

Tip #1:
Don't get behind on ironing.

Tip #2:
If you do get behind on ironing, don't put a bunch of bananas on the shelf above the ironing pile to hide them from the kids.

Tip #3:
If you do put a bunch of bananas on the shelf above the ironing pile, don't forget about them until they have rotted, split open, and oozed brown banana juice on your husband's white shirts, and made a puddle on the floor that seeped under the wallboards.

Tip #4:
If your husband's white shirts get rotten banana juice all over them, you're on your own.  All I can tell you is what doesn't get it out.

Tip #5:
I am obviously not qualified to give out homemaking tips.

Stars, Choir, and Fish

 One of our favorite children's books is You are Special, by Max Lucado.  In this book, the characters give golden star stickers for things they like about each other, and gray dot stickers for things they don't like.  Each person's sense of worth was based on how many stars or dots they had.

Our family has been exchanging a lot of gray dots lately, and not enough stars.  One evening, we each got a sheet of star stickers.  We went around telling each other things we liked about them and giving out stars.  

Ultimately, it should not matter to us what other people think about us, because we are special to God no matter what.  But I still think we should try to give out stars as often as we can. 

 David and some other men from our area got to be in the choir for the Saturday evening session of the LDS General Conference.  We got to attend the dress rehearsal in the Conference Center.  There's nothing like a men's choir. 

What an amazing experience!

We go fishing at least once a week at the pond near our house.  Nathan recently caught this 16-inch albino trout.  We've been having a lot of fish for dinner lately.  (We only keep fish that are hooked too deep to survive being thrown back.)  I'm trying to learn some new ways to prepare fish.  Any ideas?

The Three Amigos

Here is the first performance of the Spoon-Bowl-Drum and Whistle Band.

It has been nice to watch the three kids realize that they sometimes actually maybe kinda like each other.  Nathan is missed while he's at school, and they're all eager to play together when he gets home. 

There is still plenty of pestering and fighting, but they're headed in the right direction.

 

Clara loves preschool, she loves her teacher, Miss Janet, and she LOVES her new princess backpack. 

I love preschool too, and so does Christian. 

(By the way, Clara really reminds me of Lilly in the book, "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse.") 

Nathan enjoys 1st grade. 

His reading has improved 150% in the past month. 

He loves packing a lunch and eating it at school. 

It's a long day for him and he comes home ready to play.

By the way, 1st graders should not have homework. 

 For a few nights in a row, we found Clara asleep in the middle

of a midnight tea party with her dolls and teddy bears. 

Sometimes it takes a picture like this to remind me of how innocent and precious kids really are. 

It can be hard to see preciousness in my wild, stubborn, opinionated, free-spirited girl when she's awake.

We played at Aunt Mel's pool a few times last month. 

Nathan and Clara's swimming lessons have really paid off.  They have lots more fun in the water now.

Christian has discovered that swim diapers make fabulous hats.  

Dry Canyon - drier now, but still pretty

We hiked up Dry Canyon on Labor Day. It's less green than it was in June, but still breathtaking. We had Uncle Michael and Aunt Mel along. They suggested we take a different route back to the trailhead. Instead of going back down the canyon, we hiked upward along the ridge that overlooks the valley.


Everything is more exciting with Aunt Mel and Uncle Michael along.





It's fun that the kids are old enough to enjoy hiking.

What a great view! Did I mention that I love Mount Timpanogos? I'd really like to hike to the summit again someday.

Looking down over the edge of the cliff. Yikes! Don't fall, kids!

summer stuff

 We've had lots of fun cousin time this summer.

Christian turned two last month!  We had a big Pioneer Day get-together with my parents and siblings.  Here are the results of the cake decorating contest.  Four cakes for the four July birthdays.  We won "The Most Frosting" prize.

 We're waiting to see how Christian does as a two-year-old.  So far, there's been no sign of the "terrible twos." Nathan was pretty mild-mannered until he turned two (and Clara was born).  Clara's terrible twos began when she was about 9 months old, and lasted until she was well over three.

David put a rope swing in our big willow tree.  So fun!

Nathan started community soccer.  It's so cute.  The entire team follows the ball around in a big bunch.

 Practicing shots at the goal.

 Nathan's favorite position is defender, and you can see why in this picture.  Yes, that is the goalie lying flat on his back.  Can you blame them?  It was hot and humid, and the ball never came to our half of the field.

More defenders.  I might add that the next game they played was much tougher.

Everyday life has been ruined

We spent the last two weeks in Idaho with David's family.  We had so much fun that it's hard to come home and return to the routine. 

We drove up through Boise to visit my grandparents' graves and show the kids the house where my dad grew up.  I have fond memories of staying at this charming house and enjoying the beautiful gardens that my grandma kept.  The home has been severely neglected since my grandparents died 17 years ago.  It is a foreclosure now and has a sign on the door stating that the property is a public nuisance.  Kind of sad.

 This is Shoshone Falls, near the town of Twin Falls. 

 Speaking of beautiful gardens, here's part of Grandma Boren's (and Aunt Mel's) garden.

 It was so fun to have all the cousins together.  There were 13 kids, ages 9 and under.  At one time during our visit, there were 29 family members staying there.  Amazingly, everyone got along pretty well.  David's sisters and mom run a tight ship.

This and the next three pictures are from a canoe trip we took with Grandpa, the uncles, and the older cousins.  We paddled down the Clark Fork River and along the edge of Lake Pend Orielle for a few miles and camped on the shore, at the base of the Green Monarch mountains.  Wow!  It was beautiful there! 

 David and I took a day trip and biked down the Hiawatha Trail (on the Idaho-Montana border, near Missoula).  It is an old mountain railway that has been converted into a bike trail.  We went across trestles and through tunnels.  The longest tunnel is nearly two miles long!  Even with headlamps, it was almost pitch black in there.  I'll admit, it was a little spooky to ride in the darkness through the middle of a mountain.  It was pretty exciting though!

 Here's one of the trestles.  The Hiawatha Trail was definitely worth the trip.  I would recommend it to anyone who plans to travel through that area.  (You can rent bikes there.)  We'd like to take the kids someday.

David and Grandpa took the kids on an overnight backpacking trip to Two-Mouth Lake in the Selkirk Mountains.  It was 12 miles, round trip.  This was a first for Nathan.  He did really well. 

Everyday life has been ruined.

Must be summer!

After such a cold, wet spring, we've really enjoyed having some warm weather before it gets hot.  David took the boys to the ward Fathers and Sons camp-out at Strawberry Reservoir.  They got super dirty, which means that they had tons of fun!

 Nathan has been interested in learning to use the sewing machine.  He picked out some fabric and made a pair of shorts (with some help!)

David's brother, Michael, told us about a hike we could take up Dry Canyon, above Lindon.  We were amazed at how beautiful it was up there.  Maybe it's because of the cool, wet weather.  It was really lush and green.  The views of the rock formations and mountains were incredible.

That's the peak of Timpanogos in the background.

Christian enjoyed smelling flowers from the backpack.  We bought the baby backpack when Nathan was a baby.  It has been worth every cent we paid.

I'm so glad we got to see these meadows of grass before they turned dry and brown in the heat.

 The trail continues for several miles.  We didn't get to go very far because it was close to dinnertime.  We'll definitely have to go back sometime and see more.

Here's the view as we walked back to the car.  We felt like we were in New Zealand or something.  I love that there is a place so beautiful so close to home.