Blackmail pictures

We're spending the week with my parents in Taylorsville while David is in Spain and Africa. I was going through some old pictures and couldn't resist sharing them. The first picture is of my family as we were going to a ward "Tacky Party." I'm the one in the middle. I'd like to say that we usually looked much better than this, but I'm afraid we probably looked tacky all the time. I still do. I believe the second picture was taken at BYU shortly after my dad returned from his mission in the mid '70s. My dad is the second from the left. I sometimes wonder which of my pictures my children will laugh at someday. David thinks my poofy bangs in Junior High were pretty funny, but I'm not ready to laugh about that era of my past yet.

David was craving the high country all week. We hiked and I waddled (verrrrrryyyyyyy slowwwwwwlllllllyyyyyyy) up to the first waterfall on the Timpanogos trail. Nathan ran back and forth, looking for squirrels and tent caterpillars to point out to us. Clara rode in the baby backpack and sang all the way up. She slept all the way back.
The kids graduated from their toddler beds into bunkbeds. They were BIG helpers while David assembled the bunkbeds. Nathan was handy with his toolbox. (It's funny how David's toolbox gets increasingly empty as Nathan's gets increasingly full.) He allowed David to borrow many of his tools to complete the job, and even helped tighten bolts with a socket wrench. He was in little boy heaven.
We finally said goodbye to "Little Red," the 1993 Toyota Tercel that has been David's set of wheels for the past nine years. It has served us valiantly, running on 3 cylinders for the past three years. David had to open the driver's side door from the passenger side. The trunk often refused to close. It did not have air conditioning or power steering. The car left huge oil spots on our driveway and shrouded the street in smoke every morning when David left for work. It would not go over 45 miles per hour. During the final weeks of its life, it could barely go over 20 mph. We figured it would cost more than the car was worth to get it fixed, and then who knows what would break next. Still, it was a little sad to say goodbye. Its replacement is a 2005 Ford Focus (which incidentally does not have A/C either, but we got it for cheap so we can't complain.)
I was in charge of a ward Primary activity last week. I am not a "big group activity" kind of person, so this was a stretch for me. Interesting how there's a ward activities committee and a Relief Society enrichment committee, but the Primary is supposed to have 4 activities each year put on by: the Primary presidency. Luckily I have an awesome presidency that helped immensely with the whole thing. This picture is of some of the little kids playing games at the activity. Clara, who is 2 1/2 and still in Nursery, slipped in to this room and joined Nathan as he played "Simon Says," "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," and danced "The Hokey Pokey."
Nathan discovered the joy of power tools. He taught himself how to use David's screw gun (now Nathan's screw gun), and found himself some screws and some boards that really needed screwing together. He had the time of his life. When the battery died, he got out the charger and recharged the thing. He reminds me a lot of my brother, Dan, who developed an early love of tools and tinkering.

Spring Break in Idaho & Africa

We enjoyed a very nice week up in Sandpoint with Grandma and Grandpa Boren, as well as Uncle Michael. David got to give a talk on baptism on Saturday night (in Spanish). It had been a few years since he had given a talk in Spanish and it was a lot of fun. On Sunday, Nathan and Clara painted Easter Eggs with Grandma. They were lucky enough to decorate eggs twice this year. They got to decorate eggs earlier this month with Grandma Manwill. Monday morning the Easter Bunny came and left eggs on the jungle mountain. Nathan and Clara found a lot of eggs, but a few were not found until a few days later. Nathan and Clara were great helpers on the farm all week. Nathan was especially helpful on the tractor and in digging. Both kids really enjoyed having a little more space to move around. We floated sticks down the creek and looked at huge ant hills back in the forest. One of the ant hills was as tall as Nathan! We went fishing and Nathan caught four fish and Clara caught three. It was Clara's first time catching fish. Grandpa Boren and David hiked Schweitzer on Wednesday (There are still several feet of snow up there!). Sherrie enjoyed fantastic thrift store shopping. The thrift stores up in Sandpoint have not been totally picked over like they are here in Utah. Sherrie bought six bags of kids' clothing! Dad and David biked most of the way of the road to Schweitzer, but had to turn around when it started raining. Maybe they'll get all the way up the next time David's in Sandpoint. The kids went swimming in the hot tub nearly every day and never wanted to get out. Grandma made yummy food and we all enjoyed the updates on Uncle Michael and his girlfriend Chelsea (We're excited to see what happens there!). We had a nice trip home and were grateful to stop at Grandma and Grandpa Manwill's for dinner and to get a key to our house (We locked ourselves out when we left Orem.).

We're looking forward to the next several weeks. David has finished his coursework for his PhD and is working on a qualifying paper, afterwhich he can start on his dissertation. We should find out in the next few weeks what David will be doing for employment next year (principal, assistant principal, or teacher--he's happy with any of the three options). Sherrie is getting primary in order and doing post-trip organizing. She is grateful that morning sickness has basically ended. We still don't have a name for #3 and are still open for suggestions.

The last big news is that David is going to Uganda, Africa for 2 1/2 weeks this summer to do research in the schools around Kampala (the capital city)! On his way to Africa, he'll stop off in Barcelona for three days to do some family history. He'll meet up with some of the extended family that lives there and go up to a little town called Laguarres, where the Borens are from. It should be an adventure.

In the hot tub with Grandpa!

Uncle Michael built this fun go cart that gets pulled behind the car. The kids loved it!

Clara's first fish

That's our boy!

That's our girl!

Gotta love those kids!

Nathan drew a picture of our family for General Conference (It's taped to the entertainment center)! Conference was awesome!

Digging for worms with cousins! Uncle Brian is so much fun!

Fashion Show (Clara is wearing a maternity shirt!)

March

Once a year we make sugar cookies. We only do it once a year because it takes forever, but it is a ton of fun. We usually do it in three phases.
Phase 1: Make the dough, cut out the cookies, cook the cookies, and snitch along the way.
Phase 2: Make the frosting and mix in the food coloring, and snitch along the way.
Phase 3: Frost the cookies and snitch along the way.
The following picture is at the tail end of phase 3. Nathan and Clara had a blast.

Daddy and the kids love playing pirates. We turn on pirate music and fight pirates, or are pirates ourselves. Those hats serve as both pirate hats and good sailor hats. Captain Nathan does a fine job leading our voyages.

Grandma Boren has gotten our kids hooked on the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo. Mercy Watson is a "porcine wonder" pig that lives with Mr. and Mrs. Watson. Mercy Watson loves toast with a great deal of butter. Consequently, our kids now love toast with a great deal of butter (Actually we use margarine because it's a lot cheaper.).

This picture is from about a month and a half ago when the cousins were up for Aunt Mel's play. The Chase girls had to make sure to train Nathan in the finer ways of domesticity.

Ultrasound

We went to an ultrasound for bambino #3 today and the little one looks healthy! We are really excited to be having another little boy! If you have any ideas for names, let us know. Since Sherrie does all of the work, she gets the ultimate say on names, which is too bad, because she has vetoed some of David's favorites (Ralphus, Bifford, Fred, Ralph, and several other wonderful names). When the technician told us that it would be a boy, we told Nathan and Clara that they would be having a brother (they were in the room with us). Clara said, "It's not a little boy, it's a little girl!" The technician was able to demonstrate very clearly that it was a boy, but Clara would have none of it. So much for anatomy. Anyway, we're really excited and feel very blessed.

Our Sweet Kids

Nathan and Clara are like an old couple that has been married for 50 years. They know each others' buttons and push them often, but they also love each other a lot. Mommy and daddy love them a lot too and have to remind themselves of that fact often. They are both excited for the new baby coming in July.

This picture represents our experience with cars over the past month or two. The van had a bad battery so it kept dying, and the Toyota had worn out battery cables and terminals, so it didn't always work to jump the van with it. We were trying to jump start the van, and hooked up the jumper cables wrong. Both cars started smoking, and the jumper cables melted. A few weeks later, we were jumping the van again, and David went to the trunk to get a tool. The key broke off in the keyhole. When he finally got the trunk open, it wouldn't shut again, so he spent another 15 minutes fixing that. Last week, we were taking the van in to get the brakes fixed and it wouldn't start. When we went to pick it up a few days later, it wouldn't start so we finally bought a new battery. David installed it in the parking lot of the mechanic's shop. Then the Toyota wouldn't start, so David finally replaced the battery cables and terminals. As soon as he walked in the door, he noticed that our water heater was leaking, so he spent the rest of the evening replacing a valve on it. We're wondering what will break next.Usually, Nathan and Clara do not sit next to each other so peacefully. I've never seen them do this before. They were exhausted after a trip to Lowes to buy parts for our water heater.

In the past couple weeks, the kids have realized how fun it is to play dress-up. Nathan loves his "Indiana Jones" hat. Clara usually prefers to wrap herself in dish towels and dance around the room.
Last week, we attended the openhouse of the new Draper Temple. We thought it would be a wonderful experience for the kids. They yelled and ran all over the place, in spite of our best efforts to keep them reverent. We were so embarrassed, and felt bad for all the people nearby who were trying to enjoy their tour. David's mom told us about taking David to the openhouse of the Jordan River Temple when he was Nathan's age. He acted about the same, and ended up sitting in a corner and refusing to move. She pulled him by the arm to get him to move, and his arm came out of its socket. Needless to say, they didn't finish their tour. She never returned to that temple until our wedding day. David was much better behaved that time. When I think of all the stories I've heard about David's childhood, it gives me hope that Nathan will turn out to be a well-mannered, respectable adult. I just hope I can survive until then.