things that made me smile this week

* spring has sprung. my daffodil bulbs are really starting to poke up out of the ground now. they will probably be blooming when my mom comes. yay!


* the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. here's hoping they last until my mom gets here.


* you know that saying, "smile through your tears..." tying up loose ends can be painful. but the feeling afterwards when you know the right thing has happened is a good feeling, even if it's hard to do.


* a quiet birthday dinner celebration for a good friend. thanks for letting me come along and celebrate with you.


* i love the lovely ladies (you know who you are!). we meet up every few weeks at a restaurant, talk problems and share experiences. i'm really excited about our next challenge. i'm so much better for having met these two women. thank you!


* cleaning... spring cleaning to be exact is a wonderful thing. throw open the windows and let the fresh air in. (along with all the glorious pollen.)


* and the birthday celebrations continued with cake!
   - the matinee circus performance was a fun way to start the day on saturday. the clowns were actually entertaining--there was even a hipster clown.
   - cotton candy and a pink wig.
   - cake love is really, really, really good cake. yum!
   - a double, turned triple, birthday party to celebrate alongside two really great friends.
   - i suck at drumming on rock band.

this is my zombie-eating-cake face

three birthday kids really enjoying our cake!

* my roommate's birthday was celebrated over breakfast with a slice of leftover birthday party cake, and cupcakes. i serenaded her and we opened her present. it was a fun way to celebrate her!


* walking to eastern market during the marathon on saturday morning. so fun to watch the runners and cheer them on. next year...


* josiah is turning into a good running companion. he's starting to realize that if he keeps pace with me instead of going all over the place that he can last longer. bet'cha didn't know that i love this dog.


* in relief society at church, we, sisters, are preparing a musical number for easter sunday. it was so much fun to accompany our violinist and the sisters. i love music and our sisters!


* oh, and the absolute best part of the week: seeing a walking miracle come true. a friend, who had a second double lung transplant came home this weekend and was at church on sunday. miracles do happen. god hears and answers prayers. love, love, love.

naked trees, ropes and harnesses

here's a glimpse of the birthday weekend fun on saturday morning.

an obstacle course, zip lining adventure through the naked trees of maryland.

it was great fun, and oh so very cold!

all harnessed up.

trying to keep my hands warm.

rope ladders... ugh.

the starting point

seriously, i'm not indiana jones...

really, really high up

grit my teeth and let go

uh, no i'm not walking across on that cargo net.

hey, indie where'd ya get that hat?

yet another bum shot...

WOOHOO!

it's about letting go.

free fallin'...

things that made me smile this week

* it was the week leading up to my birthday. lots of cards arrived in the mail. birthday wishes were posted to my facebook page. it was soooo nice to feel the love. thank you.


* i caught a glimpse of healing, golden light this week. thank you.
   oh.... and my liver makes me laugh...


* a play by david mamet put on by spooky action theater. it was a great evening with a good friend at ben's chili bowl, an interesting play, and full moon gazing as we came out of the theater.


i love playing with settings on my camera phone.

* a day off spent touring the national building museum--amazing building. a movie and a stop by the library. perfectly relaxing.


* spring is in the air complete with lovely allergies.


* zip lining through the wild woods of maryland when it's freezing cold outside. s'mores for breakfast around a fire. getting caught on film swearing as i work up the nerve to jump and let go. laughing at a friend's reaction to falling off a ledge. me not jumping quite far enough and almost cracking my coccyx. (photos to follow.)


* a long bath. good music. clean sheets. comfy pjs. sleeping with the window cracked. cleaning my house. folding laundry. playing the piano. walking the dog. working from home. reading a book. cooking.


* josiah was gone all week because my roommate was traveling. he came home on saturday afternoon and was in the backyard when i got home. he totally started whining when i came in and didn't stop until i went outside to sit with him and cuddle. i love that darn dog.


* my fish penny is still alive. i've had her over a year now. she's doing well and still making me laugh.

* i love the different ways my family sings happy birthday to me. they all know i'm musically inclined, and they like to torture me. so their renditions are simply hilarious.
    * brother R1's family basically summoned all the chaos in the universe for their rendition, including a loooooong and artistic belch by nephew C.
    * brother J's little boy M, who is almost three, sang to me in the cutest voice ever and then said, "happy dirt-day tristine!"
    * my dad serenaded me as only my dad can. "your nickle's done...."
    * sister B and her two boys sang to me on the phone and on my answering machine. i can listen over and over again.
    * brother R2's family also sang to me, and little Miss L telling me she loves me, just melts my heart every time. nephew G asked if i had eaten any brains for my birthday and i told him no, because i was waiting until i could suck his, 'cause they're the best brains ever.
     * and my mom said, "happy birthday!" when i called to tell her i had purchased her plane ticket to come out for the cherry blossoms. best birthday present ever. (please keep my mom in your prayers--she needs to feel calm, strong and healthy, so she's not so nervous about traveling by herself. thanks!)

* my roommate brought home cheesecake factory lemon raspberry cream cheesecake and linda's fudge cake, and the cutest ever purple kate spade handbag. she played her birthday play list and lit candles for me, and we ate dessert together. it was fun birthday!

happy birthday mama bear

We call my mom Mama Bear. She used to get so mad at my youngest brothers when they would call her this. She thought they were commenting on her nature and that they thought she was grouchy like a bear or something. Then my brother J (I think it was him) explained why they called her this.

Mom rescued a tiny, black baby kitten. For the longest time, it was so tiny that the palm of her hand dwarfed it. She fed it with a medicine dropper and it grew until it was a tiny fist size ball of black fur that stuck out all over. He was the cutest little kitten, so funny looking. When he sucked down his milk, his ears would curl up and we would all laugh.

Then we all read an article from the Reader's Digest about a family who adopted a black bear cub and named it Little Bit. One of my brothers thought that the little ball fur looked like Little Bit when he curled his ears back, so the name stuck for the cat. And Mom became Mother Bear or Mama Bear depending on our mood. The cat grew up to be quite the handful and earned himself the nickname of Little Sh*t.

Well, when Mom found this out, she liked her nickname and it's stuck ever since. And now we are the Boyer Bears as well. We have Papa Bear, Christine-a-Bear, Raynbo Bear, Roberto Bear, Becky Bear, Jonny Bear and Christo Bear. It's a fun tradition.

Mama Bear totally lives up to her nickname as well. She is pretty ferocious in defending her family and taking of all her cubs. I certainly do love her!

Happy birthday, Mama Bear. I'm glad you're my mom.

I love this photo! She has the best laugh ever.

Two of my favorite moms in Paradise. 

(Thanks for the photo Jim!)

And Grandma Bear too!

 

belated

so, i'm a really bad sister.


it was brother j's birthday a couple of weeks ago and i totally spaced it, until just a few days ago. i even saw him the weekend after his birthday and still didn't remember. i have no excuses, just that i was dealing with some personal stuff that was pretty big and wasn't thinking much of anyone or anything outside myself.


so, i just want to say that i'm sorry i forgot your birthday brother j. you're a pretty great brother.


you... 
and your son video chat with me often, which always makes me laugh and feel loved.
text me photos of your sons all the time, which i totally love.
work hard for your family.
make me laugh.
live in a really cool place which i want to come and visit again. columbus day work okay for you?
are my favorite brother in all of utah... (shhhh, don't tell anyone, okay.)


thanks for being such an awesome brother.

Angel's Landing, Zion National Park, Oct 2010

so, happy belated birthday to you. and may you have lots of cake in your face!
love ya, jonny boy.

happy birthday brother r2

brother r2 is one year older today. i remember as kids we fought a lot. and for a long time i didn't like him very much. but now he is one of my favorite people and a best friend. he has a knack for making me laugh. making me think. making me glad i'm single. making me feel loved. i'm so glad he's my brother.

this was too good to not share again.

h a p p y   b i r t h d a y  b r o t h e r  r 2 !

l o v e  y a !!

my grandma

Lately, I've been thinking of my Grandma O and her life. She was a pretty gutsy woman.

She told me about spending hours as a young woman in the beet fields hoeing weeds and working in her father's dairy. She was a freshman in college in 1941. She told me that by January 1942, all the young men were gone off to war, including at least two of her brothers. She came of age during a time of great uncertainty and turmoil.

After WWII, she got engaged the same night as her sister did, and married the love of her life, a returning soldier who was a farmer. She had a daughter, my mom. Her husband died in an accident and a soon after found she was pregnant with her second daughter. She never remarried.

She moved back to her home town across the street from her parents into a home built for her by a brother-in-law. She went to work as a teacher and with the help of her parents and a great aunt she raised her two girls.

I remember going to visit her in school and being totally fascinated by her classroom. She had great bulletin boards and fun projects happening in there. Her students still remember her with great fondness. She started losing her eye sight, and eventually had to retire.

She was declared legally blind and went to a school for the blind to learn a new set of life skills. She kept sewing and making things with her hands for as long as she could. Eventually she started tying quilts and tied a quilt a week for the Deseret Industries. Ladies from church set up a quilt each week in her living, placed big corsage pins where ever she needed to tie a knot on the quilt and away she would go. She actually could roll the quilt by herself. She even took piano lessons!

She remembered me as an eight year old girl, because that was the last time she could clearly see my face. She would call to hear about the sunset and my latest date. She loved hearing about my life and having me read my homework over the phone to her. Often when I traveled I would a take a tape recorder with me and record letters for her. I recorded the sounds of Paris, a cab ride in London and kids in Chile. I wanted her to know the things I was doing. I would tell her about the amazing meals I was eating in London, France and Italy, and she would get so hungry just hearing about the food.

She loved to read and always had a book-on-tape playing. She listened to more books than I've ever read in my lifetime. She even tried to get into the Harry Potter series, but just couldn't enjoy it like her grandchildren did.

She lived on her own for as long as she could. She served her community as well. She tutored kids in reading at the elementary school on her block for years and loved it. She was part of a senior support group and had people she called every day to check on. She came to every performance I was in, every recital I played in and all the choir concerts.

She was pretty fearless, but sometimes she would worry that God had forgotten her or that Grandpa didn't love her any more. She grew more and more child like the older she got, but she kept on fighting to have a full life and do the things she loved.

Grandma loved life. She worked hard and lived very frugally. She lived to the fullest and at times lived vicariously through her grandchildren. She had a ready laugh, could be very serious, insisted on going into the bathroom to pass gas and burp, laughed loudest at herself, and always reminded me that I was a lady.

Grandma O with Lane

She loved her girls, her grandchildren and especially her great grandchildren. She often told me that her greatest joy was her family and that she wished the same for me and all her grandchildren.

It was her birthday this weekend, and even though she's been gone from this life for a while, I still remember her birthday every year. She is a role model for me and when I remember her I want to be better and live a fuller life.

Happy birthday Grandma and thank you for your legacy.

birthday brother

Brother R1 is over 35 today!

Yep, he's getting old. Don't tell anyone. It's a secret.

I love brother R1 for so many reasons.

He is a good man

an awesome dad to 5 super kids

works really, really hard

has a very dry sense of humor

loves his wife and kids

is funny even when he doesn't want to be

follows his heart

cooks amazing meals for his wife's birthday and Mother's Day

makes his kids do chores

remodels houses like nobody's business

upholds gospel truths in the way he lives his life

and most of all he's my oldest younger brother.

I look up to him a lot.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Birthday Raymond!

Love you.

my sister

 today is my sister's day.      she's the birthday girl!

(and no, you can't keep being the birthday girl until june)

i never thought i would see the day when she dressed up as a princess.

and this picture just says it all, screaming kid and all. . .

she's just as crazy as her boys.

always on the run!

her boys love her sooooo much.

i love the occasional phone calls for night-night-prayers

and the invitations to come for a sleep-over on the tramp

from her boys.

i'm so there next summer for a few days.

i love my sis. we get have to fun adventures every so often.

she's my best friend.

and lately, she has been my rock,

helping to me to sift through how i feel,

reminding me of what is truly most important,

helping me to keep my eye on the prize

and 

to always feel loved.

thank you.

she's amazing, beautiful, strong, my sister.

i love you becky-doodles.

happy, happy birthday.

amazed

i am newly amazed today.

amazed at the totally unexpected and yet absolutely clear way in which god watches over and protects me.  a huge obstacle that i've recently been trying to overcome hasn't been removed, but rather explained.  i understand why it's there and can now accept it.

the whole process has been quite humbling.  but i am amazed, humbled, grateful for the insight, and confident that god really does have it under control and that all is going according to plan.  i can move forward.

today was just another reminder to
let go and let god
to quote an old friend. 
love and miss ya andy p.!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

i'm also amazed by gift of life today.
up until today, i had 2 nieces and 8 nephews. 
niece number 3 was born today on her mother's birthday.
we've been waiting so long for another little girl to join our family.
welcome little lilly, and happy birthday to mom, nickolee.

images of lillies from: commons.wikimedia.org