Guess What We Did Today...

WE PAID OFF OUR MORTGAGE!
(can't say that every day...)

Lake Powell...Boley/Boley style

The 3rd Annual Boley/Boley Lake Powell Trip is complete...More Fantastic Memories were made with the M. Boley Family...Matt, Maria, Mercer, Marshall and Mena.

It cracks me up that the kids most favorite thing...and the thing each of them requests every year...is to find a beach with mud. This is a MUST! Everything else they can live with out...But without MUD, the trip would NOT be complete! We found the same beach as last year. We love that it has a little bay where the kids can swim out of the way of the boat traffic. It's private and safe...

Mercer, Barik, Cooper, Andrew, Mena, Marshall

Andrew

Barik

Cooper

Drake

Mena

Marshall

Drake

We found lots of little critters. The beach was swimming with big fat red ants, Paul found a few scorpions hiding under rocks, and the boys caught this cute little horned toad who looks like he walked straight off RANGO.

The kids loved the campfire. What not to love about Smores, "telephone" and scary stories?
The scenery was fantastic too...

Sunset (Night 1)

Sunrise (Morning 1)

Andrew and Marshall

Paul and Barik

Cooper

Barik and Cooper

Another favorite is Cliff Jumping...
The Worry Wart in me comes out in a BIG way watching these boys...

This was Barik's first year of Cliff Jumping. He LOVED it!
He would climb up the smaller rocks and jump; climb and jump; climb and jump...

Andrew

Paul
My heart was in my stomach every time Paul jumped...
What would I do without him?!

Mena, Cooper & Drake watching the Big Boys jump.

Andrew

Floating Restrooms?
You never know when you're going to need one of these...

"Please clean up after each use."
Do people really need to be told this?

A huge storm blew our tents over while we were out boating...The stakes that were securing the tents were completely ripped out of the ground. With the wind still howling, we found boulders to line the edges of the tent to keep it from blowing away. We needed shelter from being sand blasted. But we couldn't escape the sand. The wind was blowing so hard that it blew sand up the sides of the tent (through the rain tarp) and then it would rain down on us through the screening at the top of the tent.
Matt and Maria provided Room Service for dinner this night...BBQ chicken with a side of sand.

Sunset? (Night 2)

Poor Tent. I'm not sure it will ever stand upright again...

Drake throwing rocks (with a swimsuit full of poo...he wasn't comfortable taking care of business in our LugaLoo, so by default, his swimsuit became the portapotty. This swimsuit didn't make the trip home with us)

Happy Cooper

What Cooper does, so does Drake...

Barik

Thanks again, M. Boleys for sharing another Fabulous weekend at Lake Powell. Next year, let's put in an order for just sunshine. We can live without the wind and rain. I'm still finding parts of the Lake Powell beach around our house.

12 Years...

12 year ago
I married the man of my dreams
12 years ago
I thought I knew all about love
12 years ago
I thought I knew everything about him

12 years later
He's become more than the man of my dreams
12 years later
I realize I'm only beginning to know about love
12 years later
I still think I know everything about him

This man of mine is pretty amazing.
And unfortunately, I don't tell him often enough
Why
I
Love
Him

This man of mine takes all 4 boys camping (the youngest just shy of 3)
So I can have 20 hours of peace and quiet.

This man of mine encourages me to go out with my girl friends
And then leaves a love note for me to find when I get home
LONG after he has fallen asleep.

This man of mine tells me that I'm beautiful
Several Times
Every day.

This man of mine has taught our sons
To do the same.

This man of mine does the dishes
Every time I cook
(which is becoming more frequent).

This man of mine gives me back massages and plays with my hair
With no strings attached.
(Too much Info for our Moms and Dads)

This man of mine LOVES to spoil me
With time
Affection
and Chocolate.

This man of mine works HARD
To provide a comfortable home for the boys and I.

This man of mine is every child's DREAM Dad.
He plays with them
He wrestles with them
He coaches their sporting teams.

This man of mine is
HOT!
Seriously,
He is F-I-N-E!

This man of mine listens to me when I whine,
Comforts me when I cry,
Laughs with me with I laugh,
Laughs AT me when I'm SO funny
(which is OFTEN).

This man makes ME laugh
He's smart,
Fun loving,
A good loser,
A humble winner.

I sure LOVE this Man!
(and I'm pretty sure he's fond of me too)

Happy Anniversary!

Brains

Andrew came home from school the other day...

"How was your day?"

"Not good."

"What? Why?"

"I have to go to a new Math Class.
I tested really well at the beginning of the year.
And I have to go to Mrs. Maloney's Gifted class.
It's for the kids that Math is super easy.
We can't talk.
Or we'll have recess detention.
If we don't do well, we can't go anymore."

"Wait, are you telling me that you're going to an advanced Math class?
That's FANTASTIC, Andrew!
We both know you won't have any problems being quiet and respectful.
Call Dad to tell him."

I really don't know how he was so ambiguous and monotone telling Paul this great news!
We're SO proud of Andrew!
I guess it's just
No.
Big.
Deal.
To him...