Sisterly Love

Here we see Abby, literally at Katie's throat . . . and Katie using her only method of retaliation: sucking Abby's arm with those strong, toothless gums.

In a more harmonious moment, the girls enjoy reading a story together. Such are the ups and downs of sisterly love.

Little Laundry Helper

One of my favorite quotes is from Erma Bombeck:

"Housework, if you do it right, will kill you."

Here is a shot of Katie proving this theory correct by attempting to singlehandedly undo an afternoon's worth of laundry in about 10 minutes!

The Great Outdoors!

Luke recently took a week off of work, and we really made the most of it! We drove to Glacier National Park, Montana, for three days and stayed in this cute, little cabin just outside the park. This was camping in style! We cooked outside, but inside we had two beds, a heater, and a refrigerator. We had clean, beautiful, (flushing!) bathrooms in a building just a few trees away.





Here is Abby playing with a friendly chipmunk on our hike to Avalanche Lake. The most exciting wildlife we saw in Glacier was a black bear, but we weren't able to get a picture of it. (It had gone out of sight by the time we stopped the car and got out.)




Here we are on a hike to McDonald Falls. Abby and Katie spent quite a bit of time bundled up in the backpacks, but they were troopers! The trails we hiked were lush and beautiful.


Here are Katie and Daddy at Avalanche Lake, and Katie with Mama on the trail.

After the Glacier trip, we came home for a day and a half, frantically tried to reorganize everything, then left on a second trip to the Cascade Mountains here in Washington. We met Luke's Grandpa Al and his Uncle Paul in the town of Leavenworth, about 3 1/2 hours from here, then headed out of town a few miles to the Icicle River to set up camp for three days. We did a lot of hiking and had a great time! The nights were cold, especially the last one, but we bundled up and managed to stay warm. Below is a view of the beautiful Cascades in their autumn colors.









Abby snoozing on Daddy's back.

























Katie and Great-Grandpa hanging out at Lake Stuart. At 82 years-old, Great-Grandpa put us all to shame with his hiking skills!

The whole group at Lake Stuart: Grandpa Al, Katie, Luke, Carrie, Abby, and Uncle Paul.

Abby playing in the red tent, where she and Daddy stayed; the four of us enjoying a lunch break on the Lake Stuart hike.


The six of us enjoying the Autumn Leaf Festival in Leavenworth on our way home. We didn't know the festival was going to be that day, but it was fun! There was a great parade that we watched as we ate lunch. Leavenworth is a really cute town, designed to look like a Bavarian village---complete with real mountain goats to pet!


These were great trips! I must say, though, I've had a whole new appreciation this week for my warm bed, hot showers, a microwave, etc. I think I would have been a really hearty pioneer . . . for about a week.

Preschool

Abby is thrilled with preschool so far! Here she is on her first day. She was so excited that morning, she came into our room at 7:30 with her backpack and asked if it was time to go yet. A few minutes later, seeing that I was still not ready, she offered to pick out some shoes for me so we could go sooner. By the time 9:15 rolled around, she was really ready to go! I can't believe how grown-up she is getting.

She goes two mornings a week for a couple of hours and loves it. And I have enjoyed the chance to get my errands done with just Katie for company!

Trip to Utah

We had a great trip to Utah two weeks ago for my sister Anna's wedding. She and Spencer are an awesome couple, and all the plans went off without a hitch! Here I am with "The Original Eight," that is, the Boyer siblings---Joe, Jennie, Melba (Melissa), Lindsay, Anna, Martha, and Liza. It's quite a feat to get us all in one place at one time nowadays, so we wanted to capture the moment! I'm so grateful to be part of such a wonderful (occasionally whacky!) family; they are truly awesome.

Here is the "Boyer Brothers-In-Law Club," plus Dad and my brother, Joe. This club has impressively grown from just 2 members to 6 in the space of 2 years! (Read: my dad's wedding fund is all but depleted at this point . . . )

Here we are at the reception held at Red Butte Gardens, a beautiful setting! It made me a little homesick, since we used to live practically next-door to these gardens and hiked over to them all the time as a family.

Here I am with my sisters Martha and Lindsay, with Marian, Katie, and Lucy---cousins born within 6 weeks of each other!



Look what Mom and Dad started . . . we're a herd of 24 now!


Here is Katie with Emie, her cousin on the Linscott side, who was born just 2 weeks before she was. It's too bad we live so far away from all these fun cousins now! Katie really had fun with all these little girls on our trip.

Here are Luke and Abby fishing at the trout pond at Snowbird. These gorgeous rainbow trout were way too snobby for the lures that Luke and his brother, Lance, offered . . . which snobbiness of course captured the guys' attention for hours!

Abby had fun at Gardner Village with her cousins Sam and Josh. (Her "glazed-over" look here is a reflection of the fast pace we kept on the trip, trying to fit everything into a week!)

I enjoyed catching up with two of my friends from high school, Debbie and Melissa, along with their cute families.

It was a busy, great trip!