Want a book by Shawn?

So, as some of you know, Shawn has had a small part in some independently published books. There was one that his Dad wrote and we self published last year and it has a cover done by Shawn- the story itself is quite funny too! You can go to www.lulu.com and just type in Cory Boyles or Shawn Boyles and it should come up- that one is called "Waldo Weisenheimer"- read it, it is fun and anyone can purchase it, it is just the cost of printing . . .
Then, last summer he was commissioned to do a book for a lady who has an alpaca farm, another guy wrote it, but Shawn was paid to illustrate it. It is a fun book called "Buttersby and the Cavern of Babel" and you can order one for yourself at:www. buttersby.com
Just last week we ordered "Frogs, Dogs, and Gators"- it was a song that Cory wrote when Shawn was a kid and Shawn made his senior art project at BYU doing the illustrations for it. Well, they finally self published it at that same www.lulu.com site, so you can type in Cory or Shawn's names and it should come up.
I will tell you that the Lulu books should be around $30 a peice and the Buttersby one is like $15 or $20. I just thought I would pass the word on those so that anyone who wants to own some Shawn stuff to show off to their friends, this is how. Although, to be honest, he is no longer proud of most of it, everything that is over six months old he inherently hates!
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, we will see you next year!!!
Christi

Photos- sorry it's been a while!

Christmas Card Season

Ok- I have been receiving Christmas cards from all of you over the years, but up until now, I have been a total slacker about sending out my own, but not this year! I ordered some and I am getting prints done of my family and I intend to send them out. Now my problem is that I don't have all of your addresses, so for all of our friends reading this, you all have my e-mail (I think you can get it from here if you don't), send me your addresses. I will, in turn, now give you mine. I am not too worried about putting it out there because I will only be living there another month, so whatever!

308 N 300 E
Pleasant Grove, UT 84062

Lots of love to you all, and best of luck sending out your cards this year as well!
Christi

Sorry, it's been a while!

Just thought I would catch you all up on life for us-
Last week we got a dog, he is a West Highland Terrier Mix and his name is Angus (or Mungus, since that is what Lucas called him that first day) He is really cute and we only paid $10 for him, but have now spent over $300 on him, getting supplies and taking him to the vet. Can you believe that I finally found a dog that I am not allergic to, and he has allergies?!
Well, I don't have a lot of time for doing this, but I just wanted to let you guys know, and I will put up a picture of him soon, although he currently has a rash on his neck and is wearing a cone, so the picture won't do him much justice!
Lots of love to you all!
Christi

Kids Say the Cutest Things!

Conversation with Abby:
Query: "Abby, what color are your eyes?"
Answer: "Weasel" (They are really Hazel)

Conversation with Lucas:
"Mommy is going to be taking the Pontiac to work today, so you guys have the Honda"
"But I want to ride in the Pony-ack"

Abby:
"Are you my Princess?"
"No."
"Are you my sweetie pie?"
"No."
"Are you my Good girl?"
"No."
"Well, then, what are you?"
"I'm just Abby!"

Additional note, this isn't from now, it is from this past spring when I tried to potty train Abby:
"Don't you want to be a big girl, or do you want to be a baby?"
"I'm just Abby (tears stream down her cheeks) I just want to be Abby!"

Last week, for whatever reason, Lucas kept referring to himself in the third person:
"Lucas wants that toy--Lucas needs to go potty--Lucas is thirsty" It was cute at first, but then it started to drive me crazy, and now he has Abby doing it!

Well, that is enough for now. I will try to do a "Kids say the Cutest Things" on a regular basis, but it is hard because sometimes I forget what they said . . .

Abby's Birthday

Okay, here it is, the moment you have all been waiting for- the unveiling of Abby's AMAZING birthday cake that Shawn and I made- we made every part of it ourselves, the cake, the frosting, even the fondant which so beautifully covers it. I know I am sounding proud right now, but dang it, I am proud of this!
First: here is a picture of Abby ON her birthday- she got a cute toy Dr. set and she looked adorable in it:


And here it is, the piece de resistance:

Late Haloween Pictures

Ok, I know that I am late in doing this, but here are a few cute pictures from our Haloween:


Spoils of Haloween- I know it is kinda blurry, but I was in a hurry to get it!

Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged...again


Ok, I have been meaning to put of pictures and I keep forgetting to bring the camera and cord to work with me, so it keeps not happening, but keep an eye out- we had Abby's birthday party on Tuesday and we made the AWESOMEST cake ever! I am still proud of that puppy!
Anyhow, my sister, Shelley, tagged me, so here it goes:

The Rules:

Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves

At the end of the post the player then tags six people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Have fun!

1. I have all of these hideous moles all over my body- seriously, even if I was as skinny as a supermodel, I still think I would wear shorts and good covering tank top to swim in- I just don't think everyone should see my ugly spots!

2. I hate when people don't signal!!!! I signal even if NO ONE else is around. Why can't people signal when people are around?-this one was Shelley's, but I completely agree with it!!!

3. I too LOVE Christmas music. There are TWO radio stations here who start right after Halloween and I have them on starting Nov 1- it has been strange this year, though, because it hasn't been cold enough yet, but I am hoping for cold soon to get me in the mood!

4. Back to the driving thing- the left lane is for PASSING people, not for cruising- if you aren't passing someone and you are in the left lane, then GET OVER!!!

5. I love TV- I have become a total TV junkie, I spend WAY more time than I should watching it and allowing my kids to watch it (they watch the educational stuff and I watch the dramas, but it is still there!)

6. I am a picker- I can't stand to see someone peeling-even a perfect stranger- from a sunburn and not pick at them (well, I have never picked at a perfect stranger, but I have to fight the urge)- I also love to be picked at- almost every night when Shawn and I are snuggling and watching TV, he will sit and pick at those tiny little zitlets that form on my back (don't cringe, I know you get them too).

Well, there are a lot of embarrassing things about me- I'm sure that all of you could think of more that I don't have listed, and frankly the car stuff isn't embarassing, they are just pet peeves that I had to list. I tag Melissa, Gigi, Amy, Kate, and you... whoever reads this and wants to join the fun! (If I didn't list you, it is because I am pretty sure I allready saw this type of thing on your blog allready!

Christi

Water Diet

OK- Most of you know that I lost some weight recently- most of this I owe to exercising at Curves- well, really when I started at Curves I lost inches, but not weight. Finally I decided to diet as well, and what I did is so simple that I think anyone can do it and it costs nothing! I love 10 pounds in a month last November doing this!:
Drink 30 oz of water just a little before each meal- this is really hard for breakfast, so if you need to, have regular breakfast and when you get peckish in between lunch and dinner, drink your water then.
Cut portions- for one, this will already be affected by the lots of water drinking- but don't take seconds and avoid dessert whenever possible.
Try not to eat very much after 6 pm- sometimes this is hard and sometimes you don't eat dinner until after six- but try to make it not too much food!
That is it- you don't have to change what you eat, just how much of it! Oh, and you will have to use the bathroom way more often, but it is good for you!!
Good luck!
Christi

Man, I am not that good at this!

So, I have finally had a few mintues (and by a few I mean that I wasn't really able to read that much stuff, but I am working on finding more on-line time, maybe when we move . . .) and I saw that my blog is not nearly as detailed as all of the rest of yours! I just want to say, though, that since I just checked my comments for the first time, it was great to hear from all of you! Also, do all of you know that you can set up something called bloglines? Shawn set it up for me and it tells you when each of your friends puts up a new post on their blog, so you don't have to remember them all, and it is super easy to do and use! Just go to bloglines.com- I think it is even set up by the same people as blogger- just a tip to make your lives easier! Well, lots of love to all of you, and it was great to hear from you all! LOVE YOU!!!
Christi

I spent almost all day Thursday and Friday and today doing Abby's room in my parents house since we will be moving in there in January- so I thought I would share with you the fun! Shawn did the butterflys, in case you couldn't tell, I'm not that good, but I did the rest!!!

A book I think everyone who checks here should read

Okay everyone, I am not just going to post pictures of my kids on this. I thought that I might share some of my scintillating thoughts on various and sundry topics, sound okay? So, I would like to recommend to all of you.
Ok, for the girls, in case you haven't heard of this, it is my new favorite book of all time, but guys just don't understand it- it is called "Twilight" and is written by Stephenie Meyer- it is completely awesome and so are it's sequels, although the first is my favorite- I don't care what kind of books you normally read, just give it a try, I completely fell in love with it!
For everyone (and by everyone I mean both the male and female varieties) you HAVE to read this book called "Mistborn" it is written by Brandon Sanderson and is a fantasy book, but don't let that turn you off from it. I am not a big fantasy reader and I loved it!! It is also the first in a trilogy, the second just came out last month and in the acknowledgments part of it, he mentions Shawn!!! That's right, we know a REAL published author and it is in the world market, too, not just the LDS one!
Ok, those are my plugs- read and enjoy!
Christi

Thought I would put on some new photos and the like, I guess I will just try to write a little something beside each one, if I can . . .
This is Shawn and Drew (his younger brother for those who don't know) and the monkey Shawn did on Drew's wall last week


Here's me and the kids in Drew's room (I just liked this one, usually I don't like pictures of myself, but this one wasn't too shameful!!)





Here's Abby and Lucas playing in the corn box at a farm feild trip we went to yesterday for Lucas's school. (Notice Lucas's crack, yes I know it is there, I just can't ever do anything about it!)
















Here is Lucas and Abby
showing how tall they
are!






















Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes, Lucas LOVES transformers and Abby is a butterfly, sorry I couldn't get a better picture of her front, perhaps for the real Halloween, but isn't it cute in the back? By the way, these were taken at our ward Christmas party yesterday, yeah, we thought it was early in the month for it, too!


























Here's me and Shawn taken last night-this is Shawn's impression of "stroke baby" which is a face that our cousin (who is one and hasn't had a stroke) sometimes makes. For the one of me, I know I'm not cool, but what the heck, right?

Goofy and Cute

Here's some pictures of the kids doing what they do best, being goofy and looking cute. I happen to know for a fact that the get the goofiness from me, so the cuteness must come from their mom. Enjoy.

Shawn

When cousin's meet

The kids had a great time this last Sunday getting to know their cousins Gary and Bram, and their Aunt Holly(she is the one they are sitting on)

Yes, we finally joined the bandwagon!

Hello everyone, we decided that this whole blogging thing just seems to be the best way to share our news, since it is the best way to learn about all of yours, so here we are. I thought I would put up a few pictures, the only one I could find of our family was one with another girl in it (she is a girl who Shawn baptized on his mission and she sought him out to tell him she was getting married and had baptized her entire family!), the other is just a cute picture of our kids, being what they are! Hope you like them!
Christi
PS- I will do my best to keep this updated, but don't anyone hold your breath!