It was a frustrating day yesterday! Johnathon, Natalie and I headed to Des Moines to have Best Buy hook my computer to a Verizon hot spot so that I could see if that was a better internet connection. Well after an hour and a half they told me that they (the Geek Squad) could not get my computer to pick up the hot spot and it would not accept my Kindle either. I asked them why it wouldn't and they told me that is was the Windows Vista program. So for a warning no matter how cheap a computer is NEVER get it with Vista on it.
Then my current internet provider came out to see if they could get it to at least let me upload pictures. They did their tests and all that they could do and found out that they have no way of helping me either.
So until I get a new computer I am afraid I am going to have to stop blogging because it just will not let me do much at all. We will be saving up and hopefully by the summer we will be able to find a different computer and get back to blogging, e-mails and such! I feel so sad that I am going to be one of those blogs in your favorites that has not been updated in a really long time! I have lived without internet before so we will do it again and use our time for something else:)

Our family hopes you all have a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year! We will be sending out a letter updating you on our past year hopefully in January after a family picture is taken.

God Bless you all!

I was hoping if I tried earlier in the morning I would be able to get a better connection. No such luck and my internet "timed out" twice with no pictures. I will try again another day.

Natalie Mae Boender

Yay, my internet finally let me post one picture of Natalie. Of course this picture is a month and a half old now but that is okay. She is a very good baby and happy most of the time. She is a little fussy in the evenings but that is pretty normal for our little babies. She is growing every day and her cheeks are getting pretty round. We are truly blessed to have another healthy, precious baby in our family!


I will try to post some more tomorrow, because my internet seems to only allow one picture at a time and it usually takes over ten minutes to get one picture uploaded so we will see. Thank you for your patience. I am sorry it has taken so long!

Internet problems

I have some back to school pictures and some sweet corn chopping pictures that I have been trying to post this whole week and it has continued to not work.

So just so you all know my children are in school and I think for the most part fully enjoying it. Gideon comes home with quite a bit of homework so that has filled our evenings so far this week.

Hopefully soon I can get some pics uploaded for real proof.

Baling Hay

I love how you can make a picture look old by just playing with the color effect. The old tractor and bale picker upper fit this "old" picture perfectly.

Brad and BJ had someone that wanted to buy little square bales. So they hooked up the baler and asked Gideon if he could drive the tractor while they picked up and stacked the bales onto the hay wagon. Here is the pick up crew, BJ and Brad took turns driving the tractor and stacking and Rachel and Johnathon helped roll the bales to the spot on the wagon it needed to be.

There was around 150 bales in this field. Gideon did a great job and only got it plugged once, which was a great learning experience because he got to help unplug it. Now that is a scratchy hot job! This was a very hot day, it was good for our kiddos to experience a little taste of what Dad used to do every summer. It was a reminder to BJ of how it used to take three full days of throwing bales to toughen up your hands so that the hay and wire ties didn't hurt as bad, and it made us all thankful for round bales, skid loaders and air conditioned cabs.

Fair Fun

I brought my camera with great intentions to take lots of pictures of our county fair and my kiddos enjoying the animals, but it was hot and I was with the 4 children by myself which is just fine but it does not leave any extra hands or time to take fun pictures. So I was only able to snap a quick picture of Gideon and the pictures he entered. He did very well and got a 1st and Best of Show on his Luna moth picture and a 2nd on his picture of rain drops on the bbq cover with the trees in the background. He was so excited and is ready to start 4-H this fall to learn more about photography and maybe see his work at State Fair. He has also mentioned something about doing a bucket bottle calf as well. I grew up in 4-H in CO and I fully enjoyed the time I had and I feel I learned a lot through the experience so I am looking forward to being able to watch him go and grow thru this next year!


oops, I forgot to switch them so you will have to twist your head a little to see. Sorry :)

Checking Crops and Fixing Fence

This summer every chance we get we all hop on the Ranger and take a drive to check on the cows and calves and also see how the crops are coming along.
Adalli loves the Ranger rides, she didn't know what to think of the grass that almost went over her head in some places tho.
My amazing husband and his band of helpers as they try to figure out where the electric fence is grounded out.


This is a creek crossing that in this picture looks quiet and peaceful but come a fast thunderstorm and some pouring rain it becomes raging and moves the fence and whatever else is in its way, then goes back to a peaceful little stream and the cows just walk right underneath it and escape, so BJ and the boys have been working hard at finding things that the water can go thru but the cows can't.
Our small; but just right for us herd of cattle. I love working with cows and BJ does too but at this point of motherhood I am not as much help as I would like to be and BJ has a few other irons in the fire as well so we keep our herd at a manageable size until the boys get a little bit bigger and can chore and calve and all the other fun stuff that comes with having cattle.
The haze the cows seem to be in is actually road dust. I like to imagine it is a crisp cool morning and the little stream is warmer than the air, so it is creating this steam, but no, it is just rock road dust. Imaginations are a wonderful thing.

Boender Vacation

We just got back from a trip to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in southern, MO. I do not have very many pictures because it was so very hot that we spent most of the time in the water and I was very worried that my camera would get ruined because of the water and also the heat so I chased and counted kids lots more than I took pictures. Along the side of my blog you can click on any of the other Boender/Ochsner blogs and check out some of the wonderful pictures they were able to take!
This was the one day we got all the riding toys out and took them near the river. It was so hot (115 heat index) that you could not go more than a few minutes without getting back in the water to cool off.
Gideon had a great time catching all sorts of critters to put in his container. It ended up underneath a four-wheeler tire before I could get a picture of all the fun things he caught like little crawdads, a couple little minnows, some tadpoles and some baby catfish or bull heads. He was hoping to bring them home to his aquarium. I told him that they would not have made the hot trip home so it was better for them to stay in the river.
Here we are at Elephant Rocks State Park. It was full of these rounded rocks. The kiddos enjoyed climbing up, over and in between them.

BJ kept Addi on his back and she really enjoyed being up high! BJ was a trooper, it was getting very hot by the time we left the park!

Here Adalli is checking out a display at the Johnson's Shut Ins learning center. The rattle snake didn't seem to bother her at all. I am thankful that we did not run into any poisonous snakes.
Adalli didn't know what to think of the coyote, fox and bobcat furs that were out to feel she looked at them like something was missing.

We had a wonderful trip even though it was extremely hot and we had to walk up hill from the bathrooms and showers, the fellowship was a true blessing and I look forward to our next trip together sometime!

Thank you all for the help with kiddos, food and good times!

Fishing, Fishing, Fishing!

Gideon and Johnathon are getting big enough to go fishing mostly by themselves; which is wonderful for me because I am not a huge fan of putting worms on hooks or taking fish off the hooks. But I do love to sit and watch them work together at catching a big one!

Grandma and Grandpa's pond is a perfect spot for catching little blue gill and also some pretty good size cat fish and bass. It is always fun to see what they have on the end of their line.

Addi got in on some of the action when we stuck a couple little fish in a bucket and let her splash around with them! She loves the water but is not real happy when a fish grazes her fingers.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

This is what happens when I turn my back for a second before frosting the cake. Needless to say the bench was quickly relocated! Thank goodness for Chocolate frosting, it hides holes very well.

Rachel turned 7 years old on June 12th. Wow where does the time go? She continues to grow more and more beautiful every day! She enjoys helping me around the house but will quickly go with dad if he says it is okay. She loves to fish and explore with her brothers and is always drawing and making me special pictures and stories. She is reading very well also and does a wonderful job reading to Adalli when I am busy!

We had a birthday party in our new house for Rachel and it was so nice to have a spot to fit everyone! In our little house we were always stepping over kiddos and adults. Now we can enjoy big gatherings without the cramped feeling! Praise the Lord!

Beautiful Baby # 5

The very first glimpse of our precious little one!

The night before any ultrasound I am a little hesitant, my mind often wanders a little to much sometimes! I catch myself thinking " I wonder if it will have all its fingers and toes, will the heart have four chambers like it is supposed to, will the kidneys and bladder be just right, how about the brain? Rachel's ultrasound came back and the doctor said that there was something a little wrong with her kidney and they would have to check it after she comes out. Everything was normal when she was born. It truly amazed me though that they could see all of that and know when something wasn't quite right. Usually within a couple minutes of my minds wanderings I fold my hands, close my eyes and give all my thoughts and worries to the Lord, knowing that He has a plan and a purpose! Then I roll over and fall asleep so thankful that everything is in His hands and I look forward to getting the first glance at one of the most amazing things being created right before our eyes! God is so very good!

For You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise You because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I
know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

Montana Trip

Special family, relaxation, celebration and beautiful mountains. This is what we were able to enjoy last weekend. We drove two full days to spend a day and a half in Montana then leave and drive another two full days home. It was worth it to see cousins, aunts and uncles that we haven't seen for four years. (That much time away from each other should be outlawed!) It is amazing how much kiddos grow in that amount of time! They hit it off like they had just seen each other yesterday though.

Special cousins! We got to MT on Fri night and it was not hardly 50 degrees and snowing on the mountains but then Sat it hit 70 and Sun around noon it had hit almost 75. Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous with all the snow on them still. Sadly I did not get any pics of them, I was worried about getting all the cousins. You will have to check out my mom's face book page for all the pics she took (most of them were of the mountains.)



This is how we traveled in style. Dog pile on dad so we can all see the movie. Dad drove a lot of the way but the kiddos enjoyed it when he took off. Grandma was awesome and drove a bunch too!

Memorial Day

On Sunday we took the kiddos into the cemetery to see Great Grandma Ferguson's headstone. On this day we let them get out and look at it, Gideon read the name and the dates on it.
The kiddos and I never got to meet Grandma Frances Ferguson but I know that I am looking forward to meeting her in heaven! From the stories I have heard about her she sounds like an amazing woman. BJ has said many times to me when it is freezing cold and muddy outside and he is ready to go tileing that Grandma helped Grandpa every time he needed help. She must have been quite a woman! He also talks about how she helped him with his schoolwork and had wonderful coffee time when he would go visit. I am so glad that BJ had the blessing to grow up just a little ways down the road from his Grandpa and Grandma. I know he learned alot about life, and the Love of Christ thru them. I am so blessed to say that my children also live a little ways down the road from their Grandmas and Grandpas, and I thank God that they can learn about life and most importantly about the Love of Christ thru them. I know that not only are they covered in prayer by the grandparents that are still alive today, I am also thankful for the prayers of the grandparents that are waiting in Heaven for us!

Taylor Family Campout

Minute to Win it Games!
What fun! Rachel and John each had to stack 4 sugar cubes on a stick in their mouth and hold them there for atleast 3 seconds. Rachel got it done after only 3 tries.
BJ and Bryan worked together and stacked nuts on top of each other. They got it done just in time! Gideon had to get 5 tube noodles on one spaghetti noodle. He came really close but they all kept rolling or blowing off the table. Now we know why they play the real game inside!
I Don't quite know how this got in the middle of Minute to win it games but oh well. A nice thing about the weekend is the wonderful fellowship we have with all the families. It is such a blessing!
I do not have any pictures of the ladies sitting around visiting because most of our visiting was done in the kitchen cooking and doing the dishes. I will agree that it is always nicer to do your chores when you are surrounded by wonderful friends!!

Johnathon got all of his cubes on, on the first try and held them there for 20 seconds! More Tug of war.
Adalli loved to play in the dirt with her little shovel. Here Justena is breaking ground so it is softer for Adalli to dig it up and paint all over herself.
Feeding 4o kids and a bunch of adults always takes quite an undertaking but we manage to get everyone full and satisfied. I was going to take a picture of the mountains of dishes left over but I didn't get around to it, we were all to busy washing them!
A few games of Settlers are a must for the adults!
Fun memories and special times are the best about this weekend!
This year we did course races and that was lots of fun to do and to run!


Tug of war is always a highlight of the weekend!