There's something women like about a STATIONWAGON MAN?

plum tuckered out

barely two years old and worn out

sunday nap, booger and all

sunday nap, shiner and all

sunday nap, he's cute when he's sleeping-quiety too :)

The first wagon...isn't she cute? I purchased her back at the start of residency in 2003 when I needed a commuter car. I liked her because she could haul 7 people (as much as my minivan) plus she got 25 mpg for the daily round trip of 22 miles. I never thought I'd like a vehicle as much as I've liked this wagon. She's hauled my family around, substituted for the van when it needed to go to the shop, been reliable for me. I've folded down the back sleep and slept in her on some long trips, my brother in law interviewed at 10 dental schools in 2 weeks and slept in her countless nights somewhere between Minnesota and New York. She is my original '93 camry wagon... don't even make em any more... so sad.

Well, now that the family went from 7 to 8 members, we don't all fit in the wagon....sad day. I have been doing some research and the full sized stationwagons are pretty good options for affordability (you can buy one for a few thousand), mileage (19-25 mpg), and passenger space (8 people!), plus, they are just so snappy and sharp (equivalent to a motorcyle). So I succumbed and bought this 1991 wagon on ebay last month. Little blue and big blue now are getting to know each other. She gets over 20 mpg, hauls around 8-9 kids, cheap to insure, and she is lightning fast with the 350 LT1 corvette engine :) My full sized van gets about 15 mpg and so Lani won't really drive it much unless the whole family goes. I thought this car made a fine addition to our "used car lot drive way". I now own 4 vehicles with 3 of them not worth 4K all together. In our posh neighborhood, I am the white trash driving down the street in my rusty camry or my tinted windowed 91 custom cruiser.... BIG DADDY'S in town! All the neighbors and their mercedes, SUV's, and 50k vehicles just shudder when we come clunking around the corner, I love it. All I need now is for Mike to show me where I can buy a jump suit. Rats, if I wasn't endowed, I could get myself one of those corrugated wife beaters and make all the mothers in the neighborhood hurry their children into the houses as I appeared on the scene.

General Conference Vacation

Boys bath.... talk about nasty water when the four of them are done. I still can't get Talmage and Maxwell to stop drinking their own bath water! They think it is part of the routine to be able to quench one's thirst as one cleans up! It is so disgusting, I can't think about it without getting a little ill.

Kimball's crude rhinoplasty technique which he is testing on snowmen before he releases it to the medical community...

My mission president and I. One of the greatest influences in my life and a great reason to go to general conference.

Kimball Boza and Elder Boza....

Elder and Sister Boza with my 6 kids. They don't have grandkids yet so I'll lend them my kids until their own six kids start giving them grandkids of their own. Cool picture just gives me chills when I look at it to think of the things that I learned under their guidance and how the fruits of those teachings are in this picture!

Charity got baptized the night she turned 8.

Blurry picture of the temple after the priesthood session of general conference.

Going to conference!

First time to see conference LIVE for the girls. It is a singular experience if you've never had the opportunity to go.

The cool part of conference is seeing old friends again. The Fords and Gary. Both were friends in Illinois but the Fords are in Wisconsin and Gary flew out to spend conference with us. It was fabulous.

Well we finally took our first family vacation in over a year and we decided that General Conference would be a GREAT vacation. The day we were to leave, 3 of our kids started puking at 3:30 in the morning and we thought, "ahhhh, we're going anyway!!!!" So we drove 18 hours to Salt Lake City and Maxwell only puked 2 times and Talmage once.... a little diahrrea and just like that we were there! It is so nice to live closer to Salt Lake City. I noticed that this trip only took us 18 vs 21 or 24 hours which the two places prior in which we lived took us to get to Salt Lake. Trust me those last 4 or 6 hours are a beast. My kids are good travelers and we just drive non stop, always have, always will. Must be my Uncle Blaine and my father in laws influence. I am not a real fan of Salt Lake City as a place to live but during conference, I must say it is an AWESOME place to visit! A good friend of ours from Illinois (Gary) flew out and went for his first time to general conference. He has been a member for 35 years or so and had never been to Salt Lake or general conference and so he was blown away. He is such a great person and it made my vacation to take him to the Salt Lake temple live endowment and to go to 3 sessions with him including priesthood. Also while we were there we celebrated Charity's birthday. She even got baptized the night of her birthday which she shares with the church and Jesus! She is an extra special girl and this was a great blessing to have her baptized in this special way. She got to go to two sessions of general conference as did Savanah. We also met up after conference with my mission President and his wife. I love these people dearly. They are so amazing and inspirational. I am in awe when I think that they presided over our mission still in their thirties with 6 young children. They were barely older than I and shouldered that huge responsibility in a very dangerous and special place that Nicaragua was in the early 90's. I can't even imagine....talk about faith, hardwork, sacrifice, and love of the Lord. Every time I think about them, I have greater resolve to give my all for the kingdom and get rid of my excuses.

I must say that my in laws are so kind for putting up with me. How would you like it if your son-in-law came to stay with you and brought friends to boot as well as his clan of 8! Well, they are so nice to put up with me and I hope they are blessed for helping me host such special people for conference.

Well after 6 days in Utah we drove 18 hours back barely in time for me to get to work. I am glad to be back and realize that we are really blessed with our situation in Texas. My wife and I were just beat after that vacation. We are the kind of people who have to come home to rest after we go on our "vacation" trips. My wife says, "someday, we'll go on a real vacation where we can just rest".......... knowing us, YEAH RIGHT!!!! I plan on making a life long habit of General Conference Vacations.

This week....

We caught Brigham's smile on camera! This is inspite of the fact that he just got home from being in the hospital for almost 48 hours having respiratory distress due to RSV! Poor little guy was just happy to be home where he doesn't have to get poked for his blood.

Talmage missed Brigham sooo much. These little guy's are inseparable. Talmage often tries to "swing" with Brigham. He can't wait until he's big enough to get out of the swing and play.

Updated picture of Brigham. He's changing a ton. This is when he had been home from the hospital for a little while. The blue just leaped out of his eyes. This is the only time we get to have blue eyed kids.

Maxwell faithfully fulfilled his duty as "Charity's little sister" this week. He was such a good sport and enjoyed it I think... although he joyfully passed off the assignment to Talmage for the upcoming week.

I had to get a picture of my boys in their suits before church today. They are a handsome bunch but they do have some rambunctious energy. They had been punching each other a lot lately especially Talmage. He will just walk up to Maxwell or Kimball and haul off and sucker punch them. He's kind of got a chip on his shoulder and a little bit of a mean streak.

Quadruplets

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#4

I thought this was fun. This couple in our ward has quadruplets and the other day when I was looking at some pictures of Kimball and Maxwell I saw them in the same tux that Brigham was wearing. I decided to put a picture of each of the boys in the same tux on the blog and see if anyone could correctly identify them. Plus I was thinking about those quadruplets at church and thinking, WOW, that would be soooo crazy. I am grateful that we have received these 6 so far just one at a time.

Ode to my wife

Jumping with the kids on the trampoline last week.

Wearing her Pendleton wool suit to church for Valentines day a tradition since her dad bought the suit for her in highschool over 15 years ago.

My wife is opposed to me doing this but today I pay tribute to her and express my thanks for one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. When I was young and single, I used to read accounts of women of yester-year and what amazing people they were. They could do it all and they did it all. Well maybe not "all" but they did the essential and difficult things well and with tremendous conviction. I used to think that those kind of women don't exist any more and then I met my wife. When asked about her by my grandfather, I said, "she is like those women who crossed the plains with the first saints....". He then said, "say no more and marry her because she'll get away and you won't find another like her...."

She was made the Relief Society President today in our ward. I knew the moment I knew I wanted to marry her that she would be the greatest role model for women, for my future daughters, for my sisters and family..... I somehow knew that she would end up a Relief Society President. Really, I think she is the living cure and answer to so many of the challenges, opposition, and traps that frankly beset modern women. She is the living "anti-modern attack on women". Where ever we've lived, I've had women and young women come up to me and say that they sense a deep spiritual surety in womanhood when they are around her. They feel that being a richeous woman in todays world is more clear since they've known her. She would never say this but being her husband, I get to see her greatness and clarity often.

I am excited and she is very overwhelmed and humbled that in her "youth" and with her already busy life, that the Lord would ask her to serve in this capacity. I am dang excited. I feel grateful that the Lord would have confidence in me as a dad to take on these 6 little darlings more often so that she can have some more time to dedicate to the women of our ward. So far I've had some stretching opportunities to tend them single handedly during sacrament meeting as she has led the music. I think I've done an okay job (a few headlocks).... I think (some Spock death grips).... I don't know if my kids are as excited as I am knowing that I am a little stiffer and more demanding (arm bar-tap out) way than my wife..... maybe the kids aren't that excited.

Besides, I've always wanted to make out with the Relief Society President! Now its legal!

TUXEDO DANDY!

Lani's mom made us this cute tuxedo outfit for Kimball when he was born and we've tried to get good usage of it with four boys in a row. The problem is that my boys are lunks of flesh. They are quite portly at their young ages so the poor cute little outfit doesn't fit for very long. It is sad because it is the best blessing outfit for little guys. Lani has this little makeshift studio she puts together and takes pictures of the kids.

Happenings

Someone turned two 2 Feb. His terrible two's started when he was born and now since the arrival of his little brother he is a pleasant little guy. He is our "Talmagio"

Over a month belated, this is Kimball's 6 year old picture. He has such talent. His independent streak and obstinance keep things interesting.

Some kind soul from the ward brought over dinner and dessert for the familiy. The dessert was the absolute best brownie-whipped cream-pudding delight I have ever tasted! This is coming from someone who really doesn't care for brownies. Maxwell decided to enjoy his dessert so much that he carried it around with him for the rest of the evening. I worried he would make a mess so I told him he had to put on a bib before he ate his dessert. He went and got the "biggest big" he could find.... at least that is what he told me.... hmmmm

Talmage sneaked up on our bed and pulled Brigham onto his lap. This picture just smacks of "hey, this big brother stuff is easy"

This was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning at 8 am a few weeks ago. I love seeing the kids all together, dressed up and happy!