Bohrer Family Online

December 14, 2004

It has been almost four months since the last update, so you would think a lot has been going on. Heidi and the kids went up to Washington to visit Amy and her baby not once, but twice. Both times they all had a really good time. Whitney and Mason really like Baby Morgan, and I think both of them, when they are playing Pretend Family with dolls (Whitney) or tigers (Mason) have the baby named Morgan.

Amy also came down to Pocatello for a couple of days, so the family went down for that. It is that time of the year when birthdays are starting to roll around, too, so the family celebrated a few birthdays. Everyone went down to Springfield last week for Herb and Linda’s joint birthday event, and the kids got to play with new kittens yet again. The kids are probably going to think that no matter what, there are always new kittens under the dog house. Mason will very gently pick one up, very gently touch it, very gently pet it, and then, unless under close supervision, will just toss the thing back into the box.

Whitney has been playing soccer. Her games have gone well, she is getting the hang of it. They haven’t yet won any games but she has a pretty good time and is figuring out what she is supposed to be doing. She is also taking piano and dance lessons. She likes these better than soccer. She is already quite good at the piano. She has been busy and not able to even practice everyday but sure can play her songs well.

As for Mason, he is all ready to play soccer and baseball, etc. “Next year”, as he says. He likes to go to the soccer games and practice because he can play on all the playground equipment. He and the other little kids run all over the place, having a blast. He was finally able to go to Leo’s without being scared that the lion was going to eat him. He still talks about is, it is plain to see he is proud he conquered that fear.

OK, let’s take a break here. Jason wrote that several months ago and never got around to updating the page. There are a few reasons why, none of them very good. First and foremost, a while ago Jason and Heidi decided that Jason should go to law school.

So he started studying for the LSAT, and that took a lot of time. After that, Jason used almost every frequent flier mile he had ever earned and he and Heidi went to Hawaii for a week. The day before they left, he found out what he got on the LSAT (171) and so the whole trip was even nicer than expected.

When he got back, a job opened up in Washington DC and so he went right back there and Heidi came out and they bought a house. Here it should be pointed out that Jason intends to go part time, and had hoped to continue working for Senator Craig. This job is in Senator Craig’s DC office so is just perfect.

So in the meantime, there hasn’t been a whole lot of free time. We also had the election, and Jason has refrained from calling any of his Democrat friends to gloat.

Heidi and the kids have been very busy too. Whitney had a piano recital, and video of that can be found here. She did a great job. It was during Halloween week, and she was dressed as a pretty fairy. Mason of course was a super hero, Spiderman.

He did OK and wasn’t really scared at all. He had his third birthday, and again enjoyed getting super hero presents. Both of them are very excited to live in their new house, where they will each have their own room.

So for those of you wondering, the Bohrers will live in Stafford, Virginia. It is about a 45 mile drive to work for Jason, so we’ll see how that works out.

There have been a couple other things worth mentioning. Jason and Jared Beck went down to watch the North Dakota State–Weber State football game. NDSU won, and their first season in Division I went pretty well. Jason will also get to see them wrestle in Virginia.

This may be the last update of 2004, but who knows? One thing that Jason wanted to mention is that if you ever are looking to travel via frequent flier miles, visit www.AwardPlanner.com. You give them your frequent flier account access, and they acquire your tickets for you. It costs $40 but is well worth it. For instance, Jason had enough miles for free tickets on Delta and Northwest, and using this service was albe to have him and Heidi travel together to Hawaii. It is a great company.

The family is looking forward to the new year. Jason is looking into some changes at the Website, for instance ditching this “third person” thing. I’m thinking it would be easier to write if I just wrote it like a normal person. Stay tuned!

August 14, 2004

Another month another update. Summer seems to be passing by fairly quickly. Whitney finished up the second round of swimming lessons, and really liked it. She was able to jump off the diving board and had a good time. Mason liked going, too, even though he didn’t get in the water.

Now that they know how to swim, they’ve been able to go swimming a couple times this summer. They went over to Knut’s another time to swim, and both of them did good. Mason isn’t afraid of swimming at all, and Whitney was able to take off her water wings and swim around the pool with a little bit of help. She even swims underwater.

They also spent some time in the water in Springfield. They all went out water skiing, and Jason thought he broke his rib when he wrecked. He must be getting old. But Whitney and Mason got in the tube and got pulled around the reservoir, and they both liked it. Mason was pretty tired though and eventually fell asleep in the tube.

Matt and his wife Trina. Matt and Jason were roommates and went to Sturgis together.

Staying on the water theme, later they went back out to Springfield and rode around in the canoe in Springfield Lake. This was when Jason’s brother Dan was out from Minnesota. The highlight of that was when the grandkids played a tick on Grandpa Herb and pushed him off the end of the dock.

When Dan was there, they spent quite a bit of time out in Springfield. Mason and Whitney liked playing with Dan and Amy’s kids Hailey and Kyle. Kyle is quite young still, so the kids got a kick out of holding him and taking care of him. They went snake hunting and skunk hunting to see if they could see a skunk or catch a snake, but they didn’t have any luck.

Sadly, the mother of Jason’s old roommate Matt Simmons died, so Jason got in the car and drove up to Glyndon (15 miles or so from Fargo, ND) to attend the funeral. He didn’t spend too much time up there, but did manage to briefly catch up with his old roommates.

From L to R: Jason, Ted, Matt and Brad…the first time they have all been seen together not soaked in tar.

Heidi has been busy at home and had all her friends come over for a BBQ one night. She goes walking with a group of friends and they and their families came over for a cookout. There were several kids there, and all the little girls there discovered Whitney’s drawer full of dress-up costumes. They changed every five minutes from ballerinas, to gymnasts, to who knows what in a feather dress. But they did have fun.

For dessert, Heidi had made a cake. Mason had been telling everyone that it was his birthday, so having a cake made him even more determined that he had just had a birthday. He never asked why he didn’t get any presents, so it turned out fine.

Jason finally got around to putting up his world famous Super Hot Salsa Recipe. Make it if you dare.

July 14, 2004

It’s only been a month, but time seems to go by pretty fast in the summer. Everyone has been keeping themselves occupied with all the different things going on. Whitney, for instance, has been in swimming lessons. She has been having a good time. She finished up the first session and is starting another section.

Mason probably wishes he were in swimming lessons too. He likes to swim. They all went swimming over at Knut’s apartment (Knut works with Jason) and Mason really took off. He never really understood or trusted water wings but that evening he really got the hang of it.

Heidi has been busy with all the kids. She makes sure that the kids always have plenty to do in the summer. She’s also been able to spend some time in Pocatello. Everyone went down there a few weeks ago for a BBQ, and they’ve spent the night down there a couple times, too.

Jason has traveled quite a bit this summer so far. He had to go up to Stanley and Challis for some meetings, as well as to Driggs and Ketchum. So he has really been busy. Plus, Senator Craig was in town for the Fourth of July celebration (on the 5th) so he was plenty busy that day.

But for the weekend of the fourth, the Bohrer’s had a good time. They got to watch the fireworks in Pocatello on Sunday night then in Idaho Falls on Monday night. Whitney really liked them, and even Mason didn’t get too scared this year.

After the Fourth, they all went down to Salt Lake for a vacation. On Friday, Thursday, they all went to Lagoon. Whitney loved everything about it. She went on some pretty scary rides, as well as into the two haunted houses. Mason went on all the little kid rides, and even on the Tidal Wave. That was the limit of what he could handle. He did real well up until the boat was at is highest point, then he would kind of hide. But he never cried and always wanted to get right back on.

Then on Friday they went to the Zoo. They have lots of neat animals there and the kids really enjoyed it. It was pretty hot though, and the kids were worn out after a long day at lagoon. If we would have had a wagon for the kids they probably would have lasted a little longer. A couple times Whitney just had to lay down on the grass and rest.

June 17, 2004

It’s been a little over a month since the last update and everyone has stayed nice and busy. Jason has been quite busy for work. He was the speaker at a few events and traveled around the state quite a bit. In his off time, he got to be a delegate to the Idaho State Republican Convention.

Heidi has been baby sitting the last few weeks. It caused her to have to do a little less traveling around on trips. She was able to get a few days off because her sister Amy was in town so they were able to spend some time together.

Jason’s friend Marty Jackson was in town for a few days. He is in the Air Force and is getting transferred from Hawaii for a couple months. So he and his wife and kid came up for a night and Neal and Esther and their kids came up. They all went over to Leo’s and had a fun night.

After that, when Amy was here, everyone got to come up to the Bohrer house and spend the night. The kids really enjoyed that, being a great opportunity to stay up late.

Speaking of the kids, Mason had his sword out one day and was playing with it. He saw some old Christmas decorations and stabbed at them. “Kill Santa Claus,” he said. Now there’s an excuse if Santa Claus doesn’t bring presents this year….

Whitney hasn’t been doing anything real exciting after her graduation from preschool. Her graduation went well and she did a great job with her poem.

One of the most exciting things the family got to do was go on a couple vacations. First, they went to Craters of the Moon. This is where Mason cut his hand (pictured). Whitney and Mason both really enjoyed it. They like the caves and just playing on the rocks. Now Mason’s favorite book is the Craters of the Moon book. They got to see ground squirrels but Mason was looking for bears.

Then they went to Yellowstone. Mason wanted to ride on the bison (also called ‘buppawo’) but he was afraid they might buck him off. Both were very impressed with Old Faithful and the geysers. They went back up to Mammoth (pictured) and really loved that. Whitney ran up all the catwalks there and was our leader.

Jason and Neal fulfilled their plans to go to Reagan’s memorial service. When they got word of his death, they got packed and left at about 12:30 Saturday night/Sunday morning. They got down to California and were among the first few thousand to get to the library.

There are also numerous updated pictures updated in all the picture sections.

May 9, 2004

Everyone has been pretty busy for the last month. Heidi started on a project that involved re-finishing some of the furniture. She put new upholstery on the couch and redid the table as well. They both look really good.

Jason was pretty busy with work. He traveled around the state attending various meetings and things. Aside from that, he and Heidi went down to Pocatello and hung out with Jared and Trudi.

They had a pretty good time just at Perkins, even though we think Jared may have left a bag there. So if you see it, let me know.

After Perkins they tried to help Jared reposess a car, but without much luck. Later, Jared called Jason to help unload some wood and they checked again, but the car is hard to find.

Jason and Heidi went over to Yellowstone National Park because it was the 100th year of the Old Faithful Inn (See picture 1).They had a pretty good time there and got to meet some neat people.

After that, Heidi and the kids went to Boise. Amy was there, so they had a good time. The kids were pretty excited.

Mason and Whitney have been doing fine. Whitney is very excited because she is going to graduate from preschool and is excited to go to her “celebration”. She is learning a poem for it.

Mason, on the other hand, is learning that he likes to tease Whitney. When he does this, Heidi tells Whitney to ignore him, and that he is just trying to “get her goat”. So the other day, after he was teasing her about something and Heidi told him to stop, he paused for a minute, looked at Whitney and said, “Whitney, I’s eat’s you’s goat!”

Speaking of Mason, I put a video of him up from Easter. He was jumping for easter eggs that were about four feet over his head, but he didn’t stop trying to get them. See it here.

I got this picture of Dan’s new baby Kyle, so I thought I would put it up. He’s about two months old now, so I’m sure he looks different (Picture 2).

April 7, 2004

Well, another month or so has passed. The kids are still alive and kicking and doing well. They have really been enjoying the nice spring weather.

Heidi took off on vacation for her birthday, and went to Seattle with her mom and sisters for a few days. She had a good time there..

But that left Jason alone with the kids for almost six days. He took most of the time off work to stay home, and they did fine but the kids were really starting to miss their mom. .

During that time, Jason and the kids went to Springfield, played at home and tried to keep the house from falling apart. The kids probably watched a little more TV than usual and Whitney’s hair definitely looked diferent.

Whitney also turned five last month. She had a big birthday party for all her little friends. They played pin the tail on the donkey and all sorts of other games. She got a lot of fun presents from the kids, too. Both sides of the family came up to help her celebrate, too.

Jason went to Washington, DC for a training program. He was there for 6 days, so it was quite a while to be away. The kids didn’t miss him as much as they missed Heidi, though.

The website has undergone a few changes; evidently all of Mason’s pictures got deleted. They are mostly back, and I’ve added video’s to Mason’s and Whitney’s video pages.

March 4, 2004

Everyone survived the extra day in February just fine. Things have been following their usual course. Jason’s training is done, so he didn’t have to go anywhere yet this month, other than the usual local places.

So with Jason around, Heidi and the kids didn’t go anywhere really exciting either. Everyone did get to go out to Springfield to spend the night when Herb was gone.

Mason slept on the couch and Jason and Heidi slept right below the couch on an air mattress on the floor. Mason seemed to cough all night long right in their ears, but other than that things were fine.

He’s feeling better now though. Just the other day he was quiet for a minute and Jason went back to see what he was up to and he had turned on the computer, changed CDs and was trying to install a wireless networking thing.

He and Whitney have also been having a lot of their friends over to play. They all love to play basketball when they’ve got company.

Everyone is ready for spring though. Whitney has been saying she was ready for winter to be over for quite a while. When the sun shines, they go out and play even though it is still freezing cold.

Jason and Heidi managed to take a night off and go watch a movie, Along Came Polly. Its not a bad show, but its nothing really out of the ordinary. They were glad they waited until it was at the cheap theater.

Jason put a new video up of Whitney.

February 18, 2004

It has been a while since the page was updated, and kind of a lot has gone one. Most of January passed with only the usual level of excitement. Jason went to Twin Falls for a week for training while Heidi spent a couple days in Pocatello.

Jason and Heidi also got to go to Boise for the Governor’s Ball and Legislative Gala. They had a good time, and saw a bunch of people they knew from Boise.

Jason has been recovering from getting his tonsils taken out. He actually did this before they went to the Governor’s Ball, but he recovered pretty quickly. He was able to go back to work in just a couple days. The kids went to Pocatello while Jason recovered over a weekend, and they had fun watching movies and playing.

They put in a few more miles on the road when Jason had to go to Boise again for his Leadership Idaho Agriculture program, so Heidi went to Pocatello and hung out there for a couple days. Jason finished up his class and won’t have to go back until next year.

During one of the times that they weren’t traveling, they went out to see the movie Big Fish. It is a pretty good movie, even Jason enjoyed it and didn’t make fun of it during the movie.

For Valentines Day, Jason had made plans to go to a dinner/dance with Heidi, but the date printed was a day late. So they showed up a day late; obviously they’ve had better Valentines Days. So they just ordered in some food and felt sorry for themselves. But they did get to kind of make up for it by attending the Grand Opening of the Lewis and Clark exhibit at the Museum of Idaho. It was pretty good and is one of the largest in the U.S.

The kids have been good. Mason is learning to tease Whitney and she sometimes has trouble coping with that. But he just was crying becaues he was afraid Whitney was going to “kick Mason’s butt”. He was also too scared to go play at Leo’s, because the mascot lion there would eat him.

January 5, 2004

Jason has redesigned the webpage, which has delayed updating it. The new look is kind of cool, but if you have problems with it let him know by clicking the link on the right to email him or fill out the survey.

Since the last update, Christmas came and went. The kids had a lot of fun. They got to have several Christmas celebrations, with the grand parents and other relatives. They especially enjoyed it when their tree and Christmas decorations won “first prize” from the First Place Prize committee that left a box on their doorstep and a bunch of prizes.

Mason has been doing fine. He is starting to sleep in a bunk bed. He gets the bottom bunk. He does OK, and all in all it is better than when he slept in his crib. He is talking a lot, and the other day was wondering where his “tesh-in-oos” were. Turns out he was looking for tennis shoes.

Whitney enjoyed Christmas this year. She got a few barbies and lots of clothes. Plus she has been having a lot of fun playing in the snow. She loved going sledding over Christmas break and is getting back in the groove with preschool.

Jason and Heidi have been doing their normal things, too. Jason built a ladder and guard rail for the bunk beds while on vacation. After that, he went off to Twin Falls for work for a few days and Heidi kept busy with the kids. Jason took a few pictures at Christmas that he may be able to put up sooner or later. Other than that, he got the website re-done and some other computer stuff taken care of.

He also noticed that Maria Weeg was recently listed as the 94th most influential person in Idaho, but that did not happen until Jason listed her name on this web site.