Happy Birthday Barry!

Dear Buddy,
Oh how I love you. You are the best little guy around...bar none. Yes you cry and you whine and you hit your sisters and you tell me no to everything and you won't eat anything healthy for you...but none of that matters cause you smile at me and you hug me and you giggle with me and you let me read to you all the time and you get excited over the simplest things and you are just the best cuddler ever.

Your Favorite things list as of now:
trains
cars 2 (the movie)
toy cars
your binky and blankee
chocolate milk
teebee (t.v. which is dora the explorer and go diego go)

You have the cutest little language right now. Everything starts with a h. For example:
Hunny = funny
hart = fart
hawry = sorry
hars = cars

But mostly you are just so polite. You tell me and everyone thank you and always follow it with our name - thank you mom or thank you bubba or thank you christine. You are very good at saying sorry when you do something wrong and you are always making sure everyone is ok if they fall or get hurt... You ok mom? or you love to tell me that you are ok when you fall...I ok Mom!

I love coming in in the morning to get you out of bed (yes, you still stay in bed unless I come get you and you love to sleep til 8 or so) I always here your little voice say "I wake mom" "it morning now?" It is really the cutest thing ever. I love you buddy and hope you stay this sweet forever.

Halloween Warner Style

We had a great Halloween this year. Of course, you saw that we actually decorated for it and it somehow made the whole thing a little more magical. Yes, I just said magical and was referring to Halloween. Our AWESOME friends, the Millers, put on a great Halloween party. And we were told that if we didn't dress up, then we could eat no food. Bummer, I had to dress up. My kids thought it was the best to have Mom and Dad dressed up with them. I have to admit, it was really fun. So food, games, and lots of good company made for the best Halloween party ever.

This is the only picture I could get of Annie, she was running to fast. Playing pin the smile on the pumpkin...thing she is a little off?
She was the most adorable strawberry ever. I just love that smile.
Same as Annie, running and playing to much to stop for a picture.
The top half of my pirate costume.
A little scary, I know. He just wanted to have hair for one night.

The mean and scary witch.Line up of most of the girls at the party! Funny how my kids just can't smile for a picture.

And what would Halloween be without the fantastic school parade. This was the first year for Annie and she loved it. Hallie ran by me so fast I couldn't get a picture without her being blurry or looking the other way. Oh well, it was fun just seeing them and being a part of their fun day.

Annie always seems to have 2 or 3 costumes every year. Here she is as the Winter Belle.

Annie's First surgery

Annie had what they call trigger finger. It is a very common thing in a lot of children but it is usually in the thumb. She had it on her left middle finger. We decided to get it taken care of while she was young and not wait for it to get worse. She was a champ and did so good. Tyler took her cause they had to be there at 6 am and we didn't want to wake all the kids. Plus, lets just admit that I am a wimp when it comes to things like that and probably would have passed out at some point.

They put her completely under anesthesia so all she remembers is playing games with dad and then them having her blow into a balloon! When she woke up she was a little out of it and was mad that she had a cast on her! Once she fully woke up she was the super champ again and we got to go home quickly after.

Her favorite part was that her bear "Lizzy" got a cast too and was able to stay with her the whole time. The Hospital was so good to her. They gave her polly pockets at the end for being so brave! She was thrilled. I think her fear of doctors might be over!

More catching up

This is the way you will find Natalie every time she is wanting something or playing or walking or just talking to you. I LOVE those lips! It is the best thing in the world to see those lips come out. It has had me and Tyler laughing uncontrollably at times!

We decorated for Halloween! My kids were really excited that we had decorations up so they told all their friends to come look! So funny what brings excitement to little people! Tyler made the pumpkins for me out of old books.
He is such a crafter at heart (but don't tell him that I said that)

I love how the bats are 3 dimensional! Makes it look awesome in here :)

I found this bookshelf in our basement and painted it black. My first paint job so don't judge me. I have lots to learn but it was fun being thrifty like that.

See I told you she was walking! Isn't that the cutest face ever?

She walks all over the house now and it surprises me every time I see her!
She always has such a big smile every time too.

One Sunday I came outside and found them playing together like this!
I love these precious moments of sibling love!

My bragging...

I think everyone should have something to brag about. I ran my half marathon almost 3 weeks ago but I still wanted to update about it because I loved the race and want to remember how "awesome" I did! How is that for bragging? Most who know me know that I will almost never brag about myself. But I have learned that with running, I love it and it is something that I am good at. So bring on the bragging.

It was a perfect day for the race. The temp a the finish line was 51 and sunny! I felt good the whole race and kept thinking I was going to hit a wall but I never did. I just ran and ran and ran. And it felt wonderful! I finished in 1:48 which is a good time for me, shaving 10 mins off my last half. I honestly think I could shave a couple more minutes off and be at 1:45, which is what I am shooting for in my next half in May of 2012! (the weekend before Tyler graduates!)(I stole this picture from the race website so it is blurry but it still shows that I was running! I also think I may be a very serious runner, what do you think?)

Has it really been that long?

Times slips by so quick and blogging just hasn't been happening! We have had a wonderful summer and now heading into an amazing fall. We got to go home to St. George, Utah for 2 months and boy was it a much needed time. We played, we worked, we hiked, we swam, we had sleepovers, we played some more, and, of course, we ate a ton!
I love being with family and miss them dearly. Being back home reminded me how wonderful it is to have the support of so many loved ones around you. But my favorite part was watching my kids play with all their cousins. I really hope that we end up living by all our family when we are done with all this schooling!

Natalie turned 1 last month! Wow, let me tell you what a different baby she is compared to my other 3. She is into EVERYTHING and grins the whole time doing it! She is so much fun to have in our family and we are so in love with her and her awesome personality. She started crawling the week before we left for Utah and is now walking! She eats everything you put in front of her, climbs everything around her, and smiles at everyone who comes by her. Plus, she is by far our best cuddler. Especially to her Dad. She will choose dad over mom any day and loves to lay on his shoulder and his face!

She loved her cake and dug right into it!
See the pure contentment in her face
Barry loved the cupcakes too!
awesome cupcakes that Aunt Jessica made her herlove this picture of her while we were hiking on the red hill

this is so Natalie...crawling as fast as she can to get away but always
will stop and smile at you
Barry hiking on the red hill too!

He was a pro at jumping off the rocks and climbing up them

Girls dressing up and, of course, had to include Natalie
Hallie and Annie on the 2nd day of school. Hallie started 2nd grade and Annie started kindergarten. They love riding the bus together and love school lunch!!!
We loved hiking together this summer. The kids in front of the narrows on the red hill
Annie stopping to pose
love this pic of all 3 of them
We couldn't keep up with Hallie, she was a hiking maniac
Tat chose to hike this way and dad didn't seem to mind the company

My Buddy

Being the only boy in the family can be a little rough at times. But I think Barry does a pretty good job of defending his territory. I have been having so much fun with him lately and just wanted to write down a few of the things that have been so cute.

*He is by far our most obedient child. I never get past the count of 2 before he whispers "Otay Mom" and starts doing what I ask him.
*He loves to run and give me a hug. All I have to do is kneel down and open my arms and he giggles and full on sprints to me.
*He is starting to talk so much and loves to say "Hi" and "Bye" to everything.( Just imagine a little southern accent)
*He calls Tyler "Dee" and is always talking about him. "Mom, that Dees vroom?" "Dee you go running?" It is seriously one of my favorite things to hear him say.
*He is having a hard time giving up his binky and blankie. He knows that he can only have them on his bed so most of the day is going back and forth between playing and cuddling with his "eees" (blankie and binkie)
*He loves to cuddle me!
*He loves trains, cars, trucks, balls, basically anything that says boy!
*He has the most adorable and sweetest smile ever. All he has to do his bat his little blue eyes and smile and he gets whatever he wants.
*He has a great sense of humor and knows that he is funny. My girls are forever laughing at him because he is so funny.

We really are so grateful to have Barry in our family. He is so tender and lovable. We love that he puts up with all of us girls so well. Love you Buddy!