Celebrate Good Times!

My two little girls had birthday's last month. Madeline and I celebrated from the moment she woke up on November 11th (by eating cake of course!) She went on a date with dad that night and the next day we went to the Wizard of Oz Orchestra. She had a mad tea party the following day....Gray also had a much smaller but no-less exciting cake eating extravaganza!!

How we spent Halloween.....

So fall is just about over here in Utah, but as my blogging and other things (ie: laundry) fall behind, I have to remind myself to post-for the sake of memories!! Here we are at Gardner Village (love) and a great pumpkin patch the kids had a blast at. It was a beautiful day and Madeline and Diesel found their way through the corn maze a dozen times at least and found "the perfect pumpkin that was just right for them!"


Precious cargo!

Here we are on Halloween night with the somewhat smaller stash of candy that I remember collecting as a child...I really need a new camera-I promise my kids make the cutest faces and then with the delay, it doesn't quite get captured!


Natalie and I ran the Provo Half-Marathon in the morning-this is in the parking lot after the race; we really should have done it at the finish line but I guess we were thinking of all the calories we would be consuming that night!! Here are the details.

Halloween Photo Shoot

My uber talented sister-in-law took these pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes. Remember her name all. Kat Harris will be famous one day!! She has a little point and shoot camera and look at the amazing things she can do!! Madeline was a Vampiress (made by my wonderful and also talented seamstress mother, thanks mom), Diesel a ninja and Gray a skunk....

My Whatever Week

Do you ever have those weeks where you are talking to your kids and wondering what you are saying? This week I respond to Diesel when he is complaining that Maddie & Gray won't get out of his "room" in the bathtub; I say "Diesel there is no room in the tub for you to have a "room" right now." They like to draw an imaginary line between them and each of them has their own "room." I am trying to explain to Diesel that he needs to just stay in his own "room" in the tub and leave his feet out of Maddie's "room." WHAT??? This is nonsense; why am I even talking about this? There are way too many ridiculous conversations in our household-no wonder my brain seems to have turned to mush!

School Daze!!

I am entering a new phase of life now with Madeline in Kindergarten and Diesel in pre-school. Although their time away from me is short, I still can't believe I am sending my oldest daughter into the world so to speak. She will have more worldly influence and I just hope that I did enough to shape her while I had her all to myself. She is loving school, her friends and her teacher. This is a real exciting and fun time in our lives. Time really does fly and I am trying to enjoy every minute of it!

She really wanted to bring her teddy bear (she's had her since she was 1) but her teacher asked her not to bring it again:( understandably.

Read Warner (who she will hopefully marry) and Madeline outside of school.


Dad giving her one last pep-talk before she has to be brave and go into the classroom (her teacher Mrs. Wells in the background)

It was yellow day at school and she wanted a big yellow-bow in her hair. Cute even if she looked a little like a birthday gift!!

Gage Warner and Diesel on their first day of pre-school.

My little guy was totally different on his first day pf pre-school. Where Maddie was shy and hugged my neck for a good 5 minutes before I could leave, Diesel is in the door and off socializing before I even get a chance to kiss him goodbye. I love their different personalities.

Family Pictures

For our family pictures, we drove to Brigham City specifically for this blue wall. The kids were really good so we took them to a little ice cream parlor and got some of the tastiest ice cream. All in all, it was a really fun time! I'm still deciding on which ones to print.

Random Thoughts

So this last week, I bought Gray the next size up in diapers (even though they are a bit big on her) and I can't believe that she is already 9 months old. She is no longer an infant and will be a year old before I know it. Diesel is starting pre-school soon and Madeline will be in Kindergarten. At times I wish my kids weren't so dependent on me and then I blink and they are so grown-up and independent. I can't imagine loving my kids more, despite the moment Maddie tricked me into putting my hand into a bowl of Diesel's pee in the tub. Or when Diesel tackles me and nearly breaks my back. Or when Gray pinches the back of my arm so hard that it nearly draws blood. I truly feel so blessed to have such wonderful children. The time flies by so quickly I hope that I am taking advantage of all moments I have with them while they still want to be with me.

Hooray!!!

So back to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona we went. We made the 15 hour drive in 1 day (thanks to the help from my father-in-law). I cannot remember a time when I have been more excited; it was great to see my hubby again, especially because I knew I was taking him home with us! The kids were also very excited to see their dad.

After Brady received his GAFSBY award (a challenging German physical fitness award).

Right after graduation.

This is the day we picked Brady up at his barracks with all of his stuff. This was the day we drove off that base together again as a complete family!! What a sweet, memorable day.

From there, we hit the road again and stayed about 5 days in San Diego. We took the kids to the San Diego Zoo, which was awesome! There were so many animals; walrus, hippos, tigers, gators, panda bears and cute little koala bears. The cool thing was that all the animals seemed to be out and we got some great pics.


My kids could eat cotton candy 3 times a day!



Maddie got this shot-the peacock was walking down the path and she got up real close and snapped it!

We spent tons of time on the beach but I couldn't get enough of this beach. I could of spent 12 hours on Coronado Beach-it was beautiful and the sand was perfect.






We also spent a day at Sea World. It was such a fun day and all free thanks to Brady's military ID-score! The dolphin and orca shows were amazing even when our kids begged us to sit in the soak zone.

Brady and the kids on a ride-he looks happy but he was near puking. Why can't we handle all that spinning when we're adults??


On the pier in San Diego-oh I miss the coast.......