Quarter of a Century

Well I'm a little bit older and hopefully wiser too.  I can't believe I'm 25, married, two kids, graduated from BYU,  helping my husband towards medical school... where did the time go??? It all sounds very grown up, but in many ways I still feel like a child.  So much still to learn and so much more to experience.  Everyday brings new lessons and challenges and greater joy and happiness.  I love my life and I'm so excited to see what this next year will bring.
My birthday was kind of hectic this year.  My birthday is on the 15th, and on the 14th Chase had a medical school interview at Touro University in Henderson, NV.  So we decided to pack up the kids and make a family trip out of it. Too bad I put the camera in the car and it stay there the whole trip. No pictures, sorry. We spent Friday and Saturday night with family in St. George and then after church we drove the two hours to Henderson.  We drove around to get familiar with the area and we love it! SO much shopping and a lot of nice neighborhoods.  We stayed in a really cool hotel/casino in Henderson and, of course, ate at the all-you-can-eat buffet!  It was fun to walk around, but Eden was so mad we wouldn't let her play the "games."  They just looked so fun!! haha. 
The next day was Chase's interview.  Me and the kids hung out at the hotel, and I even ventured out to the cafe for breakfast.  Everyone was looking at me like, "why is this lady trying to take two babies to a restaurant by herself??" But we seriously had no food and we needed to eat!  Thankfully the kids did awesome!  Eden was so well behaved (except for the part when she colored all over the table with crayons...) and West just had a bottle in his carseat.  Chase got back from his interview, which he felt really good about! (cross your fingers!) and we started the six hour drive home....
After that exhausting drive I just felt like being lazy for my birthday, so we stuck close to home.  I had to get a work out in after the all-you-can-eat buffet though.  Chase had work at 7am and school till 9pm, but when he got home he brought roses, sparking cider, and a card! so sweet. love him. Hopefully sometime this week we will get some alone time...
In other excited news, we bought a Tahoe! (also counts as part of my birthday). It's a 2003 Z71.  It's super nice and has all the bells and whistles!  - leather heated seats, new tires and rims... Chase loves that it has all the off roading extras, like the suspension and rear differential lock. It has some miles, but it runs amazing! And it doesn't hurt that we got on AMAZING deal. If you want to check it out there's a video the dealer put on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6duEsbhR4s). It was so nice to have on our trip to Nevada!! The Escape (pronounced the way Dory says it in Finding Nemo) has been just a trooper all these years, but our family is growing and with two carseats and a double stroller in the back there was literally NO room for anything else. I have to admit, I'll be a little sad to see her go.
All in all, it was a great birthday.  Shopping, time with family, new car...what more could a girl ask for!?  Actually, the greatest gift ever might be Chase getting accepted into medical school! Keep us in your prayers!

Thank You.

 

Thank you for protecting my family and our freedom.

Today is not just 11-11-11, it's Veteran's Day.

Let us never forget...

SPOOOOKY!

We love Halloween.  This year was different for us though.  We did not have our Annual Warner Halloween Party...which has become a tradition over the past 4 years.  But with the stresses of this school semester and having a three-month-old and a soon to be three-year-old on my hands, we decided to not do it this year and just focus on Eden and making it fun for her.  This is the first year she really understood the concept.  I made sure the house was all decked out with ghosts, skeletons, spiders, bats, pumpkins, and orange and purple twinkle lights.  We watched all the spooky kid movies and went on a haunted hay ride at HeeHaw Farms. Eden loved it! It was actually pretty scary and I was kind of worried, but she laughed at all the people around us jumping and screaming.  And I'm sure sitting in your daddy's big, safe arms probably helps.  Grandma Warner was more scared than Eden was! West was asleep when we got on the hayride, but not for long. (He wasn't such a fan of the jumping and screaming.)

We also, of course, carved pumpkins! (If i look like i just finished running 4 miles, it's because i did. haha) We got these from a pumpkin patch near chases work that has a little corn maze for kids too!  Chase has the pictures on his phone...

As we got closer to Halloween, Eden thought the "spooky" stuff was so fun.  She would say "Ooo, that's SPOOOOOKY!"  She also got to watch her mom slave away on the sewing machine, making her witch costume...which I hoped would get her excited to wear it, but no.  When it was all finished she REFUSED to put it on!  Ahhh!  But, when she saw mommy and daddy get all dressed up for the parties we had on Friday and Saturday, she decided it would be fun after all...phew.

When I was thinking about costumes this year, I was so stressed about making two kid's costumes.  But, lo and behold, I broke out the Halloween boxes and there was the spider costume I had made for Eden's first Halloween!! It was perfect for little West!  Thank goodness for being able to finally reuse stuff!  When Eden wore it, she was crawling and it was so cute! But having to hold West in it wasn't so easy, so he pretty much wore it for pictures. If you couldn't tell, Chase is an awesome Werewolf (a costume he whipped up in about 5 minutes) and I'm supposed to be Eden's Black Cat.

So by the time Halloween finally came around, it was our third time dressing up and Eden's fourth or fifth.  She was pretty much Halloweened out. But after a little crying and screaming, we finally got her costume on her again... and here's the load!  Good job girlie!

And here's our Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin!!  A tradition started by my mother and a fond childhood memory that I have brought into our family.  The filling is sooo yummy and the cooked pumpkin is really good too!  Halloween is just not complete until you can smell this cooking away.  We had all of chase's family over for the dinner and make homemade root beer too! (which is really, really good by the way).

It was a successful Halloween, and although Chase and I were kind of bummed about not doing our party, there is always next year!!  This Halloween was so fun watching Eden get into all of the festivities.  But, like many holidays, when it's over, it is SO over...all the ghosts and skeletons were gone the very next morning :)

Warner Family Pictures 2011

Family pictures can be crazy and stressful, especially with kids.  These turned out lovely though!  Sarah caught us being totally at ease and shows our happy little family as we really are - a couple that is totally in love with each other and our two beautiful babies.

Thank you Sarah! Check her out here.

I need some input though - which one should I blow up for the wall? I'll probably try to do some kind of collage.  I'm thinking the portrait layout one near the top where Eden has her hand on her flower?? (at least that's the one both me and chase can agree on) but what do you think? i'd like to hear...

3 months

 Holy Cow.  Can this little boy please stop growing already? I can't believe he is already 3 months.  He is such a joy though.  He is happy, happy all the time and you can always get a big open mouth smile out of him.  He is starting to laugh a lot too. If he ever gets whiny it's just because he wants someone to play with him.  And boy is he a talker! He will just sit on the bed talking and talking all to himself.  He just melts this mommy's heart. We love him so much and are so thankful he came to our home.  You are so loved little West!

 So if you read my post about the blizzard we had on Oct. 6th...here is the proof!  Now do you understand why I was kinda freaking out?  We were seriously out there for about 30 seconds before we had to run back inside because it was SO cold.  Thankfully it warmed up again and I may even take the jogging stroller out this afternoon.  I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts...

Play Time!

 Chase has been working SO hard this semester.  It's his last one, but of course he saved all the really hard chemistry labs and anatomy classes for last.  PLUS he is working 30 hours a week as a special ed. teacher's aid.  He works with kindergarten through sixth grade students with learning disabilities...can you just picture chase working with little kindergarteners all day? for cute!!  Anyways, school and work on top of applications for medical school (and sitting on pins and needles as we wait to hear back) leads to a pretty busy time for this sweet daddy... so when he gets the chance to spend some time with this girl, they make the most of it!!  This is probably Chase and Eden's favorite thing to do in the whole world!

I have been feeling a little bad lately for not being able to give Eden as much one on one time, so when West takes his afternoon nap I try to forget about all the chores I need to get done and sit down and play with my Eden.  Lately she has like coloring with markers and playing playdoh!

 Can you guess which on is Eden's and which one is Mommy's?

 I made a frog for Eden, but she was kinda bummed his legs kept falling off when she wanted to hold him...

This little boy is getting better at playing with toys!  He loves his bouncer chair and is so good at grabbing things now.  The best is when he reaches out to grab mommy's fingers though.