Happy Halloween 2008

This year Halloween was a little different...the elementary school decided to do parent teacher conferences the day before, so there was no school for two days, the kids didn't wear their costumes to school or really have class parties. They did the carnival indoors on Halloween (how they always do it in Rexburg). A lot of people were bugged though because usually it is earlier in the school year and outside where there is more room for people to get around. We sort of threw costumes together with what we had and our only purchases were Katelyn's witches' hat and broom. We did carve pumpkins too, but couldn't find our digital camera for a few weeks, so had to use our old 35mm and haven't developed them yet.

Logan decided to dress up as Jaycee Carroll (he was the star of the USU basketball team last year...he has now graduated and is playing in Italy this year). Logan was funny, he kept saying well since this is my last year of Halloween (dressing up, trick or treating, etc)... He thinks he is too old and mature to participate.
Katelyn was a witch this year, and a very cute one at that! She dressed in black and used Spencer's Spiderman cape (thanks Di) and wore the orange Halloween socks my mom sent. She loved trick or treating this year and didn't want to stop to come home for dinner.

Spencer wanted to dress up as Harry Potter again this year which was great for us. He is so cute and everyone could always tell right off who he was.

Matthew was our little giraffe. This was a costume that Spencer wore a few years ago, but Spencer was older and liked the hat...Matthew wasn't so sure.

We had a fun day...it was beautiful and warm which was a welcome switch from the freezing, snowing, windy, cold Halloweens in our past. Logan had school, but it was Friday, so he got out early. Then we went downtown to trick or treat at the businesses. After that we came home and got ready to go to the carnival at the school. We trick or treated our neighborhood, had some soup at the neighbor's, and I passed out candy with the little ones while Logan and Jay went to the first USU basketball game of the season.

Matthew end of Sept. - Nov.

Matthew (and Jay) on Halloween at our Elementary School Carnival. He was a giraffe this year, but he hated the hood, so we never did get a picture of him happy or smiling in his costume except when he feel asleep in his stroller while we were trick or treating down town and his giraffe head was next to his face. He also loves to take his socks off, so we are always missing at least one. I think he might be eating his toes in this one.

Mom and Matthew outside our front door. Spencer is loving taking pictures these days. Every time I turn around he has taken the camera and is snapping pictures of something. The funniest is when he puts the movie feature on and does the commentary as he shows you around the house. Spencer actually took this picture (one of the few that we kept)...what did we ever do before digital cameras...oh yeah, we would pay to develop the roll and find out that all the pictures were of the floor, out the window, some you couldn't even figure out what they were and waste a whole roll of film.

This was the day of Matthew's first haircut (before and after). I have never had to cut any of my kids hair before their 1st birthday, but I just couldn't stand it any more. He was really tired, but we took a couple of inches off around his ears and evened it up everywhere else. He is actually ready for his second haircut any day now.

I love this picture! We had a barbeque when Jay got back from his trips in late Sept. and this was Matthew playing on a blanket while dinner was cooking.

Matthew is now 11 1/2 months! Where has the time gone? We are busy trying to keep up with him these days as he is into everything and crawling all over. He cut two teeth this week making a total of 5, three on the top, two on the bottom. He absolutely loves balls and "passing" them back and forth to you. We think he may want to be a drummer because he loves beating everything in time, which is great until we go to church and he is pounding on the doors and chairs in Sunday school;) He has also found the piercing, shrill scream that so many little ones are so fond of. He's pretty proud of it...it's driving the rest of us sort of nuts! Needless to say, we are spending most of our hours at church in the hall or mother's room. It is going to be a long 6 months until he can go to nursery.

He says dada for sure and knows exactly who that is...he adores Jay and lights up every time he comes in the room. He's quite stingy on saying mom and reserves that to once a week or so when he knows that nobody else around will meet his needs as quickly and accurately as he needs them to. He also says tickle, uh-oh, peek-boo, Jesus, and a lot of other things we don't always understand. He started clapping recently, too. He is trying to walk around the furniture and we've only had a few mishaps with falling and hitting his head on the vast expanse of tile floor in our house. We can't believe he will be one in a few weeks! We'll post some more then.

Happy Birthday Jay!

Tomorrow is Jay's Birthday...he is on a business trip in Tennesee so we thought we would show a few pictures and brag him up a bit, so he would know that we love him and are missing him and wishing we could make his day great! We are going to have to celebrate all week just to make it up to him.

Jay was born September 20, 1970 to Loyd and Jane Warnick in Upland, CA. He is the youngest of 5 and I'm told that all of his older siblings adored him and between his mom and sisters he really had 4 mothers. He grew up moving back and forth a few times from CA to UT. He loved playing baseball growing up and has enjoyed coaching all of Logan's teams these past few years.

Jay graduated from Taylorsville High School, Ricks College (Journalism), and Utah State University with a degree in Horticulture. He served an LDS mission to Milwaulkee, Wisconsin. He spent the first 11 years of our marriage and his career as a fields director and groundskeeper for the University of Utah, BYU-ID, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Seattle Seahawks. (Hence all the moving). He now works for World Class Athletic Surfaces and sells the paint, stencils, and all to keep the games going.

Jay is such a wonderful person. He is a loyal friend and companion. He never says anything negative about anyone. He is a fantastic husband and father to our 4 children. He is always trying to figure out who needs a little help and has helped countless people with sprinklers, landscapes (both design and installation) and helped the masses move in and out of different neighborhoods (the joys of owning a truck). He sang in a quartet in our Salt Lake neighborhood for a year or so in 2000. He loves fly fishing and airplanes. If he has one unfulfilled dream in his life it is to be a pilot. He still has hopes of owning a motorcycle or an airplane...we'll see. His favorite color is green and he was recently called as the Elder's Quorum President in our new ward (they just split our huge ward).

There is a lot more to Jay than all of this, but I hope I hit some of the high points and you learned something new about him. We love him lots and hope he has a great day. Jay is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so thankful to be his wife. Happy Birthday Jay!

Happy Anniversary to US!

Jay and I have been married for 13 years today! Where have the years gone? Now that we are back here living in Logan it seems like just yesterday that we were dating and falling in love. Jay and I met in the fall of 1994. He was starting his last year at USU majoring in Horticulture, I was working in my first salon, UpperCuts, on Main Street in Logan. He was the Family Home Evening Coordinator in our singles ward and I was one of the "moms" over one of the groups.

We met in Aug/Sept, but didn't really even notice each other much until after we returned to school/work in January. We more than noticed each other when our Bishop had a meeting to get us all excited about planning fun FHE's for the new semester. We played the game where you tell two truths and a lie...nobody could believe that I was the 3rd of 13 children and thought that was my outlandish lie, but it's TRUE. I noticed how complimentary Jay was of his FHE partner and what a nice guy he was. I thought it would be nice to get to know him better.

The next night our ward had a dinner and square dance...we were in the same square and flirted as we passed each other. A few days later Jay called me using his calling as an excuse and we ended up being on the phone for over an hour. He came up with a couple of his roommates and asked if we were going to the USU basketball game the next night. I wasn't planning on it, but when I got home from work it sounded like fun, so I called him to see if he was still going. I wasn't a student, so we tried to get me in using my roommates activity card which was promptly taken away and Jay paid my way in and then sweet talked the girl into giving it back to him. Smooth talker!

We started seeing each other every day after that. He would stop by on my day off after class. I would make him dinner, we went to a few concerts (Celtic Night on St. Patrick's Day was our favorite...oh! and dressing up and going to the Symphony), I watched him play his softball games and bandaged up his knee that wouldn't ever quite heal. The more time I spent with him, the more I was hooked. After only two weeks of hanging out with him I knew I was in trouble.

I told him I loved him the night before he went to Seattle over Spring Break with the Plant Science Club. I thought I had completely scared him away and that I wouldn't see him much after that, but after being introduced at Stake Conference from the pulpit as Jay's "special friend" (his dad was the Stake President), and spending some time with his family, he decided I might be a good risk. He proposed on Memorial Day 1995 on our way back to Logan after spending the day in Pleasant Grove with his family. When we told his parents, they said, "Good, if he didn't propose, we were going to."

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple at 9:30am on Sept. 19, 1995. We had a lovely luncheon at SLCC (which was where I graduated from) hosted by Jay's parents. Ran to our tiny basement apartment in Sugar House long enough to curl my hair again and were off to the Lion House Garden for our reception. I loved every single thing about our wedding day. The only thing I felt bad about was that people stood in line for 2 hours at our reception to see us...I think the whole Taylorsville Stake came and half of Salt Lake and Kamas too!

Jay is the perfect husband for me. He completes me and balances me out in every way. He is the most amazing person...so kind and considerate of others and their needs. He just keeps getting better as the years go by too. I know we wouldn't have survived this last pregnancy and having a baby again after 5 years without all he did to keep everything going while I was so sick and otherwise out of commission. He works so hard in all that he does and makes sure that everything gets done and done right. I love you, Jay, Happy Anniversary!

This picture was taken 2 years ago at my sister's wedding, I guess we should probably get another one sometime soon, I'm just usually behind the camera!

Time Out For Women

Last weekend, my mom and some of my sisters came up to Logan to go to Deseret Book's Time Out For Women. It was amazing...great speakers and musicians...very uplifting...just what I needed.

Top row: Emily, Allie, Dianne. Bottom row: Mom (Patsy), Heidi, Merilee, Kristin. Thanks Dad and Jay for watching the kids so we could go. If it comes to a town near you, I highly recommend going...it is well worth your time and the money!

Friday Night - Mom, Emily, Kristin, Dianne

Baby Matthew's Cute Noises...

The other day Matthew was just being so cute, we had to get in on camera. He's getting so grown up and seems to change every day. Spencer was actually also telling me about his day at school, so you will also hear him reciting Hickory Dickory Dock in the background. Matthew is starting to scoot around, not really crawl, but he is able to get around a little and he loves to pull up to stand on all the furniture. Looks like we are going to have another early walker at our house.

1st Day of School...Already?!

Well, today was another first at our house. Logan started Middle School. He is in the 6th grade and attending Spring Creek Middle School. He was pretty nervous going to a new school, having a locker, and trying to figure out where his 7 classes were. I was worried about him all day and hoping that he had a good day and experience. He survived, even came out smiling, and was excited that his best friend Mason was in 5 of his 7 classes. So, I don't know that he met a lot of other kids, but at least some of the newness will have worn off for tomorrow. It has brought back a lot of memories for me as I have helped him get registered and ready for middle school. I can't believe Logan is old enough to go to middle school, which in turn makes me wonder when Jay and I ever got old enough to have a child this old!

Katelyn is starting 3rd grade. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Rawlins. The picture with her teacher was taken last night at back to school night. Katelyn rode the bus to and from school today (see did NOT enjoy that...at least that's what she said). She seemed to like her teacher and I was impressed with the classroom responsibilities and policies that Mrs. Rawlins sent home today. Hopefully it will be a great year for Kate!

Spencer is going to be in Kindergarten this year. His teacher is Mrs. Searle. She is actually cousins to my friend Maria. She seemed really nice and Spencer liked her. Spencer was a little put out when he realized that because of kindergarten assessments, he doesn't get to start school until next Thursday. He is ready to go! I can't believe my little Spencer is going to school. He has been my buddy and I'm going to miss having him here all day. Of course, kindergarten is really only about 2 hours...so I guess he'll still be around some.:)

Well, I better get to bed...what with Logan leaving for school at 7:05 am, we are now getting up quite a bit earlier to get him off. Last year he didn't even wake up until 7:45!

Bear Lake

We were invited to go to a cabin (Maria's...in the middle front holding the dark haired baby) in Bear Lake with some people from the ward. It was mostly moms and kids the days we were there. Jay had just gotten back from another trip and had to catch up on work, so he wasn't able to go with us. It was so fun! Now we know that only an hour away is a great beach and a very do-able day trip. I was glad we all made it home...the kids are getting pretty brave in the water after just completing another session of swimming lessons.

Bees Game

One of the things Logan asked for as a birth-day present was to go to a base-ball game. So we went to a Bees Game in Salt Lake on July 25th. Jay had been out of town all week, so we picked him up at the airport, grabbed some dinner, and then headed to the ball park. I think after taking Spencer to the bathroom 5 times, we pretty much decided that next time Jay and Logan may just want to go by themselves. It was fun though and we even stayed to watch the fireworks after the game.

Side by Side Baby Pictures

People are always saying that our kids all look alike. So can you tell them apart? Well obviously Katelyn is the one with the bow wearing pink.

4th of July

We went to the Ranch (Woodland, UT where Emily's parents live) for a few days over the 4th of July. Katelyn absolutely loved helping my cousin Jim brush and ride his horses. Spencer and Kate had a great time at the swimming hole with their cousins and all the kids (and my brother, Rich) loved the sparklers. We also went to Salt Lake for the Warnick reunion...here is Kate with her cousin Kaley. Matthew slept for a minute and then screamed during the whole program, so I got to walk him around the block. Incidently, he now has two teeth, one of which came in while we were there, so he really wasn't his best self.

Matthew Playing

Last night Matthew was loving his Exersaucer. It was so cute we just had to share it with you. Spencer says hi too, when he jumps in front of him.

Happy Birthday LOGAN!

Logan turned 11 last Saturday, July 12. He wanted to have a water party with a few of his friends. We went in with our neighbors this year on a big Banzai waterslide,so we put that up along with our little pool. They played on those, had a water balloon and silly string fight, played some water games, ate pizza, cake, and ice cream, and opened presents. It was fun.

Jay joined in the water fight and before we knew it buckets of water were flying...

Jay ended up being the favorite target...he was soaked.

Logan had a great day! He was pretty excited when a couple of his friends said it was the most fun party they had ever been to.

One of the games we played was "How well do you know the birthday boy?" I asked Logan to fill out a paper with some of his favorites before the party and then his friends had to write down what they thought. Most of them got about half of the questions right.

So how well do you know Logan?

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Pizza

Favorite Game: 80's Trivial Pursuit

Favorite Sport: Baseball

Favorite Teams: Mariners, Ravens, Jazz

Favorite Hobby: Sports

Favorite Treat: Pumpkin Cookies/Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Favorite Book: Harry Potter

Favorite Movie: Horton Hears a Who

Shoe Size: 7

Pants (Sunday) Size: 14 Slim

Shirt: 12/14 or Adult Small

When I grow up I want to be a: ?????? I used to want to be an astronaut, until I realized how dangerous that was.

Logan is such a wonderful person, son, brother, and friend. He has brought so much joy to our lives. It has been amazing to see him grow from a baby to the young man that he is. We love him and had so much fun celebrating his birth and life. He wanted tickets to go see the Bee's play in Salt Lake, so we get to do that next week!

Matthew is GINORMOUS!

Well, our little Matthew is no longer very little. We took him to his 6 month well check last week and he is now 19 lbs 9 oz! That is the 90 percentile for weight...he is also in the 95+ percentile for height though, so he really doesn't have that many rolls (except under his chin!). The nurse measured his head twice because she thought that it was such a big jump from the last check up. I just told her we just grow them big.

This was taken as we were waiting for Jay to buy our tickets to get into Hogle Zoo.

Cousin Johnny and Matthew...we love him!

Finally asleep, at least for a minute or until I try to lay him down. He has it all figured out...he'll sleep if I hold him, but unless he is really out, when I try to lay him down he wakes up and screams so we will pick him up again. Needless to say, we aren't getting much done around the house, but he won't be a baby forever right!

Showing off...sitting up. With all our tile floor, we don't put him down on it too much, but he likes to sit up on the soft bed and prove to us that he can. So cute!

Matthew is eating his baby food twice a day now, and even tried a little corner of a graham cracker and Ritz cracker yesterday...he thought they were the best thing ever! He keeps us busy and our arms are tired from lugging him around everywhere. We now leave the infant seat in the car when we go places unless we can put it in the cart...it's just too heavy. Matthew thinks he's pretty smart, sitting up, picking up things, able to talk...the kids are convinced that his first word is Mom or Ma, but I'm not sure if he knows that's me yet or if he is just babbling and trying to copy everyone. He is fun and definitely not starved for attention around here!

Spencer, our Soccer Player Extraordinaire

The first thing Spencer wanted to do when the snow finally melted is take the training wheels off his bike. So here he is showing you how cool he is to be a "big kid." It was the neatest thing to see Logan and Katelyn running alongside, encouraging, and helping him. The only problem is now he is so fast, I can't keep up with him!

Spencer played soccer this spring. This was our first experience with soccer as a family and let me tell you that if you ever need a good belly laugh, sign your child up for soccer. It was awesome...seeing a whole pack of kids follow the ball around the field, kicking each other in the shins, making goals for the other team. We laughed hard. It was fun though and eventually they figured out what it was they were supposed to be doing. Spencer ended up being a pretty good little player and was great taking the ball down the field. In the last game, while Jay was coaching Logan's first baseball game at another park, Spencer took it down and scored two goals, and assisted on a couple of others. It was a good outlet for all of his energy.

Who are those monkeys hanging upside down? Just Spencer & cousin Molly at Hogle Zoo a couple of weeks ago. Instead of staring at the monkeys, the monkeys were staring at them and trying to copy their moves...as Katelyn looks on.

Every time we take a picture, Spencer wants to jump right in. I was taking some pictures of Matthew sitting up the other morning in his Spiderman pj's and Spencer wanted to be a part of it. Luckily, you can't smell their morning breath from where you are! What a cute kid, or should I say kids! Gotta love them!

Katelyn's 2nd Grade Program and Dance Recital

Katelyn's end of the year program was wonderful! The 2nd grade spent all year learning about and doing service for their families, community, country, world, environment, etc., so it was all about that. The slide show was also broken down into each service project, one a month, and the songs were cute...here's a little sample of it.



Katelyn also performed in May at the Ellen's Ecceles Theater on Main Street in her Ballet Recital. She was in two numbers, one was to showcase the techniques they have been learning this year and the other one was more for fun (they were dressed like kittens). She stole the show. Jay's and my parents both came, as well as my grandparents and sister, Merilee.

The Young Women in our ward had a dance camp as a Girls' Camp fundraiser. They invited all the primary aged girls (3-11) to come and learn a dance from "High School Musical." They practiced for 3 days and then performed that night. Katelyn LOVED it! I had a number of people come up to me at the performance who were involved with teaching the dance, and a bunch of others just watching to tell me what a great dancer she was. I just thought it was a great idea for the YW...no overhead, 3 days and it was over, they made tons of money, and everyone had a fabulous time.

Katelyn is also now in Activity Days for the 8-11 year old girls. The past month they have been working on a Mother/Daughter party where the girls all picked and modeled a modest summer outfit. It was fun! They had the girls fill out a spotlight including their favorites which they read as the girls walked around the stage. Some of the girls walked as fast as they could, so they were still talking about them well after they had exited the stage, others were just hamming it up. One of the little, shy girls in our Primary class blew a kiss to the crowd at her last pose point...it was great! Then we all had cheesecake and each mother and daughter had their picture taken in front of the beach props on the stage.



Katelyn is still always wanting to be around Matthew and is so loving and helpful with her little brothers. She loves making them laugh and Jay & I are always trying to settle them all down so we can eat our meals....maybe someday we'll have manners!