Bed Time Giggles

This is what I hear every night and naptime when the girls are "sleeping"

What a summer!

Well, once again I find myself doing the monthly "ketchup"! So here it is, I suppose I will just go through in chronological order.

Mid-July we went on our annual Family Campout (or cousin's campout as we now call it). It is Matt's mom's side of the family. We go every year and there sure are lots of us! Matt's family is SSOOOO different than mine, it is interesting and fun! They are a great group. All of my mother in law's siblings and her mom all live here in phoenix, so growing up Matt spent A LOT of time with his cousins and they are all great friends. I hardly saw any of my cousins growing up, so it is fun for me to see all the cousins on Matt's Barrett side throughout the year as well as the summer campout and the Christmas party that we do every year. We had a lot of fun, though I am not really a camper. I LOVE nature and it is great to be out in it. But when you have babies, by day 3 or so, you are ready for a good night's sleep (and no BUGS!)

Here are some pics from the campout:

Isabel was SO excited when we put her cousin Eve in her pack and play with her! Too bad Eve wasn't as crazy about it! These first cousins are only 6 weeks apart! Built in best friend!

Lily "helping" me read and relax

Wishing for a good night's sleep...

Lily at one with Nature, she LOVED being in the "forest" on the "mountain" and still talks about it

My girls also needing a good night's sleep

Below is a picture of Matt's cousin David's daughter "Addie" with our niece Eve. Addie loved to be at our campsite because we had the most babies and this girl LOVED babies and was SO great and patient with them. Tragically a week after we were home from our reunion their family was in Utah and Addie and her little sister Lydia were in a horrible car accident with some of their Utah cousin. Lydia (age 6) was seriously injured, but after setting her 9 broken bones and some surgeries she is now home with her family. Addie was killed on impact. This has been such a heartbreaking tragedy, and we have kept her family constantly in our prayers. We attended her funeral on Friday, where over 11oo people were in attendance. The services were beautiful and incredibly moving. There was such an outpouring of support. I have definitely found myself hugging and kissing my girls more often the past 2 weeks.

Since we returned home from camping Lily has been OBSESSED with these pink rain boots that her Aunt Mandy loaned her from camping, she wants to wear them all the time. It is a little embarrassing to show her so "ragamuffin" in the pic, but it expresses her ridiculous attachment to these fabulous boots!

We also moved mid-July/end-August. It was a VERY busy time for us to try and move and was super stressful. Boy, am I glad it is OVER! It was the hardest move for us yet (4 moves in 2 1/4 years) because we literally cut our living space in half. I will miss our rental house...and garage...and yard. BUT the money we will save while Matt is back in school is a nice incentive. And I only have to clean one bathroom! No yard up keep, not as many counters to clean and 700 sq feet less floors to sweep/vacuum. So I am focusing on the positives. Now that we are all moved in it is not so bad. Another major plus to the apartments are that we have a pool! We FINALLY got to enjoy it (we've been to busy to use it) and the girls LOVE it! :)

Lily didn't want me to take her picture, she is being all incognito. Reminds me of a celebrity magazine!

We also went to Thatcher for the 24th of July celebration and to be with my family. Since my grandpa passed I have really wished that I could spend all my time there with my family, but this was my first trip back. It was SO great to be there with our friends and family. It was REALLY hard for me to leave. Here are some pictures from us playing at the park, somehow I didn't actually get any pictures of the Pioneer Day celebration, even though it was great.

Lily got to play with some of her Thatcher cousins, here she is "sharing" with miss Ava

Ava and her little brother Carter

While we were in Thatch we got together with some of our old college friends who live there. We had such a great time, and I really love these kids! Makes me even more homesick!

Lately the girls play SO great together. They keep each other up late (and wake up early) with LOTS of squeals and giggles now that they share a room. And I often have to come in to see what they are doing because they crack up so much. Lily has turned into the BEST big sister I could imagine. And nothing warms my heart more than to see them playing nicely together. Please ignore my laundry and my children's haggard state in the pic below!

Lately Lily has been really into "helping me" with EVERYTHING I do. Especially in the kitchen. We love to cook and clean all kinds of things. This night we were making homemade pizza, which consisted of her helping me pound and roll the dough, stir in the spices for the sauce, and sprinkle the cheese and toppings. But mostly she liked to eat the toppings :) Here she is sneaking olives from the jar.
Mealtimes have also become more fun for Izzie. She sometimes reminds me of cookie monster, if she could talk I swear she would say "yum-yum-yum-yum-yum" in cookie's voice.
The fun at dinner time has also led to more bathtime, and I can now put the girls in together and let them play, which they LOVE.

Here is Lily swinging, and cracking up. Beware, you may just want to close your eyes and listen, the camerawork is a little blair witch.

Anyway, our life has been SO busy. My new Doctor who I really love has been really dedicated to my health and checking into everything, which has been great and I am really hoping that within a couple of months I will finally be feeling good again. I have been referred out to an endocrinologist, gastroentologist, and physical therapist in addition to the chiropractor that I was already seeing. Oh, and I have 2 dentist appointments, in addition to a well-child check. It is nuts. Hopefully after all these tests we will figure out more and FIX it! :) Until then I have had between 3 and 7 different appointments the past 2 weeks and the same for the next couple weeks.

It has just seemed like the whole summer has been one of busy-ness and one thing after the other. So much of it has been crisis' that are centered around our loved ones, some that I have shared and some that are not my place to share. It is hard to watch those around you endure trials. Especially trials of the magnitude that I can not imagine. You people know who you are and know how much my heart is with you. It has been an emotionally, spiritually, financially and physically exhausting summer!

But I will tell you this, I have never been more grateful for what I have.

Summer Time!

Well, I don't really have time to write this blog, so here is the Ciff Note's of the past month. I have a Ward Breakfast on the Fourth of July, which was STRESSFUL! We (aka I) made posters for 20 families who have had military service. They were a TON of work tracking down the pics and info from the families and scaning/typing up stuff, ordering prints etc. But they turned out great and I am glad that I did it. I don't think I'll do it again though :) Breakfast with pancakes and eggs is also ridiculous to try to do for 200 people, but with alot of help from my committee and some GREAT volunteers from the ward, we actually timed it pretty well and got the food out on time. My Father-In-Law spoke and sang a few songs on his guitar, which was great.
The girls get bigger and in my opinion cuter and sweeter every day! Isabel is rolling all over the place and if you don't keep an eye on her, she travels great distances in a short amount of time. It's been interesting! :)

Matt is officially going back to school! WOOHOO!! :)

Because of the back to school stuff, we have decided to downgrade out of our wonderful rental house (sigh) and into a small and much cheaper apartment. it is a little sad (and really stressful and busy), but anything that saves us several hundred bucks a month is worth it! This will be our 4th move in 2 1/2 years. I am REALLY sick of moving, but I know that it is going to happen a few more times before we are really ready to settle. So for the next two weeks I am going to suck it up and live in the crazy chaos that is trying to move with 2 small children!
Next weekend we have a camping Family Reunion, we can't stay long due to Matt's schedule being changed up and the move, but it should be nice. We are also going to Thatcher for Pioneer Day. both of these events are bad timing with the move, they take up both of the weekends during our overlap of lease time, but we are hoping it will all work out :)
I also have to get church substitutes because in addition to my activities chairman calling I have also been asked to do the Primary Children's music. I love primary and our ward has an especially FANTASTIC primary, so I am excited. (and a little stressed, but I could use the extra blessings right?)

Anyway, life is crazy and busy and good. Here, as always, are a few pics.

Fourth of July Party

My Family's Poster

Boopah (matt's dad)Our Patriotic Family

My sweet girls!

I love it when they match!

Izzie and Nana watching Lily and her cousin Rory (Barry and Janeals') playing "Ants in the Pants", she thought it was very entertaining.

Me trying to get Izzie to laugh, don't mind Lily totally choking on a piece of jerky halfway through, sorry about that.

After I took the above video of Izzie, Lily REALLY wanted me to do a video of her, so here it is :)

Boopah singing his patriotic medley

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandjennearl/BoopahFourthOfJuly2009Performance#5356504856935974594

Riley Elden Warner

AKA the GREATEST Grandpa and possibly man, EVER!
I have been putting this post off, because I was going to wait to scan in some photos of him from my childhood, but I left them in Thatcher (after I pulled them out of albums of course...sorry mom). then it got close to the 4th of July and I was crazy busy with ward party stuff, more on that in another blog. Anyway, here are some things about my Grandpa.
My Grandpapa, is probably my favorite person of all time (excluding Matt of course). If you don't count my spouse and children, I can't imagine loving or respecting anyone more than I do my Grandpa. Growing up with a single mom, my Grandpa really filled the role of a Father in my life. He did all the Daddy daughter stuff, and also baptised me and witnessed as my wedding. Growing up he was really the only preisthood holder around for me. He was the best example I could have had. He really is the reason I am who I am today. He showed me how to work hard. How to serve QUIETLY. And of course how to make funny comments under my breath! :) His sense of humor and wit were QUICK. And I don't think I was ever around him without smiling and laughing a little. He was a mostly quiet man, but when he did say something it was either funny, or meaningful. He taught me how to be happy. That might sound weird, but growing up, I wasn't surrounded by many happy adults. Except my grandpa. Just that contrabution would have been enough, but he was so much more. Unlike so many people today, my grandpa wasn't afraid of just being ordinary. He never wanted to be in the spotlight or be recognized. But his quiet, humble, ability to be completely honest, hardworking and kind made him extraordinary. Both of my grandparents are the kind of people who are constantly doing things for other people. The amount of selfless service they have given to others throughout their lifetime is unfathomable to me. And most of it people would never know about, unless you caught them in the act. I will always strive to be more like them when it comes to working hard for other people sakes.
I could go on and on. Like I said the kind of love I feel for my Grandpa is unprecidented by any of my other relationships. I would say like some people are from birth "Daddy's Girls" I am and have been a Grandpa's Girl. No one has ever made me feel as special or as loved as my Grandpa has. I miss him more than I can say. I will miss silently sitting beside him in a crowd of people, knowing that we both feel uncomfortable, but glad to be together. I will miss nose kisses and couch snuggles, walks to texas, knowing winks and glances, good advice, loving hugs and smiles, funny phrases, silly jokes and unwaivering support and love. His presence being gone is like the sun has hidden behind the clouds. I know that he is glad to be rid of his decaying body, which became such a burden to him. And I am happy that he is no longer suffering. I know that it was the right time. But I was unprepared for the pain I feel. I thought that because I knew it was right and because of my faith that I will see him again, my pain would somehow be dulled. It is not. I have dealt with loss before, from grandparents and other relatives to young friends. But I have never experienced this kind of grief. He was the only stable rock in my life as a child and like I said before, his presence and example and influence GREATLY shaped the person I am. And it continues to. I don't think I have ever known a better man. He was not perfect, but he was GOOD to the core. Truly. He brought me so much happiness and love and laughter and tender moments. I LOVE YOU GRANDPA.

With my sisters and I, he was the GREATEST tickler of all time! (I am the baby)

Our Wedding Day

With My mom


With Lily
With Izzie

In the Navy 1943

Wow, what a month!

Well, once again I find myself saying, "sorry it's been so long since I blogged, I have a million things to catch up on!" Seriously! I think that the fates just like to sit and wait for me to commit myself to things, (I.E. blogging more often, working out, etc) and then they hit me with it. I am sure it is very entertaining for them! Anyway, May has come and gone in a blur for me.

Unfortunately I was sick for most of May, so I don't have any terribly interesting stories to share. Just that Lily took advantage of me being hopped up on pain pills for half the month and decided to explore her more mischievous side! No, she really is a good kid, but this month she has definitely experimented with naughty behavior. She has been back to her well behaved self the past week or two, but here are a few examples of her silly mistakes. Mistaking the toilet bowl for a toy bin, mistaking her body for a piece of paper on which to color, resulting in pen all over her face and hands (I failed to document with a picture) she then promptly came to me and told me "bad choice color. wash please" while she was hysterically crying. I think she panicked when she couldn't wipe the pen off. I debated leaving it on to remind her of her bad choice, but decided she felt bad enough and washed it in time to only leave the faintest hint of pen marks. She also mistook the couch for a coloring book and covered my ivory couch cover in bright blue crayon (luckily we only have washable crayons). I DID get a picture of this, and every time she sees it she says "oh no! bad choice!", she hit her sister intentionally for the first time, she took off her diaper during naptime for the first time, we had our first "bleeding" incident when she mistook the tile for a good place to throw a fit and smacked her face. She mistook the DVD player in her room for a toy, which resulted in the breaking of her favorite movie "monsters inc" (a travesty). Anyway, I can't remember it all I should have been writing the list down. She is still the sweetest 2 year old I know, but she has had her fair share of days this month!

My grandfather also passed away on the 6th of June. I won't say much about it at this moment. Those of you who know me well know how much I love my Grandpapa. The next blog I write is going to be a tribute to him, but I thought I would get this "catch up" blog out of the way first.
Anyway, Things are going better at my house, except that I have a cold right now. I am really getting frustrated with my immune system! Isabel is pushing up and rolling all around and smiling so much and laughing and a real joy to be around. I have the best girls in the world. Matt is doing well, work is going good, he is trying to rearrange his schedule to have Wednesdays off since he just got called into young mens. I will admit that I really love his current schedule so it is going to be a tough adjustment, but he is really enjoying working in YM, so I am sure that it will all work out! :)

Anyway, here are a million pictures!

Some of the evidence from the afore mentioned couch incident

Hank and my mom with the girls when they came for a temple trip

Just Isabel being her sweet self

Lily sharing with Izzie, what is a big sister for if not to teach you all about being a girl and talking on the phone!

My mom came to help with the girls the days Matt worked after I got out of the hospital, she was a HUGE help to me. Lily LOVED to help her with her cross stitch.

She loves to be a pirate lately

Still trying to figure out this eating off a spoon thing!

Playing at the park with the cousins one day

Getting pushed by her 3 year old cousin Langley. This pic cracks me up!Matt hanging out all dizzy after spinning on this awesome spin-ny seat the park has. I know that was a pretty amazingly articulate description, but I don't know what else to call it, you sit on it and spin and the way it is molded/angled it makes you spin faster and faster. Whatever it is fun. and nauseating.

Matt spinning me faster AKA trying to make me puke.

Matt and I playing volleyball, I love this pic because you can see lily really thinking that she is playing too

Lily holding out her arms to bump the volleyball

Playing coy

who me?

this is her serious face

This is the smile I see most often

we went to a friend's "James Bond" themed party, it was alot of fun

this is kind of a weird pic, but it was the first day we started doing the top knot pony on Iz so I wanted to get a pic before we left the house

Izzie in the hat her auntie Heather bought her for when we go camping next month! CUTE!

My family

My GG and her living children

Lily being a good girl at the luncheon

hugging her cousin Ben

GG snuggles