2012 Family Pictures

I know its the moment you have all been waiting for....we finally got new family pictures! It's only been 2.5 years since the last one. My very talented friend Jenn took them and she did a fantastic job.

 I love my boys!

Us...

Mr Warren...

The Benjamin...

 Did I say I LOVE my boys?!

Sir Oliver....

 "Me and my daddy's cheeks"

 Oliver kept acting Coy after each grin, which if funny because he is anything but shy! 

This boy is pure JOY! 

 Chillin in the box.

 Love. Love. Love.

 Of course the final family shot after EVERYONE is melting down. Classic. 

I am going to be ordering prints soon. Please get your wish list to me within the next week if you want one! Pictures and sizes. :) We love you!

Stow-A-Ways...

In November the boys and I decided to tag-a-long on a short business trip with Weston. He goes to court in Corpus Christi often and since I had never seen the "best beaches" this side of Texas, we decided to check it out. We had a fun little weekend. We hung out in the hotel and had so much fun relaxing on the beach. The boys ran races, found seashells, jelly-fish, a dead eel, a bunch of dead fish that looked like pirana (we google searched and found they are some time of snapper referred to as "pirana of the gulf") and lots of abandoned logs from beach fires. We also went on a long walk down the beach. The beaches and water were prettier than Galveston and the weather was perfect! We even saw several dolphins on the ferry ride on the way back home. We had such a fun time. We are excited to plan a longer trip there this year. Here are some pics for your enjoyment! 

Ya Ya and Aunt Lacey visit...

 Weston's mom and sister came to visit us the second week of October for about 4.5 days. It's always nice to have visitors and we were happy that Lacey finally decided to come visit us for the first time since we moved from Utah almost 9 years ago! We know she really came for Misty but its ok, we still love her anyway. ;) 

 She brought along her little girl Astoria. It was our first time meeting her and she sure is a sweetheart. It was fun for me to see little girl things spread about the house while they were here. We were so happy to get to spend time with them all. As you can see we took them to our favorite place - The Beach!

 "spear fishing"

Sand Castles

 The weather was perfect. 

I was still recovering from surgery so I just relaxed with Oliver all day. 

It was a really nice break for us all.

This was Oliver's first time at the beach. He loved it. 

Getting to know Ya Ya.

Can you tell Astoria know's exactly what a camera is? She's a diva alright!

She was so cute in her little ruffle suit and sun hat. :) 

The last day they were here I talked Lacey into going on a walk with me. Jan & Weston went on a gas station run for drinks. Weston was dying from thirst and claimed he could not walk without a Diet Dr Pepper. They came and found us and offered us treats and beverages. Jan got out and walked with us from there and Weston joined us by driving along side us at 2 mph. 

Yes, Jan was mooning the camera but lacked the courage to drop her drawers in day light. The next day we took them to see the Houston Temple but we had to bribe Jan with candy bars to keep her lady like manners in check. ;) Thanks for coming out Jan & Lacey! We sure enjoyed your visit! 

Opa was here!

In September Opa (Weston's dad) came to Texas for work and

he was here for 3 weeks. 

During the week days he was gone but 

we were lucky to get to spend the weekends with him. 

We blessed Oliver while he was here and the boys were especially 

happy to have him around to be silly with. :) 

Opa & Oliver getting to know each other. 

Ollie was about 2 months here. 

There was never a quiet moment. 

As soon as he would sit down on the couch the boys 

would pile on, one by one, and snuggle up. 

He even let them play angry birds on his ipad. :) 

While he was here he helped Weston with a few projects around the house. They fixed the leaky tub, which turned into an all day project, nearly breaking the tub! ;) He also helped clean/snake out our dryer vent. What a grose job! It was taking us a minimum of 2-3 cycles to dry garments and this is why!! 

It was packed with lint and all kinds of stuff you really don't want to hear about. 

The important part is that it is fixed and we can now dry a load of towels in 1 cycle! Thanks Lynn!

We really appreciate your help!

******************

Also in September, Benjamin finally had his
surgery for meetal stenosis! 

We had scheduled it a few times.
 I was nervous about him having to be put under
and in the process of rescheduling the doctor told me that he often
can do the surgery with older kids with only partial sedation.
So, we coached and bribed him
 with a trip to Toys-R-Us and wah-lah! 

He braved it like a champ! 

Here he is in the waiting room. I am certain I was more nervous than he was but he did great.
He was really sore for about 5 days. Each time he had to potty we had to sit in a warm bath tub to ease the stinging. We felt so bad for the little man.

 When you enter the surgical unit of Texas Children's Hospital there are these tap dancing rhinestone cows ("Fred Asteer" and "Ginger Udders" I think). Anyways, when Benjamin saw them he ran up to them in awe and said "Mom, these are AMMMMAZING!" and insisted I take his picture by them. So there you have it. The iphone picture doesn't really do them justice... but they were very sparkly! ;)