Gary's Retirment

My brother in law Gary retired from the Marine Corps with 26 years service.

We were honored to be able to attend his retirement ceremony last weekend in San Diego.

It was amazing and awe inspiring, I don't think there was a dry eye in the crowd.

It was really moving to see how they honored his family. Liz (my sister) was escorted up and given an award. She and his two beautiful girls were all presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Gary was presented with a flag flown over the location of his choice.

He was able to choose the Officer that officially retired him, He choose his brother. (that's Matt with his back to the camera) His brother flew in from Okinawa Japan where he is currently stationed. A truly moving thing to see two brothers standing at attention facing each other for the last time in uniform.

Gary we are so proud of you!!! We are thankful for your many years of service to this country.

Thank you for letting us meet your wonderful family and share in your day.

Luke and Kolby were so good during the whole ceremony. And if you know them at all you know its a near impossibility for them to sit still for more then five minute. Luke was enthralled and Kolby clapped along to the music the whole time. You know something is inspiring if it holds the attention of a three and five year old.

More pics to come because come on we were in San Diego after all :)

The Warners try ceramics......

So here's a big secret...... I got an F my sophomore year in high school ceramics. Over the years I have wondered how that could have been possible. I assumed it was during a phase in school that I was not really trying all that hard. ( OK just found out about boys, same thing)

A few nights ago Luke had a family night for his school. You guessed it ceramics at our local high school. Filled with high hopes I just knew I could set the record straight, surely I have some skills in the art of ceramics.

WRONG!!!

I do feel a little better in knowing that my F back them was well deserved. Whatever artistic ability I have ( I like to think I have a little) is not anywhere in the realm of ceramics or clay shaping/molding.

As it turned out the wheel was not where any member of the Warmer fam shone. (which we had to kindly explain to Luke's teacher when she wanted to see our completed work for a photo)

But that doesn't mean we didn't have a blast getting dirty playing with our clay mounds.

I actually tried to stick it out with the wheel while the boys all tried their hand at molding.

Ta....da.... their creations....

Just look at this proud bunch.

And Kolby showing off his mud look. The funniest part of this pic is that he was wearing an apron the whole time. Its a skill to get this dirty while covered.

Another month come and gone....

Wow time flies, I wish I could say we were busy with grand adventures but its not true we were just busy with life. You know the fun stuff like the creepy cold bug that I have had off and on for weeks. And potty training Kolby....ugh.

So I thought I would give a quick update with some random pics.

Luke and Kolby's new favorite show is Dora and Diego. They LOVE- LOVE it!! I found out I could upload a pic of Kolby and have it turned into a Dora Diego cartoon with him in it. It turned out so cute!!! Kolby was beyond excited to see himself in the show. I took a picture of the TV (sorry about the glare) to show how cute it is.

And Lukes new favorite thing is taking pictures, Yep takes after me. He asks for the camera at least once a day to take pics of this that and everything in between. For the most part its me and Kolby that get in his shots. Here are some of his shots...
Me and Kolby matching "cheese" smiles

There are lots and lots of self pics, this is one of the better ones.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the first hints of spring in the air.

Happy Birthday Kolby!!!

Our baby boy is 3!!!!

(when I call him my baby boy, he tells me "I'm not a baby I'm Kolby")

It goes without saying that I can't believe he is 3 already.

Kolby is simply amazing. He is a cuddlier/snuggler he gives the very best bear hugs.

He ADORES his big brother they are nearly inseparable. He has such an easy going personality, you can rarely find him without a smile.

Grandma and Grandpa had a Birthday party at for him last night at their house. Kolby has been into anything farm, animal, tractor lately.They got him a huge barn set that he just loves.
Since before Christmas he has been talking about his "CHEE-COW" Birthday. He LOVES/is OBSESSED with the Disney movie Cars. (everyone who has been around him for more then 5 seconds has heard him talk about it) You know in the the movie when Lightning McQueen is posing for pics and says "chee-cow"? That's what Kolby calls the movie and Lightning.
Look at this happy face when he sees the cake Grandma and Grandpa got him.

Yep his very own "Chee-Cow" cake, so cute.

He has also been practicing blowing out candles for days to make sure he got it right.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the wonderful party!!!!

Happy Birthday Kolby,

Thank you for countless smiles you give us everyday.
Love you big guy!!!!

Sunshine!!!!

Its about this time of year when I start to think I'm done with winter and waking up to single digit temps. I need to feel some sunshine!!!

Luckily for us that means we drive South until we feel the sun. Usually not more then an hour and a half and we can be 50 degrees warmer.

We had a WONDERFUL Sunday just playing outside finding things to do as we went along.

We had lunch in Mesquite and the boys got to play some arcade games.

We wandered around soaking up the sun. We went to our favorite stop to feed ducks and geese.

Its the perfect time of year to hike around Virgin River Gorge. Its so pretty in its own way. Kolby had a blast pretending he was on the beach. He tried to bury himself in sand.

There are just enough rocks for the boys to be able to climb to their hearts content.

And a river with unlimited supplies of rocks for throwing in / skipping. We all took turns being "the leader" finding new trails along the river. Kolby is a wild man he is hard to keep up with the way he can scramble over the rocks.

At dinner we asked Luke what his favorite part of the day had been. He said "finding sticks and rocks by the river". Its funny you just never know what is going to fascinate a child.

Happy Ground Hogs day!!!

Meet our new addition

Calli the barn cat.

We have a mutual agreement that all new animal additions have to be approved by both adult members of the household. We however made no provisions for cats that just show up and make their home in our barn. The best part about this story is that Dew knows for a fact that I had nothing to do with bringing this cat home. He's knows if I had, the cat would be sleeping in our room every night. I would have brought that cat straight into the house (which I may have tried to do a few days ago but she just ran back outside) and never placed her out in the barn..... yep I'm off the hook. Well sort of... after a week of seeing her out there I did start feeding her. Its winter and COLD outside. And you may have noticed the name "Calli" well I had to call her something ;)

She is the sweetest cat. She is not feral, she just loves to be petted. (and frankly is much nicer then our cat that lives in doors and only likes Dewey) We are guessing that because we live out in the country someone drove out and just dropped her off and she found her way to the barn.

So add one more cat to our list of animals who share our little farm with us :)

Happy Birthday Luke

Our little Luke is 5. WOW I can't believe how time flies. I'm in shock that he is 5. (I'm starting to understand that this is how mothers think, I'll be in shock when he is 11, 23 , and 49 :)

He had a fun filled birthday. We took cupcakes and I spent the day with him at preschool. Grandma and Grandpa came over to share his Handy Manny birthday cake. Then Dewey, Luke Kolby and I went to see the new chipmunks movie. (Luke's choice)

But by far the nest was going skiing on Saturday. He was so excited was his very first time hitting the slopes.

It was one of those perfect Utah days for skiing. Sun shining fresh snow, we couldn't ask for more. Steve and Kianna came down for the day to join us.

This is Dew and Luke and Steve on the snow board.

Luke had NO fear, not of the lift not of the hills not of going fast. In fact just the opposite, he wanted to go faster and didn't want to take the time to learn how to stop or turn as that would only slow him down. Dew is a MUCH better skier then I am so he had the pleasure of teaching and skiing with Luke most of the day.

As you can see the ground is nearly flat here so Luke is working on his "french fry" stance

A great practice area for him but he was frustrated by not being able to go fast.

Dewey and I were able to get a few runs in with Steve's help watching Luke. It was wonderful!!!! It felt so good to race down the hills with such beautiful weather and scenery, a perfect day.
And of course we had to spend some time hanging out on the deck with hot chocolate.

Happy Birthday my baby boy!!! You amaze me every day.