Happy 6th Birthday Abbi!

My baby is 6! Abbi was PUMPED to have her party at Chuck E Cheese's this year! It was her first party away from home. Of coarse there were tons of kids and they had a blast. The second that we walked into the place Abbi and Reese took off to play on anything, and everything. These were the only pictures I was able to take in all of the madness. Hopefully all of the other kids had just as much fun. I tried to remind her to find each friend that came, and play something with each one of them, but in the end I don't think any of the kids cared that much, not when you are at Chuck E Cheese's!! Abbi told me it was her favorite birthday party so far! We LOVE you so much Abbi, you are so much fun! Reese and Brynn are lucky that you are their big sister! You are independent in so many ways, like wanting to make your own breakfast, preparing Reese's bath for her, picking out clothes in stores that you prefer, reading all of Green Eggs and Ham by yourself, the list goes on. But I'm so happy that you still want to snuggle with me, you are so helpful with Brynn, and you just adore your daddy!! You are a thinker, and you often times worry about things  that a 6 year old shouldn't worry about (like if all of the doors are locked). You are beautiful, and a great friend, a great student, and a sweetheart, WE LOVE YOU!! 

Nice Thighs. You Don't Hear That Everyday!

Those are some impressive thighs, and cheeks! Brynn, you are so stinkin' cute, it will be sad when all of those rolls disappear and your cheeks go away, but I will love them while they're here!!            My favorite things about her cute legs are the tiny size 3 feet at the end of them! 

Sparkles

Do you notice anything new? Anything sparkly, and pink? So last week we ask the girls if they both want to get their ears pierced. Why? Why not. Abbi wants to, but is deathly afraid of needles, and she knows that it will hurt, even if just for a second. Reese just does, and worries about the consequences later. So Abbi says she wants to get her ears pierced, so of coarse Reese jumps on board and away we go to the mall (knowing with 99% certainty that Abbi will freak herself out and NOT get her ears pierced). After much back and forth of who will be first Reese finally says, "Oh fine, I'll go" (her favorite thing to say right now). So she gets prepped, dots on ears, and then both ears are pierced at the same time... Then I realize Abbi should NOT have watched! After a few seconds Reese starts to cry. She said it hurt a little, but the sound of the piercing guns scared her. After about 10 seconds she all but forgot what had happened, but that moment was enough to convince Abbi that piercing her ears was not the right decision, and nothing would change her mind! The thing is we don't even care if she ever gets her ears pierced, so we decided that we will NEVER ask her again if she wants her ears pierced again, she can come to us. As for Reese, she has been great with her ears, and likes to tell people, " Look I got my ears apier".

Our Arizona Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Arizona, and we had so much fun! Laura and Isaac let us stay with them, and it was nonstop fun for all of us. When we came home it took my girls a few days to get used to not playing with at least 2 extra friends every second of the day! 

So here are a few of the things that we did in Arizona. We went shopping of coarse, and here we are at a play area in the mall. Abbi and Reese really wanted me to take these pictures of them!

 

 













We spent some quality time playing or watch guitar hero. Do you see how excited Abbi is to be watching? I played guitar hero for the second time on this trip, and really like it. 

Josh, Amanda, their kids, Laura, Isaac, their kids, and our family went to see the Mesa temple lights. My camera doesn't take the best night pictures, but they were very beautiful and impressive. There were so many people looking at the lights we had to wait in lines at times, or file through smaller walkways one at a time. We really loved going to see the temple lights!

I need to get better at having Brynn in photos like this. She is always hanging out in her stroller, and misses out in some cute pictures like this.

They had scenes set up all over the temple grounds, scenes that led up to the saviors birth. Abbi loved this scene of baby Jesus in a manger. There was a big bright star lit up above the manger.

Isn't it great that they can be outside in t-shirts...in December. In Utah the only time that happens is in the house!

Amanda's mom was so nice to invite us over on Christmas eve to have dinner with them. We didn't just eat dinner though, she had all sorts of activities for the kids to play, they frosted and decorated Christmas trees cones, and Santa even came and gave every kid a present! The kids were fully entertained, thanks to Amanda and her mom!

Decorating foam boards with snowmen and accessories.

The kids are waiting for Santa to come.

Luckily Abbi asked Santa for what she had written on her list, a My Little pony.

Reese didn't want to go anywhere near Santa. Too bad because he had a great gift ready for her. Later she would at least stand near him for pictures, but of coarse my battery died and I don't have those pictures.

Brynn on the other hand had no problem at all with Santa. She was so cute, she would play with his beard, and snuggled right up to him. Santa liked her quite a bit!

And this is where my camera died. the rest of our trip was great also! We had dinner on Christmas day at Laura and Isaac's, and it was delicious! Then on Friday we all went over to Marlissa's. Andy's dad and Dana came out for the weekend, so it was great to see them. Reese loves her papa! Overall it was a great vacation. If it weren't for the 10 1/2 drive we would visit way more often:) We love visiting with Andy's family, and they all made the trip very easy and fun, thanks!   

It's Coming! She'll be walking before we know it!

Look at my big girl! In this first picture it looks like she is standing with no support, but that is just because of the angle. She was so excited to figure out how to stand up on her own. It's kinda tricky to sit her down anymore. Brynn had her 9  month appointment a few weeks ago, at 9 1/2 months, and she is growing so much. She weighs 20 lbs!! All of my girls hover around the average mark for their height, which surprises us, but the doctor is no longer concerned that Brynn isn't gaining enough weight! Go Brynn!  

SNOW

We have had alot of snow in the last week, so I had to catch a few pictures of Abbi and Reese playing in it. This is one of the great things about Utah, we get to play in snow in our own backyard. My girls ask to play in the snow 2 or 3 times a day, and so we take 10 minutes bundling them both up, then they bounce out the door to play. Without fail each time they come back in from playing in the snow, they ask for hot cocoa. Maybe that's why they want to go out so many times... smart girls!

The Barrons' in a Year

My friend gave me the great idea of writing our family newsletter on our blog rather than sending one out in every Christmas card, and so I thought I would start something new. Well, actually writing a newsletter is new altogether for me, so I'll give it a shot. 

This has been an eventful year in our house. In February of 2008 we finished building our first house. Building a house was exciting and scary, but well worth it! In the same month Megan received her teaching certificate from BYU, and most exciting of all Brynn was born. So far all of our girls have been born on holidays, and Brynn was no exception. She was our leap day baby!

Abbi started both soccer and kindergarten this year, and she loves them both! She reads to Reese and Brynn constantly, and her writing improves everyday. She discovered that she loves soccer, and that she is quite good. Reese is a fully energetic, and very independent little 3 year old. She is in a do it myself phase, and our help is only wanted at her request. Brynn  changes daily, but that is to be expected from a 10 month old. She crawls, sits herself up, pulls herself up, babbles, and is even learning to throw fits. A house full of girls can be a handful, but it is so much fun!

Megan has discovered a passion for kickboxing. Being done with school has offered her much more time for both her kids and herself, and there are many talents she hopes to expand and explore. Andy is working for Verizon where he has been for the past two years. However, this summer he and a friend decided to start a clothing business together, and they have been working since to get the business up and running. The business is called Policy clothing, and they just received their first large shipment of shirts. Andy is so excited for this new opportunity, and we hope this is something that will grow, and stay in our lives for a long time to come.

So this is us, and here we are. The end of the year has come. We are looking forward to another year of unknowns, and we will try to live each day better than the day before. Until next year have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

                       With Love,

                            Andy, Megan, Abbi, Reese, and Brynn 

My 3 Girls!

My friend Karen took our family pictures last month, and here are just a few from the shoot. I'm having problems importing the pictures, or I would have 50 pictures posted already!!! Thank you so much Karen for taking our families pictures! the odds were not in our favor this day. Daylight savings had just happened, and here we are taking pictures at 4:30 on an overcast day, when it gets dark at 5:30, so overcast wasn't ideal. Yet, Karen still took our pictures, and they turned out beautiful! Here are my cuties, thanks again Karen...you are Fabulous!!!                                                                Brynn  9 months old
                                                                 Abbi almost 6 years old
                                                                   Reese 3 years old

Family Night In

Tonight was so much fun. We had a night devoted to the girls. Whatever they wanted to do, we did. We ordered some pizza, bought some sugar cookies, I made some cream cheese frosting, and we had a party. I suggested that we decorate a few cookies for other people, maybe? Abbi and Reese thought it might be better to decorate a cookie a day for themselves, and do something else for neighbors. 

After pizza and cookies we played a little mother may I, or father may I (of coarse), red light green light, and some simon says. To top off the night the girls wanted to jump on daddy, and wrestle with him, and end it with a horsey ride. Even though Brynn can't walk, she crawled as fast as she could to be with her sisters, and when we played red light green light she got first class service being carried everywhere she went. Overall, this was a really fun night, and the girls felt pretty special being able to make all of the choices! 

Yeah, I know...My mouth is HUGE in this picture!

Lucky for us the Parnells come to Utah every few months because of family that Ricki has here. They have been great friends of ours for years, and it's so nice to be able to see them so often. Usually when they come out I don't take pictures, so I wanted to capture a few precious moments...
Its crazy how large my mouth is in this picture!!! Ricki was NOT wanting to be in a picture at all, but it has been way too long since I have taken a picture so here we have it. 

Abbi was looking through some old photos, and came across some pictures of Brig and her when they were tiny kids, and she was so happy to learn that she has been friends with him since birth. I know most of these are crazy pictures, but sometimes it's more fun that way...looks like Reese is in the middle of a blink in this picture. ha ha, love it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Reese

Reese wanted a princess party, but she doesn't care about princesses. That is very like Reese. She doesn't really want things yet, so when I asked her what she wants for her birthday she told me candy. So, I put as much candy on her cake as I could, and along with her gift from us we gave her 2 packs of her own gum. Gum is her favorite thing in the world right now. 

Reese invited 8 friends to her party, and they had a tea party, made pretty necklaces, decorated cupcakes, and played. It was a very fun party, and Reese's 1st friend party. We love you Reese!!

Reese's Favorite Things

1. Gum

2. Nilla (Soy milk vanilla)

3. cartoons in the morning

4. Reading books by herself or with 

mommy, daddy, or Abbi.

5. Playing pretend with her ponies 

and dolls.

6. Nursery

7. Sitting on laps and snuggling

8. Throwing fits!!!

CLIMBER

I haven't had a climber yet, but sure looks like Brynn is going to be my climber. She hangs out on the bottom step most of the time, or if anyone is on the ground she prefers climbing on or over that person. 

TWILIGHT OPENING NIGHT!!!

Yeah for Twilight!! I love these books, so I was really excited to go to the opening night of Twilight. What was even more fun was going all out for it. We got to the movie theater 6 hours early, oh yeah baby! That's getting there at 6:00 p.m. for a 12:05 a.m. movie!! There were actually 5 of us...jenny came later, and we had so much fun having a girls night. So I was planning on getting a shirt to wear to the movie for months in advance, and then a few days before I started waffling, but I am so happy I did because then Karen and Trisa went and bought some also. We ordered take out, and roamed the mall a little bit, and played games, and ate snacks...I loved it. Did I love the actual movie??? WELL...Love, no. Like, yes. I am a pretty big Twilight nerd, so I was REALLY hoping they would stick to the book hard core, and of coarse it didn't, and after the movie was done I was thinking, no seriously there could be another hour and a half and I don't think I would have noticed. But, it was fun, and I since I was expecting it to be horrible it was way better than what I was expecting. Yeah  for Twilight, and this super fun night!                                          Here's Julie pretend making out with Edward.
Oh Edward. Ha Ha ha. Surprisingly I thought he was way better looking than I originally thought. 
We had to book it out of the store after the store clerk told us we weren't allowed to take pictures inside their store. We thought she was going to call mall security on us!
                                      It was so fun to just be dumb, and have fun with this!


                                          Middle, Middle. Right where we wanted to be!
     Great picture of karen, not so great of me, but this reminds me of our Maui pics, so had to add it.