Cooking Lesson

Last weekend we made candy canes with Darrin and Aliese. It was fun. Now I finally know what child birth is like. You go through the pain and hardship of labor and have a sweet, sweet reward at the end. You see, it turns out to make candy canes you have to hold and shape molten blobs of melted sugar. It burns. Once they are formed you let them cool and then you can enjoy them. Just like child birth.

Aliese also helped Amy make an Angel pecan pie. Yum!

We love to get all Dressed up!

The title of this post says it all. We love to pretend to be anyone but ourselves. Take a look at the following pictures and see if you can spot the Warbys. We are all there so look until you find us all. The first person to do so will win a year supply of blood pudding.





Also this past Friday we dressed up the kids and sent them around to the neighbor's houses to ask for candy. We were delighted to learn that this coincided with Halloween, so no one thought we were too weird. Here are the fabulous costumes which were worn by the children of the family. Amy refused to post Nathan's costume for fear of embarrassment in the community as well as a possible visit from Children and Family Services. But she still made me write this post.

Saturday is a Special Day

We had loads of fun this past Saturday, October the 25th. It was special in so many ways. First of all, the family loaded up in the old mini van and headed to Oliver! rehearsal. For those of you not in the loop, we are participating as a family in this years production of Oliver! for the Dickens Festival in St. George UT. It is a fun abbreviated version that will end up being about 1 hour long so as to fit the Dickens festivals atmosphere and requirements. We practise for it every Saturday morning until the first weekend in December when we perform at the Dixie Center in St. George UT. It should be fun. The rehearsals are coming along nicely, though we do not yet have any pics to post.

We also had fun after rehearsals as we had the pleasure of getting together with the Alan Warby Family to celebrate the 16th anniversary of our Matriarch's (Lorraine's) 39th birthday. It was a magical time. We had a barbecue at Lance and Janelle's house in their recently completed back yard. Every one was there. No one in the family was missing. It did seem a little less annoying than usual so maybe someone was missing. I don't know.... maybe it will come to me. Anyways, here are some pictures.



We half listened to and half watched the BYU game. It was fairly exciting as they eventually beat UNLV in a close contest. The kids ran around the cool new back yard and Mom opened her fabulous gifts from her loving children.

We ate these great hamburgers and hot dogs made by Lance on his grill and for dessert we ate Crowshaw's pies. There was a chocolate, a pumpkin, and a peach. So scrumptious.

Oh..... that's who was missing. Sorry Russ. (Amy made that "annoying" comment. I didn't know what she meant... honest.) Anyway moving on........

Saturday night was the Grand Gala Concert thingy at the Burns Arena that Shane sang at so we all went to listen and enjoy. Darrin and Aliese met us there too. There were a lot of choirs and dancers that performed from all over the area. Then it was Shane's turn. He was introduced as being born and raised in the St. George area. Huh. You learn something new every day. Then he performed and blew everyone else out of the water. He sang "The Unreachable Star". It was fantastic. When he was done everyone started chanting: "Shane, Shane, Shane" and people picked him up and carried him around the arena floor while the crowd went wild. Well, not really but he did get a nice rousing applause. I think the rest of the show went well but I don't know because we had to leave. We had kids to get to and everything. So, all in all, it was a pretty great Saturday.

Fabulous Farm Family Night!

OK... I know this looks familiar to all of you who have viewed Aliese's blog this week. None of my pictures turned out, so I stole theirs. Please forgive me.... it might not happen again.....

Yes this is our adorable Miranda doing the Chicken Dance. It was so cute when she shook her tail. She and Landon had a great time joining in on the kids dances. After that we were entertained by the Behunin sisters, (Andi Behunin was Mary in The Secret Garden with us). I have known them for many years. 10 years ago I was in The Sound of Music with them, Andi played Gretel, and their Mom was a nun with me. They have grown to be very beautiful, talented young women. We also saw my cousin Karen and her family at the farm and were able to get on the same waggon ride over to the maze. Landon's favorite part was the new tire swing that they added this year. He gave everyone 5 as he rode around the circle. If you read Aliese's blog then you are already aware that the farm is equipped with a wonderful little petting zoo and great playground. Miranda liked the corn slide. We witnessed a little girl go down face first on her belly and end up with a mouth full of corn. It was hilarious!

Yes... I should have left this page off. You don't see the backside of yourself very often, (why has no one mentioned how non- flattering those pants are? It's the pants fault, it IS...) and what is up with Nathan?!?! If only I could have just taken the cute one of Miranda and Aliese and left the rest off.

We let Byron and Preston go together in the maze and the rest of us followed Landon in circles. We met up with Byron and Preston a few times and when we were all done wandering in the dark we turned toward the large light and found our way out. The maze is probably harder in the day time without the landmark light showing the exit. All in all it was a pleasant night. If you haven't had a chance to go... I would recommend Monday for the family night discount.

I will give credit where credit is due: Scrapbook pages and pictures courtesy of Aliese Fry. Thank you!!!!

I love Sundays!

Today has been a much needed day of rest. After pushing the snooze button 3 times on my alarm this morning, and reminding myself that I could sleep later, I dragged myself out of bed and made it through the morning routine of getting everyone ready for 9-o-clock church. We made it with 2 minutes to spare. I did almost fall asleep during our dry council speaker and can't even tell you what the subject of the talk was. However was rewarded for my efforts to come to church during Young Women's. We had two guest speakers come to talk about their experiences with service. Bro. Holt had some wonderful thoughts and suggestions like: It's not about what trials and experiences we have in life, but how we react to them. He also shared some stories about the purgatory where he served for 4 years as branch president. Sis. Campbell, our favorite sister in the ward, told the girls her conversion story which is so amazing. She is a fabulous speaker! I love filling my spiritual cup on Sundays. I also love napping on Sundays. I took a four hour nap today!!! I know... how did I manage with four children? Well, Nathan put a movie on and kept them quiet. I just hope it was enough sleep to get me through the week. I also spent two hours updating myself on every ones blogs and now am updating my own. Next I will spend the rest of the day getting my house presentable for daycare tomorrow. Which, by the way, I have a new child starting tomorrow. Yay! One more spot filled.

A little update about the show. Preston did an amazing job during his opening night on Friday. Grandma and Grandpa Warby came to the matinee on Saturday to see him, and said they loved the show.

We had a crazy day on Saturday. We started the day with Oliver practice which Nathan and I had to leave to attend the funeral of a good friend's dad. My friend Andrea watched Miranda and Landon. She took them swimming, had corn dogs (which she said was the highlight of the day) and then took them to the rodeo parade. Thank you Andrea. We had a matinee and then an evening performance that day. Grandma and Grandpa Warby took the kids to the Dixie football game that night during our evening performance. Landon's class was given free tickets to the game and the college donated shirts to the kids. He was disappointed that we had a show that night and would not be able to attend the game. Thank you Alan and Lorraine for saving the day!! We are so grateful to all our friends and family that help out with our kids during shows. We know we couldn't do this without you!!!

Poor Preston... this is the downside of doing a show.

He will get up and sing for hundreds of people,

but Dad had to force him to hold still for a picture.

I don't get it! :-)

Opening Night!!

Yes, it's finally here! After many long weeks of practicing and one extremely long "H-E-double hockey sticks" week (otherwise known as tech week), we are ready to roll. I will take some pictures tonight of the amazing costumes and fun people in the show and hopefully have a little time again tomorrow to post them. In the meantime.... they made this poster out of pictures from last nights preview night. You can see the back of my head. :-)

Happy 4th Birthday Miranda

I know it's a little late, as her Birthday was on Sunday. I did start working on it last week, and just recently found the time to finish it up. If you watch it long enough... it eventually makes it through all 50 pictures (I don't know what I did wrong).

We love having our beautiful Miranda as a part of our family, and just wanted to share some moments from the last four years. Enjoy!!

Much ado about......

Everything!!!

We are having a great time with "The Secret Garden". We are rehearsing most nights now,(Nate, Preston, and I), in preparation for opening night on September 18th. As I mentioned before... Preston is the understudy for "Colin". Originally he was only going to perform Saturday matinees, but they thought the understudies were doing such a fabulous job, so they added a few performances. He is now performing every Friday night, and rotating Saturday shows. On Sept. 20th and Oct. 4th he is doing the matinee. And on Sept. 27th and October 11th he is performing the evening show. It runs from September 18th to October 11th. We would love to see you all there!! :-)



We were encouraged to go audition for "Oliver", so last Saturday Byron, Preston and I made our appearance at the audition. I know.... what were we thinking?!? It's just that we love "playing" so much, we just couldn't resist. It won't be as time consuming as "The Secret Garden". It is for the Dicken's Festival in December, and practices are only on Saturdays. Preston is "Oliver", Byron is a pickpocket, and I got the part of "Nancy". They didn't have enough OLD men audition, so they talked Nate into being the bad guy "Bill Sykes". I think we'll have some fun with this one. I mean... we have fun with all the shows we do, but there is just something special when your husband gets to be the bad guy!



I finally got my daycare up and running. I only have 4 children enrolled right now, and am trying to get the word out more so I can fill up completely. I am loving every minute of it!!! I am a better mom now that I have to follow all the state rules all day. :-) I never made sure my children had two different fruits and/or vegetables with their lunch each day. And washing hands before and after every meal was never a priority before. Now we wash our hands ALL day long, not just after using the bathroom. The days go by so fast as we follow my schedule that changes activities every 15 to 30 min. And the kids are adorable! This is definitely my thing.



Nate is still singing with "Uncalled Four" (a men's quartet), and recently went with them to a rest home to perform for a family home evening. It was very cute when the last chord sounded to their last song, and the lady in front of me turned to her neighbor and replied: "that was flat". I even got it on video. :-)



The boys are back in school, and Miranda starts preschool on Tuesday. Byron is in 7th, Preston 5th and Landon is a big 1st grader this year. He loves eating school lunch, and is doing great with all day! Preston is doing early morning orchestra (playing the Viola) and is on Student Council. Byron just got a job with morning announcements doing the technical stuff, like the sound board, and is happy to be back to the school that all his old elementary school friends attend. And I am just happy that I am not driving him two hours each day (he takes a bus to this school). I attended S.E.P's this week and just love their teachers this year!! I miss the kids, but am keeping busy enough that they are home before I know it.



So.... those are all my excuses for taking so long in between posts, (I have had a few complaints that I have neglected the blogger world ;-p) I hope this finds everyone well and happy. We love you all!! It's a fine, fine life!!! :-)

Fun! Fun! Did I Mention Fun?!?

With a lot of family in town, we all decided to go have fun at the swimming pool. They wouldn't let us put the boat in so we decided to go to the lake instead. Feel free to peruse the following pictures. Some of the pictures were taken at Jumpin' Jacks, a local hangout for young hooligans.

Some of these photos were taken during a trip to the Rosenbruch Wild Animal Museum. The kids had a lot of fun.

Pioneer Children Sang As They....

Pioneer Day. The day when we Utahns get together to celebrate and honor our intrepid forefathers. Some offer prayers of thanks. Others gather with their families and renew geneological connections. Still others shave their heads and participate in kazoo bands. The Warby family would be among the.... well, just look at these pictures.




Following our Pioneer day festivities, we (along with our fantastic red-headed nephew) headed northward in true pioneer fashion. If you think about it, a Ford Windstar does somewhat resemble a covered wagon, don't you think? Well, with gas prices the way they are, we may have been better off pulling it up by hand or at least hitching the kids up to some kind of harness.
Anyway, we drove to Orem where we were put up by my sympathetic and kind brother/sister-in-law Shane and Tracy. We had a blast with them playing games and going out to dinner. They introduced us to the coolest movie theater at jordan commons near SLC. We saw Journey to the center of the earth 3-D. The effects were cool and exciting. Worth seeing in the theater. The next morning we got up early to hike up to Timpanogos Caves. It was a hard steep trail but it was very worth it. The caves were cool (literally) and we had a lot of fun. See pictures.

After hiking we went to Seven Peaks water park. It was very hot and very crowded. The kids did have fun though and it was a good learning experience. We learned how to cook feet on hot cement.

Afterward we drove home to Washington and collapsed into bed. The next day (saturday) we went to SGMT's HONK! It was an excellent play. Amy's brother Darrin played the lead role and did a masterful job. Afterward, we met Grandma and Grandpa Warby at Blue Bunny for some ice cream. Very yummy.