LAST WINTER TRIP TO QUARRY

As always Park City in the winter was absolutely amazing. There is just something about driving up the canyon and looking at the snow covered mountains after a long flight that just soothes my soul. Like I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I get that anytime we're there, and this one was no exception.

Since I am writing this post WAY after the date and I was considerably sleep deprived at the time, most of the trip was a blur, but there were a couple definite stand out moments for me.

First off, Campbell is crazy. This is not a huge surprise to anyone, but I still wasn't expecting this one. We were all sitting in the living room catching up when we heard the door close behind us. We looked out to see Campbell making a mad dash through the deep snow for the trampoline. I started to shake my head when I realized he wasn't wearing a jacket, gloves, hat, nothing, just some jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I figured, well that'll be a lesson he's going to learn real quick. We all sat in the warmth and stared out at him and after about 30 seconds waiting for him to turn around and head back when I heard my dad say, "I think he left his shoes in here". Now the maternal panic set in. I jumped up and ran over to the door and sure enough his Batman shoes were just sitting by the door. I starting yelling at him to come in and he tredged back through the snow to me with the biggest smile on his face. Not even remotely bothered by the hypothermia and frostbite that was surely setting in. Just happy to be in the snow. Knucklehead.

Since Walker was only 10 weeks old on this trip, I was on a pretty tight leash. Most of the fun being had was while I was nursing Walker, or trying to catch up on sleep. Richie and Papa even took Campbell skiing on the bunny hill for the first time and although I missed it at least Richie filmed a little bit for me. However, I was able to steal a very special moment with my big boy courtesy of Jenny. I put Wyatt down for a nap and she watched Walker while I slipped out to the lake with Campbell. It was completely frozen so we strapped on our ice skates and went out. It was a mess. Neither of us could walk (or skate for that matter) and we were slipping all over the place. We laughed our heads off. It was overcast and snowing and we had a blast holding hands while trying to skate and catching snowflakes on our tongues. To this day it is one of my best parenting memories.

Here are some pictures from our last trip winter trip to the Quarry Mountain house.

Walker's first flight!

Campbell and Wyatt getting ready for a sledding ride behind the ATV

They loved it! Especially when we went off roading over the snowbanks.

At the tubing hill. Pouring rain but we couldn't care less.

Campbell and Wyatt playing in the snow.

Sledding back wards down the hill. Goofball.

Here's the video of Campbell's first time skiing. Thanks Papa for helping out!

VOLCANO

I realize this is a super random post for someone who post so rarely, but since this little guy has lasted the test of time I think I need to formerly introduce Volcano to the rest of the family. Here it goes.

So, last year Campbell was in the "Penguin" class at school. The Penguin teachers were loving, kind and patient and we loved watching Campbell grow during his year with them. Perhaps the most significant thing that happened during this year was when he brought home the class pet... Volcano. They named him in class and each student brought him home, took pictures with him and then filled out a journal about what they did during their time together. Volcano couldn't have come at a better time. Walker was a couple weeks old and and Campbell's teachers knew that he was struggling with the adjustment of becoming a big brother again so they let Campbell bring him home over Christmas break which gave us three weeks with Volcano instead of the normal one. The bond was instant. They were best buddies. Volcano went EVERYWHERE with us. And then... we lost him. I almost died. Like any terrible pet owner, I immediately went on ebay and ordered a new one praying it would arrive before school started back up. I found him approx. 12 hours later inside the Batman cave and all was good in the world. The day arrived that Volcano needed to go back to school and Campbell cried, three times. The "ebay Volcano" arrived 2 days after school started back up with a note explaining that he was the other Volcano's little brother (also named Volcano) and his older brother thought that of all the kids in the class Campbell took the best care of him so he sent his little brother to live with Campbell forever. His life was complete again. Volcano became a part of our family. Campbell sleeps with him, travels with him and he asks me to kiss Volcano good night too. We have since acquired a whole family of penguins, but you can still find Volcano within an arms reach of Campbell most of the time. Here are some pictures of our smallest and most well behaved family member.

 Buckled in with Campbell in the car seat.

Meeting Santa.

Volcano checking looking at the Volcano at Benihana's

This is a portion of our growing penguin family. From left to right "Penguin" (creatively named by Wyatt), "Volcano", "Snowby", and "Little Penguin".

Campbell's amazing Penguin Teachers, Miss Betty and Miss Betsy (I still can't get it straight).

Somehow Volcano scored a ride on a private jet to Chicago. Lucky penguin.

I invite you all to a little challenge. Since Volcano is often in the background of pictures, please join me in a game of "Where's Volcano?" on any future blog post ;)

HOLIDAYS 2011

In all honesty the holidays this year were a bit of a blur. Blame it on sleep deprivation. I'll try to do my best to recap. First off we were SOOOO lucky to have my dad, Jenny, Caden, Carson, Colton, Cody, Stephanie and June come visit us for the holidays. Jenny and Colton came out early to help and boy did they ever. A couple days later the rest of the crew flew in for Thanksgiving. It was a packed house with 3 babies! We had a ton of fun and a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving dinner, but didn't take a single picture of the occasion.

Richie was able to get access to the 777 simulator since the training department was closed for Thanksgiving.
Here's Carson playing the coolest video game ever!

Caden taking his turn behind the controls.

Campbell showing daddy how it's done :)

We went on a hay covered wagon pulled by a tractor to pick our Christmas tree.
It was such a fun time but fa-reezing!

Richie stepped in for mama at Campbell's Christmas party at school.
Here is their gingerbread house masterpiece.
 

Christmas performance at school.

A couple Starley's and a couple of Barrera's cuddled up in the back of the car watching 'Chipwrecked' at the drive in theater. All my "Grease" fantasies were fulfilled.

Sadly this was the best picture we could get this year. This was take 72.

Snuggle session.

Walker when he was at the age when he could sleep anywhere at anytime. I miss those days...

FAMILY OF FIVE

So without doubt the best thing that happened in 2011 was a tiny little bundle named Walker Reed Starley. He was born on November 6, 2011 at 5:36 a.m.  He weighed in at 5lbs 14oz and was 19" Long. His delivery was WAY easier than that of his predecessors especially considering we had to drive 1 hour to get to the hospital and coordinate childcare for his anxiously awaiting big brothers. He has been an absolute blessing and wonderful addition to the family. BIG thank you to all of our friends and family that helped us during this adjustment. Without further adieu...

So excited that the Doctor isn't sending me home with false labor again.
" I get to hold my baby tonight!!!"

Getting the party started.

Admiring my creation. Birth really is a miracle.
He was born with a full head of hair, the longest eye lashes you've ever seen, and a set of chicken legs I was anxious to fatten up.

Trying to see through the eye goop. 

Weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 14 ounces. My tiny little peanut.

Footprints

Proud parents holding our new little man.
Side story: When Walker was born he came out crying and mad as a wet hornet.  Richie and I started talking to comfort him and as soon as he heard our voices, he completely stopped. It was amazing.

Snuggling my sweet bundle.

Sleeping like an angel.

Being a big brother is exhausting.
Wyatt passed out on the hospital bench/bed with Richie and Campbell was sleeping with me on my hospital bed.  

First picture of our new family of five.

Wyatt kissing his new little bro.

Campbell snuggling baby Walker.

Wyatt loved jumping in the baby's moses carrier.

I thought it might be nice to have some pictures that weren't taken on my iPhone so we hired a photographer to snap some shots of the little bambino and the rest of the family. Isn't he the cutest???

SUMMER 2011

We weren't completely unpacked and settled in in Texas when we decided that we needed to leave. Immediately. Not forever but for the summer. It was an abnormally hot summer in TX which is already extremely hot. And I was extremely pregnant. Not a good combination. We headed to Florida for the month of July. Richie's parents have a place in a great complex so we rented a unit there and so did my sister in law Katie so we were fortunate to have a lot of family there on our summer vacation.

Richie loves surfing and was eager to share his love with Campbell, they spent a lot of time surfing together.

One of my favorite pictures of the trip. Richie was pushing Campbell up over a wave.

Richie, Preston, Campbell, Wells and Wyatt (hidden) playing some beach football.

  

Wyatt showing of his muscles.

Lunch break!

My second favorite picture of the trip.

Campbell dumping mud on his unsuspecting little brother.

Digging a giant mud puddle and rolling in it.

Father and son going for a stroll on the beach.

Wyatt got in on the surfing action too.

One of the coolest things about going to Florida are the turtles. Wyatt saw this guy when we were cleaning off the beach gear. He kept saying "Todo! Todo! Todo!" and we were all busy and not paying attention and then I finally turned around to see him pointing at a turtle about 3 feet away.

Wyatt takes his sandcastle building very seriously. 

Starfish.

We found an octopus!

"It's slippery mama"

Putting the starfish back in the ocean.

We rented a pontoon and took it out on the "river" and in the canals.

We parked the pontoon on a nearby island and floated around and went on a little nature walk.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that had an old boat inside. 

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. 

Campbell, Preston and Wells hiked all 213 very steep steps to the top.

Somehow my out of shape, pregnant body made it to the top.

Looking down the lighthouse. It was actually much harder going down than going up. It was so steep, and hot. I almost passed out and Richie had to carry Preston and Wells because it was scary climbing down.
I wanted to hop on his back too!

 UTAH TRIP

On our trip to Utah we celebrated Campbell's 4th Birthday. He is majorly obsessed with Batman  so that was the theme. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the party, but caught a couple of the kids running around in their capes. 

Super hero's have big muscles.

LOVE this picture. 

Riding the Cow at "COWS" on Main Street.

My dad's sweet new boat.

Me and my boys getting ready to hop on the boat.

Campbell was the best little flag boy. He took his job so seriously and before we could even say anything to him he shot the flag up in the air to keep the swimmer safe, so cute.

Richie took the boys tubing for the first time.
Although their expressions don't really convey this, they had a blast. 

BACK IN TEXAS

This is a random picture, but I had to post it. It is NOT Wyatt, it is Richie as a boy.
We were unpacking some boxes that Richie's parents are storing with us and we came across this bad boy. What a cutie!

Wyatt being a goofball.

Discovering the new park near us.

They have these splash pads in The Woodlands... and they're FREE. I couldn't believe it. It's like a mini water park. They're soooooo cool and the kids love them! Anything to beat the Texas heat.

Another view. You can see there's a whole other section behind. SO COOL!

This picture makes me smile. The boys were "Helping" daddy change the faucet. Campbell was tucked under there too offering his assistance. Sometimes 'helpers' aren't really that helpful.

Campbell's 1st day at his new school. He LOVED it.

He is in the "Penguin" class and so they made penguin hats. 

Boys sorting through their candy after some fun trick-or-treating.

Campbell and Wyatt in their glow in the dark skeleton pajamas watching a Halloween movie. 

Pretty good right? Take into consideration that we did them in about 20 minutes in a frantic attempt to pull a fun Halloween out of our butts. We had spent the whole night before in the hospital with false labor.  

Happy 2nd Birthday Wyatt!!!!
Taking his new tricycle for a spin.

I'm sorry I couldn't make you a special cake :(
You are an amazingly special little boy that keeps us laughing non-stop!


Here are some fun things about Wyatt:
He is extremely verbal but what ever he can't say gets an (un) added to the end. Here are some examples of his new language including his new nickname for his big brother:
Sawgan Bogan (Sorry Campbell), Dogan (dog), Dadun (daddy), Soogan (smoothie) and Gaga (Helicoptor).

He loves Battle Force 5 and Batman (mainly because his big brother does). Campbell is by far the coolest person he knows. He is amazingly flexible, and coordinated. I always say he is going to be a stuntman because he is constantly flying through the air, jumping, climbing, defying gravity etc. and always manages to fall gracefully with a tuck and roll technique.