More Family Pics

All the Wardrop cousins & husbands

The WHOLE Wardrop fam was in town. The only people missing were our missionaries, Dallin & Chase.

Life

I've been thinking lately about how life is just plain ol' crazy sometimes. I look at blogs of friends and think, "man, her life looks perfect. They have everything going for them!" And then I look at my own blog and it, too, seems like we have no troubles. We tend to only share the good things-- which is fine, because who wants to read about something bad? But my friends, I'm here to tell you that our life is not perfect. We don't just go on vacations and take fun pictures all day long. No. We have a real life, too. So, I'm committing myself to blog more about real life, rather than just sharing pictures of my cute kids.

...

Ok, so I just wrote a really long post about how "real" our life is and when I was done, I reread it and decided no one wanted to read about that. Lets just say that it involved my attempt at being a good mom by taking my kids to see Rio, kids running up and down the aisle-- not caring about the movie, then hitting up the sales at Borders, waiting in long lines, getting out of line to go potty (only to be too late), changing Brody's diaper while Brynlee LOCKS herself in the bathroom, me climbing under the bathroom stall on the dirty floor to unlock the door for angry customers also waiting in line to use the bathroom, and having to carry two screaming kids all the way to the 2nd to last parking space at the mall while my arms are on fire. See? Life is not always so glamorous.

Hawaii

I apologize in advance for the picture overload. I just couldn't narrow it down. We had so much fun in Hawaii a couple weeks ago. It was great to spend time with family in paradise!!

Waimea Falls

Waimea Bay

Trent has been in Hawaii for the past couple months, so it was fun to meet up with him again. We've missed Uncle Trent!!

Turtle Bay

Brynlee & Papa

We were able to go to the temple while visiting Laie. You can tell how much the people missed going to the temple during the 2 years of renovation when it was closed. Our session was packed!

(We were having a slightly "off" day and couldn't manage to take a normal picture.)

Polo Match

All of the sibs went skydiving. The Airfield was right by our beach house, so we were able to watch them all fall out of the sky from our back yard. I think this one is Trevor.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Brody got swept away by a giant wave. Riley had to run after him and scoop him up by his legs. So scary! The poor kid got a huge gash on his tummy and was scared of the ocean for the rest of the trip.

Riley, oh Riley. This is what happens when you don't let your wife help you with sunscreen. He used one of those sunscreen sticks and made this cute pattern on his forehead. I'm not sure what he was thinking... that it would "blend"???

One day we went on a hike to Manoa Falls. It was a beautiful hike, but it poured rain the entire time! The kids were such troopers. Bryn kept telling us she was "coldy". I had to hide under a tree to take this picture so my camera wouldn't get wet.

Sea Life Park was definitely a highlight of the trip for the kids. Bryn was in heaven, and even Brody seemed to enjoy himself.

The setting of the Park was gorgeous...

Every time the sea lions made their little ''bark" noise, Brynlee would put her hand on hear ear and say "Mom, you hear that?"

We had a great time. Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful trip. We enjoyed every minute of it! We love you guys!

Aloha 'Oe

Silly Sleepers

I went in to check on Brody a the other day and found this:

I thought he was still awake and sitting up. Poor kid. And yes-- that's Bryn's pink taggie blanket that he has become quite attached to. I tried making him a blue one, but he doesn't like it nearly as much.

That very same day I found Brynlee like this:

She was in the middle of eating a PB&J when she crashed. I had to dig the sandwich out of her mouth before I transferred her to her bed. She was so tired she couldn't even finish chewing!

TWO!!

We had a little family birthday party for Brynlee last night.

This girl sure got spoiled!!

Thanks fam! We love you!

July 1, 2011

8:16am

July 1, 2010

8:16am

July 1, 2009

(just after) 8:16am

We're so grateful for our sweet Brynlee Bear! She sure keeps us on our toes.

I love her smile, her laugh, her love of books, Brody, and currently all things Elmo/Abby/Sesame Street. I love how she knows what she wants, but is sometimes too sweet and kind to take it from anyone. I love it when she looks at me and says "I love you, mom" for no reason at all. I love her little lisp. I love how she sits quietly before eating until we say a prayer (she's good at reminding us). I love how she thinks it's her responsibility to tell me when Brody has a "stinky bum". And I (secretly) love when she comes into our room at 3:00am and says "I hold you mom." Sure, she sleeps like a clock with limbs flailing all over the place, but she's a great snuggler!

Happy Birthday Goose! We love you!

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara was beautiful. It was so nice to get out of the heat and enjoy some time together. Our schedules have been so crazy busy lately-- it was a much needed vacation!

It was great to have Tess & Brad come too. Bryn & Brody LOVE them!...and we do too :)

We headed over to Kid's World... probably one of the coolest public parks I've ever been to. It was huge! Bryn wanted to go play, so I followed her up to one of the slides. She took one look at me, then (in her sweetest voice), she yelled over to Uncle Brad, "Bad-- Come up here with me!" Yup. Mom is no fun and she's got Uncle Brad around her finger!

Across the street they had a pond with tons of turtles, fish & ducks. Bryn was in heaven!

P.S. I wish things like this grew in Arizona...