The Man

Mmmmm mmm mmm mmm mmm. And, I'm not talking about the steaks. (But, they were excellent by the way.) So, thank you honey for grilling them and looking so damn good when you did it.

The pony tail was so 2 weeks ago.

As Connor would say, "Quinn has totally moved on to piggy tails. For real."

In the midst of a tantrum

OK, so maybe you just asked, "What happened to cause the tantrum?" And, if you did then I think it's pretty safe for me to guess that you do not have children. If you did, you would know that it could have happened for any number of reasons. Like, for instance maybe I told him to please put shoes on, stop poking his sister in the face, don't touch the fire hot grill, or that the sky is blue.

My little parrot

This is Connor "taking down" a popsicle. His words, not mine. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. Connor has a great vocabulary. This didn't come super early, genius like. But, he understands a lot of words and enjoys using them in his conversations. Most of this can be attributed directly to Preston.
From me he gets things like, "Take it down." "Who's a dumbass?" "THAT GUY JUST CUT YOU OFF." And, "Junk food is crap." I like to think of it as his pop culture education, it provides color to his personality. Some may call it garbage mouth, I violently disagree.

Screamin' and Yellin'

Quinn has taken to yelling at us. Some of you might say, "Um, that's crying and it's probably because she has needs."
Nope. It's definitely yelling. And, I think it's more like she has opinions and she wants us to hear them - LOUD AND CLEAR. Sometimes she will yell and then I walk up to her bouncy seat, ask her what the trouble is and she smiles at me and begins her regular chatter. I imagine that she was saying, "HEYYYYYYYYY YOUUUUUUUU. Get in here and listen to me, damn it. I have very important things to discuss with you. Like, why can't I have bananas every night? What's with the orange vegetables. And, green beans - might as well throw those away. They will not pass through these lips. Oh, and who's this beastly 4 year old and will he be staying with us long?"
Her needs are simple, feed me often and carry me around showing me interesting things. Don't think that you are going to get away with putting me in one of those devises (bouncy chair, jumperoo, high chair, exersaucer, swing, etc) and ignoring me. That will bring more yelling.

Quinn's First Pony

Pony TAIL that is. We picked her up from school on Friday and she was sporting her first "do". As you've seen from previous posts Quinn's hair doesn't necessarily need an elastic to make it stick up, sometimes it does it all on its own.

Hangin' with Joey

Connor's buddy Joey lives 3 houses down. He came over to hang with us on Saturday. It's pretty amazing how many times 2 boys can work the word "poop" into conversation.

Good Boy

Harley Barton gave us 11 great years. He came from very humble beginnings. Stephanie bought him on a farm near Blue Springs, Nebraska for $35, which had to be the biggest steal of all time. He spent the first year of his life living with five beautiful sorority girls in perhaps the nastiest rental house in Manhattan, KS. But he didn’t care. You see, Harley was a social guy. Hanging out with hot chicks was just his style. You might say he was the Hugh Heffner of Fremont Street. Or maybe it was Harley’s Angels. Either way, he was loved. And he learned to love back, even when Stephanie decided to marry me and move to Utah.

After a brief stay with Stephanie’s folks in Nebraska, we welcomed Harley to our new digs in Utah during the month of February, 1999. This began his transformation from farm dog to mountain dog. He learned to swim in the San Rafael River over Memorial Day weekend that very same year. And from then on, he was always keen on adventure, joining us on river trips, camping trips, hikes in the beautiful Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, and even casual strolls through Sugar House Park or Cottonwood Heights. In fact, at the first sight of camping gear, he would hop in the truck and refuse to get out. This was often problematic if we were packing up a day early.

Harley was also a good brother. The arrival of Connor in 2004 was a big blow, relegating Harley from “baby” to “dog” status. But he took it like a champ, and greeted us each day with unconditional love and enthusiasm. He had a similar reaction when Quinn was born. She was just starting to pay attention to him over the last few weeks.

Harley was very protective of Connor and Quinn. He developed this tendency where he would sleep in the hallway leading to the kids’ rooms. He would lay there all night, alternating between keeping watch and chasing rabbits in his sleep.

For me, Harley was my office mate. Every day for the last six years, if I’ve been in my office, Harley has been right there with me. He’s slept soundly through hundreds of conference calls, barked at the FedEx man during a few others, and politely demanded a scratch or a pat in the middle of dozens more. If Harley could talk, he could probably sell software. Because he’s been listening to it for a long, long time.

Harley was the best dog we’ve ever known. I don’t even pretend to believe that I’ll have a better one in this lifetime. While we are sad to see him go, and we weren’t ready to say goodbye, we’re certainly thankful for all of the good times we shared, all the memories we created, and for all of the love we were so blessed to receive from him.

Here’s to you, Harley. We love you. May you begin your never ending camping trip in the sky. Save a spot for us around the campfire.

You're just kidding

Yesterday I got home from the store and after unloading the 57 bags of groceries, I took 2 prescriptions out of my purse. Connor was watching my every move wishing, hoping, thinking and praying that I'd pull some special treat out of one of the bags. He said, "What are those?" I replied, "These are prescriptions." "What's that mean?" "Well, this one is for my headaches and this one is so that we don't have any more little munchkins like you."
He looked over at Preston and said with a HUGE grin, "You're just kidding."
Sure. Right. Of course, I was just kidding. I was only as serious as a heart attack.

184 Days Old (6 months)

Miss Quinn Landry Barton is now 6 months old. It is unbelievable that half a year has gone by already. To say she's amazing is selling her short. She had ear tubes put in a couple of weeks ago and my have things been smooth sailing since. As you can see, she is certainly thriving. No 80 percentile kiddo in our family. Quinn is following in her brother's footsteps and staying upwards of the 95th percentile range in height and weight. (No wise cracks here please.) We love you dearly baby girl.

Preston and Quinn in 16 years

Thanks to Than for sharing this!