Barker Family

Bunnies, hearts and what not.

2012-02-17T16:57:00.004-08:00

Katelyn and Laura's bunnies had babies! They are soooo darling and sweet. Luke and Aves are constantly begging to go hold them. Now Sarah has a new goat down at the barn that's supposed to have a baby in March, and there is a chance it might be twins! We can't wait! It's fun to have sweet baby animals around to enjoy but don't have to take care of. :)Thanks Karen and Sarah.

Enjoying their Valentine's breakfast.

The other day I told Ava to keep an eye on Ruth for me while I grabbed a quick shower (...am I the only person who "grabs" a shower? Jeremy always makes fun of me for saying that, "are you Annie, are you gonna "grab" a shower?" He's a brat.) So after grabbing my shower I came out of the bathroom to find that little Ava had drug her entire barbie house down the hall to play with Ruth. I thought it was pretty sweet.

I can't wait for these two have a "girly" room of their own someday. Right now Ruth is still in our room, with a little corner all to herself.:) We up graded from the bassinet to the crib last weekend. I'm working on up dating Ava's old crib bedding with some cute fabric I found. I'll post more pictures as soon as it's all done. Here's her little nightstand for now so you can see the colors.

Ruthy at 4 1/2 months

2012-02-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Black and white photo shoot with Ruthy in an array of blessing dresses. These dresses have been hanging in my closet for months and I just got a kick in the pants from myself to get projects finished up that I have been putting off. This was one of those things on my to do list: Get pictures of Ruth in GG's blessing dress, my blessing dress, and Jaime's dress (that was the dress Ava was blessed in) I was glad she still fit in them. Ava helped with entertaining and getting a few stingy smiles out of this slobbery-stick-anything-and-everything-in-the-mouth little girl. You really can't see the dresses very well but, check, I took them and also got my closet cleaned out, another thing on my to do list, check check.

Jaime's dress

Dress my sisters and I wore.

GG's dress

Barker Family Fun

2012-02-06T20:15:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Party

Winter hot tub/movie party

Nice steamy hot tub picture. :)

Funny Family Videos

2012-02-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

The first one is of me scaring poor Ava to death. I know, I'm a mean mom...as you will also see in video #2 with poor little Ruth stuck in her swing and I just video her. Anyway we were all at Em's clubhouse getting ready to get in the hot tub, when we overhear Ava singing in the bathroom as she was changing into her swim suit. It's hard to hear but she is singing,"I hate scary stuff. Don't want anything to scare me toniiiiight! tonight yeah baby! tonight yeah baby!" We may have listened to a little Lady Gaga in the car ride over. See what a great mom I am. So she is singing about not being scared and what do I do...scare her. I really was just going to video her cute singing but then when she came out I just couldn't resist. Oh my poor kids.

I especially love how I say "bye bye" to her. Bye Bye is something I always seem to say right before I turn the video camera off. Looking back over the years of our home videos you are forced to hear hundreds of my very annoying bye byes. Yet I still can't seem to brake the habit. Oh and I promise I rescued her right after I turned off the camera and honestly I don't go around scaring my kids! Okay then, bye bye!

Mama's Little Rollie Pollie

2012-01-31T21:41:00.000-08:00

She's already 4 months old!! It's hard to believe how much she's grown. I've had to pack up the 3 month clothes and bring out the 6 monthers. I've also had to stock up on the bibs...she lives in them. I think her bib gets changed about as much as her diaper. Ava was a spit-upper too and back then little Luke called spit up, Av-ups, and we still seem to call it that. Not many days go by that I don't have Av-ups in my hair or down my shirt from this Cheesy-little-butterball (yes another nickname) Cheesy because of the Av-ups and butterball because at her doctor appointment last week she weighed a whoppin 13 pounds 5 ounces. Mama's little rollie pollie is the newest nickname though...tonight she rolled over! A for real roll over. She has been trying for a few days now and tonight was the night. She did it all on her own and I actually caught one on video!

little sister

2012-01-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

little sister is sick.

little sister looks like she got punched in the eye.
little sister takes lots of steamy baths.

poor little sister.
Ruth got her first cold this weekend. Of course it had to happen on a long/no Dr.'s offices open weekend. And just ask Jeremy I am a worry wort. I HATE when my kids are sick! Especially when they're little tiny, it scares me. Her cold sadly moved on into her eyes. She looked so pathetic with her red swollen gooey eyes and a big smile still on her face. Poor little thing took it all like a champ and after a trip to the Doctor today for some drops, she is looking like her normal self again. I can finally breath a sigh of releif to know that it's not in her lungs and it's not RSV or whatever else I had imagined it could be all weekend long. I thought by my third baby I'd be less crazy about every little sickness, but no, I think I might be worse. Being a mom is scary!

A Friday the 13th Bon Fire

2012-01-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

According to Sarah, Friday the thirteenth fires are haunted. They're hard to start and they burn weird, more blue and not very big or warm. True to form that was exactly what happened on this spooky, chilly, superstitiously fun night.

Grandma Patsy was flying back to Virginia the next day, so this was our last get together before she left. It was a fun night of hot dogs, hot chocolate, donuts, Sarah's ghost stories and some running in a serpentine fashion. :)

fishing frenzy

2012-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

After Christmas Jeremy and the kids went ice fishing THREE times in one week! THREE times! I think they're hooked :) get it, hooked, oh I'm so funny. Their first time out on the lake was with Rice, Grandma Barker and Rice's friend Ron (a pro ice fisher). The kids loved it so much that their next time Grandma Barker made sure they would be outfitted with real ice fishing poles, their own auger and ice pick shoe thingies?(I guess there was a lot of gracefulness on ice that first time.) They caught so many fish! Maybe that's why it was so fun. (We went all summer long with no luck.) The first night Grandma Barker fried up fish nuggets with tarter sauce, so good! The next time we made fish tacos at Papa John and Grandma Patsys. By the third trip it was pretty much just catch and release.:)

Ice fishing trip #2 with Papa John, Scotty, Brittany and Sarah.

#3 fishing trip with Emmy, Rice and Grandma.

Happy 2012

2012-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a little out with the old in with the new.

Our bathroom was not only an ugly poo brown color, but it was also ugly poo won't flush down the toilet every time... I know, waaay more information than you wanted, sorry. Now thanks to Papa John and Jeremy my bathroom is pretty and WORKS!!! New white toilet you make me sooooooo happy! And pretty white tile I love looking at you. Who knew sitting on the pot could be so enjoyable.

snow smurfs

2012-01-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

There hasn't been very much snow this winter. But I guess there was enough for our very talented neighbor down the road to make his annual snow sculpture. This year it was Smurfs.

My Boyfriends Back

2012-01-12T22:54:00.001-08:00

...was the song she danced to at her very first dance recital. It was and I quote "the best day eeever!" To say Ava was excited about this day would be an understatement. I think she told everyone she came in contact with about her "stage day" Everyone was invited and then invited again and again. She wore her pretty blue "wedding dress" (because it was the same color as the dress she wore at Scott and Brittany's wedding.:)) She had on real makeup and mermaid sparkles (from Halloween) in her hair and she just danced her little heart out. Thanks everyone who came to watch her "stage". It was quite the night.:)
Teacher Sara

Up on stage, right before the hip shaking, finger pointing, and shoulder shimmying began.

Daddy

Rice King and Grandma

Brittany and Celeste

Grandma and Scotty

The next morning...notice the hot chocolate mug, holding Ruthy and "stage" flowers from Rice King, Grandma Barker and Emmy on the table to admire....just a few of her favorite things.

If dogs could laugh....

2012-01-11T13:45:00.001-08:00

...mine would be bustin' a gut. I hit some ice coming around the corner of the garage and fell flat on my back, hard, it hurt. No one was around to see me, thank goodness, no humans that is... my two dogs stood motionless staring at me. As I slowly got to my feet to inspect the damage done on my hip, I noticed the looks on their faces... lets just say if dogs could laugh those two would have been rolling on the ground... this may or may not have been the first time they've witnessed my gracefulness.

All together at Christmas

2012-01-03T19:02:00.001-08:00

Our Christoffersen family Christmas party was fun as always, good food, guns,....toilets.:) We reenacted the Nativity with the kids and I thought we took pictures but I can't seem to find them. It was fun having a real baby to play the part of the baby Jesus. We laid little Ruth in the toy crib "manger" and she slept through most of the evenings excitement in it.

Luke with his sweet gun from Uncle Scotty and Brittany. (I'm bad at editing red eye...Luke now looks a little creepy oops.)

T-shirt quilt I made for my Dad using his old awesome police and army shirts.

Luke with his new airplane from Papa John and Grandma, to replace last years that is still MIA.

Ava with some of her treasured furry critters.
Zoo hats from Emmy. I love all their faces in this picture, made me laugh.

This year we had the Barker Christmas party in Em's club house. It was so much fun. There was of course good food,lots of room, a theater room and hot tub!

Grandma Barker in her stylin' hottub ensemble.:) The wet trail to turn on the jets got pretty icey!The kids had a blast and it felt soooo good!

Me and little Bald Spot.:)

Then it was home to put out oreos for Santa and oats for his reindeer and get all snuggy in their new jammies.

Ruth's first Christmas!

Christmas morning! Luke and Ava opening their new bunk beds from Santa!!!!

Santa cereal for breakfast.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T05:54:00.001-08:00

Little Rue

2011-12-20T14:35:00.000-08:00

Bakin' some cookies and lovin' on baby

2011-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

2011-11-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

There's snow in the forecast for the first of December! Christmas will be here before we know it and I have a lot to get done until then. Yesterday the girls and I picked up Luke from school, grabbed some corn dogs and did a little shopping. It was my first real shopping with 3 kids. We didn't get much done in the way of Christmas shopping but we sure had a great time together. Luke and Ava were better behaved then usual...which could have had something to do with a promised visit with this guy....

Grandma, Rice and Em took the kids to see Santa later that night, while Jeremy and I went to the Temple.

Jeremy and I walked by the simple white nativity in front of the beautiful Provo temple last night and caught the last of an unbelievable winter sunset over the valley. That moment reminded me of being up a snowy-moonlit canyon, singing Silent Night on Christmas eve, as a girl with my family. I love moments like these when I quietly feel of the true meaning of Christmas. That is what makes this season so magical, Jesus Christ, that he was born on this earth, that he lived, that he died, that he showed us the way to live eternally with those we love. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas season full of love and giving.

Oh and Ava informed me later that night that she asked Santa and his favorite cookies are peanut butter and oreos...just so you know.;)

A Chubby Little Sleeping Beauty

2011-11-26T14:45:00.001-08:00

All snugly and sleepy after her bath. (2 months old)

"Light Way Delight"

2011-11-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

We took a drive with Grandma Barker earlier this fall to soak in the golden beauty of the Alpine Loop. There really are no words to describe the how beautiful these mountains are in the fall. The colors come and go so fast with the cold. Fall itself comes and goes so fast...to fast for me. Every year I try to enjoy every bit of this magical season but it always slips away sooner then I want it to.

Rewind to summer

2011-11-15T19:29:00.001-08:00

I just can't leave out some of the good times we had this summer. Who can forget Sarah's sweet crazy pigs. The barn was a very fun place to be this summer. (thanks for the pictures Sarah)

Luke and Ava were really into fishing this year...as you may or may not be able to tell from this next picture??? I think it was just that relaxing.:)

And we can't forget the "pizza box"! Every time Luke saw the Pizza Hut commercial he would say to me or Jeremy, "Wow, that's a really great deal! It has pizza! bread sticks! aand cinnamon sticks! wiiith dipping sauce! Can we get that sometime?" So one Friday night we got that great deal pizza box...it was a very exciting dinner!:)

First day of 1st Grade!!!

We signed Ava up for a dance class finally after years of begging. This little girl was born to dance, she absolutely loves it! We have our own little preschool at home with her stuffed animals. This picture is of the "class" at lunch time.

The day before we became a family of FIVE!

And finally we end with the couple pictures I took of Luke's soccer season.

Seven in Eleven

2011-11-15T18:42:00.001-08:00

Luke just turned lucky seven. He's growing up so fast. He loves first grade, playing basketball, reading, fishing, being a big brother to two little sisters, doing crafts:) and helping mom cook. He took his first hunting trip with daddy...to bad he wasn't lucky seven on that trip, maybe they would have actually filled their tag.:) But no matter how old he gets he will always be our sweet Mr. Bones.

onions

2011-11-14T20:24:00.001-08:00

Check out these bad boys! Our onions were huge this year and we had peppers coming out our ears. I think everything grew so big this year because they had to fight the ginormous weeds that invaded our very neglected garden. We chopped up and froze most of the peppers, stored away the onions and canned the rest into spaghetti sauce. Plus we got quite a few bottles of grape juice canned the same night I went to the hospital to have Ruthy.

After cleaning up the garden we had our annual wienie roast under the walnut tree.
I never did do anything cute with the space between the garage and the house aside from stringing up some lights for Luke's pirate party....maybe next year I'll follow through on my "spruce up" plans. And maybe next year those ugly garage doors of ours will actually get painted...maybe. It feels so good to no longer be lazy, pregnant and sick. I got some MUCH need weeding done in my flower beds last week and mowed and raked to my hearts content...I have sooo missed working out in my yard. I have so missed having calluses on my hands, dirt under my nails and sore muscles from good hard work. So get ready yard, next summer you and me are gonna get down and dirty.:)

Oh Sarah!!!!!

2011-11-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

This picture was on my cousin Brooke's facebook page today. So excited....it better be good!

Speaking Out

2011-11-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

Provo City council voted to go ahead with the Provo Northwest Connector project. Which means a four lane $30,000,000 highway will plow right through the middle of what little remains of the city's beautiful farmland. It also would cut through our families back pasture. I know this kind of thing sadly happens all over the country, new growth crowds out old beauty. What just doesn't make sense is how completely unneeded this highway is. AND SO... my sister Sarah has decided to fight this thing anyway she can. She wrote an article for the local paper, you can read it here on her blog. If crap like this makes you mad too, please help us by speaking out and be sure to join Citizens Against Provo's Northwest Connector Highway on facebook.

Goolish Delight

2011-11-08T00:11:00.000-08:00

So here is the "really scary" story by Ava about our Halloween costumes this year: The Vampires, Luke and Daddy, drank your blood mom and killeded you and then you were in the mermaid lagoon and me and the turtle saved you. The end.

For her first Halloween Ruth was a turtle. We crammed this little baby into...

this unstuffed giant turtle stuffed animal. It was pretty darn cute.

Luke won some vampire fangs at the school carnival and so he wanted to be a vampire this year. Jeremy and I copied him.

Ava wanted to be a mermaid and we had some fun with her hair. (For Sarah, Karen and Brittany: "Now to get Ariel's hairdo it's really simple. First twist hair up into a ponytail. Attach a shell from Virginia :) Add many many flower clips and finish with some spray on glitter and there you have it, an easy step-by-step princess hairdo.:))

Halloween donuts from Grandma Barker and hot cocoa for breakfast.

Pumpkin carving fun and guts.

Looking at their pumpkins out their bedroom window.

Our creepy crow, rat, spider infested porch

Even the dogs dressed up. Duce was his usual lion and Fred was Teen Wolf.

Eating chili out in the backyard before trick-or-treating. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ruthy Rue

2011-11-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

And it begins...the nicknames from Jeremy. Our poor kids have a million different names and Ruth isn't left out. On her list so far, Ruthy, little Rue, Cheeks (I think you can see why), and Fall-to-it (???). One thing we all call her is sweetheart because she is just as sweet as they come. I couldn't have asked for a better baby. Watch her turn on me now that I typed that. Well at least for now she is sweet and chubby and we just can't get enough of her.

Tummy time

First bath

First smiles

First time sleeping in a drawer. Just kidding. My friend Rosemarie took these last two darling pictures of her.

We miss you!

2011-11-07T21:22:00.001-08:00

I am really missing having my mom here. I miss having her come over in the mornings to help me get Luke off to school. I miss her dinners. I miss her taking Ava to the park. I miss our wasting time together talking all day.:) She is the best. Oh yeah and Papa John came out too. ;) Love and miss you both. XOXOX

A Special Day

2011-11-06T15:19:00.001-08:00

We blessed our sweet little Ruth on October 16th, it was such a pretty fall day. Her blessing from Jeremy was beautiful. We were lucky to have most of our family there with us.

I made her little dress, Grandma Barker got her the pretty light pink flower for her hair and Aunt Elizabeth crocheted her beautiful blanket. I thought she looked like a little angel.

Grandma Patsy got her these beautiful flowers and we made stew and pumpkin "bussert".

Thanks everyone for coming and enjoying the day with us.

happy birthday to our little ava in the middle

2011-10-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

One day Ava came home from joy school singing a song from a game she had played. It went like this, "Froggy in the meedle (middle) can't get scaped (escape)". That song just kind of stuck only it changed to, "Ava in the meedle can't get scaped". Now that the new baby is here Ava really is stuck in the middle and she loves it that way. She loves being the big sister. Let her hold the baby, make her a warm chocolate milk in the mornings and throw in some dance classes and life is pretty darn good for this little girl. She really does love life and it shows on her bright happy little face. Happy Birthday to our 5 year old-big sister-Ava in the meedle. We love you!

a pretty fall evening

2011-10-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

Just Wasting Time

2011-10-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

My little photographer Ava took this picture, I just love it. It's one of those pictures I know I will look back at and want to crawl right back into. I forgot just how fun it is to cuddle a new baby. I could waste a lot of time just doing this. A LOT OF TIME.

It's a Girl!!!

2011-10-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

=
My little helper.

Jeremy with his girls.

I have to say that the excitement of not knowing if it was going to be a boy or a girl made having a baby just that much more..well, exciting! It was so much fun to finally know! She was born on September 22nd. We named her Ruth Jaime, after my Grandma and Jeremy's little sister who passed away. She weighed in at a chunky little 8lbs. 3oz. We just love her to pieces!!!

And that's why we have kids.

2011-09-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was the last week I actually got up early to eat breakfast and talk with Jeremy before work. This week I am just plain lazy. Most mornings I honestly don't even remember hearing him leave. I now wake up to Ava right in my face, "Mom wake up I need a chocolate milk!" I usually tell her I'll get her one if she scratches my back first. I know...what mom makes their kids scratch their back? Me. She's a good little back scratcher so I take advantage of it. Her foot messages are really nice too. No, I don't make her. The last couple days she has just gone and found lotion and rubbed my feet. How sweet is that! I think she likes trying to get rid of the giant cracks in my heels. She asked me if it's because I'm getting old that I have cracks on my feet. Oh and she asked me why my legs are fat.:( Isn't she just so sweet and honest.
Yesterday I tried to wake Luke up to come eat breakfast. (I'm afraid he is going to be one of those teenagers that you have to throw water on to wake them up in the morning.) While I was finishing putting on some make-up I overheard Ava say to Luke, "Luke wake up and get dressed okay. Get dressed and I will scratch your back."
I blame my Dad. He taught us that the reason you have kids is so they will give you back scratches and make you brownies. Ava and I have been making a lot of brownies as of late...maybe that's why my legs are so fat. I think Dad was right, back scratches and brownies, great reasons to have kids!

Changes

2011-08-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

I think for the past few months it has been nothing but eat, sleep and breath wedding stuff. It was fun, their wedding day was so beautiful, but it's nice to have things back to normal around here, well I guess I shouldn't say normal. We've definitely got some big changes coming our way...a new baby in almost a month and my little Luke starts 1st grade on Monday. That's ALL day school!!! I think Ava and I are going to have a hard time getting used to him not being around all day but I'm sure the new baby will keep us busy. Our summer just flew by way to fast and furious and I really have no pictures to show for it. I had to scrounge around and steal everyone of these pictures...it's a little sad. I'm just not myself lately, pregnancy and a crappy camera are a bad mix. So here they are a few fun pictures of the Bridal Shower pool party style we threw for Brittany, which was a lot of fun and a few from their wedding day.

They are so cute together.

Summer Happenings

2011-07-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

4th of July fun!

Hike up to the Y with Rice King.

Luke finally lost his first tooth! It was a very exciting moment.;) He's getting waaay to old!
We've hit the water park a handful of times already this summer.
My little brother Scotty is getting married in a couple of weeks!!! I copied some pictures off of facebook so Grandma could see some of their cute engagement pictures. We are so excited for the two of them. And me being the one who set them up...well I guess I'm the most excited of all!;) We just love Brittany!!!

Feeling Patriotic

2011-06-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

I think it must be the fact that we just visited the heart of where America first began, because this Independence Day I feel especially proud and blessed to live in this free country. Some very brave, wise, honest and humble men helped lay the foundation for this great nation. I hope we can stand strong against those who would shake that foundation. Abraham Lincoln once said,
"American will never be destroyed from the outside.
If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
I love America...from sea to shining sea! May we remember the sacrifices made so we can all be free and never forget why this country is so great.

May God bless America, for in Him we trust.

Fish Lake

2011-06-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend some friends invited us down to Fish Lake for a little camping and a lot of fishing. We've visited this lake before but never fished it or camped, so we were excited to finally do both. The lake is beautiful and there is a cool 100 year old lodge by the dock. Aside from the wind and my sunburned lobster legs we had a great time!

Ooh what a cute little family.:)

Ava loved fishing with Daddy. She's a pretty darn good caster after this trip.

Poor Jeremy and Luke didn't catch anything. But that didn't slow them down...they were fishing fools and loved every minute of it.

Josh's first fish! Even though it was a far cry from the 20 pounder he was sure he would catch I think he was still proud. Jason lucked out and caught the most of the trip. We cooked those suckers up and I think there was enough for everyone to get a little taste.

Getting a lesson on gutting a fish.

Kodi reeling in a big one.:) haha

The kiddos got to troll around in the canoe for a few minutes. The waves were just a little to much for the little boat. Darn wind!

Our first camping trip of the summer gets a big 3 thumbs up from these two.

THE END. :)

Off to Visit Grandma and Grandpa

2011-06-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourself for a serious "no picture left behind" post. (What's sad is this isn't even half of them.)

This first picture is one of my favorites.

Our first stop was beautiful Mount Vernon, home of George Washington.

Washington's tomb

Boat trip on the Potomac River for this incredible view...

Tasting famous Peanut Soup

Luke and Jeremy in front of the White House. And we had to take a picture of the cool secret service guys up on the roof.

On our way out of DC the next morning we stopped at the gorgeous temple

"Crab soup" town (Mom I can't remember it's real name but it was pretty.) That evening we arrived in Chincoteague where we spent a fun 2 days. Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We crossed a 17 mile bridge with two under water tunnels...just a little creepy.:) On the way we stopped to tour the very impressive Battleship Wisconsin.
Ava managed to find the one thing on the ship that was pink.:)
That night we swam at Grandpa and Grandma's pool, ate pizza and watched fireflies. In the morning we explored Jamestown, the first settlement in the US.

The Ships they came over on were pretty amazing.
The kids by the Pocahontas statue and the actual brick walls of the church where she was married.

Grandpa has been talking about this ferry forever. Luke was so excited to finally go for a ride on it. You drive your car right onto it and then of course you have to feed the gulls while it crosses the river.

On the other side we went fossil shell and shark tooth hunting. We found two shark teeth and lots of cool shells.

That evening we had a picnic with our Christoffersen cousins and went kayaking. It was really fun getting to spend time with them. Driving home we saw tons of whitetail deer and more fireflies.

In the morning it was "Are you guys ready to go to Busch Gardens!"

This is a picture of Ava and Luke both riding all by themselves on a pretty fast little rollercoaster. (They were oh so proud.:))

Ava was just alittle to short for the Escape from Pompeii ride but somehow she squeeked by on her tippy-toes. It was pretty funny, even after we got off the ride she was still on tiptoe. :) The park was so fun!

Our very last day we spent in beautiful Williamsburg. A neat little town with little gardens and sideyards and so many cool historic homes.

We took a tour of the Govenor's mansion, which was beautiful! (Our tour guide was a bit theatrical.:))

The walls in the entryway of the mansion are lined with swords and rifles and pistols, it was really cool.

This was the jail. The kids loved it because it was a pirate jail. Blackbeard's crew was held here before they were killed.

At the Govener's mansion they were making chocolate and it smelled sooo good, we had to get ourselves some fudge and a carmeled apple.:)
That evening while Ava and Grandma and I went swimming, Grandpa took Luke and Jeremy fishing.

Reading bedtime stories and eating breakfast out on the balcony.
And getting there was fun too. We had to take a picture of Ava's first plane ride.
It was such a fun adventure. Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma! Miss you. XOXOX

The Magical Island of Chincoteague

2011-06-12T19:55:00.001-07:00

We just got back from the most amazing trip. Grandma and Grandpa flew us out to Virginia for a week filled with none stop things to see and truly magical places to go. Our adventure actually started in Washington DC but Ava wanted me to put up the "turtle pictures" first. So turtles it is... and wild ponies and horseshoe crabs and dolphins and deer and beautiful birds. The Islands of Chincoteague and Assateague are along the Eastern shore of Virginia. They are beautiful! We had such a great time. And of course I took way to many pictures so this place needed a post all it's own.

The beautiful wild ponies

A horseshoe crab shell. Grandpa says they look like something from a different planet and they really do!

The kids with their treasured shells.;)

The ponies out on the beach

And of course the turtles! Ava was in heaven!!! This little guy she wanted to bring home with her.

Our first night there we tried our first bowl of crab soup and fried soft shell crabs. Mmm! The kids thought it was so cool.

There's a lighthouse out on the island that we could see from our hotel. That was the first night we got to see real live fireflies!

Swimming at the pool with a cute little green friend that joined us.

So sweet.

Waking up early for a beautiful misty sunrise.

Fun at the beach. "So many shells! So many shells!"

Holding horseshoe crabs

When I was a little girl my mom read us a book called Misty. It was about to little boy and a little girl who lived on Chincoteague Island and there adventures with the ponies that lived there. My sisters and I loved the book and so to actually visit the Islands in real life was so much fun and yes magical.:) Thanks mom and dad.

The Best Part

2011-05-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was a special one for me this year. I was lucky enough to get breakfast in bed... twice. One of which consisted of a piece of toast and two chocolate chip cookies.:) I was also lucky enough to have this Mother's day land on my birthday. So I got twice the nice. But the best part of my Mother's Day was knowing that I get to be the mom of these two...

And now finally one more! We are so excited! I just had to put this picture on here. I love how it's little hands are curled up by it's head. The end of September can't come soon enough.

Fruit and Family

2011-05-11T08:09:00.002-07:00

You will never guess what the UPS guy dropped off at my door yesterday...ORANGES!
That's right oranges and grapefruits! Lot and lots of them! Two HUGE boxes full! Fresh out of sweet Sun City, AZ. Thanks so much GG and Carl! (I still have no idea how the two of you shipped that much fruit?! I couldn't even budge one of the boxes and had to wait for Jeremy to get home to lug it in.)I think the kids have each had about 10 a piece already and Ava is my little grapefruit queen. So if anyone has a hankering for some citrus better let me know 'cause they're going fast!

We had another sweet surprise last week. Lots and lots of family in town. My cousins Mary and Cam both graduated! I was able to catch up and visit with my Aunt Jolie when she and Cam took me out to lunch for my birthday. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. Friday we met up with most of my Wyoming cousins and their darling little kids and Aunt Julie, Uncle Ed and Aunt Linda at the Mayan. It has been way to long since we've all been together. Way to long! The kids had a blast playing with each other...best friends instantly I tell ya.:) We love you all and congrats again to Mary and Cam!

"1,2,3 dive!"

"Mom take a picture of this big snake smashing my head."

Had to throw in this last picture of Luke and Ava with their Alec. This was the only picture from our fun spring break quick weekend trip to Wyoming. But I did take plenty of our spring break remodel project. Let's just say see ya later nasty kitchen carpet. :)Yay!! Everything isn't quite finished but when it is I'll post the pics.

Swimming, Snow, and Eggs

2011-05-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Popcornnn......I mean....a family of snowmen looking at me!?!

One day it's snow. The next day it's beautiful tulips. The next day no tulips in sight thanks to our friends the deer! Darn things! At least I got a picture of a few of them before they turned into dinner.

And the next day it's swimming with snowmen.

2 days after the snow, the temps soared to almost 60. That's swimming weather for these two. The Easter Bunny had brought them a new pool this year and they just had to pull it out. Speaking of Easter (that's Ava's new phrase, "Speaking of school mom, when do we pick up the kids." It makes me laugh to hear her try to be so grown up.) So speaking of Easter... here are a few of Luke and Ava's little egg masterpieces...

Ava.

Scooby Doo.Luke finding an egg outside.Breakfast.

Easter morning chowing candy in the pool.

Project New Orleans Square Courtyard

2011-03-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am just itching to pull out the paint brushes. Last summer we left a lot of projects unfinished on the outside of the house. Every day I see them they scream at me to be finished. Remember the inspiration for my garage doors...

(I'm sure you can tell that these are not our doors....dang.... just my inspiration picture.:))
Ours are sanded and awaiting a few degrees warmer nights to have a nice fresh coat of paint slapped on them. The poor ugly things...Jeremy and I are so sick of looking at them (and I'm sure the neighbors are too!) But the project I am really excited about is my little "courtyard". It's just a tiny area between the house and the garage but I see big things in it's future. Maybe not quiet this big...

but my favorite little nook in Disneyland is the inspiration for this little spot.

So this is what I'm working with. I know it doesn't look like much... just a little spot Luke and his buddy have been using as their rock and treasure washing area (notice all the rocks everywhere). Last fall Jeremy built in the little arbor Karen gave us with some fence from Rice King. It makes for a fun little cozy nook. Some paint on the fence and trim. The side garage door painted the same fun blue as the stairs in the above picture. Bright potted plants/flowers and patio lights. Maybe an new umbrella for the table and there you have it. If it ever warms up enough we can get 'er done.

2011-03-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Little signs of spring are popping up everywhere. My little artichoke even made it through this long old winter. Yay! Happy little purple Hyacinths are starting to bloom despite getting munched by the darn deer. Today was so nice and warm!

My little Ava set her mind to riding her bike without training wheels last week and just did it! Now rain or shine she's out in the driveway circling and circling for hours and hours a day, singing to herself the whole time. It's the cutest thing. I'm so proud of her.

We went out shooting a couple weekends ago.

Notice the little crack showing in this picture. :) haha

Back in January I ran a half marathon with Thomi. No, I am not a runner! I ran in Em's place because she had to work. It was fun. We all enjoyed the nice St. George weather and swimming. I took some cute pictures of the kids but unfortunately lost our camera on the trip!!! Grrrrr!!! I really liked that camera darn it! Anyway, that's a little of what we've been up to these last few months.

(I have no idea why this picture is so blurry?) Us ready to run...my pockets stuffed with an Ipod and snickers.:)

Happy Birthday Emmy!

2011-03-10T15:41:00.001-08:00

Aunt Emmy's birthdays are always so fun. She plans something fun to do with the kids every year. This time Grandma and Rice booked us all rooms at a fun hotel up by the E-Center. We've driven by this hotel plenty of times owing and awing. From the freeway you can see it's big water slide coming right out of the building. It's like a mini indoor water park. The kids were soooooo excited! Just a little heads up if you go... kiddos have to be 48" tall to ride the big slide....this was devastating for a certain little teeny tiny named Ava. After dinner that night she ran right back to the pool to see if she had grown enough. :( No luck, but she still had a blast. The slide is pretty creepy at night. It's pitch black and you have no idea where you're headed. Oh and the hot tub (my personal favorite) was awesome! The continental breakfast was really good too! Scrambled eggs, omelets, ham, bacon, yummy cinnamon rolls, cereal, fruit...the works! Two big thumbs up for this place...especially when you're good and ready for winter to be OVER!!!

"Scuba Steve"

After breakfast and more swimming we drove up the planetarium to look around and take in a cool 3D movie. The kids loved it. The movie was about the Hubble telescope. It was awesome! Thanks Emmy, Grandma and Rice for the "summer fun" weekend get-a-way!

It Snowed.

2011-02-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

What the....

2011-01-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

Can I just vent for a page or two. So I feel like a criminal lately and it's REALLY getting to me. It all started last February with my first speeding ticket. Speed limit sign was moved from one side of the hill to the other and bamm.. I get hit with a $90 ticket and one year later I'm still mad about it. PS that speed limit sign was moved back to it's original spot a few months later....umm...I want my money back! Fast forward to December. I help an Animal Control Officer catch two roaming dogs in my yard (that I didn't even call about!) The guy asks me if my own dogs are licenced. Umm...no...what? BAMM $75 ticket + $15 per dog/per year to licence and one appearance in court in front of a VERY rude judge. PS who licences their dogs and CATS?? with the city anyways??? anyone? I had never heard of it before. Not to mention I helped the idiot catch the other dogs bugging my dogs!!!! GRRRRR!!! Rude!!! Can you tell I'm mad.

That brings us to today. Today I walked out the front door of my home and was almost plowed over by three deer booking it through my yard followed by two dogs hot on their tails. (they were not my dogs) Well after all the crap Animal Control put me through I swore to bug them with any petty little animal problem I saw. Plus I didn't want the deer or the dogs getting creamed by a car. So I reported it. But I couldn't just leave well enough alone...no...I decided to hop in the truck with the kids and drive down the hill by the river bottoms to follow the deer and see if they were alright. No sign of them. So we headed back home. I "totally paused"at an empty 4 way stop. Turned the corner. Cop car sitting there. I passed him and in my rear view mirror saw him flip around behind me. I was completely "Clueless":) as to why he was pulling me over...but found out that "I hadn't stopped at all at the stop sign". YES I did!!!!....I didn't really say this to the cop but believe me I wanted to! Apparently my "pause" as he called it was not complete or long enough. That's when he asked for my licence and registration. And that's when I remembered I hadn't grabbed my purse in my hurry to find the deer. CRAP. I explained what had happened and he went back to his car with my name and registration. After my story checked out, that I really had called in the deer/dog complaint, I don't think he believed me at first, he came back with just a warning for me......THANK YOU.......but that still didn't help the fact that I now feel like a total criminal. Do I have a "Please give me a ticket, I want one" post-it note on my back? All I want right now is to spend the rest of my life locked safely inside my little house....minding my own business...and I want all COPS and ANIMAL CONTROL and MEAN JUDGES to leave me alone! 10 Billion acres Sarah, 10 BILLLION acres!!! The end. I try really hard to be a good person and follow the law.... I guess just not the super stupid and petty ones, oh and the ones I've never heard of thank you very much! Okay I feel a little better, the end.

A little Wigged Out

2011-01-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Ava spotted this picture on the side of my computer screen and she couldn't stop laughing. Which made me start laughing and we both couldn't stop. You know when something just hits ya like that. It still makes me laugh to look at it.

Two Weeks/One Post

2011-01-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

On the last day of school before Christmas break we got hit hard with a bunch of wet heavy snow. So heavy it broke off a few branches from old cedar tree in the backyard. Luke's school was canceled so we braved the roads to Jeremy's school to watch/laugh at him do "Dancing with the Teachers." Like "Dancing with the Stars" only no Stars only teachers. It was pretty funny.:) And that kicked off our TWO WHOLE WEEKS of holiday fun...with Jeremy home for ALL of it.

Our poor tree.

We went sledding

with Uncle Scotty and Papa John

Reloaded some bullets with Uncle Scotty.

Agnes...I mean Ava cleaned up the work room. We had just watched Despicable Me and Ava insisted on being called Agnes for days after that.

Buggy rides with Sarah and little Sleigh Bell Sodie

Christoffersen Christmas party.

Jeremy and Rice King took the kids to a BYU Basketball game.

At the Barker Christmas Party.

Before we knew it a week had flown by and it was Christmas eve! We put out cookies and milk for Santa and oats on the front porch for his reindeer. It was a cold foggy night so I'm sure Santa had to rely on that red nose of Rudolph's to guide the way. So we fed them good. :) After a story with Dad, it was off to bed.

I just love Christmas Eve. So peaceful and quiet. The calm before the...

....tornado of excitement and wrapping paper and presents hits.

This made me laugh...Ava had obviously taken over Luke's remote control jeep for her Princesses.

To end the weeks of fun we had a New Years eve party at Grandma and Rice Kings. Lettuce wraps, movies, and a little Dr. Pepper helped keep everyone...the kids and even Grandma up till midnight, which has never happened before.:) Happy 2011!!!!

Wow we're smokin' hotties! Ripped jeans and a hooters shirt? dang!

Kiss it goodbye

2011-01-03T21:18:00.001-08:00

Me interrupting Jeremy's work on the kid's closet to get our kiss under the mistletoe picture. Which I make him take every year since our first Christmas together. When we were dating and Jeremy was living up in Jackson he gave me this lovely "moose"letoe (three moose poops glued to some ribbon and mistletoe leaves) 13 years later and two poops less we kiss another year goodbye under its beauty.

Hope your Christmas is warm and bright

2010-12-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Fun with Grandparents Days

2010-11-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

Pony rides, a hot dog and nacho lunch, and a little reading with Grandpa. Let's just say these last few days have been named "Fun with Grandparents Days". Yesterday was the last day of school for the week, so Grandma Barker had a little something in store for Luke and Ava....a sleepover and tickets to Tangled! They were so excited. Jeremy and I were able to go to the Temple and dinner and Harry Potter!:) My mom and dad got tickets for us, Sarah and Scott. We got into the last movie of the night, an 8:00 showing? Weirdly nothing was busy last night, I think it was because of the "storm of the decade" warnings. :) Hardly anyone was at the temple and no wait at the restaurant. It was really fun. Tonight Ava and I made a cheese ball together. I love to cook with that little girl. :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fun while it lasted.

2010-11-21T20:52:00.001-08:00

Last night while we slept a blanket of snow quietly covered the ground outside. And just like that our beautiful Fall came to an end. Luckily our leaves did get raked up and tilled into the garden. I think there's something really satisfying about getting ready for winter. Things get trimmed back, cleaned up, and everything gets safely stored away. As we worked Friday evening the sky suddenly lit up with a strange orange glow. Everything around us looked orange. It was really cool. Luke ran around in awe, yelling, "This is the best day eeever!" :) He cracks me up. By the time we were finished cleaning up, Jeremy had a nice fire going in the backyard. We enjoyed a wienie roast under the bare walnut tree and then just sat around the fire relaxing in its warmness. We burnt up a ton of our old "important" papers and our old tattered American flag. While it burned we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem (because Luke learned them in school). I'm not sure if that's how you're supposed to do it??? but it was kind of neat for us. It got me thinking about how grateful I am for this free country we live in. Thankful for those Pilgrims who endured so many hardships to come here to have freedom. And thankful for brave soldiers who keep us free. It was a really nice evening.

Oh, and I got a new table this week! We traded up from our Kmart special to this nice KSL find. $125 bucks! I love it. Merry Christmas to me.:) Here's to many fun family dinners with it.

Not my back door, but it's so cute I had to put it on here to remember what I want my back door to someday look like.:)

I think I'm gonna pull an Ava and stick this picture on Jeremy's side of the bed so he can take his pick of what he wants to get me for Christmas...I know I already got the table but I need a little up date for my sad wardrobe...I don't want it all, just one thing...but not just socks.

Video of the kids riding their bikes into the pile of leaves. Farewell fall, we will miss you.

Out With The Boys

2010-11-15T19:08:00.001-08:00

Scott and Jeremy went up the canyon to sight in some guns. Luke got to tag along and even got to blast Uncle Scotty's AK47. He loved every minute of it. Thanks for the video Scott. I just had to put it on here for my dad.

The Hint

2010-11-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

I found this toy catalog carefully placed on my bed the other night. Pretty much everything in it was circled. I'm thinking it was a hint from a certain little girl. The Christmas Story,"you'll shoot your eye out" movie, came to mind. When Ralphy sticks the picture of the Red Rider BB gun into his mom's magazine and places it carefully on her bed. Kids are so smart. I'm afraid mine might be just a little greedy. :)

2010-11-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

The leaves in our backyard are never actually gonna make it into a garbage bag. They're just way too much fun.

2010-11-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Scott sent me this video he took of Ava dancing to "All the Single Ladies" at Isaac's wedding reception. hahaha

Thankful

2010-11-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's no secret I love photographs. They are my thing. In my mind a picture is worth a thousand words. So when it actually comes to writing...well writing is just NOT my thing. A little more personal maybe. Or it's probably because I struggle to get what's in my head out into words. But as I sat here struggling to share my thoughts on the past few weeks, I remembered seeing a stack of mail sticking out of the mail box when I pulled into the driveway after picking up Luke. So I stopped what I was doing to grab the mail. Then set it down next to me at the computer and tried to type again. A large manila envelope at the bottom of the stack caught my eye. So I opened it. It was from the State Office of Education. Inside was a letter to Jeremy informing him that he had received a scholarship that would be more than enough to cover the rest of his schooling. School has been a little more expensive then we planned on and we have been praying that this scholarship would miraculously work out. I couldn't help but cry as stared down at the letter. It's been a rough couple weeks for us. Two Sundays ago I had a miscarriage at sixteen weeks along. Scary, shocking, heartbreaking, but weirdly I think when life gets rough we suddenly realize how loved and blessed we really are. I don't think I have ever loved Jeremy more. (And not just because he caught me when I fainted, even though I do love him for that.:)) He is my rock. Everything is going to be okay when he's around. Then there's our families...what would we do without them. We love you all so much. Thank you for EVERYTHING. Sweet friends and neighbors who have been so thoughtful and caring. My little Luke and Ava. I'm so lucky to get to be their mom. I can't help kissing and hugging them just a little more than before. Most of all I'm thankful for prayer. Thankful that I can feel the love of our Savior all the time. He loves us and knows what's best for us. I've felt his love these past few weeks and again today as I opened the letter that was an answer to our prayers. Life has its ups and downs. We learn and grow and hopefully become stronger from it all.

Five + one = six!

2010-11-05T10:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Bones! (Good thing we didn't nickname you Lashes.) We love you! Couldn't ask for a sweeter boy.

Trying on the Mr. Bones apron Domma Barkers made for him.

Opening presents with his little "helper".

While I was blowing up balloons earlier that day Ava was busy coloring. I noticed she would go over to a bag that had one of Luke's presents in it. I remember telling her to stop getting into stuff. That night when Luke looked into the bag he pulled out a couple of drawings little Ava a carefully crammed down into it. I felt bad I got mad at her earlier. All she was trying to do was make a little surprise for her "Rukie". I love how much they love each other.

Thanks for all the fun Star Wars decorations Em. And thanks for dinner Rice King.

For his cake year Luke was very specific. He wanted a dinosaur.....red velvet cake. It just makes me laugh. What 6 year old boy says he wants a red velvet cake? :) Thanks Sarah for helping us with the last minute plastic dinosaur decorating. He just loooved it.

Dinosaurs, Yoda, army guys, Iron Man, Bakugans, lots of family and of course red velvet cake make this little 6 year old pretty darn happy!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

This year we had a little Indiana Jones and a Mini Mouse/Unicorn (because Halloween night was a little chilly and the warm unicorn costume won out.:)) Jeremy went as a cowboy and I was a pirate. We had fun. Eating nachos and popcorn. Relaxing in the warm house together watching Harry Potter while the storm pounded on the windows outside. It was the perfect spooky Halloween night. When the storm passed we ventured out for some trick-or-treating.

Sarah threw an awesome pirate night party
.
Carving pumpkins with friends at the Oktoberfest/bratwurst eating party next door.
Our little house completely packed full of neighbor friends that came for Luke and Ava's Spooky Halloween Movie Night Party.

I got this very cool life size diagram of the skeletal system for a buck at a yard sale this past summer. The guy I bought it from asked if I was a teacher. I answered, no but it's gonna make one great Halloween decoration. He just laughed at me. Happy Halloween!

Birthday Girl

2010-11-05T08:33:00.001-07:00

I have a hard time believing that it has already been four years! Happy Birthday little Ava. That smile of yours just lights up our lives. We love you so much.

Notice the press on nails. hahaha :)

This Little Princess Turns 4 Tomorrow

2010-10-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

While Jeremy was gone hunting today the kids and I headed up the canyon. I had told a friend I'd take some pictures of her and her darling kids. She snapped some of the three of us for me. The leaves were just beautiful!

October is HERE!!!

2010-10-07T19:42:00.001-07:00

It's been chilly and stormy and finally feels like fall. The mountains are full of color. The house is creepified. We got 32 quarts of tomatoes canned...plus dill pickles, salsa and grape juice. (because Jeremy is a canning freak!!!) The garden is starting to whined down. The carrots are huge! Luke is loving Kindergarten (I'm so thankful for that!) Ava is loving going to Joy School twice a week like a big girl...with her princess backpack that is as big as she is. Luke's soccer season is over(thank you to all his cheerleaders that came!) and Jeremy's football watching season is just beginning. We went fishing down at the lake with some friends. Picked pumpkins and went birthday shopping with Grandma Patsy. And did I mention it's OCTOBER!!!! I love October.

But the best news of all is I finally feel better and my weird craving for this...

and not my usual craving of this....

....is over. Probably because of the nice heartburn I now get from even the slightly spicy. But my love of chocolate is back and just in time for Halloween candy!!! And that is so exciting to me!That...and the fact that we are expecting baby #3 in April!!!!!!

No Picture Left Behind

2010-09-16T13:33:00.001-07:00

That really should be the name of my blog. It's obvious I can't seem to show any kind of restraint when posting pictures. I love them ALL. And they ALL seem to make it on here. I've been a slacker lately on keeping up with everything but these were some of what our 2010 summer days were filled with. These first two pictures are my favorites. Ava and cousin Katelyn at the county fair surrounded by warm hay and sweet baby animals...it's just darn cute! Then there is Ava with her "mud" tights. I couldn't seem to keep her out of mud this summer.
Ava + water+ dirt....ALWAYS = mud.

Petting sheep at the fair.

Waterfall jumping with Uncle Scotty.

Up the canyon with cousins.

Celebrating Auntie Elizabeth and Theresa's birthday with cousins and of course Chinese food.

camping goodies.:)

Luke playing in the lake.

Good and loyal ol' Duce

Playing games around the campfire.

Ava chowing down on Rice King's birthday cake.

Pre "mud" tights.

Leaning tower of freezer jam. Our favorite flavor... raspberry/pear! Sooo good!

baby snakes

Cute little down town drug store. Has the biggest and best ice cream cones!

Fun bare foot evening ride with Sarah.

F. U. N.

2010-08-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

It's all about tradition during our annual trip to Vernal. Our first night there Morgan makes his famous grilled pork loin, mmmm! We always stay up way to late talking. Then get up bright and early the next morning and head up to the base of Flaming Gorge Dam. Right after a quick stop off at the old "Sev" for ice. :) Enjoy an incredibly beautiful, fun, wet and wild run down the river. Followed by chicken salad/watermelon (no chips, oops:)) lunch at Little Hole. And we have to have a huge bag of peanut butter m&ms...we...maybe just me.

I did get in the water too...head first and backwards, thanks to Jeremy. No one captured the graceful moment on camera, thank goodness. :)

This year Alison got tickets for us to all go to the Demolition Derby later that night. The kids loved watching the cars smash crash, eating corn dogs and nachos and dancing out in the arena. (Well Luke didn't like the dancing part.) The next morning before we headed home we drove down to a huge sandbar on the river to play, dig sand castles, and let the kids let their jars of little frogs go. (That was, I'm pretty sure, the kid's highlight of the entire trip, catching frogs with the girls!)

Alison and Morgan took some family pictures of us. They do a great job! There were some really darling ones of the kids. I stole these off her blog. :) Thanks you guys for all the fun and adventures. As ALWAYS we had a wonderful time!

2010-08-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

The other day Ava's little prayer went something like this...

"Please bless the food.

Please bless Matty that she can have fun in heaven.

Please bless the little kitty with the eyeball hanging out.

Please bless Papa John's old dog because it was old."

It was a very nice prayer, don't you think. Maybe a bit descriptive right before we had to eat breakfast. The sad kitty incident happened 2 years ago. The kids and I had all watched someones little kitty get hit by a car and as you know it was pretty gross. I must have retold the story to someone since Matty died because I really don't think either of the kids remember seeing it. Then the part about Papa John's old dog? I'm thinking he must have told her over the phone about his little dachshund dog he had when he was a kid. I'm afraid I have one little obsessed animal lover on my hands...I have no idea where she gets that from?:) I promise things are better-happier around here since everything seemed to hit the fan. It's not all dieing pets and broken down cars. I will post some of the fun pictures I just downloaded. Well, enjoy your breakfast!

Missing Our Matty

2010-08-04T23:34:00.001-07:00

This morning I got a phone call from a police officer. He explained to me that he had walked into Reams this morning and noticed our "Lost Dog" flyer hanging up. He wanted to call and let me know that unfortunately she had been hit by a car. He had been the officer called to the scene that Sunday. He was such a nice guy and just kept telling me over and over how sorry he was. I told him how grateful I was that he had called to let us know. But the only thing going through my mind during our phone call was, how could I tell the kids? I did tell them... and then held them on my lap while the three of us cried it out. Our little Matty will be so missed. She was one of the sweetest dogs. Always letting Ava drag her here and there, hold her and squeeze her. Never once snapping at her. Those two loved each other from day one. We didn't even have her quite a year but I think in those months she was probably more loved by that one little girl then her entire 13 or so years of life. I once read a quote that said, "Lucky is the man who has the unconditional love of an good old dog."

My friend Malina took the above sweet pictures of Ava and her Matty last year. I just love them. I thought it would be sad to look at all these but instead they just make me smile. Such fun times.

Crap

2010-08-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

Yep crap. My last post was called "stuff". This post is called "crap". Why? Things were going just great. We had such a fun weekend with our good friends in Vernal. Then on the drive home things took a quick/sharp turn for the crappy. Our car crapped out on us. Crappy. Then our little Matty dog went missing. Crappy. Crappy, crappy, crappy!!! We did make it home safe and sound from our trip, thanks to many answered prayers. And maybe, just maybe we will find our Matty yet. I really miss that little stinker. The pictures I just posted make me so sad now. Ava pets her on the computer...how sad is that! Oh I hope we find her. In the mean time it's hello to having a car payment again and only two dogs. :(

Stuff

2010-07-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ava and her Manny dog.

I love how the cat and the dog both have their tongues sticking out.:)

Ava leaves so she follows...

...right up into the hammock with the kids. I don't know why but that dog loves climbing up in there with them.

Some pretty petunias in the yard.

Caught the last of a pretty rainbow over the house today.
Not my kitchen of course but I just wanted to stick it on here because I love it!

And last be certainly not least Ava and Luke's favorite video of the very talented Dakota and his trainer Sarah. It's so cool what she can teach a horse to do!

A little taste of paradise....

2010-07-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Where do I even begin? We just got home from our annual trip to Jackson, Wyo. I don't know how to really put into words how much we love this place, so many amazing memories. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth in my opinion (minus the mosquitoes of course...they ate us alive!) The kids and I drove up with Domma Barker and Rice. We dropped Nana off so she could be up there for the fair that was in a few weeks. It was just a quick weekend getaway for us, but "get way" we did...from the heat! We heard rumors that back home was hitting triple digits! So we soaked in as much cool mountain air as we could.

Saturday we took a boat ride across Jenny Lake to the base of the Tetons for a hike to Hidden Falls. These picture don't even come close to doing the views up there justice. It was so beautiful!

These two were inseparable. Ava loves her Reegie!

Waching the horses being turned out to the meadow on Buffalo Valley road.

On the wagon ride up to dinner.

Uncle Ryan let Ava drive for awhile.

Poor little Ava was sick most of the trip. She was so "buzausted",as she calls it, that she could barely keep her glazed-over eyes open. But it was hard to fall asleep when there were cousins to play with, four wheelers to ride and pigs to herd.:)

Thanks Castagno cousins for all the fun!!! We love and miss you so much.

Summertime Memories

2010-07-25T18:09:00.001-07:00

Morning pony rides down at the barn with cousins.
All hail Caesar. :)

I just love this picture of Karo and Thomas, so sweet.

Ummm, does this pony make me look fat?:)

(Smash,"Annie Jeremy help me." -Thomas.)

Then on to crumpets and tea for lunch.

A neighborhood afternoon irrigation party.

And let's not forget the awesome mud ball cakes with candle"sticks".
...and giving old Fred a nice summer trim.:)
Oh and just yesterday we all enjoyed 3 red juicy fabulous garden tomatoes! It was about time! I think the kids search those plants daily for any sign of red.:) Quick story about our precious tomato plants.... yesterday after we came home from a neighborhood 24th of July party, Jeremy spotted a deer munching away on the tomatoes. I ran out to the garden clapping and hollering to scare the darn thing away. It bolts for the field across the street. At the same time a truck is heading up the street. I think that is when I started yelling OH CRAP! OH CRAP! All that's going through my mind is.... I just killed this deer! I just killed this deer! Somehow.... and I have no idea how??!!... it misses the truck by maybe an inch and jumps the fence safely. We all just stand there for a while looking at each other, Jeremy, me, the kids, and the deer. And that was that. Better stay the heck away from our tomatoes or else!!!

Unexpected Visitor

2010-07-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

Last week we heard this sound coming from outside the window. It was a weird ear piercing CHIRP....CHIRP.......CHIRP!!! At first I thought it was maybe a bird being attacked by our cat...(even though a noise that loud could in no way be coming from a little bird). The kids and I ran outside to investigate. Sure enough there was our cat crouched and ready to pounce at any moment on some poor little thing he had cornered in a bush. I quickly grabbed up the cat and threw him in the garage. But the chirping alarm never stopped. I got down on all fours to get a closer look at what the heck was in the bush and came face to face with this...

He was gigantic! It made me laugh to think that our cat had been willing to attack this critter that was over half his own size.

Luke took one look at it and announced, "I think it's a beaver."

Me- "Luke, I don't think he's a beaver."

Luke- "Mom, I know a beaver when I see one."

Okay. :)

Honestly I had no clue what he was, so I snapped a few pictures of our "beaver" and sent them to Sarah. She did some checking and informed me that we had a marmot in our yard. She even found a recording of a marmot "chirp". Yep, same crazy chirping. After our little marmot friend calmed down the loud chirping finally stopped. Then he just stared at us till I finally made the kids go inside so he could scamper on home. Ava went out later to check on him and he was no where to be found. She was a little disappointed, I think she was planning on keeping him as her pet.

A Day Off with Daddy

2010-07-11T18:46:00.001-07:00

Jeremy had last Friday off. Thursday night we asked the kids what they would want to do tomorrow. Ava came up with picking up toys and watering the garden. Wow, sounds like a great time...a great time that happens like ever single other day. Luke said he wanted to have a water balloon fight.:) We did that later, but first we headed up to this fun spot that all of our friends from around here keep telling us about. It was all that they said it was. Sand, sun and water fun! We will be back to visit this place again soon!

Our little mermaid....I mean "Sleeping Beauty" mermaid. Luke is a shark with blood coming out of his mouth.:)

The view from up there is just beautiful.

2010-07-08T14:06:00.001-07:00

Tickets to Eclipse with my sisters. A director who actually did the book justice...THANK YOU!!! Oh and a box of frozen Junior Mints because, "who doesn't like chocolate and mint? They're very refreshing!"-Kramer. :) It just doesn't get much better than that! (Not to mention I have the most wonderful in-laws who "watch my kids" (take them to Toy Story 3 + a sleepover) all at the drop of a hat. I love them! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!)

Luke and Ava at the pool on their last day of swim lessons.

Our friends from Wyoming came down for a wedding. The kids all swam at Em's while we were at the temple. Thanks Em and Domma!

All dressed for church...with clean faces.:)

Forth of July fun!

Notice the bowl under Ava's chair. It's full of her little pet worms.?:)

Some of our good friends came for a visit. The kids have so much fun together! We headed up the canyon for a BBQ and gigantor marshmallow roasting.