Barnes

December

2011-12-31T14:50:00.007-07:00

This month has been a wild one. We were busy every single day. I like to be a little busy, but not that busy. I honestly hope that we have nothing to do in January. I'm sure I would get bored after a couple of weeks.

A few days before Christmas I asked Kendi if she knew what Christmas was all about. She told me, "Santa!" I felt like a failure as a parent. I think she sensed my disappointment and tried to guess again, "Snow?" We had been reading a Christmas Story everyday in December and I tried to keep most of them religious so I wasn't sure why Jesus didn't come to mind. On Christmas Eve it was Kendi's turn to say the family prayer. When she asked Heavenly Father to tell Jesus "Happy Birthday," I finally felt like a pleased parent again. Aydri is almost old enough to understand everything about Christmas now. She had figured out who Santa is, but never quite understood what he does. On Christmas morning we had to wake up the kids to open presents so we would make it to church on time. Kendi was so excited and jumped out of bed, but Aydri couldn't have cared less if Santa had come. She kept pulling the covers back up and rolling over. I finally convinced her to let me wrap her in a blanket and hold her. She didn't even care to open her presents. She enjoyed watching her sister open and play with hers. I had to let Kendi finish Aydri's presents so we could get ready for church. I hope she always has a selfless attitude throughout life. Later in the day, Kendi turned to me and said, "This is the best day of my life."

On Christmas Eve we had plans to do random acts of kindness all day. We wanted to focus on serving others and also help the day pass quickly. I was surprised at how many ups and downs I felt throughout the day because of this. We started by having the kids color some Christmas pictures to deliver to elderly people at the rest home. The lady we visited was sweet and glad to see us. We had the girls pool their own money together to buy a present for a child staying in the hospital for Christmas. I really wanted this one to work out because I figured medical expenses and being stuck in the hospital would dampen someones Christmas. Turns out, our hospital had zero children admitted when we got there and the people that were working were grumpy toward us. This really spoiled my mood, but Jared felt like it would work out for the best. Jared had suggested taking doughnuts to the workers who probably didn't want to be there on a holiday, but I didn't think they were as needy as a lot of other people. Boy, was I wrong. They could have used a mood lifter. We also left some change taped to the vending machines next to the ER. Next, we paid for someones lunch at a drive thru, hoping they were travelers. That was fun because the employees were just as surprised as the travelers were. Then we took doughnuts to the fire department. They were very grateful and showed the kids around the station. We also took doughnuts to the police department and gave them the child's toy. I felt really good about this because they told us that they often respond to domestic situations or accidents where small children are involved so I felt like the gift would go so someone who really needed it. All in all it was a good day and it got us into a Christmas Spirit. The kids were zonked out before we even got them home that night, which made things easier on all of us.

It was my families turn to have us for Christmas and it was fun to have everyone there. Tammy and Adrian made it from Missouri with their baby, Levi. Cari brought her boyfriend, Joe, and his nine year old son, whom Kendi has a blast playing with. Stacia brought her fiance, Jed, and his three girls, whom Kendi also enjoys playing with and Jana brought her recently engaged fiance, Joe, whom were planning on getting married a week after Christmas. This all made for an interesting and joyful Christmas. All of my siblings work in the medical field and it's not very often we can all be together on holidays.

The wedding was simple, but nice. They got married in the Bountiful Temple and had a luncheon afterward. We left the girls in Cedar with Jared's family, which was a hard decision to make, but so much easier on me and the girls. I haven't gotten used to the idea that Jana is married because it was so quick, but we can't wait to get to know Joe more.

Journal Post

2011-12-07T13:02:00.003-07:00

Has is really been a month already? I don't feel like I have anything new to say and when I looked in my picture folder there wasn't anything to post. I've been feeling like we've gotten into a bit of a rut especially with homeschool and this just proves it even more. After next week we'll be taking a break until January. I feel like we'll be ready to start up again with new motivation.

It's weird to think that the school year is halfway over. I still feel like we're just getting started. I guess that's a good thing because we haven't got burnt out yet. I know that taking a break won't really be like a typical school break like it is for other kids. My kids will be asking me to do things with them all day and we'll end up doing a lot of school stuff anyway.

Jared is still working on the deck he started at the beginning of November. We've been sick and the weather hasn't been perfect so it is taking a lot longer than we anticipated. It's looking good though.

Kendi is still adjusting to school and a new home. She associates not seeing her friends as much as she used to to living in a new house, but really it's because everyone has started school and is busy. Every night lately Kendi seems to be having an emotional meltdown. A lot of her frustrations that she so dramatically sobs about are completely made up and I think she is really tired in the evenings. Hopefully it's just a stage. Despite being completely distraught last night she said Aydri could have her turn to unwrap a new Christmas book. I was shocked. I thought her breakdowns were about her having a selfish moment, but she was still really sweet to her sister.

Kendi and Aydri seem to have a bond like I've never seen before. The other day when we dropped Kendi off at Grandma's so we could take Aydri to the eye doctor, Aydri sobbed the whole way there. She kept asking for her sister. Yesterday, Aydri went to Grandma's house and Kendi couldn't stop talking about how she missed Aydri. I guess they really love each other.

Aydri is currently potty training. . . again. This time we've put her in underwear and we're not going back. We use pull-ups if we go out in public, but if she has an accident in them, even a little one, she walks funny and doesn't like it. So that feels like progress. I still have to remind her to go to the potty every couple of hours, but she has voluntarily gone by herself a few times which is a big deal, she often will ask for a diaper because she knows it's easier. We put diapers on her at night still, but one night we forgot. She made it until about 3 am before she came in crying and wet.

We are going to enjoy Christmas in our own house this year and so far it's been fun. Aydri is old enough to understand a lot of it and asks a lot of questions. Here is our Christmas card to you from us:

Journal Entry with Pictures!!

2011-11-02T13:10:00.002-06:00

I figured that since I only update about once a month I should take the time to include some pictures. It is fun for me to scroll back through and see them too.

I can't believe how fast time has been flying by since we started homeschooling in August. I still feel like we just started. It's been four months!! I'm feeling really pleased with it so far. There are a lot of unforeseen benefits that I would like to mention. Our house gets cleaned every morning before school and because the kids are doing things with me all morning and we clean up after each activity the house stays cleaner longer. I always do the laundry during the 30 minute break that we take everyday so it gets done everyday. That used to never happen. The laundry situation used to be very scary. I feel like I spend a lot of quality time with my kids everyday which is so full-filling. I am learning a lot in this process along with the kids. Learning is so fun!! I'm becoming obsessed with reading and history!! I also feel like I am closer to the spirit everyday. There are so many things that I wouldn't know how to handle and I have to rely on inspiration to get me through. I love it!!

Jared and I have been released from the Nursery calling in church. Jared is the new Young Men's Secretary and I don't have a calling at the moment. Being released was bittersweet for me. Kids at that age are so precious and funny, but it would take me the rest of the day to recover from church. Jared is excited to be with the Young Men. He is really good at being on the youth's level. In a good way. haha. Jared is also still loving his new job. It is funny to see his health improve from the stress relief. We didn't even realize how much the stress was effecting him until now. He has a lot more time on his hands now. There is a painting in the works and I am especially excited about this one.

I just finished my four month course of herbs a couple weeks ago. I feel much better, but not over the Epstein Barr Virus yet. The Herbalist told me it may take six months and I think she was right. Most of my symptoms right now are managable and I could live the rest of my life happy if they stayed this way, but as soon as it starts messing with my sleep or my abilities to take care of my family then it makes me want to get better and get help.

Kendi recently got a haircut. It is very short. It took a day for me to get used to it, but now I think it suits her spunky personality. Not to mention, it looks better on a daily basis than it used to. It only takes a few minutes to comb it out.

Kendi is so much fun. She gets excited about everything we learn about which makes teaching easy, but she is so smart that sometimes it's hard to know if she'll be bored. Her current interests are cooking and art. She's loves the little science experiments we do and has fun with the history activities. Reading isn't her favorite thing to do, but she is really good at it.

Aydri is changing everyday. Sometimes she will say things and I don't know if it was her or Kendi talking. She loves to dance and never holds still. She loves to take bathes. She averages about three everyday. She will even give herself a cold one if she's already had one and I've told her no when she asks again. One good thing is that we do reading lesson right by the bathroom door so I can keep an eye on her and she stays out of Kendi's way so she can concentrate. Most of the time Aydri likes to join us during school and I'm surprised at how much she actually can do with us. She also loves to read books now. I can't even tell you how many books we read in a day. Lately, her eyes are looking worse so we'll be taking her back to the doctor as soon as I know our new insurance has kicked in.

For Halloween this year Jared and I decided to dress up. I don't think we've dressed up together, ever. We've talked about being Abby and Gibbs from NCIS for a few years and this year we finally did it. It was so much fun. Jared has Gibbs profile and we put powder in his hair and he looked surprising just like Gibbs. We tried to get all of the details of Abby. Random strangers were taking pictures of us.

Kendi wanted to be a musketeer and we had no idea that their was a Barbie Musketeer movie out. So we felt like we hit the jackpot when we found a tutorial online to make our own costume. Every part of it is homemade except the sword. We used duct tape to make the boots.

Aydri loves cupcakes. I think it was one of her first words. She did not want to go trick or treating at all. She had more fun handing out candy to other trick or treaters. Kendi did the same thing at that age.

We had so much fun that we have already talked about what we should be next year.

Journal Entry

2011-10-04T12:19:00.003-06:00

I've been posting on leaftoleaf.blogspot.com about our homeschooling experiences more than I've been posting over here, but I still want to update what is going on with family.

Jared has recently started a new job. He is working with the Leavitt Group as an Internet Developer. I know you're all thinking he must have got the job because he is such great friends with the Leavitts, but they actually didn't know anything about it until after he was hired. Jared has been friends with guys in their IT department and would occasionally stop by to talk programming with them. A while ago they asked him to bring in a resume and at the time Jared didn't even want the job. Then they offered to use him on a consultant basis because he knows Java Script really well and not a lot of programmers do. Now he is working 3/4 time so he can get benefits. He is really loving it there. There is a lot less stress and no late night deadlines. He enjoys working with a group on projects and being able to be done with work by 2 pm. He is still working on old projects, but is finding people to take some of that load off.

I have become almost obsessed with homeschooling. It has become one of those good, better, best issues for me. I could spend all my time coming up with fun projects and ways to teach the kids, but I have to be careful not to let it take over completely. I've also learned that teaching Kendi one on one is the most fun and easiest way for her to learn so that simplifies a lot of lesson planning for me.

I know I haven't posted finished pictures of the house. The house doesn't really feel finished to me yet. We haven't ever spent much money on furniture or home decor because I've never lived in a place I wanted to decorate until now. I think I'll get more serious about furnishings during the winter when we're stuck inside more.

Kendi is blossoming right before our eyes. I love seeing the efforts of homeschool pay off. She has become more responsible and thoughtful and caring about things around her instead of just herself. Just today, she could tell I was tired after reading a bunch of books to her so she made lunch for her and Aydri all by herself. I love the way she does things to. She is so creative. Everything is decorated to the hilt. I have no problem letting her take an extra 30 minutes on her writing lessons because she wants to be creative with it. I use math and sometimes reading lessons to have her work on concentration, but I don't limit her to just one way of doing something. You can read more about our teaching style on the homeschool blog.

Aydri is in a funny stage right now. Everything she does and says is hilarious. She especially loves to tell jokes. She has quite the imagination and will play barbies and dollies by herself for hours. I'm surprised by how much homeschool she can do with us. I love having more than on kid to teach and spending quality time with both of them. Aydri loves to watch football. When the guys get loud, instead of crying like Kendi who is sensitive to loudness, she joins in and cheers too. It's cute. She watches all the BYU games with her daddy.

We are all doing very well right now and just wish time would slow down so we could spend more time in this fun stage of life we are in.

To See the Pictures

2011-07-06T17:53:00.002-06:00

These days it seems like it's easier to post pictures to facebook. If you'd like to see them, just friend me over there.

Journal Post

2011-06-24T10:30:00.006-06:00

I've always wanted to keep things real on this blog and not just post about the good things. I do not want this blog to be just a brag blog. I'd like to write about some exciting things we've learned about our health lately.

Jared has been to doctors and in and out of the ER with chest pain and near fainting spells and racing blood pressure for a couple of years now. These symptoms sound really scary and doctors weren't able to do much, but prescribe meds to help with the symptoms. The only diagnosis he ever received was GERD. After giving up on doctors and trying to self medicate he just decided that this was something he was just going to have to deal with for the rest of his life. Then we heard about Vickie Sorensen. She is a holistic Master Herbalist, which was right up our ally. She uses kinesiology to check the energies of your body. She discovered that Jared had a heart murmur that we already knew about, but his heart had a valve that sometimes beat backwards and caused momentary light-headedness. Stress made this worse. She found a brain injury that hadn't completely healed yet. And his GERD wasn't really GERD, it was candida yeast in his stomach that got out of control from using an antibiotic. She suggested some herbs to use and he is feeling really great now. His grim outlook on his health has turned out to be no big deal.

I also went to see Vickie because my health was deteriorating. I've been getting sick about every two weeks for several years now. I've struggled with a serious lack of energy and vertigo for as long as I can remember. Recently, I've had severe joint pain and fevers that last a week and a mysterious splotchy rash. It was to the point that I was having more bad days than good and it was effecting the well being of my family and not just me any more. With other symptoms that are too many to list Jared and I had done some research and discovered that I had all the symptoms of lupus. I had been to doctor's enough to know that they weren't going to do anything but prescribe pain meds. I don't have health insurance so I wasn't going to waste my time and money. Thank heavens for Vickie! She told me that my health actually wasn't that bad and that I just had a serious infection of Epstein Barr Virus. The same virus that causes mono in teenagers. Most people have this virus and it is just dormant in their bodies. For some people this virus will flare up constantly. It has spread to my brain and spinal cord and is causing me to not be able to absorb much of what I eat. I think this solves the mystery of my pregnancies. She put me on some herbs and sprouts to kill the virus, but we're trying to do it slowly over four months. I seriously went from thinking I was dying to thinking hey, this is no big deal. I still have bad days, but I can tell that the pains I feel now are healing pains. Vickie calls them healing crisis'.

We also took Kendi in. She was having severe tummy aches and sometimes vomiting. I should have seen this as an allergic reaction, but she's always been fine about food so it didn't even cross my mind. Turns out she is allergic to cow's milk. She also has some yeast and once we get her body back in balance, the food intolerances may go away.

We haven't taken Aydri in yet, but we plan to. If you have a mystery illness or are tired of taking meds with side effects, go see Vickie. You won't regret it.

Journal Post and Garden Stuff

2011-05-26T16:00:00.003-06:00

I've always wanted to have my own garden and I've waited several years to finally do this. It's still weird to think that we own our own house and have our own yard and can do whatever we want with it. Starting a vegetable garden was a must. We are starting small this year to learn how and get the hang of things. In our final backyard landscape design, we have a garden space as big as our house. We've made room for a large greenhouse and space for outside plants and berry bushes. This year I tried to start seedlings inside using the Aerogarden starter kit. I can't say that it was successful. It really didn't work well for plants that get big fast or for seeds that are big to begin with like beans. When I moved them outside to start hardening off they snapped and withered. Next year, I may only try tomatoes because they are the only plant that really needs to be started early. And use a fan everyday to help them be more sturdy. Any suggestions are welcome.

Our other goal this year is to get our front yard landscaped. We've drawn up a design for that and can't wait to get started. We like the look of lawn and flowers and tree's, but are trying to keep it fairly low maintenance. Most of our neighbors have mainly gravel front yards and it suits the look of their modern homes. We've tried to stick to a country-cottage look and may stand out, but I hope that it adds beauty to the neighborhood. It's been fun to spend evenings outside with the family working on projects.

Jared and Kendi have been going to the pool everyday for about a week and half now. Jared is teaching her to swim. I've gone with them a few times and I'm very surprised at how well Kendi does. She can swim faster than me. hahaha. Kendi used to hold her breath and dunk her head until her nose touched the water and that was all she would do. Now, she will dive under and kick her feet so fast and comes up grinning. They only spend about 45 minutes and she wears herself completely out. I'm so proud of her and the progress she's made.

Aydri has been potty training for more than a week now. I'm not sure I can say that its going well, but it's not going bad either. As long as I tell her to go she does fine, but she never goes on her own. She has to go every hour or she wets in her pants. This is so different from when Kendi potty trained that I don't know what to do next to get her to progress. I've been pretty relaxed about the whole thing. I feel like maybe she needs a consequence that will make her stop wetting in her pants and going to the potty herself. Making her practice ten times by going from the place she has an accident to the potty is like a game to her. Time-out isn't going to do it and I can't bring myself to give her a cold shower. What kind of punishment is appropriate for a two year old? For the time being, I'm just setting a timer for every hour and hoping she'll catch on.

New Niece and Nephew

2011-05-14T18:20:00.004-06:00

Yes, another niece on the Barnes' side!! Can you believe it? That makes eight girls and zero boys. hahaha. Little Kollete was born more than a month and half ago. She is just as precious as her sisters. Congrats Greg and Jaelyn on three beautiful girls!!

Tammy and Adrian just had their baby this week. A little Boy!!! That is big news on the Bulloch side. We don't even know what to do with him. Actually, with all the adventure that we're used to I'm sure he'll be just fine.
I think I see some Tammy in there. . . .maybe. I haven't seen him in person yet. Congrats Tammy and Adrian!!
His name is Levi and he shares his birthday with another niece of ours, the oldest pictured above.

And here is a semi-updated picture of the Barnes Family. It's missing Jerika and Kollete. Pictures are outdated before we can even get them on here. hahahaha

Leaf to Leaf Home-School

2011-04-23T14:17:00.003-06:00

I've been working on setting up our home-school and it has been exciting. We really like the Thomas Jefferson Education style of teaching. You can learn more about it at tjed.org. Basically, it focuses on mentoring kids to become leaders through reading the classics the way that George Wythe mentored Thomas Jefferson. I don't necessarily want my kids to be political leaders, I just want them learn "how" to think not just "what" to think. I want them to be leaders of themselves.

I also like Diane Hopkins way of home-schooling. She is a mother who home-schooled her seven kids. I love the patriotic and religious curriculum that she uses and sells. I follow her blog and you can tell her kids are happy in their "old-fashioned" sense of morals.

I've started a new blog to track our home-school. You can find it at leaftoleaf.blogspot.com. Right now it is still a work in progress. It's mostly a place for me to keep track of successes and failures. It helps me to have something to look at to see what we are and aren't doing and what needs improvement and to show how much we've accomplished. I hope you'll follow us and find some things that you can do with your kids too. Whether you home-school or not. It would be fun to have multiple people reading the classics along with us.

Picture Post

2011-04-13T11:19:00.003-06:00

I don't have as many pictures as I usually do. I guess that's what happens when you're busy. I hate that.

Poor Aydri was in time-out. I was trying to get a picture of her scowl. It's so cute. Obviously, she wouldn't let me. Here you can see the carpet that Jared laid all by himself. Good job, babe.

This is how Jared finished up the gables of the house. I'm so glad that we went with the Shakes siding on the house. It makes all the difference. This is the last thing we've had to do. How should we celebrate?
Kendi's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. She got some curl formers for her hair. These have been fun. I guess I need to take a picture of the finished product.
She had a Bug/Barbie birthday party. hahaha. We tried to go with the Mariposa theme. It was fun. My friend made this cake for her and it was great! The barbie had wings, but we couldn't make them stay and not ruin the cake.
A lot of kids came dressed up. They were so cute. We had to hurry and paint Kendi's face so she wouldn't feel under dressed. Kendi has been really into mysteries lately so we did a mystery game. The kids had to find clues and solve riddles to save Bug City from the Cockroaches.

Journal Post

2011-04-12T11:20:00.002-06:00

We've been stuck at home with a bad virus so now I finally have time to post. Getting sick really throws a wrench in a lot of things, but it's nice to just stay home, chill with the kids and catch up on reading and blogging.

We are literally within 24 hours of finishing our house. We've got occupancy so we've been busy moving in and unpacking. Our loan is already in the process of closing. Jared isn't feeling well, but wants to get the house done so he is working on it anyway. Hopefully I'll get to organizing my pictures and post some soon.

I am in the process of setting up our Home School. I've been doing some reading about the Thomas Jefferson Education. I've found some curriculum's that I like. We will probably be doing a mod-podge of different things. I am really, really excited to start this adventure with my kids. I hope that it turns out to be a great thing for us. I'm starting a home schooling blog where you can follow us. It will be a record of our successes and failures. I will probably be posting more on that blog than this one once we start the school year.

Kendi is adjusting to the new neighborhood. She had so many friends in Sunset Ridge that it was very hard for her to leave. She has made new friends here, but all of them are boys. They don't play princess or dress up or pretend like Kendi is used to. She comes home covered in mud and aching from being rough on the trampoline and doesn't seem to miss all the girliness. We have a dear, sweet elderly lady up the street that takes Kendi to the library and out for a treat now and then. She is a spunky lady and we love her to death. It still hasn't sunk in with me that Kendi is five now. I feel like my life has been on hold for the last eight months, but it has not been for the kids. It makes me sad.

I can't believe Aydri will be two years old next week. She has really taken off with speaking lately. She talks to us in sentences and helps with the prayers now. She is so sweet when she talks. Sometimes she tries to act mad and throw fits like her sister, but she just can't pull it off. We laugh and then she ends up laughing too. Kendi and Aydri play really well together now that we have our own home. They play hide and seek for hours. They are sharing a room until we finish the basement and they love it. It is working really well. They have spent a lot of time playing with toys they haven't seen in a long time.

We have a lot of projects planned for the summer and Jared and I can't wait to do them together. It will be fun to just go at our own pace. We've got a front yard to landscape and hopefully a vegetable garden to plant. We have room for a big one, but I think I'm going to start small until I know what I'm doing. If only we could get over this terrible cold.

Big Helpers

2011-03-07T14:33:00.003-07:00

We've never done tile like this before and weren't very sure of ourselves as we were pouring the mold for the seat in the shower. The kids stopped by with gma to bring dinner to us. They marched right in and started helping like they knew what they were doing.

Mud doesn't scare off these girls.

Cabinets

2011-02-24T17:33:00.003-07:00

Please pardon the dusty floors and the tools scattered everywhere. We finally finished installing the cabinets, but the counter tops are not on yet. If you notice the cabinets match the board and batten around the room.

I thought this bump in would be a good place to add extra cabinets since our kitchen isn't huge. Jared designed this nice desk layout. There are outlets inside them so we can keep electronics out of sight. I'm big on hiding clutter. It will be fun to find an antique chair to sit at this desk.

Here you can see the bar and the wall cabinets.

Here is the other side of the bar. The sink will go in the middle. You can see the laundry room through the doorway.

I wasn't sure what I wanted for a railing and we didn't have it in our budget. We loved this newel post when we saw it, but it was a lot more expensive than the others. After trying for an hour to pick everything out we came across this newel post that was all broken up. They let us buy it for half the price and we were able to fix it. We really like how it turned out and think that it ties into the board and batten.

Someone should pick up that broom and use it.

Paint Dilemma

2011-02-22T09:14:00.005-07:00

These are not great pictures, but it shows some of our progress. The night of Valentines Day, Jared and I stayed up late to install our flooring. We weren't feeling like we had made any significant progress for a few days so we decided to burn the midnight oil. We had a lot of fun.

Here is my paint dilemma. I fell in love with this color sample. It is Martha Stewert's Morning Fog. The sample is a really, really light gray- blue with a hint of green. I loved it so much that I didn't think to get a sample and try it on the wall before I bought a whole gallon. As soon as I rolled the paint on I knew immediately that is was not what I had in mind. It turned baby blue on the wall. I was afraid they hadn't mixed the color right. Jared (the artist, who is an expert at mixing colors) told me that it was an exact match. I even put paint on the sample and let it dry and sure enough it was a match. I want to close on the house sooner rather than later so I'm trying not the think about it right now, but it's driving me crazy. It's such a small room that it would be no big deal to repaint it, but there are so many other things to finish right now. Lesson learned: try out paint samples on the walls before you buy it and then paint the whole room. You can see in the picture where the natural light hits it, it turns baby blue.

Journal Entry

2011-02-13T15:25:00.002-07:00

Jared is still working hard on the house and his computer work. Working on the house is not as labor intensive as it used to be though. In the beginning, Jared's muscles had really filled out. It takes a lot of hard work for Jared to build muscle. I think he has to burn through all the excess energy first.

Jared has also added a new painting to his already full plate of things to do. We are really excited about this painting. It will be a special one with Christ in it. I love how Jared works hard to make something unique, but sticks to the truth of the scriptures in his paintings. I can't wait to show you the work in progress.

I have been working on the house more now that we are down to the finishing touches. Getting the paint on the walls was the last big hurdle for me. I'm so glad that is out of the way. Jared and I took a whole day and worked into the night to get it sprayed in one day. Often, Kendi will come with me and help, which is so much fun, but I hate being away from Aydri so much. It will be nice when this is done. It's getting more and more exciting and a lot less drudgery.

Kendi had a proud moment today when she had to give a scripture in primary. She worked hard all week so that she could half recite and half read John 3:16. Everyone was so impressed that she did so well on her own. Her love for learning excites me to start homeschooling this year.

Aydri was being really whiny one morning and I was ignoring her negative behavior. Kendi got annoyed and finally told her, "Aydri, mommy doesn't listen to whining, go try Grandma."

Aydri is approaching the "terrible two's" and I don't know how to deal with it. Kendi was the sweetest two year old. I think she was making up for her terrible first year. Aydri seems to think she is in charge all the time. To me it is funny, but to her four year old sister it is not funny. We often have days where Kendi is always asking me to put Aydri to bed. Fortunately, Kendi is figuring out ways to play with Aydri more and occasionally when it's time for Aydri's nap Kendi will ask if she can stay up longer to finish playing whatever game she has made up for the two of them.

Aydri is loving her glasses now. She started to run off without them after a bath one day and came running back and asked for them. Her eye's still aren't tracking together so we are taking her back to the eye doctor in a couple weeks. He doesn't think it's anything to worry about, but wants to keep checking on her. I can't say enough good things about this eye doctor.

My mom was watching Aydri while I worked at the house one day. My mom had gotten out of the shower and got dressed. Aydri started rubbing grandma's behind and my mom thought she was just feeling the soft fabric. She turned around and realized that Aydri had found the lotion and was rubbing lotion all over her clothes. Aydri has eczema really bad so we've made a routine where she lays on a towel after her bath and we lather thick lotion all over her. Apparently, it was Grandma's turn.

House Update

2011-02-11T19:40:00.002-07:00

Here is a sneak peak of a few finishing touches. It is getting exciting to see how it will finally look. Hopefully it will be ready to move in in a few weeks.

Kendi loves to help. We sprayed on most of the paint, but I wanted one bathroom a different color so we had to roll it on.
Kitchen cabinets will be delivered on tuesday. We are excited.

Just an Update

2011-01-25T15:14:00.002-07:00

I'd like to start making more journal-type entries instead of just posting pictures with captions. Especially, since I've had a hard time getting around to loading pictures lately. Sorry if this is boring to the rest of you, but I don't want to quit blogging all together just because I don't have pictures to post.

We have been busy lately, especially Jared. He goes to work on the house every morning until dark and then works on his computer until really late at night. Sometimes four in the morning. Then he does it all over again. We are getting so close to finishing our house, thank heavens. This is no way to live. You should never be so busy that you don't have time for FHE, scripture study, daily prayer with your family and the basic things we should be doing everyday. We've never felt so much stress, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Jared is also really close to finishing a big project he's been working on for a few years. It's an Internet based program he's been developing with another person. It's been getting exciting to actually "see" this big project that has mostly been pages and pages of Internet code.

Kendi is really missing our old house. She had so many friends there. There was always something going and many things to do. She has gotten bored because we are too busy to do things as a family like we used to. After this house is done we will feel like we're on vacation because of all the time we will have together. Kendi is learning so fast right now. She isn't school-age yet so I haven't pushed her to learn anything, but she is really picking up on reading. She loves to write us messages and spends a lot of time creating drawings as well. She loves to learn which makes me feel so great. Teaching her to love learning has been my main goal for the time being. Lately, she has been on a "mystery" kick and tells people she wants to be an Investigator when she grows up. I love seeing the expressions on people faces when she says, "investigator" with perfect enunciation.

Aydri is growing up fast. She gets more and more personality every day. She makes us laugh almost nonstop. When I try to talk sternly to her, she just laughs at me. I love her to death. She has been doing very well with her glasses. She tries to avoid putting them on, but doesn't put up much of a fight. She wears them 99% of the time and almost never takes them off herself. She is a lot more coordinated with her glasses and loves to read more books. One day, we spent almost the entire day reading books with her. I love to just watch her. She comes up with funny little ways to entertain herself. She loves to sing. Her favorites songs to sing are Jingle Bells and the Clean Up song from nursery. One huge stress reliever was finding out that Aydri is tolerating eggs. We are still really careful, but don't have to worry about her dying from them anymore.

Jared and I have been called to be nursery leaders in our ward. I'm surprised at how much we both love this calling. It was an adjustment at first and there were days that I thought it would never be easy, but now I look forward to it every week. It is a testimony to me that if you magnify your calling you will be blessed.

Aydri's Glasses

2010-12-29T15:55:00.003-07:00

Aydri's glasses came earlier than I thought they would. I was anxious when we went to go get them fitted. I was afraid she would hate them. So far it hasn't been even close to as bad as I thought it would be. Coming out of the dr's office she was grinning and giggling. I couldn't believe it. I was relieved and excited too. Then about half way home she decided that she wanted to play with them. She tore them off her face and started twisting them and sucking on them. What could I expect from a 1 1/2 year old. I had to pull over and take them from her and she cried the rest of the way home. I wondered if she was old enough to have explained to her why she needed to wear them. I could tell that she knew a difference already when she wore them. I convinced her to put them back on to show grandma. She put them back on and when we got in the house Kendi had a friend over that wears glasses too so that helped. You can see the lazy eye in the pictures. The doctor gave her 2/3 of her perscription so that her eyes would have to work a little to correct the lazy eye. Just to remember her perscription is 2.50.

I can't get a decent picture of her. I'm surprised at how cute they are on her. I was a little worried because after I got contacts everyone decided to tell me that I looked bad in glasses. haha.

She keeps touching them and making them really dirty. I only took them off twice to clean them because I had to fight her to put them back on. After getting her to put them back on we kept her busy with activities like coloring, reading books and eating finger foods. After about an hour of leaving them alone I decided to let her play and see what happens. So far she has kept them on. Wish us luck.

Disneyland at Christmas

2010-12-19T14:43:00.013-07:00

Last week, we took a trip with Jared's family. Everyone, but Jerika, was able to go with us to Disneyland. This was our kids first trip to Disneyland and it was so much fun.

The drive was around 6 hours which was a lot shorter than I was anticipating. We stopped in Vegas for lunch at In-N-Out. The kids were feeding the pigeons and Aydri was calling them puppies. I had to pack all of Aydri's meals to bring with us because of her food allergies. I was stressed about it at first, but always having her food with us was a convenience.

After we got to L. A. we checked into our hotel and decided to take the kids to see the ocean. Kendi had never seen it before and had been asking about it. We managed to get lost and didn't get to the beach until the sun was setting. It looks really dark in these pictures, but it was still pretty light when we first got there.

The mist was picked up by the flash of the camera. Sometimes the waves would crash really loud and scare the kids. Aydri was shaking. Poor thing. Some of the adults wanted to walk on the pier. Going out on a pier in the dark with two young kids that don't know how to swim was terrifying to me. Jared found some Filipino's that were fishing and talked Tagalog with them.
The next day was a beautiful day. The kids were so excited to be there. I think the funnest way to experience Disneyland is through the eyes of your kids. This was the first time I've ever been able to forget everything else going on with life and just enjoy the vacation. I guess I can understand why people like to travel now. In fact, it could become addicting.
We mostly rode little kid rides the first day. The kids especially loved It's a Small World. When I went as a teenager we hated this ride and thought it was the dumbest one in the park. At Christmastime they completely decorate it and sing Christmas songs. Aydri was dancing.

Kendi and Hope sang their little hearts out. I didn't get to record it this time so we came back on the third day. The kids were a little worn out and not so enthusiastic about singing. It was funny to notice how the excitement wore off as we all got tired. I don't think I could have done it for more than three days. It was still a blast though.

Aydri was a little trooper. The only ride she didn't like was Dumbo and we didn't take her on the big rides. So many people told us it would be a waste and hassle to take a toddler, but I was glad we had her with us. We've been so busy lately building the house that we needed some family togetherness time.

It was nice to have Jen and Justin there as our personal guides. Their kids are close to ours in age and they have done this a few times already. They really know how to have a good time at Disneyland. I would have been lost without them. Kendi had so much more fun with her cousins being there too.

Jen and Justin knew about this Animation Studio place in California Adventure. We got a lesson in drawing (fun for Jared) and we got to see which Disney Character we most resemble. Kendi was Nala, I was Jane (from Tarzan), Jared was Jafar (haha), Jen was Mrs. Potts, Hope was Lady (Lady and the Tramp), Halle was Ariel and Justin was Scar.

Aydri was good to sleep in her stroller. The adults took turns sitting with the kids. Aydri and Sydney are close in age and probably won't remember any of this trip.
Two umbrella strollers and a backpack was all we needed. I carried the old point and shoot camera with me all the time and was able to leave everything else outside the rides. Aydri had to have her diaper changed while waiting in line a few times. It took a team of three of us, but it was a quick change. She was a good sport.

We had beautiful weather the first day. The second day we woke up to fog and moist cool air. It was still nice weather to us. I put on a jacket because I was tired of people asking if I was cold in my t-shirt. We anticipated the last day to be the coldest so I put double layers of clothes on my kids, but it ended up being better weather then the previous day. We were lucky to get such nice weather in December. As far as crowdedness went it wasn't too bad either. The first day was pretty slammed and we ended up getting stuck in a huge crowd after the fireworks ended. We were able to avoid that on the next two nights.

We saw "It's Tough to be a Bug" in 3D. It was a short 9 minute show. We got sprayed by stink bugs and poisonous bugs and stung by bees. I couldn't wait to get out of there. haha.

Kendi's favorite Princess is Jasmin. We happened upon her on Aladdin's little house thing. The wait was only a few minutes. Thank heavens for that. We waited in line for an hour on the last day to see three more princesses. Cinderella, Tiana and Ariel.

The castle was gorgeous. The whole park was decorated for Christmas. It was unseasonably warm though. Kendi asked me if they celebrated Christmas in California. When I told her that they did she was confused about there not being any snow. She wondered if Santa even came to California. It really doesn't feel like Christmas to us without the snow.
Aydri didn't like the Characters and I don't blame her. People in costume have always freaked me out.

Jared's mom waited and saved spots for the parade. Some people got nasty about it and I began to wonder if the parade was worth fighting for. It was fun and Kendi got excited about seeing more characters. They did a lot of Christmas dancing and even had Santa Claus.
We convinced Kendi to ride Splash Mountain with us. In the picture she was completely ducking in her seat. After the end of the ride she told Jared, "I don't think I should have done that." She rode Thunder Mountain with us, but didn't love it. The only ride she wasn't big enough to so was Indiana Jones. We didn't push her to go on any more fast rides. Kendi absolutely loved Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to see it all redone. Kendi has been watching the movies almost everyday since we got home.

This picture doesn't do the castle justice at night. I just took it as we were trying to fight the crowd. There is a tree blocking the middle and it is a view from the side. It's a Small World was light up really well too, but I didn't have time to take a picture. The whole place really was magical.
On the second night, Jared and I left the kids at the hotel with Gma and Gpa. We spent some time in California Adventure with Greg and Jaelyn. We rode the big rides and had dinner with them. It was nice to have some adult time.

I rode Tower of Terror three times and Screamin' California twice. I would have done it more, but we just didn't have time. The Fast Passes were the only way to go. I don't know why anyone would not do the fast passes. Sometimes the wait to use the fast pass was shorter than the wait in the regular line.

The first day that we were there was busy I think because of the nice weather. The next two days were cloudy, but not busy at all. Most of our waiting in line was 5 to 15 minutes even on the busy day thanks to the fast passes on the big rides. We waited forever for the princesses and for the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure though.

The night that we got back home Kendi came crying into our room. She was begging to go back to Disneyland. We told her that we would try to take her when Aydri is big enough to enjoy it too.

November Projects

2010-12-01T16:13:00.004-07:00

And some random pictures from November.

We made my sister a birthday cake. I will never do this again.

Aydri is a little helper.
It got messy for both of us.

Aydri dressed herself in daddy's work stuff.

For my birthday, Kendi and I tried to make a giant ding dong. The ganache didn't spread quite right so we only got fudge coating on top.

Kendi won the star brusher contest at the dentist's office and got a gift card to wal-mart. She got herself a zhu zhu pet. We made a little bed for it.
Aydri will watch a movie with Kendi for about 10 seconds.
November was a blur. I hope we can enjoy December a little more.

Flash Back

2010-12-01T15:42:00.003-07:00

I couldn't believe that Kendi was Aydri's age when we taught her this. Now she is teaching it to Aydri. Go HERE to see Kendi when she was about 20 months old.

Jamberry Nails

2010-11-26T21:25:00.002-07:00

One thing I really like is having my toe nails look nice. I love these nail shields from Jamberry Nails. They are doing this thing right now where you refer friends and for every for items they purchase I get a free set of Jamberry Nails. If you want to try them out go HERE.

Lost Track

2010-11-22T15:11:00.004-07:00

If it seems like we're moving along slower than normal that is because we are. I've lost track of what day we're on and don't want to figure it out right now. We finished the roof last week. It was nice to put a finishing touch on something. We worked for four days in the wind and cold on the roof to get it done before the snow storm. We barely made it.

We had a couple groups of high school students come help on the roof. All I can say about high school students is that some are cool and hard working and other's are lazy and lame.

They started installing windows today. Here is the first one.

We All Need Something

2010-11-13T19:03:00.002-07:00

I would be very ungrateful for all the help we've received on our house if I didn't pass this along. Please go to this link and vote for "My Dad's Eyes" in the humorus category. This family really deserves it. You can watch the video they made on this blog. It's really cute.

Day Eighty Six

2010-11-05T19:12:00.002-06:00

I was very surprised to see this. I had been to the house at noon and they were still trying to fix the same problem that we had been trying to fix for several days. When I came back to bring dinner there were three more guys helping. One who had arranged to take off work to spend a whole day out there. Two guys who had just stopped by and decided to stay and help. True friends. We've been trying to get sheeting on the roof all week. I can't wait to do shingles.

Day Eighty Four

2010-11-03T19:45:00.003-06:00

I seem to be consistently one day late with all my posts lately.

For an update on my dad, he is in rough shape. His back seems to be getting worse, not better with every day. He's been doing physical therapy for a few days now, but the physical therapist thinks he needs surgery.

I have been helping Jared full time now. It's kind of fun to think we're doing this on our own. Except we're not on our own. We've had some amazing friends show up and help. Just yesterday we got a phone call from a friend wondering where we were. Jared was still working at home so we hadn't made it out to the house yet. When we got out there, there was a huge crew of people working on our house. They did more in 2 1/2 hours than Jared and I had done all week. This picture doesn't even show half of the people that helped that day.

Today, we were struggling with how to trim the trusses to put up the fascia. A friend of ours who is a construction worker stopped by to see how we were doing. He got us back on track. It's nice to have people like that stop by.

Our goal is to have the shingles on by the end of the week. Wish us luck.

Cute Little Bugs

2010-10-31T19:53:00.004-06:00

After watching Kendi wear her costume for three days straight Aydri finally let me put hers on her. She would only wear long enough to get pictures and go to the care center to see the residents.

Kendi has quite the poses for the camera these days. I can't get a normal one. We can't hide her personality anyway.

Aydri won't look at the camera let alone smile for me. Oh well.

Cousins on the Barnes' side.

One cousin on the Bulloch's side.

Budding Artist

2010-10-29T18:49:00.002-06:00

Kendi spends a lot of time coloring, drawing and creating. Jared sits down and draws with her often and I still enjoy coloring in coloring books with her. Kendi entered seven different coloring contests this week. She had more pictures ready to hand in, but we just didn't have enough time to deliver them all over the city. We got two phone calls today telling us that she won third place at KB and First Place at Artic Circle. She was so excited. She's been asking me if they would call every day and it was fun when they actually did. She worked so hard coloring for hours.

She was especially happy about winning a kid's meal.

Without Training Wheels

2010-10-28T16:12:00.004-06:00

Kendi learned to ride her bike without training wheels today. She surprised us by doing it without any help. I've been thinking about teaching her since spring, but I wanted Jared to be there. I decided that I would see how she did and then get Jared there to help when she was ready. I took the training wheels off a couple days ago and she tried to take off and almost fell over. It scared her enough to not try very hard. I didn't want to push her so I let her go at her own pace. We went out again today and all I did was show her how to balance with one foot and push the pedal with the other to get going. That was all she needed.

When she told me not to help her I thought about how I didn't bring any band aids along. I was not expecting her to take off right away like she'd been doing it forever. I think riding her scooter helped her learn balance.

Jared pulled up from working on the house while we were still out riding and she got to show him.

Aydri picked up on the excitement and was clapping and hugging me. We're so proud of Kendi. She's on cloud nine right now.

One Reason for Homeschooling

2010-10-27T15:45:00.002-06:00

I've been reading a lot of homeschooling blogs lately to learn other people's techniques and experiences. We all seem to be passionate about the same reason's for homeschooling. Courtney from My Ordinary, Happily Ever After posted this on her blog:

We’ve seen the news stories about these new “sex ed” programs that teach all sorts of things that we weren’t taught in school under the guise of “preventing bullying”. But this report shows the true purpose of why the radical “sexual agenda” is trying to infiltrate our schools.

This report was created by UN Special Rapporteur Vernor Munoz who was under mandate from the UN as an “expert” to issue an unbiased report on “the right to education”. Based on the content of his work, he is clearly not “unbiased” nor is he an “expert”.

Among other things, this report claims that existing international treaties create a “Right to Sexual Education” (which they don’t) and that they only way to enforce this fabricated “right” is by implementing a sexual education program that not only undermines parental authority, religious convictions and traditional values, but also releases our children (and society as a whole) from any form of self control and gives them carte blanche to nearly any and all sexual behavior (except abstinence and restraint, of course).

The report discusses what helps young people “have better sexual lives”, as if improving the sexual lives of youth is a valid goal of governments, and it strangely states that the “goal of education for sexuality” (which is significantly different from traditional sex education) is “to develop a transforming role for men by going beyond the …physical aspect,” whatever that means.

REALLY? Since when does ANYONE want the government in their bedroom? Regardless of your beliefs on sexual orientation, I doubt that many people agree that it is the governments job to teach about technique in our classrooms.

Specifically, in the report Munoz states that he “considers that pleasure in an enjoyment of sexuality . . . should be one of the goals of comprehensive sexual education, abolishing guilt feelings about eroticism that restrict sexuality to the mere reproductive function. ”With regard to HIV the report declares that “restricting sexual education to the issue of sexually transmitted diseases . . . may create an erroneous association between sexuality and disease, which is as harmful as associating it with sin.”

To read her entire post go HERE.

They want to teach this to five year olds. I know there is a lot to be debated about why we should or shouldn't homeschool, but this is a big reason for me. Not just because of how the government is getting involved with Sex Ed, but because of what is becoming socially acceptable in modern society. And then not just acceptable, but expected among kids.

I don't think less of people who put their kids in public education either. I'm still open to all ideas of education and am not sure what I'll end up doing yet. I just feel like the battle between good and evil is getting more challenging and I want to know that I TRIED to do all that I could for my kids. If you have more information on what is going on with Sexual Education in schools, please share.

Ballerina Bugs

2010-10-25T19:31:00.004-06:00

Our kids are going to dress up as Lady Bug Ballerina's for Halloween. I already had Kendi's old costume for Aydri and Kendi had been begging for one in her size since she outgrew it. So, I made one to match. Right now, Aydri absolutely hates her costume and won't let me near her with it so I don't have any pictures yet.

We decided to carve pumpkins for family night. It's fun to carve something that goes with their costumes. Kendi chose to carve a Ballerina on the front of hers and musical notes on the back that would cast a shadow. She poked all the holes and even did some carving by herself. She is getting so big.

Getting a picture of these two smiling and looking at the same time is impossible. This is the best I got.

I didn't have Jared there to draw the lady bug for Aydri so I had to do it. I know it looks kind of Alienish.

For some reason you can't see the musical note shadows behind the ballerina very well in the picture. I'll have to try again tomorrow when it isn't so dark.

We had a lot of fun. I used to hate Halloween, but when you have two little girls its all about pumpkins and princesses. A lot more exciting.

Day Seventy Six

2010-10-24T19:00:00.003-06:00

I have no pictures for yesterday. Jared and I had been to an overnight Halloween party and were getting home later than we had planned. We were nervous about driving home from Brian Head on the icy roads in the early morning.

Not long after we got home my dad came hobbling in. He thinks he's just thrown out his back. Today he can't even stand up. He's taking medication that I wouldn't take and I've never seen him take a pill in my life. So, for the time being, Jared and I are on our own. We're supposed to pour cement in the morning. We're not sure if we should wait till my dad feels better or try to keep going by ourselves. Last time my dad threw his back out it took two months to get better. We were hoping to be done with the house by then. Trusses are coming by Tuesday and we'd like to have the roof on before it snows which could be this week. Roofing was always my favorite part, hopefully we can do it.

Day Sixty Nine

2010-10-21T09:17:00.002-06:00

Today is actually day 72. I was supposed to post this Monday. It's so exciting to see walls and windows. My dad thinks we're nuts with how many windows we put in here. He is calling it "the fishbowl." We call his house "the dungeon." My sanity depends on natural light.

The trusses are supposed to be here any day. It's supposed to snow on Monday so we may be having a crazy weekend getting the roof on.

Day Sixty Three

2010-10-13T09:18:00.003-06:00

Day63 was actually yesterday. I spent the whole day working with them on the house. I took Kendi with me in the morning. She's been wanting to make new friends in the neighborhood and was finally able to meet some kids.

We put up the floor joists. Once again we had a good friend helping. He took off work and traveled down to spend two days just helping us. As long as we don't run out of good friends we might be done by Christmas. I swept out the basement and then hammered and hammered and hammered.

Kendi took this picture.
Kendi is learning to entertain herself on a job-site like I did when I was little. A "Lumber Ride" is almost as fun as a "Hay Ride."

Day Sixty One

2010-10-09T17:57:00.002-06:00

The first wall! Cement work was beginning to feel like drudgery so this was exciting to see.

I tried to take pictures of the kids with their pumpkins, but by the time I figured out that I was overexposing them, the kids were done. haha. Oh well.

Day Fifty Six

2010-10-04T17:01:00.004-06:00

Oh, this was a miserable day. I can't even begin to describe it. It rained, the wind blew, the tarp ripped. I tried to sit on it to hold it down and the wind lifted me and the whipped the tarp out from under me.

My advice is don't ever pour cement during a storm.

Before we poured the garage floor I had asked my dad if he could angle it so that we could hose it out instead of having to sweep it clean. I didn't want the water to puddle in front of the door to the house. Well, today we found out that it drains rather well. I had to try to control the floods that were running down the driveway and onto the wet slab as they finished the cement. It will be a miracle if this slab turns out well.

Day Forty Seven

2010-10-04T16:47:00.003-06:00

This should have been posted two weeks ago. If I don't post the day it takes place then I lose motivation. I usually don't worry about catching up, but this day was fun.

They poured concrete at 7 am and I was supposed to bring the kids out at 8 to put their hands in the cement. I didn't get there till 8:30 and was afraid we had missed the opportunity. Luckily it was a colder day and the cement hadn't dried yet. Unfortunately, it was so cold that it took almost three more hours to dry enough. I had to keep these two little busy bodies out of the wet cement and the holes around the house. It was quite the chore for me.

At one point I put them in the car and gave them food to eat. Kendi got a hold of the camera and took this picture.
Finally, at 11 am they got to stamp their hands and feet. I didn't get good pictures because I was so ready to leave. Kendi was an hour late for preschool so we had to take off quickly. I still haven't got a good picture of the final prints.

Day Forty One

2010-09-16T13:49:00.003-06:00

Fresh, clean floors! This is the first of another three cement pours. Once again we had great helpers yesterday. I didn't know they were going to show up so I didn't go out to take pictures till this morning.

Here is the infamous stairwell that they tried to pour also. Unfortunately it blew out. They had to break up all the concrete and dig it all out to start over.
Pretty, little window well. Concrete appeals to me for some reason.
This finished floor is where the basement living/school room will be. Yes, we are planning on homeschooling our kids. I'm going to have to find a way to light up this room as it is seriously lacking in windows.
Thanks to Uncle Dave and our buddy Paul for helping. Great people.

A Load of . . .

2010-09-10T18:38:00.004-06:00

We went after a load of wood on Labor Day. I haven't been up the mountain much this year so I was excited. Kendi had fun exploring the creek while we worked.

Aydri was not used to wearing shoes or jeans or long sleeved shirts or walking on uneven ground or having bugs buzzing everywhere. At first she was excited to go explore too.

She became very frustrated. She tried to sit on a log like everyone else was doing and missed. That was the end of it for her. She was miserable and sat in the truck the rest of the time. Poor thing, she'll get used to it.

Grandpa Bulloch, the lumber-jack.

Felling a tree. Saying that sounds so funny to me.

Cari got the coveted job of stacking wood. I was always envious as a kid because my oldest sister always got this job. I thought that some day it would be my turn. Now my younger sister is doing it and somehow I got skipped.

On the drive up to our camp spot to have dinner the kids fell asleep. We were hoping for a nice dinner with dutch oven cobbler. When we got there some bees had made a hive in the fire pit. My mom decided to burn them out. Bad idea. They were not happy with us. They would not let us eat our food. They were swarming around us and landing on the kids. We couldn't eat and get out of their fast enough.

So, I figured out that my stock lens was super crappy. I always thought that I just didn't know how to take pictures very well. I switched to my long range lens and it takes better pictures, I just can't get very close. Sure glad I figured that out.

Day Thirty Six

2010-09-10T15:34:00.003-06:00

Today is the second day we've spent back filling around the foundation. I wanted to get a picture of Jared using what we have nicknamed "the thumper." I don't like the kids being around the backhoe unless they are on it so I gave up and took them home.
My mom and I took turns spraying the dirt. It has to have the right water consistency to compact just right.

I'm usually slow and methodical about the way I do things. Some people think I'm timid because of this. If I'm not careful bad things happen. Today, after spraying brainlessly for hours I got careless. It didn't help that I was wearing over sized insulated gloves that were hard to work in. I picked up the nozzle of the hose, not realizing that I had it facing the wrong way. Yes. . . I sprayed myself point blank in the face with full water pressure. At first I didn't know what had happened. It certainly didn't feel like being splashed with water. I'm surprised my contacts were still in my eyes. And then I heard my dad say in a confused tone, "What are you doing?"

Frost Bite?

2010-09-04T17:07:00.003-06:00

Today was day Thirty One. Jared and I tarred the foundation. It wasn't as easy-peasy as I thought it would be, but we had fun together. I had to use old gloves that could be thrown away when I was done. These gloves didn't help much and they ended up glued to the handle.

Kendi was there to cheer us on. She would pick up the pieces of stip-ties that we would break off and bury them like treasure.

I let Kendi take as many pictures as she wanted.

There were a dozen more of the exact same thing.

Day Twenty Nine

2010-09-02T15:53:00.006-06:00

The guys couldn't wait to see the walls. They went out early this morning to strip the forms. They were worried that if they used these free forms the walls would have an ugly texture, but they actually turned out really smooth.

The basement is raised up out of the ground a little so that we can have daylight windows and protection from flooding. It was fun to see the windows and door appear underneath the forms.

Kendi likes to come when I take them lunch. She inspects what they are working on and searches for horny-toads. My dad is like the old-timers. After eating lunch in the shade, he laid down and took a short nap.

Day Twenty Eight

2010-09-01T16:38:00.006-06:00

We were finally able to pour the foundation today. I wanted to help, but my dad said he would pour my foundation if I would mow his lawns. Sounded like a deal to me. I had six lawns to mow. I tried to get out to the house before all the helpers left, but I didn't make it in time to get pictures. We had three generous guys help pour today. Thanks guys!

Everything seemed to turn out well. The cement trucks only broke the part of the sidewalk that will be taken out for the driveway. haha. Hopefully things will move along faster now.

Life Between Building

2010-08-26T17:28:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to keep life as normal as possible for the kids so that they don't hate the house building process. Kendi has a "Summer Chart" that gives her a checklist of things she has to finish everyday. When she completes the whole chart she gets to pick an activity. She's been begging to make gingerbread houses for a while. I don't know where she got the idea. She finally completed her chart the other day so we found some grahm crackers and frosting. As I was getting everything ready, Kendi looked at me and gasped. Then she dramatically exclaimed, "My dreams just came true."

After I took some pictures the gingerbread house started to collapse. This was her face.

Her dream was crushed and she was close to tears so I suggested that we keep building on top of it. She decided that was okay.

Aydri has located every mud puddle on the premises.

We were waiting for our car to get fixed so we got slushies at a nearby gas station and found some shade. The lawn was covered in clovers so I told Kendi to look for a four-leaf-clover. She found one. She thought that was pretty special. I've looked my whole life and have never found one. The lawn-mower had gotten some of it, but you could tell it had four leaves.

Aydri likes to pull out Kendi's clothes and put them on.
By the way, we stopped by Auto Zone to buy parts to fix our car ourselves and they wanted $160 for the part. We knew that was a bad deal. Tunex replaced the part and fixed it for us for $65. WOW!

Day Twenty Four

2010-08-26T17:17:00.002-06:00

I hadn't been out to the house for a while so when Kendi suggested we drive out there after her soccer game we decided it would be a fun ride. There hadn't been much change because they've just been working on plumbing and grading and figuring things out.

The forms make it feel more like a house. haha. It was fun to walk around inside and get a feel for where the basement rooms will be.

This picture is for those who think our house is in Enoch. It's not. I don't want to give details because this is a public blog so you can tell by the mountains where we're at if you're familiar with the area. This is looking at the back of the house and facing east.

Cowgirl

2010-08-21T09:54:00.003-06:00

At this moment Kendi wants to be Jessie, from Toy Story, for Halloween. She wanted to be a cowgirl last year, but changed her mind several times and ended up being Cinderella. We've moved in with my parents while the house is being built and there is a horse pasture in front of their house so the kids watch and play horses a lot. Today, Kendi looked out the window and said, "Hey, that horse has tipped over." Then she ran to the door and yelled out, "Hey, that's not how you're supposed to treat yourself!"

Kendi's First Soccer Game

2010-08-19T14:13:00.003-06:00

Kendi and her good friend, Emma, ended up on the same team. They have a lot of fun.

It's so cute to see the little girls try so hard. Kendi does well at practice, but had a hard time being aggressive during the game. I had to have a talk with her about not crying when she would get bumped. We had her sit out the first part and watch so she would know what to expect. She didn't cry during the game and we're practicing with her at home now.

Kendi was good at throwing the ball. Another girl was good at defending the goal and another girl was good at scoring. They make a great team.

It was good entertainment for us. We laughed the whole time.

Kendi stuck her tongue out the whole time. I think its a concentration thing.

I'm not sure they really keep score, but I think Kendi's team won, 3 - 2.

Kendi's First Ballet Review

2010-08-18T17:24:00.004-06:00

Some friends of mine started a ballet class with a bunch of little girls in our neighborhood. The whole thing was completely volunteer. I loved how it worked out. We all tried to chip in somehow and everything seemed to get taken care of.

It was so fun to watch these little girls learn the dances. They took it very seriously and were so cute in their little outfits every week.

They were able to perform four dances for their review. I knew some of the kids would just stand there when it came time to perform so I bribed Kendi. I told her we'd get snow cones if she danced her very best. She did really well. I'm so proud of her. I wish I knew how to upload videos, but I don't have time to figure that out right now.

Just to remember, the dances they performed were Run, Run, Run, Beauty and the Beast, Tapioca and an Irish Dance.

A special thanks to Cheryl and Chalise. I don't think they realize the impact they've had on these little girls. They are such beautiful dancers and the girls want to be just like them.

Day Seventeen

2010-08-12T16:37:00.003-06:00

I'm sure this is getting old and boring to everyone if you're still even reading this blog anymore. You will certainly know how to build your own house by the time we are done.

We poured the footings today. We got a couple extra hours to get ready for the concrete. Seems like we're always scrambling on days we pour cement. I like to get pictures of everyone that helps. This guy is a new neighbor and the inspector. He has also become a good friend. He just showed up to help right as we were getting ready to pour. What a nice guy.

My job was to make sure none of the rebar fell. Two ties broke right off the bat and I was tying them back together under their feet while the concrete was coming. Every time I help pour cement I always end up getting it dumped on my head.
Poor Aydri came with me. I thought we were pouring at 1:00, but it didn't end up being till 2:00 so she sat tied up in the wagon for about three hours. She was great about it, but I still felt awful and hope that I never have to do it again. If someone would like to swap babysitting with me one or twice a week for an afternoon please call or text me.

Day Sixteen

2010-08-11T19:32:00.004-06:00

All of a sudden the days seem to be going by faster. Which is good.

Jared vs. Rebar. Jared had to get stitches and a tetanus shot.

They dug footings today and are scheduled to pour them tomorrow. Apparently, they're nervous about being done in time to pour.

Jared has been getting up at 4 am every morning to get computer work in and then working from noon until 9 pm every night on the house. I feel like a single mom sometimes and I don't know how they do it. Especially being sick and moving out of our old house. Thanks to all my neighbors who have adopted Kendi this last week.

Day Thirteen

2010-08-07T18:46:00.002-06:00

My mom and I take turns working on the house and bringing meals out. This day I took dinner out and ran the back-hoe while the guys ate. It was the last six inch lift.

Day Twelve

2010-08-07T17:57:00.003-06:00

Still pushing dirt back into the hole. I couldn't believe how much we compacted. More dirt went in than came out.

A friend lent us a skid-loader. This has definitely been a community project. It will be so fun to see all the people that helped when its done. Jared got really good at running it. They roll compacted all the dirt.

Day Seven

2010-08-07T17:48:00.002-06:00

Lots more dirt.

We had so much dirt piled around the hole that we had to pile it in the middle while they compacted the outside and then compacted the middle after the put the dirt back. All we have to work with is a back-hoe, but its free.

Day Six

2010-08-07T17:39:00.003-06:00

My camera batteries died and the battery compartment was stuck shut. Scary things are happening at the bottom of the diaper bag.

There isn't much to update. They dug a super deep hole and are now filling it back up six inches at a time. They have to compact and have it tested. They are very proud of their results. Between 100 and 105 percent usually.
It's a family affair.

Lake Water

2010-07-28T17:10:00.004-06:00

Lately, I've been calling Aydri "Trouble Monkey." Monkey because she is a climber and Trouble because she's always in a sticky situation.

We took the kids to the Lake at the Hills to swim with their cousins. Kendi had a blast. Aydri must have had a blast, but it was miserable for Jared and I. Aydri preferred to have her face at the bottom of the lake-bed. I could not keep her head above water. She would try to run in the water, which is hard for anyone to do, and fall on her face. I had to have my hands and eyes on her the whole time. I fished her off the bottom of the lake at least six times. I was even more anxious because I couldn't keep an eye on Kendi as much as I would have like to. We won't be taking Aydri back unless we have a float tube to put her in.

Here is the Trouble Monkey getting ready to splash.

SPLASH!

We tried to teach Kendi how to float. I'm not sure how that lesson went. I was preoccupied. I do remember her saying, "Mom, watch this." She would plug her nose, close her eyes and put her chin under water.

The water was surprisingly warm and not too crowded. It's nice to have a beach close by.

Day Four

2010-07-26T20:55:00.002-06:00

The back hoe broke down at the end of day three so they spent a lot of today fixing it. They finished digging out the middle of the house so that now they can dig around the edges.

Day Three

2010-07-26T20:53:00.001-06:00

More dirt. Bigger hole.

Wearing a tutu, playing in the dirt. Typical Kendi.

Day Two

2010-07-22T20:22:00.003-06:00

We started digging the hole. It was exciting to finally be able to break ground. . . until it wouldn't break. Apparently, the ground was extremely hard and the hoe needed new teeth. (My dad's words exactly). That did the trick and now we have started to move dirt. This used to only take a few days, but now you have to over-excavate and wet the dirt as you move it. Then you have to pack a few feet of dirt back in and have a geo-tech approve the compaction.

Day One

2010-07-21T19:51:00.002-06:00

Clearing sagebrush and staking out the house.

Whew!

2010-07-08T13:21:00.007-06:00

It's been a fun and busy summer so far and we have tons of stuff still planned. So much stuff that we won't be able to do all of it.

Lately, we've been able to enjoy the shady evenings in my parents back yard while the kids play in the water. Good times. Aydri looks really sweet in this picture, but you should see the girls fight over this chair. You'd think they'd like the pink one more.

Aydri's favorite thing to do with the slip and slide is try to drink the water. She holds this position forever until her thirst is quenched.
Right before Cari left to be an RN at a summer camp in PA we took the kids hiking to Kanarra Falls. We didn't make it all the way to the falls with the kids, but itwas fun.
I try not to make any plans for the Forth of July. It seems to be more fun when everything is spontaneous. Of coarse, we went to the parade.
Kendi has a little friend in our ward who she has been through Nursery and Primary with. She has an older brother who has always been especially friendly to Kendi and always gives her some extra attention. When he started holding her hand at the parade and helping her catch candy I started thinking that his intentions might be more than friendship.

This picture is for Cari. We miss you.

My Aunt just got back from boot camp and they decided to have a spontaneous lunch at the Ranch. We had BBQ hamburgers, hot dogs, dutch oven potatoes and a lot of other good stuff. It was nice to see some family that we really should see more often.

After eating, riding the four wheeler and visiting with family. Jared, Jana, and Adrian went for a bike ride down the Virgin River Rim trail from Navajo to Wood's Ranch. Jared forgot to give me the keys to our car so I got stranded up there. I didn't mind. I could stand a few extra hours in the mountains. Stac and Rob rode to where the trail crosses the road to catch Jared and got my keys for me, thank goodness. We got home just in time to run to the theater and catch the new Eclipse movie. Sorry, I thought it was dumb, but I'm not a movie person. Books are always better. Jacob is a psychopath in the movie. We got out of the movie just in time to see the fireworks. I was so tired, and a little disturbed from seeing vampire heads fly, that I couldn't even put a sentence together.

Kendi loves baking with her Easy Bake Oven. I have to limit how many times a week we make treats. She is always creative with how she makes them. By the time she is done, she has licked so many spoons and bowls that she doesn't end up eating the finished cakes. Frosting on the forehead.

Aydri was playing peekaboo while we baked.

This is what we've been doing the most of lately. Riding around in the car looking at houses and lots for sale. The kids have always been good in the car, but this summer we have pushed them to their limits. Poor Kids. Fortunately, we have settled on building a house. . . ourselves. I absolutely love the lot that we found in a great neighborhood and can't wait to get started. My dad is letting us modify a home plan that he has built several times so it will be exactly what we want in a house. I think it will be a place we will live, raise our kids, pay off and retire in.

There was not AC. I was dying.

Geocaching

2010-06-12T11:31:00.006-06:00

Poor Aydri has been miserable lately. She's teething several teeth. Her tear ducts are blocked which makes her get infections easily. Her eyes are always red, swollen and watery. She's been suffering from a little cold too.

I wanted to get a picture of her wearing real shoes for the first time. This is the face I've been seeing for the last two weeks. She is finally doing better and getting treatment for her eyes now.
Aunt Cari got a slip n slid for the girls. This has provided hours of fun. They both love the water no matter what the weather is like.

We celebrated Jared's birthday yesterday. For the last three years we've tried to go to the ranch for dinner and it has been bad weather every year. Kendi made him a rice crispy cake and decorated it herself. We saved the dutch oven cobbler for another day.
After having cancelled everything with everyone my family decided to go up anyway. We were going to do a short hike to a geocach and then a short bike ride. The weather switched off and on from beautiful to windy and cold then back to beautiful. As we were leaving it started thundering really loud. We still had a ton of fun.

I attempted my first geocache with my achievement day girls a few weeks ago. We didn't end up finding it and we were all very disappointed. I later figured out that the GPS was set to minutes which is normally the most common setting, but that's not what geocachers use. We changed it to decimals and took Kendi out to find it. She calls it "treasure hunting" and is hooked on it.
We decided to find some that were out away from the city. We know this area really well and were excited to find out someone had hid some geocaches up in the mountains. It was a good little hike.

After the hike, we rode the bikes down the road and hopped onto the Virgin River Rim Trail where it crosses the road. This was my first mountain bike ride. Jared and my sisters have always been into mountain biking and I've always wanted to try it. This trail was a good one for first timers. I had to stop and walk up the Webster's Flat road three times, but after that it was all down hill. I need to get in better shape.

We met up with my parents and the kids down at Kid's Pond where they were looking for another geocache. Grandpa was fishing with Kendi. Despite cancelling everything we still had a great day.

Last month, my family went in together and got Jared and I Bryan Regan tickets when he was at Tuacahn. I can't even describe how much fun that was. I thought Jared was going to pee his pants. I didn't realize I had been laughing non-stop until my throat dried up and I couldn't stop coughing.

On the night of Jared's birthday, Tammy, Adrian and Jana had come to town so we stayed up and played Spades. The later it got the more funny everything was. My family does not usually stay up late so this was a rare occasion. We had put Aydri to sleep on the floor in another room and were hoping she wouldn't wake up and walk down the stairs. All of a sudden she appeared between my parents chairs, quiet as a mouse, grinning from ear to ear.

Celebrating Seven Years

2010-05-27T11:41:00.005-06:00

Jared and I celebrated our Seventh Wedding anniversary this week. We've been talking about hiking Angel's Landing for a while and decided that our anniversary would be a good time. Zion is a place we often come on our anniversary because it's so close and always warm in May.

We tried to take our own picture. Haha.

Jared had never hiked Angel's Landing. As a kid, I thought Angel's Landing was a wimpy hike that everyone had done. Jared hadn't even heard of it and this time proved to me that I'm not in as good as shape as I used to be. At the trail-head it had a description saying that its not for people who are out of shape and that it has obstacles that people have died on. Someone fell to their death just one month ago.

This is looking down Walter's Wiggles. The whole five-miles (round trip) are steep, but this is the steepest part just before the Chains. Going down hurt more than going up.

After Walter's Wiggles you get to Scout Lookout. A lot of people stop here. This is where the last person fell 1,000 feet to her death. If you continue on you come to a half mile of Chains. As a kid, I didn't use the chains. I thought they were there to help you pull your self up. This time, I didn't let go of the chains. They are there to keep you from falling off the ledges.

This is the narrowest part. The ledge narrows to about three feet wide with 1,000 feet of sheer cliff on both sides. Notice how I was not going to let go. Even though this was a good day for my vertigo I had to concentrate on keeping my eyes on the trail.

Here is a picture of the narrow ledge you hike across to get to the landing.

There were so many people there that it made it even more dangerous. Its not a two-way trail. We waited here for a group of people to pass. We got down on our stomach's and looked over the edge. The cliff was concave here so all you could see was the river 1,000 feet below. One glance was enough for me.
Just after the chains, before the landing.
Sitting on the landing, eating lunch. We were able to call Kendi from here. Later, we found a 3D map of Zion and Angel's Landing isn't even close to being one of the highest peaks.
The squirrels are so used to being fed that they would come right up to my hand to see if I had anything. Fat little thing. We thought he was going to jump in our pack.
We really enjoyed this whole trip. The drive down is beautiful and we may consider moving to Toquerville. Haha. Thanks, babe, for a wonderful seven years. Here's to many more.

Travel? hmmm. . .

2010-05-23T20:11:00.002-06:00

I don't care to travel. I know some people are obsessed with it. If I were to travel it would be for humanitarian purposes. You couldn't pay me to get on a cruise ship. Don't even bother asking us if we'll go with you, I'll turn ya down flat. I have never been outside the U. S. and the only way I would do it is if I weren't a tourist. I would love to experience other cultures, but keep me away from the tourist traps. Whats that word for people who are afraid of crowds? Anyway, CLICK HERE to read about what happened to my sister in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago.

More of the Subway

2010-05-18T12:05:00.003-06:00

My dad coming down one of the easier rappals.

Jared, belaying.
Jared, rappalling.

Zion's Subway

2010-05-16T14:48:00.008-06:00

Yesterday, Jared had the privilege of doing a back-country hike with my family. It was Jared's first time doing the Subway. It is well known that its not a Bulloch family outing unless your life is in danger. I wanted to go, but didn't have a good feeling about it and I've learned not to ignore those feelings. I was very jealous and sad, but I've done it several times already. I knew it was a grueling hike that can be down right miserable at times. This time proved to be quite the experience. My dad, whose done this more than 20 times, has never experienced it this early in the year. And what a difference a month can make. There were torrents of icey snow run-off that made them avoid the water as much as possible. Later, in the year it gets so hot that you would normally enjoy being in the water.

Sorry, these pictures were taken with an old point and shoot, we didn't want to ruin the expensive camera. Jared couldn't believe the scenery even at the beginning of the hike. The back-country of Zion makes the tourist-congested areas seem silly. He wants to come back and paint someday.

Jared went with my dad and two of my sisters, Cari and Jana.

If I have the hike memorized as well as I think I do, this is right before they dropped into the canyon. Some of these pictures are out of order because I haven't figured out the order that blogger loads them yet. Drives me crazy!

You hike for a couple of miles on layers of sandstone. We named these the "pancakes". You must cut your toenails before walking downhill over these.

Here they are dropping into the canyon. I think the correct name is Left Fork of North Creek.

When you get to the bottom there is normally a large alcove with sand at the bottom to wait for everyone to get down safely and to watch for falling rocks. This time they were in water up to their thighs. This is when it became apparent that there was a dangerous amount of water in the canyon. My dad had never seen it like this and considered turning back. If you know my dad, you know that he is too big of a die hard. I haven't done this hike for about eight years and that was back when we were in a serious drought. I'm used to seeing just a trickle of water throughout the whole hike.

This waterfall must be there every spring, but we've never seen it before.

This part of the hike was always the scariest for me. There used to be a huge log across the gaping whole in the front of the picture. I can't imagine how they got across without it. It's about a thirty foot drop with a torrent of water at the bottom. See the little people on the left?
Some more never-before-seen waterfalls.
My dad trying to get warm in the little bit of sunlight.
The shivering group of people.
Cari and Dad in the "Subway."
Normally, we don't see water here.
The cascades. Usually, you can avoid walking through the water here. My dad said he was walking along and unexpectedly stepped into a hole and was in water up to his chest.
It took them a lot longer to finish the hike because they had to rappal a lot in order to avoid swimming. I had told Jared that if anyone mentioned the "duck walk" that he should not do it. It isn't safe. Apparently, they didn't think they would last a minute in the water so the duck walk became a safer route.
More of the Subway. Jared said that the rest of the hike was too intense to take pictures. And the last couple of miles were just boulder-hopping. He really enjoyed it and would love to go again. Hopefully, I'll get more pictures from everyone else and post them soon.

Mother's Day Memories

2010-05-16T13:58:00.002-06:00

I'm sure this will be boring to the rest of the world, but I wanted to write down some things to remember about mother's day.

I actually woke up with an uncontrollable cough that I knew would keep me home from church. Aydri was acting sick too so that was one more reason to have to stay home. I hate staying home from church. It is the longest three hours of the week when you can't go to church and I hate missing it too. The saddest part was that I knew I would miss seeing Kendi sing with the Primary for the first time. I even considered going just long enough to see her, but by then it was already too late to make it. Kendi was so sweet to me that morning and tried to sing to me some made up mother's day songs.

Apparently, at church, Kendi was a little scared to go up and sing with the kids so Jared went up with her. When she got up there an older girl held her hand. So sweet.

When Kendi got home she couldn't wait to give me the things she made in primary. She had a cookie flower that was made out of fudge striped cookies and gumdrops. I ate it right away in case it had egg in it. She also had some "helping-hand-coupons" for me and a poem about her tiny hands with cutouts. The ward had given out chocolate covered strawberries to all the moms also.

Jared made sure that I didn't have to lift a finger all day. Even when Aydri had two poopy diaper's, he changed both of them. Kendi was very sweet and caught on to all the mother's day stuff that was going on and was very helpful and sweet.

We visited both Gma's and gave them photo books we had made earlier in the week. Kendi and I had also made photo cards to send to all the great gma's too.

It was a great day that turned into a bit of a roller coaster when Kendi started throwing up on the way home. And we got news that Tammy had been in a terrifying, life-threatening situation that made me lay awake all night. I want to remember all the good things that happened and how grateful I am to be a mom.

Dresser - Before & After

2010-05-09T11:32:00.002-06:00

I can't even remember how long ago we picked up this dresser, but I found my before pictures in my February folder so I've been working on this since then. We picked up this dresser at DI. We bought it right as it came off someone trailer. I think they were mad that they didn't try to sell it themselves. All the dressers inside were over-priced and they gave us a discount for not having to haul it inside. We paid $60 and that was still a lot more than I originally wanted to find a dresser for. But it looked good compared to $95 and $100+ inside the store.

This dresser was quite ugly. Because we bought it so fast I began to get worried about it on the way home. It had a lot more metal details on it than you can see in this picture. It was very medieval looking. You can faintly see what was in front of the giant hinge looking things if you look hard enough. It also had huge metal handles that I had already removed. We thought the whole thing was solid wood, but when we got it home we realized the little doors were not. I still sanded them down like the rest of the dresser.

By sanded, I mean I roughed up the wood and smoothed out the scratches. I knew I wanted the whole thing to be white. So I didn't bother to take it back to the natural wood.

Here it is after painting. We used my paint sprayer that Jared got me for Christmas. It worked wonderfully. The best thing was that it put nice, thick, even coats of paint on and by the time we were done with the first coat it was dry enough to do another coat. The painting process took all of about an hour and twenty minutes. It took a little while to get the hang of it and the right consistency of paint and water, but it still went really fast.
I ordered the hardware on ebay. I paid .99 cents for the knobs and I think about 3 -4 dollars for the pulls. They were the only pulls larger than 3 inches that didn't cost $80. I like the way they look.
Sorry that the pictures are a little skewed. I was maneuvering around the bed.
Isn't she pretty? She really brightens up the room. I still need to put a coat of finish on it and I can't wait to do some more projects. I'm so glad Jared loves to help me with my crazy ideas.

Impromtu Photo Shoot

2010-05-04T14:59:00.003-06:00

Kendi got a new tutu. When she got dressed for ballet in the morning I realized that she matched an outfit I'd made for Aydri. I was waiting to have professional pictures done, but Kendi had her hair done and Aydri's had been recently cut. We had about an hour before ballet and seemed like the stars had aligned for me. So I tried to take some pictures. Out of a couple hundred shots these are the ones that turned out. Poor Aydri got tired about half way through. Although she would still smile for us, she didn't want anyone near her.

Aydri is so cute with stuffed animals and baby dolls. She gives them lots of luvs and kisses.
Kendi's favorite thing to do for the camera.
They have been able to play together a lot more lately. A few days ago they spent an hour sitting in a laundry basket together laughing their heads off.
I love the pictures that show real expressions.
I spent way too much time on this applique. I did it all with my regular sewing machine. I could have just got one custom made for $13 from stitcheroos. Oh well.

I never thought I could get such cute pictures in my own living room

A Second Reaction

2010-04-19T15:07:00.002-06:00

There's been a lot going on lately. With the two birthdays and Easter we've been busy. Easter was nice. I love being able to stay home and watch conference. General Conference in the Springtime reminds me of bringing home new babies. Having Conference on Easter made it even more exciting. Gma Barnes always has an eggcelent Easter egg hunt at her house. Kendi could hardly wait through both sessions of conference.

Aydri is eating a lot more baby food than she was a few weeks ago. It's hard to go back to spoon feeding when you've gotten so used to her feeding herself finger foods.
Kendi has absolutely no personality!
This was on Aydri's birthday. I can never get a good picture of them looking and smiling at the same time so we settled for just smiling. We had a BBQ at Jared's parents house.
Aydri had her own cake to smash. Not much made it into her mouth.

The birthday girl.
Jared had decided to put Ranch Dressing on his salad at dinner because I don't buy it anymore. It is mayonnaise based and contains eggs. We accidentally fed Aydri off his fork. Jared immediately realized we'd made a mistake and grabbed the Benadryl from the diaper bag just in case. I was hoping she didn't get any egg or that it wouldn't be a big deal. Before I could even get the medicine measured out she already had a rash on her legs. By the time we were done giving it to her it was up to her chest. All of my sisters were with me. They are all in some sort of medical profession and had been discussing my EpiPen debate. They sided with the Pharmacist and I decided not to give it to her right away. The rash seemed to improve with the Benadryl, but we kept a close eye on her. She was miserable for the rest of the party. She almost didn't even want to eat her cake. Poor thing. After about three hours her rash started simmering back and her nose sounded congested so we called the doctor. Of coarse they told us to go to the ER. The ER doctor thought she was stuffy from an eye infection she appeared to be having. I knew she had a cold because her eye always goops up when she's sick. He seemed to think it was conjuctivitist (pink-eye). Can you ask for a 2nd opinion in the ER? It wasn't a big deal so we just monitored her for a while, got some prescriptions for the reaction and went home. Getting the Benadryl in her quickly helped the reaction not get so out of control. All the ER staff were nice and sympathetic because it was her birthday. We are feeling like pretty lousy parents.

Latest Painting by Jared

2010-04-13T09:44:00.002-06:00

Jared wanted to do a painting for the Springville Art Museum Spring Salon. Unfortunately, the painting wasn't dry in time and he didn't feel comfortable entering it wet. Oh well, I guess I get to keep it now. ;)

Life Goes On

2010-04-01T11:05:00.005-06:00

Aydri is doing really well. So far we've been able to survive without eggs. It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be. I've never really liked eggs and to be honest I haven't noticed much of a difference in my diet. Aydri is back to basically baby food and crackers. There are a couple of our favorite things that we'll try to find good egg substitutes for, but until we meet with the allergenist we don't use eggs at all. Its amazing how many people we've bumped into that don't eat eggs. Someone told me its the most common allergy and eggs also give some people migranes. Thanks to everyone for all the helpful information and for showing us that life can go on as normal. Here is a picture of Aydri the night she had the reaction. It just goes to show how amazing and happy she is even when she isn't feeling well. I think she knows that giving out smiles makes people happy. We had to keep her clothes off because heat made the rashes worse and we needed to see when they were coming back.

The next morning was Kendi's birthday. I let her dress herself for her ballet lesson. The whole ensamble says a lot about her personality. We love her to death.

Jared took her to lunch and she got to pick. We don't like taking our kids to play places for obvious reason, but this one we drive past every time we go to Gma and Gpa Barnes. Kendi's been begging for months to go there. There weren't many kids and it was surprisingly clean.
I know I don't show a lot of pictures of me on the blog, but Jared actually took one. I cut my bangs recently. This is me thinking about Aydri and trying not to freak out and demand that she never leaves my side again. I've calmed down since then.
Kendi had her "friend" birthday party later that day. We did a Dora party this year. I'm not a good party planner, but it helps when you pick a theme. Jared painted a Swiper that stole the cupcakes while the kids were playing "Don't Eat Boots." They had to go on a treasure hunt to find them. We weren't very good at taking pictures at the party. Our minds were overloaded at this point. The kids had colored and decorated "Backpacks" like Dora's to put their candy in.
Some of Kendi's friends and cousins.

I had planned on using the day before her birthday to get everything ready and make the cakes, but we spent most of the day in the ER, doctor's office and pharmacy. So we made her cake the day after just before the "family" party. Thanks again to everyone that helped make this birthday go smoothly. Her cake was supposed to be frosting and Dora, but it was easier to just do the whole thing with fondant. We also made the cake without eggs so it really didn't taste good to me, but it looks great in pictures.
The birthday girl.
Here is Aydri on drugs. She wouldn't stop spitting.

I found an Easy Bake Oven on Ebay for $2. Kendi loves to bake and cook and had actually asked for her own kitchen for her birthday. This has been fun.
She also got the cake decorating kit. Its electronic. I think it will come in handy for me too.
No its not Halloween, but Kendi is obsessed with it all year long.

Egg Allergies

2010-03-18T14:17:00.004-06:00

Have you ever heard someone tell you, "I gave my babies all kinds of things to eat and they never had a problem"? Well, now you can tell them that you know someone who did have a reaction. A severe reaction. I scrabbled an egg this morning for Aydri to try. It is her 11 month birthday. She absolutely loved the egg and ate the whole thing. Within minutes she threw up. It seemed like she had a lot of air in her stomach so I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I didn't put her down for a nap so I could keep an eye on her. A little while later, I heard her bump her head and cry a little. I checked her out and I noticed she had a red mark on her nose and forehead. I thought about the eggs, but still didn't want to jump to conclusions. I had given Aydri things with eggs in them before so I thought that I already knew she wouldn't be allergic. A few minutes later, a friend knocked on my door. Aydri came crawling to see who it was. That's when I noticed a lot more redness, splotches and hives. I asked my friend what she thought, but it was obvious to both of us. I stood there thinking about what I needed to do next and my friend was probably thinking, "Hello, get her some help!" Allergic reactions are common for us. We usually take some benadryl and keep an eye on it. In fact, Jared just had one a few days ago. Either blueberries or laundry detergent. I told Jared to get home as soon as possible and then I called the doctor to see how much benadryl to give her. I was going to take her to insta-care, but he suggested the ER. That's when I realized things could get bad fast. I had to put her on the bathroom scale to see if she weighed enough to get the benadryl. Jared came flying through the door and I told him we were going to the ER. When I handed Aydri to him her face and ears had started to swell. Will Smith on Hitch was no exaggeration. Kendi was hiding as usual, but when she realized the seriousness of everything she became very adult-like and was an angel through the whole ordeal. I searched the cupboards for a medicine dropper, but couldn't find any so I grabbed a teaspoon and my purse and ran out the door in my PJ's without my hair being combed. I squeezed between the car seats and gave Aydri the dose. The sploches had turned into hives and she was miserable. She started rubbing her eyes and sounded like she was sucking in air. I didn't want to make Jared panic while he was driving so I just told him that he needed to take Aydri in while I parked the car and got Kendi out. They got her admitted right away and put her on oxygen, gave her a shot of benadryl and put tagament (sp?) in an IV drip. They told me they wouldn't let kids in the ER so i sat in the waiting room with Kendi for what seemed like FOREVER! Kendi was so good that the nurse let us both go in. I could tell Aydri was doing better, but it was hard to see her wrapped in bandages and monitors with tubes coming out of her. I immediately felt relieved though. She reached for me and babbled and whined like she was telling me what was going on. She got fussier and tired and fell asleep on Jared. They monitored her for a little longer while Kendi watched cartoons. The doctor came in and told us not to give her anything with eggs until she was eighteen even though she has had small amounts before she would have another severe reaction because of the whole egg she ate today. Hopefully she'll outgrow it sooner than that. Right now I'm trying not to cry about her not getting cake and ice cream on her birthday. I know there are worse things out there than this, but at first it's going to be hard to get used to.

Busy Girls

2010-03-08T15:23:00.006-07:00

We're only one week into March and with the weather sometimes warmer we've been getting busy. I can't wait for spring this year. It will be so fun to take both girls out.

Here is a picture of the second mess Aydri made while I was cleaning the bedrooms. She also pulled everything off the changing table just after I had reorganized it. Two steps forward, one step back.
Jared was taking pictures of Kendi to paint. He likes contrast. I thought this one was cute.
Aydri was helping me figure out my camera some more.
Kendi is still enjoying ballet. I'm surprised at how much she remembers every week. It's really sinking in and I can ask her to show me different moves and she knows them.

Here are some more of Kendi's friends from the Hiking Group.

I like to overexpose my pictures a little. The only problem is it can easily go too far and some of the best pictures are ruined. This is my Dad at the Upper Cabin at the Ranch. We snowmobiled in on Saturday.

Jared tried to dig to the bottom of the snow, but didn't make it. It was more than four feet deep here.
Kendi had a blast. She enjoyed the whole trip until we told her we were heading back. She was disappointed that she didn't get to build a snowman. Jared offered to make a quick little one, but she wanted to make a Mommy one and a Daddy one and a baby one and a sister one.
Another overexposed picture. Kendi was cute in her over-sized helmet. It made her bobble like a bobble-head. At one point she fell forward and hit the kill switch.
I was surprised at the lack of other snowmobilers. I think everyone is as tired of the snow as I am. I'm kind of a party-pooper when it comes to snowmobiling. I like to go with Kendi and Jared because they still enjoy it, but after a long winter, I've had enough of the snow. My Dad made me go because they needed another driver. I know all too well how dangerous it can be without enough snowmobiles. I know I sound like a brat, but I always enjoy myself once I get out there. Because there hadn't been a lot of other snowmobilers, there was still a lot of fresh snow. I like not having to follow a trail everywhere. The mountain is a whole new place in the winter. Very peaceful and beautiful.
Lovin' the moon-boots! We came the back way down to the cabin. It's not even a road and hardly even a fourwheeler trail. Luckily, our machine are small because they were built in the 70's! I'm a little sore today. Thanks, Dad! LOL!

Friends, Neighbors, Everyone

2010-03-05T11:42:00.003-07:00

Some friends and I want to get to together and have a repurposing party. We want to make some fun stuff out of items we already have. No money spent out of pocket. We want to know who would like to join us. We got our ideas from other bloggers. Here are a few ideas that we're thinking about repurposing.

This bag is made from a pair of cargo pants and a cotton button up shirt. The tutorials comes from noodleheads.blogspot.com

Rufflesandstuff.com figured out how to take a clock and an old book and turn it into this:
A tutorial on how to make these boots comes from craftster.org. She made them from a sweater and a pair of flats. I think I'll be using some old house slippers.
These are just a few ideas that we may or may not use. If you would like to be part of our "Ladies Night" please email me at leannbarnes@mail.com or leave a comment with your email. I moderate my comments and I will not post your email for everyone to see. If you have other repurposing ideas please let us know. There is going to be a swap meet for the three wards in my neighborhood in April. You could find stuff there to repurpose from that as well. I will not be posting any more info about this on my blog so if you want information please get me your email.

Jared's Latest Painting

2010-02-22T15:25:00.002-07:00

Picture Catch Up

2010-02-21T17:47:00.004-07:00

Most of my pictures are on my dead computer so here are the few that I have from the last couple of weeks.

Our ward has an outdoor adventure group. I was quick to join that one. Kendi and I went hiking to an ice cave just a couple miles from our house. We didn't even know it was there. Poor Kendi kept complaining and saying she wanted to rest. I told her we were "hiking" and had to keep moving and she did. When we got home she started throwing up and had the stomach flu. I felt so bad for prodding her and not knowing she wasn't really feeling well.

She was a trooper and still enjoyed the hike.
We made valentine cookies on valentines day.Here is a picture of some flowers that a friend showed me how to make.
Aydri has been standing by herself without holding on to anything for a few weeks now. She's too little to do that!
Like most babies, she really likes music. She pretends to play the guitar and bounces with the beat.
Other than that, we've all been sick except for Jared. Just as one of us recovers someone else comes down with it.

Uncle Brandon, Rest In Peace

2010-02-16T16:10:00.003-07:00

Jared lost his uncle Brandon a couple weeks ago. He had suffered from MS for 20 years. We know he is learning the gospel on the other side like he was never able to learn here. Someone mentioned to Jared that his Uncle was proud of his artwork. One thing we know for sure is that Kolob Care and Rehabilitation Center will never be the same.

Brandon Jay Barnes, 57 years old, passed away Feb. 3, 2010, at 6:30 p.m., from complications attributed to his multiple sclerosis (MS) he has been ailing from for the past 20 years. He passed away while in the care of Kolob Care & Rehabilitation Center, in Cedar City, UT. Kolob has been his kind care provider for almost 10 years. Brandon was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized on Nov. 19, 1966. He graduated from Blair High School, of Pasadena, Calif., in 1970 and started his career in metal fabrication welding and diesel mechanics. He enjoyed tremendously working with his hands, repairing, and building engines and other mechanical devices. Brandon is survived by his mother, Mary Eriksson Cannon; his two brothers, Jeffrey Nowell Barnes and Matthew Scott McKinley Barnes; his sister Claudia Lynn Boggs; and his son, Brandon Oliver Barnes, of Southern California. His father, Warren J. Barnes, preceded him in death in August 2008.

A Messy House is a Happy House

2010-02-13T17:00:00.004-07:00

AND WE ARE DELIRIOUS!

I can't remember where I first heard that saying, but it made me finally have a reason to smile about my messy house. Since then, I've often thought about what it means. Most often if my house is messy, I'm not happy. So how could this be? There have been days where I have considered posting pictures of my house because it would give you all a good laugh. I hate the fact that some people judge you by how clean your house is. Here are a few things I've been thinking about.

A friend came up to me at church and asked what I had been up to. I told her, "I've been really busy, getting nothing done." It only took her a second to realize exactly what I meant and we both had a good laugh. She has two young kids as well. Whenever I attempt to clean a room really well, it is guaranteed that my kids are destroying another room at that very moment. Even Jared, being artistically minded and not organizationally minded, is like a tornado in a trailer park. I mean that with kindness. Its two steps forward and one step back at my house. Jared was working from home one day and by the end of it I said to him, "I've been going and going all day long and if you look around it doesn't look like I've done anything. He agreed. If you stop by my house at any given time I will be cleaning, doing laundry, preparing food or washing dishes. I'm not going to blame everyone else for this messiness, but I'm not going to yell at them for it either. You see, a messy house is a happy house, partly because I refuse to stomp around and throw tantrums till everyone obeys. A clean house is not worth ruined family relationships.

There are people out there with young kids like mine that do keep a clean house. I've often wondered and marveled at these people. They must have so much energy and discipline to be able to follow their family around and clean up all their messes and do nothing else. No. . .maybe my kids are especially messy. That must be it. A while ago, I came across a parenting magazine article and I finally realized what it was. My kids play all day. They don't sit on their behinds watching TV for hours on end. I would rather have them playing and making block castles with hundreds of blocks and filling the bathtubs with a laundry basket full of clean clothes than brainlessly losing their attention spans in front of a television so that I can keep a clean house. Don't think that my kids don't know how to clean either. Kendi has certain rooms that must be cleaned everyday before she can have her allotted TV time. She actually likes to clean. Sometimes I tell her that she only has to clean up the toys. When I come back from being with Aydri, the room I left Kendi in will be spic and span and she will be beaming. She knows that we are genuinely ecstatic when she helps.

I don't believe nagging your family to death works as an efficient way to motivate them to clean. I do believe that kids should be kids and play more and sit less. As they get older they will be more aware of how they play and more capable of helping out. Until then, our messy house will be a happy house.

Sentimental Value

2010-01-27T09:31:00.003-07:00

I was thinking the other day that I wish my blog was more like the ones that didn't just post pictures with short little descriptions. I enjoy reading the blogs by people who can write about the normal mundane things we all do and make it enjoyable and funny. After writing this post, I realize that I am a multitasking, distracted, mother that gladly gets up to help her kids several times while trying to post on the blog. It would take an lot more effort and way too much time for someone with limited writing skills, like me, to make this sound interesting, let alone organized. So I apologize that this sounds like ramblings instead of a well thought out piece of work.

I have finally started to decorate my house the way I like it. When I was first married I thought we were too poor to decorate. HA! I didn't know what poor was. So, I always thought that decorating was a want and not a necessity. I still do to some extent. I refuse to pay money for things just because they look nice. I know I've said that more than once on here. I want my home to be filled with things that have meaning. When you're home is filled with hand-me-downs (other peoples junk), you don't really love being there. I know that sounds shallow, but it really is annoying for artistically minded people to live in a clashing environment. Lately, my moods seem to be more sensitive then normal and I find myself seeking calm and peaceful places. If this wasn't true, the temples would be simple buildings. So anyway, I've been trying to make our home environment a more homey and peaceful place that we love to be. We have no extra money for this. So, I started by getting sewing supplies from my mom and making nursing covers to sell on ebay. My plan was to do projects that would generate more and more money to keep me going on more projects. This was also fulfilling my need for creativity. I have thoroughly enjoyed this. It is so much cheaper and satisfying when you make things and redo furniture yourself. You get what you love without the hefty price tag. Those things have a lot more sentimental value to you as well. This is where my birthday and Christmas money go. Even Jared has gotten involved and contributed his gift money. Our home is sloooooooooowly evolving. I'm finally deciding what styles I like and don't like. I find myself drawn toward the antiqued-white, farmhouse style furniture. I love natural light. If it were up to me I would live in a house full of windows. In the little home we live in now, there is a serious lack of windows. I'm pretty sure I'm claustrophobic after living here, but don't get me wrong, I love this place for many reasons. We used have two really dark green old couches. I reupholstered one of them and although it didn't turn out like I thought it would, it changes the mood in the room to a more tolerable one. Some day, I may be brave enough to post a picture of it. As we were reupholstering it Kendi was mad. She talked about how she liked the dark green and she told us not to do it to the other one. For a moment, I wanted to do exactly what she wanted so she would feel better. But I knew that this is just a small change in relation to how life changes and it is something we all need to get used to coping with. I don't want to shelter her from lessons she will have to eventually learn anyway. To a three year old this was traumatizing. We gave away the other sofa that was in front of the window. I can't believe how much of a difference it made. I didn't realize how much light it was blocking and seemed to be absorbing. Our living room is a whole new place. I'm enjoying just sitting here watching the snow fall calmly outside the big window. I could never just sit here before. It always felt like it needed to be cleaner in here even when it wasn't messy. As my parents were driving off with the couch in the back of their truck, Kendi watched out the window. As I was thinking, "Good riddance," she sighed, "I'm really going to miss that thing."

Artwork for Sale

2010-01-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

Checkout some really nice frames on Jared's Blog.

First Ballet Lesson

2010-01-15T12:34:00.003-07:00

Believe it or not January is a crazy month for me business-wise. I'm looking forward to things slowing down in February. I hope I have all my Christmas decor put away before valentines.

Usually Kendi and Aydri bathe together, but for some reason I wasn't going to put Aydri in. She kept putting her leg up like she was going to climb in herself. My camera battery was dying so it wouldn't take the picture fast enough to get her leg, but it was funny anyway.
Kendi got a tea set from Gma and Gpa "D" for Christmas. We have tea parties everyday.

Kendi is such a big helper and Aydri absolutely loves to have her attention.

Kendi went to her first ballet lesson today. Some of us moms in the neighborhood got together with our kids to form a class. A couple of the mom's dance and teach and they are so cute with the kids. Kendi had so much fun and did very well. They traced their feet in first position.

This little girl loved Kendi's necklace so much she wouldn't leave her alone. Kendi finally took it off and brought it to me.

Here is Kendi's little friend, Emma. They are in sunbeams together. Aren't they cute?

So adorable. We're going to try to put together a little dance outfit for Kendi. Any suggestions are welcome. I don't know much about Ballet.

Much of December

2010-01-04T16:06:00.004-07:00

I decided that I better post about December because I know that I will want to come back and read it someday. As I'm sure it is for most families December is a crazy month for us. Next year I would rather have November be the crazy month and enjoy the Christmas Season more.

I was trying to get a picture of both of the girls. Aydri wanted a closer look at the camera and Kendi wasn't done yet. Kendi not only dresses herself these days, she also likes to put clothes on Aydri as well. For some reason Kendi likes winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter.
A memory I have of my childhood is that every Saturday night we would take bathes and have our hair put in sponge rollers. We would dry our hair by sitting by the fireplace while the other sisters were getting their hair done. We would watch the Lawernce Welk Show on tv. Kendi loves digging out my moms gigantic stash of curlers and having her hair curled. Another funny thing is that my mom always has frozen yogurt in her freezer just for Kendi. Kendi calls it "sucky yogurt."

Sweet Aunt Cari was nice enough to wait in line for Santa with Kendi.

This is the first year that Kendi hasn't been terrified of Santa. She asked him for a Scooter and a Barbie with sleeves and shoes.

Here is Jared and Aydri watching the BYU game. She zonked.

Kendi and Aydri play together all the time now.

I've been trying to figure out how to take better pictures with my camera so that I don't have to photoshop so much. Lazy, I know. I got bunch of cute shots in the process.

Kendi got to decorate my mom's tree on Christmas Eve. A tradition that my dad's family has every Christmas Eve is dinner at my parents house. This year was bittersweet. Last year, we kind of knew that it might by my Aunt's last Christmas, but we were not expecting my 14 year old cousin, Shawn, to not be with us anymore either. I have a lot of cousins his age so it's easy to think about how he wasn't there. His little brother had asked if Shawn was coming back and they had told him that he was. Then he asked if he would be here before it snowed because Shawn had promised to teach him to snowboard. Sad, huh.

This was the first year since I've been married that my whole family has been together on Christmas morning. Everyone had arrived on Christmas Eve. We did the dinner, worked on a couple puzzles and Jared and Adrian stayed up all night playing computer games. Kendi had a hard time getting to sleep and I was struggling to stay awake to make sure Santa came.

Aydri enjoyed the boxes more than anything. Jared got me a paint sprayer because I have so many "projects" that I want to paint. This will be really fun.

Here is Christmas from Gpa Darryl, of coarse.

Cari got some presents from Chad that were wrapped in "Redneck Wrapping Paper" and "Hillbilly Deluxe." Very funny, Chad!

Kendi couldn't wait to dress up in her Princess Dresses and ride her Scooter.

Aydri is going to be a climber, something I never had to worry about with Kendi. Funny how different kids can be.

What-Nots

2009-12-23T08:21:00.003-07:00

I've been trying to take more pictures of the kids lately. Ones that show their quirky personalities and the funny things they do on a daily basis.

I found Kendi watching a movie under her favorite blankie.
I was trying to figure out how to use the camera so I put in a movie for Kendi so she would hold still. It was still hard for her to hold still. Out of dozens of pictures this is the only one that she wasn't pulling a face.

I love how Kendi wraps presents. I'm going to miss this when she's grown. I love how careful she is and its a good thing that I got the tape for five cents a roll. She put them all over the house. I hope I remember to grab all of them on Christmas Day.

This is her face after pulling too much tape. Whoops! Love it.
Aydri's favorite thing to do is climb on everything. She's gotten the hang of it way too fast. What will she be doing next? Here is a sneak peek of the couch we reupholstered. I just finished staining the wood parts yesterday. Hopefully we'll put it all back together soon.
I let Kendi decorate the tree by herself. I don't have enough ornaments for it so I figured if I left it the way she decorated it I wouldn't have to get more and we can't decorated the bottom of it anyway. I actually thought she did a pretty good job. Aydri claps whenever she likes something. I've been trying to get a picture of it for a while and here I finally got it. Funny girl.
You know your house is tiny when it only takes one strand of mini lights to go all the way across the roof line. All of our lights are hand-me-downs so we work with what we have. I thought they were pretty with the snow. While it was snowing I told Kendi to look at how big the snow fakes were. She looked outside and said, "Wow, they are very necessary."
Does anyone else feel like they are just barely hanging on til Christmas Day? I don't even know why I feel that way. I need a vacation from my Christmas vacation.

Calendar Alert!

2009-12-07T15:31:00.002-07:00

I don't have a lot of Jared's Calendars left. I can't reorder more because they don't have any more (I know, I know). I'm going to feel bad if friends and family that wanted one didn't get one so this is your last warning.

We also have a new product. We have textured prints that are frame ready. You don't need glass or a mat. Just a frame. They are really nice. We have 11 x 14s and 16 x 20s. We only have them in four images: Prince of Peace, True Disciples, Merciful Savior and For Such is the Kingdom. I went to post the pictures on here, but the CD was missing from my laptop. In its place was Rudolf, the Red Nose Reindeer. So, when I get home, I'll add the pictures. We will only have these for a couple of weeks so order them soon. Email your phone number to leannbarnes@mail.com.

"Look Dad!"

2009-11-25T13:06:00.007-07:00

"This is my collection." That's what Kendi said when she showed Jared this picture she drew. We were a little baffled by it. Do you ever wonder if your kid is some sort of prodigy and you don't know what to do about it? Kendi is learning to write letters and I think she was copying my grocery list.
Aydri and Aunt Cari have a special relationship. Cari has witnessed a bunch of Aydri's firsts because she takes time to be with her. Cari has taught her some things that we didn't know Aydri was capable of. They sure have fun.

I didn't realize Aydri was so tired. Jared's parents just had new carpet installed and I thought Aydri would have fun crawling around in a big empty room. When I went to check on her a minute later this is what I found.

Kendi begs me all the time to let her feed Aydri. I didn't think Aydri would be patient enough, but they had a fun time. More food ended up on Aydri's shirt than in her mouth.

Kendi also decided to comb her hair. Aydri didn't seem to mind. She is such a patient little sister. Kendi would have never stood for this.

Kendi is also a big helper with the laundry. Which I love!!! She hangs all the shirts on hangers for me. She's been doing this for a long time now.

We made a little turkey for FHE. We each traced our hand and wrote what we were thankful for on the feathers.

Kendi LOVES to cook. I wonder if she will be a master chef someday. Everyday she begs me to make something with her. She goes through the cooking magazines until she finds something we have ingredients for. Sometimes I don't have time so I tell her if she cleans first we'll have time to make something and then she will clean, clean, clean. She had seen a picture of a parfait so we got some random ingredients and threw some together. My family had Thanksgiving last weekend. I didn't get as many great pictures as I wish I had. It always feels awkward to take them and then I wish I'd taken more. Oh well. Here is Aydri eating her Thanksgiving Cheerios.

This is the only picture I have of Cari and Jana. Sorry Jana. Caught you with food in your mouth.

Here is a cute one of Rob and Stac.

The kiddie table with Abby and Kendi. The Mexican culture doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving so we get to have Abby with us every year.

Here are some funny things the girls do a lot. We call this "Aydri Pose." She does it all the time.

She gets up on her hands and feet. Sometimes she will scoot her knees up and sit back on her bum by herself. I've seen her trying to do it, but haven't actually witnessed it yet. This morning I was in the kitchen and I could hear her crawling in. By the time I turned around she had already sat up by herself. Sneaky little thing. She doesn't even crawl normal yet, but she does a lot of other things.

Kendi has a whole drawer just for PJ's, but she prefers to wear her Daddy's shirts. I love it because everyday it seems that Kendi grows a little bigger, but when she puts on Jared's shirts it reminds me of how small she still is.

One of Aydri's favorite places is behind the couch. Kendi goes back there after her bath to get warm. Aydri gets stuck and tries to back out, but then cries so I have to fish her out. Once again, "Aydri Pose."

Its been a crazy couple of weeks and with the holidays I know it will only get more busy. We are also going to be selling prints at a Christmas Gift Show in St. George this weekend at the Dixie Center. Our house is currently overrun with prints and has been neglected except for Kendi's cleaning efforts. The shows are always fun, but I can't wait till its over.

Giveaway

2009-11-11T20:34:00.002-07:00

There is a giveaway going on at Organize and Decorate Everything. They are giving away a couple of Jared's Calendars. Head over there now, the giveaway ends Saturday.

Way Out of Character

2009-11-10T14:52:00.008-07:00

I'm not the pageant queen type of girl AT ALL, but I have always wanted to dress up my little girls in cute little girlie outfits and have their pictures done. I'm not the kind of person that can put together adorable little outfits so I didn't want to try. Then I saw this modeling contest for Stitcheroos. They custom embroider the most adorable things for kids. I had been following Stitcheroos' blog because of how cute the designs were. They offered free outfits and free photos for the winners of the contest. I couldn't resist. I entered the girls and they won. The shoot was a couple of weeks ago and I've been checking Cheapshots Photography blog every day since for the finished pictures. I was surprised to find them posted on my birthday. What a nice present.

Kendi's legs are on the left.

We had tons of fun!

Too Much Halloween

2009-11-01T10:17:00.007-07:00

We had so much fun this year that is was almost too much. I'm glad I was able to enjoy things this year. I've repressed last years memories to the point that I barely remember what Kendi was dressed up as. Thank goodness for blogs to refresh my memory.

Aydri sure loves her vegetables. I got to take part in the pumpkin carving this year and thouroughly enjoyed it.
I ended up cleaning out all the pumpkins guts by myself. This is about as far as Kendi got. Jared was busy drawing the templates for the pumpkins. My mom and I did the carving.

Kendi was Cinderella for Halloween so we helped her carve a princess in her pumpkin.

Aydri wore her teddy bear suit for Halloween. It was cute enough and very warm. Jared saw this picture of Tigger online and thought it was cute enough for Aydri's pumpkin. Sorry for the blur. We only had the point and shoot. Our candle were a little weak so I stuck a bunch of match sticks in the wax to get a really nice, bright flame. They looked great. We left them on the porch and went inside to watch a movie. We got too tired to finish the movie so we all went to bed and completely forgot about the pumpkins. I was mostly worried about them being frozen, but when I went outside to check them in the morning, one of them was charred. Apparently it caught on fire. I'm glad it burned itself out without catching anything else on fire.

Kendi sure was a good helper with the sugar cookies. I got tired of baking them so I let her make the rest of the dough into one big cookie. She thought that was great fun. I love how she insisted on having a pink pumpkin cookie.

Here's what the rest of them looked like. We took some to people Jared home teaches and to a friend that just had surgery.

This is the only good picture I got of the kids on Halloween together. I forgot the camera and the one I keep in the diaper bag died after I took this picture.

Actually, the camera had just enough juice to take a picture of Kendi trick or treating. Aydri was tired so we left her with my parents while we took Kendi to a Trunk or Treat at the church. A lot of people were dressed up really scary at the Trunk or Treat so after about 10 cars Kendi decided she didn't want to be there anymore. We visited Gma Vera. Gma Vera always has her house decorated with lot of "Spooks." We spent the rest of the evening at my parents house. The funnest part of the whole day for Kendi was watching the other trick-or-treaters. She sat outside on the porch swing eating her candy watching them all come and go.

Sometimes Jared messes with the camera and doesn't put the settings back to normal. I don't realize it until after I take a few pictures so these next ones are what I've tried to salvage with Photoshop.

It was so fun to get Kendi all dressed up and put a little makeup on her. Her whole demeanor would change and she would act like a proper little princess. I didn't have to spend any money on Kendi's costume this year. The dress is the one I made from a bridesmaid dress earlier. I found some scrap pieces of fabric to make the sleeves, gloves and details on her dress. We barely had just enough. We used some beads my mom had left over from another project and we made the wand out of whatever we could find. Kendi and I had tons of making it together.

I love this picture. This is Kendi really laughing like she does all the time. I'm glad I caught it. This is after I realized the camera wasn't working right. I told Kendi not to eat too much candy because it would give her night terrors. When we finally got home and I was helping her get ready for bed she was so tired and so sugared up that she couldn't stop sobbing. Finally, she asked me, "Mama, why do we just cry?" I couldn't help but laugh and then I tried to explain what makes us sad and how to try to be happy again. I told her to try to think of different things and then I told her some funny, made up stories and she finally cracked a smile. It was one of those precious moments. That night she had some awful night terrors. She was completely delirious and more Jared tried to help the more she would scream. We're definitely going to ration the candy from here on out.

Every little thing she does it magic.

I know I'm going to miss seeing these little feet peeking through the crip bars when she's asleep.

Big Long Post & Bulloch Slaughter House

2009-10-20T16:19:00.006-06:00

The low price on the calendars is only going to last for four more days. You can purchase them through a secure checkout to the right. Get your Christmas gifts before its too late.
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I didn't really think we'd been up to much lately, but when I loaded my pictures onto the computer I realized that we had about 145. So, here's what we've been up to lately.

I know Aydri isn't big enough for the swings, but she had fun just sitting there.

Aydri's hair isn't falling out as much anymore like it was and some of it never did. If you look close you can see the super long stragglers. Kendi never lost any hair and had really thick pigtails by the time she was Aydri's age. Aydri was having pictures taken in a few days so I trimmed up the bottom of her hair. All of a sudden its coming in thicker. I should have done this a long time ago, but its hard to take scissors to a baby's head. It helps that she can sit up well now.
Here she is sitting up by herself playing with lots of toys. She has tons of fun.
So here are the pictures of the slaughter house. Actually, its just my parents house. As morbid as you might think it is we like to butcher our own meat. Its nice to know where it came from and who handled it and how old it really is. My Grandma bought a steer that my cousin had raised and we split it with the rest of the family. It was actually kind of fun to have the family together working for something we would all enjoy. I had a lot more gruesome pictures, but I didn't want to get beat up by the animal activists. Here is about a third of the meat after is was packaged. We were glad it was chilly enough outside to keep it cool.

This is how we package and label it for the freezers. I wrapped while Shelly weighed and labeled. Notice the piece of pizza next to me. We weren't in the mood for hamburgers.

We got a little silly. I now have a freezer full of beef, minus a Porterhouse Steak and a package of Ribs that we've already eaten.
We took a trip to Springville recently. The kids got used to sleeping in their car seats. Poor things.

Grandma Mary got MARRIED last Saturday. She married Uncle George. They were so happy. It was nice to see even more of Jared's extended family. We're so glad they have each other.

The cute couple.

Once again we went to the Pumpkin Patch.

Kendi loves pumpkins. She still talks about how she carved a kitty in her pumpkin last year.

The lighting was neat, but it didn't last very long.

2010 Jared Barnes Art Calendars Are Here

2009-10-15T16:22:00.007-06:00

Update: You can now order through a secure checkout on the top right of this blog. If you'd like to pick them up in person you can still email or call me.

Artwork guided by inspiration makes this stunning twelve-month calendar a treasure to own. Impressionistic brush strokes, soft hues, and serene settings come together in these beautiful depictions of the Savior. Its muted tones are perfect to match any decor, so you can place these fresh new images of Christ in a room or office. Bring the Spirit into your home with every glance at the calendar. Spread the peace and beauty it brings by giving it to family, friends, neighbors and coworkers.

They are finally here! I get to give you a "Blog Reader" discount. They normally cost $12.99, but I can sell them for $10.39. That's a great gift price and it won't last long. These calendars have a few different images than last years calendar so they are a little different. Please email epicart@mail.com and leave your name, number and best time to reach you so we can take your orders over the phone. For wholesale inquiries go to cedarfort.com.

The Girls

2009-10-08T16:58:00.005-06:00

Here is an update on whats going on with us. Kendi is growing up fast. She loves to learn and asks lots and lots of questions. She surprises me with how serious our conversations are sometimes. She uses phrases that I wouldn't expect from a three year and then sometimes she says things that could only come from a three year old. A few days ago, she woke up before I did and came in and sat on the bed. I asked her if she was going to be happy today because the day before was a rough one. I tried asking her why she was so sad before and she responded, "I must of had some trouble in me." She likes to side-step things that I confront her with. Like if she's about to eat something she's not supposed to, I'll tell her not to get it and she'll say things like, "But mom, I'm just going to hold it." I'll tell her no and then she say, "But mom, I just want to look at it." Sometimes she'll go as far as saying, "I just want to lick it." lol

Aydri is growing fast too. She's not doing the hand to mouth thing so much. Instead of wanting to suck on everything she wants to study and explore. I used to be able to use the computer while I held and fed her, but now she wants the computer. She reaches and leans with her arms outstretched the whole time she's sitting there. She rolls and scoots all over the floor to get to what she wants. She still prefers to be down where she can play instead of being held. She started eating vegetables this week and so far doesn't really like them, but we keep trying. I have to laugh at the faces she pulls. She can be a very quiet baby like when she wakes up from her naps I have to check on her because she doesn't make a sound. But when she wakes up in the morning she will squeal for an hour even though she's tired. Its like she's saying, "I'm here and I'm still awake!" Kendi is a big helper with Aydri. She would like to take care of her by herself. They love to play and laugh together. Sometimes Kendi will say things like, "She pinched me!" or "She's pulling my hair!" I just have to laugh.

We're always busier than we like to admit we are. I'm hoping things slow down when the weather turns cold. We're looking forward to all the upcoming holidays. Kendi is having a hard time deciding what to be for Halloween. One day she wanted to be an elf. Then she wanted to be a cowgirl, then a princess, then a cupcake or a butterfly. She'll make up her mind and then see something else. I've been working on a Cinderella costume because I have most of the stuff already. I think store bought costumes are adorable on babies, but as kids get older its so much more fun to have something homemade. It really gets us in the Halloween spirit. Its fun to see her get excited about something we worked on together.