Mal's Musings

This is why we have a dog...

2010-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

Who else is going to listen to "Green Eggs and Ham"? Just kidding, Sydnee! Doesn't she look cute in her pink outfit. (Believe it or not she likes this outfit, it's cold here in Idaho)

Christmas Card

2009-12-18T09:40:00.001-08:00

Here is our Christmas Card!!!

Yes I did send my kid to school like this...

2009-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

So finally I get to show off my expertise of doing bad hair. It's a gift only few of us possess. Here are a couple of my latest creations. Hold the applause, please.

Wedding and Fall Family Picture

2009-10-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

We went down to Sterling's brother David's wedding. It was a beautiful ceiling and a beautiful day. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins. Sterling and I had a great time stay up late and talking with everyone. It was really nice to connect for a while. Then we got to spend some time with my family on Sunday. It was a nice trip to Utah. I do miss the fall in Utah. But we are loving Idaho though. Here are some pictures of our time down there. BTW I didn't take any pictures of the bride and groom. I didn't want to step on the photographers toes. So these are just of my kids and cousins.

So much...

2009-09-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's been way to long since I have posted I know. But this one is going to be short. I will just post some pictures. I will have to retro post later. So much going on...so much on my mind. It's hard to know where to start. I guess I am just going to have to procrastinate. Oh well. I hope these pictures help.

Syd's first day of school!! She's lovin it!

My sweeties!

Our house. Ab took this pic. She's pretty good,huh?

Baptism day. I'm getting old.

Our new neighbors. (well like a mile a way, but i love this barn!)

This is what happens when you have a Barnes baby and a box of tomatoes too close to her. Too cute!

Abby's impromtu birthday bash. (we have a lot of girls in the neighborhood, thank goodness)

Jackie was afraid we were going to leave her behind on our move, so she pack herself. We threw Callie in so she wouldn't get lonely on the drive.

She wouldn't get out of the box! Poor dog!

Selling tomatoes door to door. (ok giving them away)

More, tons more later. I promise.

5 Months!!

2009-05-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

My little princess is 5 months old. I can't believe how fast they grow. It seems like the more kids you have the faster they grow. It's not fair! She is so sweet and loves to coo all the time. She makes a silly noise lately that is a cross between a growl and a squeal. She is just such a happy baby. I am truly spoiled. I have to say she has the cutest thighs too. You just need to squeeze them. Here are some photos I took the other day of her. She is just soooo cute. I can't help myself.

Movie Night

2009-03-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ster thought it would be fun to get a coconut for the girls. It reminded me a lot like "Castaway" watching him trying to get to the inside. He first drilled holes in it so the girls could drink the milk. Not so tasty. But they thought it would be great. They were slightly surprised. Then he used a hammer to crack it open. It was fun for the girls to see what a real coconut is like. Later on we watched "Beverly Hills Chiuahua" Can you guess from the picture of everyone in their pj's who might have liked this movie best?

Callie sitting up

2009-03-02T17:11:00.001-08:00

Callie's favorite position is sitting up. If we lay her down she trys to do ab crunches to sit up. I don't think she is going to be rolling over anytime soon, but she will probably be sitting up all on her own with a couple of weeks. If only she liked tummy time. Oh well.

Tessa Smile!

2009-02-26T11:17:00.001-08:00

I thought this was cute. I said "Tessa, smile." and this is what I got.

blue eyes please!

2009-02-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

Sterling has the most amazing blue eyes. That is pretty much why I married him :) But none of my girls so far have his eyes. I have hazel. They are pretty green and my Mom has blue and my sister has blueish-green, so I do have some blue eyed genes. All of Sterling's six brothers and sister and Mom and Dad have these rich blue eyes. So why do Abby, Sydnee and Tessa have more my eyes? But Callie is giving us hope. Her eyes are still very blue. I am praying they will stay blue. Here is the contrast between Tessa (my most brown eyed girl) and Callie.

My Loves

2009-02-17T11:08:00.001-08:00

Just a layout I did of my favorite people for Valentines.

My Valentine

2009-02-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks Ster for being mine!

Sickness...and weird dog

2009-02-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

RSV has hit our house. Everyone has gotten sick, but worst of all was poor Callie. I think we are over the worst of it and I am excited for life to get back to normal. So far I have taken Callie to the hospital 4 times. She is fine but I don't trust myself to breathing problems after my niece Madison's collapse lung last summer. I had no idea anything was wrong with her. Well I couldn't help but take this picture of poor Tess. She just looked too sweet.
My dog is weird. I got this new humidifier the other day and Jacquie was freaking out. I think she thought there was fish in it. I watch her for about 10 minutes, circling and sniffing it and finally growling at it. It was pretty funny. I was so tempted to put a gold fish in it, but that is gross.

Traditions...and ugly outfits

2009-02-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

A few random photos:
The girls snowmobiling. Syd's mad because she wants to go alone

Callie and Abby

Callie 2 months old

One of my new goals for this year is to try and create a few family traditions. I feel like sometimes my life can be like the movie "Groundhog's Day." The same thing over and over again. Not bad necessarily, but can be a little hum-drum. I love looking forward to things like: BYU Football, Christmas time, Spring time when the kids can ride their bikes again, 4th of July with my extended family; Labor-Day weekend with Sterling's family; the Olympics, going to Disneyland, etc. These things are pretty big events, but I have been thinking about trying to add smaller things to look forward to, more often and repetitively. Our girls just love family night. They can't wait till Monday and usually we try to do something fun each week. I know they would love to start some new traditions similar to things we do at family night. I was hoping to add something once a week or once a month, to look forward too. Here are somethings I have heard of people doing:

Family movie night: With theme and all. The mom even tries to make dinner or snacks coordinating with the movie.
Friday pizza night
Saturday pancake breakfast
Neighborhood parties once a month
Color theme day once a week
Grandparents FHE once a month

Anyway, sometimes I feel like my brain has not recovered from having four kids, so I feel like it is hard to be creative and come up with new ideas. I don't mean to steal something from you but if you have any ideas you would like to share, or found something that has worked for you let me know. I think traditions are fun and are a great way to bring a family together. I want to start doing this more while my kids are young and get into this fun habit. I don't want to do something that takes a lot of work , work being the key word, because I know I won't keep it up. Thanks in advance for sharing!!

So completely off this subject, I had to laugh yesterday as I watched and listened to my two year old whine and complain and hound me about her outfit that was drying. She paced back and forth in front of the dryer asking me over and over when it was going to be done. She, of course was so distressed by not being able to wear her favorite outfit while it was being cleaned that they only thing she could do was change her clothes about 10-12 times while waiting. I was starting to lose my patience with her when this memory popped into my head. My Mom has reminded me of this several several times. She thinks it is so funny and loves to talk about it all the time. When I was about 5 her sister sent a box of girl clothes (her sister only had one girl and 8 boys!) to my mom. Inside this box was the ugliest shirt she had seen. Before she could get ride of it I found it and it immediately became my favorite. I can still remember this shirt. It was mostly white with red piping and a beautiful rainbow on the front (very 70's) I had to wear it all the time. I don't blame myself I looked dang good in it! It set off my hair. Well I would do the same thing. Wait by the dryer and drive my mom crazy while it dried.
While my two year old waited for her clothes to dry I tryed my best to convince her to put on this other outfit. The outfit I tempted her with is blue with flowers and birds on it. It is very comfortable and easy to get on and off. I love the way Tess looks in it. It is so cute and chic. But alas I have only seen her in it once. She has refused to wear since. Even though she looks so cute in it. Instead it this ugly outfit I mistakenly bought for her that she whines for. Again, I was reminded of an incident from my childhood. I was about 5 again and my Mom was trying to get me to wear this incredibly ugly red dress. It was frilly and lacy and way to red. I looked stupid in it! How could my mom want me to wear such a thing. There was no way that was going to happen. Of course I won. And of course my two year won. I guess what goes around comes around. (I was right about the red dress though, Tess on the other had just does't have good taste :)

I love this picture

2009-01-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Trying to figure out how to do movies

2009-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a clip of Tessa and Callie.

"Baxter, you ate a whole wheel of cheese. I am not even mad, I'm impressed"

2009-01-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ok that is a line from Anchorman. Such a funny movie. Anyway, the other day Tessa was being awfully quiet. Never a good sign. When I went to check on her this is what I saw. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. If you look closely you can see she was very symmetrical with her face painting. So how could I get mad at her, when she did such a good job? By the way , I don't know what "Washable Markers" mean? What do they wash off of, certainly not skin.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Abby and Sydnee at the dinosaur muesum

Maxwell, Abby and Mia

Callie Christmas Present

Callie's Christmas Dress
It was such a wonderful holiday season. Everywhere I went people would comment on ow wonderful it is to have a brand new baby for the Christmas season. That was certainly true. There was definitely a different spirit around. Maybe it was because I got all my shopping pretty much done before Callie was born so I could relax a little, or maybe it was because Callie got to play baby Jesus twice. Once at church and once for the Barnes Family Christmas. Whatever it was it was really nice having such a little one for Christmas. Although I was a little sleep deprived through all of it. The girls loved having a little one at all the Christmas activities. They were just thrilled to see Callie play baby Jesus. It was also so nice to spend time with family. The Waldrons came up and Tessa was so excited to play with Mia and Eva. It was so much fun to hang out and relax with them and the rest of the family. My parents were in town as well and it was nice to see them and enjoy some family dinners with my sisters' families. I am going to miss the season. And now we get to enjoy the cold. Today was the first day back at school and on the way we were guessing how low our thermometer would drop before we got there. I won with 11, Abby thought it would be 7. I think she was more accurate though. It kept dropping on the way home. Oh well. I guess we will have to go sledding a lot. So take that you 70 degree Christmas Texans!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2009-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

We got so much snow this Christmas. It was so nice having a real white Christmas this year. I wish I would have taken more pictures. The kids had a great time sledding with their cousins though. Abby is a pretty good snowboarder. She taught herself to do it. I am so impressed. She definitely didn't get that skill from me.

Oh Sydnee!

2009-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

So I went to pick up Sydnee from preschool a few weeks ago and as I am picking her up her teacher is laughing with another mom. She turns to me and says "we are laughing over what Sydnee said" I looked a Sydnee and started to roll my eyes. Oh no I thought here it comes "Sydnee says that because I am a Grandma I am going to die soon, but I still walk pretty good" Oh dear! I turned to Sydnee and she says "Yep, she is going to die soon. She is a grandma" I apologize like crazy, make up some excuse how she was dropped on her head recently. I turn to leave then realize duh, we have had 3 grandparents die in the past 7 months. Of course she thinks all grandparents are going to die soon. I run back in and explain to her teacher about all our deaths recently. Then I explain to Sydnee that not all Grandparents are going to die.
Right before Christmas Sydnee is begging me to go caroling. It is the middle of the day. Snowing like crazy and the baby is crying. The last thing I want to do is bundle everyone up and go caroling. After lots of hounding she decided to do just one house and come right back all by herself. "Ok" I say thinking there is no way she is going to do this all by herself. I get busy doing other things and didn't notice she had left. She came back a little while later. I asked her "Did you go caroling" "Yep" she said. Yeah right I am thinking. She said "Kirsten (her friend) wasn't home so I went to the Rich's house". Ok I am thinking. I am sure she knocked on their door and got nervous and ran. Wrong. A few days later at church Sister Rich came up to Sterling and told him how Sydnee came to her door all alone and caroled to her. She sang jingle bells. Sister Rich was so touched by it she started to cry as she told Sterling the story. He told me this and I of course had to laugh. Thanks Syd for proving me wrong! I love ya!

Callie's Blessing!

2009-01-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Callie was blessed on December 7th, 2008. We weren't planning on doing it so soon, but because of my Grandpa's passing and funeral my whole family (minus Cynthia and 3 nephew's and a niece) was here. So we decided literally the day before to go ahead and do it. It was pretty cool to have all my brother and almost all my brother in-laws from both sides there to bless her. She was really good and was didn't make a peep (unlike Tessa and Sydnee's blessings) Sterling gave a wonderful blessing. My mother-in-law wrote it down for her. That was so nice. It was so nice to have so much family around for her special day!

Callie's Here!!!

2009-01-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Callie Grace Barnes (yes the name Callie won!, well we decided it fit her too), was born on November 27, 2008. Our little Thanksgiving baby. Notice Grace is her middle name. She was 7lbs 10 oz. and 19 inches long. Very Very cute!! I had a really nice labor and delivery. I had been having contractions for weeks. Finally on Tuesday I was dilated to a 3. My real contractions started Wednesday. By night time they were getting harder. At 2 am Thursday morning I was so tired and couldn't sleep I told Sterling it was time to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital I was only at a 3 and 1/2. I was so disappointed. The nurse wanted to send me home. But I knew this baby was coming that today. She called my doctor and he said "go ahead and give her pitocin, if she wants" (he knew since it was my forth that I was going to go fast and I was going to have her today) So I got the medicine and had her 4 hours later. It would have been 3 hours later, but the nurse was letting my doctor sleep in. After all it was Thanksgiving. He barely made it in time to catch her. I mean barely. She was practically half way out by the time he got there. I won't go into details. But it was a really nice labor and delivery. I might just do it again! She was sooooo cute. Not smushed up at all. We fell in love immediately. She is a little grunter though. A very good eater and as chunked out a lot. Lots of room on her cheeks for kisses. She looks a lot like Sydnee and Tessa as a baby. We are so happy she has joined our family. It is like she has been here all along. The girls just adore her. Sterling thinks she is a princess and can't wait to win her over to his side. (He has won the others, but I think this one will be a Mommy's girl for a little while)

Grandpa's Passing

2009-01-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa passed away on December 3. I'll admit it was a good way to go. He was out working in the yard on Monday. On Tuesday he told my Dad he wasn't feeling well. By Tuesday late afternoon my Dad finally convinced him he need to go to the hospital. Thinking nothing was seriously wrong they were surprised to find out that my Grandpa had a heart attack. By the time all the family was notified my Grandpa was intensive care. My Mom, who was helping me with the little one, made it up there with my two sisters around 8 pm. When they got there the doctors told them that this was the end. This whole time my Grandpa was lucid and fully awake. He had time to say his good byes. 3 out of his 5 children were there along with a handful of grandchildren. He told everyone that he loved them and bore his testimony. They even joked a bite. Then around 1 am he was gone. He went to spend Christmas with Grandma. The nice thing is he was only without my grandma for 7 months. Not bad. And he didn't suffer long like my Grandma. The funeral was nice. It really wasn't sad, no one was left behind this time. See you Grandpa!

Note to Teacher...

2008-10-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Don't you wish at times you could send a note to school excusing your child's outfit. That was me today. Sydnee insisted on wearing this outfit. I couldn't persuade her to change. I didn't want to force her. I was afraid forcing her might scar her for life. She is a very creative girl. Quite visual. Constantly picking our flowers (despite my protests)and making beautiful flower arrangements at her little table, just to make lunch time a little more pretty. She is definitely her own little person and I love her for it!

Family Photo Taken October 2007

2008-10-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Isn't this how it always goes. You spend time picking out the perfect outfits, you have them all cordinated, you spend time doing all your girls hair (believe me that is a big feat), you even get a professional photographer to take the picture, in the perfect location with the perfect lighting. Even the perfect non-pose pose, only to realize once the pictures are all done, you left the fruit loops hanging from you pants. Oh well. I still love this picture. It just shows how imperfect life is even when you try so hard. But isn't that the point. To love the imperfections?

BYU vs. Utah State

2008-10-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to thank Austin (in the picture) for giving us the tickets. He is Sterling's cousin and plays for Utah State. We have been a huge fan of his since high school games. He is so fun to watch. (I miss those friday night names) We were lucky enough to go and enjoy the game last night. It was fun being able to cheer for both sides. My parents are Aggies so I felt like I was doing them proud. Of course we still wanted BYU to win and we weren't disapointed. It wasn't that great of a win, but still a win. I also have to say that Bronco Mendenhall is the classiest college football couch. I love the approach he takes with his guys. And it seems to be paying off.
If all this tension between Utah and BYU (both are undefeated and will probably both be BCS top ten busters by the time the game comes around) keeps building I really think I am going to have this baby before or during the BYU Utah game. It would only be a week early. I told this to Sterling and he said "Well call the hospital and see if they have the mtn. (the station that plays the game) Otherwise we can always just Tivo the birth" Sad thing is, I was thinking the same thing. :)

Fight over Broccoli

2008-10-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

So this has to be one of my proudest moments as a mom. A couple nights ago we served broccoli for dinner. I happen to have one of the pickest eaters ever and hates everything I make before she even tries it. She used to be so easy going and would eat everything untill she was about 4. Then it went quickly down hill. Well we were eating broccoli and she kept saying how she loved it and then my other girls kept saying how they loved it. Pretty soon they were fighting over the broccoli and trying to eat each others. The broccoli was gone in about 1 minute. They begged for more, but we were out. After some tears that I was silently laughing over, the fight was done. Ahhh yes, this is the life. Guess what they wanted for dinner the next night?

Arches National Park

2008-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend, or I should say Friday and Saturday we went to Arches National Park. We camped outside of Arches next to the Colorado River and spent Saturday at Arches and Goblin Valley. It was a blast and the kids had sooo much fun. The weather was perfect and we left the rain cover off our tent and pretty much slept under the stars. It was just beautiful. I didn't realize how much fun Goblin Valley would be for the kids. But it was like a giant playground. Sterling's Mom came with us and that was a life saver. Towards to end of the day the kids were so worn out that we had a couple of meltdowns but Grandma was able to calm them down. And it was just fun having her there. I love that my kids have their Grandparents so involved in their lives. They love them so much. Andrew and Brooke were there too and it was just great to spend time with everyone. I have to admit I was suprised at how brave my girls were. The first Arch we went to was Double Arch and the girls climbed up to the cliff. I barely made it up there and it was a little scary. I asked the girls what there favorite thing was and they said "everything!!" I was so tired after we left Moab and was ready to go home, but Sydnee wanted to go to Goblin Valley so bad that we couldn't let her down. It was about 1 hour out of the way, but I am glad we did it. It was so fun! I think Sydnee thought there were real Goblins there, but I don't think she was disapointed. Tess wanted her picture taken on ever rock. She was so cute, but she wouldn't smile, just pose.

Tenth Anniversary!!

2008-09-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's been ten years! I can hardly believe it. Our anniversary was actually on the 28th of August, but I am a slacker so I am blogging about it now. We had a crazy week so we didn't get to really celebrate it until Sep. 12 and 13th. But we did get to go to the temple on our anniversary. I thought that was appropriate and pretty cool, because that was the temple we were married in. I took some pictures, but I have to remind everyone that I am 6 months pregnant in this.

On Sept. 12th Ster and I went away to Park City to really celebrate. That was so much fun. It was a much needed break and time to reconnect. That is where we spent our honeymoon. It was fun to remember the past and to point out places we had gone and ate at those first few days of married life. We went shopping and out to dinner at Ruths Chris. That was awesome. I felt spoiled, but loved every minute of it. The food was soooo good and it was just so nice to be able to talk and not have to worry about the kids and just take our time. In the morning we window shopped down main street. It was funny because we went into an art store and I was telling myself "some of these sculpture's look like something my friend Raymond Gibby would do" Well I looked closely and guess what. They were his. Pretty cool. He was a guy I grew up with in Riverside. But haven't talked to for 10 years. They were a little out of our price range, but maybe I can get a discount :) Anyway after main street we headed off to the BYU UCLA football game. That game was awesome!! (byu 59 ucla 0) So we just had a blast. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary. Not to mention a better husband!!! I love you Sterling!!! Thanks for sticking around for 10 years.

Please Help!!

2008-09-26T08:26:00.001-07:00

So we are having a hard time deciding what to name are little girl coming in a couple months. We just thought it would be fun to get a poll out there and see what everyone thinks. I feel like the end is near and we need to get more serious about this. Thanks for your help!
Oh here are some pictures of us up at Sundance last week. We were there taking pictures for another family and weren't really planning on doing major pictures of us. I just feel too pregnant, but I thought these were cute anyway.

The Parable of the Lost Snake

2008-07-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote most of this post months ago when it actually happened, but didn't get around to posting it utill now.
So I had an interesting day today. Before I explain I must tell you that I am not a huge fan of snakes. In fact it took Sterling almost nine years to convince me we needed one. Well he tricked me by convincing the girls first. Then I was trapped. So we went to the pet store about a year ago and got our snake. Anyway the girls just love her.
Sterling caught another snake just up the street from our house about 3 weeks ago. I wasn't so crazy about this wild snake, but she really wasn't too bad. That doesn't mean I will hold her or anything. Abby and Sydnee loved these snakes so much that they started a Snake Club in the neighborhood. Basically, all the neighborhood kids signed up and pretty much everyday they come over and pull both the snakes out and play games with them. I try to keep them outside as much as possible. So today as we were getting ready to leave to go to the pool I asked Sydnee to put the snake away. (this was the wild one, whom I think is named Minnie today) She did and we started getting ready to go. Just on a hunch I thought I had better make sure she closed the lid tight. You can guess what happened next. That is right, no snake! It had been about 5 minutes from the time she put the snake away until the time I checked. The snakes are located in our laundry room and I figure she was probably hiding in the nearest dark cave-like spot there. So we searched behind the washer and dryer, in the washer and dryer, down the drains, up the walls, everywhere. I started to freak out. Yes, I was a mess. The thought of a lost snake in my house was really freaking me out. I was imagining finding the snake in the middle of the night crawling around my toes. I called Sterling, pretty much just to yell at him for catching the snake in the first place.
So Abby suggested that we say a prayer. I was pretty steamed up and wasn't in the mood to pray but of course we did. Abby's prayer was really good. She asked that we would be able to find the snake and that he would be safe (honestly I am surprised she didn't pray for my sanity) After the prayer she just expected to find the snake right away (that has happened to us before with losing our first snake) Well we didn't. We searched some more and starting looking all over the house. By this time the pool excursion was out. I was not leaving the house with a lost snake and no one looking for him. I was getting desperate. I was angry. I starting thinking of what hotel I was going to stay at that night. I starting thinking of my sister who was coming to stay that weekend. No way would she come with a lost snake. Hours went by and no snake. Sterling finally came home and we looked together. We pretty much figured it had either gone down the sink drain and was probably gone forever or stuck in the washer. I tried to take apart the washer, but that was going to be a huge task. Finally, I began to calm down. I didn't stop looking, but I was beginning to realize we might never find the snake. I was slowly accepting the fact that I would have a lost snake in my house forever. I started making plans on how I would deal with this. I tried to imagine finding the snake days later in the washing machine, or in my laundry and not freaking out. I felt like I was coming to terms with this and I was realizing that the world was not going to end and that I could deal with this. And that is when it appeared. Miraculously, it was crawling near our garage door. I don't know how it got there. It somehow past Sterling on his way out and he didn't see him until he turned around. There was our snake. I could have kissed it!! No longer lost! I was so happy! I felt such relief. Yeah!
Later on that night as I pondered this experience I questioned something. Yes, Heavenly Father answered our prayer, but why didn't he answer it right away? Then it hit me. It was like the spirit telling me "you needed to learn this lesson" I realize that the snake was found only once I was willing to accept the problem of having a lost snake forever and once I was willing to deal with it. It was at that point that I was no longer thinking that we would ever find the snake. I was totally focused on dealing with this long term, probably forever problem. How would I handle this? What would i tell people that came over? Would I be ok if I found the snake somewhere by myself? I think that Heavenly Father was telling me that not all problems will go away automatically with a prayer. Sometimes we have to come to terms that this problem will probably be around for a long time, if not for the rest of our mortal existence. I needed to learn this lesson. Especially now. I feel like I have been praying for a problem to just go away instead of praying to have the strenght to accept it and to be able to live my life with it. I hope that I can learn from this experience and know that sometimes in life we are just going to have to live with a lost snake. But through the Lord's help, we can have the strength, and patience to deal with it. Hey it could always be worse right. I am just grateful it wasn't poisonus.

Father's Day Suprise and other Surprises

2008-06-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day I thought I would surprise Sterling. What better way to surprise a Dad then to tell him he is going to have another little princess. Yes, that is correct. We are having another princess. Why break the mold? I secretly went and got an ultrasound. My sister was with me and I told her and the tech I didn't want to know either, that I was going to surprise my husband on Father's Day. She wrote it down and gave it to me. Unfortunately, she kind of let it slip and said "she" during the ultrasound. So I couldn't keep my secret for very long. I felt like I already knew and was hiding it from him. The next day (Friday) I had sterling open the envelope with me. And sure enough it is a girl!! It took a few days of getting over the shock, but I am very excited to have another sweet girl. I admit I would be scared to have a little boy. But it would be fun to have a little Sterling. (As I type this my girls are playing dress up with their snakes. One we have had for over a year and one Sterling caught yesterday up the street, so I guess we already have little Sterling's)

I am so excited! Tommorrow is Sterling's last day of school. I can't believe these two years have gone by this fast. Maybe because they have been so busy. I am so proud of Sterling working so hard to get his MBA, but I think I am more excited than he is. I can't wait to have him home a little more. School started for him about two weeks after Tessa was born, so she has had to put up with me more than the other girls. She has always been my little girl and definitely loved me more :) but somehow Sterling has won her over and now she wants her Dad all the time. Can't I at least have one!! Oh well.

Anyway last Thursday as I was contemplating the end of Sterling's school days and already making a list of projects in my head, the phone rang. It was a little after ten and Sterling just walked in the door with my favorite take out. (yes since I am pregnant I am allowed to eat Thai food at 10:30 at night) The call was for Sterling. It was from a counselor in the stake presidency. He wanted to meet with both of us tomorrow. I immediately lost my appetite. (I don't know if I will ever be able to eat from that place again) We figured it would be for a new calling and Sterling was immediately sadden. He was so looking forward to finishing school and being able to spend more time on his YM president calling. He really loves his boys. For the last two years they have had mutual night on the same night he has had school. Well sure enough we met with the counselor of the stake president and he called Sterling to be the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. I am excited for him because I know he will work hard and really learn a lot from this. Me on the other hand, I don't know. I think this is the Lords way I telling me I need to cultivate patience. Yesterday, was our first Sunday with Sterling up on the stand. I felt like I was in survival mode during sacrament meeting. It went pretty smooth with the help of the bishop's wife and many many many reminders throughout the week of how they need to act. Also I brought distractions. Syd had a little meltdown, but we avoided a scene. I am sure it will get better each week. (my fingers are crossed) But all goes out the door in November when the new baby comes!!

A furneral, baby news, and other stuff

2008-06-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy. With what? I don't really know. Time just seems to fly by in a blur. Here's what we have been up to...
Since I last posted my grandmother past away. It was sad to see her go, but at 89 and out of it from alezhemiers, she really hadn't been herself for a few years. I am happy to say I feel a strong sense that she is herself again and happy.
My parents have been up taking care of both my grandmother and grandfather. Now my Dad is alone with my grandpa taking care of him, while my Mom is getting their house ready to sell in California. Weither or not they actually move to Utah, well just have to wait and see. It was neat to see a lot of my Bradford cousins at the funeral that I haven't seen in probably ten years.

Here is a picture of her hold Tess last year. It was a neat experience because Tess kept cooing and cooing to her, like she was telling her all the news of Heaven. At this point my grandma was somewhat out of it and didn't know who we were.
A couple of weekends ago we went to St.George for a Judd family reunion. The girls just had a blast and swam probably 10 hours a day. They just loved being with their cousins. Abby acted so grown up and kept telling me (whenever I wanted her to stay in the hotel room for a while) "But mom I never get to so see my cousins, and we are here to have fun!" What could I say to that. So they wandered the halls and ran back and forth between rooms. We rented 6 rooms in this hotel and averaged about 6 kids a room. Unfortunaly, I made the mistake of finding the hot chocolate machine in the unlocked dining room. The kids would sneak down there about 3 times a day. I think the hotel was glad when we left. But I know my girls had an amazing time with their cousins and talked about it the whole way home. Tess cryed and cryed when we got home because she wanted to go swimming again so bad.
This is a picture of the last night. The cousins Abby and Sydnee's age had a sleepover in our room.
Other news I sure everyone knows is that we are expecting another baby come Novemeber. We don't know what the sex is yet, but we are telling everyone it is a girl. (our odds are pretty good, so we feel safe in that assumation) The girls are so excited and have already started talking to my big fat belly. (I tried to convice the doctor I was having twins, cause I feel huge, but he said "ahh no" . Oh well)
Sterling has been really busy finishing up is MBA and is currently enjoying a trip with his class to south america. He has been gone for over two weeks and will be home soon, but we miss him tons. He has had a couple really good missionary experiences and loves speaking spanish again.
Abby is done with kindergarten and can't wait to go to school all day and have lunch there. She is a great student and has really enjoyed going to school and then coming home and teaching Tess and Sydnee.
Sydnee is gratefull to be done with preschool at least for a couple months. She goes to preschool again in the fall. She has enjoyed it for the most part, but some days she would put her foot down and refuse to go.
Tess is growing up too too fast. She is talking in complete sentences and really thinks she is 5 or 6. She has no idea she is too little to do certain things. Just recently she has gotten into the habit of adding "yesterday" at the end of her sentences. I am not she why or what she means by it, but she will say "Hold you Mom, yesterday" I think it might mean right now. So cute how they come up with these things.
Danny and Shar and their kids are staying with us during the summer. The girls just love the baby and love to play with Katelyn. Tess and Katelyn are really twins. They have to do everything together and copy what each does. It is mostly cute. (I can get Tess to eat if she know Katelyn ate it, I can get her to nap if she thinks Katelyn is napping) But sometimes its harder. If Tess wants me to hold her than Katelyn wants me to hold her too, at the same time. And she won't go to Shar. It's pretty funny. It keeps things busy around here.
This is one of my favorite photos. We just got the girls out of the bath and were getting them dressed in my living room and they both just jump on the piano bench and started playing. Pretty cute bums huh?
Well I hope this long post makes up for all the time I haven't posted. Things have slowed down quite a bit and I am looking forward to a lazy summer.

Birthday Surprise!!

2008-04-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well my birthday isn't for a couple of days, but last Wednesday Sterling got me good. We were down in So-Cal going to Disneyland with the kids and my sister's family. One night we decided to leave the kids at the hotel with my older nieces and go out to dinner. I thought it was just the four of us. In fact I kind of thought I had planed it. Little did I know everyone was in on this. So we are running late from dropping on the kids at the hotel. I didn't even have time to brush my hair, put on makeup or anything. We had reservations at the Rainforest Cafe and I thought we weren't going to make it. Sterling said he made other reservations someplace else just in case. When we finally make it there. Sterling kind of took off and went right into the waiting area. I hurried after him and saw his brother Spencer and his partner David. I said "Wow, imagine running into you guys here!" I totally thought it just a coincidence that we were there at the same time. Sterling gives me this look like "you are so clueless" I turn and look and there are about 14 of my friends and family staring at me. Then Sterling finally has to clue me in and say "It's a surprise birthday dinner for you!" Ok so it took me a while. I finally got it. Needless to say the night was sooo fun. It was so nice to catch up and visit with everyone. It really was the best birthday present ever!! Thanks Sterling, Spencer, David, Sherri, Matt, Shelly, Jason, Tammy, Casey, Marla, Josh, Summer, and Mike. And double thanks to Marla for the pictures!

It's been a long time...

2008-04-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

I know I have totally slacked. Oh well. Just wanted to give a shout out to my new nephew Parker and niece Madison. Way to get born. Can't wait to see you guys! Not to much has been going on with the Barnes family right now. Just enoying life. So I saw this SNL clip the other day and laughed so hard. I have figured out how all of you babies with thick hair do it. (Todd and Oni)

Happy Friday!! Emily, Sydnee and Jacquie

2008-03-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

While browsing through my pictures I saw this and started laughing all over again. This summer we visited my family up in Northen Cal and went for a beautiful hike. Only problem was we brought our dog, but their were signs all over the trail saying "no dogs allowed on trail". We were too far from home to take her back so we came up with this solution. I think it worked well.

Looking for a Good Book

2008-03-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Has anyone read a good book lately? I love getting recommendations for good books. I read The Historian and thought it was pretty good. Also the Thirteenth Tale was really entertaining. I picked up a book the other day and had to stop reading it after the first chapter. It was too sad. So I am looking for something a little on the chipper side. Anyway, if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them. Thanks.
This is a picture I took of Tess at the Bradford family reunion last summer. I messed around with it in photoshop. I think it turned out pretty good. Of course she is so dang cute so that helps!

Can you grown up a little slower?

2008-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

I just love this picture of Abby. She saw me taking pictures and gave me the I LoVe You sign. She sure is sweet...most of the time :)
Anyway today Tessa bonked her head and automatically leaned in for me to kiss it. I love how kids think parents have magical kisses. I wish they wouldn't grow out of that. It is a sad day when you kid gets hurts and asks for a bandaid before a kiss better.

Thank Goodness for Unanswered Prayers

2008-03-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

I had an enrichment meeting last night and I was really not in the mood to go. But those are probably the times when you really need to go the most and that was the case for me. We had a spiritual lesson about how to accept Christ's Redeeming love. It was a great lesson that I think I really need to hear at that moment and it was also so refreshing to sit and talk with the sisters. I really have a great ward. But for some reason this song kept repeating over and over in my head after the meeting. It is that Garth Brooks song "Thank God for Unanswered Prayers." (I changed it a little in the title of my post :) This really wasn't what the meeting was about, but it made me reflect on my life so far. How many times in our live's do we think we know what is best and what action we should take? How many times in our live's are we so certain we should go one way? Then to suddenly be lead in the other direction. How many times have we prayed desperately for something to happen or not to happen and it turns out totally the opposite. Oh, how hard is this to accept, when things don't turn out the way we planed. Or we realize we need to take another direction. Especially for me because "I" think "I" know what is best. But the most amazing thing happens when we get to look back and realize that "we" were wrong and the Lord knew what was best the whole time. I am glad he has the big picture. I am sure this has happened so many times I can't count, but I can think of two particular instances that have really stood out to me. One was when we know it was time to leave Firstline. All signs pointed to stay. All logic said stay. We wanted to stay, but we had no doubts it was time to go and that was the right thing. Another time was when I was in college and dating a wonderful man. He was cute, smart, funny and pretty much checked off my list. However, we both knew something was not right. I couldn't doubt it, neither could he. So we ending things. It was hard knowing I just let a great guy go. But just about a week later I met Sterling and then months later knew that he was right, and this time things felt right. I am so grateful to know that we can be led through this crazy life. We are not doing it on our own. I just hope that I can have the strength to accept what the Lord has planned for me and my family. Because I know it is for the best, even if sometimes it really hurts.
So know let me get off my soap box. I didn't mean to preach, but I couldn't get that song out of my head. Anyone up for Lost tonight?

Family Photos from October

2008-03-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is already March. Time just seems to fly by. I thought I would post some pictures from our family photo shoot last October. I know I am so slow, but they really are cute so I thought I would share.

The Meaning of Life

2008-02-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Since I have been a blogger now for about 4 months, (3 1/2 which I didn't do anything, but that is besides the point) I have figured it all out. Yes and I am sure you would all like to know the Meaning of Life. Well it has been a very interesting couple of months. Without going into any dirty details, because they really don't matter in the large scheme of things, I have learned a lot these couple of months. Hopefully I won't forget these lessons, and as they say in church, "please help us (me) to apply them to our(my) lives." So here is what I have learned...
Tess just threw a huge fit and I lost all my great awe inspiring, world moving, life changing thoughts.
Oh well I guess I will have to learn it all over again.
Typical motherhood moment.

Originally I was going to end my blog there and talk later about lessons I feel I have learned, but really that is the meaning of life. We learn a lesson, then we forget it, then we learn it again. Life happens in between our great epiphanies. We have to learn these lessons over and over again so we can slowly begin to change. After awhile we will start to actualize these lessons and become better people. Throughout these last couple of months a scripture has be running through my head, almost daily:
2 Nephi 2:25
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
Mainly, "men are that they might have joy" has been in my head. I really feel that this is one of the lessons we are to learn in this life. What joy is. Trials are there to make us stronger, but they are also there so that we may have joy. If we never had bad stuff happen to us, how would we feel joy? I am truly grateful for the trials that I have been given these couple of months and continue to struggle through. It has given me a chance to stop and reflect on what is really important. And it has given to a chance to learn how to enjoy little things, and be grateful for what I do have. I feel like a spoil child whose eyes have been opened. I am embarrassed that I haven't been more grateful for...everything. Hopefully, I can change and learn this lesson sooner, rather than later.

TAG! Your It!

2008-02-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks Summer for tagging me! So here goes:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago.
Ten years ago I was trying to figure out how to break up with Sterling. But dang it he bought be a really cool sweatshirt on a trip to California and I just couldn't do it. So I figured I would wait a couple of weeks then do it. Oh well. He stole me heart by then, thank goodness!!!
2. 5 things on my to-do list today
I got a ton done today!! That never happens. I guess that is why I have time to write this blog. I didn't get much sleep last night thanks to Tess, so to keep from falling asleep this afternoon I did laundry. (So that was pretty much it, but in my book if I get the laundry folded and put away in one day that is huge)
3. What snacks do I enjoy?
Anything with chocolate in it. or good ripe fruit. Any kind.
4. What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire?
Pay tithing (thanks summer) then take all my family(s) on a nice vacation. Then I don't know. That is a lot of money. Just enjoy life and make sure others around me can enjoy it better too.
5. 3 bad habits?
Procrastination, stressing over little things, thinking I can do more than I can
6.5 places I have lived?
Washington, California, Colorado, Utah, Israel
7. 5 jobs I've had.
Warehouse worker at AMD, Diet Tech at Hospital, Outpatient Dietitian at Center for Change, Manager for Eclipse, and my favorite Mom and Wife!
8. 5 thing people don't know about me.
I love Jane Austen novels.
I can't ski, rollerskate, or ice skate. And trust me I have tried to be good many many times, but I always look like the idoit out there.
I have can't smile with my lips closed.
I broke my arm, fell out of a moving car, and got a huge black eye from my brother, all when I was six.
I took football stats my senior year. and I think i knew more about football than the players on the team. They sucked.
Ok so I tag
Lisa, Rich, Marla, Shar, Brooke

Flying Baby

2008-02-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

I just found these photos on my computer the other day. I filed them under a folder i don't normally use. I was so excited to find them. Isn't Tessa adorable. Yeah I know I am pretty lucky. So here is a page I did with my fav photo.

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-02-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have a had a few request about digital scrapbooking, so I will let you know a few sites that I love. When I started a year and a half ago there were probably 50 sites. Now there are at least 500. It can be kind of overwhelming. Anyone can be a designer of digi scrapbooking kits (it is so easy to do) and so there are a lot of them out there. A good way to start is just to google digital scrapbooking. Most sites have tutorials on how to get started. I recommend using Photoshop elements or Photoshop CS as the software. If you don't have it and never used it, it can be very confusing the first time. The helps with the software don't help. But there are tons of tutorials out there now on digi webesites and blogs. I have been learning as i go a long. I am no expert, but i will answer any questions you have. It is a lot of fun. I am warning you, I could spend hours on one page or surfing the web for new sites. Alot of sites have freebies. Especially designers blogs. Those are good places to start to pick up some free kits or free pages. All you have to do is click on the link and save it to your hard drive. Make sure you have lots of extra space on your hard drive. one kit could be like 70 MB. Right now I probably have 10 GB of scrapbooking kits saved on my computer. And about half are from free sites. So here are some of my fav sites:
www.digitaldesignessentials.com ( I love her kits, I could spend a lot of money here. Look at the gallery of pages. If you like them get the February idea notebook it is a great deal. I doesn't tell you what is in it, but you won't be disappointed.)
www.scrapartist.com (some cool freebies)
www.scrapgirls.com (not crazy about the gallery pages, but this site has some amazing elemets, templates, and actions that you can make youself. Really fun, but not a good site to start at unless you just want to read the tutorials. It can be kind of overwhelming.)
www.designerdigitals.com (i think this site has some cool freebies)
www.theshabbyprincess.com (go here first!!! Some really cool free kits, and tutorials.
(if you like a certain designer google her name and try and find her blog. Chances are there will be freebies on her blog or other cool info.)

So here are just a few sites. there are tons and tons more. If any of you are really interested I will post some more links of some great sites.
Let me know if you have any questions. I will try and help.
Enjoy!!

This page I made using stuff from the digitaldesignessentials.com feb. idea notebook.

2008-02-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day

2008-02-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yes tomorrow is Valentines Day. And since I am trying to get better about the blogging I thought I would post a special tribute to the love of my life, my sweet dear hubby in honor of V-Day (plus I want some chocolates). I am pretty lucky to have him. He is an amazing husband and father. Thanks for all you do!

Still trying to figure it all out

2008-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

So it has been awhile, I know. Ster had no clue that I had started a blog, I guess I haven't really told anyone. So I really should get the word out and do some more posts. It is pretty fun. With my free time (hah hah) I have been not blogging obviously, but surfing the web looking at digital scrapbooking sites. I am official addicted now. I started about a year and a half ago with digital scrapbooking and it is amazing how much it has taken off, especially this last year. It is really fun, but for those of you not into it I am warning you it is very addictive. Once I figure out how to do a slidshow on here (I am sure it is so easy I am just retarded) I will post more of my pages, but for now here are a couple. Sometimes I love them, other days I am like I will defintetly have to re-do that one. But that is why digi is so great. No mistakes.

So has anyone seen that the old movie GIGI. I watched it the other night while Ster was at class and, I just love old movies, but anyway I love how sexist they are. It always makes me laugh that the men are so mean to the women and the women just swoon over the men. And finially they kiss such a passionitly almost hatefull kiss. (think of "Its a Wonderful Life" when George and his girlfriend i can't think of her name right now finially kiss, It is like he hates her when he kisses her and she is just chasing him) Anyway these movies make me laugh, because obiously we knew who directed them. But what I am getting at is in GIGI, the uncle sings this song "Thank heaven for little girls" All of you have heard it I am sure, but its kind of creepy when the uncle sings it because he is such a womanizer and he is like in his 60's and singing about young girls. The movies herione is probably 15. So i have had this song stuck in my head for at least a week. I really have to do a scrap page with this as the tittle, because of course all i have is little girls. Not because the song might be considered creepy. So I just have to laugh. I had the perfect photo opp the other day and just didn't get it in time. Syd and Tess snuck into my closest, turned over my laundry basket, put a step stool on top and climbed up to my jewlrey box. Syd was wearing one of my dresses, with some of my heels and tess had a blanket on her head like Mary. They looked so guilty. All they needed was some lipstick smeared on their faces. It was too cute, but I wasn't fast enough. Oh well. Next time. Thank heavens for little girls.

First timmer...so be easy on me

2007-09-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking about blogging for a while now. I have a handful of friends and family that are doing it so I am really feeling the pressure. I figured this would be a great way to stay organized with all my friends blogs and start a journal of sorts. So here goes! Rich thanks for all your amusing blogs so far. I almost peed my pants a couple of times! I can't wait for the next one.

We just got back from a family vacation from Disneyland this weekend. It was really just an excuse for me and Ster to go to the BYU UCLA game (thanks to the refs, we lost!) No really we just felt like the kids were old enough to attempt it again. Last time we went Abby was 2 and Syd was 2 months. That was just not fun for any of us. But we had a great time this week! No one was there, except BYU fans. We literally waited at most 20 minutes for a ride and that was only a couple of times. We walked through most of the lines. I think it was because school had just started that week or the week before. And the weather was great! We just missed the heat wave. It was really fun to see Disneyland through your child's eyes. They had a great time and that made it fun for me. Tess really liked all the rides, but got scared on Pirates. (who could blame her) I feel so bad but that was Abby and Sydnee's favorite so i think we went on it like 10 times. I hope I haven't scared her for life. Her favorite was the Merry-go-Round. Her face would light up when she would see the horseys and get so excited, then she would cry when we got her off.

We spent 3 whole and I mean whole days there and only had a few meltdowns. Amazing! Of course there is that restaurant we can never ever ever go back. I think they have our family picture posted there saying "DO NOT SERVE" I really don't blame them.

We even got to spend a day at the beach. We got to visit with some great friends of ours the Davis's. They have boys the same age as our girls. The kids just loved the beach and we got visit with our friends. That night was the game and luckily (thanks again Summer I totally owe you) we didn't have to take the girls! Aghh. So we got to "enjoy" the game.

I am surprised at how smooth this vacation went. We were truly blessed and had a wonderful time. We might just do it again sometime!