Barnes Family

Happy Birthday Tanner!

2012-02-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

My baby boy turned 14 on the 13th of January! How could that be???

We were lucky to be in California for Mitchell's volleyball tournament. The Jarman's let us stay in their beach house for the weekend, it was so beautiful! So we went to dinner at his favorite place, Ruby's on the pier in Oceanside. It was very strange just having the 3 of us! We miss Ashley and Mitchell was with the team in Anaheim.

We went back to the beach house and opened presents.

We got a kite and the wind was dead all weekend. bummer.

Mitchell got him nerf gun

Happy boy!

I wasn't texting, I was taking pictures!

New skate gloves

I searched all over for this taco bell seasoning he wanted and didn't like it when he tasted it!

new wheels for his long board.

Thanks for being such a fun loving boy! I can't believe you are getting so old!

Date with my boy

2012-02-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

On January 6th Tanner and I went to see Nathan Burton at the Flamingo. We had a fun mother son date! Surprisingly we had never been to the Flamingo. We enjoyed walking around the flamingo habitat for a while.

Cute Tanner

The fish were huge!!!

The comedy/magic show was good. He was a pretty good magician! We had some good laughs and left wondering how in the world he did a few things!! Thanks for a fun date Tanner!

Mitchell's City Council Award

2012-02-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

Mitchell was the service project co-chair with his friend Michelle for youth conference this year. They worked really hard on planning it. They met with our councilwoman Lois Tarkanian a few months before youth conference and asked her if their was a project in the city that the youth could tackle. She told them about a park that needed some fixing up. So Mitchell and Michelle headed up the service committee's in our stake and the Red Rock stake to get the job done. The project was huge! The Red Rock kids went and got things prepped on Friday night and our stake went to work on Saturday. (This was back in October!) Well, Lois Tarkanian was just shocked to see all that the youth did! She was so happy! On December 21st She and Mayor Goodman recognized the youth conference chairs and the service committee chairs and several other stake leaders at a city council meeting in December. It was pretty cool. She showed a video of some of the work that was done and gave them all certificate of appreciation. My friend Linda wrote about the service project here.

Mitchell shaking council members hands and about to shake Mayor Goodman's hand.

Lois Tarkanian explaining all the work that was done!

The 2 Stake Presidents and the youth conference chairs

President Schlauder said a few words. He is so inspiring. It was wonderful! I always feel the spirit when he speaks.

Dillon, Karli and Mitchell (Michelle had to work)

Councilwoman Tarkanian and all the stake leaders and business men that made donations to get the job done.

Dillon, Mitch and Karli with Lois Tarkanian

It was a pretty exciting day! We are very proud of Mitchell and the hard work that he did for this great activity!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve at our good friends the Lords. It has become a tradition that we love! We had crab legs, flank steak and yummy rolls and other great things!

Chad, Abby and Tanner with their popper hats on!

The whole bunch!

Keri and Nick

Adam and Kami

Brock and Mitchell (nice face Mitch : )

Dessert time!

Keri reading a Christmas story

Ashley and Scotty made it over for dessert. They were at the Marx house.

Watching Christmas Vacation

We went home and opened our Christmas pj's.

John never wants any...

The newlyweds!

Mitchell opening his

Christmas Morning & Ashley's 21st Birthday!

Mitchell with his cool headphones

John made me a book all about all of the beaches we have been to together! It is beautiful! I absolutely loved it! He is the best gift giver!

hmmm... what could that be??

the longboard he wanted...

Mitchell opening one

You know you did good when your get an expression like this!

Scotty was so excited!

Santa got them a Wii!

we played some games in the afternoon. We got a new scrabble board.

After presents we hurried and got ready for church. We loved having Christmas on Sunday! Our stake provides a sacrament meeting each week for a rest home in our stake boundaries. John had to speak there a few weeks ago, so he volunteered us to help with the meeting on Christmas day. It was really nice to provide that service for them. There are many residents that don't have any family in town, so it was great to visit with them. We came home, had breakfast and played games.

Scott and Jenn and the kids came over Christmas evening. We had a great time with them! Well, it was fun until Jack got sick and threw up all over the house! Poor guy! He got Scott twice, the carpet twice, the couch once! He had 2 baths, we washed laundry! It was a crazy evening! Every time we thought he was feeling better he lost it!

Ashley loves her Afton!

Happy birthday Ashley! (look at cute Afton looking and her big cousin! Love it!

Her favorite dessert

a bluetooth for her long drive to school

We got Afton an easel.

She loved it! She was covered in chalk and she broke every single piece of chalk!

She might get mad at me someday for this one!

Presents from Grandma and Grandpa Westra

She loved her new dress!

He didn't look sick!

We had a great day! We loved spending time with our family and talking to many of our family members on the phone. We are so grateful for this season to celebrate our Saviors birth!

Getting ready for Christmas

2012-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

I love all of our traditions at Christmas time! They make the season so fun! Here are a few of our traditions that we did this year.

Santa is a must... We have done it every year! We waited for Ashley and Scotty to get home and Scotty was a good sport to join in the fun! I think once they have kids, we will excuse them from the picture and let them do their own.

waiting in line

What a good looking group!

This is a tradition we started last year. Serving lunch at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. We all went last year on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed it so much that we called and got on the schedule this year. Mitchell ended up having volleyball practice and Ashley wasn't in town yet. So, we took Tanner. He was a good sport. It is very humbling!

Tanner getting hamburger patties ready for dinner.

John and Tanner working hard

We bribed the boys to put more lights up this year. Lights aren't one of our strong points! We are lucky if we get them on the house. It was nice to have some on the bushes and windows!

Tanner getting the bushes

Mitch did a great job with the pillar

The train is our "thing." John spent hours getting it all ready. For those new to our blog, John's dad set this train set up every year when John was growing up. We inherited it when he passed away and John keeps the tradition going by setting it up every year. He does a different layout each year. This year was a carnival scene. It was so fun. We had an open house and enjoyed having friends over! (more detail pictures of the train coming)

John working hard to get it ready. The carnival pieces caused a lot of trouble this year!

Tanner helped a bit

John and Mitchell spent a day on it together

Looking good!

Here are a few pictures from the train open house...

We set up a little train in the living room and the kids get to run this one. they LOVED it!

Tanner loves little babies!

Mitchell did a great job keeping the food table full.

lots of fun treats

The Schlauders got a sneak peak the night before.

The Red Rock Stake has done a live nativity the last 2 years. It is beautiful! They have a nice nativity display set up in the building next to it. It has become a great new tradition for us. We took our friends the Burris' this year.

Alan and Lisa and John

Tanner petting a donkey

We loved the nativity. It definitely helps us keep everything in perspective! We are so lucky to have this time of year to remember our Savior and his birth.

The Christmas cards went out late and I was ok with that!

Here is this years card.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

GIngerbread houses

2011-12-27T21:43:00.001-08:00

We picked up some gingerbread house kits while we were at Ikea. Tanner begged every night to do them. We finally found a night to do them. They turned out great!

Tanner working hard!

Mitchell thinking hard. His had a few cracks in it...

So his became a pile instead of a house!

Mitchell making a fence

Tanners turned out great

John worked really hard on his!

working on mine

silly boys!

Mitch and his masterpiece

John's finished product

Mine...

All of them!

This is just one of the many things we like to do to get ready for Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

I know it was a month ago! But I can't write about Christmas until I get Thanksgiving done!

So we drove up to Utah for Thanksgiving this year. We were tired from the wedding and decided to invite ourselves to my sister Cindy's house! Plus we wanted to see where Ashley and Scotty were living. We drove straight to their apartment. It's a cute little place.

Cindy and I baked all day on Thursday! It was fun to do it together! My Aunt Janet always made the best rolls when I was growing up. We call them "Janet Rolls!" Cindy and I made a batch and they were delicious. They are even more special since my Aunt Janet passed away last month. We enjoyed remembering her as we made her famous rolls!

Ashley and Scotty came over for dinner. Scotty was a trooper, he wasn't feeling well and he still came. Kevin was home and my mom and dad came over for dinner. We had a great time.

Janet rolls ready to go in the oven.

Everything turned out great!

The table looked pretty!

The newlyweds

John checking out the black Friday ads.

The boys are chillin

Cindy and Steve

Kevin ready to eat...

Mitchell relaxing after dinner

On Friday we went to Ikea! One of our favorite Utah stops! Ashley and Scotty bought some essentials for their new place. We spent almost 3 hours there! crazy.Friday night we went up to my brother Todd and Sharolyn's house in Midway. My Aunt Lois and Uncle Dave and their som Brent were in town at my cousin Jenna's. So they all met us at Todd's for Thanksgiving leftovers! It was great to see them. After we had only been there an hour Ashley got sick! She got Scotty's stomach flu. Poor girl was sick all night.

Ashley and her daddy.

Ashley and Scotty

Uncle Dave and little Justin

Todd and my cousin Brent

Jenna's new baby and Justin, he wanted him to play football!

Jenna opening a few baby gifts.

Cindy, Justin and Jenna's baby.

Steve, Cindy, Baby and Aunt Lois

Tanner and baby.

We played a fun new game at Todds. It's called Ligretto.

Cindy was a good Aunt. She was reading to Emily and Justin while we played the game.

Technology!

We planned to go home on Sunday, but John and Mitchell both spent Friday night in the bathroom with the flu! So we got up and put them in the car and drove home. I decided if I was going to get it, I wanted to be home! They both made it home ok. They slept the whole way! We had a good time, but it ended a little fast and yucky!

Coming soon

2011-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about updating my blog! I just haven't had 10 minutes to do it!

Here is a list of things going on in my head that I want to blog about. I will get caught up as soon as I get my Christmas card done! I am just getting started.... ugh.

1. Pinterest... I have made a few things I want to share with you all!
2. Thanksgiving... we went to Cindy's and had a great time until Scotty, John and Mitchell got the stomach flu.
3. Work... I have been working the last few weeks and it has been consuming my time and energy.
4. Cub Scouts... I really enjoy my new calling with the Webelos. They are cute!
5. Christmas... The decorations are up. Train is almost done. Shopping is not done. Christmas Card hasn't been started. Waiting for Ashley and Scotty to come home to take our Santa picture.
6. Blendtec... my new blender that i LOVE.

These are a few things that are coming to my blog soon! Hold tight!

*****The annual Barnes Family Train Party is this Monday and Tuesday! Come anytime between 6:30 - 9:00! (and pray that it gets done in time! haahha!)

11.11.11

2011-11-21T18:56:00.001-08:00

I can't believe my daughter is a married woman! It feels like it was a dream! It was a beautiful day. Everything went so smooth! John and I felt so happy sitting in the temple watching our little Christmas girl get sealed for time and all eternity to the love of her life. People kept asking us if we were freaking out... we could honestly say that this is the day we raised her for. It was the next step she had to take in order to return to live with her Heavenly Father again. You can learn more about temple marriages here. We would be freaking out if she was making choices that would take her away from this day. Scotty and Ashley are very much in love and we are so happy to have Scotty part of our family!It has taken me a week to go through a thousand pictures and pick the ones I wanted to post. We haven't gotten the photographers back. As soon as I do, I will post more! Here is there very cute announcement! We knew we wanted to tie in the whole 11.11.11 theme to it. John hired a graphic designer (Tracy at BlueBirdDesignStudios.com) to design it for us. Ashley wrote the story and the designer went with it. She was suppose to give us 3 to pick from and she ended up making like 11 different ones. (it made it really hard to decide!) She is so talented! We picked a few favorite things out of each of them and then she put it all together. SO cute!!!

Here are a few of my favorite ones of Ashley & Scotty coming out of the temple.

So many hugs!

The fab 5! (Ashley's best friends in high school!)

The Marx and Barnes Families

The Barnes side

My handsome boys with the happy couple!

I love my kids!

Grandma Barnes

Grandma and Grandpa Westra

Our little girl all grown up!

So happy!

Silly dad!

I love this angle!

Love her!

The Westra kids (David, Todd, Cindy, Mom, Dad, Julie, Allison, Mark, Scott. Missing Greg and John Although I think they were there with us in the temple!)

We love our mom and dad!

Silly Fab 5!

All the girl friends!

The Barnes family (Edie, Debbie, Cathi, John, Barbara, Annette and Mom)

John and all of the Barnes girls!

The Westra nieces and nephews

After pictures at the temple we went to a beautiful luncheon at a church building nearby. Kim did a great job! It was so fun! She had a really cute mashed potato bar! Then she had the best prime rib and salad and veggies.

YUM!

Ashley didn't spill!

Todd and Sharolyn and Justin & Grandpa

Grandma Barnes and The Moons

Edie, Luke and John

The Fab 5!

Emily, Dallin, Grandma, Brendon and Charity

The teenage table having lots of fun with the sparkling cider bottles!

Kade, Cathi, Kris, Keaton, Barb, Katherine and Annette

The roommates

Mauri, Angela, Mark, Gary, Julie, Steve, Cindy, Kelsie and Christopher

Dave, Rebekah, Scott, Jack and Jenn

Afton fell asleep so the boys put their sparkling cider bottles around her!

The Reception

Wasn't it beautiful!

The smartest decision we made was to hire a decorator for the wedding reception. Pam was the best! She went above and beyond our expectations! She is so creative!!!! She understood Ashley's vision and she created it. We made with the centerpieces and we ordered the photo's and she did everything else. I showed up at 6pm and everything was amazing!!! All week, everyone kept telling me I was so calm and I would reply that I had Pam! It was wonderful. We were able to enjoy our company and spend time with them without stressing over decorating.

2 weeks before the wedding I found the cutest milk and cookie bar on Pinterest. (click here to see it. If you aren't on Pinterest, you really should check it out!) I talked Ashley into changing our dessert plans to this. It was so such a hit! Everyone loved the cookies and milk! (and I am sure the pink straws were a favorite too!)

Pam displayed all the cookies on milk glass collection!

The cake, the bouquet toss and the garter toss.

The goodbye!

We will always remember 11.11.11 as a very special day in the Barnes Family! We love you Ashley and Scotty!

I love to see the temple

2011-11-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

What a special day! Ashley went to the temple last Saturday and had a great experience. You can read about Temples here and you can read Ashley's temple blog post here. We went a little early to meet John's mission president. He is going to perform the sealing next week and he wanted to meet Ashley and Scotty before the big day. He is a very sweet man.

I can't describe the feelings I had sitting in the temple with my daughter! It was amazing. I am so glad that she has made this big step in her life. I can only imagine how happy I will be for her next week as she kneels across the alter from her husband. I know I will be sad that my little girl is all grown up, but this is what I have spent almost 21 years preparing her for. I am so proud of their decision to get married there. I know it hasn't been easy for them, but now they know they can accomplish anything!

Ashley and Scotty outside the temple.

Ron & Kim, Scotty & Ashley and John & I.


The happy parents

We went to Olive Garden with Scotty's family after. They were so sweet to support Ashley on this special day. Scott and Jenn were there too. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of them.

John and I, Ron and Kim and Ashley and Matt (Scotty's brother and wife)

I love the temple and it was such a great day to be there with my only girl! I love you Ashley!

Mitchell is 18!!!!

2011-11-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

How in the world is my little boy 18??

Wow! Time has flown by!

Michelle came over yesterday and surprised Mitchell with tickets to a concert. They went to see The Cab, Simple Plan and Forever The Sickest Kids. (Who names a band that??) They had a great time at the concert.

Present time

Add caption

He got some new sandals to wear after volleyball games.

new shirt...

More clothes

Dinner from BJ's. We went to go eat there, but the wait was really long, so we got it to go.

Yum!

We had a few friends over for cake and ice cream.

mom lighting the candles

The birthday boy!

Lots of good friends!

Happy birthday to my little boy! I can't believe you are an adult! I hope this year doesn't go to fast. I want to enjoy his last year of high school. Mitchell is a great kid. He doesn't ask for much, he is always home on time and he works hard at school and has a great group of friends. We are so proud of him!

The rest of October

2011-11-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast October flew by! We were all very busy!

Here are a few highlights...

I am watching these two cute things on Tuesdays and Thursday. They are a highlight of my week.

Not sure what she was looking at??

He discovered the trampoline and loved it!

Jack learning how to drive!

Company

One of our very good friends David Demars came to visit us. He was in town for a meeting so we had him over for dinner. John was one of Davids counselors when he was our Bishop back in the Liberty Lake ward up in Spokane. He is amazing. We just wish Sheryl could have come with him! We had a great time catching up on our lives.

Buddies

Relief Society Retreat

We had a Relief Society retreat up at Brenda Jacobson's cabin in Pine Valley Utah. I have been suggesting one ever since we moved here. (we used to do them in Spokane)

Before I got released from Relief Society I planned one! It was such a blast! I hope they make it a tradition! The cabin was beautiful, the company was great, the food was yummy! and we laughed so hard we cried! We stayed up until about 3:30am talking and laughing!

Melody, Kathy and Christy

We woke up and had breakfast outside and enjoyed the sunshine! It was just gorgeous out! It was dark when we arrived, so it was our first view of the surroundings. Their cabin was nestled up against a mountain and the leaves were changing and it was beautiful!

Jamie, Teresa, Teresa, Corine, Lynette

Corine, Lynette, Sonya's sister and Joan

Amy, Chantelle and Amber

Michele and Sonya

Brenda, Jamie, Teresa and Teresa

The beautiful view out back

Enjoying the sunshine and visiting

Carrie and Marianne

Abby, Michele and Sonya

Out front

The rest of the month has been busy with wedding planning!!!!

It has consumed my life... my thoughts, my dreams and my time!

This was a trial run for a possible dessert idea. It was a failure. (just so you know, caramel doesn't stick to the cut edge of the apples! Only the skin. The good note, is that they did taste good!)

They were suppose to look like this:

Needless to say we have changed the menu! You will have to come and see what it is!

More wedding! Tanner has earned a few dollars painting and working on other projects for me.

Tanner putting pictures in all the frames for the tables

Wedding shopping

Grabbing lunch at Capprioti's while we were out shopping for boys wedding outfits...

Mitchell trying on clothes at the Rack.

John send this pic to Ashley and told her he was wearing it at the wedding... haha. That didn't go over very well!

Blessings in my life!

I broke down and asked for help! Why is that so hard to do??? Ashley and I have spent hours and hours making the centerpieces for the reception. They are so cute, but very time consuming. I had about 30 left to do and John made me ask for help. My friends came to the rescue and helped me get them all done! It was amazing! We had fun chatting all day! Some stayed for an hour and some stayed for 6! Some even came back later in the day! Keri had us over for dinner because she knew I hadn't even thought about it that day! Thank You to all of you!!!

Kim, Sherry, Rene'e and Sonya

Brenda and Kaleen

Pam and Caroline

Jamie

Kathy and Lynette

Nickee and Sonya

Sherry, Scotty and Nickee

I might get in trouble for posting pics of these already... oh well. Act surprised when you walk in the reception.

Chef Tanner

Tanner had a book report due this month and he made fortune cookies to go along with it. They really good!!! and he got an A+ on his assignment!

Crazy boy!

We watched several you tube videos to get them down!

hot hot!

He wrote little messages from the book inside of them!

The best thing that happened this month is this little arrival!!!!!

I have waited years to get my hands on this! First I waited a few years for Verizon to offer it because I didn't want to switch to AT&T. A few months before the Verizon iPhone announcement, John got me Droid. I liked my little droid, but I didn't feel complete with it. I wanted all of my Apple products to sync. So, I had to wait another year and a half for an upgrade to get it. I ordered this the day it was announced!

I must say I love it!! I love the feel of it, I love how smooth it works, I love that it syncs with my iMac and my iPad. I am so happy!

Happy Halloween!

I know you are thinking that these boys are too old to go trick or treating... oh well. They went and they had a good time. They went to the ward trunk or treat and then went out in the neighborhood.

Tanner, Tyler and Jonah

Tanner and his loot

Tyler and his candy. He sorts his just like I always did!

Jonah sorted his by chocolate and sugar.

I am sure I have missed a few October things. John and I both got new callings. I am helping with the ward Christmas party and Webelo's and teaching primary. So much for the break the Bishop said I was going to get. haha. John got called to be on the stake high council. He will do great. He is excited to be over missionary work.

Ashley came home a few times to help with wedding plans. She also went through the temple. I will do a separate post on that.

The wedding is in 7 days! I hope we are ready!

Will miss her...

2011-10-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

We gave a little piece of our family away on Tuesday. We gave our turtle, "mom" to the Dye's pond. She was growing so fast and I couldn't keep her tank clean for more than about a week. It's a real pain to clean and I am sure she was going crazy in her little 20 gallon tank. I must say, I miss her! I miss watching her get excited when I fed her, I miss hearing the constant sound of her water filter (it sounded like a waterfall) and I miss talking to her as I do the dishes. Ashley thinks we gave her away because I hated her, thats NOT true. (You can read more of her feelings on her blog here.) I love our little turtle! I just knew she needed a bigger home.

We asked our friend Kathy if she had ever considered getting turtles for her pond and she said she had just been looking into getting one! Yahoo! So we took her over and "mom" was so happy. She just swam around and floated like she was in heaven! We can visit her anytime we want. She has fish to play with and Kathy said she might even get her a friend!

Look how little she was when Ashley got her! She was so cute!

Can you see how dirty her tank got??

Mitchell letting her go...

She was playing with the fish! Hopefully she won't eat them!

Just chilling in the lily pads!

Look how pretty the pond is! We will miss you little turtle!!

BPC Retreat

2011-10-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (Oct. 6-8) I went a short company retreat with my little job I have. (In case you forgot, I do a little work for my friend Stacy and her company BigPictureClasses.com. ) I was thrilled that i was invited to come since I only work about 10-20 hours a month. The retreat was up in Washington in a little town called Leavenworth. I LOVE Leavenworth, it is so beautiful!. It's a little Bavarian-style village nestled up in the Cascade mountain range. It is where you go to get away from the city and you feel like you are in another country. In the fall the leaves are beautiful and you can watch the Salmon spawn up the river and in the winter you can ski and cross country ski and the summer is just gorgeous with lakes and rivers nearby. There are lots of fun shops in town to explore. I don't think I had been there since Ashley was a toddler.

I had a bit of a challenge getting there! I should have know that when I got to the airport and my flight gate changed 3 times that I was in for a long day! (and they weren't in the same terminal! I got my exercise!) I had to be leave for the airport at 4:30am because my flight left at 6:00. I was on a flight to Spokane, WA and it stopped in Reno and Boise! Crazy Southwest! We were all meeting in Spokane and then driving the 3 1/2 hours to Leavenworth together. We were all to arrive around 10am and get to Leavenworth for lunch. When I got to Boise I got a text from Wendy asking if my flight was going to make it since one of the girls from Denver had her flight cancelled. I figured something was wrong in Denver and said yes! We are leaving in 5 minutes. About the time we were suppose to land the captain gets on the intercom and says we can't land in Spokane because of thick fog! ugh! (fog in October is pretty strange! ) The flight was headed to Portland next, so that is where we landed. After talking to Kayce and Stacy, we came up with a plan. The fog was not expected to lift, so I rented a car and drove to Seattle and picked up Dani who was stuck there and then the 2 of us drove to Leavenworth and met everyone there. It was fun to get to know Dani, I had never met her, just emailed her. I left the airport at 12:30 and got to Leavenworth at about 5:45... 5 hours and 285 miles!

It killed me to drive through Bellevue and not have time to call my family there! The good news is that is was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the drive. the leaves were changing and everything was so green! I was in heaven! The retreat was at a place called the Sleeping Lady. It was nestled in the mountains on the Icicle river. It was so pretty! I wanted to spend every minute outside! I kept asking if we could have our meeting by the river! Unfortunately we needed a computer and powerpoint. We did a lot of team building and communication activities. I learned lots!!

Stacy and I after an amazing meal. The food was to die for!

Wendy, Me and Stacy. It was great to be with these 2 great friends!

Sarah, Kayce and Dani.

I really wanted to jump in the river. it was so pretty!

Wendy and Stacy

Kathy and Kiley. (Kathy did all the team building and communication activities for us. She is amazing! )

Brandi and Wendy

Wendy and I enjoying the beautiful surroundings!

Kayce and Sarah

The place we stayed was amazing. They had beautiful artwork everywhere! I loved this little guy!

The food was SO GOOD! All the fruit was fresh and everything was organic and prepared so good. On the menu they would list all the local farms that all the food came from. SO cool!

The river we were on...

More art work... a Dale Chihuly piece. It was lit up at night!

Again, the food was so good! Fresh and full of spices and flavors!

The view from the restaurant.

They had these cool fish all over the river bank.

So pretty!

On Friday we spent a few hours walking around the shops in town. It was so fun! Lots of fun things. We didn't have enough time!

Wendy and Dani

The tree's were just starting to change...

I had a great time getting to know the BPC team! I work with some amazing ladies!! I wish I had more time to visit family and friends in my home state... oh well. I kept telling myself I was in Nebraska or somewhere that I knew no one! We drove home through eastern Washington and flew home from Spokane. Luckily my trip home was non eventful! I litterally drove all ove rthe state by the time I went home!

Ashley's Shower

2011-09-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Ashley came home last weekend for her bridal shower. My friends Brenda and Lynette put it on and lot's of friends helped with food! Saturday was a very busy day! We had 2 different stake events and a wedding reception. So we were so happy that people came!

Cute decorations!

Yummy popcorn to take home.

lots of presents!

great food!

Brenda and Lynette

Michele

Staci, Taylor, Lori and Sherry

Silly Rene'e (she took most of the pictures for me! Thanks!)

Cute Afton

Staci, Melody, Linda and Lori

Kim, Kathy, Tiffany and Jenn

Scotty's sister Jenn and Carson

Fun presents! I want this!

Leah working hard on the hat...

From Grandma Barnes

A hat made from all the bows...

Ashley with the car loaded up. We are so thankful to everyone! It was a great day!

Homecoming Week

2011-09-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Last week was homecoming week. It's been really busy the last few weeks for Mitchell. He is on student council again this year and they spend weeks preparing for this week. It was especially fun since it is his senior year! He was a powder puff cheerleader. It was so funny!

Powder-Puff

Mitchell and the boys...

silly boys!

Mitchell, Kenny and Bryson

Michelle was one of the coaches. She was so cute with them!

M & M

The whole gang...

The Hallways

After the game I snuck into the school to see the hall decorations. The hallways are a big deal at Bonanza. They cover all the halls with amazing posters and artwork! Each grade level gets judged and the winner is announced at the football game. the seniors did a great job this year and of course they won! This was the theme this year:

Mitchell is on the E-board (executive board, student body presidency) They made these first two pics...

Each grade decorated in these themes...

The seniors were Harry Potter. I wish this picture came out better. His friend Collin painted this! It was beautiful!

Collin painted this one too!

I am so glad I made it in to see them! They were amazing as usual!

The football game and floats

The senior float at the football game

Collin, Mitchell, Michelle, Karli and Kristen watching the float go by.

The Dance

Mitchell took Michelle to the dance and they had a great time! They met for pictures and then went to dinner at DW Bistro, then they went to the dance, next to see Penn and Teller on the strip, then dessert at Serendipity at Caesars Palace and then home.

Michelle looked beautiful!

All the boys!

The whole group

Add caption

Mitchell has been friends with Karli and Jake since we moved in! It was fun to see them all grown up and going to homecoming together!

We enjoyed the week and we are glad it's over. Now we can see Mitch and he can work on some homework instead of floats and hallways!

The Creative Connection

2011-09-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the whole "what I know for sure" thing didn't really work so good for me. Life has been crazy! I iwll just blog normally and add a few here and there!

A couple weeks ago I went to St. Paul Minnesota to help out at The Creative Connection. My friend Stacy was speaking at it and her company Big Picture Classes was having a booth there. So I went to work the booth and have fun with old friends! I hadn't seen Wendy in so long! She and I go way back to working at Simple Scrapbook Magazine. We used to travel a lot together.

We arrived on Wednesday and we spent the evening gathering supplies for the booth and meeting up with our good friend Cathy Zielske. She took us to a yummy Chinese restaurant. It was so fun catching up with everyone.

Kayce (co-owner of BigPictureClasses), Wendy, Cathy, Me and Stacy

After a two hour trip to Target (we went to the very first Target!) we went over to Cathy's house. It was so cute. She's been doing lot's of remodeling.

Kayce, Stacy, Me, Wendy and Cathy

This convention was pretty cool. It was different than the normal scrapbook conventions that I usually go to. It was for women in creative businesses-mostly for themselves: authors, designers, crafters, artists, sewers, food writers, small store owners, jewelers, marketers, publishers, everyone blogging and some people who blog BIG…a lot of people who make things and sell them, some in a big way. There were people just starting out, people mid-stream and people who have been incredibly successful. There were classes on different crafts and all the meals had big keynote speakers. Most of them talked about how they "made it" in the industry. They had classes on how to make your craft a business and make money from it. There were publishers there to sign up book deals and stuff. My friend Becky Higgins made a cute video showing all the things that went on... click here to see it.

This was at a book signing. Cristina Ferrare was there and spoke one night. She has an amazing story. (if she looks familiar, it's because she used to co-host GMA and substitute for Kathy Lee and now she has a cooking show on Oprah's network!

This cute girl wrote a book about saving the birdsduring the big oil spill. The lady in the glasses is

Jo Packham, she is the editor of Where Women Create & Where Women Cook magazines.

They had a market place where lot's of crafters had booths set up selling their stuff. This is our booth! We had a photo-booth in it! It was great. People had to sign up for an account at Big Picture Classes to get a photo taken.

We had lots of fun in the photo booth!

I grabbed this picture of the market place from the house of smiths blog. It's amazing what you find when you google!

I had a great time! But as always, it was good to come home! This trip was a little long for me.

What I know for sure...

2011-09-28T15:34:00.001-07:00

Beating the Heat

It’s always a hot summer in Vegas and we always try to findways to beat the heat. So today’spost is to give you some ideas to help you beat the heat too. Of course, there’s always going in thepool or mall. But when you’re homeand it’s hot, it can really get uncomfortable. But ever since we got our shutters, we’ve been able to keepour house much cooler in the summer.

Most of you know that John works for Sunburst Shutters &Window Fashions and loves it. Weput their Polywood Shutters in our home because they are the most energyefficient. And I can tell thedifference. Our plantation shutters arereally great at blocking out the summer heat. I can feel the difference in every room.

We’ve had our shutters for about six years now, and they arestill just as beautiful as the day we got them. Yes, this may sound like an adfor John’s company, but I know they’ve helped us save on our power bills.

If you’re in the market for new window treatments or ifyours are due for an upgrade, look at the options available at Sunburst. Theyhave great shutters, of course, but also blinds, draperies, shades and more.

Judging by our experience, I can assure you that you’ll lovethem. They are gorgeous shutters that can stand up to just about anything andwill last you a long time.

What I know for sure day 3

2011-09-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

What I know for sure: "Enjoy the moment" is true!

This quote hit me really hard the other day. I was driving home from watching Afton & Jack and they were really sick and I began thinking about these days:

crying babies, poopy diapers, no sleep and having to entertain the kids. I'm not sure I enjoyed the moment enough back then. I let myself get stressed out and I would long for the days that they would be old enough to do their own things. No diapers, no car seats, no teething babies, no ear infections and all those things.

Now that my kids are at this stage:

I long for the good old days when they were little and depended on me for everything. I wish I could still control where they go, who they play with and what time they come home.

So, as I was on this drive home the saying "enjoy the moment" came to my mind and I realized that's what I needed to do! I need to stop crying that my kids are getting too old and just enjoy them at this stage! They are really fun right now, they make me laugh and make me so happy and I love them so much!

What I know for Sure Day 2

2011-09-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

I know for sure that I am not a morning person!

I had to drive John to the airport at 4:30 this morning and it was really hard! I barely said 2 things the whole way there. I would much rather stay up late than get up early! That's what I know for sure today!

What I Know For Sure Day 1

2011-09-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

I read a friends blog the other day and she spent a few days writing about "what she knew for sure." Like in the Oprah magazine... I thought it was a great idea and decided that I should dedicate the month of September writing about "what I know for sure." I know, I am already 5 days behind! Oh well, I still like the idea and I will do my best to do it for the rest of the month!

***note: these are in no particular order! Just random things. One day I might do my family and the next might be the color red and the next might be my faith... who knows...

What I Know For Sure:

I know that I love John Barnes more than anyone else in my life! He is my joy, my rock, my best friend, my confidant and the love of my life!

He celebrated a birthday last week and I think he he is still as young as the day I married him! We celebrated by going to dinner at The Yard House up at Red Rock. We weren't that impressed with the food. Stick to the burgers and fries if you go there.

I know I am one lucky girl to have this guy in my life!!

He tried to be happy about the Bears apron. I guess he thinks men don't wear aprons. I thought it was pretty cool and he could BBQ in it!

Ashley & Scotty

My silly boys!

Happy birthday John!

Utah weekend

2011-08-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

John and I went on a quick getaway weekend last week. We left on the 18th and came back on the 21st. The kids stayed home alone and we think they behaved without us. (let me know if you know otherwise!)

We drove up to St. George on Thursday and went to see Grease at Tuacahn. It was great! They do such a good job there! I really want to get up there to see Little Mermaid. I am so glad that I married a man that loves to see musicals! John was in this play in high school, so it was fun for him to see again. It was a very hot night... but we survived the heat. We spent the night in St George and then headed up to Provo in the morning.

We got to Provo and went straight to BYU campus to visit our good friends Stacy and Geoff Julian who were there for Education week. They are good friends from Spokane. I still do a little work with Stacy at BigPictureClasses.com. I get to travel to Minneapolis with her in September. I am excited! This visit was short and sweet. It was fun to catch up and hear what was new with them. Maybe next year we can join them for a few days at education week, lunch wasn't long enough!

After our lunch we went to do some wedding shopping... we found a few things we were looking for! It was worth the drive.

Our next stop was to see our new "great nephew". I think that's what we call him. Our niece Sam and her husband Jake had a cute little boy on the 4th of July! He was such a cutie! I am so glad we got to meet little Christopher! It was fun to see where they are living and catch up with them. They are so happy to be parents!

John has been itching to float down the Provo river for 22 years! (we went when we were first married...) Every time we go there he talks about it. It's never fit into our schedule until this trip. I must admit that I didn't really want to go.. but went along to make him happy. I was so glad we went! It was beautiful and peaceful! We stopped at Vivian park and signed up to go with a little river tour group there. They only had kayaks available and that worked out great! We got dropped off a few miles up the river with a big bus load of people. We loved the kayak because we weren't right in the water, but we could get wet when we wanted and we had more control than a tube.

My cute hubby!

It was a beautiful day out! Perfect for the river.

We even saw a train!

The reason we headed to Utah was to go to Jessica and Matt's wedding reception. Jessica is Dix and Kaleen Jarman's daughter. (John's boss and our good friends) It was up at Sundance and it was beautiful! She wanted a rustic reception and it was a perfect location. The was right outside the reception hall. SO pretty!

There were lots of work and Vegas friends there and it was great to see them all.

My good friend Rene'e. I had to go to Utah to see her... haha. (terrible picture... it was taken on the phone...)

Jessica and Matt cutting the cake. They were so happy! It was a really fun party. Lot's of dancing, good food and great people!

Sunday morning we went to my parents for breakfast. My dad makes the best breakfasts! Mark and Katherine and their girls were in town. It was great to see them! Cindy and Spencer came over too. It was such a short and busy trip, we never got up to see Todd and his family. Sorry Todd. We love you!

Mom, John, Dad, Mark, Carly, Katherine, Taylor, Cindy & Spencer.

I love any time I can get away with my honey! Even if it's just to Utah and it's full of things to do.

Gone again...

2011-08-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

My little girl left for BYU today. I will miss her! It was hard to say goodbye... even though I am sure she will be home a lot this semester working on wedding plans and visiting her man. I would like to think that she will want to come see us... but i know better. hahaha.

It makes me sad to think that she really won't live with us again... except an occasional visit home. I'm not sure i am ready for this next stage of life. My sister in law just posted on facebook that she wasn't ready to send her son on the bus for kindergarten... I'm not ready to hand my girl over to the man of her dreams. I wish it was kindergarten all over again!

Life is interesting! Every stage is a learning experience.

I love you Ashley!

HIking...

2011-08-16T10:54:00.001-07:00

Tanner went on a hike a few weeks ago for scouts and has been begging to take us on it. So, we set out Saturday morning to see some cool caves up near Red Rock. (Sadly, Mitchell got called into work early) He found the starting point and off we went....

We thought we were prepared... water - check, snacks - check...

Scotty and Ashley ready to go...

About to head into the cave... this is when we realize what we forgot! Dark cave, need flashlights... no check. Dang! How could we forget??? Tanner reminded us many times! Luckily another family was up there and they couldn't find the entrance into the cave, so we showed them the way and they let us use their light! I should be able to use that in a talk someday hugh?? We didn't explore as long as we would have if we had our own lights... oh well. Next time.

John headed in...

Stupid people have graffiti'd the place real bad. so sad!

This picture doesn't do it justice... the cave is huge and you go for a ways and then you can go down into an even bigger area... we didn't go too far because the people with the light weren't going down there... bummer.

Being in the cave reminded me of Tom Sawyer. I think when i was little we used to listen to a tape of my Grandma Verhaaren telling that story. This is how I pictured the dark tunnels they got lost in... it was a little scary. Glad we didn't go too far.

We survived!

The love birds...

Tanner being silly...

Sometimes I forget that Vegas has some beautiful spots! This was one of them. We got lucky, there were clouds in the sky, so it wasn't too hot and we missed the rain. It was perfect.

Stephanie & Kevin

2011-08-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Our niece Stephanie got married in Idaho Falls the weekend we were in Chicago. We were so sad to miss the wedding! We really wanted to be there to support her and meet Kevin. We were happy to find out that they were going to be in Vegas for a few days this weekend as they traveled home from their honeymoon in San Diego. They came over Saturday evening and we went to dinner and played games after. It was so fun! Kevin is a really nice guy! We totally approve of her choice! haha... (not that it matters)

Dinner at Kona Grill

Playing Scum...

Thanks for stopping to see us Stephanie and Kevin! We are so happy for you!!!

New Family

2011-08-07T18:06:00.001-07:00

We had a barbecue at our house Friday night with Scotty's family. It was Kim's idea and I am so glad we did it. It was fun to get to know Scotty's family before the big day! We had Scott, Jenn and Joanna and the kids come over. I wish we had more family around!

We ate some yummy food, swam and talked.

This is Jordan and Carson, Scotty's brother in law and nephew.

Scott, Jenn and Jack.

Mitchell and Michelle swimming.

Matt and Ashley, Scotty's brother and sister in law and nephew.

Scotty, Ashley, Ron and John .

This is Jenn, Scotty's sister. She is a twin and her twin sister lives in Boston. So we haven't met her or his brother Brad yet. She gave Ashley a little survival kit, "how to survive Scotty" and I gave Scotty a bag full of things to survive Ashley. It was pretty funny. We put some of their favorite things in it, like: sweet tarts, top Raman, cafe rio gift card, markers, Capri suns, music a hat and some other fun things!

We are excited for the wedding in 97 days. We are thrilled that they are so happy and we are so happy for them! It was great to get to know some of the Marx family and It will be fun to have more family here in Vegas!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yumz Gourmet Frozen Yogurt #2

2011-08-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

The boys and I went out to Chicago last week for the grand opening of the our new Yumz store. (John was already there) It was so exciting and exhausting! We flew out Thursday morning at 6:00am. Yes, I said our plane left at 6:00AM! That meant that we had to be at the airport at 5, so we left at 4:30. That wasn't easy for 2 teenage boys who are used to getting up at noon! John picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the new store. We worked there until about 1:00 in the morning!

There was so much to be done. We scrubbed walls, floors, containers, loaded the fridge and freezer, got toppings organized, set up computers, dvd players, hung shelves and folded t-shirts. We were impressed with how hard our boys worked! They did a great job. We hardly broke for dinner.

me folding shirts...

On Friday we opened at 11am and all went well. Lots of people came in that first day. Annette (John's sister) came in and brought a few of her kids. It was a beautiful day out (actually it was pretty humid... but that is normal there) so we went over to Matt's house and let the kids play in the yard for a while. Tanner hadn't seen his cousins in about 4 or 5 years. So it was fun to connect again. We wish we would have had more time to go to their house and hang out! Next time for sure!

Cute Natalie

Ammon shooting some hoops

Lauren had fun cheering the boys on! She is so positive with her brothers! I was so impressed.

Tanner slamming it!

Everett, Ammon, Tanner and Natalie

Aunt Annette, Lauren and Ammon. You can see that it was pretty hot out by Ammon's red face!

The new Lake In The Hills store

Dianna and I were ready to open!

Saturday was the official grand opening. The local radio station came out and set up a booth from 2-4. They gave away Taylor Swift tickets every half hour. That brought a lot of people out! It was crazy busy.

Everyone came in and got yogurt and then got in line for tickets. I felt bad for them all because it was very hot and humid out! ugh.

The DJ.

Mitchell and I ran the registers for a while and I am happy to say that the registers all balanced out that night! I was pretty sure that I had goofed a few times. haha.

Check out all the people!

Annette came back for the grand opening and I forgot to get pictures of Kathryn and Meredith... dang!

The 2 guys that made this whole thing happen! They have worked so hard!!! A lot of nights spent on the computer and on the phone.

Westra's at the Beach 2011

2011-08-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

We were able to go to Oceanside with most of my family a few weeks ago. We had so much fun!!! We missed Grandma & Grandpa, Julie's family and Mark's family.

We were there July 5th to the 12th. Here are a few highlights! We combined all of our pictures, so I had to go through 1800 photo's to pic my favorites!

Cute faces!

More cute faces!

Misc pics

The waves!

Fun times roasting marshmallows

Sunday we went to the Mormon Battalion in San Diego

Fun in the sand!

The dolphins put on a show for us!

Some cute family shots...

I wish I had time to write a story about each photo. If I did that, I might not post this for another month! I will try to come back and do it soon.

I love the beach and I LOVED being at my favorite place with some of my favorite people!

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July! The Sampsons (our old neighbors, who we miss!) asked us if we were having fireworks in our street corner again this year... (we always did them there when they lived next door) we said sure... you bring the fireworks! Dave actually loves fireworks and gets some great ones! We loved having them over... we really do miss them! We invited a few other families to spend the day with us. We had a great time visiting, eating, swimming and celebrating our nations birthday!

Yes, Jeff brought a fire extinguisher! Glad we had it! Tanner did burn his finger pretty good... dang it.

Mitchell had to work and got home in time to do one last roman candle...

We are so lucky to live in this wonderful country! We feel so blessed and are thankful for all those who have fought for our freedoms!

Summer Picnic

2011-07-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

We love having summer pool parties! My niece and her husband were in town so we had a little pool party with the fam. I twas great to catch up with them and have an excuse to relax by the pool.

Angela & Shawn

Baby Jack got a hold of a chocolate chip cookie! He LOVED it!

Afton with her Popsicle! The pool is a perfect place to eat one!

My brother Scott and his cute family!

We got out the water camera... the kids had a great time with it!

The love birds....

Grandma Barnes came to spend the first weekend in July with us. We had a great time with her!

Grandma enjoying a Popsicle.

Jack and daddy...

Tanner...

Ashley & Tanner

Mitchell loves his Afton!

Nice pose Mitchell!

Tanner taught Grandma Barnes how to play on the Wii. She loved it! I think she even beat him in bowling a few times!

Happy Summer!!

tired

2011-07-19T19:58:00.001-07:00

so, i really need to update my blog... lots of fun things to blog about. But i have been working again this week and i am so tired. I promise to do it soon. Maybe I need a deadline... how about by Friday. So have patience with me till Friday... (if you want a sneak peak, be sure to go to my facebook photo's and you can see my fabulous trip to the beach and our 4th of july festivities...

and you should be excited... Tanner is writing his own post about scout camp... all i can say is that I have no idea how the boy got straight A's this semester...

good night.

little visitors

2011-06-28T14:57:00.001-07:00

I watched these two cute boys this morning. I thought their mom could use a break since her husband is at Philmont Scout Camp because my husband couldn't go. He went for John! So nice of him. John couldn't take 2 weeks off work right now, he has too much going on. So I offered to watch the kids so she could go do something fun. As it turns out, her dad is real sick and she spent the day helping her sister get her dad checked into the hospital. I am so sad. Her dad is our home teacher and we love him lots! Please pray for him.

The boys love my turtles and they loved swimming! We are having a fun day!

Workin Boy

2011-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Mitchell got a new job! Yahoo. He is working at Raising Cane's. They serve yummy chicken strip, fries and Texas toast. It was a tough interview process! He had to be interviewed 4 different times by 4 different managers! He started last week. So far so good. He needs to stay busy this summer and make some money. Hopefully they give him lots of hours!

blogger finally updated the photo upload for a mac! yahoo! so much easier to upload photos now!

Half Birthday

2011-06-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ashley's half birthday. Being born on Christmas Day was always ok with her. We often asked if she wanted to celebrate a half birthday and she said no.

Our little girl is all grown up. And leaving home soon. She's getting married in November. 11-11-11 to be exact. We will miss having her around the house when she goes off to start her new life as a married woman. We'll miss her smile. We'll miss her energy. We'll miss how she can make every situation fun and exciting.

So we'll make the best of the next 5 months with her and look forward to the opportunities we'll have in the future for her to come visit and bless our home with her presence.

Happy Half Birthday Ashley. We love you. Dad

Wyoming Visitors

2011-06-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

John's sister Edie came to see us this week! She lives in Wyoming, so we don't get to see her as much as we would like! She only had her 2 boys with her... we missed Luke and the girls! Hopefully they can make it next time!

We spent a lot of time out by the pool, jumping on the trampoline, bbq-ing and playing with the turtles.

Ashley just got her new iPhone, so she was a bit occupied... Carter loved building towers with the blocks! And he loved the little car. He even ate his lunch in there! You can see him eating his taco! Caden loved jumping and swimming! He was a fish!

On Tuesday morning we went to the park. It was lots of fun. We were the only ones there, probably because it was 104 outside... silly us! We thought we left early enough to enjoy it before it got to hot. Edie and I were ready to leave after 5 minutes. But the boys were having fun, so we hung out for about 1/2 hour. The loved all the fun toys!

Thanks for driving out of your way to see us Edie! We loved having you and the boys! I can't believe how big they are already! Carter goes to Kindergarten next year... crazy! We love you guys!

yummy...

2011-06-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to eat a little healthier at the Barnes house the last few weeks. We had a great speaker come to a Relief Society activity a month or 2 ago and he talked about how important the enzymes are that you get from fresh fruits and vegetables. They help with the digestion process of your food. I have always known that fruits and veggies are good for you, but the way he explained it, it all made sense! So, we have been eating our enzymes found in raw foods. More raw veggies, fruits, nuts and etc. And no pop! I haven't had a pop since I was in Seattle several weeks ago. He said if you drink pop with a meal, it takes 12 more hours for you stomach to digest the food you ate with it! yuck...

We made a nice healthy dinner today...
fresh veggies from a friends garden, whole wheat noodles and fresh fruit! (and some bbq'd steak!)

We threw a little fresh basil in with the veggies! yum!

Temp Work

2011-06-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

While I was in Seattle a few weeks ago I ran into an old friend of my family (I think she was my Merry Miss teacher)... we got to talking and she comes to Vegas a few times a year to set up a showroom at the World Market Center downtown. She asked if I would ever want to come help her and make some extra money... with a wedding coming up, I jumped on it. So, I have been working the last 2 weeks down there. I have a new appreciation for working moms. How do you do it?? The first day I came home SO tired! My feet hurt, my back hurt and my head hurt. I was a wimp. And I did not want to make dinner, help with homework, go to church meetings or anything else that was on my list. It has gotten better... not so tired. It's been fun to learn the ins and outs of those buildings and what goes on down there. There is a big show in August and we are taking old product out of the showroom and bringing in the new stuff. Everything has to be crossed of lists, numbered, bubble wrapped and boxed up. I think we boxed about 50 boxes of product that they will ship back to headquarters. I guess they used to have sample sales and then they got bought by another company and that company makes them ship it back. It's so stupid.

Anyway... this is the company...

They have home decor and lots of Christmas lines. We took down about 6 trees FULL of ornaments and boxed them up!I wish I could have bought some of it! So cute! Click here and you can see their website... I have met some nice ladies that I work with and it's fun, low stress work. I guess it gets stressful the week before the show...

I can work as much or as little as I want... I will see how summer goes and how much I need to be home with the boys. Tanner gets pretty bored, I need to find him some projects. I came home today and the photo booth on the computer was open and I got to see what Tanner did while I was away today... take a look at his boredom! (I may need to go in early so I can get home before noon when he should be waking up... so he doesn't injure himself with staples!)

He even made a little video...

Silly boy!

Sunday Evening...

2011-06-05T22:33:00.001-07:00

Sunday evening at the Barnes house...

Mitchell doing a school project that he has known about all weekend... (i am actually ready for school to get out!)

Scotty and Ashley snuggled on the couch...

John checking his Yumz Facebook account...

Tanner getting a glass of milk... looking at me crazy!

An almost empty container of cookies that Ashley made 2 hours before... yes it was almost full at one point. (in our defense we did take a few to our neighbor in the hospital...)

Now everyone is off to bed... goodnight!

Slumber Party!

2011-06-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

My little Jack and Afton came and spent the night last night so their mom and dad could have a romantic birthday celebration for Jenn! John and I ran to the store real quick and Ashley and Scotty were in charge of them... Jack decided while I was gone that he liked Ashley better than me... he wouldn't come to me when we got home... but Afton cried for me the whole time we were gone! Aunt Allison! Surprisingly though, Jack loved me at 2:15 this morning... I should have let him sleep with Ashley! Good birth control right??

Anyway, we had a fun night and they went home this morning... I think being a Grandma will be fun some day... but not too soon Ashley!

Breakfast!

Don't worry, I didn't let him eat the ring pop that is in his hand... the wrapper entertained him while he ate yummy rice cereal!

I wish all my nieces and nephews lived closer for slumber parties!

Memorial Day

2011-05-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

I love weekends that aren't full of things and we get to spend some good family time together. We played out back on Saturday morning and then went to the mall together, followed by the new Pirates movie. It was great! Sunday evening we played lots of games and had peanut butter popcorn. yum!

Monday we had Scott and Jenn and the kids over for a BBQ. Scotty came and Mitchell's friend Michelle came too. It was a beautiful day for a BBQ, not too hot. A little chilly for swimming, but we turned on the hot tub to help with the cold pool. We've had such a mild spring that the pool hasn't warmed up yet. I am sure it will in time...

I made some delicious ribs! They cooked all day in the crock pot and then we put them on the BBQ for a few minutes... yum! jack got a hold of a bone and chewed it for a long time. I twas so funny. Jenn absolutely hates pork, so she was totally disgusted. I was surprised she didn't take it away. She kept telling him it was a pig... haha. jack and Afton have been sick for a few weeks, so it was good to see them happy again! We wish we had more family nearby! We miss you all!

State Champs!

2011-05-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

We won! We won! We won! I kept saying that last Wednesday after we won the state volleyball championship! The boys played great and pulled off a hard win. We played Coronado High School from Henderson. Everyone who stayed to watch Coronado play the night before said they didn't think we would win. They looked really good. I think it was good going in as the underdog. It made our boys work hard. We lost the first game by a few points. Then came back to win the next 2. Both were really close! In the 4th game it went back and forth and then we finally went up and it was 24 to 19. We realized we would win... then the unthinkable happened and we lost the next 4 points! It was 24 to 23 and we finally won! Here is a link to the newspaper article about the match.

Price getting our crowd fired up! We had the best fans! At Tuesday nights game Silverado had like 10 kids there. Our school rented a fan bus and we had about 60 kids there. I am sure that helped us win! (The Championships were way across town)

Our fans stormed the court after the win!

Final Score...

Churo, Brock, Kohl and Brandon came to almost every match all season in these silly Morf suits and the big BHS flag. It was great!

# 1 !!!!!!

Woot Woot!

Mitchell getting his medal...

They were awarded the state plaque. all the boys are taller than Coach Cap! He is an amazing coach and the boys really respect and love him.

I looked over as all the kids are on the floor and Churo was still waving the BHS banner! He has the best school spirit!

What a fun season! We ended the league season 23 - 0!

Here are a couple videos I took on my cell phone. One right after the kids stormed the floor and when they got their awards...

Volleyball update...

2011-05-16T17:23:00.001-07:00

This is the last week of volleyball season. It's been a great year for the Bengals! I am so sad it's almost over.

Our JV team ended the season undefeated in league play. (14-0) We never lost a match or a game with in a match! The boys had a great season! The last match of the season Mitchell got to start varsity. We were pretty excited. It was a fun surprise. He played great. He and Ben (the other jv/varsity player) played the whole first game and half of the 3rd game. We won all 3 easy.

great set!

Check out how high Parker got on this hit!

This is our front row for next year... the juniors.

May 7th was the JV tournament at the end of the season. We played great on Friday night. Won all 3 matches, 2 of them were close! We made it to the gold bracket for Saturday.

Saturday didn't go as well. We lost the 1st match, it was close. Then we won the second and lost the 3rd to Centennial. It was so close! I think it was a disadvantage to our boys that our league was not very challenging this year. We had never lost a game or been behind by more than one or two points, so when we played the tough teams in the other leagues, we didn't know how to fight back. They boys got frustrated with each other and the coach when we got behind. It was a bummer. They had the talent, they just didn't know how to work together under pressure. The last ref was terrible and that made the loss even harder. It was sad. But they had a great season and should be very proud of themselves!

Varsity is in the state finals this week! We had some close matches last week! The match against Palo Verde to determine who would play in the regional championship match was way too close. We won the first game and then lost the next 2 and then came back to win the last 2. I think I almost had a heart attack. Then we played the regional championship game against Shadow Ridge on Friday night and we won the first 2, lost 2 and won the 5th. So, crazy! But we won and we are the Sunset Regional champs. The State semi final match is tomorrow night against Silverado. Wish us luck!

Deception Pass

2011-05-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

I was able to spend Sunday (May 1st) with my sister Julie and my brother David. I grew up in a family that loves to spend a beautiful day, out in nature. And as you know, it rains a lot in Seattle, so when we happened to have a beautiful day, especially after a lot of rainy days, we would drop everything and head out to see the sun. That's how my parents raised us. I remember my dad coming in and waking us up early in the morning on a Saturday morning telling us that we were headed to the mountains or the beach because it was going to be a sunny day. I know this is hard for my Vegas friends to understand... but it is true. You take advantage of blue sky days in the Pacific Northwest. And if that sunny day happens to land on a Sunday, you just might have to spend the car ride listening to church history tapes and enjoy Gods creation in a reverent manner. That is what we did last week. I was in town, it was sunny and nature was calling us!

We went to one of our favorite places, Deception Pass. It's about 2 hours north of Seattle.

My sister Julie and hubby Gary and their 2 boys, Vincent and Andrew came and my brother Dave and Natalie came. (Rebecca and Tiffany were in Utah for the weekend, bummer) And then my cousin Craig decided to join us. He brought his 3 boys. It was great to see everyone!

Dave and Vincent hitting rocks into the water...

I think this stick is a little big Dave...

Vincent gathering more sticks... (the rocks would break them)

It's so pretty there!!!! This is our secret beach. The other parks around the bridge are really crowded.

Julie making lunch...

Yummy lunch!

Julie is the official photographer. Most of these pictures are hers.

We went on a little hike up to this beautiful view point...

Natalie taking it all in..

Craig and Dave catching up...

Relaxing and enjoying the view...

check out the moss growing on the tree!

Dave and Natalie watching the fisherman below...

We have a game where we sit on the beach and try to throw rocks into a bucket... the bucket kept getting closer and closer to the water and eventually rolled in... Julie went to get it and the boys kept tossing rocks at her... little buggers!

We drove over to the bridge and walked across it. It's so cool. The currents below are what they named the pass after. The currents go every direction and cause little whirlpools and it's almost impossible to swim across. Small boats have a hard time crossing because the currents are so strong and deceiving... hence the name "Deception Pass".

Julie's good looking family...

walking under the bridge...

The three middle Westra's. (I am the actual middle child of 9 kids, Julie is the one older than me and Dave is right below me.)

My cousin Craig and 3 of his 4 kids. Kyle, Christopher and Connor.

Dave, Andrew and Julie

See all the currents? You can see the cascade mountains in the background if you look close... to pretty!!!!! It's days like this that I wonder why I am living in the desert??? Actually, I'm not sure I could live there after living here this long. I have learned to love the sun and I think the clouds everyday would make me crazy. But, I do want to visit this beautiful place more often!

I can't wait to take my family back to Seattle. It's been a really long time since we have all been there.

I loved spending the day with family!

BYU-H Reunion

2011-05-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 1985 I went to BYU-Hawaii with my good friend Suzanne. Suzanne and I grew up together, our families went camping together, we were in the same ward until we were 12, we went to high school together and eventually became roommates at college. We had a blast at BYU-Hawaii. I still remember the night we decided to go there. We were both accepted to BYU Provo and it didn't feel right. Suzanne came over late one night, I snuck out my window (sorry mom and dad... It didn't happen very often) and we went to Denny's and talked. We felt like we wanted more of an adventure and decided on Hawaii. I remember going to school the next day and no one believed us that we were really going to go to Hawaii. But we did! We made some great friends there. One of them was a girl named Alison who was from Vancouver BC. We hit it off immediately. We called her Allie and me Allison. We stayed close friends for years and roommates in Provo. And sadly after we all got married we didn't keep in touch as much.

Suzanne and I hadn't heard from Allie in a few years so we found her a few months ago and found out that life had thrown her some hard curve balls and she needed some cheering up. We planned a girls weekend to go see her in Vancouver and then Suzanne found out that "Time out for Women" was going to be in Seattle last weekend, so we met there instead. We had a great weekend together and reminisced about old times in Hawaii and Provo.

The day we got there we did some shopping. We went to this really cute set of shops up in Everett.

When we got back to Suzanne's we found this...

Our good friend Mimi was going to join us and at the last minute she couldn't come, so she sent us this... it was delicious!

The three of us took this picture at Pike Place Market in Seattle in 1987 (i think)
We thought it would be fun to take another one.

The new one...

Lunch at a little greek restaurant...

Walking around Pike Place Market... so fun!

We spent Friday evening and all day Saturday downtown Seattle at the Benaroya Hall for "Time Out for Women." There were some great speakers this year. John Bytheway, Miriama Kallon, Michael McLean spoke Friday night. I loved them all.

This is all the Speakers on Saturday. They were good too. I can't remember all their names...

I saw this teriyaki place on Friday night and knew that was what I wanted for lunch on Saturday... I thought about it all morning. Not sure I got much out of the morning speakers because I was so excited for good Seattle teriyaki. It wasn't as good as Teriyaki Madness in Kirkland... but it was definitely better than what we have here in Vegas.

We sat at this park looking over the waterfront and ate our lunch. It was a beautiful day! It was hard to go back into the conference. I wanted to go wander the streets of Seattle and walk down to the water... Oh well, next trip!

People laugh when I tell them that my high school mascot was a totem pole (the Sammamish Totems.) But they are part of the history in Seattle. So cool.

After the conference we went over to Bellevue (my actual home town) and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with our good friend and my cousin in law Mauri. (she married my first cousin and she was a good friend through high school and college... I love that we stay in touch so good because we are related now!)

We ordered all appetizers and shared them... yum!

(It looks like the people outside are sitting with us)

There were 6 of us that roomed together in Provo and they called us "The Brunettes."

We obviously liked the cheesecake!

I am so glad I was able to go up there and visit my old friends! Hopefully it won't be another 20 years to get together again.

Easter

2011-04-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Easter Sunday. Church was great. I enjoyed the talks and lessons. The music was beautiful. It was good to remember the true meaning of Easter and hear messages about the Savior and his resurrection and the atonement.

We came home from church and got the Easter baskets ready. This is the first year that the kids didn't decorate eggs and they didn't want a traditional egg hunt. It was a little strange. I miss my little kids! John and I decided to fill baskets for the kids and hide them.

Ashley was the first to find hers. And Scotty was last. Ashley had to help him a bit...

We had our good friends the Lords over for dinner. Dinner was yummy and I tried a new dessert and it turned out great! After dinner we watched the video "Finding Faith in Christ." It's a good one. Then we played catch phrase. It was really fun! Lots of laughing!

F.F.F.F.

2011-04-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Forced. Family. Fun. Friday....

Tanner and I got home from Utah on Thursday night. As you can see, I never posted again from there... i was way too tired! 5 kids wore me out! They were very cute, but busy. Little Justin was cutting some teeth, so he was up a lot during the nights!!!! My body isn't used to that. I love those little kids and I am glad I was able to help out.

John took Friday off and Ashley called that morning to tell us she was getting off at noon. So we decided to take advantage of having the kids altogether. We went to lunch at Graziano's pizza buffet. It was yummy! Then we drug the kids to play mini golf. The kids wanted to go to the mall, but we won the argument and went golfing instead. I think they actually had a good time!

John and I both got a hole in one! So our names got put on the wall!!

I love my little family! I am so glad we got to spend the day together!

Nanny Auntie

2011-04-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

My brother Todd and his wife Sharolyn live up in Midway Utah. They have 5 very cute kids. Tanner and I are up at their house watching the kids while they are in the Philippines. Todd is the entrepreneur of the family and he is there working on a new business. We got here Saturday and we head home Thursday.

The kids have been very good! I really can't complain. They get along, say please and thank you and help out with little Justin. The first night was a little hard. Justin was up every few hours. He has a bad cough and he kept waking up coughing. Last night he slept all night. So, I am hoping for that again tonight!

The older 3 kids are at school all day, so Tanner has been a little bored during the day. Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow so we can go do something fun. Todd's tv's are a bit high tech, so it took us 2 days to figure out how to watch one of his movies. (no cable) Next time he needs to leave detailed instructions on the remote!

It stopped raining tonight long enough for the kids to play outside for a bit. They have a really fun yard that connects with all the neighbors yards. One has a great putting green...

Tanner and Dallin....

All the boys....

These neighbors have an igloo and they have turned it upside down and the kids have had more fun playing in it!

Tanner and Justin...

Justin was pretty happy when I pulled out the camera! He had lots of cheesy smiles for me!

Charity and Emily playing with friends on the trampoline...

Todd has a chicken coop. You should have seen us trying to get the 3 chickens back in after they escaped. I hope no one was watching! I was exhausted when we were done!

We played "Spin UNO" for FHE and Tanner made his favorite scotcheroos for dessert.

If you don't hear from me the next few days then you know I am exhausted!

Volleyball Fans!

2011-04-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa are in town so everyone came to Mitchell's match today. It was a great one. We two games in a row. I just googled game vs match. A match is made up of 2 out of 3 games (3 out of 5 for varsity)... I know I always say it wrong! So, we haven't lost a match or a game! They are doing so good!

Mitchell had 6 serves in a row the first game and 13 in a row in the second game!!! Afton gave him loves after the match! She is checking out his beard! He claims he isn't shaving until they loose a match... not sure how I feel about that!

Grandma, Uncle Scott, Tanner, Aunt Jenn, Jack and Afton

Grandma & Grandpa

Tanner is so happy to be there!

Mitchell and Alex up for a block!

Set...

Watch the score... he started at 11 points and went all the way to 24!

Way to go Bonanza!

Country Concert???

2011-04-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, those of you who know me well, would say, "Allison went to a country concert??????" I was thinking the same thing when my friend Linda called with a ticket to a Girls Night Out Country Concert... I wanted to tell her that "I don't do country"... but the idea of a girls night out overpowered my dislike for country. It was SO FUN. I am so glad I went... I can't say I am converted to country... but it wasn't as bad as I imagined. I didn't know half of the people who sang... but I enjoyed getting to know them and would possibly listen to a few of them again. Barb and I would hear Teresa, Linda and Kathy get all excited about a performer and we would look at each other and say "have you ever heard of them?" and the answer was nope.

All the country people were in town for the CMA's on Sunday night... so there was a concert Monday night called "Academy of Country Music, Girls Night Out." It was a tribute concert to some of the country women. Some of the stars were, The Judds (Wynona did not look happy to be there...), Martina McBride, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Reba, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill and lots more. Carrie Underwood was amazing! She was worth going for! She sang "How Great Thou Art". WOW. I can't wait to watch that part again when it is on TV on the 22nd.

One funny thing... Janae and Holly went out to get some snack and they came back with popcorn, m&m's and 10 waters! The guy in front of us went out and came back with a big bucket full of beers! We Mormon's know how to party! 10 waters! I was laughing!

Jamie, Holly, Janae and Holly

Kathy, Linda, Teresa, Sonya and Barb.

You'll have to watch for it on the 22nd. Not sure what channel it will be on...

March Madness Final Two Days!

2011-03-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

My final 2 days of March went like this:

I watched these two little cuties yesterday....

They are getting so big!

The little turtle woke up! I was worried he was dead. The big one is picking on him... I need to figure out how to separate them for a while.

I walked over to the barbeque to cook dinner and saw these beautiful weeds! Looks like we have a big project this weekend!

He was hungry after a long winters nap!

Today I spent the day getting for our Relief Society Birthday dinner tonight. We decided it would be fun to learn a little bit about the history of the Canyon Gate Ward Relief Society. So, I made a video with interviews of all the past RS presidents in our ward. About half of them were still in town, and half have moved away. So I got the ones who had moved to send me an email with their answers to a few questions and I read them into the video. I interviewed the ones that are still here. It was fun to learn about things that have gone on in the ward and see what amazing ladies we have in our ward. Dinner was great and the ladies seemed to enjoy themselves!

I was surprised that I felt prepared enough for the evening that I was able to make it to Mitchell's volleyball game at 4:00. They played great! We beat Gorman which is always a big deal. Their volleyball program is going downhill. I guess they don't recruit that sport. (Gorman is the Private Catholic school full of rich kids... so it's a big deal when the ghetto teams beat them! haha)

Mitchell had a some great serves today!

Nice set!

Final score!

Well, thanks for reading along on my March Madness blogging trip! It's been fun! It was hard to remember each night! I might take a few days off! Happy April!

MM 29

2011-03-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

I've almost made it a month! yahoo! I woke up and went for a run this morning! 3 miles. It was hard! I went to lunch at Tiffany's and got to see her new house. I love it! It was fun to visit with friends! Tanner came home and spilled pop all over my kitchen floor... oops. I needed to mop anyway! I made good progress on my relief society video. I went to Mitchell's volleyball game. We beat Western! Good job boys! took the kids to dinner. I didn't feel like cooking. I really need to plan ahead on game nights!

After dinner the boys went to mutual and Ashley went to help Scotty on a school project... So I found myself at Costco. I had to buy plates for my activity Thursday. As I wondered around the book table I stood there thumbing through the cook books and made the conclusion that i LOVE food! I really do! Ya know how when you watch The Biggest Looser or Oprah and they dig deep to figure out why you eat... well, I can never figure that one out for myself... why do I eat?? I wasn't abused as a child, I wasn't neglected, I love my parents, love my siblings, love my husband & kids... what is it? I think I just like food! But why do I like to eat all the time?? I don't know?? I am on a quest to figure that out. I have great eating days and bad days. Today was a bad day. I could blame it on Tiffany having my favorite chocolates at her house... but I could have walked away from them... no, I had 4! Once I blow it, I blow it good. Why?? I don't know. I guess I should go to bed reading my diet book. I haven't finished it yet... maybe that would help! I will go read that instead of Jane Eyre. Good night!

MM28

2011-03-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Oops I forgot to blog last night. Not much to say... I am working on a video for our Relief Society dinner on Thursday night. I hope I can get it done!

I am reading Jane Eyre... I am just getting started. I saw that the movie is coming out soon, so I thought I should read it before I see it. So far so good!

March Madness 27

2011-03-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays.... And I secretly like the late church schedule. I love to sleep in! Church was good. Nice testimonies and good lessons. I miss my hubby. It's going to be a long week!