Merry Christmas!...Love the Barb Family!!

Our New House

So our newest news is that we bought a house! We moved in officially August 21st and are still slowly getting settled in. Here's a pic of our new home...Now that we are moved in I'll have to take updated pictures of the inside and post them. We are adjusting and enjoying....:) Come visit!!

Trip Out West

I have been soooooo bad about blogging lately!... I haven't posted in nearly two months...and so much has happened since then. It's hard to do a nutshell version, but I'll try:) At the end of July we went on a vacation out west for two family reunions. We drove to southern Utah near Zion's canyon for the first reunion (my dad's side), then up near yellowstone park in Idaho for the second reunion (my mom's side). It was an amazing trip!...We did soooo much in those two weeks and had such a fabulous time! I love all my family so much and am so grateful for this time we had with them reconnecting and having amazing adventures and tons of fun!! Here are just a few pictures of the hundreds that I took!!


We did LOTS of swimming in lots of different pools at the various hotels and resorts!!
Mallory and Preston cuddling up in the hotel bed in SLC. We stayed in seven different places over the course of the two weeks:)

An intense family game of fuseball

Par of the "Lowe" family...missing Tami, Kathy, and Brian and families (wish they could have timed the birth of their babies better:) haha!!

Most of my dad's side of the family

Our little fam...you can tell the kids love picture time:)

My lil sis Brenda and I!! Loved spending lots of time with her

Picture of us on the cabin balcony with the beautiful view in the background

Our whole family

My little fish...they LOVE swimming!

Finally in Utah (after 30 hours of driving or so)...

Swimming in a hotel in Madison, WI on the way home

We visited Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota on the way home

Family picture at the Johnson Reunion

Whole group (I picked the wrong picture here...not sure what I'm doing in this one:)

Relaxing in the hammock (babies don't seem to be loving it)

Four generation picture. We are all the oldest daughters and all have the middle name of Renee

Tanner indoor rock climbing

Just before we went whitewater rafting

Visiting my brother Brian and his wife Kelsey. Since this picture was taken, Kelsey had her baby...my new niece, baby Kensi:)

Happy 6th Birthday Tanner and Logan!!

Last Day of School Party

The boys graduated from Kindergarten. Here they are with their class at the last day of school party...

Wacky Hair Day!

Acting "wacky" in honor of wacky hair day at school:)...

Brighton Fishing Derby!

Here's us at the fishing derby in downtown Brighton at the Millpond...we always love this fun event!

Old Navy display

Do you recognize the kids in this Old Navy display:)??

Mallory's "Haircut"

So, when I was out grocery shopping a couple weeks ago, Scott called me to tell me that Tanner had given Mallory a "haircut". Apparently Tanner was playing beauty shop with Mallory and combing her hair and it got stuck (he was wrapping hair around the comb trying to curl it). When he couldn't get the comb out, he went and got scissors and cut the comb out. Yikes!! The pictures are turned, but you can clearly see the mullet haircut Tanner gave Mallory on her left side (the first picture is of her right side for comparison). I guess we're going to have to get really creative with her hairstyle until it grows out!!

Memorial Day Parade

Memorial Day.....terrible picture, but the only one I have:) Kids are sweating and tired of waiting for the parade to start. I told them it would be worth it......then the parade was only like 5 minutes long......awesome.

Bounce in Hartland!

We went to a great place for kids in Hartland called Bounce! It is filled with trampolines, climbing things, ball pits, etc. It was our twins club's annual spring party...and we had a great time!!

Young Womens!!

Ok, so it's been FOREVER since I last blogged about anything. Not sure why...I just have kind of forgotten about it. So tonight I'm going to play catch up and post some things from the past couple months.

I was called to be the Young Women's Presidency a few months ago. Here is the presidency...me with Angie and Sally (we are missing our secretary Robi)

The whole Young Women's group (or at least those who were there that night:)

Me with some of my Beehives:)

I LOVE Young Womens!!!

Eye Issues

I'm posting this so that all of you can give me some attention and sympathy:)

And I could use some prayers...

On Thursday I went to bed at like 7:00 that night and then didn't get up til 7:00 the next morning...so I slept for 12 hours straight with my contacts in (accidentally). In the morning I took out my contacts and then all day Friday my right eye was red, irritated, swollen, very sensitive to light, and in EXTREME pain, and seemed to be getting worse. I've had to be in the dark with sunglasses on and can't open my right eye at all. So yesterday I debated about whether to go to urgent care or an optometrist or opthamologist. I knew it was something way worse than pink eye. So I had Scott take me to an optometrist. Anyways, apparently what happened is when I slept with my contacts so long, they stuck to my cornea and when I took it out, it ripped part of my cornea off. The doctor said he saw corneal abrasions all over my eye. He gave me an antibiotic that is 10 times as strong as the normal pink eye antibiotic. However, he said I really won't have complete relief for about a week because it takes time for the cornea cells to regenrate. I will go see him on Monday and again at the end of next week where he will be able to tell if I have any permanent damage and scar tissue. Scott gave me a blesssing tonight and I just hope and pray there is no permanent damage and that I will be able to have my normal vision back (and hopefully be able to wear my contacts again). Only time will tell. In the mean time, I can't open my eye or be in any light so I can't really drive or go anywhere which is really frustrating. I'll keep you posted but could use your prayers.

Thanks!

Julie

Easter Weekend...

I have been soooo bad about blogging lately...so for the two followers I still have left...here are a few pictures from this last Easter weekend:) Sorry a few of them are turned (once again...lazy:)

Here are the kids the Sunday before Easter...My mom sent Mallory her new Easter dress which she loves. Someone at church commented on her dress and Mallory said, "my Grammy sent it to me" all proud-like:)

Easter baskets...

We made resurrection cookies the night before Easter. They worked (kind of)...

fun and easy Easter treat

the kids after the Primary Easter egg hunt/activity

Mallory showing me the eggs she gathered...

getting ready to jump in the sack race

coloring...

Mallory likes her new sunglasses she won at one of the games...

listening to a story...

cookie walk...

pin the tail on the bunny...

dyed Easter eggs...finished product...

The highlights of our Easter weekend, we couldn't really photograph...we did some spiritual lessons, preparations, and discussions about the resurrection of Jesus. We watched four General Conference Sessions Saturday and Sunday (so thankful for byu tv to now watch them at home...I liked it better than watching them on the computer)...and a delicious Easter dinner that Scott called "Stellar" which made me feel good:) It was a great weekend to be able to spend together as a family.