Adam and Eve

A poem written by Joshua:

Adam and Eve

When the earth was made God took a rest,
When he took a rest he saw earth was best.
He made a human named Adam,
When Adam got lonely God sent a Madum,
Her name was Eve.

Eve and Adam ate the fruit and got kicked out,
Now they have to wander about.
I think that's all their story.

WOOOOO!!! HOOOOOOO!!!
The front yard is finally done!!!

Garden gnomes

Grandpa Barlow dressed Caitlin up like a garden gnome and had her pose with the giant pumpkins. So cute, and so typical Grandpa! All the kids are excited that Grandpa got two really nice giant pumpkins this year.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ever thrifty decorating projects

I am still trying to decide if I am proud of myself for my thrifty obsessions, or if I should just admit that it really can be tacky. Anyhow, here is the latest "I don't want to spend money but still want nice things" project I cooked up. We needed an area rug to soften and warm up the living room. If you have ever priced Area rugs you know that it is not a small purchase. I couldn't swallow the cost. So instead of forking out the dough, I took the kids on a carpet store scavenger hunt. We rummaged through remnants and old samples and ended up buying these pieces for .50 cents each. The kids had a great time arranging them and when we had our pattern just so, we duck taped them all together from the back. And there you have it. I high quality unique area rug for under $20.00!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Harmony

Fish and Chips

Michael has always told me stories of his dads fish and chips dinner. David spent time in the UK in his youth and loved the culture there. He brought some of it home with him and started cooking fish and chips for the family. Today David made his famous dinner for us, newspaper wrapping and all.


Michael and I love to Drench ours in malt vinegar. I had never had it until I married Michael, and now I am hooked as well.


David even insisted that in order to eat our dinner we had to bring two shillings and six pence. But when he realized how poor we all are he took pity on us street rats. So good, and so fun!

It's a boy!

It's a boy, everyone! We are thrilled. He looks healthy and is very active and wiggly. Hooray!

Try new things

I know kids aren't supposed to love veggies, but at our house the kids sometimes surprise me. I had a container of sprouts on the table with our dinner, and the kids were adventurous and wanted to give them a try. They all loved them. What a pleasant surprise!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

First day of school

Here it is finally, the first day of school! Andrew was so excited to be a big boy and go to all day school for first grade. Joshua was an awesome older brother and had no worries at all about the first day.
Caitlin and I enjoyed our day to ourselves and got so. Much done! Yeah for school!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bruces!

Heather and her sons Zachary and Nathaniel came for a week long visit this month.  What fun to be able to just relax around the house and really get to know cousins.  I had a great time spending time with my sis and having everyone close by.  We don't get that chance very often with the Bruces.

We made hover crafts

Groggy after a late night of fun

playing at the Mayfield park

extreme pets

If you know anything about our family, then you know how much we love our pets.  We have a loyal dog that is part of the family, as well as a cat.  Mike has two tarantulas that stay in his classroom, and the boys have a pair of leopard geckos that live on their dresser.  Plus we have a 35 gallon tank full of fish if you want to count those as well!

Over the summer one of our tarantulas died. Sad, but a fact of life.  So now we have this nice enclosure with nothing living in it....time for a new classroom pet!  We decided to get something a little less repulsive this time and agreed on a pair of red-eyed tree frogs.  You won't see them in the picture because we haven't actually got them yet.  We have been having a lot of fun setting up the terrarium -  homemade background, live terrarium plants, and a water fall with pond.  I think the new frogs will feel right at home.

So now we have mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and an arachnid.  If we get a parakeet then we will have one of everything!

A Mayfield 24th

Mayfield may be a sleepy little town, but not on the 24th of July!  Our old home town has a parade, a carnival, a duck race and lots of other fun things on the 24th.  The kids all rode in the Lion's club train driven by our friend Robert.  We gathered candy and went to the carnival.  The kids won tons of prizes and enjoyed the icees.  What a fun day in Mayfield!

Caitlin's 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Caitlin!  We had a wonderful little party with cake, ice cream balloons, crowns, confetti, presents, family, and a lot of fun.  Of course Becky's present won the day.  She always gives the best gifts.  The baby alive doll won Caitlin's heart.  She wouldn't let it go even for cake and ice cream!

Josh the wrapping helper

Daddy the hair stylist.

Purse and baby in hand, Caitlin made short work of her candle.

It's not a Barlow party without a good dinner!

Victoria

My dear friend Victoria and her family stopped in at Dads on the 4th for a quick visit.  They live in Ohio, so it is rare for us to get a chance to see each other.  It was wonderful to see them!

July 4th

Due to the firework restrictions all over the state, we were not able to run the firework stand this year.  We missed out on a little revenue, but really it was nice to not have to deal with it.  Plus we were able to go to Provo for the 4th.  Dad always throws a big all-day shebang for the fourth.  friends, family, total strangers, all show up for the parade and a big BBQ afterwards.  This year all 17 grand kids of Dad and Jan's were there so we had to get pictures.

Caitlin the tree hugger.

Dad and Jan with all the grand kids.

all the parents trying to get all the grand kids to cooperate...

Jan supervising the BBQ

Family enjoying good food!

Grandpa was in his element with all his guests.

My brother Jon in all his glory.  I especially love the straw hat.

All of Dad and Jan's kids and spouses except Dennis, James, and Joe.  Plus a few little ones.

Patio

We have grand plans for our yard.  Unfortunately, that means lots of hard work and a lot of hard-earned money.  We finally got our start this last week when we installed our small paver patio in the front along with a two foot swath down the side of the driveway.    I have always loved working alongside Michael. We make a good team.  It was also neat to see his expertise with landscape install.  He really is a professional.

\

First we put down about six inches of road base and compacted it, then a scrutinizing leveling, then the edging, and a perfect 1 1/4 inch layer of sand.  Next is the pavers, then the fill sand, and finally the sealer.  I haven't taken a picture with the sealant, and it is so pretty and dark.  Anyway, it turned out beautiful.  Now we just need  plants and grass, and it will start looking like a yard!  Yeah!

My honey.  I love how hard he works and how much pride he takes in his work.  A good guy.

Andrew's Dino

We were driving through Sandy the other day when Andrew spotted this Dinosaur at a Sinclair gas station.  He wanted to stop and see it SOOOOO badly.  So we stopped and let him have a few minutes with the dino.  You would have thought we had taken him to Disney Land!  

Sometimes you just have to chop it...

Pregnancy is a funny thing.  I have been struggling with headaches daily for the last couple weeks.  Tylenol just wasn't cutting it, so I made a snap decision and had my hair whacked off.  Just getting rid of the extra weight already feels better.  We will see if it helps in the long run.

 I know the lock of hair looks green, but it is just wet and under flourescent lighting.  That is the pony tail they chopped off and are donating to "locks for love" which makes wigs for cancer patients.  Cool to know it is going for a good cause.

p.s. I published this post today, but it is out of order.  the next few posts will show me with long hair....don't worry, I was just too excited to wait and show everyone.

Day Trip -- Central Utah Style

Grandma and Grandpa Barlow took us on a day trip to Cove Fort and the Fremont Indian State Park.  Sometimes it is easy to forget what neat things are really close to you! We had a really great time.  None of us had been to either place, and we were so surprised at how cool they were.

Here is Joshua and Andrew at the fort.  I thought the kitchen was really cool.  Joshua liked the presidents room.  Andrew liked that we could stand at the tops of the walls!

I was very impressed with Adelaide Hinkley.  Here was a woman who had eleven children, grew a garden to support an army, fed at least twenty people three meals a day, and kept house for her large family and anyone else who was staying at the fort.  What a woman!  Some days I feel like it's too much to feed a family of five and clean my own place.  What if there was no air conditioning?  What if morning sickness was no excuse for shirking your chores?  Needless to say I was very impressed by her faith and fortitude.

At the Fremont Indian state park we saw all kinds of pictographs and petroglyphs and pictoglyphs.  (yes those are all real terms)  The museum was fascinating as well.  I found myself longing to go back to school and earn my archaeology masters.  Alas, I will have to be a living room anthropologist for at least a few more years.  Right now the living are more important.