Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish all of our friends and family Merry Christmas! We love you all! This video is what Christmas is all about. I know that the most wonderful gift we all have been given is the birth of Jesus Christ on that first Christmas. I am eternally grateful for my Savior and Redeemer. For his birth, his life, and his atoning sacrifice. I know he lives still and he loves me. This knowledge gives me happiness is this life and hope for a joyful reunion with my loved ones who have gone ahead.

Christmas Card

I found the story about this little girl and it tugged at my heart. I can't even begin to grasp how much this sweet little girl and her family have been through. Parker and I are going to make a Christmas card for her today and send it off. I though I would pass the information along to all of you too.

A 4 -Year-Olds Christmas Wish

Hannah is 4 yrs old and was diagnosed in late October 2008 with a rare and aggressive cancerous brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme. To date (November 20) she has had 2 surgeries to remove the tumors. She is in therapy to work on her walking, which has been effected by the tumor. She has frequent headaches from the pressure on the brain. She is on steroids to help with the inflammation, which is causing her to gain weight rapidly. The doctors have given Hannah 2-3 months to live without treatment and approximately 11 months with radiation. She needs a miracle! Hannah's father's name is Darin and she has two older siblings - Brittany and Jordan. She has 3 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great-grandparents and a large extended family and supportive church family. Her mother, Chris, passed away several years ago from cancer. Please pray for the family as they deal with cancer in the family once again.

When asked what she wants for Christmas she said she wants to see how
many Christmas cards she can get. Many people have passed this wish along
to their churches, prayer groups, friends and family. There are school
groups where children are making her cards. People are including pictures
so she can see who it is that is sending her the card.

If you would like to help with her wish, you can send a card to her at:

Hannah Garman
704 Orchard Rd
Lititz, PA 17543

THANKS! Feel free to pass this along to your own prayer group, church,
school, etc. Let's see if we can have the cards coming in big postal bags
for her this Christmas.


Let's help fulfill Hannah's Christmas Wish. You can follow her progress at the website below.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahgarman

Makenna's Awesome Hair

Some pretty great "post" ponytail and piggytail shots of Makenna's hair for your viewing enjoyment. (:

My funny Parker

So, Parker has been talking back to us lately. Not fun. Not sure how to stop it either. Sigh. Anyway, the other day we were eating dinner and Parker was being mouthie when Andrew asked him to eat his dinner (Parker would eat pickles and string cheese for every meal if we let him.) So, Parker got sent to his room until he could come out and say he was sorry to Andrew and eat. A few minutes later we heard him playing in the hall. Andrew called to him and asked him if he was ready to come out. Parker's reply, "I'm not sorry yet."(:

Happy Birthday Briana

Today my youngest sister, Briana, would have turned 24. In honor of her birthday we went to the Cracker Barrel, her favorite place to eat and ate her favorite food on the menu, grilled cheese. Then we went to the cemetery and put some flowers and her grave and some on my mom's too. Happy Birthday my sweet baby sister. I will always love her and miss her so.

Test

I'm trying to venture into the world of videos on my blog. Here is the test.

Sorry about the conversation with my grandma in background.(:

Parker almost got eaten by a leopard! (:

Ok, not really.(: Last week we took the kids to the zoo. It was kind of spur of the moment because the weather was nice and Parker had been asking to go for a while. So we packed the kids in the car and headed up. The kids loved it! It was great because so many of the animals were very active. It seems like most of the time at the zoo they are all just sleeping. The bears were playing with eachother and we even got to see some baby meerkats! We had a neat encounter with the leopard. While we were watching it, it got up and started pacing back and forth right next to the glass (where we were). Parker started following it as it walked and pretty soon it stopped and started hissing and growling at him! Then it actually jumped up and put its paws up on the glass like it was trying to get at Parker! It did that a couple more times before we figured we'd bothered it long enough and we moved on the to the other animals. Anyway, it was really cool to watch. Definitley one of the best zoo trips I can remember! Thank goodness for protective glass!(:

Fashion Statement

Parker decided that he was going to get himself ready to go outside and play today. This is the outfit he came up with.(:


He wanted me to take another picture after he got his socks on. You gotta love that he's wearing 6-12 month socks and he's 3!

48 more

Ok, here are 48 more...

53. I have a weird paranoia/fascination with sharks.
54. I've been on five cruises.(don't hate me)
55. I won the talent show on one of the cruises; complete with confetti falling from the ceiling and a trophy.(:
56. After many years of piano lessons, I still don't play.
57. I love Neil Diamond!
58. My favorite movie is "Corrina, Corrina". Watch it if you haven't.
59. I'm a terrible bowler. Terrible.
60. Andrew and I have moved a grand total of 18 times!
61. I packed every single thing everything single time.
62. Andrew and I had 2 hamsters:Wynton and Tinkerbell.
63. Wynton was a nasty little hamster and bit us everytime we held him.
64. I still cried like a baby when died.
65. I love apple slices dipped in peanut butter.
66. I've hit our garage with our car at least 3 times.
67. I've had one laparotomy and 2 c-sections.
68. I had an amniocentesis with Parker, and that's one LONG needle!
69. I'm a conservative republican. I didn't realize how much so until this election.
70. Driving in the snow is still a little scary for me.
71. My kids can eat their body weight in dairy products.
72. I've pretty much always had a dog.
73. I used to love to go horse-riding.
74. I wish I had a nicer camera, because I think my kids are too cute for the camera I have.(:
75. I love watching my kids grow up.
76. I think Parker is hilariously funny.
77. I have a weakness for buying Makenna dresses that she hardly ever wears.
78. That drives Andrew crazy.
79. Andrew takes good care of me and kids. I don't know what I'd ever do without him.
80. I LOVE walmart.
81. I also LOVE Old Navy.
82. I'm so proud of Andrew for finishing school this spring.
83. I'm so proud of Jamie for finish school this spring.
84. I almost never do Parker's hair.
85. I love guacamole.
86. My top teeth are straight and I've never had braces.
87. I over-analyze everything.
88. I think that most of my wedding pictures are pretty cheesy.
89. My favorite vacation was to the carribean.
90. I've swam with sting rays.
91. That was cool, but a little scary.
92. I've also swam with dolphins.
93. I'm pretty sure that Makenna can out-scream any kid out there.
94. I have lots of shoes, but only really wear a few pairs.
95. I look dorky in a hat.
96. I LOVE being a mom!
97. It's stinkin' hard too.
98. It sounds cliche, but I really don't remeber the last time I had a warm meal.
99. I have a celebrity cruch on Deron Williams (he plays for the Jazz).
100. I am so blessed.

100th Post

I think you're supposed to do 100 things about you for your 100th post, so here it goes...

1. I only dust like 3 times a year.
2. I don't like Oprah.
3. I only buy my kid's clothes on sale.
4. I look up to the women in my family and Andrew's family a lot.
5. I love making lists for things.
6. I wish Parker would eat more.
7. I always look forward to when Andrew comes home from work or school.
8. I love the comb-over, mullet hairdo Makenna is sporting right now.
9. I have 2 sisters that I love dearly.
10. My sister, Jamie, is my best friend.
11. I love having a backyard.
12. I love Washington state.
13. I've learned to love cooking.
14. I probably let my kids watch too much TV.
15. Jane Eyre is my all-time favorite book.
16. I love to read, but don't do it enough anymore.
17. I have ugly feet.
18. I have a hard time forgiving people and I don't like that about myself.
19. Watching my kids laugh and play together makes me more happy than I can explain.
20. I hope they will always be that close.
21. I love to sleep in, but I don't remember the last time a did.
22. It took us almost three years before we were able to get pregnant with Parker.
23. He is a miracle baby and we defied the huge odds against us to have him.
24. So is Makenna.
25. I know that they were both sent to us at the times we needed them most.
26. I love that my kids look just like their daddy.
27. I would love to adopt internationally one day.
28. I love to sing.
29. I love to talk about my kids because I adore them.
30. I have wonderful parents.
31. I look forward to 2pm when the kids both go down for a nap and I have some me time.
32. I am scared to death of getting cancer.
33. I think my husband is one of the most hardworking guys out there.
34. I also think he's one of the cutest.
35. I make funny faces when I brush my teeth.
36. I'm still a little afraid of the dark.
37. Costco strawberries the tastiest things around.
38. I don't like unloading the dishwasher.
39. I think Michael Jackson is the greatest entertainer of all time.
40. I also think he's scary.
41. I know the words to most of the songs on the radio...just ask Andrew
42. I love my kids long eyelashes.
43. I really don't think I could handle another baby.
44. I feel a little guilty about that.
45. I miss my mom about 100 times a day.
46. I miss my sister too.
47. I am so grateful to have had them in my life.
48. I belive they have both shaped and molded me into a better person.
49. I would do anything for my sister.
50. I have an unshakable testimony of my Savior and of the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
51. It is the guiding force in my life.
52. That's all I can think of and probably more then anyone wants to know about me anyway.(:

Birthday Present

For my mom's birthday Parker drew her a dinosaur picture. We tied it to a Happy Birthday balloon and sent it up to her in heaven. I'm sure my mom loved it.
Letting it go...

The balloon is just above and to the left of the sun in this picture. It's the little black dot.

Makenna sat with me and we watched the balloon float away.

Halloween

My little pumpkins had a fun Halloween. We got to see the grandparents and go to a Halloween party at the Alders (Andrew's aunt and uncle). Makenna was fine with trick-or-treating as long as she she was supplied with goldfish crackers to eat. Parker was a little shy about knocking on the doors at first, but he quickly got the hang of it and had a good time.

I think Makenna was making a funny face in this picture because she was tired of the Tigger tummy getting in the way.


My little bat, my little Tigger, and their grammy

Happy Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday. I love her and miss her as always. Happy Birthday Mom.

Just had to post this one

I know some of you are chuckling right now. Jamie?(: A little explanation: Andrew really likes to throw the kids up the air. He throws them HIGH! They love it, but it can be a little scary to watch. Andrew didn't realize how high until I took a picture of him throwing Parker when he was about 9 months old and all I got were his little legs at the top of the picture. So of course we had to do one like that of Makenna.

Dinosaur Museum

I finally talked Andrew into going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. I thought it would be a fun family outing and it's so much easier to have Andrew to help with the kids when we go out. As I mentioned another post, Parker loves dinosaurs. So, he was super exctied to go the the "nusuem" (as he calls it). He knows it's "museum", but he's decided that he won't call it that. He does this with other words too, like straw=strawb, utah=newtah, lunch=munch. Apparently the acutal words aren't to his liking, so he uses his "cooler" version of the words. My favorite Parker word is "munch".(: Anywho, Parker was a little nervous at first, but once he figured out that there weren't any live dinosaurs, he loved it. He knew the names of some of the dinosaurs and he just made up names for the ones he didn't. He had some pretty funny ones, like a bocapokasarus and stuff like that. Makenna wasn't too interested and I got some shots of her showing her unhappiness at being there. Both of the kids had a great time "digging" for dinosaurs at the end, though.

The elections

My aunt sent this to me and I don't care who you are voting for, this is pretty darn funny! (Thanks Amy!)

http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

A Cartoon Conspiracy?

So Parker's new favorite movie is The Land Before Time. He is big into dinosaurs right now and we watch that movie like 2 times a day. I would venture to guess that just about anyone around my age can still quote most of this movie. I know I can. "I smell...I smell...Ducky?" Ah, good stuff. Anyway, EVERY SINGLE time Littlefoot's mother dies, I bawl my eyes out. It's just not right to put a motherless women through a pity party bawl-fest twice a day. Not to mention my son probably thinks I'm a little crazy (if he didn't think that already). It probably doesn't help that my mom's birthday is Nov. 1st and she died Nov. 3rd. Double whammy coming up for me pretty soon. So, the point of this post. Do cartoons have it out for mothers? Think about it. Aladin=no mom. Bambi=mom dies. Cinderella=mom dies. Beauty and the Beast=no mom, etc... I could go on, but Makenna is crying for me in her crib. It's weird though, right?

Cornbellys

We finally got to do our family home evening on Wednesday of this week. We decided it would be fun to go to Cornbellys before it got too cold. It was fun, but way overpriced. $10.50 for a 3 year old? Oh well. Anyway, once we got Parker to try the big bouncy trampoline, he couldn't get enough of it. Of course getting him on it was an ordeal. He is so cautious! That was sort of the theme of the night. Parker being freaked out to do things and then wanting to do them again and again once we made him try them. Funny kid. Makenna was great, despite being a little cold toward the end of the night. I think next year will be a little more fun for her. But she was a trooper. We have been trying to have family night more constistently lately, and I am really enjoying it!

GO JAZZ!!!

I love the Jazz. So does Andrew. One of my favorite things to do is to watch a Jazz game. The Jazz played their first preseason game last night and they beat the Lakers! I know it's only preseaon, but it' still cool. Cool that they won and especially cool that they beat the Lakers. Take that Kobe!(: The Jazz are going all the way this year, I just know it! I can't wait!

Ingrish Translation!

We love this translation of a cheap alarm clock we got. It's worth reading all of it to find the funny parts. Click on it to enlarge and read.

Our Weekend in Moab

Last weekend Andrew and I went down to Moab with our friend, Tim, and his girlfriend. We left the kids with my dad and Kathy so we got to have some fun, kid-free time together. The first day we set up our campsite and then headed to Arches National Park and hiked to delicate arch. We got there just at sunset and it was gorgeous!

Andrew said the all the people sitting on the rocks looking at the arch looked like beached seals.










Here we all are after our whitewater rafting trip. That was so fun! I was a little nervous, but after the first rapid I couldn't wait for more! Can you get a better view that this! I look distgusting because I spent most of the night before throwing up. Note: If you're chubby and out of shape, don't hike delicate arch because heat exhaustion and dehydration will set in and you will end up with a bad case of the pukies.
















Breathtaking!










Our last day there Andrew's brother, his family, and Andrew's mom joined us and we hiked some more arches. Our nieces were totally fearless and climbed all over! It was great to spend some time together in such a beautiful place! I think that we are going to have to make our Arches trip a yearly tradition.

Bye, Bye Binkie

That's right, Parker is FINALLY done with the binkie. Yes, I know what you're thinking, he is three and that's way too long to have a binkie.(: I was just really afraid of what might happen when we took it away because Parker LOVED his bink. He really only had it for naps and bedtime, but still it was an essential part of "the routine" for him. We had the "binkie fairy" come and exchange his binkies for some candy and a train. We made a big deal out of what a big boy he was and how cool it was that the binkie fairy was coming. He was pretty excited to find his presents the next day and amazingly has only asked for his binkie once since then. I can't believe that it wasn't more of a fight. I guess he was ready. He is truly a big boy now. Preschool, no bink, and potty trained! Mommy is so proud!

McCain vs. Obama

I took this little quiz on the ABC website that uses quotes from the presidential candidates and you pick which one you agree with. I actually picked Obama on one statement he made about immigration. But the rest were...SURPRISE, McCain.(: Thought I'd put the link here in case anyone else is interested.

http://abcnews.go.com/politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

You have to copy and paste the link because I'm computer stupid and I don't know how to make it "clickable".

Makenna Turns One!

That's right, our little Makenna aka Bay, Bacon, the Baconator, BayKenna, princess snuggle, Miss Snuggles-a-lot, etc... turned one last Friday. We had a little party with the grandparents and our siblings (so if you weren't invited, please don't be mad, we just can't fit that many people in our house because our immediate families are so big.) I made her a caterpillar cake that I think turned out pretty cute. It wasn't really hard, but it did take me about 5 hours to make. Being the little princess that she is, Makenna loved all the attention she got!(: A special thank you to our parents, grandparents, and brothers and sisters that were able to come and celebrate with us. I really can't believe that she is already one. She sure gave us a run for our money the first few months of her life, with her colic and reflux, but I'm glad we stuck it out and kept her.(: Most of her eating problems seems to working themselves out now that she is eating table food. She has the sweetest smile you've ever seen and her big blue eyes just melt my heart. She loves to dance and it's hilarious to watch her "rock out" to the music. She loves Sadie! One of the things I love the most about her is that she is such a little snugglebug! Parker was never very snuggly so I'm soaking up all the snuggles I can get. She's already a HUGE flirt! She usually has whoever is sitting behind us in church totally in love with her by the end of sacrament meeting. We love our little girl and feel so lucky to have her! She is my constant reminder that life does go on and that blessings do come even during the most difficult trials. I know that she is a very special girl and that my mother had a hand in her coming to our family. Happy Birthday my sweet Makenna Stephanie Barnes!

Snuggling her new bunny


Cake


Presents

More presents

Still more presents

Love the bunny

Birthday breakfast

We love Aunt Jamie!

Caterpillar cake

Blowing out the candles

Another cake shot

Utah State Fair

For family night last week we went with my family to the Utah state fair. I hadn't been in a long time and I forgot how fun it can be. Parker loved being with his grandpa and all the animals but wasn't much for the rides. Anyone who knows him, knows that he's not much of a dare devil. He's a pretty cautious little guy (hmmm...I wonder where he gets that from?) Makenna is happy to be wherever as long as someone is paying attention to her.(: It was fun to watch Parker stuck to my dad like glue all night long. He loves grandpa!

Makenna loved the bunnies

Parker and grandpa...best buddies

Parker on the carousel. He loves it!

Parker on the car ride. He flipped out half way through and started bawling.

They had a tent there that you could pay $3 and get all you could eat ice cream! Parker just wanted his creamy.

Being silly!

Parker loved the goats and had to pet every single one that was close enough for him to reach.