Family Picture May 2022

Family Picture May 2022

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sunday morning post

Jared decided his Elder's Quorum needed an activity, so he came up with this great idea to have a Daddy Daughter night.  Dads and daughters engaged in horseback ride races, wheelbarrow rides, dressing up for a photo shoot, sponge tosses, and daughters putting nail polish on dads and dads putting makeup on daughters. It was a big hit for those who came. And Justin and Bailey Schauers came and supported Jared which was nice of them!


getting his nails done by the girls

so pretty!

Sponge toss

horseback races
In other news this past week, Weston got a mysterious illness last weekend, he had a fever for two days that went as high as 103, he threw up a few times the first day, but otherwise had no symptoms and I still can't figure out what the cause must have been.  Thankfully no one else was affected.  Last Saturday I got to watch my sister Holly's kids for a little bit while she went to the doctor for her ultra sound of #5 (they aren't finding out the gender but suspect it is a girl).  The cousins had fun, come visit more often Holly! My kids took some cute pictures of her kids, and Savanna made everyone fruit smoothies.

Mehki

Sophie

Sylvan

Sylvan again
Saturday we went to Jesse and Kelsy's for a movie night in their awesome theater. They are doing very awesome things with their landscaping and I was impressed!  Monday we had my parents and younger generation of siblings over for FHE and had a barbecue.  We talked my dad into playing "Curses" which was very funny, but with 11 people it took FOREVER and at the end with 5 people still in we called it quits.  Everyone deemed me the honorable winner because I had the most curse cards, but it really was anyone's win.


Thursday the kids and I went on a bike ride/run. I ran, they biked.  It was a very nice morning for it and I'm glad I got everyone out to get some exercise. 
I took the kids to the Pleasant Grove pool Friday, and grumbled the whole while we were getting ready, but had a pleasant time once there. However, we were there all of five minutes and were evacuated for 15 minutes because a girl injured her head on the diving board and had to be ambulenced out of there.  After that Fiora and Weston were fearful of the diving board, but Savanna wasn't phased a bit and did some beautiful form dives.  Weston eventually dived after he practiced jumping off the side a few times, and he loved it, but Fiora was yanking on my arm to "please make Weston stop" and "Weston is going to die" and "I can't watch this mom, what if he gets hurt???"  Fiora has never been a fan of the diving board but the injury only reinforced her fears.  Better safe than sorry, I don't force my kids to do anything they don't feel comfortable with at that level. Afterwards we had pizza, which the kids thought was a fun reward but I only did because I was exhausted and didn't want to cook something decent.

The weekend was eventful. In addition to Jared's Daddy Daughter party, there was a Stake Pioneer Day Breakfast, a Primary Pioneer Day Activity, and Jared took us to "Taste of Utah" at the Riverbottoms where we bought a ticket and were able to try samples of many yummy restaurants in Utah Valley.  It was super hot and a lot of waiting, but worth it I thought for the varieties of samples, and all in small portions like I like. The kids ran through the splash pad and got super wet, which was ok at the time, but then we went to "Pirates: Band of Misfits" at the dollar theater and the kids were very cold. We got home at 5 and Jared hadn't had enough of activities apparently because 10 minutes later he was out the door again, taking Weston to the Provo River to fish.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer etc

The morning of Weston's baptism I saw this heart on the fridge door. Fiora knew I would go straight to the fridge when I woke up, she also somehow knew I'd forget she lost her bottom canine tooth even though I put $2 right by my alarm clock to remind myself, so she very thoughtfully placed a sticky note reminder on the fridge.  It worked.

Fiora has been plagued this week by infected ingrown toenails.  She has just the right kind of toe to be very susceptible to infections and ingrowings, and I'm not sure what to do about it, her toenails don't grow long enough or strong enough to be cut straight, nor do they have enough room to shove cotton underneath.  She may face a future toenail surgery in order to combat infections.

This summer I have been taking the kids to the library to get books they love to inspire them to read, and only Fiora will voluntarily read those selected books.  But I have found Savanna really gets into a book if I read it to her out loud, so we read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" in its entirety in this fashion.  I started reading "11 Birthdays" out loud and gave up about 1/3 the way into it, but she got into it enough to finish it on her own. I read only 3 pages of "Ever" out loud, then read the rest in my head to myself and loved it, and am hoping she will pick it up herself, its tough to read a whole chapter book out loud!

Savanna reminds me almost daily that we are not taking advantage of our summer by having fun each and every day. She is mortified that we have been swimming only twice, and have never slept on the tramp, and don't go camping or anything like that.  I truly do feel bad that I'm not a more "fun" mom.  My idea of having fun in the summer is reading on my deck watching the sunset, or jogging in the morning during the sunrise, and anything that does not involve getting wet or sleeping outside.  The summer is Jared's busy season, so ironically he recreates less in the summer than the spring and fall so he isn't exactly a fun parent either, although he has been taking time to play catch with the kids in the backyard which they love.

We give the kids only 3 dollars a week for allowance and somehow Weston manages to save up a load of cash in his wallet while the girls have a dollar here or there and can't seem to remember what they've spent their allowance on.  Weston wants to spend everything he saves on toys, he just today was begging me to take him to the store so he could spend his $25.00 on a Ninjago vehicle, and while its not the way Jared and I would like to see him use his money, at least he manages to keep track of it (the girls are soon to lose their allowance privilege if we continue to feel like we are throwing money down a deep dark hole when we give it to them.)








We spent the 4th of July in Gunnison and having a full knowledge of what would happen took the kids to their parade where they got sacks full of candy.  The kids enjoyed riding a pony and a horse and having dinner with the Schauers and spending time with Grandpa Neil. We watched fireworks and enjoyed the company of the Snows.  Jared took Weston out shooting BB guns which he thought was pretty cool.  Sounds fun right? We do have fun sometimes, just not constantly as Savanna would like.

Other than the kids' news, this summer has been very dry and hot and we all pray for rain. My sister Rachel turned 14 last Saturday, and my Dad turned 58 on Monday, which ends Barrett birthday season for a little while. My sister Karli is doing magnificently on her mission, we love to read her letters. 

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Weston's Baptism

 Yes, Weston's birthday got lost in the crowd of events happening in June, so I barely glossed over it in the last post. But I knew his "big day" was coming up, which was yesterday, so this post is dedicated to him.  Weston was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints June 30, 2012 by his father Jared.  It was a wonderful occasion and I am so grateful for the family members who came and supported our family on his special day.  

The Baptism was at 9:00 AM so we were in a flurry getting ready. Weston and the girls had the opportunity to sing "When I am Baptized" for the musical number and we've practiced all month. It turned out nicely I think.  I was asked to play prelude and accompany the music for the whole baptism, so I felt a little preoccupied by that when I would have liked to be greeting people, but I tried to enjoy the proceedings all the same. We were lucky to have a friend of Weston's be baptized the same day, Nathan Nolte, they are a good family the Noltes so we were glad they were there.
Nathan Nolte and Weston

The Brethren who confirmed Weston
My dad gave a beautiful testimony and Jared gave a beautiful confirmation blessing. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful righteous brethren to be Weston's father and Grandfather, and models for life. And special thanks to my mom who lead the music for the baptism, we sang quite a few songs while Weston and Jared were getting dressed, (I guess Jared was primping, he's gotta look his best!) Gathering everyone for pictures was tricky, but we did it! Thanks everyone for your patience with my gathering efforts, hard to get a good picture of everyone with my not-so-great camera, but I still wanted to capture the crowd of our wonderful support group!


Our Family


We had a crepe buffet at our home afterwards, which turned out nicely. And thankfully the Snow's brought some magic carmel sauce and muffins because I may have underestimated how much food to make. I was pretty hungry so it was nice to have some yummy food after the baptism, and thanks to my husband for helping me set everything up and cleaning up afterwards. Heidi took some pictures for me of the crepe buffet while I was eating and trying to bring my blood sugar back to normal levels.
Kayden, Weston, Trevan, Joseph

Jared and Justin

Lynn, Holly, Bonnie, Grandpa Neil

Grandma Barrett, Heidi

Justin and Kali

Grandma Rappleye, Kelsy, Jesse

Wendy, Heidi W, Lyndi
Weston is a special boy to me. He and I have had so much fun learning duets, he has such a great attitude about my teaching him piano.  He loves to organize his toys, which makes me so happy that he is taking car of the things we buy him. He is funny and smart and loves to play catch with me or Jared.  He is a delightful boy, I couldn't have asked for a better son. I have so many cute pictures of him I thought I may as well post some of while I'm bragging about him.  We love you Weston!
At Karli's birthday party 2011

riding home with dad, fell asleep 2010

at the Mayan 2010

at my graduation, 2011

at the firestation 2011

Halloween 2011

fishing with dad 2012

Christmas 2011

Ice fishing, 2012

Cruise diner, 2012

Cruise 2012

Scout day camp, 2012

8th birthday 2012

New bike 2012


Jeremiah Johnson camp 2012

Recital spring 2012

Visiting Grandpa Neil, 2012


In Memory of Lillian

In Memory of Lillian
Our Family