girl cousins!

Here is Julia playing telephone with shoes with her cousin Abbigail. It was so fun to see cousin Abbigail! We hadn't seen her since she was a brand new baby!
Here is Emily and Abbey playing.

My newest layout

Here's my newest double page layout. This was the Barney Family Reunion 2003. Scott's mom is a Barney. My Grandma Oliver died and her funeral was the same week. I flew out to Kansas with Emily and Scott took Ryan and Julia with him to the reunion. He was so much more appreciative of me in my role as mother after that! I highly recommend every father be left in charge for a couple of days so that they better understand that motherhood is not TV and bon-bons. I totally forgot to give credit (I'm embarrassed). This is a kit called Bluebay Cottage. I love it. It was designed by Krista. You can see her other stuff at http://heyitsjustme-krista.blogspot.com/.

Flashback Friday

I thought I hit on the master plan this year. Instead of buy the kid whose birthday it was a $50 present, I decided I was going to buy every child a $10-$15 on everybody's birthday. I was sure that would erradicate all the crying and fussing that seem to accompany a birthday.
It didn't turn out to be the great idea I thought it was. It made birthdays not very special. A birthday is a day to honor the person born on that day. And getting everyone a present just increases the sense of entitlement and greediness of the kids. Oh, well, we live and learn!
Okay, I forgot to give credit on this one too! The template, which I LOVE, is by Tracy Drane http://dranet.blogspot.com/. Everything else is from a kit by Kay Miller http://kaymillerdesigns.com/shoppe/ called Over the Rainbow.

I've been tagged

Well, I was just tagged by my friend Kristie. I'm thinking maybe this is punishment for not leaving comments on her blog. But I want her to know that I do check in almost everyday! Well, here goes nothing.

Jobs I've Had:
Wendy's
MTC dishroom (yuck!)
BYU Bookstore
The Brick Oven
A Daycare (subsequently I'll never put my kids in daycare)
Orem Community Bank
BYU janitor at JSB
Target

Movies I Love:
sorry Krisit, I just have to comment about Ella Enchanted the movie is disappointing after you've read the book! Although, I do love Anne Hathway.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Princess Bride
The Prince and Me
The Best Two Years
Persuasion
Hitch

Places I've Lived:
Provo, UT
Laramie, WY
Denver, CO
Waukesha and Dousman, WI
Carrollton, TX (my favorite)
St. George, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Ft. Worth, TX (also my favorite)

Favorite TV Shows:
I hate TV right now. I only watch HGTV and the Food Network unless Deal or No Deal is on, or Lingo is on the Game Show Network.
I also love House Hunters
Giada DeLaurentis
Paula Deen
Get Color!

Vacation Spots:
when Ryan was 8 mo. old Scott and I went to Vancouver, Canada. That was cool and it really seemed like a vacation with no kids. We've been a lot of places, but I really don't consider them vacation unless they're in a different country and Scott and I have left our kids elsewhere.
We did take our kids up to Seattle, WA to visit with Scott's Uncle John and Aunt Mary Ellen--they are awesome and we had an amazing time!

Websites:
Being that I am now addicted to digital scrapbooking I love going to ikeagoddess@blogspot.com, she lists all her favortie freebies every day with pictures! She's on vacation this week and I'm very sad :(
My favorite shops for digital stuff are weeds and wildflowers, Kay Miller Designs, The Shabby Princess, Simply Clean Digi Scraps, and Digital Divas Designs.
I like looking at all the stuff at http://www.overstock.com/. They have some great deals.

Places I'd Rather Be:
right now I really wish it was December 25th, that I was holding my beautiful new baby girl sitting around the Christmas tree at my mom and dads with my two sisters, my brother and their families!

Wordless Wednesday

The dangers of inflatable swimming pools!

Yesterday Ryan learned first hand the dangers of inflatable swimming pools in friend's back yards. He was leaping into the pool, and must have landed wrong on his foot. He had been outside less than five minutes when he came back inside crying. It was kind of funny, he really didn't act like he was in a whole lot of pain, but he couldn't put any kind of pressure on his right foot.
That's what finally made me decide to take him to instacare. Ryan was seen by the same doctor who looked at Julia's tennis ball sized, infected mosquito bites in May.
She gave him a cast shoe and some crutches, which Ryan lovingly refers too as "pole sticks". He loves walking around on them, and has been telling me over and over how, when he's a daddy, he's going to tell his kids not to jump into swimming pools because when their daddy was seven, he did that and broke his foot.
The doctor said he had a fracture on one of the smaller bones on the top of his foot. She said he should be all better in three to six weeks and only has to use the crutches for three days. Lucky boy! He was kind of sad at first that he didn't need a cast. But I told him the story of when I broke my arm when I was seven. I think that's what sparked the idea to tell his kids his story.
Julia has taken prodigious care of Ryan. Getting him pillows, carrying his crutches up the stairs, getting him drinks. What a lucky boy to have such a nice sister!

Dancing Machines!

At our house we love that song by The Jackson Five called Dancing Machine. My kids certainly are dancing machines. Here's Ben getting his groove on!
For some reason, Ryan thinks dancing should involve some sort of clothes adjustment. He's a funny boy.
Here's Emily pumping up the volume. She is such a cute girl! I told Julia she couldn't have her dancing picture taken until she got some pants one, it looks like she snuck her way onto the blog anyway!

Grumpy Gus!

Julia really needs to go back to school. She has been very grumpy the last several days (really weeks, but who's keeping track--certainly not me)!
She is certainly a piece of work. If you look closely at her eyes you can tell she's trying very hard to suppress a smile.

Flashback Friday (one day late!)

On the left is my sister Marie, my brother Jeff and I doing our rendition of the bucket-heads!

Without any prompting, and more than 18 years later, here are Julia and Drew doing their rendition of the bucket-heads!

Wordless Wednesdays

Flashback Fridays

I think this layout turned out especially cute. This is one of the few kits I actually purchased and I'm very glad I did. I purchased this kit from Scraphead.com.
This is one of the only happy times during a time I try not to remember. We were so poor and struggling that we decided to move in with a 92 year old lady. They told me all I would have to do is feed her three times a day and bathe her three times a week. LIARS! While we were there she had a mild stroke, all kinds of bowel trouble, and was suffering from dimentia. Plenty of people in the ward offered to watch her for me, but when it came time to follow through only the RS pres. could find the time, and I felt so guilty asking her because she was already SO busy herself.
I was trying to finish my Bachelors degree, had two children and was pregnant with number three. Scott was working in SLC! He left at 7 in the morning and I usually didn't see him until 10 at night. The lady I was caring for had three sons, all of whom had different ideas about what should go on and one of which loved to accuse me of wrongful use of her money. Those were the days. Why did we ever leave?

Ryan the Flute player

I love these pictures. Ryan really wanted to play the Flute like momma! He has a great look on his face to. It seems to say, "don't you dare take this away!"
I used the stuff from Shabby Princess Urban Kiwi kit. I love Shabby Princess!

My favorite so far!

I love this picture, and I think it turned out really cute with the paper I chose. This paper is the Shabby Princess Moody Blues kit, except the green, which I don't remember where I pulled it from.

Wordless Wednesday

Grandpa O and Benny

I have been doing a ton of scanning. Trying to get a lot of my pictures onto the computer so I can put them on digital layouts. I think I'm going to kill my scanner before I even get halfway through! Oh, well. While I was going through things, I found this picture of Benny and his "Pa". Benjamin just loves his Pa. Whenever Grandpa O. is around Benjamin is sure that he is his private property. I'm glad that they are such good friends!

Okay, one more then I'll stop (for awhile).

This is also another LO I did using a template. This one by Lindsay Jane. Most of the elements are from Melany Violette's love and life kit. This one is my favorite so far!

Hooray for me!

Here's the first layout I did using a template! Snaps go to Pippi for this work intense and extremely cute template.

More scrapbooking

Here are a couple more of the layouts I've done. I just barely figured out this morning how to slant things. So, all LOs before that are very straight and reminiscent of my yearbook days!

Digi-scrapping addict!

I told my friend Sarah that this pregnancy was taking FOREVER, and I needed something to keep me busy. She suggested digital scrapbooking, and the rest is history. In fact, today as my husband left for work he said, "Maybe you should set an amount of time per day you can scrapbook." Yes, it's an addiction. I made this plaque to go on the top of my blog, it will have to stay here until I figure out how to place it on the top of my blog.

We love our cousin!

Here's daddy holding the new cousin. The big kids all wanted to get in on the picture taking.
Auntie Laura was nice enough to let Julia hold her new cousin.
And Emily too! Don't worry, mom was standing by in case of an emergency.

New Cousin #2

Here is baby Ally? Lucille (mom and dad haven't quite decided how to spell it). She is SO cute. Born July 16th. We sure have a lot of new cousins!

She looks a lot like her older sister, Lyvia.

New Cousin #1

Here is our first new cousin, baby Seth. He was born on the 10th of July and he looks a lot like his brother and sisters!
What a cutie!

It's a girl!

Well, we went to the doctor yesterday and had our 20 week ultrasound (although I was really only a few days over 19 weeks). I was shocked to hear the technician say that it was a girl, I had been sure it was a boy, I was even calling the baby he. Good thing I was corrected before the baby started to have serious gender-confusion issues! You'd have to know that the night before Scott and I got our boy name picked out. Murphy's law. And girl names are the harder ones for us to agree on. Maybe because he didn't have any sisters. Oh, well, we have over 20 weeks to make a good compromise. We are very excited and now I get to go out and have a pink purchasing extravaganza!

TWINS!

Quite awhile ago I buzzed Ryan's hair for the summer because I was tired of cutting it. His hair is a lot like Harry Potter's. It grows really fast and is hard to tame. On the 30th Scott came to me and said he thought he needed a new haircut. I was floored, he has demanded the same haircut since I've known him (eight years now)! He told me he thought he'd like his hair like Ryan's and asked what I thought. I was all for it, because Scott's hair is also like Harry Potter's! I was surprised when I got finished how much more they looked alike with their twiner haircuts!

Happy Father's (and Grandfather's) Day!

Every year at Father's day I think of my beloved Grandpa Oliver who passed away from lung cancer when I was ten years old. He was a doting grandfather and I loved him with all of my heart. I sure hope he's accepted the gospel up in heaven. He was a great man!
How could I think about Father's Day without remembering my daddy. He was the greatest dad a kid could ask for. I had a healthy fear of him which kept me from making bad choices. He spent countless hours playing with us. Football, jumping on the trampoline, teaching me how to shuffle cards, doing the five kid hang, wrestling and rubbing kids with his stinky socks still on his feet. What a great example he has been to me. His ability to change for the better astounds me. His perseverance when the light is too dim to see the way makes me hope that there is a little bit of his strength in me. I love you with all my heart dadda!
Scott makes fun of this story. This is a picture of me and my dad taken right after I graduated from high school. He came up to me with tears in his eyes, hugged me tight and said to me, "We sure had some ride, didn't we kiddo?" That meant more than anything in the world to me. My dad came to almost everything I did, concerts, sporting events, you name it, he was there routing me on. He was my biggest fan, and it gave me a quite confidence in myself that has helped me throughout my life. Thanks dadda!
Here we are in the testing center at BYU waiting for Scott to finish with a test so he could meet my parents. I had bought that shirt for dad for a Father's Day present and he wore it with pride!