what a beautiful mess

We had an amazing time in St.George for a week.  We went to Pahrump to celebrate Trevor's dad's wedding~ it was so nice to be with all of his siblings for that!  We were so grateful that we could make it down there for such an important event. We were able to visit with some of our favorite people.  Like P.J. and McKenna.  They have one talented little boy: he can bend in half with no problem at all.  And their other boy is about the most polite kid ever! Candice and Quinn surprised everyone with a trip down to St. George also! Except they didn't surprise me and Trevor cause we already knew~ it's so cool to be in "the know"... And we found out that Candice and McKenna are pregnant! That makes 3 on the Barwick side and 3 on the Haslem side... holy moly.. that's a lot of babies.  Joshua turned 5 while we were there.  (I'm secretly crying inside but don't tell Trevor that I still carry him around..I need to stop that, I kno...

Last weekend was fantastic. There were so many great things; a trip to the temple, painting the ceiling, Trevor's homemade pizza, dinner with the Haslems, nacho movie night... A lot of good stuff. And how can I forget the season finale of Downton Abbey?? Wow. I love that show or soap opera, as Trevor calls it. He doesn't mind me watching it because he gets to fall asleep in my lap each time it's on. Our new catchphrase?  "You are my stick."  Perhaps the most romantic saying ever. EVER. (you need to watch episode 6 to understand)  And we played an awesome game of Scattergories.  Scott and Jenee, you may be interested to know that bric-a-brac is indeed what I thought it was and October Sky was a book. Although the book that the movie was based on was titled "Rocket Boys". October Sky is an anagram of Rocket Boys. After the movie was released, they re-released the book with the title October Sky. (thank heavens for wikipedia) There's...

can be quite the affair.  Sometimes we do headstands just for the fun of it while we're  supposed  to be eating.  And sometimes we eat really un-healthy.  This particular night, Trevor and I went out and so I fixed the kids what my parents  used to fix us before their dates: macaroni and cheese with hot dogs.  And sometimes I like to cook healthy food.  Just look at how much Trevor is enjoying his quinoa and steamed broccoli.  (again with the diet coke) If you haven't tried quinoa yet, you should cause it's like super healthy.  And believe it or not, we ALL really like it...

In two days, I've enjoyed two ice cream cones (one with Josh and one with Trevor). I've read a really good book,  The Best of Me . I've almost finished my big Hershey's Dark Chocolate Bar; and I've been dipping each piece in peanut butter~ Holy Deliciousness! Joshy has had a fever for two days. While I was getting ready this morning, he fell asleep at the bathroom door. And in two days, he's gotten that much cuter...

(I always feel weird taking pictures of this kind of stuff for my blog.... However, I justify it as being important to my posterity.  In a hundred years, they're going to need to know what real food looks like, right?  I imagine that everyone will be taking pills to get their daily caloric intake....) Anywaaay....this was my pre-workout meal today.  And it was made in vain since I was only able to get in 20 minutes on the treadmill.  I could have just eaten a hard boiled egg and that be all the energy I'd of needed... But the Diet Coke was nice... (remember~no judging. I'm still a good person even if I drink cola/caffeine with my breakfast.) I figure the overt healthfulness of the omelet cancels out the lack of nutritional value in the d.coke. It's a justification that I'm totally okay with....

From us.... When we spoke in Sacrament a couple of weeks ago, I used  this  as the basis of my talk.  It's a really great valentines day message..you should read it. 

He fell asleep like this yesterday after church.  It seems like yesterday when I was sitting on the couch with him when he was a baby and he needed my  help to go to sleep. Now he's reading Harry Potter (on the second book), making his own Valentines, saying his own prayers  and wiping his own whatever-needs-to-be-wiped things (he has a cold right now so I'm mainly thinking of  his nose). He still needs me though. Like last night, he came running into my room crying because he had a bad dream. It was one of those awful ones that I think we've all had where there's just a person screaming. He laid on the floor by my bed and I tried to comfort him by telling him other things to think about; Trevor volunteered suggestions through his own dream-like state. Finally, Stephen came up with his own idea to help calm himself. He asked Trevor for a blessing. So Trevor woke up, gave him a blessing and Stephen was fine for ...

I had a surprise waiting for me at the mailbox today and it wasn't a bill or a credit card offer or even an unexpected check~It was so much better! It was a box of chocolates from my Dad... He's been giving us these little boxes of chocolates since my sisters and I were little girls. Receiving this in the mail made a good day an absolutely, positively, really fantastic day! (granted it's not the best picture; flighty hair, chipped polish...but I just wanted you to see my excitement) I've already taken the customary bite out of each one and am waiting for Trevor to get out of the shower so I can share one or two chocolates with him. Happy Valentines Dad! We cannot wait to see you guys next week~ I love you!

The only night we've had so far together this week has been Monday night; which was obviously an excellent night (Joshy's FHE). Tuesday was YW's, Wednesday was book club and tonight Trevor is helping a family from the ward lay new flooring. I did manage to paint my door last Saturday. And we love it. I especially love it with Emily and Carl sitting in front of it.... And one day this week, I plan on painting my other door. I had an exciting conversation tonight with Emily about the joys of doing the dishes. She complained about having to do them and so I went into a "mom" lecture. The following are excerpts from our conversation: "If you don't learn to work now, then you won't be able to when you're an adult." "If you can't work when you're an adult, you won't be able to buy the things you want." "I do the dishes all the time and all you have to do is put them away once in awhile." "W...

Tonight for FHE Joshua taught us about his favorite scripture story which is the story of Abinadi and King Noah. I loved hearing him teach us about this with help from his daddy. It was very sweet. He also taught us about the church in Italy. The facts we learned? 1. Lorenzo Snow first went to Italy in 1850. 2. Groundbreaking for Rome Italy temple took place on October 23, 2011. 3. There are 18,000 members of the church in Italy. 4. There are 121 wards and branches in Italy. 5. The nearest temple  is in Switzerland. And if you look on his poster, you can see that he drew a picture of Italy. For dinner, we had pizza and bread sticks (of course!) and for dessert, we had biscotti and hot chocolate. We all loved it! Joshua received his Italian Book of Mormon tonight and I impressed my kids with reading scriptures out of it. More specifically 1 Nephi 3:7...having had many Primary callings and this scripture being a favorite of many kids...

The boys did a Star Wars night which included popcorn and candy. Joshua lasted for a lot longer than I expected before he fell asleep. And Stephen had no problem at all staying awake. I think Trevor may have dozed at one point. While the boys enjoyed their movie, us girls gave each other facials, painted our nails and I braided the girls hair. We first steamed our faces, then exfoliated with baking soda and finished it off with a ginger oatmeal mask. Oh, it was heaven. And then we painted hearts on our nails. We're so festive! Here we are with our oatmeal masks. They dried so tight to our skin~ it felt wonderful (and a little itchy)! Anna looks kind of crazy... Emily looks really happy.... And I look old...(and like I have a booger coming out my nose but no worries...it's just oatmeal) But that's okay because I'm growing up and so are my girls. It was a great, great evening. I absolutely LOVE spending time with my girls! Who knew that hav...

You all know how much I love nacho movie night. (although some are more successful than others) Tonight, however, was a definite hit! We watched this movie: And it was just as good as Trevor and I remember it. And the kids loved it. The most quotable line is: "Blow it out your shorts, Ron!" I think it's hilarious (in a i-better-not-hear-my-kids-saying-that kind of way) and have used it on Trevor multiple times already. For instance, after we put the kids to bed, we went and relaxed on our bed for a minute while the kids got out all their "I love you's" and their needing drinks and going to the bathroom. He was teasing me as usual so I told him to "blow it out your shorts" and then pushed him off the bed. I laughed and laughed; it was so dang funny. And then he asked me if I wanted to pontificate with him. (I don't think he knows what that word means cause he certainly didn't want to talk)

My kids are out of school today and have now become missing. Which means I'm alone. It's just me, Carl and some music. And a ddp. It's kind of nice. On Tuesday this week, I heard two intelligent women use the word "pontificate" (used as a verb). And each time I heard it, I thought about what a weird word it is. I looked it up and in an effort to sound smarter, I'm going to try to use it at least one time in the next week. Just kidding. I don't need to sound smart to know that I am smart. But sometimes it'd be kind of nice to replace my "hick" talk with words like pontificate. So I bet you want to know what it means. You probably already know but here you are anyway: pontificate: vb to speak or to behave in a pompous or dogmatic (arrogant) way. I've known some people who liked to pontificate. Look at how cute and big Carl is getting!?! He's kind of getting annoying...but we love him still....

I started doing this: It's not finished yet. And I'm not sure what exactly it's called...Cross stitching (no)? Maybe it's embroidery? Whatever it is, I love doing it. And I did it yesterday while I was volunteering at the book fair. And I'll probably do it tomorrow while there also. And when I'm finished, I may even frame it. Joshua said something so funny tonight although we all tried hard not to laugh: He peed in his pants and so Trevor asked him why.  Josh said  "I couldn't open my wienie fast enough." What does that even mean??? All we could do was laugh....As a mom, I try hard to teach my kids the correct words for our "parts"  but I can't imagine any word that would be okay in that sentence. Out of all the words that could be used, "wienie" is the most appropriate. This week has been Parent Teacher conferences. Is it strange that I enjoy these? I love all 3 of my kids teachers. They are hands down ...