My girls and their boys.....

Yep, 2 daughters and their boys......Morgan with her boyfriend McKie.....

I sent Morgan to the singles ward this last fall and just that fast she came home with a darling guy who has stolen her heart. Completely.
Brenna and her boy Tyson.......Brenna and Tyson go to Alta together.
They met at the beginning of the year - he was the Varsity Quarterback and she the Varsity Cheerleader.....cliche, I know, but boy they are darling!!

My girls have made me proud. They have chosen to put themselves in places in their lives where they have met and dated awesome young men! I am proud of the decisions that they have made so far in their lives and hope and pray that they will continue to do so.

Championship weekend!!!.....

Oh the love of a boy. I am eternally grateful for my son Drew, who at 15 years old is not afraid or too embarrassed to give his mother a tear filled hug at the end of the championship game. I was emotional as well, watching theses boys who had worked like dogs come up with the win at the end of an amazing season! Good job Drew! I have loved each and every moment watching Drew play football - it is a little sad to see the end of and era happen for him.....now on to bigger and hopefully even better things in High School.

Best brothers after one game and before the next.....keeping our fingers crossed for 2 wins today!!

Jensen was going to face Bingham in their Championship game.....

Boy did this game get cold. Drew's game was cold (we thought) and then down came the sideways snow and rain.....the wind blew and we were all frozen solid. The game was a close one, there was no score in the first half 0-0 and we were all just keeping our fingers crossed. The second half started and the snow kept falling, we scored a touchdown early on in the 3rd quarter and missed our extra point, 6-0......

It was too good to last and Bingham of course got a lucky break-away and the game ended with a heartbreaking loss 6-7......those dang Bingham Miners, they seem to do it to us every time!

Jensen is a little stud on the football field. He is just like Drew when it comes to having no fear! He will go hard and fast at anyone who is coming at him and won't let go until he has his tackle. I absolutely adore watching both of my boys play the game they love and look forward to another season next year.

Better luck next time, Jenky!!

Look whos 40!!!.....(and some other stuff!)

The dreaded 40 has hit!! It is almost unbelievable to me still as I write this post......I guess the saying 'time flies when your havin fun' is true. I am a blessed woman, the life I live as wife and mother is the only thing that I have ever dreamed of doing.....it is the most rewarding, busy life I could ask for.

J.D. asked me to give a small 'speech' during our traditional Halloween/Birthday party and I think turning 40 is typically a day of sadness, but for me all I could say was that how could I possible be sad when I look around and see what the last 40 years for me has produced. My husband, my 6 kids, our health and home, good friends and an amazing family is really all a girl could ask for, right?

We all dressed up of course, and this party has become one of my favorites. I am always so excited to see how everyone looks when they come over.....we all usually just spend the first 20 minutes laughing at each other.
Ji, all dressed up as a cute little lion.....he had matching slippers and kept growling all night. I was certainly happy that he warmed up to the ears and face paint, because earlier he was not having any part of it. Luckily he watched Ella and realized that it was all for fun, so then it was okay with him. I love how he loves his sister, she told him it would be all right, and he believed her.

Goodness!! What a proud mom I am of my teenagers.....they wouldn't let me see their costumes until they emerged from the basement 'white-trash' is what they came up with for their costumes this year......Brenna, pregnant teenager, dressed in a very tight and very small dress.......Morgan with a lovely animal fur vest topped off with a black eye. They put extensions in the boys hair and created mighty real-looking mullets, Taggertt was a great sport as well. Good, good times! I am so thankful that they are quite the opposite of this in real life! All in good fun, after all, what is Halloween for anyway??

Ella and Leah having a bowl of yummy taco soup!! We love to have parties and love to serve good food.

Aliza and Ella, cutie-patooties!!

Cave people!! Aunt Jana and Uncle Trent......seriously hilarious, it took her hours to comb out the ratted hair after the party - the things you will put yourself through for the party :)

The Anderson's came dressed up as "Food", Corey and Janeen, eggs and bacon....

Millie was a darling cupcake and Owen a delicious hamburger.

Aunt Julie and Uncle Bradley - shoot em' up cowboy

My very funny mom and dad - Hans Solo and Princess Leah!! Bless their hearts for always participating.

Aunt Jill and Leah dressed up as Miss Hannigan and Annie - I think that their costumes were my favorite this year. If I gave away prizes, they would have won for most original! The Wahlquist family moved to Vancouver, Washington this last August and we all miss them everyday! Jill made a special trip with Leah and Lucas to come home for my birthday.....Love them!

Brenna and her boyfriend, Tyson.....lookin' good, but definitely so glad this is not our reality!!
Tyson and Brenna have been dating since August. He is a great boy and they are so cute together. I always tell Brenna that they are the couple that people like me hated in high school, she is a Varsity Cheerleader and he is the Varsity Quarterback of the football team.

Suzy and Sarah are some of my oldest and best friends! We normally don't invite friends to the Halloween party, but this year we did since it was a 'big one'!!

My cute friend Andrea Arlt - I told her that we must be great friends because we picked out the exact same costume - I love this lady!!

The five coolest sisters ever!! We all feel blessed everyday that we were born into the same family, because we are truly all just the best of friends.

Well, what would a 40th birthday be without some kind of prank. The night had wrapped up and J.D. and I were downstairs cleaning up the after effects. Jiles came down the stairs and started saying "Mom, fish" - I was not sure what he could possibly be talking about, but after he seemed to adamant about me following him I picked him up and we went into my bedroom. There I found Morgan with a bit of a smirk on her face and inside my bathtub they had put 40 goldfish in there, all swimming around, with a card that read...

"Happy Birthday, we hope you live longer than these fish!!"

It's a good thing they wrote that, because those fish had already started dying in my tub. Funny, funny girls.

I am so thankful to turn 40, and here is to another 40!!

Beautiful weather, football Saturdays!!

I love football. I love warm weather. I love watching my boys play football. I love spending time with my family. I love having J.D. as my husband. I love this picture.

Oh yeah, Barnes boys are the BEST!!!

This was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Even though Brenna came and snoozed on a blanket instead of watching the game, it really doesn't matter, it's all about being together.

Miss Ella, she loves to tease her big sister - and today Brenna did not mind the teasing!

I especially love the look of his gloves strapped to his face mask.......


Getting ready for Halloween

Taking the mess outside. J.D. is a pro at scraping out the insides and not making messes.....this was a perfect Sunday afternoon activity. I love the look on Jiles face when he makes his most cheesy grin.

Brenna and Jiles teamed up and did their pumpkin together - it's a classic pumpkin face.

I helped Ella out and then she chose to take some markers to it's face, I say whatever makes her happy, makes me happy.

Jensen got gross this year and wanting his to appear as it was barfing - good one Jensen. He did this pumpkin all on his own. I was proud of him, he is such a fun boy. He keeps us laughing with all the faces and voices that he uses - He and Brenna have very similar personalities.

Halloween Night 2011

I only have 3 trick or treaters in the house, that is kind of a weird thing. Every Halloween we get together with the Coveys and have soup and goodies at their house, the moms stay back and pass out candy while the dads take the kids out to get the loot. This year, Morgan and Brenna stayed with Suzy and I and we just sat around the table talking and eating. It is nice as the mom to realize that my teenage daughters don't mind hanging with their mom. We laugh alot and I get to know all about what is going on in their lives. J.D. took Ella and Jiles out, through our neighborhood, only about 32 houses and that is plenty for them......Jensen on the other hand was out for about 3 hours and came home with a pile of candy bigger than any one I had ever seen!! He is the winner and the most 'die-hard' when it comes to trick-or-treating. Truly, when he dumped it out on my bed when he got home I was speechless......Good on you, Jensen!

Happy Halloween everyone!! It was a fun one!!

Fall,ins and outs.....

Well, we did it again!! We hosted another Japanese foreign exchange student for 2 weeks. Hiromi is a 10 year old boy that came to live with us for a couple of weeks this fall.....He was a bit of a hand-full compared to our other 2 and I think he may have put us over the edge on wanting to host again.
That sounds harsh, but I think that our lives are just a bit to crazy and chaotic to voluntarily have another boy come to live with us for the fun of it. Maybe again in a couple of years we can get a girl that is Ella's age, but for now the Barnes family is officially out of the hosting game!!

Hiro on his first night with our family.....he liked to wear a gorilla mask and run around the house trying to scare us......he would pretend to 'shoot' us with his fingers and make gun noises, and he was not all that pleasant or great with the little kids, especially Jiles.


We took him to the Real stadium where the Alta football players we playing and Brenna cheered. We tried to do fun things, but he just seemed a bit annoyed with the whole situation.

Day 14.....time to go home and it was time! He is a good kid, just didn't mesh with our family the way our other little boy did.....

It's all about the experiences, though, right??

Halloween Fall Festival in Draper

Brenna, Owen, Jiles, Ella and Millie girl.....

Precious little lady, Miss Millie.

They had carnival type games and small prizes for all the little kids. They each got to go pumpkin picking in a trailer full of perfect sized little pumpkins. It was a fun night for us all to go and spend time together as cousins. Aunt Janeen and Aunt Julie and Uncle Bradley came with and we made sure to go for ice cream after!!

Jiles looking for the his most favorite pumpkin. It is so fun to watch the little kids and the wonder in their eyes with each new experience. I am looking forward to this upcoming holiday season with a 2 year old, it is quite magical.

Even tossing hay in the air can be fun!!

Frankenstein trying to strangle me and Janeen giving it her best to save a sista :)

I think Brenna is in love......

I guess the feeling is not mutual......haha.

Braces for Jenky.....

Yesterday was the big day!! Braces on Mr. Jensen. He was happy as could be to take this next step in his life. Along with the big step was the coolness of having his big sister be able to be the assistant and help put his braces on. Thank you Morgan for working for an orthodontist and helping us get a killer deal on getting these braces put on!!

Morgan is loving her job as as an Orthodontic Assistant and because of that the push was a little earlier than I had originally planned on taking Jensen in for braces, but Dr. Ben is assuring us that now is a s good of a time as any to get them on and started. He is hoping to have them off, if all goes as planned in 2 short years. Jensen will have just become a deacon if that is really how it turns our (gasp!).

He was hilarious in the chair getting them on......when Morgan finished and handed him the mirror he was a bit surprised at how he looked and wondered why the wire on his braces was going up and down (in a crooked motion) - we had to explain to him that it was because of the crooked teeth that the braces were on. He made some crazy faces and had the office giggling.....he is a funny, funny boy!

His mouth is sore this morning and I am pretty sure he is questioning just why he was so excited to get them put on.

Good luck Jenk!!! You are one handsome devil, and just imagine when you have straight, pearly white teeth :)

Pretty Girl and Football Boys.....

So.....just a couple of random pictures of my kids......my camera got lost/stolen during the summer while I was in Las Vegas, needless to say, it has slowed me down on the pictures and made me less motivated to blog. I am determined, however to stay on top of my life......this is my way of journaling and I don't want these moments to pass unnoticed.

My boys are amazing!! I love watching them play football all season. They are so great, I am love watching them leave it all out there on the field, playing because they love it!!

Two sides of Miss Ella......all done up and ready for church and then just hanging at the park on a Saturday afternoon. Beautiful and different in both pictures!

Why can't time just stand still for a minute..........

Whoa.....I'm tired.....

Jiles continues to grow and grow and is truly turning into the 'terrible two-year old' - I love him so stinkin much, but wow!! This little man exhausts me. My sweet mom just laughs and laughs every time I fill her in on the ins and outs of our day - she keeps telling me that I need to write it all down, so here is my attempt.

He climbs like crazy!! He is always wanting to be in the cupboards, up on the counter and wanting to 'jump' to anyone who is willing to catch him. We said 'good-bye' to his crib about a month ago because he has decided to climb out each night around 3:00 a.m. and join me in my room. I will admit, that I got spoiled when it came to how great of a sleeper he was, so now, just like Ella used to do, Jiles is sleeping on the couch in our room. He sleeps all night long and there are no more interruptions - except the occasional fall of the couch (which he usually sleeps through). Go figure.

We have put locks on the front and back door, locked the pantry, and the fridge.....including the water and ice dispenser on the front. He will drag a chair to the doors to 'try and reach.....to let himself out to play.

He LOVES fingernail polish!! The kid is always finding a bottle of polish and no matter how tight we have put the lid on he can manage to get it off to do "pretties" on his nails. I hate to admit it, but he has actually become quite skilled at just getting the polish on his nails.......practice makes perfect and believe me there has been alot of practice. We have ruined several items of clothing, gotten nail polish on the tile, the carpet, yes, our very light carpet, and my kitchen table.

He has flooded my kitchen more than once climbing up onto the kitchen sink and pulling the sprayer out of the faucet, drenching the floor and counter top all around. One day he managed to ruin quite a stack of important paperwork that had gotten left out and demolished a couple of my favorite cookbooks.

Early one morning I could hear some kind of spraying.....there he was on the counter (do you sense the repetition) spraying bug spray all over the floor.....needless to say, it was quite slippery when I got to him and nearly went down before I could take it away.......He has also done this with Pledge one afternoon as well. My little helper.

He has dumped out a full box of brand new yummy chocolate chip cookies and topped it off with emptying the dog food out as well on the pantry floor. Yes, I watch him!! I can tell that is what everyone is thinking - the kid is super fast and quiet as a mouse until you hear the crash of whatever it is he has tipped, knocked or kicked over.

He loves to help himself to the leftover ash that is in the fire pit, he has more than once covered himself in the lovely blackness of last nights s'mores!

I am smiling the whole time raising this rambunctious boy......he is a fire-cracker, a bull-dozer, a one person wrecking machine and we love him each and every day!! I have the picture of him on my fridge, so little and helpless when he was 3 days old in the NICU, it is a beautiful reminder of what I have been so beautifully blessed with!

Thank you Jiles for keeping me on my toes.......

The cast comes off.....

Well wouldn't you know it......the first week of football practice this season and we start off with a broken arm! While we were sitting up at Jensen's football practice on August 10th, a warm and very lovely summer night, Miss Ella fell off of the monkey bars and SEVERELY broke her arm. I had just walked away from the playground for a quick second and just upon returning I watched her fall from the bars while trying to cross. The poor girl let out one of the most awful groans I think I have ever heard and when I ran to her she got up with a face full of bark......I began to clean out her mouth because that is what I thought she hurt and when she pulled back from me I could easily see that her poor little arm was all bent out of shape.

I think I panicked for just a moment......Jiles would not let me put him down and I had swarms of little girls around me wanting to know what was going on. J.D. was with Drew at his practice and I felt lost! I quickly got him on the phone and had him rush to meet me at the playground.

To make a long story short, we took Ella to the Emergency Room at Alta View Hospital where they treated her quickly. They could see the amount of pain that she was in and hooked her up to an I.V. of pain killers within minutes. We learned upon X-ray that Ella had broken both the bones in her wrist and would need to be put to sleep to have it set. We have had broken arms in our family in the past, but I have told Ella that she is the winner for doing the most damage!

Ella started 1st grade this year with a cool pink cast on her right arm and spent the first few weeks writing with her left hand.....she is quite good at it actually.

Luckily she healed within 7 weeks and is as good as new today.....I do not believe that she will attempt to cross the monkey bars any time in the near future!