Firsts.....

Here we are again, with another summer that has quickly gone by. Lots of Lagoon days, lots of swimming pools and water slides, a quick trip to St. George in the hottest time of the year, lawns to be mowed and countless trips to the gas station for diet Pepsi's and icees. My children are growing up before my eyes and I wish at certain times to just be able to freeze these moments.

Morgan started her senior year at Alta and Brenna began her high school days.....I am hopeful that they will have a fabulous year together. They are amazing friends and I am so glad that Morgan has decided to transfer back to spend a year with her sister in high school. I think that these will be some of the memories that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

Drew and Jensen.....another year at Summit Academy. Drew is in the 8th grade and Jensen has started 4th. It wasn't until I took these pictures that I realized how tall Drew is getting. Granted, he has just passed up both me and his sisters, but when you see him in a picture next to Jensen that tells the whole story. They are good boys and I am hopeful that they will have a great year also. Oh and did I mention how much I love uniforms!! No stress in the morning...

Jensen is 9!!.....

It is hard for me to believe that my Jensen is 9. We were in the car last night and Jensen started to ask me about the day he was born. It started with "what time exactly will I be 9?" and "how much did I weigh?" - and then I was brought back to that day. I was induced with Jensen, just the same as I had been with all of my children. He was born at around noon and weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 11 ounces.....holy smokes he was a large child! His size has not kept up with the way he began this life, but his personality has absolutely kept up with his 'bigness'!! He is spilling over with personality on most days with his big laugh and big smile. He always has a story to tell and a crazy face to pull.

Sleepy faces early in the morning. We like to start birthdays with presents and breakfast. This birthday was no different....we were missing Drew who has been at scout camp for the week. Jiles was also not apart of the celebration, because that little dude can sleep like a crazy man (that is all for another post). J.D. had to get up and go to work, and I was on my way out the door for my morning run (this too, all for another post. My new-found love for running.)

No, we don't have another child.....this is our cute foreign exchange student. She is from Japan and her name is Eriko. She has spent the last 3 weeks with our family and it has been a great experience....

Woo hoo!! Jensen got another new pair of shoes!! That is one of the things he will ask for for every holiday and birthday....gotta appreciate a boy who cares about the way he looks.

Chocolate chip pancakes was the request from the 'Birthday Boy' .

I love this little guy. He loves life and embraces the moments he spends with his family. He is always wanting to have family nights....watching movies, or sleeping on mom and dads floor. It never has to be anything major. Just spending time together is perfect for him. He is grateful for everything he gets and is quick to say 'thank you'. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday this last week, he thought for a minute and then told me that he really didn't need anything, and that he has everything he wants.

What a good boy.

15 year old girl.....

Brenna's birthday morning. All that she wanted this year was to have a big party with friends and food and decorations. Oh ya, and breakfast with the girls. Luckily Dad counts as one of the girls on birthday morning. He would have been pretty sad if he would not been invited to spend the morning at Mimi's Cafe with all of his favorite ladies.

My kids are silly - yes they planned to all have their eyes shut in this picture. What goof balls all of them are!

Cheers to Brenna!!

Yes, I know, you would think that Ella is the birthday girl with that crown on. Let's face it, she is the princess of the family and she very rarely lets anyone of us forget it.

Family birthday party with a 'Nothing Bundt Cake' cake............delicious!!!

Blowing out her 15 candles. Of course with a little help from the brothers and sisters and cousins.

So, now all we have to pull off is the friend party. Afterall, it is the only thing that she asked for. We sent out invitations, bought darling decorations, birthday party outfit for the birthday girl. Dad wired speakers to the backyard, fire-pit was ready, yummy food was there.....then along came the wind and the rain. Seriously, you would think that we could plan an outdoor event on June 16 withouth worrying about the weather!! It put a damper on the party, but I think for the most part everyone survived and was okay with wearing hoodies and ducking for cover in the middle of June.

We were finally able to convince a group of them to come inside and eat, but it took alot of coaxing. Teenagers are a strange breed. There were 3 seperate schools represented, so girls didn't know some of the girls, and boys didn't know some of the boys. After a couple of hours no one cared and everyone blended well.

I don't know if it was what she had envisioned, sometimes parties are like that. You know, you picture bigger and better....I hope she knows that her Mom and Dad love her and wanted her to have an amazing night.

We love you Brenna, thank you for being such a bright and fun spot in all of our lives!!!

Validation.....

Tonight while I was at Relief Society we had a getting to know you game. I am not a game player, but I put a smile on and went for it. We have had lots of new people move into the ward as of late and it was time to get acquainted and reacquainted with the sisters in our ward. One of the questions that we were all asked to answer was

"What is one of your amazing talents?"

At first I thought, who knows, do I even have one? I answered with....

"I can juggle my 6 kids and household duties with the best of them."

What I was not aware of was what was happening at the Barnes household at that very moment.

Spilled paint

Spilled 44 ounce Pepsi

A lost dog

A very curious 14 month old

A very tired 5 year old

When I walked through through the door, J.D. said (with a smile on his face no less)

" I don't know how you do it."

I almost thought I could hear angels sing. It was validation of my sometimes mundane and never-ending job. It was like getting a bonus check, my 'boss' was seeing the value of all my hard work and efforts. I absolutely had no idea that the answer I gave at Enrichment tonight summed it all up for me. I am so happy to be the mom. It is the only job I ever want, and I can juggle it all pretty darn well. :)

Broken armed boy.....

After all of the many, many injuries that Drew has had in his lifetime, after oodles of stitches, fractured skulls, ambulence rides and concussions, nearly ripping his big toe off on the treadmill to a black eye he has finally broken a bone. He was at a party during the first week of summer vacation and jumped off of a trampoline and landed on his arm. He came home around 11:00 that night and said...
"Mom, I really think I hurt my arm. Can I have an ibuprofen??"

Little did I know, that the next day he would stop using his arm completely, but of course continue playing and hanging with his buddies. It finally hit me that his arm really must hurt when I saw him riding his skate board, but holding his left arm in this weird, kind of a 'don't touch me' position. At that point, I convinced him that it was time to go to the doctor and have it checked out, and sure enough, a broken wrist to start his summer off.

The joys of boys!!

Ella.....

While we were driving home from Aunt Janeens house last night we passed the temple.

Ella starts to sing, "I love to see the Temple, I'm going there someday....."

A proud Mom and Dad moment.

She sang the song several times before I realized how she was ending the song.

The last verse goes "this is my sacred duty."

Ella sings it "this is my secret beauty."

Funny, cute, and worth remembering.

Last days of school.....and party bbq.....

So during the last week of school instead of wearing the uniforms the kids were all able to dress up and wear the 'theme' of the day.....For Jensen it was Hawaiian Day and for Brenna and Drew it was 'Era Day'. I am so glad that my kids choose to participate and dress up. Look at Drew!! The kid is hilarious. For such a quiet and reserved kid I was surprised that her had the nerve to wear the enormous Afro wig and the only tie-dyed shirt that we could find belonged to Aunt Janeen. Thanks for the pink shirt!! We loved loved it. Brenna dressed up 80's and wore colored jeans and leg warmers....it was nice that the weather was not yet so hot and they could enjoy their day at school.

Later on that night we decided to have an impromptu wienie roast to celebrate the end of the school year and say a big 'hello' to summer. I am so glad that I have a family that is usually ready for a party, because I don't plan very much in advance. That is just not how I roll. Like it or not, we are very spontaneous. Grandma and Grandpa came, along with Julie and her family and Jill and her family.

Kids always have fun in the hot tub....we turn the temperature way down for the summer months that way the kids are able to use it just as a smaller version of a swimming pool. Jiles loves to float around and he doesn't care who is cannon-balling in around him. Meg Covey is always the first neighbor to show up when the hot tub cover comes off....I am positive that she likes it more than just about anyone.

Handsome little man.....can't believe he just finished the 3rd grade!! Cursive and times tables. A very big year.

My soon to be Kindergartner!! I never really thought this day would come. She has been my little buddy for such a long time, I will miss my girl.

Aunt Julie with Tater-bug and Jiles.

Morgan's boyfriend Andrew called J.D. on and wanted him to have a 'chicken fight' - I couldn't believe that either of them actually went for it. They both hesitated at first, not knowing who was going to make the first move and then all of a sudden J.D. lashed out and took Andrew down in a matter of seconds. I think he was just trying to show Morgan who the real man in her life was!! Keeping boyfriends at a distance has been something J.D. has prided himself on. This one doesn't seem to be too afraid of the 'dad'.

Jensen is quite the acrobat on the trampoline. He will do a back flip, take a bounce and then follow up with a front flip....over and over again. Just watching him makes my head spin. Skinny little body!!

Our night was a lot of fun. Hot dogs, hot tub, trampoline action, and chicken fights.....

I am looking forward to a fun filled summer of family and friends!