Birthday celebration - Disney style

My sister Kate really wanted to go to Disneyland for her birthday. This year's promotion was a day free at Disneyland on your b-day. So, Kate and I went down. We left about 7:15 am so we could capture every available hour. Kate has never been to California Adventure and I knew we would need all day

We had a great time and surprisingly enough the lines we not bad at all. Kate really enjoyed the Disney Animation studio and I loved Toy Story! We even braved California Screamin (may I add it was named that for a reason!). We saw some Oregon & Ohio State football players enjoying their pre-Rose Bowl week and Kate took a picture with some of them.

By the time the parked closed at midnight both of us had aching feet and we were exhausted but we had a wonderful time! I have decided I am too old to go to Disneyland for that long with only 5 1/2 hours of sleep! :)

Happy 31st Kate! I hope you had a wonderful time! Good memories and great fun! I did! (And a birthday shout out to mom too!)

Christmas Day

This year Christmas was a little different. We didn't have any children there in the morning to open presents. We started with an 'adult' style morning. Corrine and I arrived at mom & dad's about 9:00 and we all had a very yummy breakfast together. After breakfast we all participated in the 'new' tradition of finding the pickle in the Christmas tree. This year's winner was Brock and mom & dad gave him a bonus gift. He was pretty proud of himself.

We had a relaxing morning as we each watched each other open gifts. Garrett, Leanne & Bradley came over for a couple hours and opened their gifts. It was so cute to have Bradley there and see G & L's reaction to him! Kids really do make Christmas so much fun!

My favorite gift given this year was the poster I gave my dad of the American Flag with pictures of the family! I had a lot of fun making it and hopefully he will enjoy it.

In the afternoon Gordon, Maryann & Kim came over for dinner and games. We had a great time playing, visiting and relaxing! What a great day!

Christmas Eve with the Birds

We all drove out to Michelle & Zack's for Christmas Eve. A yummy dinner at Olive Garden gave us a good start to the evening. We were in our own room at the back of the place so that was nice.

At the Bird's house we participated in the Christmas Story. While Zack read from the Bible the rest of us participated. The kids were great - they had a lot of fun and we had a donkey (TJ) and a camel (Brock). The grand kids opened their gifts from grandma & grandpa. Hallie was so adorable when she saw her Dora purse and Lori loved her new sweater. Melinda had the Bird family and so they opened up gifts from her and Brock gave his gifts to Chelsea's family. It was a nice evening! Thanks to Zack & Michelle for their hospitality and a shout out to mom and dad for a yummy dinner!

Christmas from the Barlows

McKay and Rachel's family had my name for Christmas this year. Tonight we gathered for Sunday dinner and a pre-Christmas celebration with their family. They are heading to UT for the holiday on Tuesday. The girls helped mom, Kate & Rachel decorate the Christmas tree. They also opened their gifts from grandma and grandpa.

They got me a new LA Dodgers license plate holder, the vacuum/sweeper I was hoping for and two visits to have a pedicure! I love this picture - not of me but because of the boys. Mac did not want to be in the picture so McKay had to pick him up. Brad was having so much fun pulling my hair! Gotta love it! Thanks Barlows for a wonderful Christmas. I will post a picture of my Christmas tree later - the girls made me gingerbread men tree decorations - each with one of my nieces/nephews on it! Love it!

A Sunday drive home

My original plan was to go to Sacrament Meeting this morning and then get on the road. However, the road report indicated the Grapevine was closed to high profile vehicles due to wind. I didn't want to get stuck on the wrong side and so I decided to just get straight on the road. (As it turned out the weather was BEAUTIFUL the entire ride home).

Last night after the baptism I was talking to Ty about temples and I told him the Williams family had THREE temples each within 90 minutes of their house. He thought it was pretty cool (Sacramento to the north; Oakland to the west; Fresno to the south).

Ty told me he had been to the Oakland (with me this summer) and Sacramento (summer of 2008 with his family) temples but he didn't know there was a temple in Fresno. So I decided to drive the kids by the temple on the way home. It was FREEZING when we got out of the car.

They have this little Nativity set up on the lawn. It was a quick trip but Ty is happy to say he has now been to ALL the temples in California -- Los Angeles, Redlands, Newport Beach, San Diego, Oakland, Fresno & Sacramento!

Weekend with the Williams!

I took Lori & Ty with me to Turlock this weekend to see the baptism of my cousin Lynette's son Andrew. Michelle planned to go up but got sick and didn't feel she should go. She asked me if I was willing to still take her kids which of course I was happy to do. We left on Friday afternoon in order to get ahead of the storm - there was talk of the Grapevine closing down. We were happy to get through without any problem. We stopped just north of Bakersfield for dinner at Denny's. This was Lori's first 'road trip' without her parents. It was fun to have her with us.

Today we attended the Williams' kids indoor soccer games. The camera didn't work well inside so this is the only picture I will post. Jeffrey, Andrew & Megan all played. Their teams all won and they played well.

In between games I ran errands for Lynette. It rained all day and Ty loved playing basketball with cousins outside in the rain. Thanks to Jason & Lynette he had extra changes of clothes each time he got wet.

Andrew shared his baptism with a young lady (18 years old). Grandma Bird (aunt Marilyn) played the piano, Jeffrey led the music and Megan and a friend sang. Ty was asked to give the closing prayer.

Andrew was baptized and confirmed by his father, Jason. It was a wonderful experience and we are all glad we were able to be there for this special day!

No Room at the Inn

Each year there is a community event called "No Room at the Inn". The churches in the local area take turns hosting it. All proceeds from donations taken at the door go directly to the Ventura County Homeless Shelter. The display is literally thousands of nativity scenes on display. This year our stake was the host. I was asked to spend an hour today at the door greeting people as they came it. It was a fun experience. After my shift I took Anna & Carly in to see the displays. They had a great children's corner. Anna & Carly loved this section. They made a bookmark, a magnet and a bracelet all with a nativity theme to it. They had this area where you could take you picture and even had clothes the children could put on if they wanted to (the girl's didn't want to). It was fun to see all the different displays and I think the girls enjoyed them as well.

Tonight Corrine & I hosted dinner and the Bird's came out to celebrate Lori's 6th birthday. We had a great dinner (thanks in part to Zack's trip-tip skills) and we had cupcakes for dessert.

It has been a wonderful day!

Primary Program

Today mom, dad and I drove out to see the Birds in their Primary Program. So fun that I could go. I have missed the last few programs because of my calling. They have a very small Primary, but they did such a great job! Ty & Lori knew all of the words to the songs and they had their parts memorized! I am glad we made the trip! (Yes, that is Ty about ready to pass me up in height! He is only 10!)

R & R in Palm Desert

Corrine and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Palm Desert. It was all about R &R! We had a LARGE room with a lockdown room (both doors were our room) so we each had our own suite with king-sized bed, etc. Our room looked out at the mountains and the golf course. We arrived on Monday evening and came back today. We literally did NOTHING! We read, slept, worked on projects, and had no schedule. It was great!

This was our abbreviated version of Corrine's b-day trip and so I took her to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for her dinner. The food was great!

Happy 40th to you Corrine!

A bridal shower for Doris

Corrine and I had a wonderful opportunity to be involved with the bridal shower for Doris. Pam hosted it and her sister Michelle was her right-hand gal. Corrine and I have spent several evenings over the last few weeks getting everything ready. We wanted this bride-to-be (for the first time at age 63) to feel like a princess!

This is what she wore - a tiara and her sash which says, "Cherished"

Here is me, Corrine, Pam & Michelle

The food served was desserts and let me tell you they were wonderful! Nothing was left undone - planned to the last detail just like Doris has done for everyone else!

One of my assignments was keeping the water going . . . not too hard.

This picture was taken after the shower was over. A few people were still there visiting and Clarke had come back to pick Doris up. Love it!

TOFW

For quite some time I have seen Deseret Book advertise Time Out for Women. Corrine and I have talked about going but we have never done anything about it. In April I received my DB catalog and notice TOFW was coming to Riverside and decided to purchase tickets right then and there for all of us CA girls to go. Michelle was kind enough to arrange the hotel room and Dad & McKay were troopers watching the office and the kids.

Traffic out was a zoo and it took us four hours to go two hours worth of miles. We missed part of the first talk, but it was fine. We enjoyed a weekend of music by Michael McLean and Kenneth Cope and talks by Ardeth Kapp, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Brad Wilcox, Jill Manning and Emily Freeman. It was fun to be together and a great spiritual shot in the arm! I highly recommend it to you all!

FHE and celebration

Corrine and I get together monthly with some friends for FHE. Tonight we celebrated Corrine's b-day. Traceylee made some WONDERFUL Thai food and we all gathered to celebrate, visit and serve. While chatting we colored and cut out pieces for the file folder games our stake is doing for a humanitarian project for Relief Society. Michelle made a chocolate cake - yummy! Thanks everyone for a fun night!

Dinner for Corrine

We had dinner w/the family and Corrine had some birthday dinner. Rachel and the kids made Corrine this yummy birthday cake with strawberries! The kids were especially excited to help blow out the candles -- one for each decade!

Bradley & Corrine's special day!

Today is Corrine's big day-- HAPPY 40th birthday to you!
This morning we all woke up and spent the morning getting ready for Bradley's baby blessing. Because we were all together we took advantage of a yummy breakfast made by mom for Corrine's birthday.

All six girls with mom - we don't get this picture very often with everyone's different schedules, etc. It was fun to be together today.

One of the many wonderful things of today is being able to see grandma! At 90 years old I cherish each opportunity to be with her.

Little Bradley was the honoree of the day! Garrett gave him a beautiful blessing! What a wonderful little guy he is - so content and so loving! It is so much fun to see my 'little' brother as a father! Makes a big sister proud!

BYU game - again in Provo!

Okay so one of the perks of going to UT for Bradley is being able to go to a BYU home game. I have not been to one in about 12-13 years! All of the family arranged to be there. Unfortunately we did not all get to sit together, but it turned out okay. Ty was so excited to be there and to be hanging with Brock & Garrett. We were there early enough for him to see the players on the field ahead of time and he got to watch them go back to the locker room.
As they sat on the wall together I asked to take a picture - of course the typical 'Barlow Boy' pose was immediately ready for action!

Corrine and I were able to sit with Gary & Jenny and visit with them throughout the game and do some catching up. We also got our exercise because our seats were in the top corner of the stadium. Thankfully we were on the shade side because it was a hot day.

I love the way they have the seats spell out BYU - this was new to me.

After the game we met back up with the rest of the family and headed home to Melinda & Kate's place. It was a fun day and great to see a Cougar win!

Birthday celebrations in UT

Corrine and I were able to fly to UT for the weekend for the blessing of Bradley. With Corrine's 40th on Sunday Melinda, Kate & Rachel arranged for a wonderful surprise b-day party for Corrine at their club house. We had friends and family come and join her for her special celebration!

Friends are wonderful

As you all know I was released as the ward Relief Society president. I have served in this calling for almost 5 1/2 years and I have loved my associations with the sisters over the years! It was hard to be released. I was called as the 1st counselor in the stake RS presidency and so I am glad I am able to continue working with the sisters of the stake!

At work I was surprised with a flower delivery man came in and said he had a delivery for me. I was not expecting it at all. A very sweet sister/friend in my ward sent me this lovely bouquet of roses and a special note of thanks! Friends are wonderful!

Labor Day fun

Melinda came down for Labor Day weekend. It was fun to have her home. On Saturday we celebrated Carly's birthday. The girls all went swimming together. Melinda arranged with Jason to have his children come out and spend time with her and celebrate. Rachel & McKay ordered pizza and we had a fun celebration.
Rachel once again amazed us all and made a wonderful cake. Most clever was the twinkie under the frosting for the middle of the butterfuly - quite creative!

A blessed day ...

Today I had the opportunity to visit Laura & Jazmyn Sarrafan at the hospital. It has been a couple of weeks since I have been there and sweet Jazzy is doing SO good! I could not believe how much she has improved. She is giggling now and kicking her legs and moving around. Laura and I each tickled her and she would use her arms to try to get us to stop - great therapy for her. It was so fun to hear her laugh. She responded by looking at me when I would say her name. I am so excited to see how well she is doing. She has been in the hospital since June 27th. The CT scan looked good and they hope to be going to rehab in the next three weeks or so. If you want to follow sweet Jazmyn's recovery you can check out her blog by clicking on http://ourjazmyn.blogspot.com/

This morning Corrine and I went to the Los Angeles temple. We went to the 8:30 am endowment session and then had the wonderful privilege of witnessing the sealing of Lauren Shiveley and Trent Tipton. They were sealed by a member of the temple presidency and it was a very spiritual experience. They were challenged to remember their temple covenants; to walk side-by-side as a couple and to never forget how fortunate they are to have each other for eternity. These two were truly prepared for this day. They have made choices and kept covenants and are worthy to kneel together and be sealed for time and all eternity! The Lord has blessed them for their obedience. I am a better person because I was there to see it.

Doctrine & Covenants 82:10: I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Tonight their reception was held at the Event Room at the Camarillo Library. They served a wonderful dinner, had the members of the wedding party share some stories and we were able to see a DVD with pictures, etc. It was a fun evening. Lauren was absolutely beautiful!

Lauren's mother is my VT and my compassionate service leader. A couple of weeks ago she asked if Corrine and I would be willing to keep Lauren's wedding dress at our house. They are having their backyard redone and also doing some interior painting in preparation for Lauren's wedding and Lori didn't want the dress to get ruined in the house. Corrine felt my closet was the best place for it to hang because my closet rod is high and it could flow. Well let me tell you I felt a lot of pressure with that dress in my closet! I thought about it each day and made sure I was not letting it touch anything else! I was so worried I would be the one to ruin it! When Lauren came and picked it up I was relieved to know I was turning it over in one piece. :) Tonight she looked beautiful in her dress and it looks a lot better on her than in my closet!

Welcome to Bradley Steven Barlow

Oh how sweet he is! What a privilege to be an aunt for the 11th time. Garrett & Leanne welcomed their first child, Bradley Steven Barlow, in to the world on Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 11:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 11 ounces and is 20 inches. Check out that hair! I am a very lucky aunt! I can't wait to meet him in September!

Birthday dinner for Michelle

Tonight a group of us gathered together for dinner to celebrate Michelle's birthday. We ate at Buca di Beppo - an Italian eatery in Thousand Oaks.

We sat in the "Pope's Room" and we all laughed at all the Mormons eating with the Popes. There were pictures all over the walls of various popes and Catholic themes. In fact the center 'decoration' on the table was a bust of the pope!

Check out the center decoration. There is a lazy susan on the table and the food is passed around the table by spinning it. I must admit it was a little creepy to eat with this looking at me! So not a pleasant experience!

Thanks to Janet Fisher we all enjoyed gelato for dessert and Michelle got a small piece of 'cake' to eat as well. Gotta love the candle she blew out.

It was a fun evening, good food and good friends to hang out with. Happy Birthday Michelle! Hope it is your best one yet!

Final day in Yuba!

Today was my last day in Yuba City. Chelsea taught her class this morning and so the kids and I hung out for a bit. When she returned we all went over to a park. This is a cool park that had a water area. The water came up from the ground and also had a pole with buckets of water that would splash down on the kids. Jared & Hallie had a great time! See Jared laying down? He was waiting for the bucket of water to splash on him. We took Dre with us and he enjoyed running around.

After the park we had lunch and Hallie took her nap. Jared and Chelsea ran errands while I finished packing and gathering my things. When TJ got out of school we all loaded in the car and headed for the airport. It was a quick trip, but I enjoyed visiting with family!