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!

First day of school, playdough, the park and monkey bread

Today was TJ's first day of school. How fun that I was here to take his 'first day' picture. He is sporting a new t-shirt, new cool shoes and a new backpack. With all the necessities he is ready to go!
Chelsea taught two classes at the gym this morning so I had the kids here in the morning. We played in the backyard for a little bit and then we decided to play with play dough. I had no idea how entertained they would be with play dough. I think we ended up playing for close to two hours! They made all different sorts of things -- hot dogs, snakes, etc. Here are a couple of their favorites.

Just in case you can't tell this is a tree with Jared standing next to it. He is riding his skateboard and is quite proud of being able to make one. Also, they asked me to make their dog, Dre. We then added a leash and Hallie and Jared (complete with a skateboard) is taking Dre on a walk. We made a fun alligator, but it got destroyed before we could get a picture.

After play dough we took a walk to Happy Park to play. It is located close to their house and so we took a walk (Jared rode his bike). We had a good time playing. The slide was a little hot so it made it a little more difficult to play with. Hallie played in the 'kitchen' and cooked for me. As we were leaving Jared wanted to climb up the sign. When he got to the top he started singing "Humpty Dumpty" to me. It just shouted "take a picture" so I did. :)

This afternoon we had lunch and then Chelsea ran a couple of errands while Hallie took a nap and Jared and I watched a DVD about the letters of the alphabet. Jared and Chelsea went and picked up TJ from school at 3:00.

After school we all went to Target and did some shopping for a package for Todd. That was our FHE tonight. Chelsea read an article from the Friend magazine about loving your country. We went around their house and found things in their house that showed they love their country. Hallie was darling. She led the music. The activity was putting together the package for their daddy and then we had ice cream and monkey bread for dessert. Jared really wanted to buy monkey bread at the store. I told him I know how to make it so I made the 'Barlow special' for dessert.

Tonight we had a little mishap. Their home teacher came over to help fix the sprinklers. The kids were outside talking to him. Chelsea was standing at the door calling them in. As TJ ran in the house he jumped to miss the mat at the back door and his head hit Chelsea in the chin which caused her teeth to cut her lip. She had a pretty good bleeder and it was very painful. I told her she looked like Meg Ryan with a Botox job gone wrong. Her blog has some fun pictures of her face. :)

Sunday Dinner presented by Jared...and a trip to school

Well I told you all I would let you know about Jared's meal plans. Today we had a pot roast (my choice) and then Jared wanted potatoes and corn on the cob. We had a good time with dinner. We bought some dessert, but it will have to wait until Monday.

After dinner we took a walk over to see TJ's school. He starts tomorrow morning and is now in the 2nd grade. It is really nice because the school is really close to their home. We all went and took the dog, Dre, with us. We found TJ's classroom and his name on the sign at the door.

TJ is in Mrs. Teague's class. When we looked through the window we were able to see where he will sit. It was fun for me to be able to see this so now I can talk to him about school and visualilze right were he is.
Here is the Barlow family (without dad) standing in front of TJ's classroom door. We spent a few minutes playing on the playground as well. TJ is excited because the 2nd and 3rd grade have the same recess and his friend is in 3rd grade so they will be able to play together.

Good luck TJ in the 2nd grade! I am sure it is going to be a great year! Work hard and study hard!

Football in Yuba City

My brother Todd is currently deployed with the Air Force. His wife, Chelsea and three children are still in Northern California. I came this weekend for a visit with the family and to help Chelsea for the weekend. I lucked out to be able to also see TJ play football. He had four scrimmages this morning. Chelsea and TJ left early this morning because they had to be there early for the weigh in and certification. When Jared and Hallie woke up I got them ready and we headed over to the field. I was able to see two of the four scrimmages. TJ moved up this year so he is one of the youngest on the team. I really enjoyed watching him play.

After football we used some gift certificates and headed over to In-N-Out Burger for lunch and then home. We were able to talk to Todd via the Internet; relax and I watched the kids while Chelsea ran errands and then Jared and I went to the store to pick out something for dinner. I told Chelsea I would take care of buying & cooking dinner on Sunday. Jared and I had a good time at the grocery store deciding what to buy. His favorite part was the dessert. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post for the menu.

Tonight we had Little Caesar's Pizza and Chelsea is having a 'girls night out' with some of her friends. I have been able to catch up on all my blogging. Sorry it has taken so long!

Bridal Shower Fun!

Tonight Corrine and I gave Lauren Shiveley her Camarillo Bridal Shower. Lauren was my Beehive several years ago and Corrine taught her in seminary both Freshman & Senior year.

Mom was there and of course in true mom fashion she was there to help put the final touches on everything.

Lauren (center) with her sister Lindsay and her mom, Lori.

Corrine bought these fun balloons for the front porch as people came in. The large balloon says "Mr & Mrs" on it.

Corrine did a great job putting all of the details together. We are both tired of going to showers that are 'downers' and seem to have a negative feel to them and so Corrine wanted to make sure Lauren had an uplifting experience. She interviewed (separately) both Lauren and Trent and asked them questions about each other. It was so much fun to read their responses and hear how they met and how they fell in love - each from their own perspective. In addition she got advice from a lot of people about keeping an eternal perspective on marriage. We read this advice after she opened each of her gifts. When it was over, we heard a lot of great advice and Lauren said it was her favorite part of the night. I am so excited for Lauren and the choices she has made to get her to this point!

A heart attack at the Barlow house

Corrine and I went to dinner with a friend tonight for FHE. After dinner I went back to work to do rental files. Corrine was working in the yard getting new plants in the front walk area. She called me at the office and said, "Alisa, we have just been heart attacked!" After going in the house she heard the doorbell ring. She opened the door to see this beautiful display of hearts along with some cupcakes! What a fun surprise. I am sure Corrine made it difficult on whoever it was who did it because she was out in the front yard until about 10:00. If the little angel is reading my blog - THANK YOU!