Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I have been very blessed this year with a healthy happy family and a comfy, cozy home.

That is all that I really need to be happy but I have been trying to be good so if you can't think of anything to bring me, one or more of these things on my list would be great!

( Oh and I set it to music to help you remember. Tune to "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music")

Taking a nap on a Sunday Afternoon,

My favorite TV show returning only too soon.

Southwest Airlines bringing my fam'ly from far,

Finding that Lance has cleaned my messy car.

Snow on the lawn, but not on the road,

Laundry all done to the last very load,

A friend on the porch making my doorbell ring,

these are a few of my favorite things.

A cup of Hot Chocolate after playing in the snow,

My cinnamon spice candle lit all aglow.

Fitting back into my ski-inny clothes,

a fresh coat of polish on each of my toes.

When the kids listen

and theres a clean kitchen

That's when I feee-el glad

I simply imagine my favorite things

Wouldn't that beeeeeee sooo rad!

See you soon! (I hope)

Love, Katie

PV, Ut

trick or treat!

There are tricks and treats happening at our house all year long but on Oct. 31 we decided to dress up for it. Halloween and the Barkers is always a good time. Lance even carved his own pumpkin this year! Can you guess what it had on it?

Thomas (beep beep)

Ron Weasley and Harry Potter

One (1) looks good on you baby!

So my last little babe turned 1 last week. Little Joshua is officially a toddler. He is walking around like crazy, talking (jibberish) constantly, and making messes like it is going out of style.

He was 25 lbs at 9 months so Im sure he is pushing 3o now that he is one and I have the back pain to prove it. He is one happy little guy as long as I am in view and he loves being the center of attention. If he likes you he will smile all six teeth at you and give you the point. He still is a very sporadic sleeper and a very light sleeper. He loved his bottle though it has been recently confiscated. He has tons of energy and tries to hold his own with his brothers though he quickly retreats. He is often at the bottom of a dog pile. He is the biggest snuggler and absolutely loves bear hugs. He is such a fun little guy!

Rise all you loyal cougars...

Ok it has been a long while since our last update so we are jumping right back in. Im not going to even try and catch up. Sooooo it being fall there is pretty much one thing that is going on around here. MmmHmmmm, Football. Now, you can call our family a lot of things but one thing you cannot call us is disloyal. Especially with football. And if you remember this post you will get the picture. We will always Rise and Shout (be it good or bad) and though it may not be the best season, we are certainly having the best time.

2010 recap

Spent the season climbing to the top of the stadium in my third trimester enormity. Joshua was born in time to celebrate the Nov. 20 victory over New Mexico. This was the year that influenced us to splurge on better seats. Bring on 2011

2011

Not sure that even QB Riley Nelson is getting this kind of attention

Cougar Mania

Cameron and Cameron. Coincidence? Nope. Now when Cam asks who he was named after we can show him this picture. Hopefully Joshua's namesake will step up this year.

There are some downsides though. The fans get kinda loud.(ehhem, Lance)...

And D spends a fair amount of time looking up who caused the turnover...

...BUT, the food is good,

the music is good,

And you sure can't beat the view!

Go Cougars! Rise Up!

Birthday boys

I will start with Cordon since his actual birthday is tomorrow though we had his birthday party yesterday. Good thing we have cousins close because that is an instant party with just a couple of phone calls. The kids spent most of the party between the hot tub and the trampoline with pinatas and pizza in between.

Anyway, Cordon just turned 5. 5 seems so much older than 4. Cordon is my little cuddler. He loves to be right by me and especially loves to snuggle when we watch movies. He is still our little movie quoter and has an amazing memory. He recalls any commercial when I need it such as when I am cleaning he can recall the uses for oxiclean and even tell me how much it costs.

He loves technology and playing computer games. He is often in his own little world talking to himself and playing pretend. He loves to play ninja and sword fighting. Cordon has an attention for detail. When he wants breakfast he will say, "I want raisin bran in a bowl with the milk first and a spoon." or he will say, "I want pancakes with peanut butter first then syrup and then cut it....please." He is still scared of most everything though he is making progress. As of a few days ago he will now put his face in the water when swimming.

My little Cam Cam turned 3 the end of June. Cam is his own person and does things his own way and in his own time. His terrible twos are lingering as he has a heck of a time sharing and learning not to take things from others. He loves to rough house and be thrown in the air. He rivals Darren as to being a daredevil and is probably even more accident prone. He is my only little bright blue eyed boy and has the cutest little laugh. He still doesn't talk much but if you get him in church he will talk half words half jibberish the entire time. It is hard not to baby him since he still seems so young (in fact when going through his birthday pics I realized he is wearing the same shirt on his third birthday as on his first) but his tantrums are not so cute any more so he is having to grow up fast. He is obsessed with Thomas the Train as he has been for nearly two years now. And he absolutely could stay in a swing all day if there were someone willing to push him. The bigger the swing the better, this kid is not scared of anything.

Darren turned 6 way back in January but I thought I would throw this in since I failed to ever mention it. Darren seems to always get the more elaborate birthday parties. Probably since it is in the middle of the school year and nothing else is going on. This year he had his party at children's museum. They did a fabulous job with the star wars theme and each child got their own balloon light saber and had a chance to try to knock the earth off of its orbit. We invited parents and siblings too since we were still new to the area and 1) Weren't sure if other parents would trust their kids with us and 2)we wanted to meet the parents of the kids in Darren's class at school and at church. Darren is still our little smart guy. He is reading like crazy and my sister got him (and me) into Harry Potter. His fascinations right now are wild life, legos, all kinds of air craft, magic and is starting to express interest in US history. He is very social and is not afraid to approach anyone and ask to be their friend. He is still VERY competitive and needs to be first at everything. He loves attention and is a show off. He is also very sweet and loves to be sung to sleep. If you sing him to sleep he falls asleep with a smile.

Happy Anniversary to us!

In Eight years of marriage my true love gave to me:

Seven years of schooling,

Six years of football,

Five places living,

Four crazy kids,

Three graduations,

Two big vacations,

And One Happily Ever After.

I Love you eight years more.

more before and afters

So phase 1 of the taming of the yard is finished. We wanted to get this portion done so that we could get the play set in before the kids are too old for a play set. We are very happy with the result and the kids have been out playing everyday since Lance completed construction of the playset. So if any of you want to come over and play and/or BBQ we'll be waitin' for ya!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Favorite yum yum summertime treat.

Fresh Fruit Tart

Whether I am bringing dessert to a party or hiding and indulging quietly by myself this dessert is probably my #1 favorite summertime treat (which is saying a lot because I have many many favorite treats). It is light and sweet and with all those beautiful berry antioxidants it is hard to feel to guilty after indulging.

Recipe

Crust

1 and 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 stick and 3 TB butter

combine and press into tart pan. Bake for 8 min. at 350 degrees. (do not overcook)

Filling

1 package cream cheese softened

1/2 cup sugar

1tsp vanilla

zest and juice of lime

stir together and spread into cooled tart crust

layer with all your favorite seasonal berries or fruits. Peaches would be awesome too!

Enjoy!

I am a genius!

Ok lets be honest here. I am NO genius. When I was in high school, out of desperation, my dad offered me $500 once to bring home straight A's. My next report card I produced all A's. He never did that again and neither did I. I did what teachers describe as "not reaching my potential."

Now in my career as a mother I wonder if, mentally, I am reaching my potential. If I listen to my kids then I am borderline super genius. So I will listen. They think I am amazing. Afterall, I know exactly what buttons to push on the microwave to make hot chocolate hot enough but not too hot. I know how to put their 115 peice train set together in under 5 min. and without instructions. I have two magic tools, tape and glue, that can fix about anything and best of all I know how to use the remote to the tv and find their favorite shows.

Big deal to you, huh? Well these are all things that my kids come to me for because they think I can do ANYTHING. And that I know everything.

So why do I bring this up now? Well, mostly because I am realizing that my 6 year old is rapidly becoming smarter than me. He is starting to learn these things, become independent and I will soon lose super hero status. Don't get me wrong, I encourage them to learn and be independent. But now it is staring me in the face that I need to raise the bar for myself if I want to be smarter than a first grader.

So I guess I will dust off the old books, brush up on my state capitals, relearn all the types of clouds and just try to stay ahead of the game. It's ok if they teach me a thing or two along the way. I already have learned so much from these little ones already. Things that you can't learn in school like; unconditional love, patience, silliness, and how to just have fun being together.

But for now I will enjoy being super smart. Even if I am not. But don't tell my kids that, they will figure it out soon enough.

Me and the kids

Since the last time...

Oh I keep thinking that I am going to be better at documenting our lives. That maybe I will someday be able to write down the mundane details of our lives, the dreams of my heart or even just more than a line or two about our trials and accomplishments, But until that day comes I will have to be content with dragging and dropping photos and writing a few one liners to describe. Anyway since the last time I updated.....

Joshua now uses utensils

We took our Easter pictures into the sun

we roasted some weenies...

...or ate them raw by the fire

had a sod laying party in the rain (Thank you for helping Matt Vanessa and Cody)

gave up on potty training

kids still pick their noses

Cam got a double shiner. (That is why the doctor told mama that no more monkeys should jump on the bed)

Grandpa helped Darren with his Science project

Darren rocked his presentation

That is all for now. Baby is crying. Kids are yelling. I must get back to work. Good thing I love my job!