Ward Party

The first of December we had a ward party. Santa came so the kids were able to sit on his lap and make their requests. Ry asked for T-Rex from Woody....meaning T-Rex from Toy Story. Annalynn aaked for an easel and art supplies. That girl loves to color and paint. We had a typical ward dinner meat, mashed potatos, corn, roll and salad. There were tons of people there they had to set up 5-6 six more tables. Then the primary did a program and the kids got to dress up. Annalynn was a girl shepherd in Bethlehem. Ryan was a lion in the nativity. They let all of the little kids dress up as some sort of animal for the nativity. They have a great time and really enjoy the attention.

Gettin the tree

On Saturday we went out to Stud Horse and got our Christmas Tree. It was a pretty cold and windy day! Luckily we were able to find one pretty quick. It was funny cause Rus went a lot faster than the kids' legs could carry them so they kept on saying where is dad, he is lost. He was wearing a brown coat and it was pretty hard to see him so far ahead. We found our tree and Rus cut it down. It was pretty hard to carry the tree with just me and Rus through the sage brush. Especially since I had been having some pretty intense hip pain for the past little while, so Rustin took off to go get the truck and bring it to us. It was sure funny to watch him bouncing around off-roading the truck to us. I tried to about 5 times to get all 3 of us into the picture while we were waiting for dad but to no luck...so half of my face is here in the picture.

The finished product. The kids were so excited to decorate the tree. The concentration of ornaments is at the bottom of the tree and in the front, but they are making memories and having fun so I didn't say much to them.

Waiting for dad to get back with the truck, with the saw!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we went to Great Grandpa Cannon's. All of Rustin's Cannon cousins were there. It was great fun except they started the dinner late. Both of Rustin's sisters were here for the weekend and it was great to see them. Tonia brought a high speed scanner with her and we were able to get a lot of grandpa's old pictures scanned. We were also able to type up a lot of his history, from what he has written down. It was great to see pictures of Rustin's great great grandparents and to learn a little bit about them. The kids got to play with their cousins and they had great fun. Here is a 4 generation picture.

My two fron teeth

In November Annalynn finally lost her 2nd front tooth. She loves that she can put them her tongue in between them.

Snow!

This morning we woke up to quite a bit of snow. Enough for the city plows to come out. Here are a few shots of the kids making snow angels. It was not wet enough to make snowmen, but they had a lot of fun. I think winter has finally arrived.

October 2011

My cute little skeleton. He couldn't be scary.

My beautiful butterfly. I love that smile and those freckles. For one of the Family Home Evenings in October we carved pumpkins. We had grandma and grandpa Barlow over for dinner and then grandma, the kids, and I stayed in and carved pumpkins, while dad and grandpa split wood and filled the trailer.

Ryan with his finished pumpkin. He was so happy to have a pumpkin on the porch.

Grandma Barlow helping clean out the pumpkins.

Annalynn with her finished pumpkin. She was happy to have a pumpkin on the porch too.

Red Ribbon Week was in October and Annalynn had a crazy hair day for that event. This is what we came up with.

October was filled with many day of Elk and Deer hunting. This is one of the sunsets that I saw while we were coming home from Elk hunting. Of course a camera never does it justice, but I thought it was beautiful. We had one elk and one deer tag this year. We were not able to fill the elk tag, but we did get our deer. We got one gallon bag full of ground meat for jerky, since Rustin has become quite the expert at jerky making. He actually has people asking if he can do it for them and they pay him. We also got 14 pints of bottled meat our of the deer.

Grandma's Funeral

If any family reads this, please remember that these are our families thoughts and feelings. If there is something that you don't like or agree with I apologize in advance. Rustin's grandma passed away in August. We were able to see her a few time while she was in the Beehive Home before the actually passing. Annalynn didn't really like seeing grandma while in the Beehive Home, because she had, had her stroke and she couldn't speak to you. Ryan was just fine with it. It was a sad day, but a blessing. Grandma had been in pain for so long.

The pallbearers...even President Metcalf helped, he is the one on the end. Rustin is the one in the white shirt.

The kids with grandma one last time. They sure did love going to her house and giving her "loves." I feel blessed that my children had the opportunity to get to know their great-grandparents. I never had that opportunity. I hope that they are old enough that they will have at least a little memory of her.

Steven and Ryan getting one last look.

The pallbearers...The oldest grandson from each family. R to L Brent Barlow, Rustin Barlow, Alan Keeler, Troy Barlow, Jeff Barlow, and Bradley Barlow.

The vault cover.

Annalynn with the casket. Beautiful flowers.

Ryan getting a drink at the cemetery. A side note. After the dedication of the grave. We were all getting ready to leave and loading up all the kids into the cars. Steven had disappeared. We had all had heart failure for a few minutes. He decried that he wanted to go play on the backhoe. So thankful that we found him and that he was okay. It is so amazing how kids don't see the danger in the things that they do.

Rusitn giving his boutonniere to his grandma.

Ryan with grandma's casket.