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.

August 2011

In August we had to run some parts to Rus in Minnersville. He needed them to finish up fixing a disc. I had never been there before and was available so the kids and I got a work truck and headed on over. It was quite the drive. Very pretty country to pass through. But I should have grabbed the portable DVD player for the kids. On the way back we stopped at Parowan gap to get see these petroglyphs. They were cool. Kind of hard to see, but now I can say that we have been there.

On a Sunday afternoon we decided to take a drive to Cedar Mountain. Rustin was looking into the possibility of clearing a lot of fallen trees. It was a fun Sunday afternoon. Annalynn loves flowers and here she is with them in her braids.

While up there we decided to go to the ice caves. Here we are down in the cave.

The kids at the top of the ice cave.

At Navajo Lake on the top of Cedar Mountain.

August started a new school year. Here Annalynn is on her first day of first grade. She was so excited. She wanted to start about 2 weeks before school actually started. Every day she would ask if it was school today. She was up at about 6 wanting to get ready for school. Unfortunately the camera was lot for Ryan's first day of Pre-School. I will take one this week now that the camera is found. It is a few months late, but at least he will have one for remembrance purposes.

July 2011

Well it has been awhile since I lasted posted. This a summary of what happened in July in our family. Sorry the photos are not in order, but oh well. Hope you enjoy!!!

In July we met my mom and brother Loren for a picnic in Pine Valley. It was fun. We stopped at the Pine Valley Chapel before and went through the tour. The kids' great grandfather Cannon was the Summer Branch President in Pine Valley for quite a few years. It was fun for the kids to see his picture in the chapel. We played games and had a great picnic time.

Great Grandma Barlow waiting for the 24th parade to start. This is the last picture I have of her while she was alive to bad I didn't think to get the kids in the picture.

Tonia, Victoria, Elizabeth, Ryan, Allie, and Steven waiting for the 24th parade to start. Annalynn was on the primary float.

We did fireworks in our backyard on Sunday night. Grandpa Barlow came over along with Kirby, Nicki, Jaycee, Brylee,and our neighbors the Brackens. It was a cheap package and there were not very many in the package, but the kids had fun and loved them.

At the Pine Valley Chapel.

In July Ryan turned 4. It was a fun birthday. Here Rus is showing him how to use his brand new dart gun. Tonia was visiting and they were able to be here for the fun. Steven wanted to join in the fun of the gun to.

Jaycee and Ryan watching fireworks in the backyard.

Ryan and mom and dad with his cake.

Ryan's cake he wanted a Thomas the Train cake. This is what I came up with.

He also wanted a Thomas the Train set. He loves this train track set. Grandma and Grandpa Barlow gave him some extensions and a Percy. It kept them entertained for hours and hours. Rus is helping them figure out the sawmill and the zip line.

Annalynn on the primary float for the 24th parade. She is on the back row 2nd one from the end of the trailer. She was so happy she got to dress up as a scripture hero and she was wearing a purple dress. She thought she was so beautiful and she was.

Pine Valley Chapel sign and my handsome little man.

Ralph, Nicki, and Brylee watching fireworks. Rustin get another one ready to light.

We turned the water trough over to fill it up for a horse that we had on our lot for a couple of months and this is what we found. Rus and I couldn't figure out why it was so hard to turn over. This is all from stinking gophers. Totally crazy.

A broken window

So the other night Rus noticed that this had happened to our window. Needless to say we were not very happy. We have no idea how it happned. Neither of the kids admit to doing it. So we are stuck. Deductible is $500 on home owners and were quoted around $450 to get it fixed. I am over it now, but was very stressed at the moment.

4th of july weekend

Thursday night we went to St. George to go to Great Uncle Boyd's viewing. He is Rustin's great uncle. Annalynn was very curious about the body and why it looked so different. We explained about the spirit leaving the body when we die and going to heaven. I am not sure that she understood.

Friday while checking a story on KSL.com my computer crashed. Luckily we were able to get the virus removed and everything saved within a week. I was very stressed cause all of my pictures are saved on our computer. We will be investing in a external hard drive very soon.

Well it is another July. This 4th found us camping. It was hotter than hot. Very miserable. Rustin's siter Tonia was here and went camping with us. We left on Friday, Rustin had to work late, but grandma Barlow and Tonia took the kids with them. I just waited for Rus to get home. He heard from a co-worker that he had won the monthly prize at Brackens from a facebook contest, but had to verify. Since the computer was not working he had to check it via the Wii. After the sun went down our trailer finally cooled off. All the windows were open. I had to get up in the night to shut them, but so greatful that it cooled off. I don't sleep well with heat.

Saturday was spent in the shade, to hot otherwise. Much moving of the chairs was seen. Rus and I did some target practice. We have purchased some life size deer targets. We borrowed our brothers range finder. I practiced at 200 yards for the deer hunt. It was pretty windy and I couldn't kneel down since it was very rocky. I did get one really good shot though. Our intention is to continue to practice. We also went to the creek and let the kids play in the sand. They had a blast. Just enough water for them to have fun, but not be very deep.

On Sunday night the kids started a game of riding the dump truck down the hill. Boy were they laughing like crazy. It was so fun watching them ride down the hill. Only a couple of spills occured.

Monday morning we packed up and came home. Here are a few pics. I forgot the camera when we went to the creek. To bad, there were some good times had by all there.

Ryan at the bottom of the hill.

Annalynn at the bottom of the hill.

Taking an afternoon nap.

Monday afternoon we went to St. George did some shopping. Priced out our new bay window. Lowes had 18 months same as cash. We decided to go with them. Then we had a BBQ with my parents. We watched the firework show on TV not the same as the real thing, but St. George's show didn't start until 10 PM. We would have been home really late.