Barnes Family

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

GIngerbread houses

We picked up some gingerbread house kits while we were at Ikea. Tanner begged every night to do them. We finally found a night to do them. They turned out great!

Tanner working hard!

Mitchell thinking hard. His had a few cracks in it...

So his became a pile instead of a house!

Mitchell making a fence

Tanners turned out great

John worked really hard on his!

working on mine

silly boys!

Mitch and his masterpiece

John's finished product

Mine...

All of them!

This is just one of the many things we like to do to get ready for Christmas!

I know it was a month ago! But I can't write about Christmas until I get Thanksgiving done!

So we drove up to Utah for Thanksgiving this year. We were tired from the wedding and decided to invite ourselves to my sister Cindy's house! Plus we wanted to see where Ashley and Scotty were living. We drove straight to their apartment. It's a cute little place.

Cindy and I baked all day on Thursday! It was fun to do it together! My Aunt Janet always made the best rolls when I was growing up. We call them "Janet Rolls!" Cindy and I made a batch and they were delicious. They are even more special since my Aunt Janet passed away last month. We enjoyed remembering her as we made her famous rolls!

Ashley and Scotty came over for dinner. Scotty was a trooper, he wasn't feeling well and he still came. Kevin was home and my mom and dad came over for dinner. We had a great time.

Janet rolls ready to go in the oven.

Everything turned out great!

The table looked pretty!

The newlyweds

John checking out the black Friday ads.

The boys are chillin

Cindy and Steve

Kevin ready to eat...

Mitchell relaxing after dinner

On Friday we went to Ikea! One of our favorite Utah stops! Ashley and Scotty bought some essentials for their new place. We spent almost 3 hours there! crazy. Friday night we went up to my brother Todd and Sharolyn's house in Midway. My Aunt Lois and Uncle Dave and their som Brent were in town at my cousin Jenna's. So they all met us at Todd's for Thanksgiving leftovers! It was great to see them. After we had only been there an hour Ashley got sick! She got Scotty's stomach flu. Poor girl was sick all night.

Ashley and her daddy.

Ashley and Scotty

Uncle Dave and little Justin

Todd and my cousin Brent

Jenna's new baby and Justin, he wanted him to play football!

Jenna opening a few baby gifts.

Cindy, Justin and Jenna's baby.

Steve, Cindy, Baby and Aunt Lois

Tanner and baby.

We played a fun new game at Todds. It's called Ligretto.

Cindy was a good Aunt. She was reading to Emily and Justin while we played the game.

Technology!

We planned to go home on Sunday, but John and Mitchell both spent Friday night in the bathroom with the flu! So we got up and put them in the car and drove home. I decided if I was going to get it, I wanted to be home! They both made it home ok. They slept the whole way! We had a good time, but it ended a little fast and yucky!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Coming soon

I've been thinking about updating my blog! I just haven't had 10 minutes to do it!

Here is a list of things going on in my head that I want to blog about. I will get caught up as soon as I get my Christmas card done! I am just getting started.... ugh.

1. Pinterest... I have made a few things I want to share with you all!
2. Thanksgiving... we went to Cindy's and had a great time until Scotty, John and Mitchell got the stomach flu.
3. Work... I have been working the last few weeks and it has been consuming my time and energy.
4. Cub Scouts... I really enjoy my new calling with the Webelos. They are cute!
5. Christmas... The decorations are up. Train is almost done. Shopping is not done. Christmas Card hasn't been started. Waiting for Ashley and Scotty to come home to take our Santa picture.
6. Blendtec... my new blender that i LOVE.

These are a few things that are coming to my blog soon! Hold tight!

*****The annual Barnes Family Train Party is this Monday and Tuesday! Come anytime between 6:30 - 9:00! (and pray that it gets done in time! haahha!)

Monday, November 21, 2011

11.11.11

I can't believe my daughter is a married woman! It feels like it was a dream! It was a beautiful day. Everything went so smooth! John and I felt so happy sitting in the temple watching our little Christmas girl get sealed for time and all eternity to the love of her life. People kept asking us if we were freaking out... we could honestly say that this is the day we raised her for. It was the next step she had to take in order to return to live with her Heavenly Father again. You can learn more about temple marriages here. We would be freaking out if she was making choices that would take her away from this day. Scotty and Ashley are very much in love and we are so happy to have Scotty part of our family! It has taken me a week to go through a thousand pictures and pick the ones I wanted to post. We haven't gotten the photographers back. As soon as I do, I will post more! Here is there very cute announcement! We knew we wanted to tie in the whole 11.11.11 theme to it. John hired a graphic designer (Tracy at BlueBirdDesignStudios.com) to design it for us. Ashley wrote the story and the designer went with it. She was suppose to give us 3 to pick from and she ended up making like 11 different ones. (it made it really hard to decide!) She is so talented! We picked a few favorite things out of each of them and then she put it all together. SO cute!!!

Here are a few of my favorite ones of Ashley & Scotty coming out of the temple.

So many hugs!

The fab 5! (Ashley's best friends in high school!)

The Marx and Barnes Families

The Barnes side

My handsome boys with the happy couple!

I love my kids!

Grandma Barnes

Grandma and Grandpa Westra

Our little girl all grown up!

So happy!

Silly dad!

I love this angle!

Love her!

The Westra kids (David, Todd, Cindy, Mom, Dad, Julie, Allison, Mark, Scott. Missing Greg and John Although I think they were there with us in the temple!)

We love our mom and dad!

Silly Fab 5!

All the girl friends!

The Barnes family (Edie, Debbie, Cathi, John, Barbara, Annette and Mom)

John and all of the Barnes girls!

The Westra nieces and nephews

After pictures at the temple we went to a beautiful luncheon at a church building nearby. Kim did a great job! It was so fun! She had a really cute mashed potato bar! Then she had the best prime rib and salad and veggies.

YUM!

Ashley didn't spill!

Todd and Sharolyn and Justin & Grandpa

Grandma Barnes and The Moons

Edie, Luke and John

The Fab 5!

Emily, Dallin, Grandma, Brendon and Charity

The teenage table having lots of fun with the sparkling cider bottles!

Kade, Cathi, Kris, Keaton, Barb, Katherine and Annette

The roommates

Mauri, Angela, Mark, Gary, Julie, Steve, Cindy, Kelsie and Christopher

Dave, Rebekah, Scott, Jack and Jenn

Afton fell asleep so the boys put their sparkling cider bottles around her!

The Reception

Wasn't it beautiful!

The smartest decision we made was to hire a decorator for the wedding reception. Pam was the best! She went above and beyond our expectations! She is so creative!!!! She understood Ashley's vision and she created it. We made with the centerpieces and we ordered the photo's and she did everything else. I showed up at 6pm and everything was amazing!!! All week, everyone kept telling me I was so calm and I would reply that I had Pam! It was wonderful. We were able to enjoy our company and spend time with them without stressing over decorating.

2 weeks before the wedding I found the cutest milk and cookie bar on Pinterest. (click here to see it. If you aren't on Pinterest, you really should check it out!) I talked Ashley into changing our dessert plans to this. It was so such a hit! Everyone loved the cookies and milk! (and I am sure the pink straws were a favorite too!)