Latest project

We have a balcony above our living room that you can look from the hallway down to the living room. Unfortunately, it was obviously not built to code, because our children can fit their heads through and Elias' whole body could fit through if he turned sideways. Since we didn't want any fatalities and each one of our kids got their heads stuck at least once, we decided to fix the problem. I wasn't sure what to do at first. I wondered about replacing the whole thing, but decided that would be too expensive. My dad suggested putting chicken wire up over the whole thing. (Yes, you read that right--chicken wire!) I looked at Home Depot and Lowes for ballusters, but they were $4-5 each and we needed 22, so that would have been too expensive, also. Finally, I decided I could just use dowels (much more manageable at $1.75 each). I drilled holes in the bottom and then drilled holes in the upper railing about twice as deep as needed. That way I could put the dowel up into the upper hole, then drop it down into the lower hole. I glued them in and then stained them. (Am I good or what?! The stain matches perfect and I was just guessing and hoping for the best!) Anyway, I think it looks pretty dang good and it's nice that I don't have to worry about my babies falling through the railing!

Elias with the railing before. Another picture of Elias, before.

Here's after the dowels were put in, but not stained.

I'll post another picture of the final product soon. I have to charge my batteries for my camera.

Ok...I got the picture. So here's the finished product.

Please excuse the blurry nature of the above photo. Dale took it and he never takes the pictures, so he needs some practice. :)

Jason's wedding

Dale's brother, Jason, got married in Carson City last weekend to a great girl named Jeannie. She and Jason make a great couple and we hope all the best to them. Dale and I decided at the last minute to fly out to Carson City and leave the three oldest kids with my parents. It was the first time since we've been married that we've flown together, so that was fun. Dale loves to look out the window--I thought it was fun to watch how excited he got when we took off and landed. It was good to see all of Dale's family at the wedding. I was going to take pictures, but the batteries on my camera died and I forgot my charger, so I only got a few. (I will be posting those shortly). Um...nothing else too exciting happening around here.

Family Scripture Study

Here's some pictures of a typical family scripture study. We read scriptures together every night before family prayer and bedtime. It was kind of hard to get into the habit, but now that it's part of the bedtime routine, our kids don't let us forget it. Sometimes it feels like the kids don't pay attention, or that they fight over who crossed who's line on the couch, but then they say things like "Why do the Nephites keep going back and forth; good then bad, then good, then bad? Why don't they just stay good?" or "Lehi and Nephi were really powerful missionaries, huh?" That's when it's all worth it!

Dale usually reads while the rest of us listen.

Here's Kydee, Elora, and Dalan sitting next to me on the couch, listening so well.

Elias nursing while we read. (Hope this doesn't offend anyone!)

Elias crying because I made him stop nursing so I could get a picture. (Isn't he so cute?!)

Anyway, for everyone struggling with family scripture and prayer, just keep at it, no matter what happens, even if it's just a few verses. The kids will get better at sitting still and paying attention and they really do learn, even when it feels like they have no idea what is going on. It really makes our home have less fighting and gets the kids in the habit of reading their scriptures and making them part of their lives.

Trip to Moab

Our trip to Moab was fun. My cousin got married on Friday. She looked very beautiful and we were all so glad that she and Scott have made that commitment.
Saturday and Sunday were spent on the La Sal mountains above Moab for my mom's 50th birthday party. We surprised her by contacting friends from throughout her life and having them write memories about her. We were able to get ones clear from 2nd grade until now, so that was pretty fun to hear those stories and see my mom's reaction to them. Her brothers and sisters sang a song about her to the tune of "The Brady Bunch" theme song. Then my siblings and I sang a song about her to the tune of "Johnny Verbeck." Maybe I'll post the words when I find the notebook we wrote it in.
Monday we rode a raft down the Colorado River. It was my first time on the river. How, you might ask, did I never go down the river growing up in Fruita, Colorado and visiting Moab every summer? I just had the luck of being out of town or pregnant every time our church youth group or my family went rafting. (I wasn't pregnant for the youth group trips, just so you know!) Anyway, it was a lot of fun goofing around with my family and splashing each other. I wish I would have been braver and jumped off a cliff into the river, but there's always next time.
BTW--I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures for this post, but I will try to get some from my family and add them.

I'm baaack!

Well, our internet has been messed up for about a month, but we finally got that problem taken care of, so I am back and have comitted to writing at least once a week (we'll see how that goes).

So, I guess to start out, I'll write about what's on my mind, which just happens to be my wonderful husband, Dale. We celebrated our 8th anniversary on July 15th. I can't believe how long it's been already! The time really does seem to have just flown by. I love Dale for the following reasons, plus so many more: Dale works so hard to take care of us, we have a good time together, he watches romantic movies with me even though he hates them (I watch action flicks with him, so I guess that means we sacrifice for each other), and he tries really hard to be a good dad. Dale, I Love You!!

Ok, enough with the mushy stuff that no one really cares about and on to our trips this summer (more stuff that no one really cares about, yay!) Well, let's see....this summer we've traveled a ton and we still have three more trips coming up. So, for those of you who were worried ab0ut the economy slouching due to high gas prices and less people traveling, have no fear! The Barbee family is determined to single-handedly bring us out of the slump through our summer trips. We've gone to Cedar City twice (visiting family), California (Disneyland), Seattle (visiting my sister), Grand Junction (my 10-yr class reunion), Price (cousin's funeral), Moab (family), Las Vegas (more family), Declo, ID (family reunion), um....I don't think anywhere else. The kids and I are going to Moab tomorrow for my mom's 50th birthday party, cousin's wedding, and to see family. We're all going to Carson City, NV towards the end of August for Dale's brother's wedding, and the first week in September we're going camping with some friends somewhere in the middle of Idaho. After all that, I don't think we'll be in a traveling mood for some time.

Random Summer Trip Photos

Man! Don't I have the cutest kids!? Have a great day everyone!