More Disneyland and beach pictures

I was going to post more about the beach and Disneyland and never did, so here's some pictures. If I had more time, I'd write about our trip, but I really need to go spend time with my family and get away from the computer.

Here's Dalan pulling the sword from the stone.

Kydee with Cinderella.

Amos, Micah, Eli, Mom, Dalan, Samuel, Elora, Dad, Kydee, Elias, Dale at the beach.

Elora got to go on stage and help with a show.

Here's Samuel, Elora, Dalan, Mom, Kydee, and Ariane riding Heimlich's Train. (It's pretty cool--you drive by bits of food that Heimlich eats and you can smell each one; animal crackers, watermelon, um...I can't remember what else.

I've tried to post this three times and my internet connection keeps quitting, so I better publish it now while I've got the chance. Someday I'll blog about Disneyland with four kids, and about our camping trip that we took a couple of weeks ago.

Wedding pictures

Here's some of Dale's family the day before the wedding:

Jason, Charles' wife Stacey, his mom holding Dawn's baby Rachel, half of Shelly's head
Dale's dad
Jason looking at Jeannie as she is coming down the aisle.And that's when my batteries died, so I didn't get a picture of Jeannie or the actual ceremony. Whoops!

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!

Disneyland

Boys at the beach. (Dale and my 4 brothers--one's in front of another one, so you can only see three.)

All of us with 'The Mouse' himself.

Grandma and cousin Jonas. (Ariane's in the background.)
Isn't this the coolest Disney hat ever?! Eli bought it a few years ago when he went to Disneyland with the high school and everyone just loves it! And Elora looks so cute, as always!
There we are on the jungle cruise. (Well, you can only see Dalan, Dale, Ariane, Elias, Jonas and my dad, but we were all there.)

We've been lucky enough to have been to Disneyland three times with our kids. This most recent time was with my entire family (excepting my bro-in-law, Matt, who's in Iraq). We had lots of fun. We spent a day at Disneyland, a day at California Adventure, and a day at the beach. Dale, I, and our kids stayed the night at our good friends, the Bigelow's, while my parents drove home through the night. We had a good time visiting with them, as usual, and hope to see them again sometime before another two years go by. (Thanks, guys! You're great hosts and it was fun to see you.)

Yes, I'm still alive...

I keep thinking I'm going to update my blog and then get busy doing other stuff, so I don't. So, all of you who are just dying to hear from me again (ha, ha), just hang on a little longer. When I do finally get around to posting again, I'll have plenty. We've gone to Disneyland, a funeral, and a 10 year class reunion, so lots of junk to write and plenty of pics to add. Right now, my children are calling (literally).

I'm IT again

TAG I'M IT!
3 Joys
1. My kids; I love watching them do things. It's fun to see them grow and just be kids.
2. Learning; I really like to learn about lots of different things. I remember when I was in middle school saying that I'd like to take every class that a college offered and I still think that's a pretty good idea, excepting a few (like accounting; I've taken a few of those and that was enough--yuck).
3. Playing games with friends; I really like having people over. There's just something about a house full of people that I like.

3 Fears
1. "Bad guys" (murderers, robbers, etc) coming into my room at night. I've talked about this before, but for those of you who didn't read about it last time; I make Dale sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door and I have to be able to see the door to my room from where I sleep. (Not that either of those will actually make a difference if someone actually does come in to kill me, but oh well.)
2. Scary movies; I just can't handle them. I'm not scared of the dark or of being alone unless I've watched a scary movie recently. Then, I really freak myself out. I've grounded myself from them, so I haven't been scared for a long time.
3. Failing to teach my kids what they need to know to be successful. I really worry about that a lot and don't really know what to do about it, except the best I can and just keep going day after day.

3 Goals
1. Stop yelling at my kids. I want my house to be a yell-free zone; I think that even if you're mad at someone, you can talk to them in a rational way. (At least, I think that when I'm calm and rational; I seem to forget that when I get angry.) I'm getting better, but it seems like an impossible goal sometimes.
2. Get out of debt; we're still paying on school, plus we're still recovering from moving up here and not selling our house in Cedar for so long. Hopefully by January 2009 we'll be totally debt-free except our mortgage here in IF.
3. Clean my house little by little every day. That way I can keep it to a manageable mess.

3 Obsessions
1. British mystery TV shows; you name it, I've either seen it or will watch it. I've seen every season of Midsommer Murders, Prime Suspect, and Touching Evil. I'm working on Foyle's War, RoseMary and Thyme, and Campion. I've watched a ton of Poirot with David Suchet, Inspector Lynley, Miss Marple, Hetty Wainthrop, and Inspector Frost. I've seen a few Inspector Morse (boring), and Jeeves & Wooster. I've just about exhausted the library's collection, so when they're all gone, I don't know what I'll watch.
2. Collective Soul; as you all know, I think it's the most awsome band ever! Enough said.
3. I don't know....OH, buying things for a really good deal. I love thrift store shopping and yard saling because I can find good stuff for so cheap.

3 Random/Surprising Facts about myself
1. I hate loading the dishwasher; I think it's disgusting to touch dirty plates. I don't mind unloading, but luckily Dale usually does both of those jobs, so I don't have to worry about either.
2. I'm the only one in my family (the one I was born to, not the one I created) that hasn't been to all 50 states. I'm missing Alaska and Hawaii.
3. Once I start a book, I have to finish it and I usually read a book in two days or less. (I like to read British murder mysteries, too.)

I tag Ariane (you're the only one that ever does them!)

Misc. pics

Here's a picture of the snow we got a few days ago. It's melted now, and I hear that it's supposed to get up to 63 Sunday or Monday and I'm so happy at the prospect of warmer weather!

This is Dalan's burned finger. Can you believe a firescreen could burn someone that bad?! I couldn't!

Here's the girls in their Easter dresses. No, I didn't make them; I slacked off this year and bought them (but they were on sale for a really good price-only $13 each!). I was going to make their dresses, but just didn't. Maybe I'll make them some cute summer things. (Yeah, just keep dreaming, Sonnet!)

Adventures and Mishaps at Ariane's

After a long, very long, car ride, we arrived at Ariane and Matt's house. We left at 8:30 am Monday morning and arrived at 1:15 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. We even gained an hour on the way because of the time change, so that makes it a 17.5 hour trip! I don't know if I've ever been nearer insanity then I was at that point and that's saying a lot!
We spent all week at my sister's house and left Sunday morning. The ride home was a lot shorter and the kids were much better behaved, thank goodness! We left about 6:45am and got home about 11:15pm, so it was only 15.5 hours on the way home. We only stopped for gas and food (I let the kids eat in the car while I fed Elias). Even though the ride back was much more bearable, I still don't know if I'll do that trip alone again.
While visiting Ariane, we went to IKEA (our favorite store ever), visited almost all the thrift stores within a 20 mile radius (we love thrift stores, too!), and had an adventure in Seattle. We got to Seattle later than we were planning because we went there after IKEA. By the time we found a parking place and unloaded all 5 kids and walked to Pike Place Fish Market, it was closed! We heard that the library is cool, so we loaded the kids up again and drove around for a while, trying to find it. Jonas (my 17-month-old nephew) threw up when we were almost there, and then threw up again once we got there. We cleaned up the puke in the parking garage at the library, but by the time everything was cleaned up and clothes were changed, the library had just closed. My kids were about to wet their pants, but they wouldn't even unlock the bathroom to let them use it, even though we made it into the building before they locked the library. To top it off, we had to pay for parking! Oh, yeah! After all the puking, getting lost, and arriving too late, we forgot to drive by the Space Needle, so my kids didn't even get to see it. We didn't even realize we forgot it until we were almost to Ariane's house.
After the trip to Seattle, we decided we needed a nice relaxing day at home, so I convinced Ariane that we should paint Jonas' room. (What was I thinking? I don't know--grumpy kids+ puking child + nursing baby + painting = a ton o fun, right?!) Anyway, Ariane and I painted Jonas' room with three colors. We did a solid all around the bottom half of the room and stripes with two different colors on the top. It looks pretty cute. She's going to hang a wall paper border inbetween the two. It wasn't that hard because Jonas slept most of the day (when he wasn't recycling his lunch) and my older kids played outside in the rain and watched movies. Elias played in the crib in the middle of the room while we painted. I had hoped to paint her kitchen, too, but we didn't get that far! Me and my big ideas!
Overall, I was glad that I made the trip, chaotic and long as it was. I was really happy to get to see Matt before he got deployed (love ya, Matt!) and it was fun to visit my sister. I look forward to seeing her again at Disneyland and my kids are excited to see their cousin again.

Cool architecture in Spokane

I love looking at old buildings and I took some photos of my faves on our trip. Some were a little difficult because I was the only one in the car that knew how to use the camera and I was driving, but it worked.

Note: These two pictures (above and below) are of a building that were in one of my dreams a few years ago. It was SO weird to be driving along and see this building a couple of blocks away. I instantly recognized it and had to drive over and take a picture. I remembered the dream so well because I thought the building was so cool and I remembered feeling so sad when I woke up because of the dream. In my dream, it was on a steeper hill and a bigger city, but otherwise, it's the same building. I was looking around this big city (in my dream) for a little girl with black hair. I found her in this building, which was a Catholic School in my dream. It's really the County Courthouse. Any interpretations or explanations anyone? I had never been to Spokane before and I had the dream when Kydee was very little, probably younger than 2. Freaky, huh?!


This picture (above) was taken while driving and very difficult to get.

This was taken while driving, too, but I was stopped at a red light, so it wasn't too hard.

Riverfront Park in Spokane

On the way to see my sister in Spanaway (near Tacoma), we stopped in Spokane. Tamra told me about this cool park. Here's some pictures of just a few of the neat things there. After going to the park and driving around Spokane, my kids decided that we needed to move there.

Notice the giant red wagon in the background. That's the reason why we went to this park, but it was closed because the city was painting it before summer. The handle is a giant slide. My kids were really bummed, but figure we'll go back when it's open. We'll see about that! I don't think I can handle taking all of them that far by myself again (Dale didn't come on the trip with us; he had to work.)

These are pictures of the garbage eating goat. It has a vacuum inside it and kids love to put garbage in its mouth because then it 'eats' it.


Elora insisted in wearing shorts. Silly girl! On our way back home, we stopped in Spokane again and the kids wanted to go back, but it was so snowy that I couldn't see very far ahead of me and I definitely wasn't going to take them to the park in that weather.

Easter

Here's just a few pics of our Easter hunt that we had in our basement because, yes, you guessed it! The ground was covered in snow and it was really cold outside. We invited some friends over and the kids had a great time.

Good news, bad news

Bad news:
I'm still in my robe and pj's and it's almost noon.
My CD player in the van broke, so not only can I not listen to CD's anymore, 6 of my CD's are stuck in there--3 of which are Collective Soul!
It's still snowy here! (It has snowed three days this week.)
Elias has an ear infection in both ears.
Dalan burned his finger (3rd degree) when the fireplace screen fell on his hand and it's looking infected.
Eli (my brother) had an accident with the 4-wheeler a couple days ago and broke his neck.
Matt (my brother-in-law) is being deployed to Iraq in a few weeks.


Good news:
I can get dressed any time I want, I'm just lazy.
I guess eventually I might get the CD player fixed; until then, I have the internet, but I can't get most of the Collective Soul songs I want. Oh well, I'll survive. At least the engine didn't break.
Someday it will be warmer; at least, that's what I keep telling myself.
We got some antibiotics and Elias is feeling much better.
We have bandaids and Neosporin--if only Dalan would leave it alone.
Eli had surgery last night and everything is going to be alright, he just has 3 months of recovery ahead; but he will still be able to go on a mission.
Matt is well-trained and we have faith that the Lord will take care of him, no matter what happens.

I'm practicing having a 'Pollyanna' attitude in finding the bright side of every situation. I guess we really can find good in everyting life hands us!

Another TAG

10 YEARS AGO:
I was a Senior at Fruita Monument High School, in Fruita, Colorado. I worked at Zuka (Jamba) Juice and was looking forward to graduating. I never thought that in ten years I'd be married, have 4 kids, and live in Idaho!

FIVE PLACES I HAVE VISITED:
1. All 48 contiguous states
2. New York City
3. Mexico City
4. Cancun
5. Washington DC

FIVE THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST: I didn't know if this was daily to do, or lifetime, so I put both!
Daily
1. Shower (yes, I have to put this on my list, or it doesn't get done)
2. Clean the bathrooms
3. Update my blog with trip to Spokane, Seattle, and Spanaway
4. Vacuum out the van
5. Play with my kids individually (I've decided they need more one-on-one time with mom)

Lifetime
1. Go on mission with spouse
2. Visit Asia and Europe
3. Own a business
4. um....oh! Build another house (my 'dream house')
5. Take Tamra (my lifelong best friend, who's never seen the ocean) to the ocean

THREE BAD HABITS:
1. I will eat the whole bag of M&M's by myself (I'm talking about the big $2.50 bags, not the little 50 cent ones) (I bought a bag of peanut butter M&M's from the Easter clearance sales and finished it off today)
2. I am very critical of other people in my mind (that made it sound like I have other people in my mind that I'm critical of) (Jeez, I'm even critical of myself!)
3. I love to lay in bed in the morning as long as possible (I stay in bed until the kids start fighting, or break something, or they make a giant cereal mess)

FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME...
1. I love to dance, but only do it at home, by myself, 'cause Dale doesn't dance.
2.I'm addicted to Guitar Hero and I've only played it a couple of times. (But I really want to buy a Playstation or XBox, just so I can own it. I also imagine playing it when songs come on the radio that have a lot of guitar. Yes, I know I'm weird!)
3. I like punk music.
4. I would love to live by the ocean someday
5. I think feet are absolutely disgusting!

I tag Audrey, Bonnie, and Katie.

Recipe #2

I've been a slacker on the recipe thing, but here's the next one, finally. This is a favorite of my entire family. My mom made something similar when I was little, but we never really had a name for it. My kids always call it chicken pillows, chicken rolls, or chicken biscuits. I guess it could be called chicken in a biscuit, like the cracker. Anyway, here it is.

Chicken Pillows
2 chicken breasts (or turkey) (cooked and shredded or chopped)
1 8oz container of neufchatel (or cream cheese--neufchatel has less fat)
3 Tbsp milk
1/4 c. green onions or chopped yellow or white onions, or less, depending on taste
1/2 c. grated cheese (we use cheddar)
1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 packages of refrigerated biscuit dough (or homemade biscuit dough works, too)

Optional:
1/4 c. butter/margarine, melted
3/4 c. cracker crumbs

Mix cream cheese (neufchatel) and milk with a beater until soft; add onions, chicken, garlic and grated cheese.

Flatten biscuits; place 2 Tbsp of chicken mixture on a biscuit, cover with another biscuit and seal edges; continue with remainder of filling and biscuits. You should end up with 10 chicken pillows. (If you have leftover filling, it makes great chicken salad sandwiches!)
Dip the chicken pillows in melted butter/margarine and roll in crumbs. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown all over. Serve with chicken or turkey gravy poured over the top of chicken pillows. (For less fat, don't do the crumb/butter coating)
You can also use turkey--it's a great way to use leftovers from Thanksgiving for something different.

Dale and I in our hippie days....

Ok, so Dale and I were never Hippies, nor do we ever plan on being such, but I was looking through some old pictures and found this one and thought it was funny. We look so young and hairy and I thought you all would enjoy seeing it, too. (The baby in the picture is Kydee; I think this was taken around August 2001).

Relief Society

I went to a Relief Society (women's church group) enrichment meeting the other night and came home with this:

Yes, you saw that right--I got a bruise the size of my hand at an enrichment meeting. It's on the outside of my upper right thigh. I almost didn't put a picture because I had to show a lot of skin, but I wanted everyone to see the actual damage. Aren't the colors pretty?

We were playing a scavenger hunt-type game where we had to find certain items from our purses and run them up to the front of the room before everyone else. I ran into a table, but I made it up there first (barely) and our team won! It hurt really bad for a couple of days, but now it just looks really pretty. Who knew Relief Society could be so dangerous?!