Fred

Yup, this is Fred. This crazy furry beast is the newest addition to our family. He's an 11 month old English Sheepdog/Picardy Collie mix.

I'm not really sure what brought on this sudden need for another dog but here we are. Crazy...

yes definitely crazy! But how can you resist that face. He is a crack up! We drove up to Salt Lake to pick him up on Saturday. Ava just started laughing the minute she saw him. He loves the kids and the kids love him. He and our good old Duce hit it off pretty well. Not only was he free but he also came with his own rawhide bone (which Duce later ate) and pillow (which Duce later ripped to shreds). Poor Fred. It is definitely an adjustment for us all. Jeremy calls me a "worry wort" (sound familiar Mom ;)) I just worry that he's happy here. That Duce isn't jealous. That he will get along with other dogs. That the neighbors don't notice a little extra barking and the sad low howl coming from the garage at bedtime. Most especially I'm worried about leaving them this weekend. Aahhhhh. I am a worry wort. We'll see how it all goes down. Here's to the crazy life I make for myself.

My Secret Beauty

Last night our little family had the chance to go to the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful! Especially at night, seeing how it glowed up on the hillside. As we walked out of the Celestial room it hit me how it probably wouldn't be until missions and weddings that we all would be together again in that special room. I tried really hard to burn into my memory their sweet little faces as they looked around, so that in 15 or so years from now I will be able to look back and remember that moment. It is amazing how being there together really did make all the stress of life fade away. The big picture is so easy to see when your mind is clear. I'm so thankful that our family can be together forever.

Oh and about "my secret beauty" as we drove home that night we sang "I Love to See The Temple". Both Ava and Luke can belt out every word to that song...well except for the very end when it says "this is my sacred duty". That gets replaced with "this is my secret beauty". They are so sweet. We love the Temple!

Ava wanted me to add in how fun riding on the bus was from the parking lot to the temple and how good the cookies were after. :)

Same Same

Ava is really into finding things that look alike. When she finds something that she thinks matches she says "Same, same!" It can be pretty entertaining to see the kinds of things she notices. Speaking of "same same" you would not believe the number of times people have told me how much Ava looks like Michelle from the show Full House. I couldn't seem to find the greatest pictures but they do look a little bit "same, same" to me. What do you think?

...and if she somehow ends up looking at all like them when she's older, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all! ;)

Oh yeah, I also get told occasionally that she has a Wallace smile! Now that one is a definite "same same"! :)

Has it really been that long???

Jeremy and I had our first date and that fabulous first kiss :) on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!!! THIRTEEN YEEEARS? Could it really have been that long ago? After a lot of finger counting down the years and pulling out this sweet photo of us (I know, I know, we haven't changed a bit right! ha ha ha) we came to the conclution that, yes, it really was that long ago. Again I am amazed how time just keeps speeding up the older you get. This photo will be even funnier 13 year from now.
I love him!
I love him!
I love him!

Petie in Polk-a-dots

So I found this cute little dress for Ava and just had to snap a few shots of her. I guess just a few shots turned into a full blown photo shoot but we had fun. I can't help feeling like I need to to take more pictures (if that's even possible for me), she is growing up way to fast! I can't believe how independent she getting. It's so cute to watch little Luke try to teach her how to do things. The sweet little prayers, the songs, her finally going to sleep at night by herself, getting dressed on her own, and hooray, she's potty trained!!! There are times I just wish I could hold on to them like this forever. I love them to death!

Heli Fun!

2009 has been a dream come true so far for Luke! Thanks to Papa John collecting on a few favors, we were all able to go on an awesome helicopter ride! Little Luke was in seventh heaven the entire time. He got to sit in the front with the pilot. He took us on a little scenic tour right next to the mountians and even flew us right over our house. It was really cool, we had so much fun! Thanks again Papa John!!!

Copilot Luke!

The Last of 2008

Get ready... I've been savin' em up so this is a heap load o pictures. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Kissing 2008 goodbye under the mistletoe.

Luke having a great time with Daddy at a BYU basketball game.He is now quite the cougars fan.."Mom is my BYU sweatshirt clean?" Thanks Dian and Shaun, it is worn daily!Playin' with the cousins in grandma's backyard.
Eating chips with Papa John. Soooo glad Grandma Patsies and Papa John are back home for a little while!

Nothin' like a little tractor sledding down at the barn!

One cute little Joseph and Mary. But there are no words to describe the wise man in the next picture! :) We had lots of fun parties, tons of good food and sooo much fun with grandpas and grandmas and all our family!

Reading a few Christmas Stories and eating some of Santa's Oreos before bed on Christmas eve.

More sledding... this time it was wild and crazy jeep "fork"wheel drive sledding. (as Luke calls it)

Way to much Christmas fun = two totally tuckered out kids.

Little Ava all dressed up in her new Christmas dress from Emmy.


Such a girl! Doing nails and watching movies with Emmy and Grandma Barker, while the guys cleaned guns on New Years Eve. (I didn't put in the picture of Luke, but lets just say that right now nails are more fun then cleaning guns.)

Holding daddy's sweet new gun!

This little joke of a gift from Sarah's friends was actually really NICE! Right! J/K I know I'm a dork. But you have to admit that hot cardboard vampires with little kids... is really cute! Ava always goes for the bad boys! (not a good sign!)
These next 2 are gross, sorry but so funny! Ava had this nasty snot bubble that stayed for like 5 minutes and Luke and I couldn't stop laughing. Ava was laughing just as hard and kept posing for the camera. (Maybe you had to be there but the pictures are kind of funny.) Just so you know my kids don't always run around with snot coming out of their noses.

Oh yeah and the first song on my blog goes out to all you who can't stand those pesky squirrel faced rodents runnin' around. You know who you are.