A Mayfield 24th

Mayfield may be a sleepy little town, but not on the 24th of July!  Our old home town has a parade, a carnival, a duck race and lots of other fun things on the 24th.  The kids all rode in the Lion's club train driven by our friend Robert.  We gathered candy and went to the carnival.  The kids won tons of prizes and enjoyed the icees.  What a fun day in Mayfield!

Caitlin's 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Caitlin!  We had a wonderful little party with cake, ice cream balloons, crowns, confetti, presents, family, and a lot of fun.  Of course Becky's present won the day.  She always gives the best gifts.  The baby alive doll won Caitlin's heart.  She wouldn't let it go even for cake and ice cream!

Josh the wrapping helper

Daddy the hair stylist.

Purse and baby in hand, Caitlin made short work of her candle.

It's not a Barlow party without a good dinner!

Victoria

My dear friend Victoria and her family stopped in at Dads on the 4th for a quick visit.  They live in Ohio, so it is rare for us to get a chance to see each other.  It was wonderful to see them!

July 4th

Due to the firework restrictions all over the state, we were not able to run the firework stand this year.  We missed out on a little revenue, but really it was nice to not have to deal with it.  Plus we were able to go to Provo for the 4th.  Dad always throws a big all-day shebang for the fourth.  friends, family, total strangers, all show up for the parade and a big BBQ afterwards.  This year all 17 grand kids of Dad and Jan's were there so we had to get pictures.

Caitlin the tree hugger.

Dad and Jan with all the grand kids.

all the parents trying to get all the grand kids to cooperate...

Jan supervising the BBQ

Family enjoying good food!

Grandpa was in his element with all his guests.

My brother Jon in all his glory.  I especially love the straw hat.

All of Dad and Jan's kids and spouses except Dennis, James, and Joe.  Plus a few little ones.

Patio

We have grand plans for our yard.  Unfortunately, that means lots of hard work and a lot of hard-earned money.  We finally got our start this last week when we installed our small paver patio in the front along with a two foot swath down the side of the driveway.    I have always loved working alongside Michael. We make a good team.  It was also neat to see his expertise with landscape install.  He really is a professional.

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First we put down about six inches of road base and compacted it, then a scrutinizing leveling, then the edging, and a perfect 1 1/4 inch layer of sand.  Next is the pavers, then the fill sand, and finally the sealer.  I haven't taken a picture with the sealant, and it is so pretty and dark.  Anyway, it turned out beautiful.  Now we just need  plants and grass, and it will start looking like a yard!  Yeah!

My honey.  I love how hard he works and how much pride he takes in his work.  A good guy.

Andrew's Dino

We were driving through Sandy the other day when Andrew spotted this Dinosaur at a Sinclair gas station.  He wanted to stop and see it SOOOOO badly.  So we stopped and let him have a few minutes with the dino.  You would have thought we had taken him to Disney Land!  

Sometimes you just have to chop it...

Pregnancy is a funny thing.  I have been struggling with headaches daily for the last couple weeks.  Tylenol just wasn't cutting it, so I made a snap decision and had my hair whacked off.  Just getting rid of the extra weight already feels better.  We will see if it helps in the long run.

 I know the lock of hair looks green, but it is just wet and under flourescent lighting.  That is the pony tail they chopped off and are donating to "locks for love" which makes wigs for cancer patients.  Cool to know it is going for a good cause.

p.s. I published this post today, but it is out of order.  the next few posts will show me with long hair....don't worry, I was just too excited to wait and show everyone.

Day Trip -- Central Utah Style

Grandma and Grandpa Barlow took us on a day trip to Cove Fort and the Fremont Indian State Park.  Sometimes it is easy to forget what neat things are really close to you! We had a really great time.  None of us had been to either place, and we were so surprised at how cool they were.

Here is Joshua and Andrew at the fort.  I thought the kitchen was really cool.  Joshua liked the presidents room.  Andrew liked that we could stand at the tops of the walls!

I was very impressed with Adelaide Hinkley.  Here was a woman who had eleven children, grew a garden to support an army, fed at least twenty people three meals a day, and kept house for her large family and anyone else who was staying at the fort.  What a woman!  Some days I feel like it's too much to feed a family of five and clean my own place.  What if there was no air conditioning?  What if morning sickness was no excuse for shirking your chores?  Needless to say I was very impressed by her faith and fortitude.

At the Fremont Indian state park we saw all kinds of pictographs and petroglyphs and pictoglyphs.  (yes those are all real terms)  The museum was fascinating as well.  I found myself longing to go back to school and earn my archaeology masters.  Alas, I will have to be a living room anthropologist for at least a few more years.  Right now the living are more important.

Play Date

I love these pictures.  While Joshua was at golf camp the little kids and I entertained ourselves at the park.  Caitlin is such a dare devil.  This big twisty slide was no challenge at all for her and soon she and Andrew were going up and down again and again with giggles galore.

Golf Camp

This year we enrolled Joshua in golf camp.  I can tell Michael is trying not to get his hopes up, but Joshua is actually pretty good!  He really loves the atmosphere at the course, and has a natural swing.  Could Michael have a new golf buddy in his future?

I neglected to catch a picture with Joshua and his clubs, but here is one of the little kids playing in a cart with the golf camp in the background.

Jaussi Extravaganza

I am not sure if anyone will notice I actually put something on this post, but if you do, here is the REAL Jaussi extravaganza!!   

The Jaussi side of the family wanted to take a trip to Yosemite National Park this year.  After planning it all out, it got downgraded to a weekend trip to Bear Lake, after further budget and time scrutiny the trip got further downgraded to three days at the Barlow's house in Gunnison.  Maybe not the most exciting option, but it turned out to be a total blast.

 Everyone arrived Friday, including Joe all the way from Cache Valley.  We had a lovely Sanpete BBQ turkey dinner in our back yard, and then went to the Manti Pageant.
Saturday we trekked everyone up the mountains to Duck Fork reservoir.  WE ate dutch oven, hiked around the lake, and made and shot air rockets.  We stopped for a traditional dinner at Lishy Lou's Diner in Mayfield on our way home -- smelly and tired, but still having fun!
Sunday everyone came to church with us and then went their separate ways.  It was such a lovely weekend! It was so nice to have everyone around and really interacting.  No fighting broke out, which was amazing!

 Everyone enjoying a good meal after a day in the mountains.

 I love this pic.  The saying is true, and the kids are so cute at the bar!

 Grandpa Clair and Caitlin Clair.  Two peas in a pod.

 The girls chilling...

 The men tinkering...

 Mike is the master of the grill.  Best Sanpete BBQ I ever tasted!

 We love to smash watermelons.  The kids thought it was so fun to just dig into the carnage.

Big brother Jon being a mentor to Isaac and Andrew.  That's what family is for.

Fishing with Dan

Daniel has picked up a new hobby -- fishing!  Which is fun for us because it is one of our favorite past times. A few weeks back we took him and Dad Barlow up to Duck Fork Reservoir where he caught this beauty of a tiger trout.   We love to have Daniel around.  He is always fun, and so nice, and Jeri thinks he is the coolest person in the world!

Park City

One nice perk to Michael's teaching job is the summer conferences.  The district pays for them as well as gas, meals, and hotels.  Naturally the kids and I like to tag along for a free vacation.  The last one was to Park City.  The kids and I spent whole mornings in the hotel swimming pool, then walked to McDonald's for lunch.  After lunch it was a quick nap back at the hotel and shopping at the outlets.  By the time Mike was out of  conference we were all ready for a good dinner and maybe more shopping.

We wore out the kids and the budget every day!

The hotel is always fun.  The kids think it's a grand slumber party.

A rare moment when all three are playing nicely together...

Of course we had to go up to the Olympic park.  We visited the museum and watched the ski jumpers jumping into the pool.  So cool!