Petros the Rock

I ADORE this baby.  Peter is the absolute brightness to my day.  I cannot get enough of his giggles, smiles, cuddles, and loves.  He is such a busy baby.  The toilet paper HAS to be unrolled, the cupboards HAVE to be open, the drawers HAVE to be emptied, the dog HAS to be pestered, and the pantry HAS to be raided.  At least ten times a day each.  Oh, and don't forget to leave all the outside doors open because he LOVES to be outside every chance he can get rain or shine.  As busy as my little guy is, he is also a very happy baby.  I never get tired of his bright personality and cuddles for mom.

 Hanging out with dad at the table.

 Spaghetti night!

 First birthday party.

 Everyone dotes on Peter.  All his siblings love him to death, especially Caitlin....who has literally almost loved him. to. death. a few times.

I love this picture.  Everyone is giving him attention and you can see the light in his eyes.  He is a sweet heart.  We have taken to calling him Peter, Pete, or Petros the rock.  He's a solid kid.

Caitlin (Princess Tin)

This is my dear sweet Caitlin, or as we like to call her around here, Princess Tin.  When she first started talking she called herself Tin, and the nickname has stuck fast.  Caitlin is so energetic and lively.  She is smart, and opinionated, and very very girly!  She loves to have fun, and please mommy.  She keeps me on my toes!

 Enjoying a cupcake at Peter's party. She's so pretty.

 Caitlin is sure she can read like everyone else in the family.  Bedtime is always reading time around here.  This night she chose Daddy's fantasy novels over her picture books.

 Princess play with her little neighbor friend Macie.  Caitlin knows all the princesses and loves to play dress up and princess barbies.

 Tin at Hoover Dam

 Tin at M&M World.  what a perfect place for a chocolate loving 3 year old!

 "Isn't this lion cool?  No fear!"

 Caitlin really looks up to her older and wiser cousin, Bella.  She wears all Bella's clothes, plays all Bella's games, and can't wait to be a big girl like her cousin.

 Leave it to Caitlin to think outside the box by sleeping inside the box.  She actually slept in there the whole night and was well rested the next day.  I guess she isn't the princess and the pea.

Tin is a real beauty.  Those eyes tell a fun and intricate story.

Andrew

Andrew (Drew) keeps things creative, loving and interesting around the Barlow house.  He has a talent for affection and noticing when people need hugs.  He is an awesome writer and movie director.  Everyone who knows him agrees -  there is something really special about Drew.

After getting a tooth extracted, Drew couldn't help but try to smile -- even if it made him look a bit goofy!

Nice hugs for baby sis.

Andrew and Mike on the state line at Hoover Dam.

Andrew with Enikele at the M&M store in Las Vegas.  He always thinks every adventure is fabulous!

Poor sensitive Andrew hams it up in the jaws of a ferocious lion.

Joshua

I love this dude!  Joshua is such an energetic, fun, responsible, smart and goofy 11 year old.  He makes every day entertaining and bright.  I am so glad we have him in our family!

 Filling up after school with his best buddies Mitchell and Emily

 Josh and Andrew have a special friendship.  I love it when they get along and work together.  This is the M & M store in Las Vegas.

 Lego land was a dream come true for Joshua!  He had been saving coupons from his Lego Club magazine for months.  I think we were all astounded at how cool mini land USA was.  Josh couldn't get enough of the  Star wars mini world.  (Unfortunately, that is where we lost Caitlin, so no pictures were taken.)

 Roar!  Joshua for lunch!

Building a pop can robot with buddy Seth.  Josh loves science, engineering, and scouts.  what a great kid!

Mike

Mike is such a wonderful father, husband, and all around man.  He is a manly man with a fabulous soft side.  He has faith, a good moral compass, and compassion.  I love him!

 This is from our Las Vegas adventure.  He was so giddy when Eni and I insisted that he go into the Coca Cola store and actually buy something.  He ended up purchasing a sparkly coke key chain which he proudly uses for his truck key ring.

 California sunshine at last!  After driving for two days,  Mike collapsed and soaked in the warm sunshine on the lawn of our rental house.  He loves sunshine and beaches and California!

 Legoland.  I swear the inner child came roaring out.

 Mike takes such good care of all of us.  When Caitlin wandered off in Legoland, it was Mike who eventually found her.  He makes us all feel secure.

"This is my dream!"  He said at the Disneyland character breakfast.  Good food, and alot of it, with Disney magic mixed in.  It doesn't get much better for Mike!

Fremont

For Spring Break we took a Stay-cation.  One of the activities we decided to do to keep things interesting was rock art hunting.  We had heard of a good sight just a stones throw from our house, but we were so excited when we went out there and found so many Fremont petroglyphs!  They were so beautiful.  The next day a friend told us about some pictographs on a cliff.  He was kind enough to guide us down there -- a bit of a scary hike right along the cliff face -- but well worth it.  Such cool pictographs!  It's neat to have such treasures so close to our house.  

Time Out For Women - Richfield 2014

Living in a small community has its perks --  I was asked by a friend to be on the team for TOFW this year in Richfield.  I was the scholarship coordinator, which entailed a lot of computer data entry and emailing.  Crazy as it sounds, I really enjoy that kind of work so it was an awesome job for me.  I had never been to time out, and I loved the experience!  Holly came and this is now my favorite picture of the two of us.  She is such an awesome friend!  I am glad I had the opportunity to work on the Time Out team.

Dad and Jan

This is my dad, Clair and his wonderful wife Janet.  They are currently serving an lds mission in Russia.  We love them, and love having them in the mission field.  We get to chat via skype every Wednesday and already feel the blessings of having missionaries in the family.  Love you, Dad and Jan...or should I say Elder and Sister Jaussi!

Mike's Birthday

Happy birthday to dear ol dad!  Mike turned 37 on Feb 1st this year.  We had a fun little party with one of his best childhood friends and his family.  We love you Daddy!

Science fair

Science fair time!  This year Joshua was required to enter because he is int he 5th grade.  It is so handy to have a science teacher for a dad -- we had access to lots of fun equipment.  Joshua decided to build a solar powered car.  after lots of trial and error, we were able to get it to actually run on nothing but sun energy! 

 His project won the fair and went on to the state science fair in Cedar city.  There he won an award for the best engineering project.  What a science stud!!

Reflections

The boys did really well in the school reflections contest this year.  Joshua made a video about how to properly use lego bricks, and Andrew wrote a 7 chapter short novel about two orphans having an adventure in Africa (seriously, he wanted to write 30 chapters but I gently suggested a shorter book)

 Both boys won our school competition and advanced to region.  There, they both won first place and advanced to State.  we were so proud of them!

Peter's 1st birthday

Happy 1st birthday to our dear little Peter! He turned 1 on December 27th, 2013.  He loved having a birthday cake all to himself, and made an appropriate amount of mess for the occasion.