Tons of trip pictures if you are interested

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mesa Verde Barlow Bonanza

I'm happy to finally say that one trip finally worked out for us this year. We seemed to be cursed all year long - all plans for trips kept falling through. But this one worked wonderfully!
We left Wednesday night and stayed over at my Dad's place.
Thursday morning we dropped Jeri off at my brothers and headed to Moab where we had lunch and hooked up with Mom B, Daniel, Becky, and speedy. From there we drove to four corners. This was a side trip that everyone grumbled about a little bit, but I was adamant that we needed to see it and in the end everyone agreed that it was worth the extra two hours of driving! After four corners we drove to Durango, found our hotel, ate at the Brewery Karen suggested, swam in the hotel pool and hit the sack.
Friday was spent exploring the touristy town of Durango. We took a tour of the train yard of the old steam rail road station (we couldn't afford to actually ride it!), we ate lunch at a fabulous diner called Old Tymers, we walked around historic downtown, played down at the river, relaxed at the hotel, and had a nice italian dinner at Mama's Boy restraunt. Thanks to Karen for all the good restraunt referrals!
Saturday was Mesa Verde Day. We met Tony and Shelly and their kids at the park adn spent the day hiking and driving to pretty much everything that could possibly be seen. Cliff palace was grand, but I really liked Balcony house and Spruce Tree House. I also really enjoyed seeing the mesa top ruins - the pueblos and pit houses. You don't hear much about those, but I thought they were fascinating! Around seven we drove back to Moab where we got a hotel for the night.
Sunday was spent driving, picking up the dog, and more driving. We were all glad to be home! It was a very fun trip. Joshua loved the trains and cliff cities just as much as the adults, which made it all worth while. Andrew had fun swimming and eating to his hearts content. As for the cliff cities, he is fearless! He wanted to jump right into the kivas.
One last note - THANKYOU to Jason and Andrea for lending us their portable dvd player! What a life saver!

Oh. My. Gosh.

It's bold, it's daring, it's yellow. I have enough white paint to change it back, but I need some opinions first. So here is the question. Leave it yellow, or revert to classic white? Leave your vote in the comments!

Here is the only shot I could find of the door when it was still white.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255567362681984258" />


Here is the door now, with our gold hardware.


Here I've added black paper to represent the black hardware I would accent with.

Portraits

I took the boys to JCPenny for their annual portraits last week. Here are some sneak peaks of the results! Andre had a better photographer, and had some really cute "extra" shots with the cowboy attire. I ordered a large print of the sepia cowboy pose and put it in their bedroom. It is soooo perfect and darling!

Ramblings

I get itchy to post if my comments top 20 entries, so here are my random ramblings for the day.
1 - I loved conference. I made a resolution to pay better attention this time around. Six months ago we were in Tooele saying our last goodbyes to Grandpa Barlow during conference, so naturally we missed alot. Today was the first time I really heard president Monson talk as our prophet. My testimony is always so strengthened on conference weekend. It also helps that you can watch church in you pajamas with diet coke!
2 - Spending money is much more fun when it isn't yours. I've been heading up a major project here in our home owners association. We are getting new play equipment for the park, planting trees, installing benches, and creating a new play area. I'm learning so many things about the contractors world. I'm glad I have Michael to help me out so much with the landscaping, and with the technicalities of construction.

3 - I'm still torn on my opinion of the Twilight books. I've practically been nonexistent this week becasue I decided to re-read the Twilight series. I don't know about you, but once I get into a book, the laundry, dishes, housework, bills, etc. can wait! I love the story. I love the character development. But there is just something about the books that gets on my nerves. They are exceptionally mushy, but I don't think that's even it. I think it is that the attitudes of the characters are kind of narrow. Everybody talks the same way and seems to feel the same way. I can tell that all the dialog was written by one person. That having been said, I'm sure I'll drag my unsuspecting husband to the movie on opening night and enjoy every minute of it!

Well, I think I've rambled myself out. I have some cute pictures and videos to share, and I'm sure I'll get around to it in the next few days now that I'm done reading!

Meet "Ugly" the rooster

Joshua, Andrew, and I went to a children's rodeo with my friend, Andrea and her family on Saturday Night. It's a great little rodeo complete with sheep riding for the 4-7 year olds, calf riding for the older kids, and stick horse racing for the tots. Only in Wellsville. Anyhow, They also have a critter chase. Most rodeos do this -- let all the young kids of a certain age go in the arena and chase down a few (5) chickens and bunnies -- and the reward is you get to keep whatever critter you catch. Of course I let Joshua do it, because the chances of him catching anything are 1 in a million. In Wellsville it went a little differently. They had about 50 critters out for the chase (including one goat) and probably only 55 kids showed up to run. They also let all children 6 and under participate, which meant Joshua was actually one of the odlder kids. Amidst the melee of children and critters running and squaking I looked over at Joshua and he had this huge rooster by the feet and the biggest smile you'd ever seen on his face. I really never thought he would catch anything, but the odds were just too good! At least he didn't catch the goat.

We've named the retched creature "Ugly" for obvious reasons (check out the solo tail feather) and it is residing in our backyard much to Michael's shagrin. Jeri loves the thing and considers it her personal toy. She likes to rustle it out of it's hiding spot, bet then leaves it alone. We'll see how long that lasts. So if anyone out there in blogosphere is just desperate to take home a gimpy rooster, give me a call and you can have it! Otherwise, prepare to wear earplugs when you come to visit the Barlows or you may be awakened by the shrill cock-a-doodle-doo's of the world's ugliest rooster.

Like Father, Like Son

It's amazing what a little chocolate icecream and daddy-idolization can do....