Family Pictures

Last month we finally got our family pictures taken. It had been so long since we have had FAMILY pictures. Tanner was around 9 months old in our last family pictures. I finally got motivated enough to actually get them done (I don't know how many times I talked about how we need to have our pictures taken) when Jeff took that new job at Nate and Andy's Quality Auto. However, he only worked there for a couple of weeks, and decided to stay teaching. He told me he was nervous and confused still after he started the job. So one morning he went on a drive while we were at Wolf Creek. He told me that as soon as he decided to stay at the school his mind instantly cleared up (Luckily he hadn't told the school he wasn't coming back yet). So that was probably the right decision to stay at the school. Anyway, we finally got some pictures. Janna Barlow (Todd's Janna) was so nice to take our pictures, and she did an awesome job. We got some really cute pictures.

I can't believe we got several really cute family pictures with the kids being as young as they are. The key is to just keep on clicking on the camera, and hopefully there will be one where everyone is looking and their eyes aren't closed.

Tanner was kind of hard to get a good picture of because he was trying to to smile to much and his smiles looked kind of fake.

We did get a few cute pictures of him though when he was laughing, and just being himself.

We only got a couple pictures of Lexi and they were both cute, and so we moved on to the other kids. This is usually opposite of how it has been in the past. Lexi usually is the hardest to get a cute picture of because she will not look at the camera, and if she does she will not smile. So we were happy with the two good pictures.


I put Nixon down to stand up behind this fence, and as you can see he did not like it one bit. I think the picture is still really cute though. As we were leaving we realized that we did not get a good picture of Nixon so we hurried down Smithfield canyon to Janna's friend who lives there in the canyon and got some cute pictures of Nixon before it got dark.

While we were there we got some cute pictures of the kids playing around.

Isn't this picture adorable. Even though Tanner is on a pink motorcycle. Hey what can I say it is a Harley Davidson though.

Wolf Creek

A few weeks ago we went up to Wolf Creek for a few days. Wolf Creek is over in Eden not to far from Powder Mountain. My sister Alecia was here from N. Carolina, so whenever she comes out we always try to get together as a family a few times while she is out visiting. We go up there as a family and stay in some condos, we have been there a few other times and we always have a lot of fun. There is a fun swimming area for the kids, and it is right next to a golf course. At night time we went out on the golf course, and the kids played with glow in the dark necklaces which they always love doing. My dad also brought some glow in the dark golf balls, and Jeff brought his golf clubs so a few people would hit the ball and the kids would go chasing after it.

This year I think was especially fun. My brother Chad and his family just bought a new boat this summer, and they brought it over!!! There is a really nice lake called Pineview, and it is really close. This trip we spent both days at the lake. The kids had a lot of fun playing there. Chad had a couple of tubes which the kids had a blast on, and even the adults. I went on the tube with Tanner and Lexi one time. It was really funny because Lexi wanted to go and got on the tube, but Tanner didn't want to go and it took a lot of talking to get him on the tube. So after that first ride Lexi didn't want to ride it again, but Tanner loved it and he couldn't get enough of it. When Tanner wasn't in the boat he had a lot of fun playing in the sand with the other kids. He also loved swimming in the water. With his life jacket on we went on a little swim and I was so impressed with him. Tanner took swim lessons this year and they were worth it. Before this year he liked playing in the water, but was kind of afraid of it too. It has been fun to watch him start to get out there and start swimming and be more daring in the water.
Lexi had a lot of fun playing in the sand. This lake had a pretty nice beach so that was nice for the kids to have good sand to play in, and it also had good shade for the adults who were watching. Lexi also loved riding in the boat, but not so much the tube though. Lexi is a silly girl, she likes to play with the kids, but you can often find Lexi by herself singing songs and twirling around. She sometimes looks like she is in her own little world. I remember seeing her do that several times. I might add she enjoyed the yummy snacks that grandma brought.

Nixon also enjoyed the yummy snacks. I feel like a broken record here but, Nixon was so good in his stroller. I feel bad that whenever we go and do fun things Nixon is stuck in his stroller a lot of the time.

However, Nixon did start to get a little restless in his stroller so I decided to put him down in the sand. I thought I would constantly be getting sand out of his mouth. But to my surprise he didn't eat the sand. He loved playing and crawling around in it. It must of felt so good that he would turn his head to the side and lay down. One time he put his face flat down in the sand, he didn't like though.

We spent both days at the lake and didn't hardly even swim at the pool at the condo. The last day we had to be out of our rooms by noon so we went to the pool for a hour or so in the morning. At the pool there is a slide and Tanner absolutely loved it!! Breck would catch him when he came out of the slide then he would do it again.

Happy 4th of July

Here it is again , another 4th of July. This year was about the same as the rest of the previous July 4th's. We wake up and go to the Lewiston parade, and I might add that this is the best parade that we go to. The kids (not necessarily my kids) get so much candy. We can give a big thanks to Jeff for that. You can see in this picture what he is holding. Yep, that's a megaphone. He has offically earned the job of announcing the parade as they drive past. He is really good at it, and it is kind of like a little advertisement for them. They sure like that so they throw us a lot of candy and I mean a lot of candy. The parade would not be the same without Jeff. The whole Barlow clan is happy to see that Jeff has made it to the parade, especially the kids. Over the years people have learned to not sit across the street from the Barlow's, especially if you have kids that want to get candy.

This year Tanner was in the parade with our neighbor's who own Specialized Pest Control. He loved throwing the candy. I thought he would be sad when he wouldn't get any candy, but I was wrong he had a lot more fun throwing it.

Lexi was so funny to watch this year. She didn't really get into the parade, just the candy. She sat in her chair and would not get up to go get any candy. So I got a few pieces for her and she would eat them right away. Austin Pugmire, one of the teenagers was standing by Jeff. Anyway, he was picking up the pieces of candy that just came around him. Austin was setting his bag behind Jeff on the chair. When Lexi was done with her candy she saw Austin's bag of candy and reached over and grabbed it and started to eat Austin's candy. That was pretty funny.

After the parade we go walk through the park and see all the booths. That normally doesn't take to long. Then we go to my parents house and have lunch. Usually after that is the infamous Barlow water fight. In the past every single person there at the house would get wet whether you wanted to or not. With very few exceptions like my grandparents or if someone was large with child. we have to give credit to Jeff for this water fight too. Since Jeff was the one who started to grab those who were just watching or had their video camera's rolling (at least they would take away the camcorders and cameras before they drenched them). However, the last few years Jeff hasn't been participating. He must be getting to be an old fart (now people are actually starting to come out and watch and not hide in the bathrooms. I can only speak for myself and a few others on that one). Grandpa Barlow runs the pipes into the yard and floods the grass. As you can see from these pictures it puts quite a bit of water out. Tanner and Lexi have a blast playing in the water and having water fights with Grandpa and their cousins. Nixon hopefully will enjoy these festivities next year. But isn't this one of the cutest little boys you'll ever see. I love this picture. Nixon enjoyed the parade from his stroller, and at grandma's house he was very entertained by all of us there having a great time. I have really enjoyed the 4th of July growing up and now I love to see my kids enjoy it too. What an awesome tradition.