Tanner's Birthday

Tanner turned four on Sept. 3rd. That evening we gave him his present from Jeff and I, and let him choose were he wanted to go to for dinner. To know one's surprise we ended up eating at McDonald's.

Tanner's gift from us was this race car track. I think it's called Crash and Go race cars. You shake the cars and then put them down on the track. If the cars collide they make a crashing noise and the hood and doors open up. Anyway, his present from us, and going to McDonald's was basically it for the day. But, the next day he was having a pirate birthday party, and he was pretty excited for that.

THE PARTY

We invited the neighbor kids, Tanner's cousins that were around his age, and his grandma's and grandpa's to the birthday party. I have to say that the party was a hit or should I say a swashbuckling good time matey.

First as the kids arrived they got eye patches, pirate tattoo's, and a pirate mustache if they wanted to. Then it was time for the games.
We had made a bunch of swords out of balloons, and so the kids played around with those for a while. Then the kids played pirate pirate captain which was the pirate version of duck duck goose. After this game we opened presents because Tanner insisted that is what we needed to do next. Then we played walk the plank. The kids really enjoyed this game. However I think I was running the video camera at the time, and only got one picture of Marissa doing a cartwheel on it.
After the kids played on this for a while it was time to eat. We grilled up some hot dogs, and I made some little sails that I sticked into the hot dog to make it be a boat, and then we put some goldfish crackers around on their plate.
After eating it was time for cake and ice cream. I had found this really cute pirate ship cake online, and thought it looked pretty easy to make. Let me say this, it looked really cute for a minute or so.

Pretty awesome cake right. Well this is what the back of the cake looked like.

And then 15 minutes later.







This cake was beyond repair. Oh well, I just said that the pirate shipped was attacked. Anyway it all taste the same. After cake and ice cream it was time for the treasure hunt. I had set up a scavenger hunt for the kids, and then at the end each kid got a little bag of goodies. It was a really fun party and all the kids had a great time, especially the birthday boy.

Tanner's first day of preschool

Tanner started preschool on Sept. 2nd. He was so excited he woke up and wanted to eat, take a bath, and get ready for school. Any other day he's not that fast to eat breakfast and get ready. He was ready for school about 45 minutes before we needed to leave to get him to school at 9:00 A.M. As you can see he was was pretty excited. As he was getting ready for school of course Lexi thought she was getting ready for school too. I took some pictures of him before we left, and of course I had to get some of Lexi too.

This is the perfect picture of Lexi. This picture describes her personality to a Tee. Most people wouldn't guess that because she is so shy around people, but at home this girl can be the sweetest little thing ever, and then the next minute she can have attitude like no other.

Tanner's birthday was the next day, so at school he got this hat and a little bag of goodies. When I picked him up their was two other kids with the birthday hat on also. He wore this hat all day, and he really enjoyed his first day of preschool.

Wrapping up the Summer

It's been a crazy month, and I haven't had time to write, and post any pictures of some of the things we have done before summer would come to an end. All to soon summer flies by, and then Jeff starts teaching again, and this year Tanner will go to preschool two days a week. It's not much, but it will be a good little break. Not necessarily for me (because I still have Tanner and Lexi), but for Tanner. So I'm going to sum up a few fun things we did in July and August. In the end of July Jeff and I took the kids to Downata Hot Springs up in Idaho. It was kind of a cool day for July. The sky was over casted,and it looked like it might rain. It was nice though because we weren't so hot, and there was hardly anyone there. At Downata there is a big pool with several different small slides that go into it. There is this little kiddie park which is awesome for our kids. In this picture Lexi and Nixon had a lot of fun playing around in there.








Then there is the big slide. Tanner had so much fun there at Downata this year because he loved the slides. He went on every slide, but he loved the big one the best. He was so proud because he could do it all by himself. Well, you have to do them by yourself because they won't let you go down the slides with an adult. However, he didn't need any help when he came out of the big slide though. Last year he went down it one time, and got flipped over on the first turn and I could see him coming out of the slide on his back head first. Jeff took Lexi up to go down the slide because she was winning, and said she wanted to go, knowing she would not like it, I let her go so she would stop winning. Sure enough she was flipped over on the first turn, and I saw her come out of the slide on her back and head first. Jeff was not far behind her and helped her out of the pool. She was not crying, but the look on her face was one of fright. Sure enough she did not want to go again. A few days later she said the slide was really fun. Go figure.

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A few weeks later in August we went to Bear Lake with the Barlow family and stayed in the condo. The first night we went to a park over in Bear Lake and had dinner, and let the kids play.
My mom had a parachute that the kids had a lot of fun playing games with it. They especially like the shark game. To play the shark game you sit around the parachute with your legs under the parachute. Someone is the shark under the parachute, and they go around and pull you under the parachute, and then you become a shark too and help pull the others under.
After the fun games the kids went on a treasure hunt. When they found the treasure all the kids got to pick a prize. Nixon got a toy tractor, Lexi got some play dough, and Tanner got a gun that would blow bubbles.

The next day we went to the beach. The kids had fun playing in the sand. They sculpted a mermaid in the sand and had fun burying the kids in the sand. Tanner wanted to be a banana in the sand, as you can see from the picture. So the kids played in the sand, but nobody played in the water. It was fairly cold on the beach. It was really windy and not very warm. I remember wishing that I had a jacket. We played around for 2 or 3 hours, and then went back to the condo and swam in the pool.




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One day we went out to my parents house, and my dad took the kids out to the ditch over in Cornish to catch frogs. Well they came back with a lot of frogs. When it was time to go Tanner was so sad and he wanted to take some frogs home. We took around 5 frogs home in an ice cream bucket with the lid on. When we got home we put some water in a 5 gallon bucket and put the frogs in it, and put a towel over the top of it for the night. The next morning Tanner went outside to see the frogs. He took the towel off and then came in to get us so we could go see them too. It was probably about 5 minutes before we made it out, but the frogs were all gone. Tanner was so sad. Later I was watering the lawn, I was walking and one jumped right in front of me. I'm glad none of my neighbors we out because it completely shocked me and I screamed. The kids were so happy, and they had to show all the neighbors. That frog was dead by the next day. It was probably 2 or 3 days later we were in the yard talking to one of our neighbors and I looked down and I saw a frog. It probably wasn't even a minute later and Jeff found a frog too. Lexi absolutely loved the frogs. I couldn't keep her away from them. She was a little rough with them though. A few times I had to save the frog from her tight grip around the frog. She asked me if I would take some pictures of her with the frog and we got a few silly pictures

We had these two frogs around for a few days and then Jeff And I let them go.

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.

Last chance for family fun.

Well, a few weeks ago Jeff accepted a new job offer at Nate and Andy's Quality Auto as their F&I(finance and insurance) guy. It was a really hard decision to make on whether or not he should keep teaching school and selling blinds, or take this job offer. After a lot of prayers and discussions about it he decided it would be a good opportunity to take the job. The only kind of bad thing about it is that it will require a lot of his time. Especially the first year or so he is going to be working a lot. Anyway, he starts training for this job on Tuesday July 8th. when he decided to take this job we decided we better get out and do a few things that we had wanted to do this summer before he starts. So we went to Hogle Zoo, and the kids absolutely loved it!!


The kids loved seeing all the animals. They loved the elephants, giraffes, the white crocodile,and many more different types of crazy looking creatures. Tanner was especially excited to see the snakes, and he loved the display case with all sorts of bugs from all over the world. (Man, I sure am glad I've never had to kill any of those bugs in my house.) After seeing most everything at the zoo we went to a shady grassy area and had lunch. The kids were in heaven running around and playing. Here are a few pictures we got, and you can see it especially in Lexi's face that she was having a fun time. And of course Tanner would be making faces for the camera.

Isn't this picture adorable. I have the hardest time getting a picture of Lexi smiling for the camera. She was having a blast climbing around on this rhinoceros.

Poor little Nixon was stuck in the stroller all day. He was so good though he didn't seem to mind one bit. He feel asleep towards the end of seeing the animals and then slept while we ate our lunch and the kids played around.

Here is every one enjoying their ice cream. this is what we bribed Tanner with when he started to not want to ride in the stroller.

We all had a really fun day at the zoo. However, all my monkeys were getting tired and it was time to go home.