Decorating the Christmas Tree

We put our tree up right after Thanksgiving and the boys had so much fun! Of course it took a lot of coaching to get them to put the ornaments on the tree rather then throw them at each other or hang them on their ears and toes. And by the time we were done the ornaments were all on the same four branches. Also, I found a record player here and bought a Christmas record at D.I. so we got to listen to old time favorite Christmas songs while decorating the tree. There's just something about that fuzz and crackel coming from the record player that makes me feel so warm and cozy! Jaxon keeps asking if it's still Christmas time and about a dozen times a day Linkon has to point out all the lights and the tree. I am so excited to share Christmas with these two little guys! They make everything so much more exciting and fun!

Picture update

These are just a couple pictures from the last week or so. I still haven't got pictures from Halloween but hopefully I will soon. The above one is of Jax in the snow. When it snowed last week we got almost 2 inches and I could NOT keep Jaxon inside! He played till well past dark and woke up before me the next morning to go out and play.
The one below is of Jaxon pulling Linkon. Jax loves to tie his bike to everything and pull it around.

Pictures

I need help choosing a few pictures of the boys to order and frame. Let me know which ones are your favorite!

Linkon

Jaxon

Boys Together

Jaxon's Birthday

Jaxon is 3! I can't believe it! He is getting so big! His birthday was on Conference Sunday. He had waffles for breakfast, with candles of course and then Matt and Amy and their boys came over for dinner and Stratton and Amy made Jaxon rice crispy treats that we all loved! On Monday we went to Matt and Amy's and had dinner, we really like to eat together! Then Grandma and Grandpa Barnes and Grandpa Campbell came over for cake and ice cream. Tyler and I got him a big boy bike and he got money and a cool truck toy from grandparents. He had a wonderful birthday! Of course now we face the problem of convincing him it is NOT his birthday anymore and that it won't be again for quite a while. Here are some pictures from his birthday.

The Beach

Tyler and I took the boys up to the beach on Tuesday. It was beautiful and the only other person on or near the lake was a guy in a tractor digging out the boat ramp. This time of year is a perfect time to go because there aren't many people and the lake is low enough that there is some good sand to play in. It was really hot though so we didn't stay too long. We also took the dog. He loves the water and the boys had a lot of fun throwing sticks and rocks in for him to chase. DETOUR--> Memory Lane: Being up there reminded me so much of being a little girl. We used to camp at Calamity all the time and I remember walking along the beach looking for unique drift wood. We also boated a lot and when we had a lot of people with us we would find a good beach where half of us would stay while the others went out on the boat. One of my favorite parts about boating was being the flag girl, except when mom and dad were skiing beacuse they hardly ever fell. But when Josh and Emily were learning to knee board or ski then it was a little more exciting! I loved when Dad would take us girls out on the tube. Mom would drive real slow and it was so relaxing it would almost put me to sleep, actually, it probably did more than once. I also loved when Dad would go really fast and us little kids would all climb in the very front of the boat. I loved feeling the boat hit the waves and thinking we were going fast enough and hitting big enough waves we could almost just take off and fly! When the boat wasn't on the water the deck area was a perfect stage and I remember, and I think we have it on tape somewhere, my sisters and I dancing on it. Emily was by far the best though! The cabin also doubled as a play house for kittens. Bet you didn't know that did you, dad? Sometimes I will smell gasoline that will remind me of the exhaust of the boat and instantly I am right back on the lake and I can hear the gurgle of the motor being let down into the water and feel the rythm of the boat rocking back and forth, back and forth. When we sold the boat Dad had to practically pry Amy off the back of it and we all chased it down the road yelling and crying. I think it would have been less painful if mom and dad had just sold one of the boys. Just kidding Josh and Bridg! Obviously I love you both more than a boat! END OF DETOUR So, back to the beach. I told Amy about how much fun we had and we thought it would be fun to go again yesterday. We were a little nervous because the road had caved in the day before so we held our breath and drove very carefuly to the boat ramp. Jaxon was so excited to have Stratton there. A new friend of mine that has a little boy Jaxon's age also came for a while so the three of them had a blast exploring and wandering all over the beach. So here is a plethora of pictures from the lake, there are a lot but we all love pictures, right?!





I was worried Jaxon was going to hit Stratton with his stick but he just ran past his yelling in jibberish.


Uncle Bridger entertaining all the little boys while we helped Amy and Matt move.

This was at Amy's last weekend while we canned salsa. Amy has these wrestling masks at her house that the boys thought were pretty darn cool. I just loved this picture! Thanks Em for taking it!

DOG

This is ___________. Actually his name is Cougar but we're not really crazy about the name so it will probably be different. Anyway, we've been looking for a dog for a while. We wanted it to have all its shots, be fixed, between 6 months and 2 years old, not a huge dog but big enough to stay outside, won't chase livestock and of course would be great with the kids. I know, its a really big list. After months of looking we finally found this guy. And the best part, he was free! Plus we got a huge bag of dog food. He is only 10 months old so he still has lots of puppy energy and lots to learn but he is already a pretty good dog. He sits and kind of stays. We just got him tonight and he was pretty hyper to be in a new place so hopefully he will calm down over the next couple of days and we can all get used to each other. He is really good with the boys but he likes to charge full speed toward them and then dodge them at the last moment possible which Jaxon loves and Linkon hates. Linkon will run after him calling "goo-ger" and as soon as the dog heads towards him Link turns and runs away crying. Anyway, hopefully he will be a good dog for us and keep all the critters and murderers away.
In other news... it is officially Fall. But not because of the calendar. Its offical because I can smell it. Don't you just love the smell of autumn? I wish I could describe it but I don't think I could even try. I love all the colors I can see from my window. I looked out at the mountains to the east and I could see beautiful patches of red and yellow all over the hills and mountains. Fall is my favorite time of year and I am so excited to be living in such a beautiful place!

So we've been here in Swan Valley for a while now and we love it! The ward is wonderful! And it's at 9:30 so Tyler can always come to at least sacrament meeting with us. Everyone in the ward seems really excited to have little kids in the ward. There are only about 4 kids in the entire nursery that are active. The ward is small and it is shrinking every week because half the people leave during the winter. Everyone is so close here. They seem like a big family. Jaxon and Linkon are so excited to have so many grandmas! In Relief Society yesterday Linkon walked from one lady to the next saying "Gamma!" He just loves all the attention he gets! Last night a young couple in the ward brought us the most amazing cinnamon rolls. They were huckleberry! Instead of raisins she used huckleberries, genius! Anyway, we are really enjoying life here and Tyler doesn't complain about the drive...too much!

We had our Barnes Family Reunion a week ago up towards Hiece(sp?). We had a blast but we were missing a few people, Josh and Tim and Nicole's family. Emily's family, Amy's family, me and my boys, dad, and Bridger all went up on Thursday. Rhett, Lynn, Grandma and Grandpa Barnes, and Ty and Mare came up on Friday. Teresa and Desi didn't make it up till Sunday morning. And Tyler was able to come up all day Sunday. We had so much fun! We had an archery contest and gun shooting contest. Me and Bridger were on a team and we took second and I won a lantern. We also played Frisbee golf and of course minute to win it games. We had plenty of food, four wheelers and even a creek for the boys to play in. I was so proud of myself for going camping without Tyler. I thought I'd get scared sleeping in my own tent, and I wasn't very close to anyone, but I did just fine! I will try and get pictures up as soon as possible.

Swan Valley or Bust!

So we are mostly packed up and we are moving out tomorrow morning. Tonight is our last night in our little trailer house and I have to admit I am feeling a little sad. It is just so weird to think about not coming home here anymore. I will miss my huge closet and my massive shower. I will also miss the internet for a while. We have no idea what internet company even reaches out there so we don't know when we will be able to have it again. I will post pictures of our temporary home as soon as I can. I think I might go crazy since I don't know anyone there and it is so far from everything. I am excited to give this whole "live in the middle of no where" thing a try. I've always wanted to live somewhere like this so we'll see if I can really hack it being that far away from a grocery store. FYI, the nearest real grocery store is 30 miles away in Driggs. Idaho Falls is 45 miles away. So I won't be taking weekly and bi-weekly trips to the store anymore. I am always nervous about moving to a new place. I don't know anyone. What if I don't fit in? What if no one likes me? What if no one cares at all that I even moved? I actually do okay on my own but its always nice to have some friends in the ward, especially since Tyler works every other Sunday and I have to go to church alone. I still have some packing to do so I best be gettin to it. So, so long for now friends.

Swan Valley bound

So, it's official. We are moving to Swan Valley in just a couple weeks. I am feeling a lot of different emotions. I am excited to be out of this trailer park and all the crazy trailer trash. Ok, who am I kidding? I am totally trailer trash so that will be coming with us! But there are some crazies that I won't miss. I am excited to be in a bigger house (for a while) and to have a big yard for the boys to play in, plus it is so beautiful there. I am not excited about it being an hour drive to Menan and family. I am not excited to pack everything up and move it all. Also, winter creates some problems since the highway going to and from Swan Valley is often closed because of drifting snow... so we would have to either move or Tyler would have to stay with his dad during his work week. I really don't want to have to pack everything up and move it and then unpack everything. I am also really sad about leaving my house. When we first moved in our neighbors were just moving out and I asked them if they were so excited to be getting out of their tiny trailer and she told me "no" and that she was going to miss her house and all the memories it held for them. I thought she was crazy. But now I feel the exact same way. This was Tyler's and my first house together. It was where we brought our boys home from the hospital. It holds so many fun memories for us that it is sad to leave. And I will miss my wonderful neighbors and all the great ward members. I am nervous about going to a new ward and meeting new people. Jaxon loves his nursery and I feel bad about taking him away from all his friends there. Oh, and did I mention I am NOT excited about packing up the entire house? When I moved to Menan I was 5 so I really didn't have anything to do with the packing. When I moved into this house all I had was my clothes and a few other little items. When we moved away for the summers all we took was clothes, a few toys and some kitchen things. This will be the first time I have really had to move all my stuff so I am not looking forward to that. I am, however, looking forward to cleaning out all the junk and getting a little more organized. Hey, maybe we could just hook up to the trailer, haul it up to Swan, park it next to the house there and then just take everything from one front door to the next, then haul the trailer right back here when we were done! Now there's an idea! Anyway, there ya have it. We are moving to Swan Valley. And after we get there... who knows? We are really hoping Tyler can get a better job so we can have some stability and so he can have his weekends off and get home at a decent hour. We would love to stay here in the Rexburg/Idaho Falls area so we can be close to family and we really want to raise our kids here. But, we just don't know right now what's going to happen.

Hales/Campbell Family at Garff Ranch

Two weekends ago we were invited by Tyler's mom and step-dad to go with them to a Ranch in Park City. The Ranch belongs to Bob Garff, the owner of all the Ken Garff dealerships in Utah. He and Elder Hales are good friends and he told Elder Hales to take his family, which kind of includes us now, up to his working ranch. All of Steve's kids were able to go and all of the Campbell kids except Ryan were there. There were 20 adults and 12 kids there. We were so excited to get to hang out with Steve's kids and their kids. They are all so kind to us and we appreciate them letting us come along on their family adventures. We really enjoy their company and look forward to getting to know them even more!
The massive cabin sits on 15,000 acres in the mountains of Park City. The master suit was probably the size of my entire house - about 900 sq feet. The kitchen was the size of a commercial kitchen and there were 4 private suits upstairs that all had their own bathrooms, we got one of these suits because we have a baby(if you can call Link a baby anymore)! There was also a huge bunk room downstairs with 6 or 7 bunk beds. There was so much gorgeous wood work and detailing that I could not get over. Elder Hales said that some of the family members did all the wood detailing and carving in the house. Just below the cabin is the barn and arena. There is also a gorgeous country club just down the road that Bob Garff is a member of so on Saturday the guys were able to go golfing while the girls took the kids to the pool. (ps, this country club yearly membership costs 1 million bucks!!!) Tyler had so much fun golfing! The course was amazing. He literally could have golfed all day! He said golfing on the municipal golf course will never be the same again! Jaxon had a blast swimming and going down the huge slide. After swimming and golfing we had an amazing lunch at the country club and then headed back to the cabin to ride horses. Both boys fell asleep so I went riding by myself. I'm not sure if it was because I was alone for once or just that I have missed riding so much but I had the BEST time ever! I could have ridden all afternoon! I was a little nervous riding because I haven't been on a horse in almost 4 years. As I was running my horse around the arena I just kept thinking about my mom and how she used to say "a horse can't run faster then I can ride. I just hold on tighter and smile wider." And I did. I kicked that horse into a dead run, held on tight and smiled. I probably looked a little silly but I didn't really care! We rode around the arena for a while and gave the kids rides and then 4 of us went out on a longer ride up around the cabin. I was so sore by the time we were done but it was so worth it! When we got back I had Tyler wake up the boys and bring them down so they could have a quick ride with me. They both loved it! Jaxon just wanted to gallop the entire time and Linkon would rock back and forth and kick the horse. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and playing games. Elder and Sister Hales are so funny! They just feed off each other! It was really fun to sit and play games and eat with Elder Hales. I always knew apostles are just "ordinary" people but I still expected that all they talk about is Gospel doctrines and bare their testimony every few minutes so it was neat for me to see that Elder Hales really is just a man. He loves baseball and he tells jokes and loves to make people laugh! Also Tyler sat in Elder Hales room and they watched ESPN together for a while, which Tyler LOVED!
On Sunday we had a little meeting were a few people bore their testimonies. Sister Hales said she was so grateful to be on the earth at this time when we have the scriptures. She knew so much history and so many facts about the scriptures, I was really touched and inspired to learn more and study my scriptures more. Also, while we were there she mentioned a few times how it is so important that husbands help their wives and wives do NOT nag their husbands. I just thought, Elder and Sister Hales have been married 57 years and they are so happy together; maybe this is the key. So I am trying to nag less and Tyler is doing a great job at helping me with the boys more.
We had such a wonderful time and wish we could have stayed a week longer! We did get to go back to Steve and Gail's house and hang out with Tyler's sisters and their families till Monday which was so much fun. Jaxon had an awesome time playing with cousins and when he woke up in his own bed Tuesday and Wednesday morning he cried and was so upset that there were no cousins to play with.
I don't know why but the only pictures we took the entire time were a couple of Jaxon on the horse with me and they are not very good. I borrowed the other ones from Steve, I hope he doesn't mind!

This is looking from the dining room into the great room. The table is one of the things the owners carved themselves.

Playing games

Sorry, this is kind of all over the place. I hope you can understand it and that it makes sense.
I just finished reading all the posts and comments about little Preslee Sullenger who nearly drowned a couple weeks ago and then passed away last weekend. I went to school with Preslee's mom but we didn't know each other. I'd been following her story and waiting for all the updates. When I found out that she passed away last Friday I thought "I don't want to read about it. I don't want to be sad." But then I thought about "mourning with those who mourn" and even though I cannot offer my condolences to the family personally some good can come from me reading the story and all the sad comments. Since reading the stories I am completely overcome with gratitude for my family, for my sweet little boys who teach me patience, how to love, and how to laugh! I will appreciate each moment I have with them. They are my best friends! I will watch them more closely. I will be more grateful for the plan of salvation and for my Savior. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to grow and learn and love him. I am so sorry for little Preslee's parents and for all who love her and her family. It is times like these that I am reminded of the pain of losing a loved one. That weight that settles on your chest and makes it so difficult to breath. The helpless feeling. Complete agony. The actual physical pain. Falling to your knees, begging Heavenly Father for some relief, some comfort, a little peace. I cannot imagine losing one of my children. It is my one of my greatest fears - the greatest being losing them for eternity. My heart aches for the Sullengers and their family.

Okay I started this post earlier today and just came back to it. So the rest of this is in a little bit different direction but I wanted to share it anyway. One of the comments someone posted on the Sullenger's blog was about submitting our will to the Lord and how it is the one truly unique thing we can give to the Lord. (I think they were quoting a general authority from a conference address or something.) The Lord has a plan for each and everyone of us. We cannot understand everything but we can submit ourselves to Him and His will and He will guide and direct us in our lives so we can return to Him someday.
This weekend I was riding horses and I kept thinking about a comment someone made in Sunday school a couple weeks ago. The teacher asked what it meant to have a "broken heart" and a man in my ward replied that he always compared it to breaking a horse. When you break a horse you teach and train him to submit to your will. So as I was riding I began to think about that. At first I was riding a horse named Ida. She was a big, beautiful horse, but she was incredibly stubborn. She would mind me, or "submit" to my will only about half the time. A few of us wanted to go out on a longer ride up the mountain a little ways. I decide to change horses because I didn't trust Ida and I was not very comfortable riding her out in the open. (I hadn't been on a horse in over 3 years!) The next horse I got on was perfect! He did exactly as I asked and the ride was so much fun! Also, because my horse was broke so well I could just let him go and I knew he would follow the trail we were on. He didn't need as much coaxing to stay on the trail as some of the other horses did. And if he began to wander a bit I would gently bring him back to the trail. There was another horse that went on the long ride with us that nearly walked straight over a cattle guard because he wanted to just get back to the barn and was not "submitting" to the will of his rider who was desperately trying to steer him away from the danger. As I compare having a broken heart to a broke horse I think about the different degrees of "broken". Do I want to be like the horse that is so stubborn and refuses to obey his master that he doesn't see the danger laying in his path? Or the horse the rider cannot trust? Or do I want to be like the horse who willingly obeys his master and in turn has an enjoyable and safe journey through the woods? In my reading last night I came across this scripture in Acts 14:22 that says "...we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." We know we are going to have trials and tribulations, it is the only way to "enter the kingdom of God." So doesn't it just make sense to submit ourselves to the Lord's will and be like the faithful and obedient horse who trusts his master and avoids the dangerous cattle guards? I know that the only way to make it through the trials I have been through and will go through in this life is to submit my will to the Lord. I pray I can remember little Preslee and the reminder she has given me to rely on Heavenly Father and to stay close to Him and worthy of His spirit at all times - you never know when you are going to need that extra strength.

pictures

Here are just a few pictures of the last month or so. There are some of us golfing and a couple random ones of the boys.