Christmas Dinner

How was your Christmas Dinner.

We stuffed ourselves so much we couldn't move.

fyi (the dog is Nigel Mile's and Jessica's Dog)

Christmas eve

The annual Christmas pj's 

Turning 6

And another one hits 6

 Elann and our neighbor threw a surprise party for Ana

 Here is Ana with the presents from grandma and papa Barlow

Here she is with her gifts excited and happy

Halloween

I was called and chastised for not posting Halloween pictures, 

and even though I defended myself I cannot deny that 

my brain skipped a beat somewhere and made me 

believe that I had already posted them.

 Here is Cassidy the Cheerleader

 Ariana The princess

 Cenna as Professor McGonagall 

 Ben is a King

Ales was an Ice Queen

The makeup didn't turn out as well as i'd hoped

David went as a Lowe's Employee for the 5th time in a row and Elann was a tired Mom.

Scared

We were watching a movie as a family and Cenna fell asleep. This is the result.

Zoo Time

We went on a little family expedition to Hoogle Zoo this weekend. All of the kids were able to enjoy it this time. The last time we came Cassidy was only one and didn't really know what was going on. Unfortunately part of the zoo was closed they are trying to fix up the section that normally has the bears and big cats in it, so we didn't see any bears and only one cat.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

All of the tigers were sleeping

Sanpete Staple

This monkey kept jumping out of his little cave to sit there and stare at everyone.

We arrived at the Elephant Paddock just in time for the afternoon show. This baby elephant did some really neat tricks we just didn't get our camera out in time. To finish the show the trainer gave the elephant a whole pineapple and he ate it leaves and all.

This giant tortoise was sleeping when we arrived but soon woke up and moved over to eat. 

His body was huge big enough for any of the kids to ride and his neck was really long.

We had a lot of fun and look forward to going again next year when they finish construction.

Alex and the Viola

Alex had her first Orchestra Concert recently, for those of you that didn't know she is in orchestra and is playing the Viola. The concert went well. About what you would expect to hear from an orchestra made up of 7th graders that haven't played before.

School Project

For those of you not aware I am currently back in school. In one of my classes I had to create a collage of pictures using photoshop. The teacher asked us to be creative so this is what I came up with.

If you click on the picture so it is larger you can see that the Lego Characters in the bottom dream are actually Elann and the Kids chasing me, and the top dream is Ben reaching down to move his sisters around on the Lego set, while they run away. I haven't received my grade yet but will say that during the presentation of it, the entire class broke into laughter and seemed to like it.

Exciting weekend

So I get a call at work around 6:30 on Friday and I can hear 

Cassidy screaming in the background and Elann asking me to 

hurry home because Cassie just fell down the driveway.

So I arrange to get off and leave for home getting stuck in traffic 

for the Real Salt Lake soccer game. So it takes me a little while to 

arrive and this is is what I find.

One little girl with a goose egg that is bigger than a golf ball

and just a little smaller than a baseball. So I put her in the car grab

Elann and we drive back up to the ER. After checking her out 

the doctor decides that she is okay but that she needs to 

stick around for a couple of hours for observation. 

Sometime around 9:30 we finally get to leave. Of course the 

whole time we are there Elann is worried, while Cassie is 

happy as can be and excited about the stuffed animal the 

nurse gave her. 

On a positive note Real won the match.

Fat + Speedo = No

These are a couple of reason I do not post pictures of myself in swimwear

This last one was my favorite one

I hope you enjoyed these and maybe laughed a little

Here we go again!!

Another school year is upon us. Here are the first day of school pictures.

Alex going into 7th!! 

(Are we even old enough to have a 7th grader??)

Ben going into 5th grade!!

Cenna going into 2nd grade!!

Ariana going into Kindergarten!!

Alex Turning 12

Alex had yet another birthday, they seem to come more 

often as they get older.

 The presents from Grandma, 

Yea a book maybe I can get my Nook back now

What do you get a 12 year old, 

Jewelry and Decorative Lighting.

Swim time

We went swimming about a week ago and had quite a bit of  fun.

I didn't feel that pictures of me would help anyone. 

However if you really need to see a Fat Man in a 

swimsuit let me know and I'll send you a couple.

 Ariana found that swimming is a lot more fun with life vest

made for swim training. Alex getting taller every day could stand in 

most of the pool areas.

Ben found a better use for the pool noodles and kick boards.

Wisdom of a 3 year old

We have been Potty training Cassie and she asked if

she could go play at her friends house.

We told her no because she was potty training.

Her reply

But they have a toilet.

I will never underestimate the wisdom of a 3 year old again.

Slip & Slide

This is the slip & slide that I put together for our 4th of July BBQ.

It wasn't really long to start and so we ended up lengthening it (shown in Video).

Check out the video below to watch me break my hand on my final run.

Cast in order of appearance.

Ben Barlow

Kerin Ure

Alex Barlow

David Barlow

How was your 4th?

As you can tell mine was eventful. I was training for an upcoming MMA fight and broke my hand. Okay okay I went down my homemade slip and slide and landed on my hand. But the MMA fight sounds cooler and I can't go into work and say I fell on my hand and broke it.

So MMA fight it is.

Turning 10

You know your getting old when one of your kids turns 10

Here is Ben with his presents from Grandma and Grandpa Barlow

With his haul this year. Boy's are easier to shop for than girls.

Just get Nerf and Lego and they will always enjoy.

13 Years

It was thirteen years ago that we were married.

We said through thick and thin, sickness and health, richer or poorer.

Well I've gotten thicker and we've certainly had sickness,

we've never been richer but also never been poorer,

through all the ups and downs we've stood together.

From kids to school, work to home, we've managed to stay together.

So here's to you, through kids in their teens, to college and marriage,

whatever may come we'll be able to handle.

Together Forever my Love and Me.

New Family Pics 2

Here are the Pictures for the other 3.

New Family Pics 1

We had new Family Pictures taken and since I couldn't think of anything

else to post I thought I would do these.

After looking at Family pictures I have decided come to 2 conclusions. My kids are photogenic, and I should never do profile pictures with out a wide angle lens.

The Big 3.0

Cassidy turned 3 on the 28th of February

here is a couple of pics from her opening presents

Kitchen Complete

Our kitchen is finally complete. I will not go into the details of how long it took. But I will say that we think it looks great and couldn't have asked for a nicer kitchen.

You can see by the color it is a Dark Cherry color.

Complete with Crown molding.

And a china display cabinet with frosted doors.