Oh, yeah, I've kicked it up a notch. I changed my blog background. Not to anything fancy (like some of y'all's), but to my favorite color: green. Also, after this hot, action-packed Friday night I got a lot of laundry done AND updated my links on my sidebar. Here's the comical part. I have 49 links listed. That means, those are most of the blogs I like to drop in to every now and then. And by most I mean, that doesn't even include the 3 private blogs and the blogs I visit even though I don't really know the people. OR, or, or, how about the people I drop into visit from my links links. Oh, it's an addiction. C'mon fess up, how many do y'all have saved in your faves/links? Don't count the people you don't know in person, cuz I wanna know who is sick like me. I've figured I can get through the blogs in the amount of time it takes Tyler to watch an episode of Monsterquest. It's getting close, though, if bunch of people blog, so I may have to be dumping the non-posters if newbies are really on the ball.
Tyler's fishing again this weekend and I have decided when I go out of town it is not stressful to him for a few specific reasons. When I am gone Tyler does not do laundry, does not grocery shop, uses paper products or eats out so's not to have to do too many dishes, and has the patience and energy to take the kids places (which means a lot less house cleaning.) I, on the other hand, end up counting down the hours until there's another adult in the house.
I had Erin's three young 'uns tonight and it was actually really helpful to have some new blood to keep my kids entertained while I got some work done around the house. I made pancakes and scrambled eggs, which was the only hairy part. I don't know how "John and Kate plus 8" do the whole feeding thing. Once you get all the kids their food, all the kids their drinks, then serve up seconds, it's time to clean up . . . oh wait! It's time to eat myself. If I'm lucky. I would be skinnier with more kids to feed since there'd be no time to feed myself. Don't get me wrong, I'd be skinny AND crazy, but I couldn't be too picky, right?
Alrighty, off to bed. Thanks for the name feedback. I'm gonna give it through the weekend before I get nervous that I am being outvoted. I don't even know if I'll tell Tyler how it all worked out or not. We'll see.
Friday, February 29, 2008
What book am I?
Found this on Dylan's blog and I love it, being a book lover. Strangely, after six questions, the analysis was kinda right on. Sorta. Kinda. I think. Interestingly, I have never read this one.
Try it yourself at this site:
You're The Poisonwood Bible!by Barbara KingsolverDeeply rooted in a religious background, you have since become both isolated and schizophrenic. You were naively sure that your actions would help people, but of course they were resistant to your message and ultimately disaster ensued. Since you can see so many sides of the same issue, you are both wise beyond your years and tied to worthless perspectives. If you were a type of waffle, it would be Belgian.
Try it yourself at this site:
Thursday, February 28, 2008
What's in a Name?
So, I know, I know I am falling behind on my 97 posts, but you never know when there's gonna be a day when something great happens and I need to post twice or something. So, we'll see how it goes for the next couple months. Yesterday I was having computer/internet connection issues. I don't know about anyone else, but I just don't want to deal with stuff like that sometimes. I think mentally it was more annoying than anything else AND on a physically busy day I just chose to ignore it. Today I did the super technical thing and unplugged and replugged everything and we're good to go. Phew. I'm such a brainiac!
So, I need some public opinion on naming baby #5. With each of our kids it was important to me to give each of our kids a name with a purpose. I think being named after my great-grandma, Sarah Jane Jones Catlin was a real honor and I liked being able to say I was named after someone. To know it was important to my dad meant something, too. So, our 1st baby girl was got the prized "Jane" and is Mackenzie Jane. With girl #2 we knew we weren't necessarily guaranteed another chance to honor our mothers, so we chose Caylee Ann (we decided on the "lee" after Doralee [Tyler's mom] and Ann after my mom [Elizabeth Ann]). Baby boy #1 was named after his dad, Brevin Tyler, and with baby #4 we decided to honor my family's name and that's how we got Brock Garrard. SOOO, what do we do with a 3rd baby boy?
Let me just say, too, this would not be difficult if we were having a baby girl. I had already decided it would be Natalie Erin after my sister, but we had to start all over when we found out it was a baby boy. Sigh. SO, Tyler thinks we should continue the BR-thing. I never wanted to have a thing. I fought against "Brock" for a day after he was born because I was really in love with the name Dallin. When our pediatrician came in to check on unnamed Barlow baby #4 we asked his opinion on Dallin vs. Brock. He said he thought Brock sounded like a transvestite stripper name whereas Brock sounded manly. Obviously, that mature arguement from a licensed medical professional won us over, and Brock became Brock. I now love his name and he totally grew into it, so I am sure no matter what we choose, the name will fit him and we'll all love it, so I am kinda stuck on the purpose of this kids' name.
Right after Tyler and I were married his grandpa Barlow died. A few months later we got a binder from Tyler's uncle with a bunch of family histories. I was reading in bed one night in Cedar City all these stories and got to one from his great grandpa. At first it was fairly standard stuff, but I found it curious that he lived in Grouse Creek, Utah. I recognized Grouse Creek as the name of the small town my grandma lived in, and thought, "Hmm, small world." The history of this man, who was born in 1877, was pretty interesting; mostly about how he was a real, horse-breaking, hard-working cowboy. A couple paragraphs later and Tyler's great grandpa's history says this, "'Quart' Catlin, a brother-in-law to Lindy Kimber, was Jesse's age and one of his many friends." I seriously sat straight up in bed. Right there in that history was MY great-grandpa's name. "Quart" Catlin was my grandma Garrard's dad, Quartus Sparks Catlin. To know that our great-grandpas were good friends in little 'ol Grouse Creek was really cool. I like to think that nearly a hundred years later Jesse and Quart were up in heaven slappin' each other on the back whilst Tyler and I were making out on the backyard trampoline.
So, one afternoon it hit me that I would really like to name this baby boy after those two men. BOTH were worth naming a kid after, but to name him Jesse Sparks Barlow would mean a lot. Not that I'm ANTI a BR- name or anything, in fact I really like the name Brady. I just can't figure out what middle name would have more purpose than Tyler's dad's middle name, Lavell. So, general blog audience, I am asking for your opinion. Do you like Jesse Sparks Barlow or Brady Lavell Barlow better?
It may help to see the little squirt who is constantly kicking me and flip flopping in my uterus. In my scanning frenzy I added these ultrasound pics to our hard drive. Since I had the placental bleed, I got three different ultrasounds. I found out insanely early, 14 weeks (in November), that this was a boy, but the Dr. was sure the ultrsound wasn't lying. We had another viewing session the beginning of January, and then another on February 21st. We won't get anymore views until he comes out the shute, so see what you can gather and let me know in a comment if you think he looks more like a Jesse, a Brady, or a molerat.
One of the first profiles with his hand up by his face. (11/07)
"Hello, my peeps. Sorry to give you a scare with the whole bleeding placenta and all, but I'm doing fine and dandy in here!" (11/07)
This is the shot that the Dr. said, "If this baby is a girl, she's gonna have a penis." Tyler was pretty thrilled and the Dr. totally stroked his ego by calling him a porn star. nice, huh. (11/07)
This is another shot of the family jewels. The Dr. printed a big one for Tyler to take to his office and be proud of. The Dr. told us to pack a jock strap to the hospital since this baby was so well-endowed. I, mother of five, did not buy into his compliments as EVERY 8" long baby baby boy looks like he has a huge unit when it's broadcast on a big flatscreen TV. Tyler ate it up! (1/08)
Here's the first 3-D picture of our little man. Not to gross you out, but the grain-i-ness is from floating bits of old blood from the placental bleed, which had still not resolved itself as of the second ultrasound. (1/08)
This is another profile shot of our guy, but he's a bit older and more mature. Can't you tell in the picture?
And the last 3-D picture. Doesn't he look all peaceful and sweet? You can't tell how those arms so sweetly curled up in front of his face like to reach out and push up against my entire inner being. During the ultrasound we could actually see him opening and closing his eyes, pretty amazing, huh?!
So, I need some public opinion on naming baby #5. With each of our kids it was important to me to give each of our kids a name with a purpose. I think being named after my great-grandma, Sarah Jane Jones Catlin was a real honor and I liked being able to say I was named after someone. To know it was important to my dad meant something, too. So, our 1st baby girl was got the prized "Jane" and is Mackenzie Jane. With girl #2 we knew we weren't necessarily guaranteed another chance to honor our mothers, so we chose Caylee Ann (we decided on the "lee" after Doralee [Tyler's mom] and Ann after my mom [Elizabeth Ann]). Baby boy #1 was named after his dad, Brevin Tyler, and with baby #4 we decided to honor my family's name and that's how we got Brock Garrard. SOOO, what do we do with a 3rd baby boy?
Let me just say, too, this would not be difficult if we were having a baby girl. I had already decided it would be Natalie Erin after my sister, but we had to start all over when we found out it was a baby boy. Sigh. SO, Tyler thinks we should continue the BR-thing. I never wanted to have a thing. I fought against "Brock" for a day after he was born because I was really in love with the name Dallin. When our pediatrician came in to check on unnamed Barlow baby #4 we asked his opinion on Dallin vs. Brock. He said he thought Brock sounded like a transvestite stripper name whereas Brock sounded manly. Obviously, that mature arguement from a licensed medical professional won us over, and Brock became Brock. I now love his name and he totally grew into it, so I am sure no matter what we choose, the name will fit him and we'll all love it, so I am kinda stuck on the purpose of this kids' name.
Right after Tyler and I were married his grandpa Barlow died. A few months later we got a binder from Tyler's uncle with a bunch of family histories. I was reading in bed one night in Cedar City all these stories and got to one from his great grandpa. At first it was fairly standard stuff, but I found it curious that he lived in Grouse Creek, Utah. I recognized Grouse Creek as the name of the small town my grandma lived in, and thought, "Hmm, small world." The history of this man, who was born in 1877, was pretty interesting; mostly about how he was a real, horse-breaking, hard-working cowboy. A couple paragraphs later and Tyler's great grandpa's history says this, "'Quart' Catlin, a brother-in-law to Lindy Kimber, was Jesse's age and one of his many friends." I seriously sat straight up in bed. Right there in that history was MY great-grandpa's name. "Quart" Catlin was my grandma Garrard's dad, Quartus Sparks Catlin. To know that our great-grandpas were good friends in little 'ol Grouse Creek was really cool. I like to think that nearly a hundred years later Jesse and Quart were up in heaven slappin' each other on the back whilst Tyler and I were making out on the backyard trampoline.
So, one afternoon it hit me that I would really like to name this baby boy after those two men. BOTH were worth naming a kid after, but to name him Jesse Sparks Barlow would mean a lot. Not that I'm ANTI a BR- name or anything, in fact I really like the name Brady. I just can't figure out what middle name would have more purpose than Tyler's dad's middle name, Lavell. So, general blog audience, I am asking for your opinion. Do you like Jesse Sparks Barlow or Brady Lavell Barlow better?
It may help to see the little squirt who is constantly kicking me and flip flopping in my uterus. In my scanning frenzy I added these ultrasound pics to our hard drive. Since I had the placental bleed, I got three different ultrasounds. I found out insanely early, 14 weeks (in November), that this was a boy, but the Dr. was sure the ultrsound wasn't lying. We had another viewing session the beginning of January, and then another on February 21st. We won't get anymore views until he comes out the shute, so see what you can gather and let me know in a comment if you think he looks more like a Jesse, a Brady, or a molerat.
One of the first profiles with his hand up by his face. (11/07)
"Hello, my peeps. Sorry to give you a scare with the whole bleeding placenta and all, but I'm doing fine and dandy in here!" (11/07)
This is the shot that the Dr. said, "If this baby is a girl, she's gonna have a penis." Tyler was pretty thrilled and the Dr. totally stroked his ego by calling him a porn star. nice, huh. (11/07)
This is another shot of the family jewels. The Dr. printed a big one for Tyler to take to his office and be proud of. The Dr. told us to pack a jock strap to the hospital since this baby was so well-endowed. I, mother of five, did not buy into his compliments as EVERY 8" long baby baby boy looks like he has a huge unit when it's broadcast on a big flatscreen TV. Tyler ate it up! (1/08)
Here's the first 3-D picture of our little man. Not to gross you out, but the grain-i-ness is from floating bits of old blood from the placental bleed, which had still not resolved itself as of the second ultrasound. (1/08)
This is another profile shot of our guy, but he's a bit older and more mature. Can't you tell in the picture?
And the last 3-D picture. Doesn't he look all peaceful and sweet? You can't tell how those arms so sweetly curled up in front of his face like to reach out and push up against my entire inner being. During the ultrasound we could actually see him opening and closing his eyes, pretty amazing, huh?! 
Anyway, so that's our guy. He'll be arriving the beginning-ish of May and we're excited to meet him. Just deciding a name would be helpful. Jesse or Brady? Whatcha think?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
To Do Tuesday
I've been working out my scanner today, baby! I scanned the last 300 photos from my mom and dad's photo albums. I was actually thinking last night, "ugh, what to do for the to do" and then Chanel posted an old picture and I thought, "Hmm, I should get those albums back to mom after 2 years or more of stashing them." So, thanks for inspiring me (again) Chanel! I think total pictures I have scanned from my childhood and of our extended family is about 400-ish. Anyhow, here's a few of my faves from today's work.
This one must have been taken one evening since the boys are all in their pjs. We were probably watching The Simpsons or something like that. This is pretty much how I remember my "little" brothers, so it's kinda trippy to have them all grown up. Plus, it was probably rare that I was home at this point. This is circa 1993. (PS. I owned that sweater for YEARS. It was one of my faves.)
How do you not love this one? There's a family shot of all of us taken before this, so I am sure this one was done in jest and mockery. I know, what? Our family mock and jest? Such a surprise.
This is a picture of my 19th birthday. I had just gone to Salt Lake with my friends, and it was the first time Tyler and I had been apart since we got together. I missed him like crazy and while I was excited about my lemon cake (my fave) I was more excited to go make out with Tyler. This night was the first time I said "I love you" to Tyler. And yes, I wore overalls when I said it.
This is (obviously) my sister and myself at my wedding. This is before she got all splotchy from crying. Notice my big football helmet hair? I HATED my hair!
This one must have been taken one evening since the boys are all in their pjs. We were probably watching The Simpsons or something like that. This is pretty much how I remember my "little" brothers, so it's kinda trippy to have them all grown up. Plus, it was probably rare that I was home at this point. This is circa 1993. (PS. I owned that sweater for YEARS. It was one of my faves.)
How do you not love this one? There's a family shot of all of us taken before this, so I am sure this one was done in jest and mockery. I know, what? Our family mock and jest? Such a surprise.
This is a picture of my 19th birthday. I had just gone to Salt Lake with my friends, and it was the first time Tyler and I had been apart since we got together. I missed him like crazy and while I was excited about my lemon cake (my fave) I was more excited to go make out with Tyler. This night was the first time I said "I love you" to Tyler. And yes, I wore overalls when I said it.
This is (obviously) my sister and myself at my wedding. This is before she got all splotchy from crying. Notice my big football helmet hair? I HATED my hair!
This is at Erin's wedding a month later. And I love this dress. And I love Nate's famous butt cut he was sporting. Sweet, huh!
Anyhow, just a glimpse at the pics. Good productive day, but you should see my house. Holy kids run wild while I ignored them and scanned pictures.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Family Extreme Home Makeover
This weekend was a wonderful one. A leave-your-laptop-at-home because the only multi-tasking I wanted to be doing was hanging with my wonderful family. Most of you know the story (if you read my blog) about my cousin Garrett. Pretty much, if I haven't reitterated this enough before, he's a stud. A good-looking, funny, stud. This weekend a lot of our family was able to make the trip to Arizona to help Garrett's mom (my beautiful cousin Jodie) put her house together. Because life likes to throw massive curve balls at our head, Jodie was smack in the middle of a remodel of her entire home when Garrett landed on his back at the local gym in November. She'd had pocket doors installed, had new paint and floorboards installed, and ripped out pretty much everything else. We're talking down to the concrete floors. Needless to say, when your son has a massive spinal injury, picking out countertops and sink fixtures kinda goes by the wayside. UNTIL you realize your insurance has run it's course and your son and his wheelchair will be needing to come home. To a home not ADA ready. Of course, being such a wonderful family has its perks, one being good friends who were able to open their home to Jodie and Garrett until Jodie's house gets all doned-up-right-perty for the official home-c0ming. Warren and Verna live right around the corner and are so great to not only have Jodie and Garrett, but when their crazy family congregates in Mesa, they opened their doors to us all, too.
Now, we're a close family, I think. It's one of the best blessings in my life (as opposed to those bad blessings, ya know!?) But living so far removed (physically) from Jodie and Garrett has been hard and frustrating, especially since, I think, most of us want to just fix it and make it all better for the Tanners. So, after Erin's plea to Oprah left us as runner-ups, and Jodie's home-builder of a boss flaked, we all were all too happy to come to Mesa and bust a little family action in their home. We knew a weekend would be short, but with a contractor, electrition, and home inspector/builder (in addition to other trades) in our family, we knew we'd be able to do something productive, something to get Jodie and Garrett into their own home. With the help of a financial grant for supplies, we were all too eager to supply the labor, and by "we" I mean mostly our men-folk. "We" (meaning most of the women folk) were also really ready for a visit to the entire Tanner bunch since Garrett's release from the hospital meant a time for celebration and good 'ol hanging out Garrard family style.
The entire weekend was great. Granted the trip from Vegas to the Phoenix area is not so great, but I loved every minute of being there (even the skeazy hotel we stayed in had a good breakfast.) The best part for me was seeing how GREAT Garrett looked and getting hugs from him since he can now lift his arms. It was fun laughing and telling stories, catching up a bit, eating yummy treats (thanks to Erin and the Tanner's ward Relief Society), and being together. I know my girls enjoyed playing with their cousins. Here's a few pictures, and a montage of all the weekend goodies.
The moral support team! (minus Stacy and Zoee and baby Gus and Kenna's girls)
And the actual work force (minus Garrett's good friend and his dad who worked on the plumbing.)
Just a funny sign.
Morgan's plumbing shot. Not that I was juvenile to take this picture, but imagine my surprise to lift my camera to capture the action and got this back on my screen. Wowzers! 
Family Extreme Home Makeover
Thursday, February 21, 2008
To Do Tuesday posted on Thursday
True to form, I underestimated the length of time it took me to finish this week's project. Tuesday night, when I blogged that I would finish it that night, I didn't know A) that I would have to put Brock to bed again and again and again as he's taken to getting up a lot after lights out to tell us it's not bedtime, OR that B) it would take as long as it did for me to put the finishing touches on this project. I had originally thought I'd give this to the boys for Christmas, but when I started sketching on Christmas Eve, it was obvious that this would take a lot longer to complete than a few hours.
SOOO, what did I do? It's a car mat sketched and colored on a 5x5 piece of canvas. My brother-in-law Kevin had told Erin how much he and his brothers loved their car mat and how it was well designed with ample parking, an outer railroad, and houses for your friends, etc. I took note of those priorities and took some pictures of their mat (which is pretty grody considering the years of use) before I started drawing. I also consulted Tyler and he added that he would like a campground, water for fishing, and a golf course. I tried to think of the toy cars my kids already have and knew that we'd need a farm and airport in addition to the standard city buildings. And not to be too prideful, but how great is it that his is compact. It can be folded and stored SOO much easier than some of the other car racetracks, etc. So, without further ado, here's this week's project:
FIRST, an action shot. Not that they look overly excited, but they were. Really. They watched me a lot of the time and driving their cars on the parts I wasn't working on. Not shown in this picture is their older, Nazi-ish sister, Caylee, who loves to dictate how they should pretend and who gets what house and on and on. I swear, I don't know what to do with her sometimes. I told her she had to back off the town since she wasn't the mayor. She didn't get what I was saying and kept on playing/bossing/causing havoc.
Here's an arial view (ie, me standing on our entryway bench.)
And the from the other side of "town."
Just for your detailed viewing pleasure, there is a railroad station, an airport (with landing strip), mountin road that takes you to a campground. The lake (with boat dock) empties into a river that runs through town and backs up to "Tyler's Tee Box," the local golf course. In town we have a residential neighborhood, a fires station, a police station, courthouse/jail, a hospital, a drive-thru restaurant, a school and playground, a supermarket, a church, and a farm. I'm sure I forgot something major, but there is ample parking spots and lots of roads and driveways. I figure they'll make do with what they have. I'm tha-rilled to have this one crossed off the to-do list.
Now, some of you may not be that excited about this, but I have high hopes this will result in moments of solid brotherly playtime and a lot of creativity. I do, also, want to mention that I asked Tyler to help me color it and he refused, but he DID design the golf course. My brother David told me he'd draw some more buildings, but apparantly he's too busy for my craft projects, so he can be credited with the hospital, courthouse/jail, the airport tower, and the drive thru. Go Brlow-ville!
SOOO, what did I do? It's a car mat sketched and colored on a 5x5 piece of canvas. My brother-in-law Kevin had told Erin how much he and his brothers loved their car mat and how it was well designed with ample parking, an outer railroad, and houses for your friends, etc. I took note of those priorities and took some pictures of their mat (which is pretty grody considering the years of use) before I started drawing. I also consulted Tyler and he added that he would like a campground, water for fishing, and a golf course. I tried to think of the toy cars my kids already have and knew that we'd need a farm and airport in addition to the standard city buildings. And not to be too prideful, but how great is it that his is compact. It can be folded and stored SOO much easier than some of the other car racetracks, etc. So, without further ado, here's this week's project:
FIRST, an action shot. Not that they look overly excited, but they were. Really. They watched me a lot of the time and driving their cars on the parts I wasn't working on. Not shown in this picture is their older, Nazi-ish sister, Caylee, who loves to dictate how they should pretend and who gets what house and on and on. I swear, I don't know what to do with her sometimes. I told her she had to back off the town since she wasn't the mayor. She didn't get what I was saying and kept on playing/bossing/causing havoc.
Here's an arial view (ie, me standing on our entryway bench.)
And the from the other side of "town."
Just for your detailed viewing pleasure, there is a railroad station, an airport (with landing strip), mountin road that takes you to a campground. The lake (with boat dock) empties into a river that runs through town and backs up to "Tyler's Tee Box," the local golf course. In town we have a residential neighborhood, a fires station, a police station, courthouse/jail, a hospital, a drive-thru restaurant, a school and playground, a supermarket, a church, and a farm. I'm sure I forgot something major, but there is ample parking spots and lots of roads and driveways. I figure they'll make do with what they have. I'm tha-rilled to have this one crossed off the to-do list.Now, some of you may not be that excited about this, but I have high hopes this will result in moments of solid brotherly playtime and a lot of creativity. I do, also, want to mention that I asked Tyler to help me color it and he refused, but he DID design the golf course. My brother David told me he'd draw some more buildings, but apparantly he's too busy for my craft projects, so he can be credited with the hospital, courthouse/jail, the airport tower, and the drive thru. Go Brlow-ville!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
To Do Tuesday #5
This is not to tease. I am in the middle of a pretty cool to-do today / tonight. I told Brevin I'd finish it before he got up in the morning, so I gotta go work. I'll post pics tomorrow. You should be excited. VERY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
