Merry Christmas and Happy New Kitchen!!!!

This December has been a very busy one for our family. Aside from all the fun and activities of getting ready for Christmas, we finished a home improvement project in our kitchen - one that we started 3 years ago (we seem to only work on it in December). Everyone contributed to the project and now that it is finally finished Emily is especially thankful that "everything is back to normal". We finished the last of the project during the day on Christmas Eve, just before our dinner guests arrived. James' two cousins live here so they came over and the missionaries joined us too. We ate a delicious dinner, watched the girls act out the Nativity and decorated cookies for Santa. Christmas Day was wonderful! We attended a great Sacrament Meeting, opened presents, played relaxed, visited with family on the phone and had the missionaries over for dinner. It was a super day! I love Christmas and the days right after - nothing on the schedule, lots of time to enjoy being together and opportunities to catch up with loved ones. The girls are upstairs happily playing together as I write this post and Jacob is reading the new books he got yesterday. James is already planning his next project - it looks like bookcases are in our near future. Here are some highlights from the day and the 'big reveal' of the kitchen at the bottom of the post. Merry Christmas everyone!

Kathryn volunteers once a week at the local dog pound. Through this service we have become a foster family for puppies and kittens that are too little to stay at the pound. We brought Gracie home a couple of weeks ago and planned to foster her through the holidays and then send her back to the pound. Everyone fell in love with her - including Buster! James and I wrapped up a little collar and leash and put it under the tree for the kids, they were so excited when they opened it - Gracie is a permanent addition to the family. Isn't she cute!?!

James and I found these great stuffed horses for Emily and Samantha. We could not resist when we thought of our little horse lovers sitting on these to watch movies. They were so excited! They spent the entire day sitting on them and playing with them.

5 books in 1 - Emily has already started reading them. Note that Emily sat on her horse to open all of her presents.

Samantha lounging on her new horse.

Kathryn looking grown up in her fancy new sweater.

Sarah got a beautiful furry vest - she looks great in it. The girls always love the new clothes they get for Christmas.

Buster always loves to see what Santa left in his stocking. He did not seem to mind sharing his toys with Gracie this year.

Tools for Christmas = a very happy man!

Love the new books!

Such cute scarves from grandparents!

The girls made James and Jacob fleece hats.

James gave me this beautiful sweater from Ecuador - I love it!!! I am wearing it right now and feeling cozy and loved - it looks even better when I wear it with something other than sweats.

Now on to the kitchen:

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.

The first improvement we made was new counter top. The old grayish/blueish laminate counter was starting to peel so we went for a more neutral granite.

Right after we got the granite counter top James put in under the cabinet lights for me - love them!

Beautiful back-splash done by James.

I think it turned out great! We are still looking for a replacement for the light over the stove, but that is a job for another day...

Wishing all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jacob's Eagle Scout Court of Honor

Jacob before his first Cub Scout meeting - age 8
On Nov. 12, Jacob was awarded his rank of Eagle Scout. The Court of Honor was really nice. James' Mom, my Dad and Jody, and my brother Andrew all came to help us celebrate. In addition, lots of our friends came, as well as Jacob's pediatrician and debate coach. James set up a cool display with a tent and real trees, we put up a table with all of Jacob's Cub Scout stuff (he earned every possible thing as a Cub Scout) and a little slide show of all his scouting experiences. We had lots of help with the refreshments (FYI Sam's Club has a cool Scout cake decal), and a good friend took pictures for us so we could just enjoy ourselves - thanks Ben. It was such a nice evening and I am so proud of Jacob's accomplishment and the young man he has become.

Happy Halloween

So I am super late in posting this, but here are the pictures from Halloween. Samantha was a pioneer, Emily was Mrs. Claus, and Sarah and Kathryn were FBI agents. Jacob chose not to dress up this year, but still walked the neighborhood with us. We collected over 10lbs of candy in the short time we were out. The kids had a blast!

My Birthday Puppy - REALLY???!!!!!

While I was out of town, James informed me that the girls had bought me a puppy for my birthday. He assured me that I would love it - it was well behaved, house broken, hypo-allergenic, soft and the perfect lap dog. I could not believe my ears... I kept thinking it was a joke, but after speaking with Jacob I was starting to believe I had a dog waiting for me at home. My family in Utah got a big kick out of my worry and we all had a good laugh about it. When James and the kids came to the airport to pick me up, they told me the dog was in the car in a special carry case. I geared up for the worst. Sure enough, in the car was a dog, just for me - only it was a CAKE! In a special box, sitting in the car was the best cake I have ever seen. We named him Sylvester, he was delicious!

The day after I got home, we hopped in the RV and went camping at the river. The kids and James planned and packed everything. In addition, James bought me a kayak for my birthday. It is yellow and very agile. I made my first 2 trips down the river that weekend (no swimming yet...), and I really enjoyed it. We had a great weekend - you will have to take my word for it though - the only thing we forgot was a camera.

Grandpa Durex

My 91 year old Grandfather passed away peacefully in his home on Sept. 27, 2011. He was one of my very favorite people and I will miss him. I was able to attend the funeral in Utah over General Conference weekend (also my birthday). James was sick so he stayed home with the kids. It was great to see my Dad, Jody, my Aunt and my brothers and sister. In addition, my Great Uncle Barre (my Grandfather's brother) was able to be there. It was a treat for me to spend some time with him. We had a really nice time together and although Durex will be greatly missed by all of us, we know he is with his sweetheart, 2 of his children, his sister and parents, so there is great comfort in that. He lived a life full of service to others, he was a great example to me. Because of his military service he received a full military funeral. Normally they only have a few guys show up for funerals, but there were over a dozen retired or current service men there to honor my Grandfather. Apparently when word got out that the service was for Rex Barrett, they all came. There were 3 buglers as well which as super neat. The fall colors came late this year in Northern Utah so they were at peak that weekend, just for me. I felt very blessed. It was an honor to speak at my Grandfather's funeral, although harder than I had expected. I am especially grateful for the time we were able to spend together this summer, I will always be glad I went to Utah to see him this summer. I am so grateful for the influence he had on me and the love I felt from him.

Happy Birthday Kathryn!

Kathryn turned 11 in Sept. How time flies! We had a great time on her birthday. We opened a few presents in the morning and then finished them off that evening. We left for the river to camp for the rest of the week the next day. We celebrated all weekend with GAF, river rafting, shopping, camping and lots of fun. Kathryn is a blessing to our family. She is smart, kind, super funny and very responsible. Recently she asked if she could work at the local dog pound. Since she is not 16 yet, they said she could volunteer there if a parent came with her. She has been an asset to them as she plays with the animals, combs hair, cleans cages, and washes dishes. It has been so fun for me to see her rise to the challenge and have such a good time doing it. Kathryn has joined a speech club this year and is doing really well with it, she loves it. Since Jacob has early morning seminary this year and I don't get home with him until 7:15am, Kathryn has taken over making breakfast for the family each morning. She is doing a great job and it is so fun to see her growing up. As she reminds me, only 1 more year until she gets to be in YW. She is an amazing person and we are all blessed to have her in our family. Kathryn got a bunch of fabric, some clothes, jewelry making stuff and a hammock. For her birthday party she wanted to take a few friends to the river for a day of rafting. Here are pictures from her big day as well as a video of her party that she made for her friends. She is so fun! Unfortunately the audio on the movie will not come up because it is a bunch of really great songs that are copyrighted....

More River rafting and Kayaking

We spent as much time as possible at the river this summer. We ran away for weekends, arriving home late Saturday night, or just went for the day. Sometimes our friends came, sometimes it was just our family - it was super fun EVERYtime. Each trip was filled with warm sunshine, cold water, great memories, lots of smiles and pizza. Last year Kathryn and James went the Guest Appreciation Festival (GAF for short) at the Nantahalla River Outpost (a cool store we like at the river we go to). This year we looked forward to everyone going. We camped for several days, thoroughly enjoyed the festival, met new friends, sold our old boats and bought new ones. The kids also got to try out using a paddle board. Sarah and Kathryn were surprisingly good at it. By the time the weekend was over we came home with a play boat for Jacob to learn to do tricks in, a boat for James that fit him better and Kathryn's first boat. We even found a tiny boat for the little girls to enjoy. Here are some pictures from several of our trips to the river. What a fun summer!

Happy 14th Birthday Jacob!

Aug. 7 was Jacob's 14th birthday. He had a great birthday. We celebrated over several days. We spent a day touring the World's Largest Garage Sale (runs from AL to MI), a took a quick trip to the river and since his birthday was on Sunday he was able to be ordained a Teacher on his birthday. Very neat! Jacob's wish list was expensive this year (kayak gear) so he got money from Grandparents for a new paddle (thank you), kayak gloves from his sisters and a kayak roll lesson from me and James. His cake is right along the same theme. The cake depicts Jacob and James kayaking, only Jacob's kayak is upside down since he does not know how to roll yet... Jacob continues to be a great example for his sisters and a super teenager for his parents. We are so grateful to have him in our family.