And then there was the time we dressed up like cows...

If I were really cool, I would have posted something a week ago so you too could have sported cow costumes and eaten for free. Put it on your calendar for next year. July 9th: Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. At first I felt a little apprehensive to go out in public dressed like a cow not on Halloween. But, my good friend Sheri was totally down with sporting the spots and really it's always fun to dress up, isn't it! The free food made the late-night spot pinning worth it!

Can you guess what they're saying?

This is just one of the ways we're having the rockin'est summer ever.

Actually, though, I'm just trying to stay afloat with all three kids home. I know I only had one less during the school year and that was only for 6 hours most days, but it makes a difference. We're settling in to our schedule a bit more and also enjoying not having to stay in the schedule. A few things that define our summer:

It's a good day when we only wear PJ's and swimsuits throughout the entire day.

Popsicles count as a snack anytime (rewards for Benny's potty training right now)

We try to keep up daily quiet time and chore charts (some days better than others...).

We took the whole fam to the beach for a few nights of enjoying nature. Once we got used to the idea that Ben would be a ball of dirt for the entire 3 days, our camping trip improved dramatically! Really, though, we had ourselves a nice couple of days together -- just the family and the sand (and dirt).

To stay entertained while not at the beach, we frequented the camp store, antagonizing the sales person by playing with all of the toys and pulling candy away from Ben.

We explored the caves in the morning at low tide and found lots of cool anemones, muscles, and crabs.

Check out Ben's curls. Oooh, I just love 'em!

Chris likes digging big holes. The kids like playing in big holes. The only downside -- the lifeguard made him break it down because I guess big holes are dangerous. Shyah!

Finally! A break from the daily grind.

Next time I'll give the kids their lollipops after the picture.

We also got a visit from Grandma and helped watch cousin Kate while her parents went on a cruise. Let me tell ya-- adding one kid and a grandma to the mix required adding a Dr. Pepper to your breakfast milk. Actually I think that Grandma might have really been spiking her breakfast milk with Dr. Pepper. Maybe Kate's too. I'm not sure. But we had fun. Mom and I even got a girls night out complete with a Tom Cruise flick and shopping. Love ya, Mom!!! We had so much fun having you out!

Show me your eyes Ben! (that's what I said and that's what I got).

Grandma even made cleaning the windows fun! How does she do it?

Free Mercer Lane Frames

So you know how my aunts make really amazingly gorgeous frames? Well, I've been helping my aunts get a blog to help them market those frames (mercerlane.blogspot.com if you want to check it out). Someone girl who has a product review blog found the frames blog and asked for some frames to do a review. She LOVED them (of course) and is now running a FREE FRAME GIVEAWAY through her blog (and supported graciously by my loving aunties). Here's the link. It only runs through Memorial Day at midnight (the link tells you how to enter the contest):

Go here to enter http://takeitfrom-me.blogspot.com/2010/05/mercer-lane-review-giveaway.html

And here are a couple of my favorites!

There's a Lizard on my Head

We had Chris' parents and sister Theresa visit this week for spring break. We had a great visit with them. I love when family comes to town because then we actually get out and enjoy all thing So-Californian, like In-N-Out.

And what trip down here would be complete without paying homage to the happiest place on earth? (Thanks, Doris, for tying quilts to earn our "Give a Day, Get a Day" Tickets).

We let the kids pick out some souvenirs--their very own mustard packets! Included in the price of admission, I might add. Our poor, poor children.

We visited a few museums locally as well. One of them had a reptile room with snakes, lizards, spiders and other things that make your skin crawl. Benny has been quite afraid of lizards. We have them all over our yard. I heard him screaming one day while they were playing back there. I found him on some stairs in the very back of the yard paralyzed with fear, a 3-inch lizard clinging to some bricks a few feet from where he sat. He's a pretty thick-skinned kid usually, so I'm trying to help him get over it. We looked at all of the caged specimens at the museum. He clung to me, but seemed interested. I set him down for a few minutes after he got comfortable. I turned to look at something, inadvertently brushing his glamorous blond curls that extend quite beyond the edges of his head. He let out some screams that made me think one of the tarantulas had escaped and was gnawing on his scalp! We ran him out of the room, calmed him down, and after a thorough check of his head determined he just thought a lizard was on his head. The next few days confirmed our theory. He kept one hand on his head most of the time. Upon awakening, he would grab his head and ask "Li-yo?" (Lizard?). "No, Benny. All of the lizards are locked up in their cages. You are safe." We ate our Easter dinner outside. The breeze kept blowing his curls. He wouldn't eat. He kept looking around, one hand holding his head, saying "Li-yo, li-yo." I finally grabbed one of Lucy's hairties and pulled his hair back in a pony tail. That helped. I thought it looked dope. Chris said "No. It looks white-trash."

Later that night.

I love Ben's curls. Do I really need to cut them? Will this be the straw that broke the camel's back (or the needle that cracked the donkey's back, right Amy?)? Someone told me my little girl was cute the other day, too. He doesn't look girly. Really. He's husky and looks boylish if you ask Sam (his made up word). But maybe it's time.

V-Day and the B-Fam

I haven't posted in awhile. Oi! I was so excited when the new year came -- I felt motivated to clean up Christmas and get jumping on my resolutions. I've been going full steam ahead organizing junk drawers, getting back on the running bandwagon (it's on between Chris and I for a half in May -- he thinks he actually has a shot at beating me), finishing projects...I even learned how to prune my roses! As wonderful and magical as Christmas is, the post-Christmas detox has really left me feeling good. The rain down here has turned our normal desert landscape green and lush. It's only the second time since we've lived here that we've seen this kind of greenery. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Cupid's arrow has hit a few of us here in Barneyville. Sam says the girls at school organized a "crew" and chase him and two other boys around trying to kiss them. Lucy got her first non-family-boy Valentine and it was from our neighbor, a 1st grader -- he laid the carnation on her pillow during her nap! And Ben, well, Ben started acting like a puppy and licks everyone all the time. I guess that ties in with my love theme in the puppy love category. Chris loves me, too. He watched the kids after dinner so I could go get a haircut and do some errands. Of course we're going on a classy Valentine's date to our ward dinner dance. I told him we could leave early and hit a movie to sweeten the deal. Any suggestions on good flicks out right now?

I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day. We send you our love (and licks!).

XOXOXOXOXOXO

What do you bring to a white elephant gift exchange?

That!

The month in review

Doesn't that title just grab your interest and make you want to read this post? I bet you're on the edge of your seats. Well, I won't let you down!

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

I fulfilled one my lifetime goals (I set reasonable goals for myself) by attending a taping of The Price is Right. I went with my Grandma, my sis, and my friend Sheri who I found out while we were there is my third cousin! Her grandma and my grandma were cousins and grew up picking potatoes together. Crazy mormons are all related, I guess. The day required hours and hours of waiting in lines, but we met a lot of nice people. One elderly couple we waited in line with entertained us with some stand-up comedy that they perform on cruise ships (the wife asks him to nibble on her ear like he used to. He jumps out of bed. She says "where are you going?" Husband replies "To get my teeth!"). We got in the show, and although we didn't get to come on down, we yelled ourselves hoarse saying "One dollar, one dollar!" Overall it was totally exhausting, but I guess that's the "price" you have to pay for fame and fortune! Hee hee...

Grandma hung out with us for a few days. The kids loved having her around, especially Ben. He likes to eat and she likes to feed people. It's a match made in heaven!
What else did we do this month? I'm glad you asked.

THANKSGIVING

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We invited Nellie over and had our own meal. Man oh man, what a great holiday. As my friend Carly said "Good food and being grateful, how much better could a day get?" And it really can get better when my friend Jill, who also has celiac disease, did a pie swap with me. I had four gluten free pies. It was like a little turkey day miracle. And then it got better when Sam wanted to help, so I gave him the ingredients for the cheeseball and he made it! It was the first time that he helped in a way that actually diminished my workload instead of the other way around.

I have so much to be grateful for, so I wrote a poem about it:

Turkey day helps me count all my blessings.

And you also say "please pass the dressing."

I love all my family

I love all my friends

And I promise with you I'm not messing.

The sugar rush begins

Happy Halloween from the Barneys!

We went to our ward Halloween Hoopla and had loads and loads of fun (almost as much fun as we had candy in our buckets afterward!) Here's Tinkerbell, Usain Bolt the Olympic 100 M dash gold medalist, and a chicken.

This video shows Ben in action as a chicken. Too bad he could only keep the costume on for 15 minutes before he started sweating to death. He made one cute little chicken, though, for as long as it lasted.

The other pics are our recent trips to Disneyland. Amy and I celebrated our birthday there. Birthdays are so cool with a twin. And especially when it's Amy. We had a birthday sleepover the night before. She kept doing nice things for me during the day saying it was in honor of my birthday. Then I had fun making my own birthday cake because, really, it was for Amy. That's what I call a lesson in service! Here's baby Kate with her matching Moms at Disneyland.

Chris has gotten used to me hounding him to take pictures. He has the longer arm and he's gotten pretty good at it, don't you think? Here's us on our date night at Disneyland on tea cups (thank you Sheri for watching the kids!).