Happy Independence Day!

The 4th of July is always such a fun time for me. I love going to my parents' house and having homemade ice cream, watching fireworks, and hanging out with all the extended family. This year, it was fun to watch Gracie and Hailey play together and wrestle with Fischer, Papa, and Nana. Brooke just turned 2, so she was in the mix as well... such cute little girls!!! Chloe went to bed at her normal 7:30 time, so she missed all the nighttime festivities but next year will be her turn to see what the fuss is all about :)

Gracie and Hailey wrestling with Papa (no, she wasn't pantsing him)

My sister is handing out pretty necklaces to all the girls :)

Fischer was throwing pillows at Mom and the girls and they were attacking him back... that was a fun part of the evening to watch.

This is a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa Barnard with me and Aunt Mildred (Grandpa's sister). The last picture I have with all of us was when Fischer was about 6 months old and Mildred was out visiting from Oklahoma (several years before her stroke).

Time's running out!

I just realized today, with a little bit of surprise, that there are only FIVE paydays left until Annie is due! We get paid every two weeks, so that's 10 weeks! Yikes... time is flying by in these last days, and I have so much to do. Where does the time go?

Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa

I should have put this post in between Easter and Morgan, but I just now remembered all the great pictures I got. We took Barry's mom and stepdad to Disneyland a few weeks back for Barry's birthday weekend. We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel, right by Downtown Disney and had the best time I've ever had there. We had lunch the first day at the Blue Bayou, the fancy restaurant that overlooks the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Then we had breakfast the next day with Minnie and Friends... that was the best part of the whole trip. We saw so many characters in a short amount of time and they all came to US!!! We took some great pictures and it was so worth the extra money for the buffet. We will definitely do that again. We also got a lot of Fast Passes to the rides so we didn't have to wait as long and we all had a great time.

The $4000 Smile

Okay, it was really only $3800 and our insurance paid for half of it, but here it is!

Fischer finally got his braces off today after 2 1/2 years. I remember the day I got mine off like it was yesterday, so I warned him about the smooth, slimy feeling and that the inside of his mouth will wonder what happened with all the metal gone. Sure enough, he says, "It feels like I don't have teeth!" :) His orthodontist gave him a mug "full of all the candy he wasn't supposed to have while he had braces, but that he probably did anyway", LOL. Isn't that a cute idea? He's so excited to have them off. Just wait until Thursday night when he gets his retainer...

A Wonderful Time With Morgan

Barry and I flew to Florida last weekend for a quick trip to visit Morgan. We spent all day Saturday together: we weathered a horrible storm in the morning, spent a few hours at Mote Aquarium in Sarasota, FL., went to lunch at McDonald's, got a pedicure (just me and Morgan and it was Morgan's 1st!), saw Up in 3-d, had dinner at Cracker Barrel where we taught Morgan to play Chinese and regular checkers, then we had to take Morgan back late at night before we drove to Tampa to catch our plane. It was a fun day, but much too short. Morgan is a delightful 7 year old, full of life and love. We really enjoyed our time together. We can't wait to see her again later this year for a full week and with the rest of our family.

Easter

So, I'm a little behind as usual. We had fun decorating eggs and opening the kids' baskets Easter morning. The day was spent at church, then at Barry's mom's house in Newberry Springs. The food was fantastic and all the grandkids had lots of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's place on the tractor, around Lake Sickler, and hunting eggs. Thanks for a wonderful day!

Fischer

I should've taken a camera. You would think he moved away and came back after a really long time. After two months of "homeschooling," Fischer went back to Riverside Prep today. He asked me about a month ago if he could go back, but we had to wait for the principal to respond because they had three weeks of Spring Break. So yesterday, we found out the great news that Fischer could go back and he started today. It was a great reunion for him and a few friends within the first ten minutes of arriving on campus. All I could hear were screams of "Fischer!" from all the girls, and once we got in the office, he was ransacked by a few... almost knocked down by the smallest one! I didn't know he had his own fan club :-) It was cute to see his painted-on smile. He was so happy to be back, he even RAN to his first class, LOL. Too funny. I guess he can't say he doesn't like school!

Our 5th Baby

We had our ultrasound for baby #5 yesterday. She is so adorable already... I know, how can we tell right? She was playing peek-a-boo! :) She had her face to the "camera" the whole time and wouldn't give us any good profile pics, but it's definitely a girl. We have decided to name her Annie.

This is how we came up with it: we're always throwing around names and one day Barry said Anne... I said, how about "Annie", so it matches the other two girls ending in -ee sounds. He said, "yeah, maybe." We did this sort of thing ALL the time, so it wasn't any different this day.

A few days later I was reading a book and the girl's name was Annie. A few days after that I was reading the Ensign and there were two Annie's. Every time this happened, I knew that her name was supposed to be Annie. Then, we went to the temple and I did proxy work for a woman named Annie. That was when I knew for sure. We prayed at the temple and I continued receiving revelations about her name. So there was no doubt.

Somehow, I still thought I might have a boy! LOL I'm so silly! Yesterday's knowledge confirmed that the Lord is in charge and he told me all along I was having a girl.

So, little Annie, we know you were waiting for us and we are so excited to become your parents. It always seems that through adversity comes faith and strength, and we are blessed by this opportunity. We love you already and can't wait to meet you in September.

Disneyland

We broke down and bought season passes for Disneyland with our tax refund. Barry and I took the girls the first day, then I took all three kids the second time (a 2-day trip) while Barry was out of town. Here are some fun pictures. Our goal is to see all parts of both parks during the next 12 months so we can move on to a new venue next year. Fun, fun!

Dad's Marlin!

My parents just got back from Cabo San Lucas and sent this awesome picture. They sent one in the mail of the marlin standing upright from the tail to the tip of its nose, and it's about 2 feet taller than my dad (he's 6')!!

Way to go, Dad! That would be so cool to do sometime in my lifetime :)

President's List Honors

I don't mean to brag, but I'm so excited about this news that I have to share it. I earned President's List Honors at Kaplan University for the second term in a row! In order to earn this award, I have to get at least a 3.96 GPA. I've earned a 4.0 both terms. I thought I was going to get an A- in algebra, which would have brought my GPA down just a little (enough to drop me to Dean's List), but I was surprised to see the A+ today on my grades. My goal is to graduate Summa Cum Laude, which is the highest honor possible. If I can get an A in English and Algebra, I should do okay with the rest of the degree requirements. I don't have to take any more math, thank goodness!

Also, my previous goal was to major in Psychology, but I decided to change to Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Forensic Psychology. It's a more specialized field, and the degree courses seem really exciting to me. I will graduate at the same time and all my previous courses transfer to the new degree without losing any credits or having to do any more. I love being in college again, and this time to finish!!! What fantastic news to start my day :)

Fischer's 14th Birthday

Yes, it's true. Fischer turned 14 yesterday. He grows faster every year. It just never slows down! Unfortunately, we have no pictures because his camera broke and ours has been broken for quite a while. We used the video camera though :) Time to buy a new camera it seems.

We spent the day catering to him. I made waffles with syrup and whip cream for breakfast. We took the girls to my friend's house and took Fischer to lunch at the Roadhouse Grill, then to the movies to see Push. Then I made a cake and let him open his present from us. He got the XBOX 360 game "Sonic Unleashed," two books "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "Invisibility", and a music book for his guitar. I think he had a good day (he didn't have to do ANY chores all day!). His party will be on Saturday where he has invited three friends to come and play XBOX all day, eat pizza, cake and ice cream! Yea :)

Then, his first church dance is that night. MY SON IS GOING TO A DANCE!! I am so old. It's been funny reconnecting with old friends on Facebook lately, and they all say the same thing. They can't believe it's been 14 years since the little tike was born. Where does the time go? He's such a great young man. I must've done SOMETHING right.

Number 4 what?! :)

So my friend, Maria, tagged me, and this is what you do... You go to your photo files and pick the fourth file and the fourth photo, post it, then tell about it.

I was so nervous to find what the picture would be and was very relieved to find this one was without me in it! WHEW :)

So this is Gracie running at CSU Stanislaus (in Turlock) with my niece, Hailey, in the background. We were there for my my sister-in-law's graduation. It was a great weekend full of fun activities from the graduation to the party, then my other neice's 1st birthday the next day.

I tag Amber, Amanda, Loma, and Melissa!