Friday Flashbacks - Ski Edition

In honor protest of the new inches of snow on my lawn  and still falling from the sky this morning.

Karen Markin and friend - circa 1969

Apparently neither of our parents were big skiers - this was the "snowiest" photo I could find!

Jennifer (6th from left in bright pink) 1988

  There are a LOT of jeans in this picture.  I see a few people a year trying to ski in jeans at PCMR, and it makes me laugh. Let's be honest - this is in the midwest, so it barely qualifies as actual skiing, and I really hated falling on ice.  It would be fair to say my interest level in skiing has not improved since then, but I am grateful for the softer landings here when I do go.

Geoffrey - early 90's - probably in the Cottonwoods

A fine example of how the underdeveloped male teenage brain will jump off of anything, anytime, anywhere, with anything strapped to their feet.

Sara - 2006/2007 Season PCMR - She loves to ski like I do!

A few shots from Geoffrey's phone the last week of the season this year (which is when I wanted it to

STOP snowing!).  I owe him a big thank you for taking these - I did not take ONE picture of skiing this year - boo me :(

This (hopefully) concludes any winter related blogging for the season.  Summer where are you?!

Friday Flashbacks - He Is Risen Edition

In Honor of Easter, a day of hope and new beginnings.  Please click the link, because if you only look at my pictures, you'll think Easter is only bunnies and chocolate!

Karen, Jennifer, Jerry Markin - Easter 1973/4

Tim, Jeremy, Becky, Jennifer - Easter 1981

Tami, Carol, Lindsy, Kara, Rachel, Krista and Geoffrey  - Easter 1983ish

                                      Sara - Easter 2003                                                 Nixon  - Easter 2003

Easton - Easter 2003

       

This Sunday will find us spending our morning at church and relaxing in the afternoon, probably eating ham.  We're hoping for less snow and more sun, although the current forecast is not in our favor.  I think we've outgrown egg hunts, but not waking up to at least one small treat.  We'll get to talk about what Easter means to each of us and enjoy our time together.  Hope your day is as sweet as I think mine will be - Happy Easter!

The Wonderful World of Color

The world is a carousel of color,

Wonderful, wonderful color.

The miracle of imagination,

The marvels of earth, sea and sky,

These wonders untold

Are ours to behold

In the funny world,

The sunny world,

The wonderful world of color.

We celebrated Holi at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork last week - so so so so fun!  They estimate 40,000 people came on Saturday alone - this is the biggest Holi celebration in North America.  I'm going to spend all year thinking of how to protect my camera from all that colored dust so I'm not afraid to take it!  I did take a few pictures while we were on the outskirts of the crowd, but of course we headed straight for the middle for the big color throwing count down!  This is my favorite of the many videos on You Tube:

Friday Flashbacks - Baby is Born Edition

In honor of my friend Brittany, who I was lucky enough to visit in the hospital last week and spend some time snuggling her sweet newborn boy.

I still remember the wonder of it all - first a little person was growing inside of me, moving around, kicking me, killing my chances for a good night's sleep.  It seemed like each pregnancy would NEVER end, then I blinked my eyes and they next thing I knew, there I was in the hospital, holding this perfect little person that I could NOT believe had been growing inside of me and that was about to kill my chances for a good night's sleep EVER again.  It is such a magical time, it's a shame it goes so fast!

Jennifer

The youngest picture I could find of Geoffrey - with his sister Tami

Sara

I went in for an induction at 7:00am.  It was a little over 2 weeks before my due date, but I had already been the in hospital for a few days for toxemia, and they couldn't wait anymore.  Plus, it was Thanksgiving and I think my OB was avoiding his in laws, because he induced 3 women that day.  That pitocin is nasty stuff.  By the afternoon, I was tired of the contractions every few minutes and discouraged that I wasn't even dilated to a 5 yet (they wouldn't give me an epidural until I got that far).  It took me until 5:00 to get to the magic number 5 and the pain relief!  About 45 minutes later, I kept telling the nurse I felt like I should be pushing.  She assured me I was wrong because I had only been at a 5.  Finally, she decided to check me - whoops!  Time to have a baby!  Delivery was easy.  I was so in love with that sweet girl right from the start and so amazed at the whole process. 

Nixon

It was a few days before my due date.  We were moving to California, we had finished our lease on our duplex in Provo that weekend, our stuff was packed, and we were staying with Geoffrey's parents until we had a baby so we could move.  It was Sunday and a storm was moving in .  I was making dinner for the whole Barber family (pork chops), I sat down for a minute and when I stood up, there was a tiny trickle of water leaking.  No contractions, no gush of water, so I finished dinner and then we decided to head to the hospital around 4:00.  I wasn't in labor, but my water was leaking, so they had to induce labor (more pitocin!).  Lucky for me, progress had been made in the medical community in regards to women and pain and labor.  I was able to get the epidural right away, and I celebrated with a quick nap.  Even better, it was a self administering IV - just click the button when you want more.  Again, it took me a long time to dilate to a 5, but once I did, it was 5 to 10 in under an hour.  Nixon took about an hour to push out (big head!).  He was perfect and I was instantly in love again.

Easton

The doctor took mercy on me one week past my due date.  Easton was pinching a nerve in my back and I was in a lot of pain and couldn't pick up the cute 17 month old I already had at home.  I arrived at the hospital about 8:00 am on a Thursday.  I brought graph paper, as I was working on handmaking a word search for Sara's school class with the names of all the students for Valentines Day.  Pitocin once more for me!  By 2:00, I was at the magic 5 and by 3:30, we had an Easton.  Delivery was easy except for the fact that the epidural was wearing off, and no amount of pleading on my part convinced anyone in the room that there was time to give me more drugs.  Easton was a snuggler from the start and I fell in love again!

Friday Flashbacks - Just Say No (to Overalls!) Edition

This week Sara informed me that she had seen overalls in several stores and they were making a comeback.  I feel it is my duty to perform the public service of reminding you all that overalls are NEVER a good idea. Not even if they are $288.00 True Religion overalls. They do not hide your extra pounds, they just make you look MUCH larger than you really are.  If you are tempted, even slightly to purchase a pair, think of this post and just say NO.  Thank me later. 

The proof is in the pictures.  Sadly, there is noooo shortage of possible pictures I could use for this post.

Greg Barber and Nixon - November 1996

OK, Sometimes they are cute on babies.

Jennifer and Easton - August 1999

They are never cute on women - especially if they are shorts!

Sara and Jennifer - November 2000

Double negative X 2 - Overalls with sweaters and sweatshirts over the top - yikes!

Sara and Geoffrey - July 1995

Never appropriate for rock climbing (or any other sports)

Jennifer, Geoffrey, Easton, Nixon and Sara - 1999

If none of the other pictures scared you off of overalls, this one should do the trick!

Friday Flashbacks - Anniversary Edition

In honor of 16 awesome years.  I already flashed back to weddings once, so this time I'll stroll down the anniversary memory lane.  Turns out, this is a pretty low key event for us - so low key, I couldn't come up with one picture of us celebrating an anniversary!  Instead ...a picture to go with an anniversary story:

Geoffrey and Jennifer in one of our favorite Disney spots - Jan.2005

I do remember celebrating on our anniversary day in 2004.  It was a Thursday, and Geoffrey had taken the day off to celebrate the other most important day in March - the start of the NCAA tournament.  As luck would have it, BYU had a slot in the tourney that year and their first round game was that morning.  I arranged for everyone to get home from school where Becky would look after things until we got home.  We headed to the ESPN zone in Downtown Disney, and cheered our little hearts out for the struggling Cougars.  That didn't turn out the way we'd hoped, but thanks to an early game time, we still had the day ahead of us. 

We went to Disneyland and spent a day wandering leisurely through the park.  It was a perfect date - not too hot, not too cold - all we needed was a light jacket.  We rode rides when we felt like it, we sat on benches and people-watched and talked.  We strolled along holding hands, not worried about where we had to be next or what time it was.  We just enjoyed each other's company, which is what the day is all about.  Here's to many more years of enjoying the company!

Friday Flashbacks - Coming to America Edition

In honor of this week's visit from Uncle WanMa.  This is my sister's husband who drives long haul trucks.  We're always glad when he can stop in Utah, even if it is usually just for a few hours!  He was shocked at how tall Nixon is!

3/6/2011 - Nixon, Easton and WanMa

In 2003, my sister moved in with us while she was expecting her oldest Kairon and wading through ridiculous amounts of paperwork so her true love could come to America legally.  Anyone who has ever been through that process understands at least a little why so many people bypass the legal system to come here - the whole process is confusing, slow, flawed in a million ways and frustrating!  While we waited and waited and waited ... a baby came!  A baby that was loved on not only by his mom and faraway dad, but by all of us too. 

2/11/2003 - Giving Kai his first look at his Papa

It was hard for them to be apart!  Becky would hold the phone up to Kai's ear every chance she got so they could hear each other's voices.  Finally, the paperwork giants had been slain and it was time to pick WanMa up from the airport.  WanMa is Tibetan - his first language is Tibetan, his second is Mandarin (this is the language he and my sister communicated in), and English was about to be learned.  It was a long overdue and happy reunion:

                                  9/15/2003 - Sara, Kai, Nixon, WanMa, Easton and Becky at LAX

We couldn't do much talking with WanMa, but he was a great daddy to Kairon and we loved him right away.  I have two strong memories of that time - one is WanMa walking and walking and walking with Kairon in his arms, he never wanted to put him down!  The second is of WanMa putting this hot hot hot chili sauce on EVERYTHING.  Waffles, toast, roast beef, chicken - you name it, he added the chili sauce!  The stuff would burn my fingers if I touched it while I was doing the dishes.  I also remember that it seemed like we would say something that took 5 minutes to say and Becky would translate it to WanMa with one sentence - I would have loved to know what she was telling him sometimes!  We were all so excited to show off California and America in general to him - I'm super surprised it took us 15 whole days before we went to Disneyland!  His first look at the Happiest Place on Earth:

Becky, WanMa and Kairon - 9/30/2003

We're glad he is part of our family!



Friday Flashbacks - Baptism Edition

In honor of the 17th Anniversary of my own:

Elder Hughes, me, Elder Barber - 3/5/94 - Waterloo, Iowa

One of the best decisions I've ever made

Sara's big day - 12/6/1997 - Quartz Hill, California

Me, Easton in the belly, Nixon, Geoffrey, Sara

Sara said the best part was the warm feeling in her heart

(I especially love the gold metal divider background - nice!)

Nixon's turn - 9/4/2004 - Mission Viejo, California

Nixon and Geoffrey

He was so serious about the whole event, he wanted to be ready!

Easton's big day - 2/4/2006 - Mission Viejo, California

Easton and Geoffrey

I love that you can see how special the day was to him in his face - he was an angel all day!

Not entirely sure if this is Geoffrey's baptism or not, but probably pretty close to Feb. 1982 -

Rachel, Kara, Tami, Krista, and Geoffrey Barber

Just in case - here's one from Geoffrey's 8th Birthday:

Sweet Moments

I had to share these pictures that warm my heart from Nixon's Jazz Band Sweetheart Gala Big Band Fundraiser.  They are not the greatest photos (from my phone), but it sure was fun to see my two oldest having a blast on the dance floor!  Is it just me, or is Nixon taller than Sara even with those heels?

Nixon's only an 8th grader, so he wasn't playing - he was working, and so was I. Following dinner, the Varsity Jazz Band played for 3 hours of dancing.  They are so fun to listen to!  This was our first experience with this annual event and I'm already looking forward to next year. 

Friday Flashbacks - Jeremy's Edition

Here are a few pictures of my little brother Jeremy, in honor of the fact that he is one of the few people actually still checking this blog and telling me he is missing new posts. 

Four years younger than me, we were buddies as children and did our fair share of arguing as teenagers!  Jeremy graduated from the Naval Academy and flew F-18's - which makes him a SUPER cool uncle to my kids.

Now he lives overseas consulting a military that fortunately came out on the favorable side of a recent revolution.  We're glad he is safe and hope he and his lovely wife can visit us soon!

Jeremy - Christmas 1977

Jeremy and Dad - July 1995

Jeremy - third from left

Local neighborhood watch action