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: