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

Why Scouts should not have Video Cameras at Camp

Friday Flashbacks - Backpacking Edition

It's OK to call these Friday Flashbacks even if I'm a day or two late sometimes, right? 

Summer is slipping away and that tiny pull that reminds me to not miss a minute has turned into a giant rope playing a killer game of tug of war between the stuff that needs to be done and the last days of summer joy: 
-the morning pile of boys in my bed just laying around and chatting,
-the lazy morning pancake feasts that have no time limit,
-riding bikes to 7-11 for an afternoon Slurpee,
-Sculpy clay creations just because,
-games in the yard while I fuss over the garden,
-dinner at whatever time we get around to it followed by staying up too late having a 30 Rock-a-thon.

Nixon and Easton are home safe and sound from their big adventure.  There were THREE Jamboree troops on their flight home (so sorry for the 3 or 4 other people on the plane!).  That was a quite a crowd at the airport and the hugs were tight and long and as sweet as I had imagined.

Nixon left two days later for our ward's High Adventure - a backpack to the highest point in Utah - King's Peak.  They hiked over 40 miles to 13,528 feet in 4 days.  He was sooo tired when he came back.  The word fun hasn't come out of his mouth yet, but he was proud of himself and glad he went.  I'm proud and glad too!

My first backpack trip came when I was about the same age.  I went for one week in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead, ending at Big Bear.  It was a co-ed trip and there were only 2 or 3 girls.  My pack weighed about 1/2 what I did.  I do remember it was hard and I was super glad to see those ski lift chairs in Big Bear and know we were almost home!

Jennifer getting ready to backpack - 1983ish

Nixon getting ready to backpack - August 2010

Nixon on the top of King's Peak - August 2010