The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock...

Well, it looks like we're going to be building a house... As crazy as that may seem in this economy, it's actually a fantastic time to build. Land prices, interest rates, and materials are all way down, so we can save quite a bit of money. Also, most subcontractors are not very busy, so their bids are quite low, and there is not a lot of lead time needed in scheduling them. We have done this before, so we definitely know what we are getting into...lots of phone calls, running to pick up supplies, making choices, budgeting, scheduling, checking on people, and being at the job site quite a bit. But, we have figured that we can get it exactly the way we want it for a fraction of what you would usually think something like that would cost. We don't use a general contractor, and that saves a lot right there, but also we can take the time to scour for the best prices on everything, and that helps tons also.

Another thing that we really want to do is have the kids very involved in this as well. When we built our last house, the older ones were still little and don't remember much. But we're hoping for this to be a family project, where they also take some ownership in it all. Some of the things we hope to have them do are site cleanup, seeing how it all comes together, realizing how a construction budget works, and hopefully also learning some useful skills, like measuring, nailing, painting, etc. (at least the older ones).

Right now we are waiting on the city to issue the permit - it's already been a week and a half and there's not been a lot of progress. But we hope to break ground in the next week or two. I'll post some pics here occasionally, but for a more detailed look at our project, we have a construction blog and plans on http://www.barnesbuilt.com/ where you can see a little more. Here's a photo of the lot as it is now:

It will definitely be a lot of work, but we're up to the challenge, and it will be cool to see it go up. The only thing we are sad about it leaving our current neighborhood and ward - they are fantastic, and it will be a big adjustment to start over. But, we will only be 6 minutes down the road, so we will definitely keep in touch with them. A new chapter of our lives begins... ☺

Been There, Done That!

Yup, I've now done it...I got onto Facebook.

I have wanted to see what everyone has been raving about, but I just was afraid that I would enjoy it so much that I would spend too much time on it.

And I was right...

My brother and a few of my friends have been telling me that I've got to do it, so I caved and decided to go for it. And yes, it has been so interesting to see who's on there, and so fun to reunite with long lost friends. I have found friends from my high school, neighbors from my old neighborhood where I grew up, and even former missionaries from my mission. I have accepted some friend invites, ignored other ones, had instant message chats, uploaded photos, requested friends, checked out people's pages... and just generally had a grand old time.

I have definitely spent a little more time than I should...oops!

(Cold cereal again for dinner, anyone?) ☺

Dinner: Mexican Style

A couple of weeks ago, right after we got home from Mexico, we had a special family dinner to celebrate being back home. The kids were so excited, because made some Mexican food, decorated up the table, and donned our cool new sombreros. We brought them back as souvenirs for everyone, and they loved them. We had to do some hard bargaining with the guy that was selling them in order to get them for as cheap as we did, AND we had to figure out how to pack them to get them home, but it was definitely worth it to see how much their eyes lit up when we all put them on! David ended up getting a big one for himself (begrudgingly, I might add), since they only had 7 of the smaller size! ☺ Then, after dinner, we put our photos up on the big screen and had a slide show of our adventure. The kids especially liked the movie of us swimming with the dolphins. We even had some treats - Mexican candy that we bought for them and brought home!

OLE !!!

Yes, I'm still alive...

I know, I know, it's like I dropped off the face of the earth or something! I have severely neglected my poor little blog for the last while - hey, I've been busy, okay? ☺ Sometimes it seems like the merry-go-round of life just keeps going faster and faster, and everything that is not survival-related just gets chucked by the wayside! But, hey, I was out of town for 10 days, so that accounts for some of it, right?

We had a fabulous time in Cancun, Mexico! It was our fifteenth wedding anniversary, so we had to go big on this one. We stayed in a really great hotel that was very modern and Asian inspired, and we had a balcony off of our room that looked out over the ocean.
We loved being able to go out on the balcony and read a book, listening to the ocean and feeling the breezes coming in. It was so relaxing! We even saw a couple of weddings out at that little white pavilion on the peninsula - it was very windy for both of them, however...it looked like they were having a hard time making everything stay put!

We did a lot of sleeping in, relaxing, reading, eating great food, watching TV, talking, taking long walks, and sightseeing. One of our excursions was to the Mayan pyramid ruins, Chichen-Itza. (Or, as they said that the Americans call it, "Chicken Pizza") We learned all about their calendars, traditions, and customs, and saw all the ruins (although you can't climb up them anymore because there has been so much vandalism). The pyramid has 91 steps on each of 4 sides and then there is a big step on the top so that it adds up to 365 - one for each day of the year. They also showed us a special sports court where they would all gather and watch two teams play a game that was kind of similar to basketball. The only difference was that they could only use their elbows, shoulders, head, hips, and knees; and they had to get the ball through a hoop that was sideways up on the wall. The winning team got the "privilege" of being offered as human sacrifices - only the best and brightest for the gods. Yikes! I think if it were me out there playing, I would be doing everything I could to throw the game!

We also saw, on our way to Chichen-Itza, a "cenote", which is a large underground cavern with water in it, and stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and a hole in the top that you can see daylight. We descended down into it on some stairs that they had carved out of the stone (I got a little vertigo), but it sure was amazing to see! Some of the people in our group actually got into the water and swam around.
See the sunlight coming from the hole in the top? And the water splashing that you can see is a little fountain that they added for effect.
Another cool thing we saw that day was a whole field of agave plants, and Mexico is one of the few places that grows it. We have some agave nectar that I use occasionally - they take it from the root of the plant and it is an all natural sugar replacement (great for diabetics, and tastes great too!) It's actually becoming quite a big thing lately.


It was very fun to go to this Mexican buffet restaurant and watch the dancers!

One day we took a ferry over to Isla Mujeres and took a taxi downtown where we did a little shopping on the streets, and also had lunch.

Also while we were on the island, we went swimming with the dolphins, which was super fun. I took this photo afterward when one swam right up to me at the pier.

On the actual night of our anniversary, we went on a dinner cruise around the lagoon and had a steak and lobster dinner on board. They also had all the drinks you wanted (yes, I know the pina coladas have gotten me in trouble before, but this time we made sure they were non-alcoholic!) ☺ The boat was almost like a pirate ship - my kids would have loved it!

We loved watching the sun set over the water, and listening to Luis Miguel music from a live saxophone player. Great anniversary - love you, hon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have had a great Valentine's Day today! Usually our tradition on Valentine's morning is that we make heart shaped waffles in our special waffle iron, and put strawberries and whipped cream on it. However, this morning was our turn to help clean the church (along with another family in our ward). Our turn comes around about every six months or so, and the tradition we have had with that is that we go get donuts and milk, and take them over to eat at the church before we clean. So we compromised and got Valentine's sprinkled donuts. Kalyssa was not very pleased that we were having to skip the waffles - she's all about the keeping the traditions! We also love to make heart shaped sugar cookies and frost/decorate them. Another thing that we do is that we go get a heart shaped pizza for dinner, and decorate up the table with red, white, and pink. The kids had a little plastic heart full of M&M's at each of their places at the table, and they loved that! Then we went around the table and took turns telling why we loved each person. Some of the responses were pretty cute - "I love him because he pours juice for me so I won't spill", "Because he shares his toys with me", "Because his hair sticks straight up"... ☺

I thought I would take a minute and talk about each of my seven special Valentines. Of course, first and foremost, is my sweetheart and hubby extraordinaire - David. He is such a great guy, and I feel so lucky that he is mine! He is an extremely hard worker, and that has been something that I have always admired about him. He inspires me to always do better, and has always been so encouraging and supportive of me in my goals and the things that I want to do. He can make me laugh so hard sometimes, and we get giggling (sometimes it's hard to stop - I get a little punchy!) ☺ He is my very best friend, but I also still have such a big crush on him, even after almost 15 years of being married! I definitely feel blessed to have found him. Of course, everything doesn't just always come easy all the time... we, like everyone else, put a lot of time and effort into keeping each other as our first priority, making sure we have our date nights every week, etc. But, I'm so glad that he's my Valentine!!!

Kaden is such a great kid - I still can hardly believe I'm old enough to have a teenager! He does such a great job - works hard on his schoolwork, watches the kids for us, enjoys Scouts (he's working on his Eagle), and is such a kindhearted guy! I'm so glad to have him as my son! I love you, Kade!


Kalyssa is my sweet girl, and I love her so much also. She is an awesome sister to her brothers, and does so much for them, especially the little ones. She loves to have "girls' time" with me (no boys allowed!) ☺ She loves to cook, organize, and decorate - a girl after my own heart!




Karson is a sweet, tenderhearted guy that is very smart! He loves Cub Scouts, basketball, video games, Legos, and lots of other stuff! He loves to learn, and is always telling us some obscure facts that he has learned at school, whether its Greek mythology, the different types of clouds in the sky, or even how cavities are formed on teeth! He is very kind to his little brothers, and is pretty patient when they always want to be with him, and get into his stuff. I am so glad that I have him - he's awesome!


Karter is my busy, loving, and smart 5 year old! He never wants to be outdone by the older kids - he thinks he is right up there with them! He loves to color, do his preschool work, play with friends, and be on the computer. He is very friendly, and has no problem talking to anybody - he makes friends wherever we go! He loves anything "cowboy", and talks big about riding horses & cows - that is, until he is right by them, then he hightails it to the car! ☺ I love him so much!

Koleman is such a cutie! He can be a little "high-maintenance", if you know what I mean, but he has a little heart of gold! He idolizes Karter, and follows him around all day, but he also loves all the rest of his siblings fiercely too! He has several little make-believe friends that he talks a lot about, the main one being a guy named "Hot Cocoa". We hear about him so frequently that Daddy now has a make-believe friend of his own that he tells Koley about called "Tweedledinker". ☺ (The kids all think that it's hilarious!) We sure are glad to have Koleman in our family, and love him so much!

Kyler is a little doll, and we all adore him! He is saying lots of things now, and its very cute! He bows his head and folds his arms for the prayers, and then even finishes with an amen! He loves all kinds of animals, and making all of their sounds! He enjoys being read little books, watching cartoon shows about animals, being outside, playing with toys, getting into everyone else's stuff, making messes, and giving big kisses and hugs! He also loves going to the nursery at church (where Daddy is one of his teachers now), and plays with the toys. We love him!

I am so lucky and blessed to have all of my special Valentines - aren't they great?

I'm not above a little bribery sometimes...

Sometimes you just have to change things up a little when it comes to getting some chores done around here, know what I mean? For the most part, my kids are pretty good workers - probably like most kids, they don't absolutely love to do chores, but with a bit of persuasion will get them done. We've tried a few different things over the years, but it seems like the ones that worked the best have been the ones where there has been a little incentive involved. So, we're trying a new program where the kids get to earn enough points from doing their personal jobs to get to spin the wheel (an old Twister game spinner that I have modified), and they will get to earn coupons for special privileges. I found this cool free download for the coupons on the Organize It Mom website - here's the link if you want it too! It was so easy to just cut them out and get them laminated, and I think the kids will really enjoy them a lot. In fact, the lady at the place where I went to laminate them told me I was such a good mom, and wanted to know where I had found them! (Hey, you take the kudos where you can get them, right?) ☺

Today, we actually had pretty good success with everybody pitching in for an overall straighten-up. David manned the vacuum, and I kept the troops busy with their next assignments as they would report back when each thing was finished. Karter especially did great, coming back each time saying, "Now what do you need me to do, Mom?" (I tell ya, that never gets old hearing that - it's parent nirvana!) ☺ Kalyssa is also quite the little self-starter - she loves cleaning out and organizing things - so today I sicked her on the pantry, and she did an awesome job! Now, Koley on the other hand, not so much! He definitely has not quite caught the vision yet. He's more work to keep on task than doing it myself! {SIGH}

Out of the mouths of babes...

The other day, my five-year-old, Karter, was wanting to play the Xbox very badly and was pleading with me to be able to play. However, he had already had plenty of "screen time" that day, and I told him that he should pick something else to do instead. He was obviously very frustrated with me, and so he turned to me and said, "Mom, when I was four, you treated me like a nice little boy. But now you treat me like a BIG...FAT...OGRE!!!

Yikes - what am I supposed to say to something like that? :)