Weekend in Recap

Brooke got home from Puerto Rico

The fam with Grandma and Grandpa Franklin

-minus Rachel-

Old Spring City cemetery

The Spring City house with the horseshoe in the background

Putting flowers on Grandma and Grandpa Barker's graves

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Mad for Missionaries

Today is a very important day.  For me it's all about missionary work.  Yesterday was Hug a Missionary Day and also the day Hermana Brooke Barker was suppose to return home from being in the field for 19 months, convenient huh?  Although she was delayed a day because of the tornadoes in the midwest and southern states. It's been a long 19 months since she left but the best 19 months.  I have been blessed because of her willingness to serve the Lord.  I'm so grateful for Brooke and her service as a missionary.  She will be greatly missed by the people of Puerto Rico but the people of Salt Lake are ecstatic to have her home.

Welcome Home Brooke!

Who said you need to fly to enjoy planes?

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is going with my dad to the Salt Lake airport to watch planes land and take-off.  We have found that Sunday night around 7 P.M. is the busiest and best time to go watch.

There is a bike path at the end of the runway that we have been walking for more than half my life.  It's fun to just go out with either my sisters and my dad, or just my dad, and to just walk and talk, and listen to the jets approaching and then hearing the wispy noise that follows after the plane touches the ground.

Even though I am no plane expert I feel like a plane authority after watching planes come in for at least half my life.

If you ever need a family home evening activity or just an activity for any day, I suggest going out and walking at the airport.  It's more than than it would seem.

Well, now that I'm done blogging for the day I am going to lay back, put my feet up, and listen to the Fray and U2 concert from my living room.  I'm so glad I didn't pay $30-$250 to go the Rice-Eccles stadium when the sound travels all the way over to my house.

I would bean this beauty queen!

I would like to say thank you to my mother for never even thinking about putting me in beauty pageants.  If I was this girls mother I would shoot myself....then again, if this was my daughter she would be getting some serious time-out.

Week in Review

Although my life is pretty mundane I am going to write about my week since this is really like my journal and someday I'll look back and reminisce on my mundane life.  This week I worked about 35 hours and finally hung out at night instead of just sitting at home.

• Monday- I went over to Misha's house to finish making cookies for FHE and then we walked down the street to the Garden Park building for FHE where we played getting to know you games.  Usually kids who are home for the summer are hesitant to attend singles wards but I actually quite enjoy mine, even if I am only going to be there for a couple months.
• Tuesday- Some girls and I hung out at Annie's and watched Nacho Libre (one of my favorite movies to quote)
• Wednesday- I spent a cozy night at home and had a mommy-daughter movie night.  We watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  She had never seen it before so it was a real treat to listen to her commentary.  The only thing that was a downer was we had to watch it on a laptop in the family room.  After coming home from BYU I was really excited to be able to watch movies on an actual television, but no, of course both of our DVD players break within a week of me moving home.  And no I am not the cause of it but I'll be happy when they get fixed.
• Thursday- After work Erin and I went up to the outlet mall in Park City and did some much needed shopping.  I bought a really cute pair of jeans at Downeast Outfitters.  Yes, C.R.A.T., my all-time favorite jeans ripped two days after finals.
• Friday- We made tinfoil dinners in the oven at Stwarts house.  Props to her and Jane for putting it all together!  The best part was that we didn't have to smell like campfire but we still got to enjoy a delicious meal.  After dinner a couple of us went to the Sweet Tooth Fairy Bakery for a cupcake....I've been craving one all week and finally gave in.  After consuming a couple hundred calories I went with Erin and a couple of her friends to the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  It was actually better than I thought it would be but I had low expectations for it to begin with.
• Saturday-  yesterday I went to the gym with Erin and then came home to clean the house.  I showered around 4 P.M. and didn't really feel like putting any effort into getting ready so I just stayed home and hung out by myself.

In other news, Brooke gets home from her mission to Puerto Rico on Thursday.  Only 4 days left til our family will all be in the same country.  Our family won't be totally complete until August when Rachel gets home from Washington D.C. but it'll be nice to have Brookie home.  I never thought I would say this but I'm actually looking forward to sharing a bedroom with her for two weeks before she moves down to Provo for summer term.

Since I don't have any children, nieces, or nephews to talk about I am going to boast about the cutest little kid in the world.  Johnny, the boy I nanny, is my all-time favorite boy right now.  Every week he does something new that just cracks me up.  This week I learned he likes to taunt me.  This is how the story pans out:  I gave him some Trix cereal to eat because he won't eat anything these days.  He'll hold one over the edge of his high-chair just waiting for you to say something and then he'll lower his hand as if to drop it but then he'll giggle and bring it back up.  Plus if you say "don't smile" or "I bet you can't smile" he just puts on the biggest grin or he'll start laughing.  This works very well if you want to cheer him up after telling him he can't have any more ba-ba.  I was going to show you a demonstration but the video is taking literally 3 hours to upload so I'll leave it to your imagination.

Here are my two favorite pictures of the week:

The first one is him in my sunglasses.  He thought they looked so cool on me that he wanted to try them for himself.

The second picture was taken in the East High School seminary building.  We took his sister Madi to seminary after school on Tuesday and waited inside for her.  I don't think I need to say this since the picture suggests it but he had a pretty good time making faces at me through the glass doors.

*****

Since I didn't blog on Friday I will give a shout out to one of my best friends and roommate, Rachel, whose birthday is on the 20th.  Happy 19th Birthday Rachel!!!

Create

At the start of every summer I tell myself that I won't just sit in front of the television and waste away the sunny days, but by the start of school I look back and can't boast any achievement.  That is why my goal this summer is to CREATE something, anything.

You can hardly call this a job...

I absolutely love my job this summer.  Yes, it is sometimes hard to think of things to do all day with a 22-month old but this little tike makes it difficult to become bored.

Dining like a King with his two blankies behind his head

This week has gone by fast compared to last week though.  I think it's because I kind of have a hang on things and my schedule etc...  Plus he's warmed up to me.  I know this because I got my first slap on the face by him yesterday.  His brothers say he only hits, scratches, and pinches people he is comfortable with, which means I guess I'm in that category now.  I've gotten his lingo down too.  At first I was confused but now I know what his little dictionary contains.
For example...

Di-doo: Thank you

example of Johnny saying "no"

oh: no

ee: yes

ba-ba: bottle

da-n-me: that wasn't me

shoos: juice

way-go: where'd it go?

babby: either baby or Abby but I can't tell

Although I yearn for real adult conversation during the day I love it when he talks.  He says thank you for everything and says it more than any other phrase.  One of my favorite conversations with him though is when I ask if he's stinky and he says "no" with his face scrunched up, then after I check and find that he really is stinky he gets this little smirk on his face as if saying "haha I fooled you."  But then he smiles the cutest little smile with slight puppy dog eyes and you can't help but laugh, which makes him laugh....although it doesn't take much to make him laugh. 
The other conversation is when he burps or makes a little sound from the other end.  I'll looked surprised and he responds by looking around and shaking his head while saying "da-n-me," meaning "that's not me."  haha man you've got to love this little rascal.  He'll definitely be breaking a lot of girls hearts when he's older.

puppy dog eye smile

the boy with many hairstyles

I'm glad to have the weekend off and to sleep in tomorrow but am excited to get back to "working" on Monday.

*****

And shout out to Cara whose birthday is today.  I can't wait to see you in August and be official roommates in Provo.  Miss and love you!

Happy Birthday from California, Utah, and Alaska

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to my beautiful, amazing, talented mom.

 I love you!



1st Summer Update

I've been done with school for two weeks now and it still doesn't really feel like summer.  Maybe that's because my job requires me to keep school hours.  I work from 8-4 everyday, nannying for a lady in my ward while she trains at Carden Memorial to be a 4th grade teacher next year.  Although I have to get up earlier now than I did this whole year, I love my job!  I get to hang out with a beautiful blonde haired blue eyed (almost) two year old.  Most people think that babysitting all day long would be a nightmare but Johnny is so sweet tempered, hardly ever cries, and is a little energizer bunny.  He keeps me on my feet but also is a great little helper.  There was a dried piece of chocolate or something on the floor that he noticed, so he opened up a drawer, got out a rag, and started to try and wipe it up himself.  He first tried wiping it with his hand, when that didn't work he set the rag down and began to do it with his feet, but to no avail.  This, and other things, tired him out and when I turned my back he zonked out on the floor.

Not only is he a great helper around the house; he is not your typical two year old boy.  He doesn't run amok and cause mischief like most toddler boys do.  He is actually quite sensitive, as is evident by him dragging around and caring for a baby doll we found in a hall closet yesterday.

If you can tell a kids future by how he acts when he is little, well, then this kid has a great future ahead of him.

Before this week I was fortunate to have a little break between school and work.  My friend Elizabeth stayed with me for a night before her plane left on Tuesday.  We some of the touristy things since she had never really been to Salt Lake before.  After I picked her up on Monday we went to Gateway with Rachel and then to East High with Kim.  I felt like a total tourist in my own high school, but seeing that we had never taken pictures while we actually went to the school, Kim and I had decided to go back and take pictures on the High School Musical set.  While there we got to catch up with our favorite teacher, Ms. Lake.

On our way to the airport the next morning, Rachel, Elizabeth, and I went and did baptisms.  It was Elizabeth's first time in the Salt Lake temple, and I'm privileged to be the one to take her.

Later that day my family drove down to the Grand Canyon last week for a quick trip before Rachel jetted of to Washington D.C. for the summer.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  We spent Tuesday night in Spring City and arrived in Arizona Wednesday afternoon.  On Thursday my dad, Erin, Rachel, and I traversed down a ways into the canyon and emerged back up on the rim 5 hours later.  All I can say is "thank goodness for camelbaks." On Friday we left the hotel at 6:33 A.M. and arrived home in Salt Lake at 5:30 P.M. thanks to the congested traffic and road construction in Utah County.

Anyway, here are my favorite pictures from the trip:

It's just a shame that I had to leave this lovely weather for this.... (and remember it was the end of April)

Gotta love Utah weather

Some other thoughts of today:

• Congratulations to Rachel on being Orrin Hatch's press intern for the summer!  
• Brooke gets home in 22 days!
• Should I be concerned that in the past week I have watched a whole television series?!  I don't care if I spent 36 hours to watch 4 seasons, I absolutely love this show! (thank you mom for buying this series)

• I miss Provo and my friends terribly (good thing we have skype)
• The U of U is just finishing finals. Ha!
• I loved driving in my car today with Johnny, and rolling my windows down so we could feel the wind on our faces....oh and singing with the windows down