Whole Fam Bam

Last weekend was the first weekend since Christmas that the whole family was home.  Erin was home for a week from D.C. and Rachel had yet to leave for Jerusalem (she left this morning).  It was nice having us all together even if it did mean a little bickering.

On Saturday I attended my first wedding luncheon.  My cousin Amber got married in the Draper temple and then had her luncheon on the 18th floor in the Zions Bank Building.  Her reception was super classy and really fun.  We got grandma and grandpa to do photobooth with us :)

Congrats Amber and Brandon.

Now I'm back in Provo and sadly in class.  Wish me luck.

They've got more bounce in California

As promised I'm updating on my California adventure.

Saturday: I flew out of Salt Lake.  When I bought my ticket almost two months ago the only seats available were the middle seats.  Blast.  I knew I would get stuck in between two really really fat guys.  Well, I got lucky and has two really skinny women next two me.  Score.  My flight was going great until my ginger ale spilled all over one of the women next to me.  You know how on plane food trays how they usually have the little hole for the cup?  This plane didn't have that.  So my cup kept on sliding down and I would slide it back up.  Well I kinda forgot about it when I started looking through skymall and the next thing I know - splash.  All over the lady next to me.  She, however, was very sweet about it even though it spilled all over her nice slacks.  She kept on telling me, "it's ok, I'm almost home."  Thankfully by the time Rae Fish picked me up my cheeks had returned to their normal hue.

Sunday:  We went to church, played games with the Fishers, and then watched the Lorax.  Weird movie, but kinda cute.

Monday:  We made a wal-mart trip to stock up on food for our car ride back to Provo and then hit up Costco.  In the afternoon Rachel and I went to Seal Beach and ate some tacos near the beach.  Last year when we went to Seal Beach, I got a huge cut on the bottom of my foot right when I first stepped on the sand.  This year, when I first stepped in the water a rogue boogie board came out of nowhere and broke half of the big toenail off and gave me a boogie board burn on the other arch.  Oh well.  We finished off the day by watching Soul Surfer and Joyful Noise.  Let me just say that Carrie Underwood better stick with singing because she CAN'T act.  Oh but I can't forget to say I learned how to change a tire.  Not my tire, of course, but Rachel's tire.  Maybe one of these days I'll ask my dad how to change my own tire.  Maybe.

Tuesday:  Kayaking.  We did this last year with Cara, Tess, and Rachel's brother Matthew.  This year it was just me and her.  I wish I could've video taped it because some of the houses their are amazingly beautiful.  I would kill to live in one of those someday....although I would never leave the mountains of Utah.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun when Rachel convinced me to jump off the bridge with her....something I refused to do last year.  It gave me flashbacks to my youth of how much I hated the high dive.  We "turned in" early because of the big day ahead of us the next morning.  We had a 9 pm between so we went to bed early after watching most of the Hunger Games.

Wednesday:  We woke up at 4:15 am and by 4:42 we were on the road.  Every hour we video logged out journey.  Too bad the videos would take years to upload so they are to be enjoyed only by me and those who have access to my iPhoto.  At 5 pm we rolled into Provo after a long day.  We made in about 11 hours which is actually pretty good time since we stopped in Las Vegas (Costco), St. George (for an hour), and Beaver (to get cheese curd).

It feels good to have Rachel back in Provo.  Tomorrow Tess will join us and then Cara follows on Sunday.  It'll be a reunion I won't want to miss!

Another picture overload

The Barkers went camping.  Gasp.  I know.  We took a little overnight trip to Capitol Reef.  Because I'm short on time, I will give a rundown of our trip through pictures.

a bug flew right up my nose 

we got trapped by a flash flood 

I don't know why we're smiling.  We were stuck for about two hours in total. 

As the beginning of the school year approached we carried on with our annual tradition and drove up to Brigham City to eat at our favorite restaurant and pick peaches.

And what's a trip up north without visiting Smith and Edwards.  This is our childhood right here.  Not really, but it reminds me of my childhood. 

I know that was a very poor recap on my last couple of weeks but I promise to try and be better about updating.  Right now however I am packing up to go to Long Beach tonight for a last little trip because driving back up with Rachel Fisher for college.

I'll update on that when I get back.

Done with Stats 121 FOREVER!

Thanks to a sister who helped me with homework, the open T.A. lab, a boss who lets me study at work, and hours and hours of studying I passed my stats final....but more importantly I passed the class.  I may not have gotten a great grade but I passed.  Phew.

Because I have been dedicating so much time to my school work I have neglected updating you (all 2 of you) on my activities lately.  So here goes - (mostly in photos and not in chronological order)

I got to babysit my favorite 8 month old.  I caught this photo right as he was about to yawn/cry.  I think it's a hilarious face of his.

This is a much more "put together" face of his.  Because he's teething I gave him something to chew to calm him down.  He seemed to enjoy chewing my hair elastic, but then I realized that probably wasn't the smartest object to give him.  Choking hazard and all...

So I took it away from him.  You can tell he didn't like that.

 Rach and I got to spend one Saturday at the farmers market with some of our favorite cousins.  

A day with Caroline and Elisabeth is never boring.

We went to hear The New Electric Sound play again at Riverwoods.  If you haven't heard them check them out on iTunes or spotify.  Their CD is on repeat in our car.

our chalk art at the Riverwoods

 I found this on our kitchen floor while on the way out the door one day.  

Not knowing whose it was, Rachel then pinned it on our kitchen wall.

 We barbecued our meat we got from corralling llamas.  Tanner makes a mean cheeseburger.

Flashback

The other I day I was bored and started searching random (but clean) stuff on google.  I don't know how I came across these or what I clicked to get there but after some clicks of the mouse I somehow stumbled upon these..... dads elementary school pictures.

Can you guess which one he is?

2nd Grade
Dad: middle top row - striped shirt 

6th Grade
Dad: fourth from the left (dark shirt)
next to the tall kid with a funny collar

What a heartbreaker.

Check It

Check out my sisters article in this months Liahona and New Era!

Although all of the credit goes to her (obviously) I guess my mom and I can take credit for the inspiration of this story :)  Read it to find out why.

Note:  that is suppose to be me and my mom in the lower left frame.  Looks nothing like us