Here's the house..for Christmas.

Haven't downloaded or uploaded or unloaded Christmas Day Photo's.  But here's how the decorating started:

This December we've been fans of bike rides/walks and ending in a picnic. 

This day was a picnic in the back yard.

November things to celebrate.

As most of the readers of this particular blog are aware of; tragedy hit the Barney / Thompson family in October.  And much of getting back to blogging or back to life in general hasn't been easy. I'm not ready to blog any of that...I've put plenty of thoughts and feelings into other places, and don't feel that I will do it here, now.  Maybe some other time.  But the tragedy is real, and has affected me deeply. 

I generally post happy things, and I don't like to whine, or complain very much, and if I do, it's usually jokingly about superficial troubles. Or everyday junk.  I suppose I don't like tapping into the serious side - and letting a lot of those strong feelings ooze out into my public life.  Pretty sure that's normal.   Sad, bad, serious things happen - and turn the world you know into something unrecognizable. Takes a while to clear the head, you know?

But good things have happened - and those things are important for me to share here.  

The boys on Nathan's Birthday, before church.

Nathan turned 5!  Five years ago that sweet, blue eyed, blonde headed boy entered our lives and turned it into a magical wonderful place.  We had three different celebrations for him with different parts of the family and bestest friends.  One party in Lander (still in October) and two in St. George.  



Riding his awesome birthday bike



I turned 33 on 11/11/11.  The day itself wasn't much out of the ordinary, but my sweet little ones were adorable all the day long...later, the party would come.

 

Me on 11/11/11 - only photo.



Thanksgiving the Barney clan arrived in St. George to stay with us!  We cooked, and cooked and ate and hiked in Zions, and Snow Canyon, and did some shopping and walking, and talking, and sitting outside in the sun, and had a picnic with deer and wild turkeys.  It was good to have us all together. Bittersweet. We played with the St. George Shepherd clan a couple of times and enjoyed thier cabin in Pine Valley as well as cooked up some pork ribs Grandma Shepherd Style at the Petty Home.



The Barney's Picnic in Zion: note buck deer over Wes's shoulder.



Directly after Thanksgiving, Holly Harris and I adventured to Northern Arizona for a Momma Vacation.  Truely this was a saving grace for my well being.  A five night, six day, child and husband free vacation to do whatever it was that we wanted to do.  No time schedules, no rules, no one to please or look after but ourselves.  We took walks, hiked, saw amazing scenery, ate incredible foods, slept in luxiourious Marriott properties, shopped and shopped and shopped some more - and talked and talked and talked and watched food network and movies and TV shows with NOT ONE interruption! We ate Popcorn and cupcakes in our beds, and no one asked for any - or spilled crumbs in the sheets! We saw Bryan Adams ('s new line of eyewear.) And drove more roundabouts in 1/4 of a mile that you would see in the whole state of Utah... 



Sedona: Climbing up Cathedral Rock, and looking out.



This is where the party (for my 33rd birthday) comes in....My Dear Sweet husband took almost his whole years worth of vacation time to send me on this trip.  He stayed home from work, to be with the boys - which, as any mother knows, is work! This was a beautiful gift to me:  peace of mind of how the boys were getting along, and with who.  He worked the entire Thanksgiving holiday, including Thanksgiving day so as to ensure his time off for me.  Did we miss him at Thanksgiving, YES, was it special for me to get away.  YES.  I have been away ONE night (away from the boys) since Nathan was born.  That's it. ( Other than when I was in the hospital with my transfusion after Nathan, and the time I was in the hospital recovering from Ashton's birth. ) That's it, ONE time away from them.  I love them and want to be with them.  But this was an amazing AMAZING gift.

Bear with me as I get back to a regular blog schedule.  Right now, I'm thinking once a week will be something I can manage!  (P.S. The spell check on this thing is NOT working.  Please deal with my misspelled words!)

Pat on My Own Back

Just going to brag about my accomplishments today.  Before 2 o'clock in the afternoon this is what I got done:

1. Babies up snuggled, fed eggs and ham breakfast and dressed.

2. Donations for D.I. collected, bagged, tagged and curbed before 8:30, as instructed.

3. Bed sheets washed, dried and replaced

4. Kids Halloween Craft created
5. Jetted tub filled, cleaned with bleach water, emptied, and filled again for rinse cycle - plus wiped down walls and bottom of tub with cleaner.
6. Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made for my primary bribery, ahem, motivation program.
7. Lunch for both gremlins and one down for nap.
8. Load of dishes done and unloaded
9. Work out done, showered and redressed
10. another load of laundry in; plus a special load of delicates.

This was all before 2!

 Nathans special Candy Corns.

I hate to say it, but for the second Saturday in a row, the smallest gremlin is sporting a miserable fever. He woke up early from his nap, just burning! Last weeks fever lasted for about three days, I assume this cycle will too - and that means  tomorrow will be pretty yucky.  Even now, the kidlet is attached to my leg with constant whimpers.  I HATE sick season!  I've been keeping EVERYTHING as clean as possible!  We wash hands, clothes, sheets, sippy cups, fridge...it's just the nature of the beast I guess. 

Note the colors on the ghost, this is Ashton contribution to the craft.  He colored the white paper, I cut it out in ghost shapes and added eyes, NQ glued!  FUN Craft Time!

Petty's Pallet Patio

Okay, If you're on Pinterest, and following me, you'll see that I have these Pallet Pins all over the place. Here's the thing. You can often find piles of pallets for pennies! (or free) And with some time and some power tools I want to turn my desolate patio into a perfect party place! (I don't usually overuse the letter "P" but for this post, at Petty's Place, it's seem aPpropriate.

Note: none of these pictures are from my camera or of my yard. In case you were curious.

Here's the inspiration(s):

The Side Table

The Planter: (imagine bigger and overflowing with Petunias!)

The couch: near the fire Pit (which will not made from Pallets)

The Rolling Coffee Table! I find this thing adorable!

So Now I need to find said Pile of Pallets and begin my pragmatic, penny pinching plan to present my patio with!

Huge Time Off.

Sorry, But I've taken time off (over a year) from the blog. It's time to get back to it.

NQ had preschool today and sang me a song about the rain drops falling on his nose, nose, nose. And he let me know that he was finger painting leaves. Red ones, like the kind for fall. He adores preschool, and I'm glad. We walked to school today as the drops fell on our heads, heads, heads. Nathan must have enjoyed this too, because he asked if we could walk to school every day. I don't see why not... Ashton fell asleep on the way back to the house.

Ashton REFUSES to say Momma, unless it's when he's neeeeds me. Why? He's torturing me. We say: Say Dada! And he says: Dada! We say: Say Nay Nay! (the name we use for Nathan - Olivia Barney came up with it.) And he says: Nay Nay! and this list goes on with words like cow, cup, shoe, sock, puppy, car, Dino, etc. But HE REFUSES TO SAY MOMMA!! He just gets quiet and puts this little smile on his face, like he's enjoying a private joke. Wiggles his blond noggin ear to shoulder, ear to shoulder. He's such a little PUNK!

St. George is growing on me. I'm liking the October temperatures the best. June - September were pretty warm. I've heard I'll get used to the heat. I'm hoping that's true! Went for a cool morning jog today. Can't wait to get until my mp3 is charged up and I have more time to take on the trails!

Okay, this particular post wasn't stellar. Or even interesting. But at least I'm back on. And you may be asking yourself "Why in heaven is Ashton wearing a KILT?" Not ready to write up that post just yet :)

(And the look of my page is horrific, but the blogger wouldn't support the html that I was using two years ago when I was a more regular post person. So this will have to do until I can pay some attention to it.)

Winter Fair and Sick Boys

Winter Fair has come and gone, but not before the Pettys and Barneys divided and conquered. Here's NQ and Mom getting ready for the fair. NQ in his WYO cowboys sweatshirt.We ate Cowbelles beef sandwiches, collected free balloons, had faces painted (Olivia had a butterfly, Nathan a purple spider with yellow spots) and enjoyed the chaos of fair time. (Wow, I have really nice teeth.)Nathan only wanted me to take one picture of his spider so it wouldn't wash off. He also decided not to bathe or shower that evening so he could keep his spider longer. Sadly, this spider did not make it through the night. But his red WF stamp on his hand did.

Sunday night Nathan woke up screaming, crying and gasping for air. He was So congested and flemmy. Travis and Shane gave him a blessing and then we toted him to the Emergency room at 11 p.m. After a breathing treatment and a sip of steroid, they sent him home with nothing more than a nasty cold. No Croup, no RSV, just not feeling great. The next morning, Ashton had his 'well child' check up, only to display a nasty cough and congestion himself.

At his 2 month check up Ashton is 13 lbs 6 oz. and has grown another inch to put him at 24. He's in the 95% for weight and 90% for height. We claim another big boy! We chalk it up to my mystery genes. Shanes family is Not tall, and I'm pretty average...so somewhere we have burly Finnish ancestors.

The bad news is that we have two sick boys with fevers, and yucky colds. The good news is that (so far) they only have colds. This morning (Tuesday March 10th) Ashton has lost his voice and can only squeak at me. It's heartbreaking.

Handsome Boy

Nothing more needs to be said. Brooke and I found this suit in Casper at Sears a year ago. And boy oh boy does this boy like wearing his suit. (Last Sunday in Feb.)