Alright well I just finished another book series, Jared is working and that leaves me with either less then spectacular television shows or updating my blog.. : ) Sense I am due in 4 weeks I figured I better take some time to clear out my camera and get things all up to date because lets be honest..I have all kinds of plans for dressing up little Meg and going to town with the photo shoots once she is born. So here you go, this was the last month and a half's worth of our little family's life. Enjoy. We did. : )

Settlers Park!

We recently discovered a pretty Sweet park in Meridian! It's called Settler's Park. Our friends Jessica and Chase invited us to go with their family to check it out and it turned out to be a really fun place! They have a huge splash park, a rock climbing area, swings, an awesome playground and some really fun giant size musical instruments for the kids to bang around on. Kate and Ty had a blast!

Washing the Cars.

Kate and Ty LOVE to help wash the cars! They also enjoy stomping around in their little rain boots in all the little puddles that collect at the end of the drive way. If you look closely you can see that they also believe in literally "Hand Washing" the cars. : )

"I want to go for a ride on a jeep!!"

Kate and Ty Love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. One of the fun things they love to do is go in Jeep rides in the huge Jeep that Grandpa and the boys fixed up. : ) Actually it is pretty funny because Ty is basically obsessed with Jeep rides he has always loved it when Jared takes him out in our Jeep and now it is all he wants to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house too! I am pretty sure that on this particular day Ty talked his way into at least 10 Jeep/motorcycle ride with various family members. We had to resort to either threats or bribery to get him out of that thing. : )

Kate was happy chilln' on the swings. : ) She is so sweet. : )

Great Grandpa Barclay doing his share of the Jeep runs.

yum!!

I know I am pregnant and it's probably safe to say that I think about food more than the average person...but I couldn't help myself. I just had to do a post about this amazing food blog that I absolutely LOVE! I have tried tons of their recipes and ever single one is awesome, easy and so flavorful. Who knew spices could make that big of a difference at dinner time!.. ; ) Jared loves their recipes almost as much as I do and has said that He fully supports me cooking anything I want off that site. : ) Now I am not trying to be dramatic but I feel like I could trust these woman with my life..they have been that spot on with all of these recipes. : ) This is a picture of some Cupcakes that I made with a recipe from their blog. I am not exaggerating when i tell you that the frosting tastes like Heaven it's self.

Oh in case your wondering the site is www.ourbestbites.com

Manti Trip

This last May Jared's cousin Kayla Barclay got married! So we drove down to Manti for the wedding. It was alot of fun and I really wish I would have taken more pictures of what we did. I guess writing it down will have to suffice. Jared took work off on Friday and Saturday but he had to work Thursday night. Jacob (Jared's little brother) was also throwing shot put and discus in the State High School Track Meet on Thursday night at Boise State. So we started the weekend off by watching Jake do awesome at State that night. Then Jared's mom and Dad took Kate and Ty home with them and I took Jared to work. Bright and early Friday morning at 6:30 am I picked up Jared from work and drove down to Paul. Jared took a little nap and then we all piled into a couple vehicles turned on the Dora the Explorer movies for the kids and drove to Manti.

The next morning the Jake and Josh (being the awesome uncles that they are) took care of Kate and Ty while we went to a 7 am Endowment Session. After the Session while we were in the Celestial Room one of the sealers asked us to come and do a Sealing session. So we were able to do sealings up until about 5 minutes before Kayla and Tyson's Wedding. : ) It was awesome to not only see another family member sealed For Time and all Eternity to a loving spouse, and it made it even more special to have been able to actually take part in a sealing session the same day.

That night my sister Vanessa drove down from Provo to hang out at the reception with us and play card games afterward. It was really fun to get to hang out together with mine and Jared's side of the family. It doesn't happen all that often with all of my family in Alaska. : )

After the Wedding Jared's Dad had this genius idea to extend our trip by taking the scenic trip home through Price and Castle Dale Ut. Price is where Martin and Judy started their family. Martin worked in the Cole mines there and they had not been back for a visit in 15 or 20 years. It was so fun to spend Sunday driving around to all the old places they used to hang out. We went to the house Jared grew up in, the Cole mine Martin worked at, some relatives houses, and an amazing canyon that they used to go camping at. The cherry on top of all of this was that His Parents took our kids in their Suburban the whole time so Jared and I got to ride together in the Odyssey by ourselves for around 10 hours!! It was sooo nice. : ) That night we got a hotel in Provo and then Monday we drove through Salt Lake. We stopped at Temple Square and watched the Joseph Smith movie in the visitors center (it was a little too intense for Kate so I ended up waiting outside with her. : ) Then we had Lunch at the Spegetti Factory and drove home to Paul. The whole trip was so relaxing it felt like a long vacation. We really enjoyed it.

Lake Lowell

May Temps this year were awesome! Such a mild start to our currently "too hot for pregnant me to leave the house in the middle of the day not surrounded by an A/C vehicle."

So one day we decided to have a picnic dinner at Lake Lowell. It's this huge man made lake not far from our house. It has a beautiful park and is perfect for sail boats.. The water isn't the best for swimming but it is fun to picnic by.

After dinner we had a few buns left and so we thought we would try feeding the geese. : ) Unfortunately they were pretty shy.. Ty was very determined though as you can see from his full body throws.

Picture Time!

So my friend Melissa is starting up a photography business and generously offered to take some maternity pictures of me and the kids. (Jared had to work....he wasn't too upset that he was missing out on the shoot : ) but I really wish he could have been there too. Not to worry though we have plans to involve him in an extensive photo extravaganza when little Meg is born. : ) Anyway we went out to the church orchard hoping to catch the last of some of the trees in bloom. And even though most of the blooms were gone it was still beautiful and we really enjoyed taking the pictures there. Melissa did an awesome job!! Esspecially considering I hate taking pictures of just myself, let alone look at pictures of just myself+20 something extra pounds of baby weight : ) But she really did do a great job and I know I will look back and treasure the chance to remember what things were like at this stage of our lives. Particularly the pictures of the kids, which are priceless in the way they capture their little personalities. Thanks again Melissa!

Maternity Pics

How to sell a Product.... : )

Step One: Post pictures of Super cute little nieces rolling, cutting, frosting and then eating the softest looking sugar cookies on the planet in their sweet little squishy little fingers.

Step Tw0: Rinse and Repeat as much as is necessary for their Aunt to realize that her world will be incomplete until she makes these cookies with her own kids too. : )

Number of repts needed to make their point: 1

Results : 2 sticky kids, 1 bonk on the head (from falling off chair), 3 tummies full before dinner and 4 dozen of the yummiest cookies ever!

Crystal's Soft Sugar Cookies

1 Cup Sour Cream

2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Shortening/or butter

4 Eggs

1 tsp vanilla

6 Cups Flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Combine sour cream, sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients until mixed together. Chill dough in fridge for about 15 minutes Roll out to about 1/2" cut shapes. Bake no more then 10 minutes, they seem undone but they aren't Let cool, transfer to rack. Spread with frosting and decorate.

Messy Sunday

I have to document this moment!

Yesterday when we left for church we left in a whirl wind and the house was a mess when we got home. So first we ate dinner and then Jared ran upstairs to hurry and finish a school project that was due the next day. I decided to let the kids watch Lady and the Tramp for a few minutes while I straightened up a little. I just can't stand it when every room you walk in is scattered with stuff.. I am sorry, I can't bring myself to leave it that way even on a Sunday.

Anyway I told Kate she could sit down and watch the movie with Ty and she said "No thanks mom, I'll help you clean up the house first so that you won't be alone cleaning. " umm wow! She is only 5 years old! I know plenty of adults that wouldn't have responded that way. I was totally impressed and she did, she helped me pick up all the toys before she sat down with Ty. Sometimes I really wonder how we got so lucky to have Kate in our family.

Baby Heidi visit

So our friends/neighbors just have a little girl and boy our kids ages just had a new little baby girl 6 weeks ago. Soon after she was born they found out she had heart problems and was life flighted down the primary children's. The surgery went well and she was able to come home for a few weeks. Then they discovered that her liver wasn't working. So two days ago they did surgery again and discovered that her liver was upside down and on the wrong side of her body, that her gall bladder was dead and that she had 3 spleens. Poor little Heidi went through 12 hours of surgery but they were able to hopefully fix everything while maintaining a steady heart beat. It has been a Miracle! Anyway she will be in the hospital for at least a month and her family are staying downtown across the street from the hospital at the Ronald McDonald House. We are so grateful that the surgery went well and decided to go visit them with some flowers. Their little boys name is Steven and Ty always refers to him as "my Steven" so when we went to pick out flowers to make an arrangement Ty was picking out "flowers for my Steven's baby" : ) anyway this is a shot of how the flowers turned out. We were able to go and talk to them for about an hour and it was nice to visit and see how they were holding up.

Easter 2010

When ever the Easter Bunny comes to Grandma and Grandpa Barclay's house he hides Easter baskets for everyone and you have to go on an scavenger hunt to find them! It's really fun and sometimes really hard! This year we went down on Saturday afternoon after Jared finished work. It was also conference weekend and so the men all went to the Priesthood session of conference and we stayed home and colored eggs. : ) It was pretty fun, and kept you on your toes sense Ty's method of gently putting the eggs in the cups or down on the table was to drop them like rocks. : ) These are pictures of coloring eggs, the eggs that the Easter Bunny left with our first clue in them. For some reason this year the Easter Bunny thought it would be funny to put Jake's egg in a special place high up in the corner. : ) hehehe.. There are pictures of the kids with their Easter baskets and the umbrellas Kate has been begging for months for. And Easter morning Grandma asked Ty what kind of cereal he wanted and he said he wanted both of them. He's not spoiled at all... : ) and I also included a picture of the beautiful roses Jared brought home for me after a night that may or may not have included a complete hormonal pregnancy break down.. : ) what a good husband I have. ; )

Mr Personality.

So Jared went home teaching on Sunday and had a bunch of meetings and stuff after church. When he finally got home Ty immediately started hanging on to his legs in an apparent effort to show his need for some attention. : )I have never seen him do that before.

The next day Jared dressed him in a sweater that used to be my little brothers. It has a loader on the front that Ty kept called a tractor. It was way to big but he looked super cute so I thought I would document it as well. And the last picture is of Ty and his little band aid on his nose. I am not quite sure how he bumped his nose but he came down one day with a little red mark on it. The next morning it was evident that he had been scratching it and making it bleed so I have been trying to keep a band aid on it to help it heal. And I am not going to lie, I think it looks pretty cute too. I need to come up with another word to use other then cute. : )