Coming Soon...

Our new and improved (and a little wild) laundry room.

The path of destruction

This all happened in one day.

By one little boy.

First: His sisters room. This room was clean when she left.

Next stop: His room. All the toys all over and all the clothes out of the dresser.

A quick stop in the bathroom to empty the garbage can.

Then off to the kitchen: Stop by the cabinets under the sink. We now have locks on those since it is where we keep all the cleaning stuff.

Turn around and hit the Tupperware cabinet. This is one of his favorites.

Onto the dish towel drawer. He really likes this one too.

Next is the garbage can.

The result of the garbage can stop.


Finish off by heading to our bathroom. I caught him playing in the toilet too but didn't get a picture of that.

And here's the culprit.

Meet Star

She is the newest member of our family. She is adorable and lots of fun.

We had talked about getting a cat once we got into a new house. I was a little unsure of it because I vowed I would NEVER have a pet. They are high maintenance, they shed, they stink and they are just one more expense that isn't necessary.

Well, my heart got the best of me when I saw this little thing and we brought her home. She has brought a lot of joy to our home and we are glad we have her.

This is Nate.

I'M SO FREAKING SICK AND TIRED OF THIS POLITICAL SEASON. BEYOND SICK. BEYOND TIRED. BEYOND ANNOYED, BUGGED, WORN DOWN AND OUT; I'M JUST DONE WITH IT ALL.

**Those of you who are just about to jump down my throat for what I'm about to say can just stop right now. I've heard it all; Yes, I realize it's a blessing that I can vote at all, Yes I realize there have been countless lives given just for me to have a say in who leads this country, Yes I realize that things are really bad right now and that my voice might mean something in the whole scheme of things, Yes, I get it all. So save your breath for someone else, cause I'm tired of being told all that too.**

I probably won't vote.

There, see, I said it (ooh, and I know some of you are just dying to say something to inspire me to get out there and just choose someone. Nope, Probably not gonna do it. It's not cause I'm lazy, not cause I don't care(I actually do in fact,) not cause I have no opinion, not cause I haven't been educated (or done some research myself- which is much more valuable;) No, it's not for any of those reasons. My major reason for choosing not vote goes something like this:

I am registered as an Independent. I have been registered as an Independent since I first registered to vote for a reason. Neither the Democratic or Republican parties fit the combination of beliefs and stances that I support. I'd rather not vote for someone only because they are the lesser of 2 evils (funny- pun not intended but couldn't be more fitting in this case!) I feel that this election season carries a LOT of weight considering that roller coaster rise the country has been through in the past 12+ years (yes, that includes both the Bush terms, the Clinton years, and beyond.) And as such, I feel a little.... *disappointed*.... that the only 2 (let's face it, it's not like someone other that Obama or McCain has a realistic shot at winning this) people that have made it as close as they have are as poor a candidate as they both are. (I know this is gonna get many of you to just jump in again.....) Obama lacks experience. McCain lacks the change this country needs. Score: 0-0. Obama is gonna get a LOT of votes only because there are people out there who will vote racially. McCain will likewise receive a LOT of support from the good 'ol boys club for the exact same reason. Score 0-0. You go back and forth and the scores are still 0-0 in my opinion. (I'd like to go on but I think you get the idea; I'm not gonna go into specific issues.) I feel pretty strongly about some of the major issues affecting us all right now and neither of those men fit who/what I'd like to see in the White House cause they sure have a big mess to clean up and it sure isn't gonna be easy or fast. We're in for a long ride.

I really really do wish that negative tv ads were not allowed. I really really wish someone could come up with a better forum for candidates to express what they wish to do/accomplish/support/do for the country than what we have cause it's nothing but face to face mud slinging where both candidates won't fess up to the truth of their past so they can appear less left or right winged. I really really wish they would realize how much they shoot themselves in the foot when they don't give specifics on what they want to do, again, just to hide their past and appear less left or right. They've used red and blue to represent the democratic or republican states and all that either candidate wants is to make it look like they're a very appealing shade of PURPLE. How about telling everyone what you really think, admitting that it likely won't turn out that way although you'll still push for it, and acknowledge that it'll more than likely end up being a compromise since that's what's bound to happen with a bipartisan democracy.

I have a real hard time supporting one candidate over the other just because one sucks worse than the other. I think I'm left disappointed that this is the best we're left with when you consider that our political system is (arguably) the best of what's out there. Either the system has failed us or it's just a sign of the overall (bad) direction the country has degraded to or a combination of both.

I care.

But I don't care to vote for an individual I don't support.

I love this country and consider it a blessing to have been born here.

I do feel obligated to vote but also feel obligated to not waste my vote.

I care; perhaps too much.

Little road trip

I have been wanting to take a road trip to Kanab for awhile now. I wanted to go and take flowers to the cemetery to my grandma's grave and just go back and look around. We finally decided to do it. We left yesterday morning and got home this afternoon. It was so good for me to go. We had my sister Kaylee with us and I think it was good for her too. The kids had fun and Nate was such a trooper doing all the stuff we wanted to do and listening to us reminisce about old times. Here are a few pictures of Kanab. They really mean a lot to me.

Grandma's house






Zoee thought it was pretty cool that her name Bernice was on the big rock. She loved hearing stories of Great Grandma Robinson and thought it was great that they had the same name.



We left flowers and some of grandma's favorite things- Diet Coke and Tic Tac's

We headed to the park after the cemetery for a picnic and some fun. This was the same park that we would always walk to when we were visiting grandma. It was quite different but it brought back a lot of memories.

After the park we headed down to the famous Denny's Wigwam. This was always a regular stop when we were in Kanab. We usually went there several times. (sorry fuzz, the stamp machine is gone) We played there for awhile and then walked down the main street with all the little shops. It was a lot of fun. We headed back to our hotel after that because we were all pretty tired.

We got up this morning and headed to the sand dunes (another tradition). It was fun and Zoee loved running on the big mountains of sand. Gus kept eating the sand but seemed to like it.

The trip was a lot of fun. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have grandma there to hug.

Stallion of a brother

My brother Cody is so funny. He was down here helping us pack and making us laugh. During the packing he found this horse costume of Zoee's. It is made to go over her shoulders so she looks like a horse. He put it on and all the sudden, the stallion in him came out.

Check it out.

He used the garbage can for his barrel and did quite a few awesome jumps. He had us all laughing out loud. I wonder what the NEIGH-bors thought?

Moving Day

We woke up bright and early for the big move. Nate actually had to work from 2am-7am that day so once he got home from work we went to get the U-haul and drop the kids of at Grandmas. We got back to the house and started to load things up.

The big truck. I saw this truck and never thought we would fill it up but we sure did!

Nate and my brother Cody working hard. (well, Cody anyways)

Cody and Dave moving out Zoee's toy box.

The moving Crew (minus Dave)

I have to thank everyone that helped us that day.

Thanks to Grandma Garrard for watching the kids. That helped so so much! We wouldn't have been able to move all that stuff with the kids under our feet. Thank you.

Thanks to Dad Garrard for coming to help us load and unload. Thanks for taking stuff over in your truck and for letting us use the truck again for the fridge. We are so thankful for your help!

Dave. Thanks for coming too! It was good to have you around and have the extra help!

Thanks to Sarah and Tyler for coming to the house to help us unload and for getting lunch for everyone. Thanks for the offer of the couch Tyler but I think we will pass on that. Sarah, thanks for helping me start to organize my kitchen. Really, if you had not started to do that I would still be living out of boxes. And thanks for all the Barlow kids and their hard work carrying in all those boxes!

Nate's friend Robby showed up at the new house to help us unload the truck. Thanks Robby. It was good to have the help and I am sure Nate loved seeing one of his buddies.

Thanks to the three people from the new ward that showed up to help us unload. Don't remember all their names, only George and Ben but thankful you came to help. It made us more excited for a new ward.

Fuzz and Mel. Oh my goodness. I can't say enough about these guys. They were on vacation and stopped in Vegas on Friday night and helped us pack and helped us move on Saturday. Kind of a crappy thing to do on vacation if you ask me but we were SO SO grateful for them. I really don't know how we would have done it without them. They took apart the beds on Friday night and carried them downstairs all by themselves. It was amazing to watch them move our giant headboard with just the two of them. When we got back on Saturday morning from getting the truck, Mel had packed up all the stuff in the closet and vacuumed the upstairs. They kept saying lets just get this all packed up so you don't have to come back for it. I could not believe it. It almost made me cry because of their willingness to help us. We are forever in your debt. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Hopefully someday we can help you guys for repayment!

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone and if I did, I thank you. Nate and I are blessed with great family and friends and we thank you all for your help!