Joy School

Brigham started Joy School a couple of weeks ago and he absolutely loves it! Joy school is like a pre-school where moms take turns teaching only it focuses less on learning letters and numbers and more on learning to be happy and stable kids. I wasn't sure we should commit to one more thing, but I thought it would be fun for Brigham to have something to do while the girls were busy with school and I also couldn't pass up the opportunity to socialize with an awesome group of moms. It has turned out to be a really great thing because he's very much in the "I'm Big" stage and he has really enjoyed going to school and doing something that's all his own.

Excuses, excuses....

So I have been totally neglecting my blog lately which makes me really sad, but I have two pretty valid reasons. Number one, I lost my camera over a month ago and I have not been able to find it anywhere. I'm pretty much sick over it since I really don't want to have to buy a new one when we need money for so many other things right now. We may have no choice if we don't find it soon though, cuz I need pictures of my kiddos! The second reason is that I started schooling my children at home about a month ago and it has totally consumed my life ever since. I don't think I ever realized how much work homeschool would really be, but I have also realized that there are many more benefits than I ever imagined. To tell the truth, I'm still not totally convinced I can do it, but for now that's what we're doing and I'm just trying to enjoy this time with my children and not think about all of the things I could be getting done. Consequently, blog posts may be a little less frequent for awhile, but I am using Matt and Nikki's camera when I can and trying to feel organized enough that I actually can blog. So, don't give up on me!

Happy 9th Birthday, Emma!

Emma turned 9 years old on August 10th. She is turning into such a young lady and we are so happy that she is a part of our family!We decided to go ice blocking to celebrate Emma's birthday since she was sick when we went before. We took a picnic and went up to the EA campus with our blocks of ice. The kids had a great time!
We had a little family party and Emma chose to have Asphalt Pie for her cake. YUM!
Emma got a new bike for her birthday and a cute new bike helmet from Matt and Nikki.

Happy Anniversary

Last week, Ben and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. It doesn't really seem like it has been 10 whole years since we tied the knot, but I guess time flies when you're having fun...it also flies when your busy having five children. It really seems like it was only yesterday that Ben and I were at Utah State. Even though I had a hard time actually deciding I wanted to get married I can't deny that Ben was and still is my best friend. I'm just grateful that I listened to that still, small voice telling me that he was the one for me. Ten years later, I couldn't have asked for anything more than a husband who is also a wonderful provider, father,companion and has a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been truly blessed over the past ten years to with five beautiful children and many wonderful experiences. To my sweetheart and best friend, thank you for ten great years and I can't wait to see what the next ten will bring!

Hazel Jane: 1 year old

This sweet little girl is such a blessing to our family. It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant and uncomfortable and wondering why I ever thought I could go though that again. Of course, now that we have her here it was all worth it, but how did she get to be a year old already? I wish I could keep her from growing quite so fast so that I could enjoy it a little bit longer.Hazel has always been a very sweet, very content baby. Her sisters and brother all love her so much. So much that she is often the object of arguments among them. She has slept through the night almost from the beginning and still takes a couple of naps a day. She doesn't crawl, but scoots around on her bottom as her mode of transportation. She actually doesn't even like to stand very much so I'm not sure how long it will be before she starts walking. She cut her first teeth the very same weekend that we moved and cut another one just this week giving her a grand total of 5 teeth in all. She will smile at most anyone who pays attention to her and has not yet developed stranger anxiety so she will go to most anyone. She absolutely loves the water, splashing in it, floating in it and bathing in it. She is such a sweet little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.Hazel was just getting over some sort of illness involving a fever on her actual birthday so we didn't do much to celebrate. We did take a trip to the library where they have a cute little children's play area that Hazel likes to scoot around in and play with the toys.

Happy Birthday Hazel and Ben!

We had a joint birthday party on Tuesday night for Hazel and Ben. Their birthdays are July 27 and 28 so it just made sense to have one big party for both of them. I'm thinking Hazel may want her own party when she gets older, but since she's only 1 I thought I could get away with it. Ben says that he is happy to share his birthday because that means less attention on him, but I'm not sure I believe him. When his co-workers found out about his birthday a few weeks ago, he was a little put out, but I think he actually enjoyed the extra attention he got at work. They even decorated his office, brought him treats and had a birthday lunch in his honor. Hazel was actually feeling a little under the weather, having had a fever and cut a tooth in the last couple of days, but she is so good-natured that she still played with her gifts a little and smiled for the camera. We had David and Ruth's clan over for pizza and cake and presents and it was a nice little get-together.

We had cupcakes for Hazel and cheesecake, of course, for Ben. Hazel was not really into blowing out the candles, but Ben blew his out very enthusiastically.Hazel had some help from her big brother opening presents.For some reason Ben has really wanted a pair of cowboy boots ever since we moved here, but they are pretty pricey so he hasn't gotten any yet. So for his birthday, a bunch of us pitched in on a gift card to the Boot Barn in Tucson. Yeehaw!

Famous!

Guess who made it on the front page of the Eastern Arizona Courier? It was an article about the summer lunch program. We've gone a few times to the middle school which is just a couple of blocks from our house. The other day there was a reporter who asked if he could take a picture of my kids for the paper. Then last Sunday, someone said "Hey, I saw your kid in the paper!". There aren't too many other Barfus' around here apparently...

Here's the link in case your interested: http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2010/07/27/news/doc4c4a2daced43f045729290.txt