Fathers Day 2008

This year Fathers Day was most likely not fun for Max. I am truly sorry Max.

1. Mason and Nat were super clingy.
2. Mason and Nat kept complaining.
3. Mason freaked out about having to wear a life jacket.
4. I freaked out on Mason for having a tantrum and just made it worst.
5. The side view mirror on our car broke when our canoe decided to fall off.

This picture is deceiving.  It looks like we were having fun…

Actually after the whole tantrum passed we had a blast. Until the mirror broke… but we just laughed at that.

Happy Fathers Day Max!  You really are the best father. Our kids and their friends love you to pieces.  So do I!

The Wind Caves

A few Sundays ago we went on a hike to the Wind Caves up Logan Canyon. This hike and I have a love/hate relationship. I love when I get to the top, but hate the hiking part to get there. This hike was actually one of Max and my first dates. I booked up the hike as fast as I could go following Max and made it all the way to the top. Unfortunately I puked at the top.

Luckily this time I didn’t puke. My kids would have never let me live it down. Not only did my kids make it to the top, but they hiked the entire way up on their own.  On the way down they got tired and ended up being carried by Max.  Lucky kids.

Here are some pictures!

 

 

 

 

Scout Camp

I didn’t go to cub scout day camp with Mason, but Max did.  He is actually the cub scout leader assistant. I think it is cute. He is the one that took the pictures.  Thanks Max!

When Mason got home he ran up to me to tell me that camp was awesome. That he got to shoot bee bee guns and shoot bow and arrows. Plus he told me how cool the zip line was.  By the speed in which he told me all of this I realized it must have been fun.

 

 

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a very important holiday in the Barfuss family. When I started dating Max, a million years ago,  I was invited to participate in one of their family traditions. Boy was I in for a surprise. It is the day for what many people would call their “family reunion.” Although it isn’t a family reunion in the way you might really think of a family reunion. Plus I don’t think Max’s mom ever thought it would actually turn into a reunion. It was just a day she planed a great family activity… that they  did the next year… and the year after… and still do.

THE BARFUSS MEMORIAL GAMES

Every year they start the Memorial Games the same way. They sing military songs: the Marines, the Army, the Airforce, the Navy.  “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder…” Usually I pick up a camera andtake pictures at this point. I really don’t want to offend anyone with my terrible singing. After that the games begin.

ACTIVITIES (every year they are different)

Art (I am usually in charge of this.)

Track & Field (This is Sally’s activity every year.)

Guns & Shooting (this year with rubber frogs you flipped like an elastic.)

The Treasure Hunt (Pat is always in charge of this and it is a blast.)

I can’t even begin to tell you how serious the Memorial Games are. The first year I joined I was excited when I got SECOND PLACE in an event. That was when Nick told me that second place was FIRST LOSER. After that I saw the competitiveness in their family and knew I needed to step it up or I would always be a loser. I’ve only placed once in all these years… and it wasn’t first place.  /sigh Yeah for being a loser.

This year we started off with a family picture. It was raining hard and that is why we had umbrellas.

 Luckily Pat had reserved the church so we even held the games in the gym.  Otherwise one of our houses would have been trashed. The gym was easy to clean up. Here are some pictures from the day.

Look… I am a pirate.  Aye!!

My first activity was to write a pirate song. They had to use at least 10 pirate words. Here is the first group on stage.

My brother-in-law Andy and sister-in-law Sally, their kids Nell and Mable, my mother-in-law Pat, and my son Mason.

My father-in-law Rick, my brother-in-law Nick, Nick’s son Isis, Nick’s friend Daniel, and Sally and Andy’s daughter Lilly.

 

 Max and Natalie, and Sally and Andy’s son Luke.

 

My sister-in-law Jasmine and me.

My second Activity was Pirate Potato Heads. Look at how creative you can be with some pipe cleansers, some felt, some fake rings and a potato.

These are the potatoes designed by the adults.

These are the potatoes designed by the kids, and the kids who designed them!

This was the first shooting event. You would take these squirt guns and fill them up with water from a bucket. Then go shoot them at the pirate. The first team with the empty bucket won. My team totally kicked butt if I can gloat.  HEHEHE.

Look at Max being funny. The kids couldn’t stop laughing that he became the pirate.

This was the other shooting game. You had to flip plastic frogs into the hoop. Yes, and you even had to walk the plank to get there. How creative my in-laws are!

Don’t fall in kids!

Here is Max and me.

And the winners are… kids and adults are scored independently to be fair.

1st place… Max/Luke

2nd place… tie Pat & Nick/ Isis

3rd place… tie Andy & Sally/Natalie

Soccer…

 Soccer is both extremely fun and extremely annoying. Snow, rain, cold, you get the picture.  Plus the fact that there are two games a week… PER CHILD. Yeah. Soccer season pretty much runs your life for the 8 weeks your involved in it.

Here is a cute picture of Paige, Natalie and Mason. Paige is my friend Metta’s daughter. I watch her three times a week and Metta watches Natalie twice a week. This arrangement has worked really well for us. Metta was able to go to school, and I was able to work. Plus Paige and Nat are like best friends now.

BTW… Natalie is OLDER than Paige. Natalie got my “short” gene. /sigh

Here is a picture of Mason. I am so proud of him this year. He is suddenly quite a good soccer player. He even scores the most goals on his team. Unfortunately his team usually loses. Hopefully they can win one.

 Here is a picture of Natalie running. Until last week she has been timid in soccer. She still hasn’t got a goal, but hopefully she will. The girl running with her on the other hand got 7 goals today. All by herself. She is in Natalie’s class and a good friend of Nats.

 Isn’t Natalie’s coach cute? Natalie is lucky enough this year to have her daddy be the coach. He is a great coach. All of the parents love him. All of the kids really like him. Thank you Max!

Bridge

The Pinewood Derby!

Mason is in scouts… as in Cub Scouts. I can hardly believe he is 8 years old.

I am an only child, and thus pretty new to scouts. I have heard all sorts of stories from my husband about throwing cans of mosquito spray in the fire and watching it explode, of starting fires, of playing with knives, of almost dying… Um, yeah. My son is in scouts… Yeah!

Can you tell I am scared?

Anyways, Max is the Cub Scout Assistant Leader. If he can’t keep my son in line, no one can. (insert scary music here)

The pinewood derby race is really popular in scouts. Until Mason came home with the kit I had NO IDEA what it was.  Neither did my friend Jessica. This is a picture she took and what she had to say about it,

“um, does that resemble a car at all???? i about shat myself when i opened the box. i need a fully equipped wood shop to make this project happen. O.M.G!!!!! i need a band saw, a dremel, a power sander, a screwdriver, a hammer and an airbrush. i also need a college degree in engineering!! and here’s the kicker – the BOYS are supposed to do MOST of the work themselves.”

I totally agree with her. Luckily my husband already knew what all this was about. Mason and his dad worked on the car for a few weeks. I helped Mason pick out the paint, and this is what he designed…

(The red and gold car with the fin is Mason’s)

Not only did his car not come in first, but it came in last in every race it ran. Next year we will totally design it different. This year was for looks. Next year will be for speed.

(#14 was my sons in case you still didn’t know.)

(Here is the race track and my son in his cute scout uniform!)

All sorts of friends and family came to see Mason’s car race.

• Both of his grandpas
• Both of his grandmas
• His parents
• His sister
• His Uncle Nick and Aunt Jasmine from AUSTRALIA!
• His cousins Isis and Phoenix from AUSTRALIA!

Good job Mason! I am so proud of you!

MOM (BRIDGE)

Lets Go Jazz!

Here is some pictures of the first playoff game the Jazz played against Houston.

This first picture is of the protesters outside of the Energy Solutions Arena. They were protesting about the FLDS children in Texas. Thankfully they were peaceful.

I love this picture. Look at the smile on my sons face. Just priceless. He is the one on the bottom left in case you didn’t know.

Here are the creations the clowns made for my kids. My daughter’s creation was a bird. Apparently a parrot that was perched on her shoulder.

Here is my mom getting her face painted for the game. Go Jazz!

My daughters “parrot” died… so the clown made her another one. It is amazing that he remembered her and knew what she had.

This is the best picture I got of myself the entire time. I had someone else take one of us and it was completely blurry. Normally I would never take a photo looking down. I was brave.

Fireworks… it is why you go to playoff games. Man are these games loud!

If only they would have won. I am just glad they won the series. Hopefuly they can beat the Lakers!

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Funniest Picture EVER!

Big Air at Beaver Mountain is crazy fun. They build a huge jump and people compete for prizes. Unfortunately three people had to be taken to the hospital that day. One of them by Life Flight. I still have no idea if they are alright.

Big Air was on March 29th… yes this post is WAY LATE.

Here is an overview of Beaver Mountain and you can see the jumps.

 

Here is the funniest picture ever. I really wanted to have my picture taken with a banana and a beer. Go figure!  The girl on the far left is my friend Taryn. Everyone else… I have no idea. I just loved their costumes.

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Easter… the real post!

Easter is a holiday that I like to have a dinner at my house. This year was no exception. You will see from the pictures that we had a lot of people over. Eleven adults and twelve children to be exact.

My parents.

My in-laws

My sister-in-law and family

My best friend Jess and family.

My friend Denise and her girls.

Plus Max, the kids, and I. 

 /whew

 I hope you all had a very happy Easter!

 

5K… here we go!

On April 19th I will joining a few friends and running a 5K.

 /gulp /gasp /scream

Yes, I will be running in a 5K. I didn’t type that as a joke.

 A few of you know that last year I actually trained for this. I even was able to run 2.5 of the 3.1 miles. I never got to the 3.1, but I was very proud of myself. I even participated in a 5K, but I walked it with my mom. The actual plan was to run one in June, but a friend had surgery and the rest of us kind of bailed out.

I am not planning on bailing on this one.

I just don’t know how far I will be able to run with only 7 weeks to train. Last time it took me 3 months to get to the 2.5, but I really hope I haven’t lost all of the training that I gained last year. I haven’t been running since then, but who knows.

I am scared. I really hate running and I am really bad at it. I just feel bad for my friends that will have to wait at the finish line for me. Hopefully there will be lots of cool stuff at the end for them to look at. I know I won’t be the last one to finish… since I plan on actually running most of it… but I can guarantee I won’t be first. HAHA.

 So… Roxy, Charie, Danette & Sara… see you then! I can’t wait!!! We will have to at least eat afterwards so we can chit chat. You all know I love to talk.