Kensington Field Trip

Today I went on a fieldtrip with Logan and Tanner's kindergarten class to Kensington to see how maple syrup is made. I love the last picture...Logan tripped over a tree root and hurt his knee and started crying...so his teacher Mrs. Tamblyn was comforting him. I know it was bad that I took a picture...but I thought it was precious:)

We had a perfect weather day...beautiful sunshine. I'm loving that it is warming up...welcome spring!!!

Hartland Pool

Today the boys didn't have school due to a teacher development day...so we headed to the Hartland Pool to beat the winter blues:) We had a great time! It felt like summer, if only for an hour:)

French Pedicure

I am 34 years old and I just got my first professional pedicure yesterday:) It was wonderful! Thanks to my friends Alison and Laurel for passing on a gift certificate to me and watching my kids...I became the lucky recipient of a morning of pampering getting a pedicure. I chose the french pedi since I can't really do that myself. The rest of the day I kept rubbing my feet together because they were so silky smooth:) I feel thoroughly spoiled! I know this is probably a funny blog post...but I figure if I don't put it on here, probably no one else will ever see my toes because it's so stinkin' cold here that I won't be wearing sandals for about another three months! haha

Happy Winter!

This post is for all my friends and family that live somewhere warm. See what you're missing out on!...making snowmen, shoveling the driveway, snowball fights, snowdays, and much more! (My sister Brenda who lives in Arizona is probably cold just looking at these pictures:) While I may complain a little about the snow, Scott and the boys have fun in it:)...Notice in the second picture the snowball headed straight for Scott's face?:) What a good dad to go out and play with them in the freezing cold:) Mallory and Preston and I were just wimps and watched from inside:) Happy Winter!

Holocaust Memorial Museum

On Monday, Scott had the day off for Presidents Day so after the boys came home from school we went to the Holocaust Memorial Musuem. Unfortunately they wouldn't allow cameras in the museum so this is the only picture I have, but it was a very interesting field trip for us.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day everyone! I love Valentine's Day...it's just one of those low-stress, fun holidays that makes everyone smile. Our Valentine's Weekend started with Logan and Tanner's class party at school that I was able to help with. They loved writing out each of their Valentine's to their friends and getting them from their friends that day. I made some fun Valentine Goody Bags for the kids to wake up to that morning. Scott spoiled me with beautiful flowers, yummy chocolates, and some romancin';) Logan asked if he could stay up late the night before Valentine's Day to make a heart cake for his siblings...I thought that was really nice of him to be thoughtful like that. All in all it was a great weekend with lots of hugs, kisses, and love. (most of the time;)

Julie

Sledding at Kensington

Last Saturday Scott and I took the kids to Kensington to do some serious sledding. We bundled up, grabbed our sleds, and were off. I'm not much of a "winter outdoors-y mom" and usually don't enjoy snowball fights, snowman building, or anything that may get me cold in the slightest...but I have to say I had more fun sledding than I have had in a long time. It was such a blast. Kensington has by far the best sledding hills around. They have a baby hill for toddlers, a bunny hill for beginners, a medium hill, a medium/advanced, and advanced, as well as two toboggan runs. We tried all of them multiple times. Logan and Tanner were so brave and just went down all by themsleves so many times. They didn't even really mind the walk back up because it just meant they got to go down again! (Although I have to say, the walk back up for me was more exercise than I've had in a Loooong time!)...I was sore the next day. Between the sore leg muscles from walking up the hills and the bruised rear end from hitting all the bumps going down, I was quickly reminded that I'm getting old! But it really was fun...good old fashioned, michigan winter fun...and we loved every minute of it:)!!!

The Story Behind our Kids Names...

I posted this on our extended family website...so I thought I'd post it here too. This is the reason for our chilren's names:

TANNER MCKAY: When Scott came to visit me at BYU we went to church where my ward met in the Tanner Building. We were at church and both mentioned that we liked the name Tanner. As we later walked around the BYU campus and I showed him the McKay building where my education classes were held, we mentioned that we liked the name McKay and that David O. McKay a favorite prophet for both of us. We especially liked the way he always treated his wife like a queen (a quality we hoped our future son would have). Later when we were first married I had a little boy in my sunbeam class named Tanner who was just darling that reminded us how much we liked the name Tanner. I'm not sure of the meaning of either name.

LOGAN TAYLOR: When Scott and I were in Utah we visited Logan, Utah and the Logan Temple. While we were there we both commented that we liked the name Logan. It just kind of stuck as a name we liked. Taylor came in Stake Conference while I was pregnant. We were listening to the speakers and writing/doodling names back and forth to each other trying to think of a middle name. We had decided since Tanner's middle name was after a prophet, we thought it only fair that Logan's was too. So we wrote down all the prophets first and last names and decided that out of all of them, Taylor was the best one. I know, kind of weird, but true:) I'm not sure of the meaning of either name.

MALLORY RENEE: We picked Mallory because that was our ultrasound tech's daughter's name...hehe. When we were getting the ultrasound I told her that I had two boys already and that I was hoping there would be a girl in there this time around:) I jokingly said that if she could tell me there was a girl in there that I'd name it after her:) Well after telling us we were having one girl, she mentioned that her daughter's name was Mallory. I really liked it and it stuck. The next time we went in we told her that we were naming the girl Mallory:) And then for her middle name...I never thought of naming her anything but Renee. That is my middle name, my mom's middle name, and my Grammy's middle name. We are all the first daughters...so I knew if I had a daughter I'd give her the middle name of Renee. Perhaps she will pass on the name to her first daughter I hope.

PRESTON SCOTT: Scott was very close with a family from Virginia that also moved to Michigan around the same time he did. They were kind of his family when he came here...his "home away from home". They had a little boy named Preston that was adorable. After visiting their family one time we talked about the name Preston for a boy and that has always been a favorite name of ours. And obviously Preston's middle name is after Scott:)

So I guess I don't really know the meanings behind the names, but they have stories kind of:) What are the stories behind your children's names??

Julie

Popcorn Popping for FHE

Monday night for Family Home Evening I taped the kids singing popcorn popping (all except Tanner who was too shy to do it for the camera:) It's kind of dark because it was night time and my camera doesn't do too well with videos...but thought it was somewhat blog worthy:)

Julie

Happy Birthday Scottie!

Happy Belated Birthday to Scottie:)! His birthday was last Saturday so we went to Outback (his favorite restaurant) for dinner and had cheesecake...here are a couple pics...

Julie

"Fancy Mallory"

I have terribly neglected my blog lately...sorry! (As I know you are all waiting on pins and needles for my next blog entry:)

Last week we went to the Milford Library for a "Fancy Nancy" party. For those of you who haven't heard of Fancy Nancy...she is a little girl in a book series that dresses up all fancy/mis-matchy...it's really cute. So all the little girls were to come dressed up like Fancy Nancy. They had crafts, tea party food, games, stories, etc. Lots of girly fun:)

And Preston had to come and party with all the little girls...the first picture is of him being gross showing me his food...isn't he so proper and polite??

Sorry the pictures are turned...I'm too lazy to turn them, so just turn your head:)

Julie

Sibling Rivalry

Just before bedtime last night, Mallory and Preston were playing downstairs. Scott and I were upstairs and suddenly heard Preston screaming. We ran downstairs to find Preston looking like this. We're not sure what happened, but Mallory looked very guilty and Preston kept saying Mallory's name. We assume she pushed him down or into a wall or something, but because they are too little, we couldn't get the whole story from them. They usually play sooooo well together, so I'm not sure where this sibling rivalry came from...but we'll save this picture to show them when they are older:)

More Great News!

Ok, so I recently shared that my brother Brian and his wife Kelsey are expecting their first baby in August.....well, I have some more great news! My sister Kathy and her husband Jeremy are expecting their second baby in August as well!! Kathy and Kelsey's due dates are only 5 days apart! They are both due at the beginning of August (which I selfishly am a little bummed the timing worked out that way because they probably won't be able to go to our family reunion in Idaho this summer:(.....but am WAY excited for both of them and am looking forward to meeting these two new members of our family! Also, for those of you that know Kathy....they are moving to Barstow, California in Frbruary where her husband Jeremy took a job promotion. Congrats to the Twitchells!!

Bennigan's Fundraiser for the Women's Resource Center

Come One Come All!!! Bennigan's is hosting a FUNdraiser on behalf of the Women's Resource Center!!!!

Thursday, January 28th ALL DAY!

3950 E. Grand River in Howell (on the corner of Grand River and Latson Rd.)

20% of all sales go directly to the Women's Resource Center to benefit families in many capacities. Just mention when you go in that you are there for the Women's Resource Center Fundraiser and they will donate 20% of your bill to the WRC. Or you can stop by the WRC or e-mail juliebarb@hotmail.com to get a flyer to print out to take in when you go!

So please consider heading to Bennigan's on the 28th to support this cause! Thank you for your support!

Washington DC Temple's Festival of Lights

One of the highlights of our holidays was visiting the Washington DC temple while we were in Virginia. Scott and I were married there almost 13 years ago and my sister Tami was sealed to our family there almost 17 years ago. For me it is my favorite and most special temple for those and other reasons. We always go to Virginia, but have not been back to the DC Temple in a while since it is about an hour and a half from Scott's parents house. We decided to take the opportunity while we were there to visit and attend the temple's "Festival of Lights" that they put on each Christmas season. It was so beautiful. They had so many Christmas lights lit up all around the temple as well as a large nativity display, various decorated Christmas trees, a large nativity scene, musical performances, Christmas movies, etc. Mainly, we just wanted to show our kids where mommy and daddy were married and how special this temple is to us. We had a wonderful time visiting and Scott and I reminisced-sp? of the day we were married there.

The Brighton Ward Nursery Nativity:)

Mallory's nursery did the cutest thing today. Their teacher sister Stoffer's (who is amazing!) had costumes for the kids and they all dressed up and did the nativity for the primary kids. It was really cute!!

Mallory's Doll Obsession

Mallory LOVES her dolls! She walks around all day saying "wrap baby" (wanting me to wrap her baby in a blanket)..."shhh, baby's sleeping", "hug baby"....

She rocks her baby on the rocking chair for like 15 minutes at a time just singing(babbling) to her. She puts her on the piano bench and plays her baby music. Her dolls have assigned blankets and names...it's really cute. I love having a daughter. Mallory will make a very good mother someday...she is very kind, loving, patient, and nurturing. I could learn from her:)