Christmas 2008 - Ten Fabulous Memories

1. Daron and "Esmerelda" (Anna's alternate personality) singing great made-up songs together... These two share an amazingly loose grip on reality that allows them such imaginative play.

2. One of my most fabulous gifts- Three new casserole dishes, and nowhere to store them. I remember when we moved into this house, I thought, "This kitchen is ENORMOUS!" Yeah, it's really not. Just bigger than the apartment kitchens I was used to.

3. Look closely- this is actually a scuffle in progress. Competition rears it's ugly head, as Hudson feels Tanner might have ripped more paper than he should have off of their "joint gift." All in all, watching kids open presents was such a highlight. I miss the pure unadulterated joy of opening presents with reckless abandon, and clinging to the hope that if you were REALLY good, Santa would deliver the goods...

4. Skipper opening his present from Aunt Sherri. Imagine his disappointment when he discovers that not only does his gift NOT contain anything squeaky or edible, but is actually a "Pedi-Paws." The only thing that this dog hates worse than unregulated squirrels in the backyard, is having his nails done. Just like a boy.

5. Uncle Jared- Every kid needs an uncle like Uncle Jared. Only a good sport like him would tote around a pack of wild, Nerf-gun toting hooligans around the backyard on a John Deere mower. Now this isn't just any John Deere mower- notice the absence of any grass on the property? This mower was procured by Grampy primarily for the entertainment of the Nerf-gun toting crowd mentioned above.

6. Tanner, Hudson, and Waste Management- To Tanner's delight, Santa brought him a garbage truck. He is fascinated by all things garbage and/or recycling. He even dressed up as a garbage man for Halloween. Jared and Catherine need to check and see if BYU has a Waste Management degree. It's got management in the title, that's respectable, right?

7. Lucy and Maj-lis: there's nothing better than growing up with cousins. I wouldn't know this personally, but I can imagine how much fun it would be. Getting reaquainted with these two little ladies was wonderful. They both have very laidback personalities, and hardly cried the whole week. Throw in that sweet baby smell right after their baths, and it was pure heaven.

8. Lindner Girls and Bubble Baths: Emma, Anna, and Leah threw caution to the wind, and decided to test the limits of Grandma's whirlpool tub. Lucy would have joined in, but was deemed "too short" to participate. Notice how all the bubbles are magically contained in the tub? Fast forward 10 minutes, and it was a completely different story. And mom thought we were washing all those towels because people were using them...

9. Grandma hit one out of the park when she purchased these two hoodie/vest combinations for Aaron and Josh. Normally a clothes purchase for an 11 and 9 year old is a risky gift move, only reserved for the really uncool, and out of touch gift giver. But Grandma must know something we don't- because these vests and hoodies were approved of whole-heartedly, and worn almost immediately. Good one, Grandma!!

10. The best gift of all. As mom put it so eloquently, "looking down the pew at church, and seeing what has come to pass over the last 35 years.." Couldn't have said it better. I love this picture.

Happy New Year!

Its always at this time of year that I start to think of fresh starts, and things that I'm grateful for. Always at the top of my list seems to be my family. I know everyone says that, but I really do like these people! They are all so smart and funny, and I'm better for having them in my life. I'm also one of the lucky few that can say they love their husband's family as much as their own. Twice the blessings, and twice the love (and fun) to go around.

This year was the year for Huffman Family Christmas in Texas. We all converged on my Mom and Dad's house outside of Austin for a week of fun, and a level of mischief only Huffman's could achieve. Our family seems to grow each year. Babies continue to appear out of nowhere, and our numbers have now swelled to 19. How did a modest family of six have it's own population explosion? How I love these trips, when I get to snuggle the little ones, and savor all the little moments that I miss all year long. I also get to reconnect with my brother and sisters, and relive all the funny inside jokes from childhood. I often wonder if our spouses think we are crazy? (A little shout-out to Daron, Tod, Shelly, and Jared- these people were either brave or crazy enough to marry in to this madness, and truly are our better halves!) Only in our family can we have a heated political discussion, and transition with lightspeed into jokes and hysterical laughter. Often, and almost assuredly at someone's expense. "Growing up Huffman," as Rebecca calls it, has given us all thicker skin! I marvel at what different directions and places our lives have taken us, and our uncanny ability to resume the threads of our previous lives together with no conscious thought whatsoever. Thanks to my family for making this a great Christmas for me, and reminding me of what's important in my life.

Gone Country

I'm posting these pictures to let you know that Team Barnes has gone country! Ok, truth be told, half of Team Barnes has always been country, but the other half? I guess after 10 years of living in NC, I've embraced certain aspects of country living. Like the fact that you can ride around with your dog in the back of the truck. Or you can pull into the Sheetz towing your 4-wheeler, and nobody even notices the fact that it's loaded with deer-corn. I had to take a picture of this: between the 4-wheeler/deer corn, the hound dog in the back, and Grizzly Adams sucking down a 44- I think I stumbled on to a redneck trifecta. Oh how I love North Carolina!

Rumble at the Cannery - Or Why I'll Never Move to Pineville

Leave it to me and Eva (and our Relief Society president, Donna) to get into an altercation at the church cannery. It all started out innocently enough- we had an appointment, we show up for our appointment, we listen to a very inspiring introduction from Sister Polous about how we are fulfilling the Lord's commandment by being there... All very exciting. Once the closing prayer was finished, things quickly deteriorated into chaos! I've never seen such frantic, paranoid, every-man-for-himself behavior out of church members in my entire life! Apparently, there are two methods to using our cannery: You can show up and buy bulk off the shelves, or you can help everyone can their orders, and take home the exact number of cans that you want. We didn't sign up to help with cans, we were only interested in buying bulk off the shelves. Apparently us "bulk buying" people rubbed the "can" people the wrong way. There must be some sort of food shortage of Ethiopian proportions in the Pineville ward (where the heck is Pineville?!), because their self proclaimed pack leader "Lisa" proceeds to tell us that we're taking all their food. Excuse me? Come again? She accusingly eyes our cart full of bulk items, like we are hijacking it right out from under them. (Get away from my potato pearls!) She also eyes our stack of empty cans, and makes the snide comment about "good thing we're not rationing cans..." THEN..... "What are you doing, buying the rest at COSTCO?" Ooooooooh evil!!! She then proceeds to tell me that the 25 pound bag of milk that I have on the cart was meant for their ward. Oh really? Because I see it on my cart. Keep in mind, while this snarky woman is attacking us, there is absolute pandemonium going on. There isn't a lot of room in the cannery, but it's as if the "can" people were so afraid we were going to buy their food out from under them, that they just started canning FASTER. And then even FASTER!! How someone didn't lose a finger in the lid sealer, I'll never know. Needless to say, I can never move to the Pineville ward. Because, if I ever had to live the law of consecration with "Lisa," I think I might go hungry....

The Way We Roll - Part 2

As I post this, I'm reflecting on some bittersweet moments- Moments like the one when you realize that you bragged A LOT about your costumes, only to be outdone by the Carliles ONCE AGAIN. Bittersweet, because I DID WIN best female costume, but Daron came home empty-handed... After all, he was sushi! And I was just a side of soy sauce. Albeit, I was the cutest, sauciest soy sauce there that night, but oh well. We took the trophy and ran, and will re-launch our assault next year. (Well, I ran..Daron couldn't run anywhere)... We had a blast, and the rest of the ward did too... Did I mention that the kids had fun punching the sushi in the stomach?

(Although I had many people tell me this was the "cut" for me (for real?), this is NOT my real hair, or color..)

Our biggest tactical error was underestimating the "cute factor" of working a baby into your costume strategy. Having the Carliles position their spawn as the "Slimer" to their "Ghostbusters" was brilliant...

Kim isn't pictured here, but her costume was exactly like Ken's. Nice job Carliles!

Notice the ridiculous amount of detail in the "pack"..... Is that a Sprite bottle?

These are our friends, the Rabideau's and the Lung's. Let me tell you, there's nothing funnier than a mormon kid throwing gang signs in the church. West Siiide!

In closing, I've got a little riddle for ya: If Japanese people eat Sushi, what does Sushi eat?? Hot Dogs apparently..... Who knew?