Grandma & Grandpa Barlow's Funhouse

Halloween

2009-11-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay there are actually 13 posts today. And I managed to arrange them in order. We had a great time at Dianna's for Halloween. It was great to have so many of our children there together. I've included a picture or movie in each post. Enjoy!!!

Halloween #2

2009-11-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Doug and Anna dressed Evinn as a nerd. I think she looks just like Alfalfa from Our Gang.

Halloween #3

2009-11-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

Katie just loves being a princess or queen. In this picture she's a queen.

Halloween #4

2009-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

Claire was a beautiful fairy princess.

Halloween #5

2009-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Shiver me timbers!! It be Kevin the Pirate!

Halloween #6

2009-11-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

Parker looked real spooky as the Gatekeeper.

Halloween #7

2009-11-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ben was a skeleton.

Halloween #8

2009-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Logan was dress as a vampire.

Halloween #9

2009-11-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

Evinn entertained herself with the ring toss game.

Halloween #10

2009-11-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Aaron was dressed as Tigger. I managed to catch him playing with a plastic spider at one of the games.

Halloween #11

2009-11-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Ryan's costume was the hit of the carnival. I managed to get a clip of him in it.

Halloween #12

2009-11-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

At the end of the carnival they needed help popping the balloons. Ryan volunteered.

Halloween #13

2009-11-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a short clip of Katie trying to win the bean bag toss.

Joseph

2009-06-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

Joseph is our musician. As I mentioned a few days back he plays trumpet in his school band. But he is even better at the piano. While in New Jersey I heard him playing the song "Beautiful Savior" so I began singing along with him. It sounded so good that his dad arranged for the two of us to do the song the next Sunday at church. I had a great time with him. The video for this post is him playing the song. While there he also had me start him on the guitar. He's a very talented young man. 10 yrs. old! The pictures show him turning the end of a spoke for a wagon wheel and playing pickup sticks.

James

2009-06-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

I always enjoy watching James as he gets into an activity. He becomes so enthralled with it. At Milbrook it was checkers. He played with his mother, and the fellow who taught fire starting. He would have played several more times if we had let him. In the first picture he is playing shuttlecock. If you look close at the photo you can see the white shuttlecock just passing over the "net". He also had a great time with the treadle lathe which can be seen in the video.

Ethan

2009-06-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

Ethan is our mischievous grandchild. But he is so much fun. He has an infectious laugh that makes it so you just can't help but laugh right along with him. He enjoyed our trip to Milbrook. He found a caterpillar that kept him entertained for half the trip.

Maddison

2009-06-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today I'm just posting pics and a short clip of our little blue eyed wonder. She and grandpa got along quite well. She's a real flirt too.

New Jersey Trip

2009-06-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I went to New Jersey for a week. We had a great time with Ruth and her family. We did so many things I can't put them all in this one post. One of the first things we did was to attend the Memorial Day parade in Dumont, NJ. Joseph played with his school band but I didn't get any good video of that. The kids played whiffle ball and other games. I showed them how to make marshmallow shooters with PVC pipe. They thought that was great. Keep watching this week and I post more.
Ron

March Madness

2009-03-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

March is a crazy month for us. We have five birthdays in a six day time frame. Last weekend Sarah and I drove to Logan to celebrate three of the birthdays together. The pictures posted here show Sarah or I interacting with grandchildren. At the party Aaron let me hold him for the first time.

I think it had more to do with my mustache. After he'd run his fingers through it and tugged at it a bit he'd had enough and wanted down.

Sarah had some fun time with Claire while celebrating her birthday.

One night recently Evinn was climbing the stairs. She wanted me to hold her so we took a rest half way up.

Harlem Globetrotters

2009-02-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was getting dressed for work when I heard Sarah say, "Oh darn!" I asked what the problem was. She had been trying to dial a TV station to win tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters. Obviously she hadn't won. I was surprised that she was even interested. I've lived with her nearly 39 years and didn't know this was something she really wanted to do. So I got online and got a couple of tickets for the event.

We went out for a date last night and had a blast! After the game Sarah got her jersey signed by "Big Easy" who is now the team clown. He plays the role that Meadowlark Lemon played for so many years when I was a kid.

Walking With the Dinosaurs

2009-02-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm a few weeks late getting this one posted. In mid January I took three of my grandsons to Salt Lake City to see the production of Walking With the Dinosaurs. We had lots of fun although the boys weren't quite the brave dinosaurs hunters they claimed to be. I had trouble getting good pics in the arena but the one I'm posting shows the relative size between the man in the upper left and the stegasaurus. There were some dinosaurs that were 35 ft. high. What an experience. I'm sure the boys will remember it for quite some time. I know I will!

Christmas Vacation

2009-01-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

We had a great time over the Christmas holidays. We spent Christmas with Sally and her family in Logan. I took my camera with us but only managed to snap one photo of Kevin enjoying his presents.

After a day or two of rest we traveled to Oregon to be with Janet and her family. We had a great time. Levi was baptized while we were there. I managed to snap a great shot of 4 generations of Tse njikinii clan members. The Navajo people are matrilineal so it was great to have a shot of them together.

Grandma Salabiye wanted a photo with Janet's family just as we were leaving so I shot one for her.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. We stayed at home this year. Sally and her family came to join us. Holly and her family stopped by on their way back to Reno. I managed to get a few good shots of everyone.

Home Improvements

2008-11-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

One of the major events at our home this summer was all the improvements that were done outside. The EPA, as part of the superfund project, removed about 18 inches of soil that they felt was contaminated. Having seen some of their work the past few years there were some things I definitely didn't want and some that I did. They were very good at working with us. I hired a friend, who is a landscaper, to come in and do most of the finishing work in the yard. As you can see in the accompanying photos things turned out really well.

We also had a shed built to put more of our "stuff" in. They have just finished bricking the exterior to match our home. Yes, all those pallets of brick that were placed around the house are no longer there. We are very pleased with all the work that was done. Our only regret is that it took until mid November to complete it all. Now we have to wait for Spring to see what all the plants will look like in bloom.

Evinn's Hat

2008-11-14T12:22:00.001-08:00

This has become one of my favorite pictures. A few weeks ago I was working at my computer in the basement. Evinn crawled in to see me. She then explored the room and found a plastic mirrored half sphere that her dad had been using in an experiment. When I looked over at her she had placed it on her head like a hat. Now she does it all the time. What a blessing it has been for Sarah and I to have one of our grand children so close.

2008-11-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I had a great trip to Alan's for our Fall Break. It was good to see them all. Alan is doing great with his job. Emily is a stay at home mom who puts in a full time job raising three beautiful kids. While we were there we went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch. The kids had a lot of fun. You've heard of a sand box? Well Ben found a "corn box" and spent a lot of time there.

Catching Up

2008-08-10T17:42:00.001-07:00

We've had a great summer visiting and being visited by our loved ones. I tried to remember to take pictures but only ended up with a few. This posting includes a picture of Ethan and myself on our 4 wheeler. It was the hit of the summer. Everyone got the bug and was out riding around. A week ago we went to Sally's home in Logan for a few days. Sarah can't resist a trip to DI whenever there's one nearby and this trip was no exception. She and our little Claire found a wooden rocking horse and Sarah rushed to it and got there just before another shopper. I managed to snap a photo of Claire enjoying it at home. Finally, I noticed that with all the postings I made I've failed to show a photo of our little Evinn. We see her on a regular basis as her family lives in our basement. She will be one this month.

Meeting #20

2008-07-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Over the July 4th holiday Sarah and I traveled to Monticello and spent some time with our 20th grandchild, Aaron Taylor Nielson. What a good looking kid! And all that hair too! One of the pics shows Logan (#12) wearing my hat. He sure liked it for some reason. Sarah and I went to dinner one night and Logan was worried about where we were. Then he looked in the room and saw my hat. He told his mom everything was okay because we would come back to get the hat. We also took some time and went to the local pool to cool off. That picture includes Parker (#8) and Ryan (#15) along with Logan, John David, and a very pale grandpa.

Vacation Photos--Part 2

2008-06-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

The Blog site wouldn't let me upload more than five photos at a time. So these are the next four. Read the previous post for the story on them.

Warning--Vacation Photos Ahead!!

2008-06-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Don't say you weren't warned. Sarah and I took a three day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico last weekend. We had a wonderful time together. We've posted several picture here. The only picture we really got of us together was during the lifeboat drill. Our hands are covering the reflective tape so you can see us.

One thing we learned about cruises is don't sign up for tours and pay for them while on board. We weren't going to doing much but walk around because of the prices quoted on board. Then when we got into town we found the exact same tours for half price. We opted for the tour that also took us horseback riding on the beach. It was lots of fun although Sarah couldn't get along with her horse. Or maybe it's better said her horse couldn't get along with her, or my horse, or anyone else's horse. We had a fun ride by the beach and saw some beautiful homes there. You can buy a home on the beach for $89,000. We might have to change our retirement plans.

At La Bufadora we saw a blow hole. There was an Aztec dancer there entertaining the crowd. We then spent the rest of the day in Sarah's favorite sport- - -shopping. I even got into the action which is unusual for me.

When we returned to the ship the porter had decorated our room with a towel he folded to look like a monkey. On another day we got a pelican. He was sure talented.

We didn't go in for much of the activity on Board (drinking, gambling, pool parties, etc.). We mostly kept to ourselves. We did manage to get on a shuffleboard court the last day of the cruise. The food was great and we met a couple of nice people.

So there you have it. We plan on doing this again sometime.

Visits from Our Grandchildren

2008-05-07T08:34:00.001-07:00

We had a visit this past weekend from several of our grandchildren. Both Dianna and Sally came for a couple of days. As you can see in the photos Ron got a moment with Claire and Ryan while Sarah took a cookie break with Parker, Logan and Kevin. Ron also took the boys for a 4 wheeler ride.

Fun In Sparks, NV

2008-04-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I went to Sparks, Nevada over the weekend to welcome home our grandson, Johnny, from his mission in Guatemala. While we were there they decided to celebrate Jordan's birthday a couple of days early. We had a great time but we are worn out. We don't plan on much travel for the next few months after all we've done lately.

Elder Billie's Return

2008-04-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

Our oldest grandson, Johnny, got home from his mission yesterday. Holly emailed me this picture. We're headed out to Reno this weekend to see him.

Parker and Ryan

2008-04-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Sarah took a neat photo of Parker and Ryan playing a video game while she was down there a while back. It's so cute it needed posting.

Ruth's Kids

2008-04-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've been after Ruth for several months to update some of her pics of her kids. Those included here show Joseph as Harry Potter, James as Spiderman, Ethan as Obi Wan Kenobi, and Maddison as Minnie Mouse for Halloween. I took while we were out there in late October.

Grandkids

2008-04-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

The joy of our life is our grandchildren. Number 20 is expected in June. This post shows pictures of a recent trip to Oregon. We visited the kids school and got pics of Raven singing in her choir and Wyatt in a class play as Daniel Boone. The kids have two birds at home that they enjoy. The pic of Levi show him holding one. I can't remember if it's Bert or Ernie.

2008-04-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

We also recently took a second trip to Florida for the National School Boards Convention. While there we went back to Siesta Key Beach which we discovered on a earlier trip with our friends Gary and Cathy Kennedy. We had to go back.

2008-04-10T16:29:00.001-07:00