Holiday Festivities

I am still recovering from my holiday vacation. I hate going back to work after two weeks off! It almost doesn't even make the vacation worth it....isn't that a horrible thing to say? It is a good thing I love my job! Anyway, our holidays were wonderful and I just thought I would share some pictures from our festivities.

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Ugly Sweater Party 2009

We started the holidays off with the best Ugly Sweater Party. We laughed hysterically the entire night. We have the best friends who all know how to have a good time!

Sheldon's sweater wasn't so much as ugly as it was creepy.

Jake showing off his hot new white elephant jacket.

One of the couples who came to the party own a limo so they brought it along and we used it as transportation for the night...best idea ever, we had a blast!

We can always count on Kami to get a little wild...haha!

Who said Nicklecade is just for kids? Talk about ghetto fun! Sheldon loves the place. I love it too, the ghettoness of it cracks me up.

Lets just say Nicole has an addiction...OK maybe I introduced her to this game machine but it is the most addicting Nicklecade game ever. We literally spent ALL our nickles at this one game machine. When you put nickles in the machine it fills up a table of nickles and pushes nickles that can't fit over the edge. It pays out the most tickets and that is why we love it. Is that considered gambling? :)

This is when Jake won the 500 tickets jackpot on our machine. He was so elated.

And this is 1minute later when Bree won the 750 tickets jackpot on another machine and stole Jake's thunder.

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Christmas 2009!

Harli was so excited to open presents she kept giving me lots of kisses!

Sheldon opening his first present, can you feel the anticipation?

Love my new comfy boots...just thought I would model them for you.

Sheldon's parents opening their presents.

This is the only other picture I got to snap of the family on Sheldon's side on Christmas. Brad giving a big smile!

My brother Andrew, his girlfriend Stephanie and her little one Kyson.

My sister Becca

Becca got a Wii and Wii fit for Christmas and Sheldon tested it out for her. I was laughing hysterically watching Sheldon do the ski jump. He would stick out his bum when he squat right before the jump; it was so funny looking. Check out that nice booty!

I decided to re-gift Harli.
Just kidding, that would never happen. I got distracted when I was cleaning up the wrapping paper mess from gift opening. So cute and so patient.

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Happy New Year!!!

Unfortunately on New Years Eve Sheldon happened to find some old fireworks that we ironically had stashed away. For this I apologize to my neighbors.

TROUBLE! Sheldon and Jake were setting these off right outside my back door! I really was scared and a little frustrated when I was taking these pictures. However I think the picture taking just reinforced the behavior. Sometimes Sheldon is crazy, hence the crazy face.

Jake and Nicole bringing in the new year.

And finally, our first picture of 2010!

Happy New Year!!! We hope 2010 brings you all great things!

Recent Happenings

I just realized I haven't posted since the beginning of October! It is just an indicator of how our life has been. Anyway here are LOTS of pictures of what has been happening with the Barlow's, starting with the most recent memories.

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Emi and Harli are fascinated with each other. Emi loves grabbing Harli's fur and ears and Harli is so dazzled by Emi's smallness and unique noises she makes. It is so funny and super cute.

Emi just chillin'. She is the happiest and most content baby I know.
She looks just like a mini Dan (but more feminine).

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We have also been trying to get use to the bitter snow. Actually I should say except Harli because she loves playing in it. She just hasn't quite picked up on the fact that Sheldon and I are not diggin' it.

It is too cold when we have to bundle up in several layers (literally several) head to toe just to take our pup on a walk.

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On Halloween we went galactic mini golfing and had a BLAST. Bree had the brilliant idea to get our camera out and snap some fun shots with the black lights and crazy colored props.

Needless to say, I think things got a little out of hand...

(I am pretty sure Bree was the brains behind this shot too.)
Thanks for the fun and late night Bree and Tyler!

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Next...this is what our yard looked like way back in October.

If you are wondering, NO it did not snow in October. Our yard only looked like this because we have one of these...

She looks ashamed in this picture for a reason. This was Harli's second, and thankfully last episode of naughtiness (if you saw the previous post you saw her first episode of naughtiness). I had put her bed outside in the shed for her to lay on during the day while we were gone at work because it was starting to get cold. Looks like she had other plans with it. Sheldon and I have made a decision that she no longer gets beds with stuffing in them. This mess took me almost 1 HOUR and I think it was five 13 gallon garbage bags to clean up. I made Harli sit on the porch (without getting up) and watch me clean up the mess as her discipline. I think she knew she was in trouble because she didn't even think about moving the whole time I was cleaning up.

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Despite her few episodes of naughtiness Harli still graduated from puppy training. We actually can't complain, she is a really good dog and one of the cutest might I add :).

Receiving her certificate from her trainer.

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Last but not least! In September (holy moly I haven't posted in forever!) we went on a hike up Adam's Canyons. Just looking at these pictures makes me sick of the snow already. The leaves were in the process of changing and they were gorgeous.

That's all the memories for now!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

Angel turned Demon

Hmmm....somehow my angel turned into a demon over night. This is what I found the other morning when I went to get Harli out of her kennel to let her outside.

Bed stuffing everywhere!

NAUGHTY HARLI! (Her eyes are such a crazy color they even look like little devil eyes in these pictures because of the camera flash.) This was quite a surprise to me. Harlie is such a good dog this incident was out of character for her. But I must say I do believe we are to blame; we put her in her kennel really early the night before and I slept in later than usual too. We also forgot to put her bone/chew toy in the kennel with her so add up all those factors and we get a bored little puppy, which in turns equals a very large mess.

I was laughing so hard. She had stuffing from her bed stuck on her snout. It was so cute, I had to wake up Sheldon to show him and I had to get some pictures. Maybe she turned demon for a night but isn't she still so adorable?

Family Pictures 2009

One of our wonderful friends is an amazing photographer!!! Sheldon and I have tried to get pictures done every year so one day we will be able to look back and remember each amazing year we have spent together (kinda cheesy but I am serious). Our dear friend Nicole (Nicole Grace Photography) does photography on the side of her day job and she offered to do them for us despite her busy schedule. Nicole is so gifted and she did an AMAZING JOB! Plus she has a wonderful assistant who will even hold all your stuff for you and watch your dog during your photo shoot...her husband! (Thanks Jake).

I know it may seem like we are some of those crazy people who treat their pet like their child but don't worry...we are not, crazy that is. Or I guess I would like to think we are not...don't judge me. We just love Harli so much. She is very much a part of our little family and will be for a very long time, even after our little ones come. So of course Harli had to be in our family pictures. Nicole shot some great pics of her. I am pretty sure she is one of the cutest dogs ever...and one of the best.

I know there are a lot of photos of us...sorry. I tried to condense the post by putting some of our favorites in a collage rather than posting each photo individually. I just had to showcase Nicole's talent. She has a great eye for this stuff and there is a lot of variety in her work.

If you are looking to get some pictures done you should definitely check out Nicole's photography blog, Nicole Grace Photography at http://nicolegracephotos.blogspot.com/
It has some samples of her work. She recently did some amazing new born photos our friends Michelle and Justin's baby, baby Tate. You have to check them out! She is very reasonable too.

THANK YOU NICOLE, YOU ARE AWESOME...you too Jake.