And the winner is....

And the winner is....

My lovely, talented daughter Kaylee has been taking photography classes at the high school for the last three years.  In addition she has taken graphic design classes for the last two.  In the high school photo show Monday night, she was awarded first place in the graphic design category for this picture. 

           In addition, she won the overall "best of show" award in 2011 AND 2010 for these 2 pics.

Check out and "like" her photography facebook page- KB Photography "Capturing the Moment" here.

She's pretty awesome!

A rose by any other name...

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet….

I love roses.  I love the way they look, and I especially love the way they smell.  My Grandma Monson grew beautiful roses.  And my Grandma and Grandpa Monson’s front porch was encased in a lattice work of climbing roses.  Each summer, when I visited them, the sweet fragrance of roses met me as I approached their front door.   The  smell of roses reminds me of all the happy times I had at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  (One time when I was out running, I suddenly thought of my Grandma.  I wondered what had caused this sudden memory.  Then I noticed that I was running by-and smelling- a hedge of roses.)  When I had a house of my own, I knew I wanted roses planted near the front door.  My roses may not last all summer like Grandma’s (Logandale summers are a bit warmer than Salt Lake ones) but right now they look (and smell) beautiful!  Happy Spring!  



Kay and Corinne Freshman year at college visiting GM and GP Monson in SLC. The little girl is my cousin Becky.  Note the climbing roses in full bloom



My roses this year

More of the same

A close up view

These next two are from a few years ago, but I have a hard time getting a person to pose in front of my roses these days. This one is Lynae -age 8 ready for her creative dance recital

Analise age 11-just posing

This one's a bit blurry, but it shows my Grandma Monson's back yard and more beautiful roses.  She truly had a green thumb.  Oh, and that's my cool mom graduating from the "U"

I'm Weird - Post #2

I’m Weird- Post #2

As stated in “I’m Weird-Post #1,” the things that I find “enjoyable” are actually a little weird. It has taken me a long time to admit that I don’t necessarily enjoy the things that most people (or at least most “homemakers”) enjoy, and I still feel a little uncomfortable posting this (especially after blog-stalking a few great blogs whose authors are posting their “made-my-own-pattern slip-cover success stories” and “I made these great rolls-they only have to rise twice-allow 4 hours to make” recipes. (4 hours?! Are you kidding me?! I don’t make anything that takes longer than 30 minutes-cooking time included-ok except for the potato salad recipe included in my last post- and I only do that once a year, and the only joy I get out of this cooking project is eating it and maybe, just maybe cleaning up the mess-see “I’m Weird-Post #1). So I’m about to reveal the next weird thing about me. (Yes, I’m just putting it out there for all to see.) I LIKE to do “school work.” I loved and continue to love being a student. I like getting good grades. I liked going to college. (FYI: I had to quit taking “fun” classes at BYU cause somehow I didn’t “wiggle my bootie” enough to get an A in social dance-I got an A minus, and my legs didn’t like to operate independently from my hips- earning me a B plus in ballet. Once I started keeping my classes within the boundaries of “academia” I earned all A’s and graduated with a 3.9 something or other.) I LIKED getting a graduate degree with two small children under age 2, and I did maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA while earning my master’s degree, and even had my graduate level statistics professor try to talk me into changing my major to statistics because apparently I “have a gift.” I found great satisfaction in getting up at 4 a.m. and studying for three hours until 7 when the kids got up (totally weird-I know- even as I type this, I’m thinking, “You are so weird Kay!”) I still like to take on-line and/or summer courses for re-certification. (I have to take 6 credits every 6 years to keep my teaching license current.) And I fantasize about going back to school and completing my math minor (I was 2 classes short, but did graduate with a music minor.) The last couple of years I have taught ACT prep classes at the high school, and I have LOVED it. I love preparing for them, working out the math problems, finding the grammatical errors in the English sections, and reading the graphs and charts in the science section. (If you are interested, this is one of the best math prep books I have seen for ACT prep, and this is my favorite overall ACT prep book. And as far as practice tests, act.org can’t be beat-it’s best to practice with actual retired tests written by the ACT people.) My poor children have had to suffer with a teacher sans students for a mother, and thus, they get to be my “class” all summer. So should you drop in and find me perusing the new Algebra II book I ordered “just in case” one of my kids should need some extra help, or find that I am late for an event because I am working out “just one more” ACT math problem, or even should you have to keep reading my written work via this blog, please excuse the “weirdness” as I try to get my fill of “school work” now that I am no longer a student.

P.S. I tried to scan Dallin's 3rd grade paper entitled "My Family" to include as a picture illustration to go with this post, but the scanned pencil was just too light, and it couldn't be read (even though it was such "cute 3rd-grade cursive," ) so you'll just have to let me tell you in part what it said: "...My dad's name is "Kent." He likes to look at cool cars and eat pizza. My mom's name is "Kay." She likes to eat salad and do homework." -Dallin Barlow age 9. (Draw your own conclusions as to who is the cool, fun parent.)

P.P.S. Did you notice that I successfully included "links" in this blog?! And I did it all by myself! I'm becoming a true blogger inspite of myself. Now if I could just figure out how to not have HUGE spaces between everything that I want small spaces between-note the WAY spaced out recipe in the last post-it's annoying.

A traditional post-HAPPY EASTER!

A traditional post-HAPPY EASTER!

Ok so I’m realizing that most of my posts (all 4 of them :) are just my “ramblings,” so I decided that I would compose a more “traditional” post about our Easter and spring break. I’ll let the pictures do most the “talking” with some explanatory comments by yours truly. Happy Easter!

Dying Easter Eggs with cousins at Grannie Annie's

2-year old Chad "helped" Kaylee dye her eggs. Here's the result. He was just so excited to see each egg come out of the dye that sometimes he would just squeeze them in delight!

Sandy 4-wheeler trip to Red Rock after dying eggs. We "staked our claim" on the big "Easter Egg" sand dune, and rolled our eggs. We had fun riding 4-wheelers, but the wind was a little much, and we decided to return to Grannie's for our "picnic" so we could eat without sand in our food. However, we had sand in our eyes, ears, teeth, and hair. (This is Trent on the 400EX)

Ok and to make this a real "traditional" blog post, I'll include the recipe (Can you believe how good I am getting at this blog stuff?!) for my Grandma Monson's potato salad that I made for the picnic. It is delish-wayyyy better than store-bought! (Probably due to the canned milk and extra sugar). However, as I was boiling and peeling eggs and potatoes for a 30+ people salad, I wondered if it was worth it. It was. YUM!

Potato Salad: (This is the standard recipe-NOT for 30)

8 large potatoes boiled.

10 hard boiled eggs.

1 Onion. (Optional-I usually make some with onions and some without for those who like and/or don't like onions. Also the recipe does not call for pickles, but my kids like pickles chopped up in the salad-my hubby doesn't, so again, I do some with and some without-we end up with several bowls, each a different variety of basically the same salad.)

Dressing:

1 cup Miracle Whip. (I always use fat free, since we are cholesterol-conscious in our fam-it still tastes great-in fact my kids don't like it if I use regular Miracle Whip.)

2 teaspoons sugar.

2 teaspoons salt.

1 cup canned milk. (Again, I use fat-free canned milk-still tastes great.)

1 teaspoon vinegar.

1/2 teaspoon celery salt. (Don't forget this-this can make or break the overall taste.)

1/2 teaspoon mustard.

Cut potatoes while hot into small cubes; peel and cut eggs. Shred onion. Dressing: Blend all ingredients and mix with eggs, potatoes, and optional onions and pickles. Note: Dressing is easier to blend if you stir sugar with Miracle Whip first. Make enough dressing to make salad quite moist.

Luke running up the big "Easter Egg" sand dune. It's impressive how easily the kids could run up and down this hill.

Our "egg trail." I offered a dollar to any egg roller whose egg made it all the way to the bottom without getting stuck. I'm realizing that I never paid up-woops! I still owe Luke, Bronc, and Camille-maybe others.

Hardy-side spring family birthday party. Celebrating Hardy-side birthdays from January through April.

Some of the birthday honorees: Darren turning 13, Becky turning 36, Ashlynn turning 1, Kay turning 45, Ann turning 74, Chad turning 2, and Todd turning 4. (The rest of the Barlows left after the presents before the cupcakes-but Luke turning 10, Kaylee turning 18, and Lynae turning 16 were also among the spring birthday honorees.) Don't we look lovely? This was after being sand-blasted all afternoon at Red Rock.

Luke, Lynae, and Trent gather candy left scattered through the house by the Easter bunny. Not sure why the bunny scatters candy on the floor, but on Easter no one seems to mind picking up and eating candy off the floor. And, if you look closely, Mr. Bunny also left candy on the windowsill (probably between a few spiderwebs and dead flies) and on the piano, tables, picture frames etc. (Kaylee did tell me she had a few "dusty" pastel peanut m&m's gathered from the top of picture frames.) (If you read the last post, this just proves that although I like to clean, my house is nevertheless, less than immaculate. Cleaning is often interrupted by cooking, laundry, and other less-favorite but necessary activities.)

Kaylee found her Easter basket in the chip/snack cupboard.

Lynae found hers in this hall closet.

Trent was the last to find his basket. It was between the shower curtain and the shower curtain liner on the side of the tub. He had checked the bathtub several times, but finally found it.

Luke found his basket in the coat closet.

Finding eggs in our front yard.

Another "spring break activity" was the Hardy side "cousins day" at the Moapa Zoo- "Roos and More." The only "taker" of the Barlow kids was Luke, but he and I went and had a fabulous time with the animals and our cousins. It was fun for Luke to be the "big kid" and help all the little cousins. The zoo was great. It was very interactive. Luke got to hold a Toucan, a baby wallaby, and this Koatamundi (spelling???). He also got to feed a sloth, an emu, goats, pigs, a camel, and horses. We also saw otters, monkeys, lemurs, and even a "bear cat." It was a fun day.

Picnic at Moapa Park after our zoo visit.

Sunday before our "regular" dinner, we had a passover celebration. (Years ago, our ward Relief Society had a passover dinner, and we were given a program for a shortened LDS version of the passover dinner. We try to do this with our family each year, but Friday (the actual passover day) did not work with our schedule this year. Of note: Analise went to an actual passover dinner with a date last year while at BYU. She said her date was most impressed when she knew what each of the items on the seder plate represented. She said he asked, "How do you know this?" She didn't reveal our family tradition, but just told him that she "knew lots of things." ) This is our seder plate. We used our dyed Easter eggs for the eggs (thus the yellow egg.) And I didn't use horseradish-just a regular radish, and I just used a picture of the lamb bone instead of a real lamb bone. (The wet-wipe is for the traditional "handwashing"-it's easier than taking a "basin" and cloth around to each family member.) My favorite part of the seder plate is the haroseth. It's supposed to be chopped apple, nuts, and cinnamon, so I just melt redhots in applesauce and add chopped walnuts. It is delicious chilled. However, my two youngest think it "looks gross" and won't eat it. The funny part is that they will eat the paper bone! (I think it's a boy thing.) All the kids love the sparkling cider "wine." They fight over who gets to drink Elijah's glass. (This year Trent told me he wants his own bottle for his birthday. Should I be worried?)

Some other things that filled our spring break but didn't make the photo cut included the annual Hardy-side ladies birthday shopping trip (Every year we choose a day to do birthday shopping and go ALL day. We shop and shop and shop while the hubbies babysit. We eat lunch and have a marvelous day); moving Kent's mom and dad out of their house in preparation for their mission (They leave next Friday.) and moving his sister Carolyn in (She and her family will live in their house while they are gone); going to Hunger Games and Mirror, Mirror; a food storage shopping trip; and opening a new bank account for savings (during which time we realized that Luke is not named in our family trust-we did it before he was born-it seems like we just barely did it. I guess we need to get that taken care of. He is ten.) Whew! Happy spring break???

Of course before ending this post, I must comment on the real reason for the vacation and celebration: the atonement, death, and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. None of these "comings and goings" really matter if you take Him and his great gift out of the picture. I often fail to comment on things which I think are "obvious," (things like the sky is blue or chocolate is delicious) and my testimony of the Savior is somewhat like that. It is so much a part of me and what I know to be true and believe that sometimes I fail to verbalize it. On the front of our sacrament meeting program today were these words from President Monson: "I declare my personal witness that death has been conquered, victory over the tomb has been won. May the words made sacred by Him who fulfilled them become actual knowledge to all. Remember them. Cherish them. Honor them. He is risen." I too know these things to be true. The tomb was empty. Jesus Christ lives. He is my Savior. He is my brother. He is my friend. Happy Easter!

I'm Weird-Post #1

I’m Weird-Post #1

Lately I’ve been contemplating my “weirdness.” And, as the post title implies, it’s going to take more than one post to explain. (Besides, Kaylee informed me that my posts are “much too long.”) So what’s weird about me? Well, I don’t “like” to do the things that “mormon moms” are supposed to like to do. (See the “about me” part of this blog.) Now I don’t totally “hate” these things either, and I can sew and cook (and I bought a book on canning-I figure I’m smart enough to figure it out if I ever have to), but given a choice, these are not things that I choose to do for fun. Sewing projects seem to me something to “get done” so I can relax and do “something fun.” And when I cook, I can hardly wait to get the cooking done, so that I can clean up the mess. Which brings me to the first weird thing about me. I LOVE to clean. I like cleaning bathrooms. I find great satisfaction in scrubbing the crevices of small appliances with toothbrushes, and when I figured out that a “vinegar soak” would remove the grime from the little indentations in the bottom of the my textured fiberglass tub, you would have thought I won the lottery. (Ok, so maybe I wasn’t THAT excited, but it was a pretty great day.) I have to control my urge to clean, and for the sake of my marriage have had to learn to live with the “stacks of things” which my husband leaves around and then accuses me of moving. (FYI: Technically, I don’t “move” them; I put them “away” in very “logical” locations.) (I confess that sometimes when he goes to work, I move one of his “dining room table stacks” and stash it in a closet, so that I can enjoy a clean dining room table, and then I put it back on the table right before he gets home.) Also having 4 kids in 5 ½ years, helped me to keep things in perspective. (With 4 pre-schoolers, no matter how much one LIKES a clean house, things are not always super tidy.) And also let me state the follow disclaimer: should you happen to stop by, you may just find a pile of shoes inside the front door, dirty socks on the floor, and dishes in the sink. (I can’t always keep up with 3 teenagers either.) But a really good day, is one where I can start cleaning the kitchen and spend 3 hours doing it, if I want to. (I love to start in one corner and work my way around, scrubbing out and straightening cupboards and drawers, cleaning out the fridge, and doing the stove and microwave.) Luckily I usually have obligations (like I have to be somewhere) that keep me from becoming too obsessive/compulsive-, so I have to settle for dishes done and floor mopped before I leave. (Yes, I mop EVERY day. But lest you think I’m really weird-I only remove the kitchen chairs once a week. The other days, I just mop around them.) And a really, REALLY good day is when after 3 hours of cleaning, resulting in a sparkling kitchen, no one enters the minute after the freshly mopped floor dries to make a snack or bake cookies. So now that I’m 40+ I’m finally learning to embrace my “weirdness,” and not try to hide the fact that “sewing and cooking” are not really my “thing,” and guess what? that’s all right; my children are still clothed, and they are fed a good home-cooked meal each...correction, most nights.

And since there is still some part of me that needs to "prove" that I can sew. Here's a picture of the last matching outfits I sewed for my family. (As you can see, it was some years ago, and yes those pleats on the girls' bodices were "bears.") But don't we look cute?