welcome back/hello again/where did i go?

HELLO!!!

the last time i updated my blog was 9 months ago. [no pregnancy or baby was had]

i was extremely busy with work and wanted nothing to do with my computer when i was done for the day.

hence my blog got sorely neglected.

i was doing my editing job from home [working in your pj's is awesome, btw] but sitting at my computer for 10 hours a day = not so fun.

spending those 10 hours in Photoshop making people look completely different also was not so fun.

i never had the opportunity to do my own photography and if i did i didn't always enjoy it like i use to because of the time i had to spend editing for my job.

i sound like a downright complainer. sorry.

mr. barlow told me, "your job is sucking your soul out."

so with mr. barlow's encouragement and support i quit at the end of 2012.

HALLELUJAH!

at the beginning of 2013 i was unemployed and that lasted for about a week! 

[we are SO lucky that mr. barlow still has an awesome job with Imagine Learning!]

my aunt is a kindergarten teacher and has 29 kindergartners. 

they approved her for another Instructional Aide - THAT'S ME!

i work 2 hours a day in her classroom and help the ESL kids with their reading and writing. 

it really is awesome. i love to see them understand and finally get it.

now i have time to do my own photography and editing, it is so refreshing!

i have time to help teach kids.

i have time to blog, catch up with friends, have lunch dates with mr. barlow.

i have time to run. [well, once the snow goes away.]

i am one lucky lady.

[mr. barlow gets a huge thank you for his support of my crazy working hours to quitting to being unemployed and now being a really part time worker.] 

  

cheers to more adventures and more blogging to come!

have you heard of Portal?!

"Fast thing goes in fast thing comes out." - GLaDOS

i would not call myself a video game player in the least.

ask my sisters. then ask my husband. 

BUT..

mr. barlow would call himself a video game man.

he teaches all about the types of games, the different systems and how to use a controller.

AND i didnt ever know a video game had a story. they do. its cool.

my little sister in law hannah was trying to get us to play Portal with her right after our wedding but i sadly turned her down.

mr. barlow cannot pass up a deal and he got Portal 1 & 2 for like $10!

a steal one would say.

it is the funnest and funniest game!

i am kinda obsessed.

and this come from the girl that doesnt play video games.

oh hello may!

aren't you pretty with your sunshine, green grass, and puffy clouds?

inspiring poem..

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.


The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.


Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.


Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.


i read this poem in a book and i immediately became obsessed with it.
life is hard.
but those hard things make us strong.

oh hey quadrennial year!

the word of the day is ..

quad·ren·ni·al [kwo-dren-ee-uhl]

occurring every four years: a quadrennial festival.

 clever dictionary.com clever.

having a leap year not only meant those 29ers got to celebrate their actual birthday..

but it also meant WE GOT TO CELEBRATE 4 MONTHS OF MARRIAGE!

go us. 

not that big a deal but still cool.

at least we have made it far past the Kardashian's marriage!

i am pretty much obsessed with this guy.

i love being married to mr. barlow.

and i love our wedding photos .. thank you marcello!

here is one more for your viewing pleasure.

i would also like to dedicate leap year to disneyland!

how cool are they for staying open all day?!

pretty dang legit if you ask me.

and heres to my february craft!

just some little twigs from our yard and ribbon.

easy and almost free!

hope your quadrennial festivities were exciting! 

see you in 4 years february 29th. 

the jastals

right before christmas i took some family photos for the lovely lisa jane and brandon jastal!

lisa and i went to UVU together and we had a lovely time there.

i took lisa and brandons engagements almost 4 years ago!

and so much has happened since then.

little ashlynn was born while i was on my mission.

now she can walk and talk and is oh so funny.

sweet aaron was born last april.

he was born with a heart condition and was on this earth for almost 3 months.

i love that she has his photo & bear in their family pictures!

in honor of CHD week i wanted to post their family photos and send some love their way.

i was grateful i had the opportunity to meet their little buddy shortly before he returned home to our Heavenly Father. 

Lisa has a team doing the heart walk in SLC this year and if anyone wants to donate or be a part of it go here >>> heart walk

proceeds benefit Pediatric Cardiac Research!

now on to their photos!

here you go ..

enjoy!

i am pretty up to date .. now.

something to know about me is i never watched the news.

before my mission i didnt.

after wisconsin i didnt.

i was pretty lost with being up to date on the happenings of the world.

even funnier is i had NO clue about politics ..

at all.

let me prove to you ..

last march Cat came with me to renew my drivers license in LA and while filling out all my info it asked if i was republican or democrate.

i had to ask Cat what i was.

we giggled a lot in the DMV line.

well really she just laughed at me! thanks boo.

now fast forward to dating and being engaged to mr. barlow.

he likes the news.

he likes politics.

and so do dad and mom barlow!

so going over to the barlows while we were engaged i'd hear about the world and what was new.

then the republican debates started.

we would have dinner around the TV and watch the candidates bash on each other! 

i started getting really interested in all of this.

i asked TONS of questions.

luckily i have smart in laws.

and that brings us to now ..

mr. barlow and i watch all the republican debates together.

we even stayed up past midnight to watch the almost tie of Romney & Santorum in the Iwoa Caucus.

and now we follow the polls everyday to see who is going to get the GOP nomination!

that brings me to this little fb exchange ..

another proof that i never understood news or politics!

see hannahs comment.

 she has been my bff since like middle school and she knows me well.

and for some reason i just saw her comment today!

it made me giggle bc it use to be true!

and mr. barlow texted me this yesterday and i couldnt help but giggle!

so our date last night was watching the debate in SC!

and you best believe we are going to watch the SC primary on saturday.

also i just thought the lunchbox compliment was funny.

here is mr. barlows lunchbox that he takes to work everyday.

and yes he asked for it!

so thank you barlow family for opening me up to a whole new world!

i owe you.

and hanya lets skype and i can show you my skillz.

love you.

hallelujah! hallelujah!

miracles DO happen!
so many Christmas blessings this week.

1. mr barlow enjoys his new job here in the 801.
2. i havent frozen to death. yet.
3. ive been able to spend some fun time with my sweet syd, sol, omi.
4. we were able to attend adler & beths wedding reception.
3. WE HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!

you heard that right!
the barlows have an apartment!
finally.
biggest christmas miracle of the week!

did you know we have been living out of suitcases for the past month and 5 days?
it is true.

we are so grateful our family [dad and mom barlow/the memmotts] has been letting us live with them ever since our honeymoon.
you guys deserve 5 gold stars!
but we are so excited [at least i am!] to hang my clothes up in a closet.
also to have a place just for mr barlow and i.
it will be our next adventure!

our new place is in provo, close to the IHC hospital.
thats a plus right?

its a little basement apartment and our landlord is real chill and from south pasadena so thats why he wanted us fellow LA fans to live below him.

my biggest loves of the apartment is my walk in closet that we can fit a twin bed in and having a washer and dryer.
another christmas miracle!
mr barlow even gets his own small closet off to the side!
it also has fancy green carpet.

we will be able to move in by the end of the week and we couldnt be more excited!
dance parties soon to come.

in other fun married news we went on a date to thai ruby, [why did i never eat there when i lived in provo 3 years ago?] and saw Arthur Christmas!

do yourself a favor and see this movie!
it made us giggle and brought us some good holiday spirit.
enjoy!

it is the 1st of December.
let the Christmas miracles begin!

avatar - the last airbender

another thank you to mr. barlow for my netfilx subscription.

we, meaning mr. barlow, hannah & i, started watching the whole avatar series on sunday and i cant stop!
hannah & i are actually watching it right now while mr. barlow is traveling to fresno.

my little siblings in utah use to watch this and i would watch a couple minutes here and there.

BUT now i am hooked.

my nickname from my little siblings is momo.

they up'd it to momo the lemur because of this show.

now that i started watching it i love it more!

MelCat ESP.

i post fb photos at 2:15am & cat wakes up promptly to start "liking" & commenting.

we have ESP.

thank you MelCat.

now i really should be sleeping.

tomorrow eve mr. barlow & i will trek to the west.

the 801 that is.

we are going to hug these little ones.

naomi turned 8 just today!!!

where did the time go?!

we will be attending her baptism and spending some good family time.

i cannot wait!

good night.

He is Risen!

Ragnar to Riches!

let me tell you a little story ..

about how i ran to San Diego. along with 11 other wonderful people.

also about how i am officially a Ragnar Convert!

the Ragnar Relay Series motto.

it is true that the sleep gets a ? mark!

200 miles.

36 hours straight.

12 runners.

we ran from Huntington Beach to Coronado Island!

we were team #98

RAGNAR TO RICHES!

[thank you james astle for the sweet screen printing job!]

van #1 started us out at 6:30am friday april 15th!

they were all stars.

love to alisha, christine, esther, danica, adler & ryan!

van #2 started out in Anaheim around 10:30am!

captain brandt, cat, grant, kevin, bre and me!

we were EXTRA BLESSED to have MAX as our driver!

she deserves props x1,000 for a great dj playlist, keeping us pumped and energized and even running some of the course!

brandt started us out and he is stellar!

BUT seriously did it have to be close to 90 degrees last friday?!

just the heat made me want to die let alone RUNNING in it.

yes, you get free beer at the finish line. 

no partaking from Ragnar to Riches.

our vans line up was brandt, kevin, grant, MELANIE, cat, bree!

so after the boys finished i started off us girls.

i ran through Corona at 1:30p in 90 degrees.

i hate you Corona.

but i love my team.

they stopped. cheered me on. brandt threw water on me. it WAS appreciated!

my first leg was 5.5 miles. 

it felt like an eternity.

but i did it.

after i felt sick for awhile from the heat.

i had to walk a lot of it but i finished!

cat did stellar on her 1st 6 mile leg!

we both had the heat heat heat of the day and that was hard to push through but WE DID IT!

the fun part is stopping along the way to cheer on your runners!

also finding spare hubcabs is brandts fav part!

after all our runners finished their 1st legs we headed out to our 1st major exchange ..

Fallbrook .. aka .. MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

it was close to 8p when we got there.

we were gonna start running around 2am.

also my sweet mr. barlow met us all out there as well!

he had to work friday so he wasnt able to run on the team BUT he did come to support.

he is the best.

before our 2nd legs most of the team got anywhere from .5 hour - 2 hours of sleep!

then we were up again and ready to run!

i started my 2nd leg around 3am and i was IN LOVE!

3.8 miles. pretty level elevation. cool air. full moon. 

AMAZING.

i ran my entire 2nd leg and felt SO accomplished.

when i handed off to cat i told her it was so good!

i love you San Marcos.

i still hate you Corona.

after all of us finished our night legs we went to the next major exchange in La Jolla!

we got the bulk of our sleep there.

i slept in jacobs car with him and we both got a solid 4 hours of sleep.

it was wonderful!

we woke up to get some breakfast before our 3rd legs and we just happened to be right next to the SD Temple! it was beautiful!

our vans 3rd legs were mostly along the coast.

when i say mostly i will get to that ..

i started off my 3rd leg in the San Diego Harbor with an AMAZING exchange from grant.

skills grant. skills.

also skills to mr. barlow for capturing this moment!

i said to cat prior to this week how excited i was for my 3rd leg along the harbor ..

as i started out running it was beautiful ..

and then it took a turn into the arm pit of SD. 

seriously.

my view went from the harbor to the freeway.

kinda sad.

at least it was 10 degrees cooler than friday!

the 3rd leg is DEF the hardest.

mine was 6.4 miles

exhaustion from already running and add no sleep to the mix.

i was doing pretty good but getting tired.

my team stopped about the 4 mile marker.

as i run up to the van i see my sweet boyfriend changed into shorts ..

i looked at him and he said lets go!

he asked grant to drive his car so that he could run with me and support me the last 2 miles!

can i just say mr. barlow is pretty much the bomb?! he is.

off we went.

after i borrowed some body glide.

thanks again brandt!

jacob kept me going those last 2 miles!

the boy even ran in his converse for me!

this is love. let me tell you.

passing that slap bracelet baton off to my dear cat was so refreshing!

i did it!

i ran a total of 15.7 miles!

best feeling ever!

bre finished us off and we all crossed the finish line together in Coronado!

we ended on saturday 16th @ 6:30pm!

36 hours baby!

now that is a feeling i will NEVER forget!

such team work, encouragement and love from all of us!

thank you hill family for starting the Ragnar.

thank you brandt for being the best captain!

thank you mr. barlow for supporting AND running with me.

thank you cat for finishing strong with me!

also for making me peanut butter bagels for 2 days!

remember how we thought we were gonna die?

i am really glad we are both alive yet.

i am now a Ragnar Convert.

i seriously want to do more now.

such a feeling of accomplishment!

and fun.

so many laughs and good stories.

who needs sleep?

not a Ragnar!

brb ..

imma go run to san diego.

RAGNAR!

in approximately 10 days i will be participating in the .. 

also known as the relay series of death!

cat and i have been asking each other everyday how did we get roped into this?!

let me tell you ..

our dear friend brandt is all about running.

and he is good. let me tell you.

he lives for Ragnar.

his family are the ones who kinda started this whole event ..

wasatch back anyone?!

so you want to know what this relay of death is??? >>> RAGNAR

it really will be fun.

if we dont die.

12 runners.

2 vans.

200 miles.

24 hours.

huntington beach to san diego.

i really am excited.

we decided to do this back in eh .. november/december ..

plenty, i repeat PLENTY of time to train correct?!

well i started running for the first time in about 7 months in february.

i did good for about 1.5 weeks.

then i stopped.

oh hey! then i realized there was only 3 weeks before the big race! 

lets start training! again.

oh ya thats me.

but to be honest i havent ran in 5 days.

brandt please dont hate me!

i am runner #10.

my legs are as follows ..

leg #1 = 5.5 miles

leg #2 = 3.8 miles

leg #3 = 6.4 miles

total amount of running = 15.7 miles

WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO?!

i hear its all about the experience!

im really hoping death is NOT a part of it.

ill go run tomorrow ..

hopefully!

oh april fools!

who invented april fools?!

in case you ask WHY? to everything like i do here is wikipedias answer >>> aprils fools day

this was prob my favorite by far today.

ryan muirhead photography posted it on fb and i loved it.

kinda really wish it was real ..

i already had a photo of MelCat ready to go!

thank you kodak!

happy st. patricks day!

i wear green in case someone trys to pinch me.

another year OLDER & WISER too!

i love every year of life.

i'm on my 26th now!

i have such great family.

my sisters wrote some sweet words about me ..

read them here >>>

big sisters thoughts & sisters thoughts

its great having an older sister.

its even better having TWO.

its the absolute BEST when they are twins!

for the adventure of turning 26 we celebrated life, love, family and friends by having sushi!

and this amazing cake!

thank you my cat and whoeve decided to put 26 candles on this beauty!

ichima has the best birthday song around.

just go and experience it!

i feel blessed to have another year to learn and grow.

life is wonderful!