Fun in the Summer Sun

After 3 weeks of rarely seeing the sun, we took the first opportunity we had to hit the pool again. Luckily I was blessed with a water baby who adores water in any form!


Its hard to believe June is almost over, we'll only get busier from here! July will be taking us on two separate trips - first to California (DISNEYLAND!), then back for a few days before we head up to Seattle for a family reunion and on to Portland and the Oregon coast from there. Vaka starts school the last week of August, and hopefully we'll be closing on our house around that time too!

9 months and counting

How is it possible that I've been staring at this adorable face for nearly as long as I had him in my belly? I can't believe how fast time has flown. He is a ball of fun these days, but I can't help but miss when I could snuggle him in my arms. Jacob's recent favorite activities include: crawling at the speed of light, climbing up the stairs, learning to feed himself, experimenting with fun noises, blowing raspberries and eating yogurt for every meal. We love you little guy!

Confession: I have an addiction

Any parent knows that upon welcoming a baby into your home, household expenses increase exponentially, just from diapers alone. Lucky for us, we didn't have to learn this until just a few months ago, thanks to a generous Grandpa Barker.

Upon arriving at Jacob's blessing, Grandpa arrived with a truck full of diapers, pictured below. THAT IS 734 DIAPERS. Yeah, BIG deal.

So when we finally exhausted our supply and had to actually start purchasing diapers ourselves... OUCH. We quickly learned we didn't want to increase our food/household items budget to compensate for the cost of diapers. Why not try to make the diapers fit into our current budget?

Bringing me to the real purpose of this post. :) $25 stretches much farther in our household these days. For example:

10 yogurts
7 bbq sauces
6 fuze drinks
4 apple juices
4 velveeta shells & cheese
4 ritz crackers
3 ritz chips
3 salad dressings
2 big mayo
2 small squeeze mayo
1 box capri sun
1 box granola bars
1 loaf of bread

All for $23.13, a total savings of $102.31. I may not be a coupon queen, (seeing as I'm not advanced enough where I get it all free and only pay tax) but hey, works for me!

Mommy's Little Helper

I've always heard of "good" mothers who incorporate their children into their household duties, finding ways to have them help you with either cooking, laundry, etc. I guess it's never too young to start, right? However, apparently I don't fit into the "good" mom category because my little guy is always the one initiating the "help" while you can likely find me discouraging it. :)

How can I say no to this adorable, innocent face?

Literally, TAKING OUT the recycling (and not to the curb). His favorite thing to do these days.

Obviously I still need to learn a thing or two, because I'm sure I'll be pulling teeth to get him to help with these things in another 15 years!

Future Missionary

I'm late on the announcement, but I couldn't let it go unrecognized. Two weeks ago my 'little' brother Ben received his mission call to the Brazil Porto Alegre South mission. He'll leave August 26th and head straight for the MTC in Brazil. I'm so proud of him and his willingness to sacrifice 2 years to serve the Lord. I was hoping he'd get called to New Zealand so we'd finally have a legitimate reason to fork out the cash to travel there (and then on to Tonga of course). Brazil sounds good too though!

Beautiful baby Haylee

The downside in having to sign another round of paperwork on the house this weekend? I don't get to hold this sweet baby. :(

Introducing Haylee Tacoma Barker, 7 lbs 14 oz, 19 inches long.

Doesn't Tonya look GREAT!?! I did NOT look anywhere near that good right after labor!

And finally, the proud big brother. His comment when he first held her? "I love her."

Finally pictures of a baby other than Jacob to grace our blog. :)
Congratulations Brandon & Tonya!

MIA

We've been MIA in the blogosphere and social circles recently, and this is why:

This is going to be OURS within the next few months. Yes, its true, we are going to become proud townhome owners! This is a BIG step for us, and we couldn't be more anxious, excited, scared and happy all at the same time. We've signed all the paperwork, picked out paint colors, cabinets, countertops and flooring, and now we just sit back and WAIT for it to be finished with a projected move-in date of July. Who knew I'd practically have to quit my day job and need to hire a fill-in mother/wife/housekeeper in order to make all this happen. We're finally over the hump and can leave the time consuming searching, choosing, signing behind us and get caught up on the rest of our life now! *Beware, many catch up posts to follow!*