My Cousin, The Hero

This past tuesday, the 17 of July, was a very sad and difficult day for my family. I spent part of the day at Rose's for Kaitlin's birthday party, and had fun visiting with Rose, but that evening, when I returned home I got a call from my sister Emili telling me that my cousin, Nathan Barnes, was killed in Iraq. Nathan was only 23 years old and had served three years in the army. He planned on coming home in December and getting out of the army to pursue other interests. He was a great soldier, a great man, and a great cousin. I'm going to miss him very much. It's hard knowing that my brother, Chris, my brother-in-law, Ben, my sister and her husband, Kimberli and Luis and many friends are in harms way. It never seemed like it would be my family that would lose someone, and now we have. It's not a good feeling. I'd like to pay tribute to Nathan and all those who serve their country. What an enormous sacrifice.

Barnes Family last summer

Mom's Kitten

Over the weekend of Brianna's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa Bartholomew (Mom and Dad) stayed with us on their trip to visit everybody. They brought their little kitten with them and we had some fun watching it while it played with a baby swallow that had left it's nest too early and couldn't fly very well. The dumb bird wouldn't leave our yard until finally our cat got it. But before then, the bird and the kitten had some fun.

Brianna turns 8!

On June 31st we celebrated Brianna's 8th birthday (her birthday wasn't until the 1st of July, but she had a friend b-day party on the 31st). I can't believe that my little girl is getting so old!

Gary and I gave Brianna a trampoline for her birthday. We felt like it would be something that she could enjoy doing in the backyard for a long time as she gets older.Gary, Grandpa and Uncle Kevin Johnson helped to put the Tramp together early in the morning, before Brianna woke up so that it was a surprise for her when she finally came out.



We did a pirate themed party with a treasure hunt. We had pirate hats, compasses, eye patches and earings for the kids to help them on the hunt. It was a lot of fun and at the end of the hunt the kids found the treasure in grandma and grandpa's trunk.

Family pictures...finally

At the beginning of June we finally went and got our pictures taken. It was quite challenging because Jenna is a little stinker. We were only able to get one of her actualy smiling, after hours of trying. We even went once, and then decided to try a little later in the day, but even that didn't work. Luckily the one we did get with her smiling is adorable! Brianna is always very cooperative, and beautiful!
This one was a chellenge, and it was the best we could get under the circumstances.
Our adorable little girl!