Back To School

Sadly, Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., our summer fun came to an end as the kids headed into their first day of school. I can't believe how big my kids have gotten! Almost every day this summer, Clayton would say, "Please let me get Miss Hart" as he got out of bed in the morning, and he's very pleased to have gotten her as his 2nd grade teacher. Mackenzie and Madison are headed into 5th grade with Mrs. Styler. We really enjoy our school, Renaissance Academy, but won't enjoy nine months of homework!

"Man"icure

Sundays have become much busier days at our house since I was called to be the Primary President, but we try really hard to keep our late afternoons open for family time. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out. Last Sunday I was on the phone trying to work out some Primary stuff, and when I finished up, this is what was going on.


It was funny that Morgan told Craig exactly what to do: "After the color you have to put on the sparkles." I hope my kids realize what an amazing dad they have! He has always been supportive of me, and I hope my girls are lucky enough to find a guy someday who is willing to give their four-year-old a manicure . . . with sparkles!

Family Time Before Bedtime

The half hour before bedtime can get pretty silly at our house. Kids just naturally seem to resist the dreaded trek to the bedroom to close out the day. Admittedly, sometimes the silliness can be a bit unnerving, but other times it is just a lot of fun. Tonight was just a lot of fun as Morgan decided to put on a funny face show.

Sometimes you just have to let kids get all their wiggles out before they'll unwind. So we let all of the kids put on funny faces to help transition from silly time to scripture time.


Part of scripture time usually entails questions as we ask the kids about the passages we read. This evening we read from The Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi chapter 9:12-16 where Christ speaks to the inhabitants of North America. After reading it, I asked Morgan, "Can you tell us who was speaking?" Clayton piped in with a little clue: "I'll give you a hint; he lives in heaven," although Morgan didn't need the hint because she simultaneously declared, "Jesus!" Then, Morgan furrowed her brow and corrected Clayton: "No, you mean outer space!" Who knows where that came from, but we all laughed!

Lead by Example - Morgan's Reunion

A wise person once said, "Parents, watch what you do; you never know who else is watching." That quote hit me full force the other day as I came down the hall after showering and getting ready for the day. As I turned the corner this is what I saw and Morgan immediately said, "Look, Mom, I'm having a baby reunion."

July is usually our time for reunions with extended family and friends. I couldn't believe how quickly a four-year-old picked up on what a reunion is! What else has she (not to mention the seven-year-old and the two ten-year-olds) been "watching" us do lately? One of my favorite quotes by the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is, "As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Unlike the book on the library shelf, the covers of which shield the contents, our lives cannot be closed. Parents, we truly are an open book."

I feel a deep gratitude that I have children who are surrounded by good examples in our families, our neighbors, and our church. I'm so grateful that the gospel has taught me principles to live by that help me live in a way I will be pleased with, no matter who is watching. Most of all, I'm grateful for my kids and the little lessons they teach me every day. I only hope what I'm "writing" in my life is teaching them what I want them to know.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mel, Mel, it looks so swell . . .
How does your garden grow?
With sweat and toil and mink poop soil,
And four children laboring in a row!

Actually it's more like Craig and I and the rest of the neighborhood laboring in the rows while the kids run around crazy and whine that it's too hot, but we try! Our neighborhood is unique in one way: each year we turn an empty lot into a community garden. We till and plant together, divide sections by family to weed, rotate watering days, and then get together to pick the fruits of our labors. It is an amazing experience—one we love to participate in.


We also do a garden in our own yard each year to grow those "weird" things like beets, cabbage, cauliflower, and herbs that don't make it into the community garden. For the last couple of years we've had a berry patch on the side of the house, too. But our favorite is our fruit trees! We have two peach, one nectarine, and this year planted two pear. Fruit trees are the least labor intensive and the fruit tastes the best because it's so sweet. That many peaches makes me a busy girl in the fall with canning, but we love having "homegrown" peaches all year, so it's worth it! It's been fun finding the "inner farmer" in ourselves the past few years, and since we love to eat more than mow, we can't think of a better way to use our space!

My Vampire Vixen

Just as Edward sweeps Bella into his icy but assuring arms . . . I catch my vampire vixen off guard as she nears the dramatic conclusion of Breaking Dawn! Can we all say Hallelujah? I heard there is a club for men called something like A Club for Men Whose Wives Neglect Them Because They're Reading the Twilight Series. How do I join that club? Okay, so it really hasn't been that bad; I mean she stays up until the wee hours of the morning reading, so I really haven't felt too neglected while I snore in her ear! Still, happy day as she has fewer than 20 pages to finish the series so I can get my wife back. By the way, if you haven't noticed, I—not Melissa—have written the last FIVE posts! Uh, yeah, I've had fun teasing her. :)

All right—Melissa here to defend myself against my poor, neglected husband's accusations! The REAL reason Craig has been posting is that over the past few weeks I've written the Primary program for our ward, shopped for back-to-school clothing & supplies, and kept myself very busy with four kids, reunions, and so forth. There's NO way it would've taken me a FULL week to get through Breaking Dawn—that only took two days, and I must say: VERY SATISFYING!

So Uncle Jerry's Famous!?

We were flipping through channels one evening when all the kids simultaneously shouted, "Hey, that's Uncle Jerry playing the piano!" Sure enough, there he was on KUED (the local PBS channel). Clayton's eyes got really wide as he inquired, "So Uncle Jerry's famous?" Melissa and I smiled and responded, "Well, he IS on tv." The kids sat mesmerized for the next hour as we watched the Osmond special.

They had no idea Jerry (our brother-in-law) is the musical director, even though we've told them a gazillion times. Funny how some things just don't sink in. Now that I think about it, I think they just didn't really know who the Osmonds are, let alone what a musical director is. They probably thought he led the music in his ward or something. As we tucked Clayton into bed that night he still had stars in his eyes: "Wow! I never knew I had a famous uncle!"

This past Pioneer Day, Jerry conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as they performed with the Osmond family in the Tabernacle. What a treat for Jerry; we're thrilled for him. What a moment as he received a plaque from, and got to shake hands with, President Monson, the living prophet of God!

Congratulations, Jerry! The next time the kids dance around your family room singing "Follow the Prophet" bar mitzvah-style, it will have a little more meaning to them: "He knows the way . . . Hey!"

Barrett Cousins Reunion

Earlier this evening we had a Barrett cousins reunion. It's not very common for so many Barrett cousins to be in one location at the same time, so this was quite a welcome treat. Thanks Mom and Aunt Diane for putting this together! We all really had a great time.

Brent & Simone Laurence My Parents	Frank & Diane Hunsaker Diane's My Mom's Sister

You can sure tell that my mom (Simone) and Diane are sisters; they are daughters of Marvin and Nezzie Barrett. Marvin and Nezzie had ten children: Sherwood, Louise, Larry, Orson, Simone, Diane, Sharon, Letitia, Don, and Rebecca. At this reunion, there were three Barrett siblings' children represented: Orson's, Simone's, and Diane's.

Bryan & Toni Roberts Toni's Orson's Daughter	David & Corrie Barrett David's Orson's Son
Kevin & Patrice Laurence Kevin's My Brother	Craig & Melissa Laurence I'm Craig!
Mike & Ginger Steensma Ginger's Diane's Daughter	Rick & Pam Peeler Pam's Diane's Daughter

In many ways, David and I look more like brothers than my actual brothers. When we were younger, we almost looked like twins!

There's no doubt we've got Barrett blood.

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

We had a bit of fun with this celebrity morph thing; the girls thought it was really cool. It's surprising to us how identical twins end up with such different celebrity look-alikes. I've decided I'm a bit concerned about how much my daughters are likely to be major babes. I think I better get my shotgun while I can before Obama-nation sets in!


Madison above and Mackenzie below. Pretty trippy!

We All Scream for . . . Sorbet!?

Ice cream before bed was a way of life for me when I was growing up. Then, chocolate was my favorite, but I'm not really much of a chocolate ice cream fan anymore. Funny how that is. When I was a kid, one of my favorite ways to eat ice cream was to mash it and stir it until it was like a Wendy's frosty. I still like it that way; it brings out the kid in me. I especially like to do it that way with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's syrup. Go figure.

We don't have ice cream nearly as often as I did when I was a kid. I probably have ice cream once a month, but the kids have it a little more frequently. As Melissa had to run an errand this evening, I was alone in charge, and the kids all screamed for ice cream . . . but we were out. However, we did have sorbet, which is actually my favorite now. The kids thought it was a real treat to eat MY sorbet! When Melissa returned, she heard comments like this: Morgan: "Mommy, I ate ice cream outta a orange!" Mackenzie: "Can I keep my coconut shell? Mmm. Smell it. It tasted even better than it smells."

They acted really surprised about how good it is. It seems we now have little sorbet lovers on our hands.