The Race!

Well, it was time for Amy's big race! 3 months ago Amy decided that she wanted to run a half marathon. And she chose a pretty awesome race, 'Disneyland Half Marathon!' She had been training every day for this race, and she rocked it! I am so proud of her. It was a pretty awesome experience for her. We arrived in Anaheim the afternoon before the race. Amy got checked in for the race, and then we went out for a big pasta meal at the Spaghetti Factory. The alarm went off at 3:30 the next morning. Since we bring our toaster everywhere we travel, I was able to make Amy some toast before the race. Of Course the toast burned a little, which activated our smoke alarm! We skipped over to the starting line, along w/ the 14,000 other runners, (my wife had a faster time than 10,000 of them!). A kiss on the forehead, along with a prayer, and my little runner was off.

After the race we went back to the hotel to get packed up and head back home. As we were getting in the car, I asked Amy what she wanted for lunch Her response, which was adorable, "Disneyland!".

So California Adventure Land that day, Disneyland the next. We had a blast!!!

Awesome Weekend!

MAMMOTH!

The Barnes Brood met up in Mammoth for a week to have a pleasant, relaxing vacation.

Yeah, uh-huh.

Only these people would be actually more active on vacation then in normal daily life.

We had a BLAST and made so many great memories!

We had to drive through Yosemite to get there (darn!)









Stopped in Bodie- a super neat ghost town north of Lee Vining. This place was amazing. I think this town of 10,000 had like 65 saloons or something. It is really dry out there, they must have been thirsty.

Casey praisin the Lord in Bodie..


Casey and I spent our first night camping at Twin Lakes to wake up early for our very first run together. We ran the Charthouse/Footloose Road Run- the highest Road Run in California clocking in at a whopping 8000 feet in elevation. That plus all the hills and a terrible night's sleep made it an extremely challenging race! I ran the 10K and Casey did the 5K. We both placed, won coffee mugs, got our t-shirts, and we each won the raffle, too! (And Buzz saw us on TV!)


We stayed in a really cool condo with a creek running behind it..needless to say Connor had a blast back there!


We played lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of Farkle.


We went on a killer hike to Mammoth Crest- almost 11,000 feet!


We saw two bears! They live near the condo. Luckily we saw the babies and not the mama.


Our Michael Phelps impressions.

It all ended with Buzz getting a speeding ticket but Joan winning the money for it at a casino on their way home. Classic.
More Pictures of our Mammoth trip!

We missed you, Golecs!

New babies!

Here are some pics of our newest little nieces, Miley and Addie! They are so adorable and growing bigger every day! For those of you who don't know, Miley is my sister's baby and Addie is my brother's. They were born just 2 days apart in the same hospital!


Miley


Addie

More pics!
Girls

4th of July!

The Becker's annual 4th of July Fiesta was incredible, as always! Our weekend was full of watergun fights, horseshoes, lassoo, slip-n-slides, fireworks, and parades! Never a dull moment with this bunch.

More pics!

4th of July 2008

Let's Get Aaaaalll Caught Up!

Okay, we have been lame about updating our blog- but that is partly because we have done SO many cool things the past few weeks! And we documented most of it (yahoo!) We've got babies, 4th of July, Sea World, Mammoth, and more fun to share. If the fam wants any of these photos, email me and I'll send them to you. We have been so stoked on our summer and had so much fun...with everyone! Love you all!

One Meatball!

Casey and I went to Merced for a visit this past weekend- we had so much fun- more pictures and comments on our trip to follow....but for now, One Meatball.

Mom, Grandma, Koss and I went to watch Lily's (my niece) tap and dance recital for Denisa's School of Dance. My sister and I had a blast reliving our very own Denisa days (she looks exactly the same as she did 15 years ago) when we used to twirl, tap, and tendu across the same stage every June (I did ballet, tap and baton- my sister stuck with baton only.) Twirlers Unlimited! We laughed about our big bangs, Hot Sticks, and how we could never see our batons in the bright lights- we just kind of stuck our hands out and hoped we'd catch them. Now we were in the audience, holding babies (Koss with Miley, me with Addie). It seemed as though nothing had changed, except the costumes were cuter (ours were heavily 80's/90's influenced) and no one was wearing shimmer tights (what's with that? I thought that was a staple?)!!

Out comes Miss Lily- first in her ballet routine with a tambourine. Super cute.

A few more groups, then Lily again for tap. Out she comes in her yellow tutu with a chef hat on her head and a wire whisk in her hand. She starts tap-tap-tapping to a silly song about a meatball. (I've found the song- Van Ronk Dave's "One Meatball.") Precious. Then they get to a part of the song where they take their whisks and fling them back and forth, back and forth. The little girl next to Lily is getting way into it. She starts whisking in front of Lily's face, at which time, my sweet little niece takes a step back and gives her the six-year-old "oh no you didn't" look that my sister and I know so well.

Oh yeah, she's definitely our niece.

Unfortunately the theater wouldn't allow us to take any pictures, so when we get the professional ones, I'll be sure to post a copy of our favorite little meatball.

Way to go, Lily!

Today's Grammar Lesson

Being a Barnes brings all sorts of new challenges, like how do I handle the plural/possessive form of "Barnes?" Barnes'? Barnes's? Barneses? Barneseseses? Here is what I've learned:

1. More than one Barnes are "Barneses." (Keeping up with the Barneses.)
2. Anything belonging to one Barnes is "Barnes's." (Casey Barnes's wife.)
3. Anything belonging to more than one Barnes is "Barneses'." (We ate at the Barneses' house.)

Looks weird, but it's correct. http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/062501.htm
This concludes today's lesson. Hehe.

Love,

The Barneses