One big happy scheme

The holidays make me crave home. I don't want to travel during the holidays, I just want to be with all those fun people I love so much at home. Living so far away doesn't help. So I devised a self-serving scheme after our huge family Christmas Skype call - why not have a monthly FHE together on Skype?!

I had visions of a beautiful Family Home Evening that happened once when I'd been home after college. Our lesson turned into a testimony meeting, the Spirit was strong as we shared our feelings about the Gospel and I felt so close to them. These 9 wonderful siblings of mine were all grow'd up and my parents' testimonies resonated deeper. Time gets away from us so quickly! I long to hear about the experiences that are shaping their souls, to know them deeper than our goings on because I love them so much. And now we have so many new spouses in the Bare Bunch that I want to know better too!

So we did it yesterday, complete with Mom getting out the calendar for graduation dates this spring!

We prayed, sang Popcorn Popping, everyone shared a happy moment from their week. Sure there were technical difficulties here and there and I'm not good at leading meetings, but the end result was just what I had hoped. Sharing of testimonies happened and hearts were touched.

Our lesson was from the Preach My Gospel manual - God is our loving Heavenly Father. I had felt impressed earlier in the week to ask my dad and my brother-in-law to share part of their conversion stories pertaining to this. It was wonderful, simply wonderful. My brother-in-law was first and I have to say he made my day and my tear ducts go to work! I haven't gotten to know him very well yet but knew from my sister who married him and my parents, how much he loves the gospel. I only know the gregarious guy who adores my sister and it was so lovely to see into his soul. It makes me so happy for Brooks, like teary happy! All day long today!

John spoke of the warmth of Heavenly Father's love he was encompassed in as he was taught by the missionaries at age 12. How he felt that warmth as he continued on the gospel path through baptism, going to the temple, serving a mission, and being married in the temple to my sister. His heart was so soft, like a big teddy bear and I just wanted to hug him!

Dad's testimony was wonderful, he can always get me to cry! My dad joined the church in his early twenties after investigating other faiths and dating my mom who was LDS. He talked about an experience during this time with his brother on a motorcycle and pleading prayers to Heavenly Father for their safety and that they wouldn't be pulled over by the police because of the likely consequences. "But, sure enough . . ." they were stopped by a cop. But that cop happened to be an old high school buddy of the brother's and was able to sternly warn him of the gravity of his poor choices like probably no one else could have. My Dad's testimony of our loving Heavenly Father has grown through experiences where he's put the doctrines, commandments, and principles of the gospel into practice and seen them bear fruit.

My testimony was of our Heavenly Father's greatest gift - his Only Begotten Son who paid the price for our sins, conquered death and allows us to return to our loving Heavenly Father. I shared how just that morning McKay had hopped back into the van unasked to let Morgan out of her car seat when she hollered at being left. Because he loved her. Morgan was stuck and her older brother came to her rescue so she could go home just as our Savior did for us. We are so blessed to be so loved.

And then we sang "I Lived in Heaven" and I cried some more as my boys, my nieces' and nephew's voices sang out. I'm sorry, but it just couldn't be beat - I'm still on a high days later! But wait, Dad had an activity! Get a balloon, stand on one foot and you must keep the balloon in the air with just one hand! Catch 20 people doing that at once on Skype and you've got quite a show!

Thanks everyone for being such great sports with my scheme!!!

A quiet Christmas

We enjoyed a nice quite Christmas here at home all snowed in. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts although we won't mention some that felt trumped by another's gift idea ;)

My newest, most favorite chocolate confection. This is a horrible picture, but I didn't get another before they were devoured over the past week. So imagine with me . . . an outer dusting of bitter chocolate gives way to a melt-in-your-mouth cool chocolate truffle the likes of which I have never known better! After Ryan brought a sampling of them home from the Tubingen Chocolate Festival, I just had to track down where they might be sold locally! Mission accomplished!

A much needed addition to Ryan's warm weather attire.

Easton's gifts were literary or game oriented like this Sonic action figure.

Morgan is a great mommy to her newest doll that slurps and giggles like a baby should. It was love at first sight! Now if I could just smudge my wardrobe choice out of the picture I'd be pleased as punch.

McKay has been begging for a bow and arrow and was so excited!

He's become a good shot at things on the backs of doors in the apartment.

On Christmas Eve we acted out the Nativity with the following cast:

Easton - Narrator, Angels and Star

Morgan - Mary

Daddy - Joseph & donkey

McKay - Shepherds

Mom - Wisemen

All went well until the Shepherd tried to hold baby Jesus. Mary is quite possessive and doting in our version.

One of the highlights of our day was the big Bare video conference via Skype!

How fun to see almost all my siblings and hear about their Christmas - even my brother Matt serving his LDS mission in Brasil!

Alright, now down to business -- our recent trip to Istanbul!

Go Luke, GO!

{Thank you www.tri-cityherald.com}

That's him in red on the left, #56! Sorry poor white #2, you're goin' down!

My brother's high school football team is heading to the State Championship game this week! How exciting is that?! My folks say they've got a good shot at winning with a good coach and great depth as a team.

{And thanks again, www.tri-cityherald.com}

I so wish I could be there in his cheering section! But I'll have to leave that to the professionals, like my sister Abby here in all her curly, enviable ringlet accessorized glory! Go Kamiakin Braves! Watch out Bellevue! The Bares are comin' to town!

Here's a picture of the big guy without the helmut. Not so menacing holding a baby is he?! Look at that handsome guy! And that's my cute sister Lorry and her pink bundle of joy, Katelyn, in Luke's hulking arms. (Apparently Luke's discovered two things the chicks dig -- guys with puppies and guys holding babies!) Watch out world!

A Skyped Wedding Reception

Would you wake up at 4:30am for a wedding reception? Sure! If your brother's can be partaken of via Skype! But I wish I'd thought about the two-way video because I wasn't ready to make appearances in my jammies, no makeup, and bedhead! What a way to meet the in-laws who are dressed to the nines! Ah well, this is me!

With a nine hour time difference, the sun was rising here in Germany while it was setting back in Kennewick. Morgan was my alarm even though I'd set my watch. Chris and Ben oversaw the technical details of getting me live video and sound. YAHOO!!! It was a beautiful reception, probably my favorite thus far with the round hanging lanterns and lights strung. Hopefully someone will send me pictures soon so I can post a few.

I even got to chat with the newlyweds, Nick and Christine, right before they drove off to a sparklers send-off. Christine was a classic beauty and Nick was handsome as ever. Good thing he was the guy in the vest, otherwise we joked Christine could have grabbed the wrong Bare boy since they've all got the "Amber special."

I wish all families could be so blessed with such an artistic jack-of-all-trades sister/daughter-in-law. I keep saying that when I grow up I want to be as talented as Amber! She designed the invites and save the dates, made many of the decorations by hand, cut all the boys' hair the night before (up til 3am I think doing the Amber Special!), ran with Nick to get better lookin' shoes the day of the wedding . . . every family getting married needs her! I hope some day she can run a wedding planning company for she is simply GIFTED!!! And she's produced some of the cutest toeheads with some help from my brother Chad.

I fought back unexpected tears at the sight of my siblings, dad, and Grandpa Bob. Our family is so funny about being together. We can chat about nothin' forever and laugh our heads off! We just really like gathering in one spot to be together. At any given time, there were at least three of my siblings and/or their spouses in front of the webcam. That's love! I felt a little bad taking them away from the reception. I must say, so much growing up is going on all at once for us Bares! A snapshot, in order for your benefit:

Mom & Dad - New puppy, last wedding for at least a couple years. In eight years, they've had seven kids get married! I could list a lot here, they amaze me!
Me & Ryan - 3 kids, living in Germany and trying to see as much of Europe as we can!
Chad & Amber - 1 son, 2 daughters, managing work and school, new puppy. ID Falls.
Brooks & John - Buying their first home and getting their first puppy. Bend, OR.
Chris & Tricia - New business and first baby boy due in November. DC area.
Ben & Elizabeth - School and work! Gotta catch up more with them. USU.
Nick & Christine - Newlyweds today! A bit of school left. BYU-I.
Lorry & David - He graduated, she's got a semester left, Miss Straight A's! BYU-I.
Matt - Leaves in September to serve a two year mission in Brasil.
Abby - New driver, logging the most babysitting hours ever, still has the best hair in the fam!
Luke - Turns 14 in a couple weeks. Loves football and is growing up way too fast!

A little after 8am we called it quits. I was exhausted and went back to bed after seeing to a few chores. Thank you, Ryan! Families are such a great blessing! It got me thinking a lot about weddings and those life events that draw us together. I sure am glad technology makes it easier to get in touch as we each spread our wings.

Oh yes, and before I forget, our favorite Kid-Speak today was . . .
McKay: "Maa-sketti" is spaghetti.
Easton: "Pop-skitto" is popsicle and "bi-skitto" is bicycle.

Sleepless in Stuttgart

A note: This was written last Wednesday before our Paris trip where complete exhaustion from tromping all over the City of Lights with children made uninterrupted sleep a non-issue.

Day three of three hours or less sleep per night. This is not good. Here I sit on one of the kids' bean bags in the kids playroom at 5:45am. I have been awake since 2:30 and just now gave up the fight for sleep.

This fretful night I got the full onslaught of nature's call, leg cramps, hungry Morgan all one after the other between midnight and 2:30am. There's currently more than three post-it notes brimming with scribbles so I could "let go" and try to catch some zzzzz's. I was close to sleep at 4am when Easton woke up having wet the bed. Fabulous.

I tried reading which almost worked, although I'm to the part of "Life of Elizabeth I" where Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots is finally beheaded for decades of plotting against Queen Elizabeth. As I was dozing off, I turned off the lamp and closed my book which activated my brain. Oh why couldn't I just let myself doze off?!!! Then Ryan started snoring due to allergies and the game was up.

So what keeps me awake once I'm awake? Manic brain activity. I think of things to add to my To Do lists. Errands to run. Stuff around the house I want to conquer and how like an herb garden and more flowers, better filing system, clutter free drawers, fix the plugged-up kitchen sink, what to pack for Paris trip tomorrow! Stuff I'd love to blog about because I'm having clarity on a topic or two, or seven but I know my time today will be all too finite.

I think the greatest amount of my thoughts which also produces the most anxiety is how my mind drifts from person to person I know and love. People I really want to call or email to let them know I'm thinking of them, admire them, love them, have burning questions relating to their awesomeness. My parents, grandparents, other relatives, Ryan's family, old friends, new friends, personal notes I want to write to my kids or about my kids.

I think a lot about each of my brothers and sisters and their spouses. I want to know what they're up to because I love them so much and think of each of them daily. I'm so glad a few have blogs now and with Matt soon to go on a mission to BRAZIL, that means regular email updates from my folks! YAHOO!!! I'm so sad I'm going to miss Nick's wedding in August!!! Take a look at these family pictures: 2001, 2006 Reid family reunion, and last summer 2008 at the double reception for Brooks & John and Ben & Elizabeth. Man, we've grown! Ben was on his mission, but compare it with last summer!
We're all getting so growed up, it's amazing and so exciting to me! Soon six of us ten will be married! Chad and I both have three kids a piece now . . . anyone besides Chris and Tricia adding to the Bare Bunch??? Married college kids, a missionary, high school busy bees. I often think of where each of my siblings are in their lives, what I was doing/thinking/being challenged by at that time in my life, and what they might be up to now. Stop keeping me awake guys! Sheesh!

But someone I've thought of almost every day for months and months and months now is my Grandpa Bob. He's probably the smartest person I'm directly related to. I always want to ask him his opinion on this whole economic crisis although I don't even feel like I grasp it enough to ask the questions that will satisfy my desire to understand his wisdom. Since I listened to James Bradley's two books "Fly Boys" and "Flags of our Fathers", I've had so many questions I'd love to ask about this chapter in his life and how the WWII era affected him then and shaped him into who he has become. I'd like to know what it was like to live in DC around the Watergate era. I want to sit around and hear him talk about our family history work he has done so much of. How all the technology, politics, culture and what not have changed over the years and what he thinks about it all. The life he's lived has seen so many advancements and decay, I find it intriguing!

I want to say how much I love and admire who he is and how he is caring for the love of his life, my Grandma Honey. She doesn't quite know who he is all the time anymore which has made for some cute stories mom has told me of their conversations. How would it be to go through this? Ryan and I hope we're there for each other like this as we grow old together. Most of my favorite childhood vacation memories are of our visits to Tillamook. It will be a sad day when they leave that house of dreams (for a grand-daughter who doesn't have to keep it up and running), but I haven't been able to visit in forever and so much there has changed.

The memories will last forever and I'm so grateful for them! The tree swings, playing dress-up in the garage with cousins, walking to the bridge beyond the cow pastures, our salamander circus, forts in the woods, visits to great grandma Reid's picking berries or looking for beaver dams, being beaten at every board game by Grandpa Bob, driving to town in the Mercedes to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice cream, 4th of July fireworks on the beach, clam digging early in the morning - - it was so idyllic! Good thing I never really ran away from home because I would have landed on their door just begging to live on the porch. Don't worry, I'd have shared with the raccoons.

I love you, Grandpa Bob! Wish I could join everyone headed your way for the 4th of July!