Gooo Lakers!

Truth: Basketball is fun.  Basketball is more fun, when your teams wins.

Chandler came home from school a couple of days after basketball registration and said, "My friend Trevor says he's going to put me on his basketball team.  His dad is the coach and gets to pick."  We couldn't have been more lucky.  Trevor's Dad and his assistant coach were fantastic, and the Lakers were just a great bunch of kids.  And, I swear, a few of the kids grew, like a lot over the course of the three months.

The Lakers lost one game and came in third place for the season.  At the end of the season there was a single elimination tournament, and the Lakers made it all the way; winning the championship!  The last two games were particularly intense.

Being on this team really helped Chandler with his confidence and aggressiveness.  When he started he would kind of get out of the way if someone else was playing near him in a , "Excuse me.  Oh, sorry," kind of way.  By the end of the tournament, he was ripping balls away from people, passing, rebounding, shooting and dribbling with confidence.  He made a lot of progress and we are really proud.

Chandler left the awards ceremony yesterday with three trophies: third place in season, first place in the tournament and the sportsmanship award.  Each coach picks someone from their team who showed exceptional sportsmanship.  We couldn't be happier for him to have had such a wonderful, positive experience with athletics.

Genevieve's First Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for our little lady this past Saturday.  It was very relaxed.  We had pizza, opened presents and ate cake.

Gigi liked the cake some, but soon enough she was just ready to get down and play.

Everyone loves baby Gigi!!  We love you!

Holding my Breath for Genevieve

*Sometimes I write blogs and, for whatever reason, they go unpublished.  This was written a couple months after Gigi was born and seemed appropriate to share on her first birthday*

Dear Genevieve,

Once your Dad and I left the Las Vegas temple and your dad held my hand and told me we would have a daughter and her name would be Genevieve.  It was a bright sunny December day and I cried.

I want you to know that before you were conceived we prayed for you by name.  That I sat in our empty bedroom and clung to your clothes and cried.  That sometimes I sat in that tiny bedroom and begged you to come to me.  And I fell often to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to send you to me because I couldn't stand the lacking.

I want you to know that your pregnancy was hard.

I want you to know even in the moment you were born, I held my breath.  My world stood still, and then you were finally here.  And you cried, and I cried, and I finally stopped holding my breath for you.  I want you to know that holding my breath for two years was a long time.

I want you to know these things because never in my life have a wanted something so badly.  Because someday I want you to know that we prayed, and fought, and lost, and tired again and again and again to get you here because we wanted you here.  Because we knew that you were supposed to be here.  Because you were our daughter before you were formed in my womb.  Because you were mine when you were only just a dream, a begging, and a prayer.

So I want you to know that we loved you before you were here, and we love you more each day.

Love,

Mom

Barnette Family Christmas

This year we spent Christmas at home just the five of us.  It was wonderful!  It took us all day to open all of our presents.  We had presents from Santa, cinnamon rolls, stockings, hunts, and gifts from Grandparents!  (It also took Brandon and I a long while and much gnashing of teeth to put together Sterling's hunt gift)

Merry Christmas!!!

Bass Pro Shop

We were told that the Santa at Bass Pro Shop was the best.  So, thinking it might be less crowded on a Wednesday night, we headed down there after work with the Wachs.  When we got there, they said they closed the line to make sure the people who had been waiting for the last THREE hours would get a chance to meet Santa before he left at 8:30.  So we hung around for about an hour, eventually they reopened the line and we only had to wait about 20 minutes.  We were really lucky it worked out great!

Plus, there were fun little games, lots of things to see, and a seriously serious fish tank!

They even give you a free picture with Santa, but Gigi was terrified and refused to sit anywhere near him..

A Friendly Christmas

When we met the Wachs and the Humphers there was just Chandler and Davy, and they were babies.  This past weekend there were 9 kids + Julie's one on the way!  Sometimes I look around and wonder how this is my life!  We had such a great "Friendly Christmas" this year, even if it's a little more crowded every year.

We ate ham, potatoes, carrots, jello, pie and ice cream pie!

....made sticker nativities

....exchanged gifts

... and Genevieve harassed baby Joy

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving 2015

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  We are especially thankful for family.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we hope you did too!

The boys had a pie baking contest.  Nathan purred a baked pumpkin, Brandon made apple dumplings, Dad searched a long time for actual key lime juice, and Adam's cheesecake won.

On Saturday we made turkey pizzas.  Which are not pizzas with turkey on them, but pizzas shaped like turkeys.  Except Adam made a dinosaur.

Today I put up the Christmas decorations!!  Happy Holidays, friends!