Jessica and Matt have a new son!

Beckham arrived this afternoon weighing 5 pounds 10 oz. He was in a hurry and came 3+ weeks early. Can't wait for pictures. Nanna Robin says he has lots of dark hair.

For No Reason

I am married to a wonderful man. For no reason he often brings home flowers for me. For no reason he will suddenly stop what he is doing when he hears romantic music so he can dance with me, oblivious to our surroundings weather it is in the kitchen or out in public. We like to hold hands while he is driving the car, and for no reason he will raise and kiss the back of my hand. He flies back and forth from California every week so that he can be with the family Thurs to Sunday nights, and does this without complaining. Every once in a while he carries 2 dozen roses on the flight to surprise me, for no reason. Last Sunday he prayerfully prepared to give annual father’s (and step father’s) blessing to 4 of our sons as the new school year started. He didn’t father Connor or Gabe, but he loves them as though he did; unconditionally and for no reason. Every Sunday he cooks a fabulous dinner, just because he likes to cook, and trust me the crowds come to eat his meals for good reason. He doesn’t get caught up into whose job it is to do housework, or yard work. We love to work together, and he pitches in to make beds, do dishes, vacuum or sweep, and still has a prize winning raised garden. You can see why I love him so much – for all the good reasons.

Alaska !

I have waited to post about our fabulous Alaska trip becuase I was making this video which says it all. Click on the arrow to play it and then click on the four arrows that look like a flower to make it play full screen. Enjoy!

Alaska Video

Alaska from Traci Barnes on Vimeo.

I love Luke's face in this picture!

July Birthdays

We have 3 birthdays in July, so we celebrated them all at once while we were lucky to have Nicole in town. Kara turns 21, Trevor 24, and Nicole 26.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Grass

One of the most stressful things about being single after my divorce was grass. In short, I am not fond of big machinery (riding lawn mowers), and sprinklers send me over the top on the anxiety scale. Don’t laugh, but these items have frequently been a matter of prayer for me. Learning how to use the sprinkler systems (of course the front yard is a different system than the back) and know what to buy at the hardware store to fix the broken heads was a huge achievement for me. I did know that I must fertilize the lawn every 2 months throughout spring and summer, and I was faithful about doing this. In fact, I secretly competed with the greenest lawn on the block, even changing to his brand of fertilizer in hopes of having the same green carpet. However, my lawn has always struggled with the ever present dandy lion and clover invasion. Last month while at Home Depot with my husband we purchased some weed and feed fertilizer and I promised to get it spread that week. He casually mentioned that the lawn needed to be wet in order to kill the weeds, and then not water it at all the next day. I was astounded. I had rushed to get fertilizer spread before the first big rain in the spring, thinking that the water would take the nutrients to the roots and help growth and greening. My husband patiently explained that it is a good thing to read the instructions. I spread the fertilizer according to my newfound knowledge and presto – green lawn and dead weeds (crabgrass is another story). I was thinking about how I had prayed for help with lawn stuff and never any revelation came, although I had prayed hard and listened to advice from the green thumbs. Do you suppose that he is smiling just a little at my stupidity for not reading the instructions? I glanced at my scriptures this morning and had the same impression… read the instructions.