Improving Barbara

I don't actually have many pictures of me because I'm usually behind the camera and I don't like showing off my expanse. However this is a picture of me with Mother and you can see my "before" I decided I was really ready to start losing weight to improve my health and self confidence.

The above picture is of me on Mother's Day with my most beautiful Mother's Day corsage. Yellow roses (of course) provided by my loving daughter Lauren's family. They also sent a wonderful magnolia to Mother (Grandma) to wear. I feel loved!

This was my old hair style. Okay, the other profile picture of me was from years ago.

As a reward for having lost weight, 18.6 lbs at this point, I treated myself to a new haircut. I love it! If makes me feel better and Dad even loves it and says it makes me look younger. Yay!

This shows the back of said hairdo.

So that is me so far. A work in progress and, for the most part, enjoying my life right now.

Grandma's Brag Book

What can any grandma say about her grandchildren? I personally have 13 of the most handsome/beautiful, smart, talented, and all together amazing grandkids in the entire world. (Of course some of that has to do with their outstanding parents.) For the last 10 years I have been blessed with at least one grandchild a year and so here is my chance to show them off.


On the right is #1, Evan . He was born in 1997 and taught me how absolutely wonderful it is to be a grandma. I was blessed to be at his birth and as special and wonderful each of my kiddos are, there is something about being the first.
#3, on the left, is Adam born in 2000. Both of these fine young men are sons of Lauren and Mike.

#2 is Taylor , born in 2000, son of John and Amy.

#4 is Jonas, born in 2001. I wish I had a better photo, he was wearing an eye patch in this one. He is John & Amy's second.

#5 is Mason, born in 2002. John & Amy's third.

#6 is Brian, born in 2003 to Lauren & Mike.

#7 is Leah, born in 2004 to Frank & Tracy. If you will note, at that point my 3 youngest grandchildren were blonde, brunette, & redhead. Again, I wish I had a better picture.

#8 is Sullivan, born in 2005, to John and Amy.

#9 is Rebekah, born in 2006 to Frank & Tracy.

#10 is Alex, born in 2007 to Jon and Stephanie.

#11 is Jack, born in 2007, twin to Alex.

#12 is Carrington, born in 2008 to John and Amy.

#13 is John, born in May 2009 to Lauren & Mike. John wasn't due until the first part of August and weighed in at 3 lb 4 oz. At this time he is still in the hospital, but I feel confident he will be coming home by the time his due date arrives.

Well, there they are, 13 of the most wonderful children in the whole world and the absolute joy of their grandmother.

Update on Lisa

With basketball over, Lisa moved on to bowling. This is by far her favorite sport and the local Special Olympics group is able to offer bowling on most Saturdays. Three games each time, at no cost to the athletes. Grandma Haren always went with us to watch and cheer Lisa on.

March 25th, Lisa celebrated her birthday. We asked Uncle Cale, Aunt Diane, and the rest of the Haren clan to join us at a Mexican restaurant and then to come back home for cake afterward. Everyone came (Grandma, Cale, Diane, Tyler, his girl Tori, their baby Andrew, Jake, Autumn, Dad and me) Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me so we didn't get any pictures there. Uncle Cale suprised us by paying for dinner. It was a nice surprise! They also got Lisa her own basketball and some clothes. It was very good.

There was a local bowling tournament on May 9th. Bowlers from several counties came and there was a good turnout. The groups are made up of 4 bowlers with similar skill levels. Grandma and I went to watch and Lisa took the blue ribbon, first place, in her group. That's when we learned she would be going on the the State Special Olympics in Richmond for bowling.

Lisa brought home the bronze medal from the State Games. She left for Richmond on Friday morning, June 12th. There were all kinds of activities planned for the athletes and Lisa seemed to have had a great time. There was a dance on Saturday night after the games were over and after that they went back the dorms where they were staying and had a pizza party. She returned home on Sunday and enjoyed showing her medal to everyone here. I am so happy that we have a good Special Olympics program in this area.

Special Olympics Basketball

We love Special Olympics in this area!

I knew Lisa missed having any sports in South Carolina, but I didn't really appreciate how much until we came here and she has started participating again.

Basketball was first, starting shortly after we moved here. Here you can see Lisa particitating at one of her tournaments. I haven't figured out how to place the pictures the way I wanted but I will try to explain these.

First is Lisa with her two second place ribbons. She always wears each ribbon to church the Sunday after she gets them so the sisters in Relief Society can see them.

Second is "take the shot". Lisa is # 50 and is poised to get a basket.

Third is "defense!" Lisa is always very good at playing defense and trying to block the other players' shots.

Forth is "get the rebound!" Lisa plays "half-court" and really enjoys getting in there and playing hard.

The last is a good picture of Lisa in her uniform. She was unable to make it to the state tournament this year because of problems with her right ankle. She broke the same ankle twice in the past and because of the way it healed, it is causing her to suffer from arthritis and pain. (especially on cold and wet days) She is seeing an ankle specialist Doctor about this and hopefully will be able to participate in the full season next year.

Happy Anniversary! "We've Only Just Begun"

I just figured out how to use my scanner or I would have posted this on December 28th. This picture is 36 years old.

Thirty-six years ago the Carpenters were very popular and so I chose their song, "We've Only Just Begun", as the music to be played as Frank and I left the front of the chapel after being declared "Man and Wife". It has been one beginning after another and every time we end up starting over, we look at each other and sing that song.

We got married, Frank quit working, moved to El Paso, Texas, and I finished up my nursing degree. Then we moved to Mexico so he could go to medical school. We ran out of money four months later (the first of many times) and had to move back to the United States and eventually Virginia. Frank started working for the man he had sold his practice to originally, and we started growing our family. Each move bringing a smile and a chorus of "We've only just begun."

The years flew by, our family grew, Frank decided he wanted to go to Veterinary School and we sold his practice and moved to Blacksburg, Virginia. "We've only just begun" We ran out of money (again) and Frank went to work for Affordable Dentures, then opened his own office. (sing chorus) Our children grew, graduated, and married. Frank's health deteriorated. He had to close the doors of his office (we ran out of money). And I went to work in a Dialysis clinic in South Carolina (sing chorus). A little over 2 1/2 years later I quit work and we move back to Virginia (sing chorus).

Thirty-six years have come and gone, we now have 12 wonderful, handsome/beautiful, brilliant, etc., grandchildren and look forward to even more. It certainly hasn't been all smooth going, there have been some very rough spots and bumpy roads, but after all is said and done, we still deeply care about each other. So happy anniversary, sweetheart! Let's hope this new beginning will help us grow closer.

Such a Blessing!

It would be difficult to describe how proud and happy an new grandchild can make you feel. I was so very glad to be able to go to Carrington's blessing in Lynchburg on Nov. 30. Grandma really enjoyed getting to come along. How wonderful to see John & Amy and the boys, my beautiful new granddaughter, Stephanie & the twins, Katherine & Todd Dubyk, and the all of the Halpin clan. It's always good to visit with the Halpins and I am very thankful for their generous hospitality to all of us.

Dad didn't tolerate the trip very well. It took almost forever to try and get him ready to leave. We all poked and prodded, but he just would not be hurried. Of course that made us late to church and the blessing. We ran into the building just as they were calling the priesthood to the front for the blessing. I ran back to the truck and got Lisa and Grandma, but I missed most of the blessing. The part that I heard was beautiful. Carrington looked so very beautiful in the same blessing dress that Amy wore for her blessing! Dad never even got out of the truck and I got to walk Scooter (the dog) in the rain outside the church building. After church we headed over to the Halpin's for lunch and fellowship. Dad said he wasn't going to come in, he wanted to just head home, so Grandma, Lisa and I went in to enjoy the company. After a short while, Frank came stumbling in the front door. He had fallen trying to get up the front steps and had soiled himself. Bob & Sandy Halpin were kind enough to lend him some clothing and no one said a thing. Lunch was wonderful! Getting to watch the Schwartz and Dubyk boys play and getting to hold Carrington made the day awesome.

On the down side, it rained all the way home. Dad had to get out of the car to relieve himself and fell in a ditch filled with water. We were afraid to walk the dog in that mess, so twice the dog got very upset and ended up pooping on Dad. Hey, it wasn't the dog's fault we wouldn't stop! (Luckily it was solid enough to grab with a tissue and toss out the window) After we got home we realized Dad's suitcase had been left at the Halpin's. We called and they found it. Amy took it home with her & we made plans to go pick it up the next weekend. But that's another story....

Catching up...

Not having a computer for two months made it impossible for me to try and "keep in touch." Now I have gotten my early Christmas present of a beautiful new computer, I don't know where to start. I've decided to do several smaller blogs centered around specific themes, but I find that when I sit down and face a blank page my mind goes blank also. So here goes, I hope to do better at keeping this updated.

DOG GONE!
Well, Samson did it one last time... On Oct. 19th, I was going to take him for a walk and as I started down the driveway, Samson ran ahead and attacked my brother Cale's dog XS. XS got a grip on Samson's neck and started tearing away, I ran down the hill and tried to pull them apart. Not only was I now strong enough, Samson didn't have a collar on and I had no way to really pull him away. I was screaming at both dogs, they were really going at it, and I ended up knocked down on the ground (3 different times). Luckily Cale works from home on Mondays and he heard me and came out to help. It took both of us working very hard to separate the two dogs. I don't understand why a dog (Samson) would attack another dog (XS) when he has got to know he is going to get torn up. Anyway, the decision was made. Samson was the one who wouldn't play nice, therefor he was the one that had to leave. Dad was sooo upset, but saw that it had to be that way. I called our good friend Yvonne, who also has boxers, and she said she actually does boxer rescues. She found a wonderful home for our Samson and offered to drive up and pick him up on Saturday, Oct. 24th. We understand that Samson is doing very well and that helps some, but Dad didn't think he could stand not to have a dog. So, less than a week after we sent Samson away, we decided to go ahead and get another dog. I was able to talk Dad into "thinking small" and we went hunting for a small breed dog to fill the gap. On Oct. 31st we drove around to several shelters until we were able to find a mini-schnauzer pup. Dad wasn't sure he would like a little dog, but since he can't really get out to exercise a large dog, he is finding that a little dog stays a puppy forever. Scooter, our new "baby," needs a good bit of grooming, which Dad enjoys doing, he is snuggly and oh too cute. Best of all, he gets along with Uncle Cale's dogs. We have also found that he is able to travel with us, which is nice.