Steph+Lars=STARS: 2013

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Barlow Stars Christmas Card 2013

The Barlow Stars 2013
We had a grand old time this year, as we continue to do always. :) The highlight of the year had to be the purchase of our first home, which means we are officially staying put in West Jordan, UT for a long while. We all continue to keep on living the dream…

Lars continues his hard work for EMC. He also serves as the assistant to the ward mission

leader in our Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When he isn't busy

being a SUPER Dad and husband; he is playing darts, working on various projects around the

house and yard, helping his Mom, and continuing editing his book.

Stephanie still works for Ricoh but is now based permanently at one of their client offices,

which she enjoys very much. She is serving as the Young Women President in our Church and

also became a health coach for Take Shape for Life, a program she used to get fit and lose

over 50 lbs this year! Both of these keep her very busy but also provide a lot of fun. When

Stephanie isn't busy being a SUPER Mom and wife; she is cooking, crafting, working in the yard,

exercising, and spending time with family and friends.

Roan…This kid seriously continues to bring the most joy to us with each passing day. He loves

to give hugs and kisses and hams it up for his family around the dinner table. Roan loves to help

with everything from cooking with Mom in the kitchen to holding tools for Dad. When he isn't

busy being a SUPER son; Roan loves to play with his cars, trucks, Legos, ball, lights, and

anything that goes. He also loves to make his parents toast for breakfast and sing songs.

We are grateful for all we have and the wonderful memories that were made this year.
We look forward to the future goals and dreams we will be reaching for and the memories we
will make along the way. We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a jolly New Year!!
Love,
Lars, Stephanie, & Roan Barlow
Please enjoy our year in review slideshow.
For more detailed fun please visit our blog
http://barlowstars.blogspot.com/

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Business Stephanie

Thanksgiving week was really awesome for me. Things have been super fast and busy lately I was really looking forward to a break from it all. I was supposed to work for an hour the day after Thanksgiving but I was able to trade. I am so glad I did. Work has been crazy and I have been pulling in OT here and there. I even had to work late on Thanksgiving Eve. I feel like I have been working from one thing to the next and have only been in business mode with everything. I could feel that I was needing a break and just needed to stop doing everything and breath and take part in the moment. SO that is what I did. I didn't work, I put all of my church responsibilities on the back burner, I even tried to steer clear of social media. I just focused on me and my little family.

For Thanksgiving we hosted Lars' Mom's family at our house. Then we went to my brothers house for dessert. Everything was really chill and relaxing. Then for the rest of the holiday weekend we seriously did nothing but be awesome together. We stayed home and worked in the yard. I pulled out some of my art supplies and did some water color painting while Roan was napping. I haven't done that in years and I loved it. I cleaned the house a bit and got a few minor things prepared for Christmas like our decorations. We also went shopping at the mall together and it was really not packed at all which was weird. I guess we got lucky on that one.

Best of all time just went really really slow. That was my favorite part of the break. I was having fun and it was lasting forever. I didn't want to come back to work. Things have been pretty busy since then but I got rested and am renewed and working on focusing on the little moments rather than being in business mode all the time. That alter personality of mine is cool but not as cool as keeping it real Stephanie. Let's hope the latter will make more of an appearance.

We made cookies and it was awesome
(Seriously these are Lars' cookies and they are amazing)

Roan loved them

Fun Decorations

Thanksgiving Day

Roan played by himself a lot too and I loved it. He is super cute.

Lucky to Get Used to It

Gosh I am so lucky to live near my family. We are within a few minutes of 2 of my brothers, one of my cousins, 3 of Lars' cousins, and one of his Aunts. I love being near family but I have a confession...it is taking some getting used to. That sounds bad, but it is by no means meant to. I don't mean it in the dramatic sense. Thankfully all of my siblings and cousins are older and mature enough than we used to be to keep the drama out of our lives. I love that too because I myself was very dramatic back in the day. That doesn't mean I am not now, only difference is that I try to be dramatic when it counts rather than over stupid stuff. Anyway, I love being near family but you have to understand....Lars and I have come to be very independent since having lived away from family for 4 years. We learned to make do on our own and kept our families in the loop on a needed basis. And it worked because it was life...then. Our support system then was our wonderful group of friends, and they still are there to help us no matter what or where because some friendships just don't have any distance. I could live on the moon and these folks would still be there for hugs and love. Now we have family surrounding us. Wonderful family that are here and more than willing to help when we need them. The idea of calling them up and having them hop over for simple thing like fixing a car, babysitting Roan, or just to hanging out is something I am getting used to. Again, not in a bad way, just getting used to the idea that Lars and I don't have to be as independent anymore. We CAN let people into our lives more and we CAN put ourselves out there to help them in return. We have more opportunities to grow our relationships and to serve. It is actually a wonderful thing and something I am super grateful for. On Sunday I attended a small get together with a few of these family members. I thought about all of this as I was driving home. I am so grateful to be surrounded by family and even more grateful that I AM lucky to be getting used to it and loving it.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Random Standom Stuff

We have been sick on and off for the last few months. This last time was the worst.

I got all caught up on tv watching and stuff.

Roan got caught up on a lot of sleep

We are feeling better now. O MAN I hope we able to stay healthy through the holidays.

Check out the above flowers that bloomed in my yard. It is almost winter and my yard has flowers blooming. It is crazy.

Then I got this heart shaped chip in my bag the other day. I hope it is a good omen or something.

These ladies are awesome. They are my counselors in the Young Women's presidency for my ward.

We have a lot of fun together...as you can tell.

I got a new coat and some really awesome gloves and a scarf. :)

And I got a hair cut

Anyway, this is mostly just a post with some stuff I wanted to note and remember. Have a happy day!

Leaves

We have raked leaves many times in our yard over the last few months. Here are some fun shots we got.

Roan had so much fun running in and out of the pile and enjoyed falling down in it too.

Pumpkin Patch

On our last day in CA we went to the Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch with Stacey and Marly and kids in tow. There were a ton of Irvine Mommy Club ladies there. We had a lot of fun exploring and letting the kids run wild.