Pearl Harbor -- May We Always Remember!

One of the highlights of our trip was the day we spent at Pearl Harbor. What an incredible experience it was to see the memorials to those who died during the attack on December 7, 1941. Our first visit was to the USS Bowfin, a submarine nicknamed the Pearl Harbor Avenger. It was fascinating to go aboard and tour through the submarine. What a challenge it must have been to be aboard one of the many subs. It's such tight quarters! More than 50 subs were sunk during the course of the war.

Ken on the Bowfin

USS Arizona Memorial

Our second stop was to the memorial of the USS Arizona Battleship. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, a bomb hit the ammunition magazine, sinking the ship almost immediately. Most of the entire crew of 1400 went down with the ship (1177). It was never raised and the memorial is now positioned over the sunken battleship. In spite of the number of tourists who traveled over by boat, there was a hush as we all walked through the memorial. In your heart, you knew you were walking in a sacred place.

Our last stop was to the USS Missouri, the site of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay which ended WWII. We were able to walk the decks and see where the treaty was actually signed. From one end of the ship you can see the Arizona memorial. They call the Arizona and the Missouri the "bookends" because the one signaled the beginning and the other represents the end of WWII.

As we walked through the various memorials, we were very humbled and felt such gratitude to those who fought for our freedom, not only during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but for those who fight for us even today. We are truly blessed!

Taken from the deck of the USS Missouri
with the USS Arizona in the distance.

Aloha!

After a fabulous trip to the lovely Hawaiian Islands, we are back! As you can probably guess, we had a wonderful time but are glad to be back home. When I've had a little time to put my thoughts and pictures together, I'll share some highlights! Lots of love to you all!

We Have Grass!!!

After many long and hard working hours, our backyard was finally ready for grass. This time we decided to break tradition and go for sod rather than seeding. Early yesterday morning a crew of family and neighbors came and an hour later . . . we had grass!!! It seems so strange to look out the kitchen window and actually see green stuff. :-) Thanks so much to all of our many helpers but especially to my hard-working husband who has spent countless hours getting ready for this day!

Video of the Firing!

Courtesy of Linda and her camera!

ATK Test Firing

WOW!

What an exciting afternoon! ATK was test firing the 5 stage motor that is to take Ares I into space. Grandma Barker, Linda, Turley and Justin all came up to watch. Arriving almost an hour early, we were part of the first wave of thousands of spectators who came to see this historic motor test. It was as spectacular as we expected and then some!

M&M Fun!

Ok, it's the wee hours and I'm having some trouble sleeping. Thought I'd try out my new found knowledge about inserting video clips by sharing my favorite M&M commercial:

Have a great day!

A Few Summer Highlights!

What a great summer! There have been too many wonderful moments to name them all, but I can't resist mentioning a few top highlights!

New Missionaries! I consider May the beginning of the summer so we'll start there. It was wonderful attending the Mission farewell for Sheryl & Norman! I'm so thrilled over the incredible experiences they are having. My prayers are with them every day!

Sheryl & Norman in Kirtland

The new Star Trek movie opened in May!

Sun Room! We finally finished the framing and siding on our sun room!!! Actually, I probably should clarify that statement. The wonderful crews we hired finished the outside of our sun room. There's a lot to finish on the inside but all in due time! :-)

Barker Family Reunion! I love my family very much and feel extremely privileged to be part of this wonderful extended family! We had a great party in June at the Ogden Nature Center. It was great seeing everyone!

Jim, Tom & Glenna

Some of the Barker clan

Game nights! It's wonderful getting together around the table and playing games. It's great when one of our "families" can come by to play but sometimes in the evening, Kevin and I will relax and play a few games together.

Addie stacking the game pieces

Game night with John's family

New York Trip! Our trip was definitely at the top of the list of summer highlights! In fact, the time went by too quickly. We loved visiting with Marian and Randal in their home, visiting some of the Church History sites, playing games, spending time with our grandchildren and generally enjoying ourselves! :-)

Adelaide and the pink flower that
Grandpa bought for her Mom

Rice Krispie Treats! We had a great visit from Marian and her children, Ethan and Adelaide! We were sad to see them go home and would gladly have kept them longer. While they were here, Ethan and I had great fun making Rice Krispie treats. In fact, we made them three times! Every time we got them made, they suddenly vanished! :-)

RICE KRISPIE TREATS
1/4 c. regular margarine or butter
6-10 oz. marshmallows (about 40 regular or 4 c. mini's)
5 c. Rice Krispie cereal

Melt margarine in a 3 qt. saucepan. Add marshmallows and cook over very low heat, stirring constantly until marshmallows are melted and mixture is syrupy. Remove from heat.
Add Rice Krispies and stir until well coated. Butter your hands and then press warm mixture firmly into 13x9 pan. Cut into squares when cooled.

Sewing! My cutting mat and sewing machine really got a workout this summer. I spent one day sewing beach bags with some of my grandchildren which was really great fun! And Marian and I spent several days cutting out "nativity" costumes for both of us. What a lot of work that turned out to be! Now we just need to sew them together! :-)

Ethan, Kimberly, Alicia, Natalie & Addie with their beach bags

Bear Lake! After two canceled rainy weekends, the weather finally cooperated and allowed us to enjoy our annual day at Bear Lake.

Alicia, Kevin & Rebekah
building sand castles

Justin, Dana, Natalie, John & Tammy relaxing in the water

Ken shooting off the
water gun at Justin!

Justin and the kiddie life preserver :-)






New Grand-daughter! This summer we celebrated the birth of a new grand-daughter! Lillian Janell was born in July and is definitely a choice little spirit. I feel privileged that we share a name! I'm certainly reminded that I need to live my life so that she will never be ashamed of the name she was given.

Lillian on her blessing day

I have a little plaque on my kitchen windowsill that reads "Nothing is worth more than this day!" I'm so very grateful for all the "days" in my life. I am truly blessed!

Technilogically Challenged!

Just when I think I've taken a step into this technological world of ours, something happens to remind me how little I really understand. We've recently had to change our wireless cell phone service which meant we had to have new phones. After more than a year I'd just barely begun to figure out some of the features on my old phone, but I had become fond of the calendar feature that let you schedule future events and then set off a reminder alarm. My new calendar feature is pretty different and I've spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how it works. Apparently not enough time! In the early hours of the morning (12:30 AM, to be exact) my phone alarm began ringing loudly to remind me of an appointment. It was actually pretty comical as Ken and I both tried to wake up enough to figure out what was going on and where I'd laid the phone when I went to bed. As you've probably guessed, the appointment was really for 12:30 PM and after finally silencing the phone, we wearily crawled back to bed. :-)

Silence is Golden - Part 2

Some of you may remember a time a few months ago when tragedy struck and took out our Satellite and DVR. Much to my dismay, I'd lost the opportunity to watch one of the earliest silent vampire films, Nosferatu. I've looked for it to be shown again, but no luck. (sigh)

Just before leaving for New York, luck was with me! While shopping at a local outlet store, there was a copy of Nosferatu for only $1.99! I had to buy it and have been waiting patiently to watch it. Justin had told me that if it came on again, he would watch it with me so today I let him in on the good news! :-) He gamely smiled and said of course, he'd watch it with me. Then, with a sly grin on his face, he said "I know . . . why don't you bring it down to my place so we can watch with my surround sound!" Hmmmm . . .