Family Reunion Pictures

Here are some of the family/group pictures we took at the reunion. My dad, naturally, was the photographer.

Here are grandma and grandpa with their 20 grandkids.
McCune family picture. I love the picture, but was bummed we are squinting so much. We're definitely used to Oregon "sunshine":).

My wonderful siblings, spouses, and parents.
Cami & Nate, Kathryn & Glen, Kyle & Amyanne, my mom and dad, Brent & Alyson, Scott & Jana, Wendy & Alva.

We took pictures of all the grandkids from the same perspective/distance, so we could get their relative sizes. Then we turned them into magnets and made a set for each family to have. It has been fun having them on our fridge the last few months. Here are the grandkids, by family!

And, finally, here is the whole gang. All 34 of us! Yay for family reunions! I can't wait until the next one!

Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom & Dad Barney!

Today my parents celebrated 40 blissful years of marriage! Pretty amazing, I'd say.

On Labor Day, the family who live locally threw them a lavish 40th birthday party! No, actually, it was pretty low-key, but we had a wonderful time just being together. My parents were kind enough to host:). We played games in their backyard, had a BBQ lunch together, ate delicious ice cream cake (thanks, Jana!), and went swimming. Here are several of the grandkids surrounding Grandma and Grandpa as they prepared to open their presents. My sister-in-law, Kathryn, made an awesome card that everyone signed that said (on the cover) "All Because Two People Fell In Love", and inside was a picture of my mom and dad with all 20 grandkids at the reunion. Very fitting, I'd say!

Thanks, mom and dad, for the incredible examples you continue to be for us of love, fidelity, and total commitment to the Savior, the Gospel and one another.

We're looking forward to continuing the 40th Anniversary festivities in Hawaii with you in three short months! Woo hoo!

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

This last Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (Home of the Spruce Goose) in McMinnville, about 40 minutes from our house. One of mine and Kyle's friends from our Singles Ward days just happens to be the Director of Membership there. She also just happen to look at our blog after we posted about driving past the Museum on our anniversary getaway, and commented on how she could "hook us up"! We couldn't pass up this unbelievable offer (The tickets are not cheap!) and Saturday was the day. So, THANK YOU, thank you, Amy! We had a wonderful day. And while our kids aren't quite old enough to read and appreciate all the amazing information and incredible airplane/space flight collection they have there, they definitely enjoyed seeing the airplanes, seeing all the stuff about space, and taking advantage of the children-focused exhibits. I was pleasantly surprised how much they did have geared for young kids, too. It was all awesome and we came home with three exhausted kiddos.

Amy also got us tickets to see "Hubble 3D" at the OmniMax Theater there! That was incredible and the first 3D movie I've seen. Talk about making you ponder the "big picture" of life. It was awesome. Here we are in our cool 3D glasses:

Amyanne and Spencer unsuccessfully trying to get some thrust on the wind machine in the Kid Zone area.

Skyler flying solo!

All three kiddos; thank goodness they had three of these:). Spencer in front of the yellow airplane: his absolute favorite color.

They have an impressive play structure outside the Space Museum. We had lunch there, then let the kids play while we took turns going back inside to look at more exhibits.

The kids' loved this ride, also inside the Space Museum.

This statue is Captain Michael King Smith, son of Evergreen Aviation founder, and for whom the educational institute is named. Evergreen is an impressive company: they have their "finger" in so many different industries: nursery/farming, museum, international airline, vineyards, and I'm sure more that I don't know about. They seemed to be really focused on educating society and giving back to the community.

This rocket also goes two floors underground: you can go down and see the "rocket engines" (or whatever they're called; sorry I'm not more of an expert), and watch a space shuttle taking off from a re-created "Command Center." They are also planning to get one of the retired Space Shuttles from NASA soon! That will be fun to see.

A piece of the German Wall. I thought this was pretty amazing.

It was a fun filled day. Thanks again, Amy!

Kylene's Horse Club--A First!

A little background: last week and this, Kylene read her first official "chapter books". Two, cute readers about a first grader named Monty. In the first one, Monty decided he loved Kangaroos and wanted his own club. He wrote up his own rules and then had his first meeting, complete with his mom making refreshments.

Fast forward to this morning: we were talking about going to the library and she told me she wanted some books about horses. So while we were there, we went over to the non-fiction horse section and she randomly chose three or four that looked interesting to her. One of them was all about owning your own horse and taking care of it; the last page had a little, removable "certificate", saying that you are now an official member of the book's horse club. Flash of inspiration. Kylene decides she wants her own pony club. The rest of the afternoon is spent creating her "club", signs and other "membership" items for it, and discussing what will happen and who will be a part of it. (Just so you know, it's a "private" club, so only Kylene and her close friend, Rachel are invited! Nice.) Anyway, during dinner she said, "Mommy, I have a special favor to ask." Okay. "The next time we go to Winco, can we buy some special treats for our refreshments after our Horse Club meeting?" Hmmmm. Then after dinner, she asked me to write down some rules for her. Here is what she asked me to write, verbatim. (A few borrowed from Monty, keep in mind.)

RULES OF THE CLUB
1. Ride ponies whenever you see one and ask your mom.
2. Like ponies and take care of them if you have one.
3. Don't tell anyone about the club. (I had told her she couldn't exclude other friends if they were over to play with her and Rachel.)
4. Learn all you can about horses.
5. Always be kind to horses.
6. Listen and obey the officers. (This one definitely from Monty. "What are 'officers', mom?"!)
7. If you want, you can have another club. (Phew!)

Too cute. I guess because I remember all the "clubs" I made up with my girlfriends growing up, this is all very endearing to me. Thus it begins. My little girl is growing up!

Cape Kiwanda Visit-Barney Family Reunion

Growing up, the Oregon Coast beach my family frequented the most was Cape Kiwanda, located at Pacific City. Back in the day (I'm getting old!), it was a mostly undiscovered "treasure" of the coast. Now, it is a bustling place, but still wonderful: a fantastic beach, a "haystack" rock, and the awesome Cape to hike up and race down. I have great memories of renting beach houses here each December and of sledding and running down the dune. It's neat to see the natural changes to the dune as well.

Anyway, since our reunion was a short 30-minute drive from this wonderful, sentimental place, we decided to spend a full day there. Everyone packed their own sack lunch (quite the feat with 30+ people) and off we went. Here is the "gang" after we all conquered the mountain!

A few of my favorite shots. Skyler, once again, loving the sand; the men in their traditional race to the bottom; the spectacular Bald Eagle who hovered on the wind break right atop the dune for several minutes; another (partial) group shot on the beach; the McCune's braving the hill; and, Uncle Scott and boys flying the kite with the Cape in the background.

Everyone chose their "opponents" with whom to race down the hill. Aunt Cami, being the favorite aunt that she is:), went with the girl cousins! Kylene had been holding her hand, then told her she could do it by herself. The unfortunate results follow.

Upper left: the race begins, all is well; Upper right: major FACE PLANT!; bottom left: pick yourself up, pull the hair back, and continue; bottom right: mouth full of sand=huck a "loogy"! I hope you can see it in this picture. This just goes to show that my dad really did catch every important moment at the reunion! Poor Kylene, she handled the whole thing like a trooper, although I am sure it was pretty miserable.

A fun-filled day!