About Me

I have had a few requests to do a post About Me and my life. This is going to be a long one...so, get ready to read and stick with me, as it can get confusing =)

I have a complicated Family Tree as I come from a "blended family." Which means my parents got divorced when I was about 3 years old. At that time my Mom was only about 26 years old...she had 4 kids all 5 years old and younger. I can't even imagine how she felt and all she went through with 4 little kids on her own. Becky (5), Emily (4), Barbara (3) and Russell (1).
  

Left to right: Barbara (5), Becky (7),  Russell (3), Gayla (Mom) and Emily (6).

This was 1980 at our home in Glenwood. Our cat Boots is in this picture as well...poor cat ha ha!

 My mom had made our matching dresses for us. I remember loving that we all had matching dresses on. 

My sisters and I. 

I can't get over how much I think Brynley looks like me in some of the pictures. In the bottom right picture I had to double take at myself, as to me, I see a lot of resemblance there. If you click on the pictures they will open up larger so you can see them better.

In the beginning...

I was born in Cardston, but we lived in Glenwood at that time. My full name was Barbara Colleen Anderson. I don't have any "baby" pictures. This is the smallest picture of me I can find.

My Mom named me after 2 of her dear friends whose names were Barbara. My middle name Colleen is the same as my Mom's middle name...Gayla Colleen. We were both named after the first Mormon Miss U.S.A. whose name was Colleen Hutchins (click on her name and it will take you to a page about her) back in 1952 (the year my Mom was born). 

 Miss U.S.A. 1952 Colleen Hutchins

I had 2 older sisters who were only 2 years old (Becky) and 15 months old (Emily) when I was born. By the time Russell was born I was only 20 months old. So we were all really little...and there was 4 of us!

left to right: Becky, Emily and Barbara  

I am not sure how old we all are in these picture.

 

left to right: Russell, Barbara, Emily and Becky 

left to right: Emily (5 1/2), Barbara (4), Becky (7) and Russell (2 1/2)

My Mom married my step Dad Terry on November 6, 1981. He had 4 kids of his own from his previous marriage (his wife Linda had passed away.) Cynthia (15), Deborah (13), Ben (10), and Tessa (7).

My step Dad (39) is 10 years older than Mom (29) and now they had 8 kids all under one roof.

From left to right: Tessa 7 (step sister), Ben 10 (step brother), Deborah 13 (step sister), Cynthia 15 (step sister), Terry Holt 39 (step Dad), Gayla Woolf Holt 29 (Mom), Becky 8 (sister), Emily 7 (sister), Me 6 (Barbara), Russell 4 (brother).

I remember when Mom and Dad got married and the feeling of excitement. I had 4 new siblings and a new Dad, new home...life was great! Now that I am older I have learned that Terry's kids (my step siblings) didn't feel the same way...not even close! There situation was VERY different from mine. They had lost their Mom so this marriage was not a happy thing for them. 

I was now the 6th daughter and # 7 in a family of 8 kids....second youngest. I looked up to all my sisters. I just wanted to be with them, be like them and use their stuff ha ha...that NEVER went over so well. There was lot's of fighting, but lot's of fun and laughter...at least that is what I remember.

This is the home I grew up in from when I was 6 years old-17 years old. It doesn't show all of the house, but most of it. This was "home" for me. It would be neat to go in there now to see it since it has been so many years now. My parents moved out of this house the end of 1993 I think.

I grew up in Cardston, AB. I had a happy childhood. Lot's of cousins always around to play with and back then we played outside 99% of the time. We had to use our imagination and explore and play...I have the greatest memories! Our trampoline was our best outside toy...we were always on it and yes, there were a few broken arms from all the double bouncing we did ha ha! I was NOT one of them thank goodness :)

Left to right back row: Dad, Mom, Cynthia, Deb, Ben, Becky, Emily

Left to right front row: Tessa, Barbara, Russell

This family picture was done in order of age.

Memories of me as a child...
As a child I would lock myself in the bathroom and stand on the tub so I could see myself in the mirror and I would sing and dance and act like no one could hear me but me. I would do this ALL the time! When I would come out my siblings would tease me and I remember just acting like I didn't know what they were talking about ha ha! I wanted to be a singer and a dancer...nope, can't do either of those =)


I was "an animal lover" and would bring home anything that crossed my path. I had pet chickens, calf/cow, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats and dogs...there were many! I wanted to be a Veterinarian...that was until my Mom explained to me that a Veterinarian usually also had to hurt the animals to help them...then I was out and no longer wanted to be that LOL!   Anything that crossed my path got picked up and brought home with me.

Playing Barbies and Paper Dolls was some of my favorite things to play with. I seriously played with them until I was 12 years old...very different world back then. 


Barbie was my nickname and I often got my cheeks pinched...just for the record I HATED that! My Uncle pinched my cheeks EVERY time he saw me. I don't like being called Barbie anymore, it makes me cringe. When I go to Cardston to visit and I run into someone from my past and they call me "Barbie" it is usually someone from Glenwood as that is what they all called me and knew me by.



My Dad, Ken Anderson also got remarried to a lady named Linda Marsden. Linda was more like a big sister and we adored her. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better "Step Mom." She treated us so well and we had a lot of fun with her. I am still close with her even though her and my Dad are no longer married (I will get into that later...)
  
We went up to my Dad's house every other weekend to be with him. He lived in Cardston up on the East Hill at that time.  My Dad and Linda had 5 kids together...Cameron, Neal, Tiffani, Whitney and Drew. It was really exciting having these younger half siblings. I loved babies and we babysat them a lot. 

This is an old picture as now the youngest boy Drew is coming home off his mission in May.The 3 oldest are married and the 2 older boys have kids as well.

Left to right: Cam, Linda, Whitney (she is the one with red hair), Tiffany, Neal and Drew.

So here is the quick run down if you are lost...

I have 3 biological siblings- Becky, Emily and Russell

4 Step siblings- Cynthia, Deborah, Ben and Tessa

5 Half siblings- Cameron, Neal, Tiffani, Whitney and Drew.


Recap

• My Mom and my biological Dad divorced when I was about 3 

• My Mom got married to my step Dad (who I call Dad as he raised me) when I was almost 6 years old.

• My biological Dad has been married 3 times...1st to my Mom, then to Linda and presently he is married to Carol. He is one lucky guy as he has been married to 3 GREAT ladies!!

 ...are you still with me?

This is my biological Dad and his wife Carol.

This is an old picture as well, but again, it is all I could find.

My biological Dad and I have more like a "distant relative" relationship if you know what I mean...in other words I don't know him very well, nor does he know me really. We talk MAYBE once or twice a year and that is about it. Am I good with that? Yes, I am at peace with my "biological" Dad and our relationship...or the lack there of. It took me a few years of being angry with him and not understanding how you could have so many kids and not be apart of their lives. I have learned to not have any expectations of him and if he happens to call or send a letter than great. 

Explaining my complicated family was a hard thing to explain to anyone let alone my boys. As they have been growing up they had a lot of questions like, why do I have 2 Dad's and why Uncle Drew has a different Mom than me and he is my brother LOL etc...I am not sure if Tyson really gets it all yet as it is just too confusing. Cole understands it all now that he is older. 

Someone once asked me,
 

"do you ever wish you had a "normal" family, like your real Dad and Mom together?" 

And to that I laughed and said NOOOOOO!!! Because then I wouldn't have the siblings I have and the relationships that I have made with all his wives :) and life would be boring to say the least ha ha!! Seriously I have learned to have a sense of humor in all things as you just have to. But really...what is a "normal" family anyways?? Is there really such a thing. I tell ya, our family has put the FUN in disFUNctional!! ha ha. I love my family! Do we all get along all the time...nope, not even as adults. Frustrating as that is, it is all part of being a family and working things out.


My Mom and Dad have been married for 29 years now...this November will be their 30th Anniversary!! They have been wonderful parents and they have been through A LOT. They are great examples as to how to live your life, raise your kids, endure all things and be happy! 

Thanks Mom and Dad...LOVE YOU!!

Kick Boxing Tournament

Cole and Tyson had their 1st Kick Boxing Tournament last weekend. They were both REALLY excited! Kent's brother Jeff and his son Logan (5yrs old) came to watch as well. Logan is in kick boxing too.

The boys each fought in their age groups and they both placed 2nd. They were awesome and we are so proud of them. As their Mom it was hard too watch, and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack the whole time LOL, but I am glad I was able to watch them. We took pictures (of course) and video taped them.

Tyson's age group was the 9-10 year olds. He is called "the cannon" as he has such hard hits and kicks. He is rather proud of that nickname ha ha.

 Tyson all ready for his tournament.

 Tyson is on the far right wearing the yellow boxing shorts. These are all the competitors in his age group. The Crew Leader is telling them the rules before they fight.

 Tyson and his competitor bowing to each other before they start the fight. The guy in the grey shirt is one of the judges and referee's. 

 

 Tyson giving one of his deadly kicks...this is one of the best shots I could get of him.

Here is a view of the whole place. Tyson and his competitor fighting and all the people watching.

 Tyson and his trophy.

Tyson showing his division and tiers he was in when he fought.

Lil Dragon's Tournament made the newspaper

Tyson is in the yellow short...he has just knocked down his competitor...cool picture eh!

The boys Lil" Dragon Tournament made the Airdrie Echo Newspaper. One of the pictures shown was Tyson knocking down his competitor. Tyson says this is one of his favorite pictures...tough guy!

Cole was in the 11-13 year old group. Cole's Crew Leaders nick named him their "secret weapon." Because people assume that since Cole is such a big kid he can't move fast or handle it...and he is the opposite of that.

Cole and his competitor bowing to each other and hearing the rules. Cole is in the green shorts.

Cole is a hard hitter and pretty quick.

Cole was always backing them into a corner.

He worked hard and did so good!

Cole with his trophy and his age group chart telling who plays who.

I had to laugh when I saw this picture of Cole as he hates getting his picture taken. But as you can see, he is one happy kid to have placed in the tournament.

Cole and Tyson holding their cool trophy's they got for 2nd place.

Cole and Tyson with Crew Lewis

Needless to say they were EXHAUSTED afterward. Cole went to bed around 7:30 p.m. as he was hurting all over and had a headache. We told him,
 
"if you are hurting this much imagine how the kids you fought must feel!" ha ha  

He was dehydrated and so we made him drink LOT'S of water. They have awesome kick boxing instructors and they boys really enjoy it. It was fun to see their progress and watch them in action.

Sick of being sick

 I have been sick since Tuesday and I have HAD ENOUGH!! On Friday I thought I was actually getting better...but by the evening it ALL came back and knocked me out again. 

I was supposed to be going down to Lethbridge Saturday morning with Kent and the kids to go to his brother Mike's baby blessing that is on Sunday. BUT, I am hurting too much and too sick...plus I don't want to get anyone else sick. So Kent took our 3 kids and headed down for one night there and they will be back Sunday evening sometime. Bella is at respite care for one night as well as I just can't take care of her right now while I am so sick. 

So the house is VERY quiet...too quiet I must say! I am going to go lay in bed and do nothing and pray this sickness to go away.

New sewing project

I have been trying to find a quilt that I would like to make to hang on my wall in my kitchen for in between seasons. I have a big wall and I hang decorative wall quilts on it. I am hoping to gradually have one for every season...cause I am cheesy like that ha ha. Anyways, I am thrilled to say I have finally found one that I really like.

I have a thing for stars. So when I saw this quilt I knew this was the one I wanted on my wall. For now I am using whatever scraps of material I have at my house to make it. Once I can get down to the States and get some great material I plan on making another one. So for now, this will do.

When we bought this house there was literally a pile of material left in the storage room. Lot's of gingham and plaids. I haven't done anything with it all so I figured why no use it for this.

After the material is cut out it is like a puzzle piece you have to put back together. It is simple...way easier than I thought it would be.

This is what it looks like after the star is all sewn together. 


 I have 8 stars done so far and I am hoping to get a lot more done today. It all just depends on 2 little girls :)

I laid out the stars I had done and the material I am using to try to figure out where it should all go. Thank goodness Niki helped me out there as I was having a hard time deciding. I am doing a 4 by 5 sized quilt...so I have to make 20 stars in total.  It all needs to be cut out and sewn together by Thursday for my sewing class...wish me luck. Thursday we are learning how to do the back part.


To be continued...

Great invention

Every Sunday it is a battle to try to get Brynley to sit with us during sacrament meeting as she would rather sit with her cousins. If she sees them she is gone and is with them the whole time...and I feel so bad about that as they already have their own kids they are trying to deal with and keep quiet. I have the greatest, most patient sister in laws...thanks Melanie and Niki for being so good about Brynley bugging you every Sunday.


Melanie has always brought these neat Crayola coloring books for her kids to color in to keep them quiet during church. Bryn loves them so I finally went and got her and Bella their own for church.

They are colorless markers so they can' get it all over the place. But as soon as they color on the paper it adds color...so neat.

Melanie`s kids will be relieved now that Bryn won`t be using up their kids coloring pages now ha ha...they have been SO good about sharing with Brynley!

Cute kids...

 Lucas (Niki's son) and Brynley as we are walking around the mall the other day...they were holding hands...how cute is that?!

Where to begin...

Ok, so Brynley loves to dress up...as you can see. BUT, what she is wearing is our clothes. Whatever she can get on and play in, she does.

Let me start out by saying please look past the dirty mirror in the picture LOL! She had smeared her tooth paste all over it...nice eh!

This is what she does after she dresses up. She goes and stands in front of the mirror in the hallway and looks at herself and then dances away!

Back view...silly girl!

Just can't get enough...

Houston, I have a problem...

 these darn Mini eggs and Cadbury creme eggs are always on my mind...ok, ok and ALWAYS in my mouth!! I have eaten WAY too many and I just can't seem to get sick of eating them. 

The Mini Eggs are around year round now so that has been an issue for me for a while now.

 I seriously am addicted to these evil suckers LOL!! The other day I came across a mini version of the cadbury egg...and they are just as good as the large ones!  So easy to just pop them in your mouth...*sigh*

I am sending out an S.O.S!!! Thank goodness they are only around once a year....

Make your mouth water...

I made these YUMMY muffins this morning, and let me tell you my house smells A-M-A-Z-A-Z-I-N-G!! Yes, I am aware of how to spell amazing...I meant to spell it that it the extra a and z...cause that is what the muffins are AMAZAZING LOL! Ok I am a dork, but whatever...it is my new word ha ha.

Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

 I got the recipe from a web site called Your Home Based Mom. She posts a new muffin recipe every Monday and calls it Muffin Monday. They always look so good...this one I just had to try. Click here for the website and recipe.

 I made my muffins in an over sized stoneware muffin pan...does that make sense?? They are HUGE to say the least. But man, does my house smell sooooo good!!

 I am here to tell you they are all that I hoped they would be :) The muffin itself is nice and moist. The crunchy top is my favorite part...it is in the middle of the muffin as well. 

Enjoy!!

1st quilt

I started making this baby quilt a month or so ago. I was so excited to learn how to make it. I have had it done for a little while now, just haven't had time to post it any sooner. 

Ok, so let's just say this quilt didn't turn out how I had envisioned it...color wise ha ha! It is BRIGHT and that was not my intention. I should have pulled the neutral colors out of it and used those instead of the other colors...oh well, it is my first quilt.

 Here is a close up of the front squares of the quilt and the decorative stitching I used on it.

Back of the quilt...

In the end I am glad it is done and I really learned A LOT! I have a great teacher.

Close up of the back of the quilt.

YW lesson

This past Sunday I taught for my first time in YW. It was the YW combined lesson, so ALL the YW were there and ALL the YW leaders as well as one of the Stake YW leaders. I was incredibly nervous!


The lesson was on Eternal Families. I came across a YW website called Sugardoodle that has TONS of wonderful ideas on it. There was a lesson idea on there on the exact lesson I had to give and it sounded so creative and fun so I had to use it. You can read about it here...go to the lesson outline and read it...so, so fun! Or you can read it on here...click on it and it will enlarge a bit, but it is kindof small still to read.

 

I also used some things from this website called A Little Tipsy that they had made for this particular lesson as well...go here to check it out.

I printed off this suitcase on a piece of paper for each girl to use when I needed them to write in them during the lesson. 

This was their luggage they were taking on their journey to Eternal Life and they couldn't take anything tangible with them in it. So they had to fill it (testimony, Faith, Family etc.) with whatever they would want to take with them to help be able to get them to where we were going (Eternal Life) so that once they got there they would have an enjoyable time (read the lesson and it explains it all more.)

I printed these wings off on cardstock and cut them out.

When I began the lesson and told the girls "we were going on a trip and Welcome to Celestial Airlines and that I was going to be their Stewardess"...I then taped these wings to my shirt (the girls all giggled as they thought this was great).

This lady on Sugardoodle had made up the most fun handouts to go along with the lesson as well.

This is the plane ticket I printed out on card stock and handed out to each girl at the beginning of the lesson when I told them we were "going on a trip."

Now after I had printed all these off I realized the lady that made these had posted the website where you can go to personalize them all more...it was too late as I had already printed of 20...oh well, they worked just fine.

I added some of my own thoughts and ideas to the lesson to make it more my own. Like I told them that their parents, teachers/leaders were like "customer service" or "security" that you would ask at the airport when you have lost your way. They are there to help you and guide you so you can get to your destination as planned. 

I told them that their parents, teachers/leaders aren't trying to annoy them or make there lives miserable...but we love them and that we want them to reach Eternal Life so that is why we do what we do so that they will get there when it is there time.

I had a couple of quotes up on the wall that said,

"Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime, we do not know everything in the beginning or even 

along the way. We first build a foundation of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."  -Elder Neil A. Andersen

"

In a world of turmoil and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives and the top of our priorities..."We need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm, which is increasing in  intensity all about us. Even if the smallest openings are left unattended, negative influences can...penetrate the very walls of our homes."  -L. Tom Perry

"The whole aim and purpose of the gospel is to enable men and women-united as one in the Lord-to create for themselves eternal family units in eternity. Celestial marriage prepare us for the greatest joy and happiness known to mortals and for eternal life in the realms ahead.

May we say, as many have done before, that what men call Mormonism is the very system of laws and truths which will make of earth a heaven and of man a god." - Bruce R. McConkie

This is the hand out I gave to all the girls at the end of the lesson. It is the map that they are to follow along their journey.

All in all I think the lesson went well. It was fun to do! I was sweating buckets by the time the lesson was over...but it was all good. I am so thankful for my calling as the YW Secretary. It has pushed me to become spiritually stronger.