June 15: 26th Anniversary

E snapped this quick photo of Keith and I, leaving for our evening out to celebrate our 26th anniversary.

Day 63: Family Party

After our family birthday party at Chili's, celebrating three family birthdays (mine, my brother's, and his daughter's), I noted these concert photos on the wall of the waiting area. This Chili's is next to the Sports Arena where many of the city's concerts take place, including the U2 concert that Elizabeth and I attended a few years ago...yes, it's BONO!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!

Day 61: Now 45

Self-portrait on my 45th birthday at my kitchen table, where I do most of my computer work....

Benjamin's 10th Birthday

B opening a gift from the boys on his birthday morning.

B blows out the candle on the blueberry pie made by Keith. Yum!

On Thursday night we met my parents at Chili's to celebrate B's birthday.

B blows out the candle in his dessert at Chili's.

B opens his gift from Granny and Papa.

We rather celebrated B's birthday week. The weather on his actual birthday delayed our family dinner, so we celebrated at home on Monday, then all day at Disneyland on Wednesday, and finally at Chili's with Granny and Papa on Thursday evening. He had a wonderful time, and I can't believe that our youngest child is TEN! I am simply not THAT old.

A November Snow!

We had snow in November for the first time since moving here in 2001.  The kids loved it and really adored playing in the cold, wet stuff.

Pacific Sunset

We had a lovely sunset from my parents' rooftop deck on the evening of their anniversary party on June 27. Happy 45th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Family, friends, good food, great conversation, and perfect weather = an evening to remember.

J's 12th Birthday

Blowing out candles on his cake

Cousin Tommy met us at the Wild Animal Park -- all four boys squeezing into weaver's nest...

J opening his gifts

E's 17th Birthday Slumber Party

For E's 17th birthday, she wanted a Mamma Mia! themed slumber party. She decorated the house with streamers and balloons in tropical colors and spent hours hand-decorating pink and lavender confetti cupcakes. Seven friends came to celebrate, and all had a wonderful time.


The cupcakes the E decorated so creatively.

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake

Opening gifts in her jammies, including her new Twilight (from Keith and me) and Devil Wears Prada (from the boys) DVDs.

Day 18: Eva's Wedding Cake

Our former neighbor, Eva, from San Diego is marrying Tommy, a wonderful man, in Jamaica next Saturday, so they held a reception for friends and family before they leave (just the two of them) on Wednesday. Eva and her family have now moved inland and have a really nice, roomy house. I think their wedding topper is quite hilarious -- and very Eva. ;)

And they definitely had fun feeding each other the cake... and cleaning up afterwards. Again, a very Eva situation -- who had icing in her eye by the time they finished smearing each other. ;)

Family

On Saturday evening, we descended the hill to Keith's sister's place to celebrate the safe return home of her youngest, Steven, who just spent six months in Baghdad. Today Steven returned to Hawaii, his original deployment before he volunteered for six months in the Middle East. In the photo above are Keith's dad and nine of the fifteen grandkids present. (E was in Phoenix, spending the week with the three female Arizona cousins -- she needed "girl time" with three brothers.)



Three generations of Barrett men: Keith's dad Ken; Steven, Keith's nephew, and Keith's younger brother, Kevin.

E's Sweet 16 Party

We had a total of 30 people at out home on Sunday evening to celebrate E's "Sweet 16." I was so busy that I just didn't take many photos. Here's one of her showing off a gift -- and in a later post, I'll show off her two big gifts that follow a generations-old family tradition for our "Sweet 16" celebrations, both of which came from my parents and belonged to my mother.

Happy Sweet 16 to my lovely girl -- beautiful in so many ways!!!!

Birthday Girl -- Sweet 16

We had a lovely "girls' day out" to celebrate E's 16th birthday this week -- details on Meditative Meanderings -- culminating with Keith's special Boston Cream Pie and E blowing out her candle. A family party will followin a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday, Sweet 16!

I DID IT!!!!

Yesterday, April 6, marked the 367th day of this blog -- with one extra day for the leap year. I have now posted a photo a day (not always taken right on that day but at least within a day or two) for a full year.

I started off knowing almost nothing about photography. I listened carefully to Keith (after his years at Brooks Institute of Photography, he has much wisdom and a great eye) and observed what my fellow 365'ers posted. I've learned a great deal about noticing and truly seeing the little things -- the curls of budding apple leaves, the hushed light of early morning and late afternoon, the detail in a pansy "face," the joy of taking photo after photo in gorgeous places around San Diego like Summerspast Farms, Balboa Park, Pacific Beach, Mount Laguna, and San Diego Bay. Besides the fun of taking photos in beautiful places, I've come to enjoy the more subdued delight of taking photos of my small town and especially of my family. I've watched our four kids grow in amazing ways this year, and it's a year well-documented, thanks to this blog. The kids also became interested in photography, wanting to borrow my camera to capture a photo of this or that, whether it be a great art project, a very large toad they found, a particularly funny face, or an especially cute pose of our dachshund. I've also been able to document the progress of this year's big project: the stained glass window Keith is working on.

So I shall keep posting quite often -- it's nice to have the daily pressure off in a way, but I'll still keep my camera handy and post often. I still have much to learn about photography, and I'm eager to keep on learning by doing.

Special thanks to my 365 cohorts -- I never would have started this rewarding project without your examples and your beautiful shots spurring me on to greater daring and creativity. For a woman of words (sorry for all the wordiness -- I can never let a picture say a thousand words by itself; I must add my couple of hundred to it, of course), learning to communicate visually rather than verbally was a challenge, one that sometimes left me frustrated, but much more often than not, gave me great joy and a feeling of freedom and accomplishment. So thanks so much for the blessed opportunity to start and FINISH a project -- something we writers are not always particularly good at.

I'll post my favorite photo of the last year here -- I have many photos I've realy liked, but this one immediately came to mind when I thought of my single favorite photo of the past 365 days:



Coronado Bridge from a sailboat on San Diego Bay

So here's to learning more about the art of photography and to learning more from the wonderful women and from my husband, all of whom spurred me to become a slightly more accomplished photographer than I was 367 days ago when I first received my little pocket camera.

Starting Another Year....

I'm very self-conscious about self-portraits, but I wanted to post one near my birthday. It wasn't the best hair day, and I took over twenty shots before I somewhat liked this one. So here I am, beginning my forty-third year, sitting in my chair at our homeschooling table where I spend many hours each day....

Sunday: A Wonderful Birthday....

Keith made me a beautiful and delectable Boston Creme Pie for my birthday. It tastes even better than it looks. I enjoyed the best birthday I've had in years -- the only way it could have been better was if it were longer than 24 hours. :)

For details of my day, check out this link to my main blog.

Sunday: Bridal Shower vs. Superbowl

Decisions, decisions. Attend a bridal shower for a young woman I've known for 15 years? Or watch the Superbowl? I actually enjoyed the best of both worlds: I even stayed late enough to watch Maegan open all her gifts and still got home in time to watch that exciting fourth quarter!



Maegan's and Kevin's cake -- custom baked by Debbie, one of our Bible study leaders -- and it was just as delicious as it looks.



Maegan poses by the cake before cutting it.

Friday: B and Fr. Acker

After the Friday Healing Service this morning, Father Acker presented B with a Jerusalem cross necklace in celebration of B's baptism. B really loves it, even if he has to look into the sun for this photo....

Happy Birthday, B!

Our "baby" is 8! (Sssshhh! Don't tell him I called him a "baby"!) Here he opens a box of Legos....



After a day at the Natural History Museum, we came home for pizza and ice cream. B thoroughly enjoyed his day, although he certainly didn't enjoy our singing of "Happy Birthday" to him. (Our family is rather tone-deaf, so I don't blame him....)

Saturday: Surprise Party

We managed to actually surprise Keith's elder sister, Karen, with a 50th birthday party in Lake Murray's fellowship hall. Forty-some people came to surprise Karen and celebrate her birthday. Her daughter, Connie, planned the whole thing with a little help from me. It was a wonderful celebration, and I think Karen enjoyed the party, even if she had to help Keith light her own candles (yep -- exactly 50!).

Recital

Last night T and J performed at their second pino recital -- you can read details at Meditative Meanderings. Here J is playing a duet with his teacher, Mrs. A., called "Our Detective Agency." We're very proud of both of our boys; they did a great job at the piano recital, and they both are dedicated to learning to play the piano.