William's first slip-n-slide

What a fantastic night we had yesterday with friends. We scheduled a game night, but ended up just playing with the boys in the pool, on the swingset, and their favorite, down the slip-n-slide!

He didn't quite get the concept of running and sliding, but he loved to have Sean throw him down it!

Here's a fun slideshow where you can see William going down 2 different times!

"Slip-n-slide #1"

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"Slip-n-slide #2"

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William's first s'more!

The best part of Sunday Family Dinner is the fact that we always have dessert!! This week we had a fun BBQ to celebrate the 24th, and to go along with the BBQ theme, we made s'mores for dessert.

William has never made them before. It was kinda touch and go, because he wanted to play with the firepit or fling the marshmellow off the stick! But we got the mellow nice and golden and he got to experience his first s'more!

Gracie's Noises

I've mentioned on facebook time after time about all the noises that Gracie makes when she sleeps. I've had a hard time learning to just sleep thru it. Today, I caught it on camera during her nap!!

It is funny to see all the faces, eyes openings, and different noises she makes!

Here's the videos!




The sounds are so cute!! But I hope she stops making them soon, cause I know she'll keep William awake once they are sleeping in the same room.

24th Marquiss Family Dinner

Last night we had a family dinner at my parents house down in PG to celebrate the holiday!
Unfortunately Sean has been on-call for work all week, and was stuck working in the heat all day yesterday.
So I packed up the kids and headed down early in the day hoping my parents would entertain William and take him swimming. Being that I can't "submerge in water" for 6 weeks after the c-section, I couldn't take him myself. We got there, and my parents were already in the pool!! We I threw William in with them, and Gracie and I sat and relaxed while they played.

William did FABULOUS in the water. Earlier in the year I took him to Lehi's city pool, but we stayed in the 2 foot deep section. So the only times he has been swimming were last week when he stayed with my parents, and yesterday. You wouldn't know it though, because he took off swimming with no help but a noodle under his arm. He even slipped off the noodle and went all the way under but kicked himself back up to the surface!! I was so proud of my little water boy!

When he was not in the big pool, he was playing in the sand box, the kiddie pool, or feeding the chickens. That kid is such a non-stop personality that wears everyone out!

I took over 150 pictures last night (can you say I'm addicted to my camera?!) But somehow narrowed it down to not as many!

My parents neighbors have a train they made out of barrels and pull with a 4 wheeler or a riding lawn mower. Dad borrowed it to take the grandkids for a ride. I decided to tag along to get some pictures....bad idea 2 weeks after a c-section! At least the pictures turned out.

Each kid picked an animal that they wanted their car to be.

Hendrix - Cow

Dakota - Pig

Heather/Marley - Goat

Marley - Horse

William/Grandma - Elephant

Spending time with my family is the best!

Family Pictures and Gracie's Newborn's

I am so in love with my family!! I really don't think I can explain the love and passion I have since bringing Gracie into the world.


When I found out I was pregnant I told Sean that I was worried about not being able to care for and love another baby as much as I do William. I felt like there was no way that I could ever have those feelings for anyone else.
My love for Sean and love for William are two completely different types of love, and I didn't know how I could share the "child love" with Gracie too.


My worries were all for nothing. The second the doctor walked around the curtain with our little bundle of joy, the tears started coming and the love for Gracie was instantly there. That "child love" that I had only had for William was immediately multiplied by a million and I knew that I would love her just as much.


I feel that rush of love every time I look at both of my kids. But when I see my family all together, it blows my mind!

We got family pictures taken, and when I was proofing them at the studio, I started to tear up. I can not believe that I ever got so lucky to be trusted with these beautiful children of God. How did I get so blessed with the family I have? My amazing husband and 2 kids make my life better than I'd ever imagined.


Looking at these pictures make me happier than ever!

Isn't my family perfect?!

Swimming night

I haven't been up to doing too much lately, but the on Saturday I was ansy to get out of the house. So we headed to the park but quickly realized it was TOO HOT to spend there, plus the slides were too hot to even slide down!

So we headed back home and switched to a pool party instead! Gracie and I sat back and watched while Dad and Will had fun in the water. I love all the pictures, you can tell how much fun William has with his dad!

I can't wait for the next pool day. Its so fun watching the smile on William's face as he plays.

At the hospital

I got some great pictures of family visiting Gracie in the hospital, so I decided I would share.

And of course, I love the pictures of William with her. He LOVES to cuddle her, tickle her toes,

At the Davis Hospital they give the new Mom and Dad a "candlight dinner" during the stay. You can order anything from the menu...and Sean picked the cheeseburger! haha. At least I got the yummy steak and potatos. Don't I look lovely for our romantic dinner together?!

I've taken so many pictures lately, plus we had family pictures/Gracie's newborn pictures taken. So I will be putting up a bunch more soon!

Baby Gracie Jayne

I honestly can not believe how easy it was to bring this perfect child into this world. But hey, with a hard pregnancy, it was time I got something easy right?!

I was scheduled for a repeat c-section on Sunday at 8 am. They told me to be at the hospital by 6:30 for check-in/registration. We got to Davis Hospital right on time. This was a huge surprise to me because, with Sean, we are never on time anywhere!

The hospital was a complete ghost town when we got here. We headed to Labor and Delivery and did not see a single person on the way. And then, there was nobody at L&D either. We made out way back to the main entrance and  used the phone to call the operator who informed us that we needed to check-in in the ER. Apparently we were the ONLY delivery for the day, so most everyone had the day off!

Of course, Sean knew the way straight to registration in the ER and even used the phrase "this isn't my first time at the rodeo" when I asked how he knew his way around. Makes me scared for William and how many times we'll be at Davis' ER with him!

We were in our L&D room by 7am and had our nurse already getting my IV hooked up. She informed me quite a few times that "things move quick around here with a scheduled c-section".
She was right.
After getting my IV and a whole bag of freezing cold fluid, a whole pile of paperwork, half of my medical history quiz taken, and my "quick 411 prep", Julia (my doc) got there at 7:58. She was already warmed up from 2 early morning c-sections up in Ogden.

Sean quickly threw on his "hazmat" suit and we were off to the O.R.

Check-in time to the O.R. was 8:01.

They quickly shoved Sean in a corrner so he wouldn't touch anything that was sterile. The only thing hard about that was he was not allowed on the side of the bed I wanted him when I got my spinal.

Instead the poor nurse had to suffer from my sharp nails being dug into her arms. And, after the anaesthesiologist kept getting after me for pulling my back away, the nurse got my head shoved in her shoulder/chest area.
Yeah, we got a little personal for our half hour spent together!

After getting the spinal, I immediately became numb and had to have help laying down on the bed. It was AMAZING to know that it was going to work this time and I was not going to be put to sleep.

Within minutes, Julia walked into the room. She hung the curtain over my belly as the nurse used that yellow colored cleaning "stuff".

Sean took this time to take lovely pictures of himself as well as me. I was feeling sick from the spinal because the meds they gave me to counter-act that had not kicked in yet. And of course Sean had to capture this on camera!

The anaesthesiologist informed Sean he could roll his chair up to the table now, and even stand up to watch if he wanted. Sean quickly rolled over, but then hesitantly stood up and peeked over the curtain.
He quickly jerked his head back to me with eyes bigger than I had ever seen. Apparently they had already cut open my stomach. There was no "ready, set, go" warning. They were already half way to the finish line!

Sean was not sure going into the O.R. if he was going to watch. But he couldn't keep his eyes away. Now if you ask him, he says it was really cool! 

WARNING - Some of the following could be graphic

We both then heard a gush of fluid and Sean informed me they had just cut into the sack and it was all the amniotic fluid rushing out.
Right away, Julia informed us that "She has a whole bunch of hair". I knew it had to be true if she was commenting before Gracie was even out of my belly.

Julia then informed me that I would feel a whole bunch of pressure. She was right!! It was the weirdest feeling ever. I could feel the pushing and pulling and could even tell the second Gracie was out. I was not pregnant anymore! Just like that, I felt my stomach become vacant!

Gracie made a quick cry, which of course made me tear up. It was so relieving to hear her being brought into the world!
Gracie Jayne Barker born at 8:22 (just 21 minutes after check-in time)
They peeked her around the curtain so I could get a quick glimpse.

Julia then took her to the other side next to Sean for a photo op!

Sean immediately went to the Nursery with Gracie while I choose to stay and get stitched up (haha, like I had a choice!)
They finished putting me back together and my check-out time was 8:36. Exactly 35 full minutes spent in the O.R.

Sean came back to the room about 10 minutes later with no Gracie. Her sugar levels were low, so they had fed her some formula to try to get it up. They didn't want her to leave the nursery until they were higher.

As soon as Sean walked into the room, he informed me that "Gracie is a spitter-upper". That is one of the things he feared. He really doesn't like when babies spit up, and we had been lucky with William because he never really spit up as a baby.

About 20 minutes later they brought Gracie into the room and informed us that she was healthy and completely perfect!
She has been nothing but a bundle of job ever since.
I am so happy I was chosen to be her Mom here on earth.


By the way, did I mention she is extremely cute? Here's a bunch of pictures

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Trust me, there will be more to come!