NEW SMILE!

My front tooth came in with a large white "stripe" across it (called hypocalcification)-must have bumped my mouth really hard at some point when I was little and my adult tooth was still forming.  Anyway, it has bothered me my WHOLE life.  I'm sure a lot of you will say "I never even noticed" well, I noticed.  every picture, every time I smiled, every time I met new people.  I was always self-conscious about it.  Always. 

So...I started working for a dentist who specializes in cosmetic dentistry and he asked if I'd like to fix my tooth. 

After 20 years of being too scared to do anything about this tooth...I DID IT!  It looks great and I'm sooooo happy with it!  I don't think you'll understand how I feel unless you have something about your looks that bothers you and voila, problem solved.  It is so amazing.  I really couldn't be happier (well, if he could take off a few extra pounds I'd be happier).  Anyway, wanted to share my new smile with all of you! 


BEFORE:  It's the very front tooth...can you see how it's a little longer and sticks out a little more than the other front tooth?  I had one neice tell me I needed to go brush a little better, and 2 others (not 1...2) ask if there was butter on my tooth.  NICE.

AFTER:  TADA!

DISCLAIMER:  I don't know what that is on my lip on the "before" picture.  I'm totally embarrassed, but I'm sharing anyway-also, don't know what the little black speck is on the before pic either, but I'm gonna go with...dust on the lens.  :)

15 minutes (more like seconds) of FAME!!

So...as most of you know we were able to participate in the Extreme Makeover Home Edition that came to Pocatello!  Well, technically Dennis participated and I tagged along a little bit.  We were able to go to a special viewing party that they had with the family and builders on Sunday night when they aired the show.  They had appetizers and a slide show of pics from each day of the project.  Jane Marshall got up and spoke for a little while about the family's experience and expressed her gratitude and some of the remarks from the cast/crew.  Then her 18 yr old daughter, Sophie got up and played 2 songs on the cello.  She is so amazingly talented.  More remarks were made by the Rockwell Homes crew and then the moment we've been anxiously waiting for arrived.  We watched the show sitting only a few rows behind the family, it was pretty cool.  A very emotional night to say the least.  What an amazing family.  They have been so blessed and in turn, have blessed so many lives.  Anyway, Dennis and I were both on the show!!  Dennis is in the background of this first video, wearing the khaki's (I think that's him) he is there a few times, but all very brief and you have to be watching for him.  I am in the bottom left corner of the other video.  So so so so so cool!  Anyway, thought I'd share our fun experience.

Pics as promised


 

he would not go to bed w/o his undies on.

the not-hungry trash-eating goat at Riverfront Park.

look how huge this thing is!  the kids loved it--they played on it for at least a half an hour.

grayson got stuck.

some help getting down...

alternative method this time :)

dennis on the sky ride at Riverfront Park in Spokane.

kicking the Heggie's trash at Settlers :) 

WSU campus, isn't it pretty?  we took family pictures in this same spot before we moved 20 years ago.

Boston, Katie and Charlie Heggie on the carousel at Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA.

boys being boys w/the praying mantis

found a praying mantis.



Jodi, Carin, me and Ang



<><>Witches Night Out at Gardner Village--good food, good friends, great fun! 



trick or treating on pocatello's trick or treat street...Grayson, Lauren, Austin, Kyler and Katie



Fall Updates

First off, I have had some changes in my job...I am now working at two offices.  On Tuesdays, I work at Dr. Holm's office and on Wednesdays and Thursdays I work for a new dentist in town, Dr. Davis.  I am really excited about this!

I've been doing a pre-school trade w/some friends--Austin LOVES it!  I can't believe how fast he learns.  It's been nice to have some one on one time with Grayson too.   This next week is my week to teach the letter "H".  I taught "G" last week and we made ghost lollipops.  The kids loved it.  It was a lot of fun.  But I tend to over-complicate things, so I have to reign myself in.  Good thing I only taught 2 weeks. 

Austin is done with soccer.  He loved it.  He is such a good little athlete. 

Grayson is pretty much potty trained, we just need to quit being lazy and keep him in underwear.  I really don't like potty training, but he has been sooooo much easier than Austin to train! 

We went on a mini vacation last week up to northern Idaho.  We stayed in Salmon with our good friends Dallin and Jen and then drove up to Missoula, where we locked our keys in the van when we stopped for lunch.  I have never done that before!  So, finally after a good hour we called a locksmith and paid $40 for a service that took less than 1 minute.  From there, we drove to Coeur D' Alene and stayed with our other good friends Katie and Steve.  It was hilarious--their son Boston and Austin are just two peas in a pod, they loved and hated each other the whole time!  We loved being up there, it's so beautiful and so much to do between there and Spokane.  My brother Jared is up there for his P.A. school rotations, so we were able to see him a little too.  Sunday night we drove down to Moscow and stayed with my good friend Alli.  I was born in Pullman, and we moved to Rigby when I was 7.  I haven't been back for probably 15 years.  It was so fun to go and see all the places I remembered!  Dennis met with an advisor at the Law school there, so we'll see where we end up next year.  I'm to the point where I feel like it's out of our hands.  So...we'll see.  Even though the drive was long, it didn't seem so because of how beautiful everything is.  The leaves were changing, it was so so so pretty.  I love this time of year! 

This last weekend I went with some girlfriends to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village in Salt Lake.  It was so fun!  Everyone is dressed as witches, so many fun costumes!  It was so packed, totally shoulder-to-shoulder of all these crazy witches!  Definitely a must-see and such a fun tradition.

I'll have to post pictures later, I can't find my camera...not good.
 

8 years later...

Dennis and I have been married 8 years now! Monday was our anniversary and to celebrate, we went to the Destinations Inn in Idaho Falls this past weekend while my mom and dad babysat the boys for us! It was such a neat place! We couldn't have gone out of town at a better time because apparently our apartment complex has been having a rodent problem, well, it's a problem for sure because I saw a mouse in our house as I was packing for us to leave! I freaked out! I sent Dennis to the store right away to get traps. We've had all sorts of stuff waiting for the little guy, but haven't had any luck yet. I'm thinking we need a cat, so we might be adopting one for a while.

I have been so lucky to have such a good husband, he really treats me well and is such a great husband and father. There are so many qualities I love about Dennis, but I'll spare you the mushy and move on to the pics. My mom took our engagement pictures and my brother took our wedding shots. Not that I don't love what we got from either or appreciate it, but I wish so much that we would have put up the money to get a professional photographer for our wedding at least! It's just too hard when you don't have the right camera or when you've got kids running around to worry about! Thanks David for doing your best for us! He's an amazing photographer now and with his fancy camera, I'm amazed the shots he gets! So...here's a few shots from a few years (and pounds) ago!

birthday time

I turned 28 last week, I can't believe it! I had a great girl's night out full of karaoke and silliness!! Thanks ladies, I had a BLAST! I think I want a karaoke machine for Christmas, and for my friend Karen to do my hair every day! She does a great job, let me know if you need a great hair stylist, she's amazing (and very reasonably priced ) ;) Just a little plug there for ya Karen...

Austin is playing fall soccer and loving it, we can barely pry his soccer shirt from him long enough to wash it. He scored the first and last goal of his first game!! He's a pretty good little athelete!

We had one last trip to Ross Park this summer, I can't believe summer went by so fast! It felt like October out there today! Goodbye summer, goodbye 27.

BARLOWS GET EXTREME!!

from start....

to finish...

hard at work

star struck:

Kylie Minogue, (hit singer from the 80's/90's--do the locomotion...)

Star cast, Jillian (new designer from the Bachelor and Bachelorette), Pauly, Ty Pennington, and on bottom with me, Ed.




Move that bus!!

I went on my lunch break to the welcome home shot and missed the family being brought home by a few hours. some spectators spent the night just to get a good spot! Dennis was there for the whoooooole thing, from start to finish. He's so lucky!

firing up the crowd (ed)

and cooling them down (yes that's me spraying the crowd--so great!)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Pocatello this last week!!! It was so awesome! Dennis was asked to be there every night from 1AM to 10AM as a manager over the volunteers, so he had some great experiences with filming and the crew. I went as a volunteer a few times...it was awesome. I'll be in a couple of shots on the show also. I'm so excited!! This family is in my sister's ward, the mother had breast cancer which is in remission and also has a brain tumor. She and her 9 children were living in their backyard after a fire caused severe damage to their home. They lived in an apartment for a while, but the insurance money ran out fast, so they had a little one bedroom cottage in their backyard. They slept in that and in tents. What an amazing family, I don't think I could do that. Anyway, the home is over 6000 sq feet! There is an upstairs apartment for them to rent out for extra income and their mortgage is taken care of as well as property taxes for the next 20 years. How amazing!! Well, I have tons of pictures to share, Dennis and I both met all of the cast members and had our shirts signed. I was less than 10 feet from kylie minogue yesterday and I had no idea who she was and then I couldn't remember what songs she sang! anyway, once in a lifetime opportunity! It was amazing. Dennis was on a news interview: http://clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/16611/1649636?wpid=8668
We have had a blast with this and are both so greatful for the experience and opportunity to participate!!