Crap We Did Instead of Blogging- 2012 in Review

Since I barely post anymore (I promise I'll try harder to post more often, as I get a lot of grief about it), AND because I don't have Facebook (which I also get a lot of grief about), I thought I would post a review of some of the stuff we were up to instead of blogging over the last year.

Winter brought the usual activities- XC skiing, snowshoeing, beer drinking......

Cody taught Angus how to downhill ski and he is a WHIZ!

In the springtime, we took the kids (Angus, Charlee, and Jimi) to Bruneau Sand Dunes for camping and fishing and dune climbing.

 *I have to add that I caught the Barney family record bass in my float tube- 18 inches! Two more inches and that bastard would've been on my mantle.*

Angus played soccer in the spring, so we went to some games and froze our faces off.  We were happy to do it, though, because Angus is a phenomenal soccer player.  Cody calls him "The Steel Curtain".

In June, our niece Holland turned 3........

Also in June came a new addition to the Barney family......

Our new boat!

I just happen to love the boat more than most people would love a human baby.  We had a lot of fun with the S.S. Bull Trout.com going fishing and camping and tubing and wakeboarding and beer drinking all summer long.

In July, Cody and I took a trip up to Tahsis, British Columbia to fish with our dear friends Gail and Leon Walters.  We didn't catch anything, but we saw some beautiful scenery and had a GREAT time!

I lied.  We caught prawns.  A lot of prawns.  As Jimi and Charlee would say, we caught a "butt-load" of prawns.  Delicious.....

In the fall, we enjoyed some fall fishing, football, and Halloween festivities.

I spent a month making Angus the Halloween costume he requested.....

It was fun and a huge hit, but the size and weight made it cumbersome for trick-or-treating and impossible to wear for long periods of time.  Next year I think he'll be a superhero or a ghost or something he can run in.  Ten year olds really like to move around.

I also took some time to make a birthday treat for Charlee's 15th birthday.

For Christmas, Cody and I hopped a plane to Vegas and went to the Las Vegas Bowl to watch the Broncos crush Washington.  We had a wicked good time.  I became addicted to penny slots.  Anyone wanna go to Jackpot?

Las Vegas is very festive at Christmas time! 

The Las Vegas Bowl was so much fun that it almost melted our faces off.

We checked out the wax museum.  In my head, this is not wax Johnny Depp.  In my head this is actual Johnny Depp and in my head, he is my other husband but instead of working he just hangs out with me all day long in his Captain Jack outfit.  In my head.

We also checked out Hoover Dam.

We even had a little Christmas decor in our room!

Since we rolled over to 2013, we've been just as busy as we were in 2012.  I've been making yummy birthday and holiday treats......

Over President's Day, we went to Island Park, Idaho to stay in a cabin with my family.  Rick and Britney (Jimi & Charlee's dad and stepmom) rented a gorgeous cabin and were nice enough to have us over to stay and play.  All my siblings were there.  We XC skiied, sledded, snowmobiled, and ate.  And ate.  And drank and ate.

It was the first time all 6 of us had been together since late 2011!  Mom would have loved this picture!

I guess that about wraps it up.  Now you know all the crap we've been doing instead of blogging.  If you hung around and read through till the end of this long-ass post......well maybe you should find a hobby or something.   Get a life, loser.......

Indiana Tonks

You all remember Tonks......

My sweet little naughty furball? 

As you recall, Tonks likes shenanigans.

 

And of course, you remember this:

Well Tonks recently decided to go on an all new adventure.

The other evening, husband and I came home from being gone.  I don't remember where we were.  It wasn't really the other evening, it was like 7 months ago, when I first started composing this blog.  Anyways.....  As usual, when Tonks heard the garage door open, she came to the kitchen door to greet us.  We stood in the doorway for a moment, basking in her cuteness as the door went down....

And then, in a blur of black and white, she made her move.

She squeezed under the almost-closed door like Indiana Jones.

What could we do?  She squeezed under the door like a phantom and she was gone.  We quickly opened the door again and ran out and herded her in before she ran away.  But in the back of our minds, we knew she had a lust for adventure.  Before we knew it, she would be off on another adventure......

Yard Wars

I used to suck at plant growing.

More recently, for some unknown reason, I stopped sucking at plants.  It was probably an attitude change more than anything. Plus someone told me you're supposed to water them and that did seem to help.

I was pretty excited about my rad plants until I encountered enemy number one.

These furry little bastards began to destroy my rad plants and my yard.

 Now, our yard is not as prosperous as my potted plants.  Here in the ghetto, grass doesn't grow in the native soil.  It consists mostly of clay and rocks, thereby choking out plant life.  We have spent many hours and many hundreds of dollars trying to get it to look even as mediocre as this.

Enter the enemy.....

These little shitheads have been completely terrorizing my yard and my potted plants.  Every time we tried to repair the damage to our grass, we would discover new holes filled with peanuts and walnut shells.  They are stockpiling their little snacks for wintertime.  Cute?

No.  

They must die.

To rid ourselves of these beasts of burden, we tried rubber snakes, rubber lizards, cayenne pepper, various store-bought repellents, and even cat hair (swear).  Nothing.  One of the repellents did not repel the squirrels at all, but instead made our entire backyard smell like a giant mutant clove of garlic got sick and barfed in it. We couldn't stand to be back there.  So it must have been awesome repellent instead of squirrel repellent.

Out of desperation, we tried one final idea.

 Not joking. 

I would put a real photo, but the camera needs batteries and I'm out.

We covered the yard with wire grating and anchored it down with bent chain-link ties.  Desperate times, my friends......

I wanted to set land mines, but husband said no.

 If this doesn't work...I have a final solution.