Phoenix!

Right before Thanksgiving I was able to fly down to Phoenix and spend 3 wonderful days with my sister Courtney and her adorable daughter Summer! It was an amazing trip and so much fun!! Getting there proved to be quite the challenge. I flew out of the Ogden airport so I drove myself down. My flight ended up being delayed 2.5 hours. Luckily there was a Gordman's just a few miles away to kill the time! I finally arrived about 10pm and so by the time we got to Courtney's it was 1130 and Summer was so excited to show me her room and everything, so it was a late night by the time she settled down. The next day we went shopping ALL day! It was so great and just exactly what we love to do. We went to lots of different malls and shopping centers, so it was fun to see some different areas. That night we went to dinner and then to the newest Hunger Games movie! It was so good!! The next day we relaxed in the morning, then went to get Pedicures, did a little of shopping at Charming Charlie's, and then went hot tubing! Later that day we went up to Anthem to see the world's tallest Christmas Tree which was pretty sweet! Then we rented some movies and relaxed the rest of the night. The next day I was going home, so we wanted to make the most of the time left. We went up to the new Phoenix Temple and it was amazing and so wonderful! The Spirit was so strong. After that we did a little bit more shopping while we made our way down to the airport. Saying goodbye was so much harder than I imagined it being. I had a great time visiting and really enjoyed the nice weather too! Phoenix was fun and I can't wait to go back!!!

Ready to hit the road!

I took Summer's picture (above), so she had to take mine lol

Arizona Cardinal's stadium

Being goofy while we waited for the movie to start

World's tallest Christmas Tree

Summer and I are standing by the tree but you can only see our shadows

Phoenix LDS temple

Summer insisted on taking a picture of Court and I

We were having a hard time getting a good picture of us with the temple in the background

The backside. The fountain was off since the temple was closed.

The workers were setting up the nativity scene

At the airport, trying to put off the goodbye

Summer wanted a picture by the window

Summer is really into writing and drawing. Everywhere we went in the car she would ask us questions and then we would have to spell out our answers. Then she drew me all sorts of pictures and this was in my suitcase when I got home.

Fall Activities

For us, fall means FOOTBALL season! I definitely don't love football as much as Kevin does, I'm not sure I ever will, but I do enjoy watching Boise State football and playing some fantasy football. I got third in one of my leagues this year!

I wasn't wearing any BSU attire, so Adam made me wear his hat the whole game lol

These boys are always up to something

 One day at church I accidentally dropped my phone which caused my camera to turn on. The following photos resulted. We think they're pretty hilarious, don't judge us!

This fall I also got into a big crafting/decoration mood and I attempted to be crafty instead of buying everything ha! I made this cute (I think it's cute) hanger for my earrings but I already need a second one!

In October we went to the BSU vs BYU game with Adam and Natalee. It was an awesome game and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! We seriously need to make that a tradition! We enjoyed a quick weekend in Boise which included some shopping of course and eating at an "interesting" restaurant to say the least.. Boise dominated and won the game!!! Go Broncos!

It was starting to get a little chilly towards the end, but for a night game we were really it wasn't colder.

Natalee, Adam, Gretchen and Kevin

Austin and Brody are big BSU fans already, start 'em young!

At work we have team building activities every so often and we decided it would be fun to go to the Haunted Mill! It was fun and just a little bit scary. I really love my job and my MACU family!

Liz, Brenda, Gretchen, Jesse and half of Amy



It was fun getting to know fellow employees are the other branches in the area.

Another thing I got to do for work was hand out candy at our Boo at the Zoo booth which we themed Cinderella's castle. We could pick any Disney character we wanted to be, so I choose Maleficent! It was so much fun! Then we got to dress up for work on Halloween!

Connie the witch, Brenda was Snow White, I was Maleficent and Kasie was a fox. Kasie's husband is a really talented welder and made us the pumpkin in the background and then they painted it! It was a hit with everyone and so much fun!



Our fall was full of some really fun activities and great memories were made!!

Crohn's Update

It's so much easier to keep people posted on my health. When I was first diagnosed I wanted to keep it private but I have found that it's helpful to talk to others and I have found that Crohn's is more common. I have been diagnosed for 6 months and I have had to control it with my diet, which is so hard!! I have had to make major adjustments and Kevin has helped me so much. I think he knows what I can and can't eat better than I do. My wonderful doctor has been working closely with my insurance company to get me on some really good drugs, but it's super expensive and my insurance company didn't see it as "medically necessary". After several months of attempting to get it approved things finally worked out and I took my first dose this week!!! The medicine comes in a syringe and I have to give my self 2 shots every couple of weeks. I had to go in and learn how to administer the meds and I was super nervous. It was actually pretty easy and didn't hurt really at all. I really feel confident that for whatever reason I needed to wait these 6 months for my medicine. Although it was really hard and I was sick lots of times, I learned a lot about myself, to have more patience, and most importantly, that my Heavenly Father blesses me with trials and I need to find the lesson in them. I also learned how powerful prayer is. I have learned this lesson many, many times in my life and I will learn it many more. I learned to rely on the Lord at those times I was feeling sick and like I couldn't go on any longer. I had to pray for strength to bear my burdens, to make the pain I was feeling go away or less painful. I was strengthened so much and blessed more than I deserved to be. I have so much to be grateful for!

Happy 3 Years!

This year Kevin and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! My how time has flown the past 4 years we have been together. It had been so fun and better than I ever imagined it would be! I love that man!

We both had to work on our anniversary and we really didn't have anything major planned for that evening. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then watched a movie at home. The following weekend we got a couples massage and it was great! We don't do gifts for each other since we'd rather go and do something, like get massages, but I decided to make a little something for Kevin. He is my rock and does so much for me. He makes me want to be better, he makes me laugh and smile every day and takes such great care of me when I'm not feeling well, which is sometimes more often than not. I wanted him to realize just how special he is to me so I pulled out my creative side and made him a candy bar poster. It was so hard!!! but really fun to make!

It read...
"Hey Babe, 3 years ago my name changed from Reese to Barber and I scored a Big Hunk! You treat so Good, like a Star. I love it when we play Twix on each other and when you make me Snicker. I love when you give me that Look, it makes me crazy about you. I wanted to give you 100 Grand, but it slipped through my Butterfingers. I love you More & More each day and I can't image a better person to Roll through life with, piece by piece. I'll always love you, now and later. Love, Gretchen" We definitely enjoyed eating all of these yummy treats!

Happy Anniversary honey, here's to eternity!

Howard Reuion: Lava Hot Springs

For the annual Wayne and Carolyn Reunion we went to Lava Hot Springs for the weekend. I only took a couple pictures, Mom has the rest on her camera. Everyone, Mom and Wayne, Snarr's and Kevin went down Thursday afternoon. My mom's parents also came to the reunion. Due to my recent health problems this year I have had limited vacation time, so I wasn't able to go down to Lava until Friday night after work. I was totally bummed but it all worked out. Friday everyone just hung out doing different things like golfing for the guys, and mini golfing with the kids. Friday night we played games after I got there and learned some new things about everyone. It was so fun!

Wayne chilling poolside. He was having a lot of back problems and in pain so he was kind of miserable. Poor guy!

Saturday was pool day!! We headed to the pool when it opened and stayed for several hours, enjoying the warm sun and the water slides. We had to get out of the water several times because someone got hurt jumping off the diving boards, then someone had an accident in the pool and they had to shut it down for 30 minutes, so we decided this was a good time to head back to camp. The guys decided to go golfing again and everyone else just relaxed at camp. We had dinner that night with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Susie and celebrated Wayne's 82nd birthday! He's not really 82 but it's a joke I have with him! Sunday we packed up and headed home with another great Howard reunion in the books!

Since I didn't go down til after everyone, I surprised Kevin with a new haircut. I've been growing my hair out since we got married, and I have been feeling like I needed to spice things up, so I cut about 4 inches off my hair, on a whim! It felt great and I love it!!