Last night we picked up Tim from the airport. He’s been gone the last two years on an LDS church mission to Ireland. He looked and sounded good. We know he will always cherish the time away and lessons learned while in Ireland. But we’re glad he’s now home. He’ll be around for all of one week, then he’s off to Utah State to finish school.

We’ve had a very uneventful summer consisting mainly of yard work and a few family parties. Which, to be honest has been rather relaxing. Yesterday, we did one very traditional Utah activity  and went to Lagoon, with Dustin’s work. We haven’t stepped foot into Lagoon, for probably 5 years. But all in all it was nice. We realized how boring it is to not have kids, we lasted only 2 hours and went on one ride. But for us, it was good. We enjoyed a nice summer afternoon with a churro, a coke and a funnel cake. Later enjoying working those calories off at the gym.

It’s no secret that we LOVE the 4^th of July. It’s even better when it’s spread over a 4 day weekend! Friday we enjoyed our annual “Barbie-Q”. Saturday was the fireworks. Sunday was dinner @ Barberland, and fireworks with the neighbors. Monday has been a lazy day catching up on everything from sleep to laundry. It’s been the perfect weekend, as we make an important transition in our lives.

Dustin finished up at his old job on Friday, and started a new one on Tuesday. His hard work and dedication seems to have finally been noticed. We feel this new job is a great opportunity, with a well established company and plenty of room for him to grow and develop. The whole thing has been a surreal experience for us. We just know this is where he’s supposed to be. We’re not so sure why us, and why now. But we feel very blessed & we’re committed to being good stewards of our recent blessings.

A couple of years ago we had the most pleasant surprise as homeowners: our cherry tree was the proud home for a robins’ nest. Every day we’d make a point of checking the nest and the status of the eggs; it was so much fun.

I was determined this year to repeat that so we went down to the local bird store and got the needed accessories to outfit our tree. We got a good feeder complete with robin-specific food. I stare out the window to see if any robins were finding the treat I left them. I even went so far as to dig up worms (totally not my thing) to place with the food in the feeder. The  guy at the bird store said that worms would up my chances of robins finding my feeder.  Alas, no nest.  However, I think now the word has gotten out because we do have frequent visitors, which is nice, just no robins yet.  As for a nest, we’ll just keep trying.

We spent an awesome night with Megan as she performed as the newest member of the Syracuse High School dance team. WAY TO GO MEG!

Two years ago our lives we’re turned upside down with the passing of our Barber family matriarch, Grandma Helen Flint Barber.  The day started with an early morning phone call from my Mom telling us to get to the Hospital, for it might be the last time we see our beloved Grandmother. This wasn’t our first fire drill, so we brushed off the urgency as we moseyed our way up to the hospital. This time it wasn’t another drill, it was the real deal. Luckily we arrived in enough time to see her, but she had passed just minutes before.

Walking into her hospital room was something I’ll never forgot because the sprit we felt was so strong. It was then we (and I’m sure everyone else) knew that Grandma was now in a better place and we shouldn’t be sad for her going, but happy for having known her. Lucky enough to have been in her wake for so many years – leading us, guiding us, helping us to know right from wrong, and what’s important in life is our faith and our family – we firmly believe that families are forever.

We know we’ll see Grandma Barber again. But until that day, we need to honor her by being good stewards of her legacy. She’d often joke with me when I was dating Dustin and tell me, “Emily, don’t screw this up”. That was her way of telling me I needed to look past Dustin’s shortcomings and marry the guy. Well you know the story from there, but if I could speak to Grandma Barber today, I’d tell her I’m not going to screw this up. I’m going to do everything I can to honor all that you have taught me. Because in the end, family is all we’ve got.

Late Thursday afternoon we decided to be spontaneous and pack our bags and head south to sunny St George, UT. We drove all night at arrived at our hotel super late. We work up Friday and headed to Zion National Park for some hiking.  After a beautiful day in the park we drove down to Vegas that night. Saturday was spent lounging by the pool and dinner with Sarah, Brent and the kids. Overall it was a great weekend getaway.

We want to give a special shout out to “Uncle Paul” (a.k.a my Dad) for his super sweet tickets to the Jazz game. Before I get to the game, you should know as term of endearment I’ve called my Dad “Uncle Paul” and my Mom “Aunt Vicky” for quite some time.

The game – totally awesome, row 2, center court seats, complete with VIP privileges before, after and during the game. It doesn’t get much better than this.  Now having experienced the “crème de la crème” (or as I like to call it “Barber style”), Dustin says he will never never attend another Jazz game unless it is equal to or better than this.

Okay, so 2009 was not too bad for the “Checky –pies”, but we’re anxiously awaiting what lies ahead in 2010. All aspects of our lives are shaping up to be better than ever before. We hope to share good news with you throughout the year, stay tuned for our adventures…

We were recently invited to a private lunch with our favorite radio show DJs Kerry, Bill and Gina from X96 Radio From Hell.  We had donated some cash to RFH’s annual Road Home fundraiser (The Road Home is a “private, non-profit social service agency that assists individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake”) and were thrilled to join them at Z’Tejas for lunch as well.  (We would have just donated the cash but we couldn’t turn down lunch with our favorite local celebrities.)

Dustin and I feel an obligation to donate of our time, talents and money to bettering the world around us. We feel so blessed and always want to do more.