It was a rather interesting day here at the Barker household today. It started off normal - breakfast, hanging out in our pajamas, playing cars, and a few other things. Next thing I notice I hear Ethan asking for help from inside our master bedroom. He goes in there to play all the time and closes the door. He is good enough to close them, just not good enough to open them. Then the doosie comes - he locked it. We are't talking one of those nice locks where I can stick a butter knife in and turn it or pop it open with a bobby pin. We are talking a KEYED LOCK!!

And since this is all lucky enough to happen on a Saturday the office here at our apartments is not open at 9 am. Of course I know this because I ran down to the office to see if anyone was there. Why didn't I just call you might ask? I did. They're answering service wasn't working correctly and there was not an option for maintanence emergencies. How convenient. EVERY other time that I have needed something stupid done - it has worked just fine!!

Well, needless to say by the time that a few failed phone calls to the office and a trip down there later, Ethan was in tears and crying on the other side of the door wondering why on earth I had not opened it for him yet even though he could plainly hear me panicking on the other side of the door.

So... what do I do?? I called 911 of course. I had never picked up a phone book when we moved here and the only phone numbers I have programmed into my phone is the pediatrician and poison control. I didn't want to take the time to look up the local police stations number online so that leaves 911. After they got my address and phone number and found out that my wonderful 18 month had locked himself in the bedroom they assured a somewhat over pancicked pregnant woman that her first born would out in no time and that someone was on their way.

While I waited for someone to come I grabbed Ethan's bucket of cars and tried to keep him occupied by 'playing' cars with him under the door. That didn't last long. So I broke out the big guns. The one thing that works like magic in our house.

COOKIES

These are by far the cheapest cookies ever made but worked wonders this morning. As soon as one little cookie showed under the bottom of the door the crying stopped and I had a happy little boy once again. A big thank you to Grandma Youngberg for discovering this wonderful snack and even giving us this box!

About five or so minutes after I hung up with the operator a very nice police man knocked on my door and cracked the lock for me. He was very nice and told Ethan not to do it again. Ethan was so happy to be out (not evident in the picture above - but he really was!) that he even gave the police man a high five.

As soon as the office here opened I called and complained about the answering service not working and requested (or required - however you would like to look at it) the key or a new door knob. They have yet to come and do anything about it so right now we have a make shift way of keeping the door open. We shoved a dish rag between the back of the door by the hinges and the wall. That way Ethan can try as he might to get that door shut but it will never happen. At least for a while!

Last week was suck a tornado! It felt like we had been gone forever - nope! Just five days. It was alot of fun to see all my family in Arizona and of course to celebrate my Great Grandpa's 100th Birthday and my Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. It was also quite a bit to process and accomplish in five days.

This is Ethan infront of the oh so luxurious hotel we stayed in in Bisbee. The San Jose Logde (with adjoining Bar)

First we stopped in Bisbee where my Great Grandpa (Floyd Harris) has lived his entire life. Born in 1908 he rarely left and if he did it was for work and then he always returned to his hometown. He still has an amazing sense of humor (though you have listen carefully) and still loves his meat for dinner. We held the party in a Baptist meeting hall. It was the only place in Bisbee large enough to hold everyone and was VERY close to where Pop's assisted living center is. I must say, though, standards of quality and cleanliness are quite different on the Mexican border than they are here. When we arrived to help set-up there were LARGE bugs everywhere and might I also add that in the 100 plus degree weather there was no air conditioner!! Despite it all everything went off well and the cake tasted amazing!

Floyd Harris - September 12, 1908. Still going strong and loving every minute!

This is Bisbee. It is an old mining town that is mostly tourists now. It is a beautiful place and reminds of somethig I would see back in Europe with the houses stacked ontop of each other throughout the mountains.

This home was built by Lanetta's (Floyd's wife grand father, my great grandmother) Not quite sure why they painted blue and have not kept up the yard and appearance of such an old home but it is very evident that they want Betty for mayor. My grand mother grew up here as well as her two sisters.

Bisbee is litterally a few minutes drive from the Mexico boder.

The town just across the border, Naco, is not a tourist town like many others. They take border patrol very serious here and at night you can see the fence lit for miles in either direction. You also can't walk outside without seeing a border patrol driving through the streets - usually more than one.

Next we made the wonderful 5 hour drive through the Salt River Canyon (which I am glad to say is over). Along our drive we stopped for a while in Tombstone to take some pictures and go through a few shops. When we got to Show Low there was much to be done to get ready for my Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. We were very worried that it would rain - and it did. We had a tent for the food and crowded most of the chairs under the tent or trees and everyone stayed dry and had a great time. The food was great, pictures were great, and better than all of that...everyone survived!

This is one of the actresses in Tombstone. They were just setting up for the day and she was more than willing to take a picture with Ethan. Even though Ethan was not to willing to take a picture with her.

The next day we drove to Phoenix and went to the Diamond Backs game with Grandma and Pop. We purchased some t-shirts, hats, and other goodies at the game store and Ethan was very good through all of it. We had some ice cream half way through the game and were lucky enough that someone in Phoenix knew that no one would come to a single game if the ball park was not covered and air conditioned. Thanks to who ever you are!!

I think Ethan ate more of Dad's ice cream than he did. He crawled right up ther and didn't leave until it was all gone. He has had ice cream before but apparently ball park ice cream is much better than what we serve at home.

Ethan and Pop got to be really good friends during our visit. It did't take long once Ethan found out where he could get treats from.

This was the result after the baseball game. We didn't get out of parking lot before he fell asleep. Usually if I try and take him out of his car seat he wakes up but he was so tired he stayed asleep long enough for me to carry him up to my grandparents hotel room and stayed asleep while I removed his shoes and socks and slept until I had to wake him up to get ready to go the airport.




















After a flight home and a good nights rest we are all doing a little better and are very happy to be sleeping in our beds again. There is nothing like a good, long, tiring, vacation to remind you how much you miss home - not to mention your awesome husband who had to stay home and work.

Sorry it has been a while. We have been really busy lately and haven't gotten much done.

But here are some pictures of the new addition to the family.

Craig and Samantha Youngberg had Aiden Samuel Youngberg on August 1, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. He weighed in at 9 lb. 8 oz. (wow!!) and 21 inches long.