You Googled What?

So, I have some running stats on the home page of the blog where I do all the behind the scenes and design stuff. Trust me, the blog that you see does NOT look that way when I write it.

I have a place where there are running stats on the blog. Like how many hits per day, the post with the highest number of hits, the countries that people are located in while reading the blog, and what operating system they use (windows, a mobile device, etc).

There is also a part that tells me what keyword/phrase they typed into Google/Bing/Yahoo to find the blog. There are some interesting ones. That make me laugh really hard. Some are super inappropriate. Some are useful.

Mostly, the things that come up make me realize the WEIRD things that people google.

1. Where is my ovary?

This is clearly an image search. With a REALLY high ranking on google images.

2. What is hormonal mess?

Me. Obviously.

3. How can I help my hormonal teenager daughter?

Great. I'm giving parenting advice to parents of teenagers. And I don't have any. This may be a little premature, all of you Googlers out there. Hit me back in 10 years. Hopefully never.

4. Dog balding with little black spots

That is related to Optimus's episode of alopecia. Poor guy.

5. Elective reduction risks

The is my MOST popular search word. The second is severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Google image that my friends. I am pasted all up over that.

6. Purple sock vag

No comment. When did I ever talk about vaginas. And purple socks. People are freaks.

7. Nose pinch

What?

8. Alien mucus

This is from when the babies were sick and blowing big snot bubbles the size of their heads.

9. Big hip bald ass

What the what? Again. There's some freaks out there.

10. Boobs without cloths

The had to be a pre-teen who didn't know how to type "naked chicks." Or spell "clothes."

Family Pictures

I am terrible about pictures. I take TONS of them, but never print anything out. I have grandparents who don't have smart phones or internet. Seriously. So they never see pictures of their great-grandkids. I am going to print off a mess of pictures the next time I go to Walmart and send the photos to them.

We have also NEVER had professional pictures taken. We always have friends take them who have nice cameras.

So eventually, we will have professional ones done, but in the meantime, we've gotten great results from friends.

Here's one from when Avery was born:

Here's one from a friend at White Sands:

And now we have new ones from the same friend who took our White Sand pictures:

We also took a mess of Christmas pictures, but I'm not sharing all of those until we get our Christmas cards in the mail!

But here are some outtakes. Avery making us laugh mostly. And Optimus reminding me of a t-rex.

Seriously y'all. Optimus's big, goofy face just makes me smile.

I threw a bear at Avery and Kristen took the shot while Avery was in mid-catch.

Avery's new favorite game is the "steal the nose" game and she started playing it in the middle of pictures. This is Avery stealing my nose.

Avery stealing Troy's nose. He's not super tolerant of the nose stealing game. She doesn't quite get the "be gentle" concept of the game. It's a TIGHT squeeze and pinch from her. Ouch.

We took some Christmas pictures in front of our stockings (we don't have a fireplace). We gave Avery a poinsettia flower to hold and she decided that it needed to go on Kinley's head.

Up close shot of the flower on her head.

Well, since we got our photos taken, we got our Christmas cards ordered today. So I just need to make sure I can get them addressed and in the mail BEFORE Christmas. Wish me luck!

We are SO Late Jumping on the Netflix Bandwagon

Seriously...I've known what Netflix was for foreva. I did. But we never bought into it because we have cable and DVR. Who needs both? That just seems like overkill. Troy's Aunt was visiting last week and convinced us that we just HAD to get it. Especially since the first month is free. You guys know I can't resist free. Or a good deal. And $7.99 a month is a great deal. Especially for this new couch potato.

We decided not to get the actual DVD to the mail box, just the instant Netflix in the house, which we currently have wired through the Wii. Our Wii has gotten more action in the past week than it has in the past 2 years. Seriously.

So far, we have watched a few movies, a few kid movies (for Avery of course...but who doesn't enjoy Disney classics?), and some series.

We are currently watching "Orange is the New Black," with is a Netflix original series. It's a little risque, but we are really enjoying it. I told my mom and she recommended another Netflix original series called, "House of Cards." I had NO idea that Netflix even HAD original series and apparently, they are starting to compete with networks like HBO and Showtime. So that's been a nice surprise.

Who else has Netflix? How long have you had it? Do you still have cable? And MOST IMPORTANTLY: What are you watching? Recommendations?

Now that I'm not working, Avery's nap time and early bedtime (7pm muahahaha) have been Netflix exploring time. Move over DVR...you're getting put on hold for the rest of the summer. Until Parenthood starts up. And New Girl. And Big Bang Theory. When does the fall line up start again?

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

I MADE IT!!! I read somewhere that most blogs only have a 3 month life! I BEAT THE ODDS! It's hard to believe it, but one year ago today, while living in a hotel temporary living facility (TLF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, this blog was born! My, how things can change in a year.

Baby Girl looked like this:

And we lived in this:

I can't believe that was a year ago...it seems like it was just yesterday!

Here are some statistics for you about the past year:

- BarnesDailyCircus has been googled 295 times (lets be real, 293 of those were probably my Mom)

- The very first blog I wrote had 18 page views. OH that is so low. Most of the blogs I write now average about 200 page views. Which is still nothing to write home about, but hey! Growth is growth!

- My very first commenter was Bethany Russell. One of my co-workers from Dover. HI BETHANY!

- My top 3 read blogs were:

1. Some nightstands that I re-did. The post was added to a home redesign blog and gets frequently clicked on from their site.

2. Where we announced we were having triplets.

3. Where we found out that one of the babies had anencephaly.

- This little blog won an award!!

- Most of the readers have been from the United States, but there are readers world wide. Who are you? Speak up! This is the list of top 10 countries reading.

United States - 19547
Russia - 596
Canada - 465
United Kingdom - 325
Germany - 284
France - 64
Japan - 63
Philippines - 56
Australia - 52
South Africa - 46

- Most people are reading from a PC! I don't know why this surprised me, but it did.

- I did a total of 156 posts over the past year. Holy cow. That's more than I expected when I started this blog. Especially since during the past few months, I've only been averaging about a post a week. So I was super good about posting in the beginning. No surprise there though. Avery was napping 2x a day and we lived in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere. I am definitely going to try an blog 3x a week. Don't hold me to that.

So thank you everyone. This past year has been a craaaaazy year and I know it's going to keep going full speed ahead. Come along, won't you?

FatBooth

So Troy found this app on his phone called "Fatbooth." You take a picture of yourself, line up some lines/dots with identifying features (like your nose and bottom of your chin), press enter and it pops out an image of what you would look like if you were fat.

We definitely were able to entertain ourselves for about an hour.

And since we were so entertained, I decided to share our masterpieces with you all. Lucky lucky you!

Here is me looking SO hot:



And of course, we couldn't leave Avery out of the fun:



BAHAHAHAHAHAHA - I'm dying. SO funny.

And here's Troy:



And because he coudn't just stop at one:



We were all having so much fun, we went ahead and let Optimus in on the fun...OH YES WE DID! It didn't work so well for him, in terms of "fatting" him up, but funny all the same:



I hope today's post made you smile!!

My First Speeding Ticket. OH WAIT...It Got Voided!

As a refresher (if you need one) here is the original incident. You know, where the cop was a total meanie and I decided to come home and document it that very day for the whole world wide web to see. And here is when I gave an update after I had filed a complaint with internal affairs.

Which brings me to today. Where I can tell you that the whole ordeal is officially over. My assigned court date was yesterday, January 15th. And I didn't go. Because my ticket was voided. You read that right.

I will back up and explain how all of this came to be...

So I filed an official complaint regarding the whole incident with the Las Vegas Metro Police. The complaint was forwarded to internal affairs. Internal affairs looked into my ticket (well, it was Troy's ticket technically since the ticket was improperly filled out with him as the driver when he wasn't even in the car) and it was then forwarded on the Sergeant of the police officer whom my complaint was regarding. I got a phone call from the Sergeant asking me to come in for an official interview. I told him that I wasn't interested in that but he was pretty insistent, so I reluctantly agreed.

I went to the office for my interview at 7am on December 19th in interrogation room 5. Sergeant Lehtinen and myself were the only people in the room. The things that I said were the truth to the best of my knowledge and the tape recording could be used in an administrative hearing.

Literally. It was that official. I was tape recorded with all kinds of official mumbo jumbo on the beginning of the recording to document who was there, and time and date and location and HOLY CRAP I was scared.

I was really really glad for this blog when I went in for the interview. I know that (statistically) when court dates or interviews are delayed for things like this, witnesses are more likely to forget the details and facts of situations and instead, only remember how they felt. Interviews run more on emotions rather than facts.

I came home the day that I got my ticket and wrote the blog. It was fresh in my mind. I brought my iphone to the interview and had the page loaded up in the Blogger app. I literally read the blog exactly as I wrote it into the microphone. When I finished, Sergeant Lehtinen asked me if I wanted to add any additional information and I said no.

And he turned off the tape recorder and informed me that internal affairs had started the paperwork to have my ticket voided before the report of my complaint had landed on his desk. Which I was NOT expecting, so that was awesome. The internal affairs office noticed that the ticket was under the wrong name and started the voiding process because they didn't know that the name could be changed through the court system.

SO YAY FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING! I filed a complaint about the officer, internal affairs voided my ticket and I did the interview with his Sergeant. All's well that ends well. Thanks for all your advice and encouragement. I appreciate it :)

Making Freezer Crock Pot Meals

I think this is a common emotion that many people feel when it comes to the execution of projects, recipes, or home decor on pinterest:

I have really really been trying to have more execution of pins. On days that Troy and I both work all day, we have this conversation around 430 or 5 when we both get home.

Natalie: What do you want to do for dinner?

Troy: I dunno. Whatever you want.

Natalie: You're cooking if you don't tell me what you want me to make.

Troy: Uh, chicken something.

Natalie: We had chicken last night.

Troy: Okay well don't ask me what I want for dinner and then shoot me down when I tell you.

Natalie: Frozen pizza?

Troy: Okay.

And then we high five the lazy.

To stop the frozen pizza cycle, I started searching for some crock pot recipes on pinterest. Then I found this one. 8 meals. MAJOR win.

I made a list of things that we needed and the meat was definitely the most expensive part. I needed 8 chicken breasts, 3 lbs of beef stew, and 2 lbs of ground beef. I got everything from Costco and probably spent about 25 dollars just on meat. Most of the other stuff was stuff we had on had already (potatoes, onions, and carrots). If you click on the link, it has the recipes I used and also a whole list of grocery items.

It took me about 1.5 hours (during Avery's nap and Troy's homework time) to do all the prep and cooking required for these meals. There are 8 bags and 4 different recipes with 2 bags of each recipe.

Here is the beef stew and the teriyaki chicken up close. I wrote ON the bag if there are any additional instructions (add water, serve over rice/egg noodles, cooking time, etc) for each recipe.

This is the BBQ chicken and beef goulash.

Troy stacked up 4 in the freezer outside and we stacked the other 4 inside. There are only 3 bags in the picture because we decided to have the bbq chicken recipe for an early dinner the next day and wanted it thawed, so that one is in the fridge.

And here is the BBQ chicken cooked and served up hot. It was delicious. Highly recommend so far. Happy cooking.

We had the beef goulash yesterday for brunch with egg noodles. DELICIOUS! I liked it better than the BBQ chicken. YUM.

PS. The author of the original pin (the website with the recipes above) suggested some changes to the recipes that were a little bland. I did the additional ingredients she suggested to give them a little oomph. So far so good. I'm all about easy.

My Oscar Speech...Should I Ever Win One. NOT. But this Little Blog Won an Award!

I'd like to thank Troy for be so ridiculous. Without your weird awkwardness, I would not have stories to tell about you. Thank you to Avery for being so cute. Without which half of the people reading this blog would not even look. Okay...anyways....

Okay so I'm pretty sure I will NEVER win an Oscar. But I did win an award. My first one ever. Literally.

So I read this blog called CrakGenius. And he is a genius. A witty, sarcastic, pessimist. I love it. Here are some of my favorite posts of his:

- His addiction. Not to crack. To Reeses Peanut Butter anything.

- Cars that he would drive in the Zombie apocalypse. GENIUS. He found these on Craigslist or an auction website. SO FUNNY!

- And a story about how he wound up completely naked in his front yard. It's such a good story, he broke it up into part 1 and part 2. I peed a little bit when I read them.

It's called a Liebster Award and started in Europe somewhere. It is designed for well known bloggers to recognize bloggers that they like and enjoy and encourage others to click over and give them some love.

Original(ish) Rules For The Liebster Award

1. You must thank the person who gave you this award.
2. You must display the Liebster heart on your blog.
3. You should nominate 3 to 5 up-and-coming blogs (with less than 200 subscribers)

In accordance with rule 1, thank you CrakGenius. You make me laugh with every post.

In accordance with rule 2, here is the Liebster award logo (I included 2, because apparently there is some confusion about which is the true logo):

So I am apparently a bad blog reader. All of the blogs that I read daily have more than 200 subscribers/followers. I read about 6 religiously. So I am going to have to ignore the nomination portion because I literally don't have anyone to nominate. Sorry Crakgenius. Love you....

CrakGenius also requested that we respond to his 11 questions:

11 Questions For Awardees

1. Are you a grammar Nazi? (Spoiler: if you wanted to tell me that “awardees” isn’t a word… you are)

I am going to go with no. My husband has to read all of my posts before I publish them as my acting editor. The problem is, I read a lot. Like A LOT. My brain has learned to correct grammar, add words, and correct spelling automatically so that I don't really see it. My brain just skips right over it. Have you seen this floating around facebook?

I cannot tell you how easy this is for me. The only issues that I have (that would qualify me as a grammar Nazi) would be the improper use of there, their, and they're as well as your and you're. COME ON PEOPLE! Get with it.

2. If you had to choose just one, Facebook or Twitter?

I'd go with facebook. I don't have a twitter account. Don't tell me merits of twitter. I don't need another time suck in my life.

3. How long have you been blogging?

I've been blogging since the middle of June. I moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico while Troy was in training and we were living in a hotel room. I started out of boredom and was SO OVER calling and talking to people about the same updates. I swear, I spend 4 less hours a week on the phone talking about the same story. So thank you blogging!

4. What’s the worst search term which led someone to your blog?

It's not a "bad" or "embarrassing" search term, but the best one would be "frilly socks." Apparently someone was looking for frilly socks and was led to the blog with this post. About Troy using a "frilly sock" of Avery's to bandage my dog's foot. SURPRISE!

5. What’s your most popular post and why?

My most read post is about the day that Troy and I fought all day putting up blinds and installing ceiling fans. I think the reason it's popular is because a lot of people can relate to the silly crap that couples fight about. And the things you say in frustration. I also think that people who know Troy and I pretty well, know that generally, we try to play nice in public. So putting that fight out there in words for all of eternity on the internet was a little view into our relationship that we try to hide.

6. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Um. Tough question. I'm going to have to go with the ability to make a day last for longer. I feel like I can never get everything done that I want to do. My to do list keeps getting longer. And it's not stuff that needs to be done. I always get housework and cooking and cleaning done. My problem is "me time." I have so many projects to do, books to read, and movies to watch. My DVR is FULL. So maybe my power would be to move with the speed of light so that I could get all the stupid responsibility stuff done so that I could have me time. What would that be called?

7. What’s your favorite curse word and why?

I'm gonna go with shit. For sure. It's my favorite. It's my "oops" word. I am super clumsy. So I probably say it or think it several times a day. It's also my praise word. As in "you are the shit" or "I am the shit." Which really doesn't make sense. Why would something/someone awesome be proclaimed as "the shit"? It's also my go to name calling word. As in "you are a shit" or "he was a shit head." I need to find a new favorite oops/praise/name calling word. Avery is a sponge.

8. What’s your porn star name? (First name is the name of your first pet, last name is the name of the street you grew up on…)

Haha....mine is really good. My dog's name is Optimus Prime and the street is Landing. So it's Optimus Prime Landing. Translating to "The Number One Landing" spot. Yucky. And hilarious.

9. Do you have any tattoos? If so, how many? If not, would you ever get one?

I do have a tattoo. It's a cross in the center of my shoulder blades.

10. Introvert or extrovert?

This is a tough question. I am terrible in groups of people that I don't know. I just sit and listen. So an introvert in groups. I do better in a one on one situation. But then (as mentioned here) I talk way too much. I just get nervous. I would say in general I am an extrovert. I feel like you'd have to be an extrovert to some degree to write a blog. You are sharing moments and stories from your life with the whole world.

11. How did you meet your spouse / significant other?

Troy and I met in church youth group when we were 16, right at the beginning of our junior year. We started dating our senior year while I was at JMU and he was at ECU. It wasn't pretty. But we made it! Long distance relationships CAN work!

So that's me. Thanks so much for the award CrakGenius. I wish I could continue the tradition and give it to someone else, but I don't read any blogs with less than 200 readers. Fail on me.

YES! More pictures of White Sands!

YAY! Got some more pictures and some of them are HILARIOUS! And awesome. Go Kristen. You also have mad skills.

I am overloading y'all with pictures from one day. Sorry. Not really. My blog. Avery just makes me smile.

Here are the boys and the babies. I love dads using baby carriers. It's just precious.

Helping baby girl walk in the sand. This was before I gave up and decided that she could go ahead and roll in it.

Really cool pictures of the sand.

It's uncharted territory. So pretty. This is what I would imagine the moon would look like. Before the astronauts landed. Maybe. There's no wind on the moon. So maybe there wouldn't be dunes. Anyway...

Family photo! Nice work Kristen!!

No baby punching here! She's hugging Bella. Bella loves Avery. It's so sweet.

I LOVE THIS! I busted out laughing when I saw it. Kristen looks so happy and Bella is like "WHAT IS THIS ALL OVER MY FACE!?!?!"

Avery eating sand. Attempt at family photo 1. And Optimus is missing.

I think I am probably jiggling Avery to get her to smile. The camera caught me in mid "YAY white sands!!" And Troy is trying to keep happy dog from running away. Awkward strain in his face. You may not see it, but I do.

This one is ok too. Awkward underside of my neck. I think my favorite one is the above one. Any votes for which one should go in the house?

This might be my favorite. Avery looks SO happy. And they look like a professional cheerleading team. So cute :) Troy saw this picture and was like "Whoa. I didn't realize I was throwing her up so high. I'm a good parent I swear." He caught her every time. Don't worry.

Ok I'm done with White Sands 4th of July pictures. For real. But aren't they precious??

Ask and You Shall Receive!

Blogging is awesome. In my 4th of July post, referring to photos, I said "Kristen took a bunch and I will hopefully be getting them soon and will post them on the blog when I get a chance to pick one where Avery isn't rubbing sand in her eyes, my legs don't look fat, Troy isn't wearing sunglasses and Optimus isn't slinging drool everywhere and making crazy eyes." No Kristen pictures yet. BUT I have discovered the awesomeness (is that a word because if not, it is now) of blogging.

One of the other girls who went, Karen, the mommy of squishable baby Zack (seen here and here) read the post and thought to herself "I took pictures of Avery too!!" And she texted me and I ran right down to her TLF and picked up her flash drive. And some ketchup. I was making meatloaf for dinner and forgot the most important ingredient. FOR SHAME!

Anyway. She took some gorgeous pictures of Avery. I just love how the shirt baby girl wore contrasts with the sand and really pops. Gorgeous!

She's inspecting the individual grains. She's my little scientist.

Look at those teeth! She looks so mischievous.

This is a great scenery shot. You really can't appreciate the sheer SIZE of White Sands without going there. This picture does a pretty great job. Well done Karen.

Sand hugging. Her new favorite hobby. She's going to be a mess when we take her to the beach. No idea when that will be. We live in a desert and are moving to Las Vegas...another desert.

LOVE HER! And yes. I am holding her arms down. She's a flailer. Again with the making up words. I'm the author. Pish posh.

ADORE HER!

*Sidenote - as long as I can remember, my mom has been getting me cards for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter, whatever. I always thought it was weird that she never signed "I love you." She always writes "I adore you." Always. I get it now Mom. I adore her. And you :)

This is my FAVORITE picture of her. I think I'm going to frame it in my house in Las Vegas. I LOVE IT!

Thank you Karen for sharing your talents. And your awesome camera. I love the pictures. They are great :) And for reading this silly blog. Otherwise I may not have gotten these pictures.

I try not to share so many pictures but I just can't help myself. She's so cute. I just want everyone to feel the joy that I feel when I look at her. Anyone else feel that way? About anything? I mean, furry babies count tooooo!! Or your favorite outfit? I get excited about school supplies. Lame. True.