Water Babies

In the Barrand family we love the water. So here are some pics of us enjoying ourselves in the water.

The first ones are a great pool near our house in Lehi where we have gone a few times. Marcia likes to lay out in the sun, while the boys play around in the lazy river, the big slides, and getting in trouble with the lifeguards telling us not to throw Sam so high up in the air :)




These next pictures were taken the last time we went boating with Jake and Jamie. Their boat is a blast! We love being on the lake on a hot summer day, its a perfect way to enjoy friends, family, and the wonderful world we live in. Not to mention that when Marcia gets in the sun, her skin just soaks in all those rays into a beautiful dark color. We would have had some pics of Marcia wakeboarding, but our photographer had to go. (We didn't know it at the time but she was pregnant, so maybe it is better that there is no proof of her going wakeboarding while pregnant)




This last picture is of Sam "helping" me mow the lawn. He really loves to lend a hand!

Sei What!?!?

This year for Christmas my in-laws decided to go to Costa Rica. Since we've been trying to get pregnant, when I was just about to pay for Sam's ticket, I wondered if it might not be safe to fly if I was late in pregnancy. I talked to the travel agent and she said that I wouldn't be able to go anytime in the 3rd trimester. But since I wasn't sure if I was pregnant or not, she told me that I needed to get a pregnancy test as soon as possible. (Kind of a funny advice to get from a travel agent that I never met) I got a pregnancy test as soon as I got done talking to her and then test came out POSITIVE!!

We are so excited! We've been trying to get pregnant for the last 2 months. I know that it didn't take too long but for us it felt like it took forever. Even though it would be very hard in about 8 months, we'd be happy with twins this time... At least it feels like it could be twins because I'm twice as sick as the first time.

But, if it isn't twins, we are thinking that it will be a girl.(we won't find out for a few months). And as opposed to last time when we decided Sam's name just a few weeks before he was born, we have already picked out a name. We like "Sei". It is a Japanese name meaning "pure", pronounced like the English word "Say that you love me." The Japanese character looks like this 清 (if you browser supports Japanese symbols).

We like this name a lot and are excited about giving something representative of her Japanese heritage. When we ask Sam if he wants a sister or brother, he tells us that he wants a sister. It's an exciting time for our family! Keep Marcia and baby Sei in your prayers.

A Tent, A Pond, A Salad, A Dog

Summer is just about here and we are living it up! We love the warm weather and we try and get out and do fun things as a family when we can. Here are some of the things we have been up to recently.

We borrowed a tent from a neighbor and did our own little camp-out backyard style. It was fun, we roasted mash mellows over the stove and made smores, then "slept" in the tent. We all came back in to the house around 6 am and slept for a few more hours.



Here is the little pond by our house with tons of fish in it. The first time we went fishing here I caught a little one, but this week we had no such luck... I think its because we need to use some worms instead of the little plastic thing on the hook. Anyways, Marcia got these great pics of Sam and I trying our luck.





Here is the updated picture of the garden. Things are coming along and We have already made two salads and a few sandwiches out of the lettuce. The birds have enjoyed all the strawberries :(



Here is our neighbors dog. His name is coach. Sam loves to play with him. Marcia jokes that he is our dog, because we always get to play with him. The nice part is that we don't have to clean up after him or anything, so it works out very well.

Graduation Ceremony

2 weeks ago Dad flew out for my graduation ceremony. It was a great weekend, lots of fun. On Thursday we had a fancy dinner. Friday we had the actual ceremony. Saturday we put together the garage door opener, which I got for a graduation present from dad
(thanks again!), Marcia got me Zelda for the Wii (which is locked up till I get my thesis done. Our friends Jake and Jamie just got a boat and they invited us to go the lake. We did some wakeboarding, rafting and BBQ.

Here are some pictures from the graduation dinner. Sam was a little wild man, and Dad had to take him outside to feed the ducks so that we could get some peace and quiet at our table.




This is during the actual ceremony in salt lake. At this point the guy behind me is putting on my "Masters" hood. Honestly wearing the ropes and robes and hoods was quite uncomfortable, and I was relieved to take it all off at the end of the day. Its ironic how the more degrees and honers you achieve, the less comfortable your day will be.

To be honest, I didn't feel like I deserved that ceremony because I'm not done with my thesis yet. So the whole time I had this pit in my stomach, thinking "I really gotta finish that paper". But its coming along...slowly...but...surely.



This next one is of just the MBA students that graduated with me. We were the first three MBA grads of Neumont university.




Here is dad doing his magic with the garage door opener. It only took us the whole day to get it up! It was a good manly project, even Sam, without being asked went and got his play tools and helped out.




This last picture is of us at the lake, having our bbq. Sam had jumped in the water so we needed to change his clothes.

Garden

Here is my garden! I'm really excited about eating the fruits of the earth. In the lower third of the garden there are pumpkins and watermelons. Then in the middle third there are some strawberries and lettuce. The top third has tomatoes and broccoli. Just about everything is popping up out of the ground, so things are looking good!

Sam's Life as a Model Begins

This week Sam had a photo shoot for the Salt Lake Magazine. He has also just joined an modeling agency. Since he is ridiculously good looking we thought we'd put him in and see how he does.

Marcia's Birthday

I had a special birthday this year! I'm not going to tell you how old I am because you are not going to believe it. It was special because it was a "milestone" birthday and also because we got to celebrate it in our new house. It is a good thing that our house is bigger than our old condo because we wouldn't have room for everybody. There were about 70 people here. Mission companions, friends from our new and old ward and friends from random places. Thanks to everybody who came and also thanks for all the gifts and love.