Phillips Family Heads Back East

We had a wonderful time seeing the sights of our Nations Capital. We took Grandma and Grandpa Barlow with us and I think we walked them so much they may not want to come with us again.
We Started our vacation is Williamsburg, VA. We toured Colonial Williamsburg and learned what it might have been like to live in the 1800's. We stayed in the condo there and had a great time learning about the Revolutionary War. We took one afternoon off from "learning" and went to the beach.
We decided to leave Williamsburg on Sun. and drive up to Richmond, VA to go to church. When we got there, we met another family coming in also on vacation. Come to find out, church was closed in Richmond. The doors were locked and lights were off, parking lot was gated shut. No one was around. So after deciding what to do, we landed in Fredricksburg for church. After church we found a place to eat and decided to go up into DC and see Arlington before we went to find our new condo.

Arlington is very peaceful, and makes me proud to be an American. There are so many graves, it is truely amazing. Freedom isn't free, someone died for us to have that freedom.

We watched to changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We left Arlington and found our way up the road to Front Royal, VA. This would be our home away from home for the rest of the week. We got our groceries and found where the GPS took us; saying this was the place. It didn't look like what was in the book, it looked like a campground and we had no tent or trailer.
The office was closed with a note on the door saying back in 15 min. we waited 15 min. and no one came. We drove through the campground and only saw trailers and a speed limit sign saying 7 1/2 MPH.We drove to another spot we thought could be where we were to stay, but couldn't get into the building. Doors were locked and lights were out. We finally decided to send Kirk and Grandpa to ask someone. They did and we went to find the man. He was down visiting. He came back and checked us into a "Cabin".
It was small and crowded, the water came out of the sinks and tubs a brown color, but we had a bed and a roof over our heads. It was clean.
We drove to Getysburg on mon., met our friends (the Barringers) at Harper's Ferry, and enjoyed seeing and learning about the Civil War.
Tues, because we were staying 60 miles out of DC, we had to leave early (5:30 am) to be in Washington by 8:15 AM. It was only 60 miles, but with the traffic, it was 2 hours each way. We toured the White House, Washingtons Monument, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the Musium of Natural History. It was a big day with lots of walking and still a long ride home.


Wed. we all slept in and checked out the things to do at the condo. Swimming pool... Closed, video games... Broken, Fishing pond... Bring your own pole, Volleyball.... pull the weeds first, They (the Boys and Krista) did find horse shoes, and a petting zoo. Ping Pong... Buy the balls.

We left around 12:30 and drove into DC again. This time we toured the Pentagon then drove out to the temple. The boys and Kirk did baptisms. Long drive home again.


Thurs. was wet and raining. We drove into DC and did a bus tour. It took us to all the monuments and we could get off for as long as we wanted and then back on. We saw the Lincoln Monument, WWII, and the other war monuments. We found a friend of Grandpa and Grandmas name on the wall of the soldiers. We also got into the printing and engraving where they make the money. Wet and cold but a fun day.



Fri. was our last day to see DC. We drove in and went to the Air and Space Musium, and sculpture gardens and the American History musium. While in the Air and Space Musium, we ran into our neighbor. What a small world.

Sat. we got up and drove back to Richmond to catch a flight home. What a week. It was so fun, but always good to be home to a good bed and water that doesn't come out brown.

Sat is for Football and Soccer

Jared has started tackle football this year. He's got a really good kick and some pretty quick hands. I guess the years of soccer and playing goalie paid off. His team has a lot of first timers on it, but for first timers they hold their own.

Jared ready to send the ball flying.

Justin has moved from the USA soccer team to the Blue Knights soccer team. He is having a great year. A couple of Saturdays ago he played against his old team, there was fire in his eyes. And when he scored a diving header the fire became brighter. Then he scored again! I had told him I'd pay him if he scored against his USA team. He did and came collecting. He's team jumped off the bench and so did his dad. It was an awesome game. BlueKnights won 4-2.

Justin going for another header against Sparta.

This one almost made it in too. Tied game 1-1.

YICKS! Justin is 16

Justin turned 16 on the 16th of June.
He was a youth conference and wasn't expecting much. I had the YM pres. pick up a cake I had order. Justin was eatting dinner with some friends and someone told them they had to eat with everyone else. So they moved to where everyone was and as he walked in everyone started singing Happy Birthday. He was surprised.
He came home from youth conference and we had planned a party with his buddies. We took 10 friends to progressive power tumbling. It's a fun place in Provo with tramps and a rope swing that lands into a big foam pit. He had a great time with his friend do different dare devil stunts.
Sunday, the whole Barlow family was here for Father's Day. Justin was ordained a priest and we had a big BBQ. It was a great weekend.

We have a driveway

We have a drive way. The kids went and put their handprint in the cement. We were almost to late. It was starting to dry fast. Like these nice warm days were having.

They should be finishing up the painting today and tomorrow.

The applinces are coming on Wed.

We found someone who wants to live in our home. It will be hard to leave after 15 years.

We have been so blessed with wonderful neighbors and friends.

It will be different not living in a circle where the kids just go out and play, but someone else needs this home and great neighbors and a safe place to let their young kids play.

We have met most the neighbors at our new home and they all seem like great people. The kids have already made friends. Krista's friend can hardly wait until she moves in. It makes it easier to leave. But we're not going far, so we can see have our friends here.

They just split the ward we are moving into, and they already want to give us a calling. We keep telling them we haven't moved in yet, but it won't be long.

It's getting more and more exciting

Here's what it looks like now. The stucco is done, the drive is being leveled as I type.

The inside has been primed and is being painted at this moment.

The bathrooms and laudry are finished being tiled, the wood floor is in. It's so exciting to see the progresss.

No tax break for us

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It's getting closer, but we won't be done and closed this week. It looks like it will be the 3rd week of July. It's okay, we would rather it be done right and good than to get the money and have it been hurried and not done right.

Drive way comes tomorrow. They are painting today and probably the rest of the week. Cabnets come next mon. carpet comes after that.

Upstairs family room

downstairs fire place

Our New House Is Getting Closer To Being Done

Back of the house

Front of the house

After months of waiting, we are almost done!

They started the brick this week. They will put in the wood floor, tile, and paint next week.

Starting the brick

Cabnets are just waiting to be installed.

Carpet is ordered and will be ready to be put down soon.

The 4-way inspection didn't go as planned, we had a little set back with that one. But it finally passed and we are on our way. We would like to close before the end of June so we can have the tax write off. If we don't we will have until the end of July to close.

Downstairs family room

Upstairs Family Room

Justin Makes High School Soccer Team

Yes the season is over, but I haven't had a lot of time to do a post.

Justin played varsity and JV for Riverton this year.

He had a really good season and loved scoring in the games.

He scored in almost every game.

The team didn't do well in playoffs, so that's as far as they went.

The two big windows you see are Jared's and Krista's bedrooms. The bath is the smaller window.


It's coming along. The hole was filled with a foundation, walls and framing.
I had no idea it took so many small details to build a home.
It has been fun watching the progress and changing things to fix what we
thought we would like. It's different to look at it on paper, Jeff did a
great job drawing it up; we had to make a few changes that weren't on the plan to
make it fit what we needed. Then there are the things we didn't catch that we wished
we would have before it was to late. None the less, It's been exciting to see what they do each day.


The view out my back windows is going to be great! The big window in the middle is the family room, The one on the left is where the kitchen table will be, and the one on the right is my bedroom.

There's a hole in the ground

There's a hole in the ground Dear Julie, Dear Julie, there's a hole in the ground Dear Julie a hole.



With what shall we fix it Dear Kirk, Dear Kirk, with what shall we fix it Dear Kirk with what.



With foundation Dear Julie, Dear Julie, with foundation Dear Julie, foundation that's what.

WOW! Time does fly

Since the last post, we have started school, Justin is a Soph., Jared is now in 7th grade, and Krista is in 3rd. Everyone is doing great with school.
We (Kirk and I) went on a cruise with our friends the Smith's. We had a blast and hated coming back to the cold.
Our family hosted the Phillips' family Thanksgiving. I was a nice dinner at the church.
We spent Christmas in St. George, we had a great time with family down there celebrating the birth of our Savior.
Jan. left us wondering if we were going to be able to the swing financing a new home. We had money on a lot, and had until the end of Jan. to get a loan. It was Jan. 27th that we closed on a construction loan. We now have 6 months to get something built.
Feb. took us to Phoenix to watch Justin play soccer. It was fun, warm and the team did very good. It was along ride home, to not very warm weather.