My Grandpa Barker

Picture at Our last year summer visit

About a month before I was due with Kyson, my Grandpa was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor. It had already progressed so much the doctors said that there was really no treatment that would help and he was sent home. This news was very unexpected because he had always been in amazing health. My family had already planned an 80th birthday party for my grandma but it ended up being a time for the family to see him one last time here on earth. I was not able to make it to the gathering because I was due in a few weeks and didn’t think it was wise to travel. Then a week after Kyson was born my sweet grandpa passed away. I also was not able to make it to the funeral because Kyson was so young, but my mom brought her phone in, called me, and left it on so I could listen. It was extremely hard for me not to be there but, it was nice to be able to feel apart by listening on the phone.
I have such sweet memories of my grandpa throughout all the stages of my life. He has truly been a great example to me of service and how to show love for your family. As a really little girl I remember sitting with him at his desk in his home office and coloring or reading books with him while he worked. My cousins and I also loved to play in the beautiful yard that he had created. He always had an amazing garden. In one home he had a beautiful rose garden on a hill. He would go and cut flowers from it for grandma each day and sometimes for me too. As kids we would build forts in the bushes in the yard and grandpa would come in and play his saxophone or another instrument for us in the fort. We loved it. We also took trips to the beach each year. Grandpa never got in the water and would always wear long pants and long sleeves to the beach but he would always help us build some amazing sand castles. When I was in high school after my grandparents served 2 missions they came and stayed with us for a few months. I loved having them so close and loved learning a little about gardening from grandpa as we planted a tomato garden together for my young women project. My grandpa loved to play games. Whenever the Barkers gather there is always a game of some kind going on. I think we all got our love of games from grandpa. He was always willing to play. I have many memories of grandpa making his famous BBQ chicken. I think almost every time we got together grandpa made his chicken. It’s so amazing. My most favorite memory I have is when I had the job of cleaning my father’s office at night my grandpa volunteered every time he was in town to go and clean with me. I had that job for 15 years, and he ended up coming with me many times. I’m sure he would have preferred to stay and play games than empty a million garbage bags, but I knew that he was only going to spend time with me and to help me out. I cherish those one on one times we had together and I learned a lot from him. As I have gotten older it always touched my heart when he would tell me how he thought I was a good mother and tell me how proud he was of me and the woman I have become. He would never let me forget by reminding me every time he came to visit. I think the greatest lesson I learned from him is service and selflessness. He was always looking for opportunities to serve and was always first to volunteer for a job he knew no one wanted to do. He was truly a selfless man.
I am so blessed to be a part of his eternal family. I love that peace the gospel gives to me that I will be able to be with him again someday. I love you Grandpa!

My Wonderful Mom

I was so blessed to have my mom be able to come for a little over a week when Kyson was born. She arrived the day before we went to the hospital and was able to have lots of grandma time with the kids. They loved having her here. It was a really busy time for her but she made sure that she could make it and I am so grateful. Thanks mom for everything. Love you!

Kyson Scott Mackey born May 12, 2011

Here's the story:

Orrin and I woke up early to make it to our appointed time at the hospital to do a version or a c-section. We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to all the stuff they needed to. They tried 4 different times and 2 different nurses to get the IV in and finally did. Not so fun. When my doctor got to the hospital She wanted to do a ultra sound to check his position again. When she did we found out he had flipped! My doctor had told me that if he did flip that I would know. She said that most women feel like the are going to throw up after. I never got that feeling but Sunday night I woke up and thought I was in labor. I was shaking and having lots of contractions but they were very sporadic and just stopped 15 minuets later. So we are guessing that's when he flipped. It was a true answer to prayers from so many people. Thank you everyone for praying for us. We were so excited to find out that news! The doctor was even excited and surprised for us. It was a true blessing. I don't know how I would have been able to take care of the boys being so far from family if I had to have a c-section.

We then decided that since we were there, he was in the right position, and everything else was taken care of that we would just go ahead and induce. It was the longest labor I have had but I was the easiest. We did a lot of TV watching and waiting. It was a great delivery. He was born at 8:20pm that night. He weighed 6lbs 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

Soon after we had gotten to the recovery room we decided to hurry up and go to bed so we would be rested for when Kyson woke up. After Orrin feel asleep I started feeling this really horrendous pain. I called for a nurse to come but after 15mins of no one coming, I woke Orrin up to go get someone. The pain was so bad. It was worse than any part of the labor. Come to find out I was hemorrhaging. About 8 different nurses came running to my room. It was really scary. They were trying to stop the bleeding and even had to call the on call doctor at my doctors office to come to the hospital. They even took Kyson to the nursery. It was mostly scary because of how stressed the nurses were. I was freaking out because they were. I finally did stop bleeding after all the medication they gave me. I had lost a lot of blood. I didn't get any sleep that night because of it, so the next morning I was super out of it. They even were talking about giving me a blood transfusion but lucky I was just on the border of needing one that they let me decided. I really didn't want one so they sad that if I could stand on my own by the time it was time to go home that they wouldn't give me one. I'm so glad I didn't needed that.

We love having Kyson in our home. The boys love him so much and help out a lot(expecially Bradley). They love to hold him, kiss him, and tell him that they love him. He has been a really good baby. He likes to sleep during the day and play at night (we hope to fix that soon). He is my smallest baby yet (a whole pound & a half smaller then Wes & Brad) but super cute! As he has gained some weight I think he looks just like the other boys did. We absolulely adore him!

Baby Boy #3

So I have 1 1/2 weeks until this baby will join our family. The boys are super excited and talk about it all the time. I'm a little nervous. Not only to have 3 boys in our house, but this little one is also breeched. We are schedule to go to the hospital on May 12th for a version or a c section. A version is when the Dr. pushes on your belly and tries to flip the baby in the right direction. I have heard that that is really not very fun and you can come out black and blue. If it works (its a 50/50 chance) then they will induce me. If it doesn't work they will do a c section.YUCK! I don't really like either option we will do what we have to. Wish us luck. We are super excited to meet this little one in a little bit.

Easter 2011

We have had so much rain here (well we do live in Portland) but they have been saying that it has been one of the most wet Aprils ever in Portland. May I just say that I am so ready for summer to come to Portland. But we did get to have a beautiful Easter weekend. We had 3 days of sun with a little rain. Which means that we we able to go outside and have some fun. We first went to the Tulip Farm with some good friends. We both have boys and we knew that they would love to go tromping through the mud and playing on the old fashioned trackers while we looked a the field of beautiful tulips. And they did. I don't even think they realized that there were even flowers there. It turned out to be a really fun and beautiful day.

We also were able to do an Easter egg hunt. Its kind of sad but Bradley had never done a real Easter egg hunt(every Easter has been rainy). I think he had more fun hiding them with me then finding them. I love Easter egg hunts.




Easter day we did the normal Easter baskets, decorating eggs, and church. I had totally forgot to get the rest of the boys Easter clothes together (there ties and shoes for Wes ). That morning I was able to whip up some ties and had Wes were some really old shoes but it worked out. The Easter bunny also brought the boys stuffed Shaun the Sheep toy(a British kid show). My boys love watching that show. I'm pretty sure the Easter bunny had to order them from china because he/she couldn't find them anywhere in the US.

Orrin's Turn

Orrin always enjoys the month between my birthday and his, because for those few weeks I am older than him and he really likes to rub it in. So I was really glad when his birthday came around not only because he was turning 30 also but because the boys and I love to celebrate and show how much we love him.

I wanted to do lots of little suprises for him throughout the day but my favorite was putting up all these nice birthday wishes from our family. (thanks guys for your help)



Orrin loves sea food and I have made shrimp and scallops for his birthday for the last few years so I decided to add some crab leggs. The boys thought it was very interesting and had fun playing with the claw.

Thanks to a wonderful friend who watched the boys we had a nice dinner out just the two of us the weekend before. It had been a really long time since we had gone anywere just the two of us. It was super nice for the both of us.

We love you Orrin !!

The Best Suprise EVER!!!!

So for the last year I knew it was coming but still didn't really like it. There was nothing I could do I was turning 30! I still can't believe I am that old. 30 years old just sounds like I am a real grown up. As I was getting closer to my birthday (March 11) I was coming to terms with it and was ok. But then I got the best ever gift I could get... A suprise visit of my parents!!!! They arrived at my door step late one night and I was so suprised I really couldnt talk for a few minutes after they arrived. They came for 5 days just to play and have fun. We had so much fun it was like my birthday lasted 5 days. It was so much fun for me and the boys were so excited when they woke up that morning to find grandma and grandpa. It was the best birthday ever!!! Thanks mom and dad for coming.