What a week!

Well, it has been quit the week for the Barney's. Tyler got home from his mission on Wednesday the 16th. He has been faithfully serving in the Detroit Michigan Mission. It is always funny to see return missionaries trying to adjust back to "normal" life. The kids were so excited to see him. Ethan propably had no idea who he was, but he kept telling Tyler that he missed (pronounced misse-ed) him so much. what a funny boy.
We all got together on Saturday and had family pictures taken. That is always an adventure. I commented to Erin that i couldn't understand why fathers dislike family pictures so much, considering mothers are always so calm (yeah right), and not at all reminding kids every 3 seconds to keep themselves clean. What a riot family pictures are. The funny part about it is that on the way to get the pictures, i told Carlin that he needed to cut his hair. He has been growing it out for the last three years, and he looked pretty shaggy. I told him that I felt like he needed to be an example to his friends and that they would follow. He didn't like the idea, but I knew that the seed had been planted. well, later that night at about 10:30, i mentioned it again and he decided to do it. You wouldn't believe the amount of hair that my mom took off his head. She couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't get him to do it before the pictures were taken, but i figure it's good for us to have a memory of Carlins shaggy hair, so it will all work out. Besides, we are going to need another family pic in about 7 months anyways because DANIELLE IS GETTING MARRIED. We are all so excited for her. It was only about six months ago that she was telling Erin that she didn't think she would ever get married. How quickly things change. I kept telling my mom that she was going to have a december wedding to plan for, but she wasn't buying it. Look who's the smart one now. (that isn't exactly fair, considering i have known Mike had the ring for about 2 months now). The only problem now is that i won't have anyone to use all my "old maid" jokes on. How sad! It is propably for the best though, i know i have enjoyed marriage, and I think Danielle has wanted to get married for a while now. Well, Dani, you got what you wanted. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Cookies

One of my good friends put a post on her blog the other day about the cookies that my dad used to make every sunday when we were in high school. It got me to thinking about being a teenager, and how poorly I treated my parents and how grateful I am now for everything they did for me.
The cookies were a weekly tradition at our house. I don't know exactly how it got started. Mom always says that she used to make them, but I can only remeber my dad making them for us. (sorry mom) As we got older, I think my parents knew that it would be a good way to get to know our friends, and to make sure that they knew where we were most sunday nights. While there were always strict rules in our home, and punishment for when they were broken, our home was also always open to anyone who wanted to be there, regardless of personal beliefs or differing views on morality. As an example, my older brother had two very good friends who didn't share our religous beliefs, and did things that my parents wouldn't have approved of us doing. But, they were always welcome, and treated as one of the family. One of these friends graduated from high school and became a stripper for a while, but I am one hundred percent certain that if she were to go to my parents house tomorrow, that my mom would give her a hug and talk for hours with her, never once mentioning the less than desirable decisions she may have made in the past. The other friend lives in Arizona, and still comes to visit twice a year to talk with my brother and with my parents. The way my parents treated everyone around them is one of the lessons I am most grateful for. They taught us all from an early age that there were very good people who may not share our beliefs, and may do things that we don't agree with, but that doesn't mean that they are any less worhty of our friendship, and our kindness. I have come to learn that sometimes those friends who are not of our faith are sometimes the ones that are most willing to help. As an example, our family had a very frightening experience a few years back. My Dad vomited blood all over the bathroom, and passed out. When the ambulance got there, and my parents left, it wasn't the members of our ward that stayed with my sisters and helped take care of things. It was our less active next door neighbor who stayed there and cleaned up the bathroom so my sister wouldn't have to. Sadly, most the mebers of my parents ward were completely unaware. The kindness that my parents had showed to those neighbors was repayed in a way that was almost imeasurable. I will forever be grateful that my parents taught me the basic life lesson of loving all those around you regardless of thier station in life.
One of the funny things about Marisa posting the recipe for the cookies on her blog, is that a day later I got an e-mail from a friend that I haven't talked to in about 11 years asking me for that very same recipe, and telling me that he had been craving them for the last eleven years. So, for anyone who is interested in starting a very worthwhile tradition of making cookies every sunday, here are the two apparently well liked cookie recipes courtesy of my father. Thanks Dad.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine
*Important note- cream these ingredients together before you add anything else, that is exactly what it sounds like, they should be creamy before you continue*
2 eggs, added one at a time
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. salt
2-3 cups flour. The flour is done by consistency. The amount changes with every batch I make. I will have to put some pictures of the dough so that you can see what it should look like. Or, you can just make them a few times and change the amount until you get it right.
Don't forget to add a package of chocolate chips at the end. They should be cooked at 350 for 11 minutes.

The second recipe is for applesuace cookies.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup applesuace
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp soda
~ 2 cups flour. Once again, the amount will vary. it should be a smooth creamy texture. If your cookies come out to flat, than you need more flour. Don't over do it though.
1 bag of chocolate chips
Bake at 400 for ten minutes.

The most important tip I can give anyone for making cookies. Buy a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. They are worth their weight in gold. If you don't have one, well, go out and buy one. ;) Oh yeah, one more thing. A ice cream scoop is the best thing in the world for scooping the dough. I use a size sixty scoop. It is one of those metal ones that you can squeeze the handle on to push the dough out with. The size can be found on the inside of the scoop. erin thnks that they are too sma;;, but i think they are perfectly bite-size.