The flu has hit and it STINKS!

Tuesday night we were up ALL night with Ty trying to comfort him as he threw up again and again and again. Sawyer woke up Wednesday morning with the runs. Riley just woke up from his nap lying in his vomit, he says he didn't throw up, but his face and bedding said otherwise. Our entire house stinks.

I know that in the real scope of everything in life this is minor, but it sure is stinky!

(And I'm very thankful for washing machines and steam cleaners!!!! But where to start........???)

Bargen Elves

The Bargen Elves
My sister did this and I thought it was very funny , you might too!

Field Trip

Yesterday the boys preschool class went on a field trip to Goldstream Park. The naturalist told them about the salmon that are in the river spawning right now and then we went out and saw some. It was a fun morning.

On a totally different note.....

We had fun dressing up and carving pumpkins this week....Batman, Spiderman and Superman...I sure was in good hands!

Food For Thought

This morning on my google-reader it showed that a girl named Boothe had blogged. She is an amazing writer and a friend of my sister-in-law. Just six weeks ago she gave birth to her second baby girl, just 5 weeks ago she said good-bye to that very girl..... her blog from last night made me cry, and think and pray.... when you think of their precious little family maybe you could pray for them too.

Here is a little excerpt from today that really made me reflect on how I view God.


"When Copeland died, I remember smirking. This is the moment, this is the moment my baby daughter breathed her last, and still, You are nowhere to be seen. Surely You'd show up now! I don't know what I expected, but somehow it felt like a let-down, or a betrayal, or a joke. And yet - that moment was holy. How can God be so there and yet so absent? How can we feel Him moving and yet feel so alone?

Thus is the conflict of faith. I find that much of my life is defined by conflict at this point. The battles that wage between the parts of my heart that believe and disbelieve, cry and laugh, walk forward and stand still. It's a remarkably exhausting place to be. This is why I chose to say that these are the words of a girl struggling to "know the God she loves." How you can love someone without really knowing them, fully, is unbeknownst to me. How you can trust someone without having had every hope and desire fulfilled is another mystery. Is it possible - or even okay? - to love someone and not like them that much? Is it all right to decide you aren't sure you want to spend a lot of time with them for a while? But yet you'd like to know they're still around, still available, for when you do? Is it even fair? "

Fall Fun

Instead of cleaning my house today (sorry to my friends who coming over tonight... it may be a little messy I played with 4 of my favorite boys. Owen came over and we (Tyler, 4 years old, Riley, 3 years old, Owen, 2 years old, and Sawyer, 8.5 months old and me :) ) went to gymnastics, the library, had lunch and then spent a couple of hours playing outside. Now they are doing puzzles and colouring and I'm sneaking a little computer time. Enjoy our outside pictures!

This is tiring! Such hard work being a baby!

He actually pouts when he's pouting..... kinda cute eh?

Brothers hockey...have they told you that they are going to play for the Canucks when "they grow up".... Ty thinks that it will be so fun because they'll be so many brothers on the Canucks then...the Sedin brothers and the Bargen brothers!! :)

Lately is seems that every time I switch the radio to 106.5 it is this song that is playing..........

Everything Glorious

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that


You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.

Family Photos

Mid-September we had some family photos taken at Willows Beach. We LOVE the way they turned out! If anyone here in Victoria needs an excellent portrait photographer I'd be more than happy to give you her info. We ended up with about 75 professional photo files!!!! (we will pick the pictures and do the printing ourselves). These are a few of our favorites.

New Tricks

Sawyer is 8 months old now and I've been struggling with getting him to eat any traditional "mushy" baby food, he just doesn't like it. Give him a whole apple and he is in his heaven! Silly kid!

Look what I can do!

Tyler drew this picture last night at church. It is Tyler, Riley and Daddy playing football in "Daddy's baseball field". Pretty good, eh?

He has really seemed to grow up this last month or so. He has gotten taller, faster, smarter, better at soccer. . . . crazy. All of a sudden he is better at Riley in a lot of areas. . . this causes some stress for Riley who always wants to be first and the best at everything. Oh well, he'll get his chance too.

It is so fun watching the boys learn and grow. What a blessing and privilege.

Quote of the Day

Riley, last night, out of the blue declares:
"Mom, I want a cousin. Mom, I need a cousin. Mom, how do I get a cousin?"

Why Blog?

I've been thinking about this recently. Why blog? Why read other people's blogs?

I really enjoy reading blogs from MANY different authors. . . my google reader has about 40 subscriptions and then there are all of the other private blogs too. . . I can spend a LOT of time reading, often the entire time that I have to be on the computer is spent reading blogs, instead of updating mine or staying up-to-date with emails or facebook.

I blog mostly so that our family, none of which lives in Victoria, can get glimpses into our lives and see pictures of the kids. I rarely blog if I don't have a picture to post. I read blogs for similar reasons. I enjoy "catching-up" with people that I went to high school with or knew at one point in life, I really enjoy "seeing" into their lives. I am excited as I read about wedding plans, new business opportunities, new adventures like moving across the country and watching babies grow in their mommy's tummies. I like to watch my friends' kids grow. I like knowing how I can pray specifically for friends old and new. I like laughing at funny stories. But I think that my favorite reason for reading blogs is that I feel like I view God differently because of the lessons that they share. I feel like I know God better because of the glimpse that I get into other people's lives. I know God because of how I have experienced Him but I "experience" God through their sharing and I am inspired.

Thank-you friends for blogging, for teaching me many lessons, for being honest and vulnerable. . . know that you are prayed for when you mention requests, that you are laughed with (and sometimes at) when you share funny stories, that I cry with you often when you are struggling. . . it is a unusual "community" and I don't think that it should in any way take over a real community of people but I really appreciate you all. . .writers and readers!

The Apple Farm

We had fun in Abbotsford this weekend! One of the things we did was go to Willow View Apple/Pumpkin Farm with Nana, Papa, Uncle Carl and Auntie Katie. Sawyer LOVED the animals, it was fun to watch how he just wanted to be closer to them.

We also went to Sawyer's 3-month post-op check-up at Children's Hospital. . . and everything passed with flying colors!! Yay God! It is so amazing what He does. Thanks for all of your prayers for our baby.

A Quick Question

Is this not the cutest baby that you have ever seen?

I *heart* Preschool

We have reached a consensus at our house. . . we ALL love preschool. Tyler and Riley went twice last week and had a great time. Sawyer and I also had a great time. Two and a half hours with ONE baby, sooooooo EASY!!!! Thank-you Grandma for the new school clothes, the boys were so excited to get a package in the mail for "The Bargen Brothers". I attempted to take a couple nice pictures of the boys, you know the traditional "first-day of school picture" and this is what I ended up with. . . . they were WAY to excited to give me a "nice" picture.