Farm Animals??

Recently, Jude and I went to the dollar store, and I found something that looked kind of fun for Jude's bath time. . . {disregard the CHOKING HAZARD label}


Ooooooooo! Some farm animals! So we tried a couple that first night. We got a cow and a sheep. As the bath times wore on, however, the animals that were "hatching" out of these capsules were not nearly so predictable. After a camel hatched out, I began to think it would be highly unusual to find some of these animals on a farm. Here are some of Jude's "farm animals". . .

A turkey. That's pretty good.

A goose.

A Pteradactyl. Wait, what?
Some other dinosaur. A horse would be nice about now.


I think this is a wolf.

I think this one looks like a bull elephant seal, which I thought was strange. Have you ever seen a picture of a bull elephant seal?. . .

The resemblance is striking. Now, I'm not saying that little sponge elephant seal couldn't be turned to another angle and look like some farm animal. I'm just saying, with all the random "farm animals" that hatched out of those thingies, what are the chances that it's NOT an elephant seal? Pretty slim, I'd say.

a bonus picture of Jude

Why does it even matter?

I feel so humbled right now. I am such a ridiculously opinionated person and I really believe this is the way the Adversary gets to me. I almost ALWAYS think that there is a right way to do and think about everything and that is the way I am doing it. This includes all kinds of categories like. . .

1) POLITICS
2) PARENTING
3)BIRTHING
4) WESTERN MEDICINE DOCTORS VS. HOMEOPATHS & MIDWIVES
5) DOCTORS VS. NURSES
6) MINIMALISM
7) MUSIC

And the list goes on and on. It occurred to me AGAIN today (I'm a slow learner) after a bunch of my facebook friends had a shouting match and shot blood out of their eyes at each other, and after I realized I had hurt my sister's feelings by hitting below the belt with my opinion, that I need to stop. When your facebook wall and your blog comments are full of people who are obviously hurt or full of contention, you just have to stop.

And why does it even matter?

Who cares if I am a conservative and you are a liberal? And is there even THAT big of a difference between gospel-centered families who feel differently about the epidural? NO! There is NO DIFFERENCE in the end! We are all going to die and meet up in the afterlife, completely outside the man-made circumstances of Earth, and it WILL NOT MATTER!

So, what I've decided is, my opinions are important to me, and me only. I can choose whatever the heck I want to do. . . and here's the clincher. . . everyone else can too. I will still show my support for the things I'm fighting for, but it is futile and hurtful and unChristlike to belittle those who fight for something else or who just don't care.

What a humbling night.

Some Recent Goings-On

There has been a lot of summer fun going on in the Barlow family.


On August 2nd, there was an Anasazi trail walker BBQ at our friend Kellicia's cabin. There is a certain magic out on the trail and it makes you completely love the people you work with. To this day, my trail walker friends are some of my best friends.


Have you ever read that blog www.cakewrecks.com?? Well, this is my very own cakewreck that I created. My husband Carl's birthday was on July 31st, and my sister-in-law Tiffany's birthday was August 1st. This cake was made "in honor of" their joint birthday party. At least it tasted really good. I'll give $100.00 to the person who can guess what that 3-armed propeller-looking thing is in the middle of the cake.

We went on a camping trip up American Fork Canyon. On the way there, the entire exhaust system fell off the bottom of our car. We highly recommend John's Towing and Rick's Muffler of Orem, UT to anyone with an exhaust system emergency. We were so grateful to finally get into the canyon. This is a picture of Jude waiting for me to cook dinner.

A short hike after dinner

Hot man. Cute baby.
Hot man. Cute baby. Wild flowers.

Here is Jude the next morning, waiting patiently to go on a hike to Timpanogas Cave.

Jude's first experience with a forest ranger. This forest ranger is actually our good friend Stewart Shelley who graciously agreed to pose for these overbearing parents.
A short hike to the top and then. . .

A moment to commemorate World Breastfeeding Week. (Sally, I hope you're reading this!)
Inside the cave



Then we went to Cascade Springs which is this huge waterfall-y meadow that is the first place to receive glacier runoff in the canyon. I didn't know that until after we had dipped Jude's bare feet in the water numerous times. Furthermore, I need to stop wearing this shirt at least while I'm nursing. My boobs are way too big and it is way too tight.

That's funny. It looks like there's a baby arm hanging out of my face.

We are doing Elimination Communication with Jude. Also known as baby potty training. Before you think we're crazy. . . did you know 80% of the world's children are completely potty trained by age 1? You can learn all about it at http://www.dy-dee.com/Benefits_of_Cloth/Skin_Care/Toilet_Training_The_Complete/toilet_training_the_complete.html.

And here is proof that it works. We only change a poopy diaper about once every two weeks, that's how much Jude likes to poo in his frog potty. He hates sitting in his own feces.

Plus, look how cute our little potato is sitting on his potty!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading this!

I am NOT a hippie!

I recently visited my friend Sally, and found that we have something in common. What is that you might ask? People often call us "hippies". My sister commented to me that when she and her husband first read my birth story, they both thought I was a "flaming hippie". One man my husband works with said to him, "Carl, you and Hilary are two of the most conservative hippies I have ever met."

I agree with Sally when she said, "I don't even know what that means. What's a hippie?" I think hippies are from a bygone era. . . like 1960's. Here are the characteristics I think of when I hear the word "hippie". . .

1) They smoked pot
2) didn't have jobs
3) had all kinds of sex with all kinds of other hippies.
4) Their value system consisted of "free love"
5) Believing in nature as their god
6) not wearing bras.

I am opposite of all of these things. Here are my characteristics. . .

1) I am strongly opposed to ANY kind of illegal drug use.
2) I have a job and believe every adult male under the age of 65 and every under-65 female not raising children should too
3) I am 100% monogomous and committed to my marriage relationship and I think people who have premarital sex are stupid (at the very least because they will contract a venereal disease and their children will be put at risk).
4) God gives us commandments for our own good so we don't become miserable and self-destructive.
5) I strongly strongly believe there is a God with a loving plan for us.
6) I SURE DO wear a bra at all times in public

You know, I think I've been called a hippie because I believe in natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and making my own yogurt. Maybe some people feel threatened by the fact that my baby has always been a good breastfeeder and they are jealous and want to find something wrong with me. Oh geez! Maybe they don't think I wear a bra so I can just whip 'em out at any time to feed the baby! How embarrassing! I really am "supported" if you know what I mean.
I also believe in the healing powers of herbs, that might be the clincher. It's not because I think nature is god, though. It's because herbs have up to 24 different protective chemical compounds in one plant that make it impossible for bacteria to mutate and penetrate. Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, are made up of just one or a few chemicals in very pure form, so bacteria can walk right up to a commercial antibiotic, change clothes, and walk right through the door. This is how we end up with antibiotic resistance. Get it? It's impossible for a bacteria to find an outfit that none of 24 different compounds would recognize. Plants are very complex and naturally produce toxins when they are physically threatened.



Anyway, enough of that. I don't believe in anything unless I can make sense of it. I don't believe in voting for a president with an atrocious voting record while in the Senate. Apparently, my sister and her husband who called me a hippe do. I just do what makes sense and Sally and I came to the conclusion that you just can't categorize that. What do you think?

Jude getting beat up by the other kids

Jude and the Park

Today Jude and I went to a little park by our house. I was pleasantly surprised to see a baby swing actually open. At Liberty Park, ALL the swings are being occupied ALL the time, so it's been frustrating to go there. I think this new little park might be Salt Lake's best-kept secret.
Jude became better acquainted with grass. He loves to feel the grass between his fingers and he cries if I take him away from it.
Here he is looking a little more intense.
Oh those pudgy little fingers!! I want to EAT them!
Here's the little baby swing at the park. I think it's not quite up to safety code, but it seems to work for us.

Thanks for reading this!

The Great Salt Lake

Here's something weird. . . up until last Saturday, I had never been to the Great Salt Lake. Carl and I decided to go to Antelope Island for my maiden voyage. It was SO COOL! I think the reason I liked it so much is because I got to be in the middle of the very unique ecosystem that gave our city its name. Here are some pictures we took. . .

It's kind of hard to see, but there are some seagulls (our state bird) flying along the shore there. I always viewed seagulls as the rude, annoying birds that try to steal your food when you're trying to have a picnic. After seeing them in their natural habitat, however, I realized what cool birds they are. . . perfectly adapted to that salt water and all the brine flies, brine shrimp, and grasshoppers they could possibly eat. They are so much better to see at the Great Salt Lake.

And here is the sego lilly, our state flower. They don't grow very many places in Utah, but at the Great Salt Lake, they are abundant and beautiful. They are smaller than I thought, with maybe a 1" diameter.


Here are Carl and Jude with one of the many buffalo statues placed throughout the state park. There are between 550 and 700 American bison on Antelope Island. We saw one, and its herd was nowhere to be seen.

We went on a short hike on a trail that would probably be way more fun to bike. It was nice to be out there with the salt air and breeze. We saw lots of lizards and got landed-on by grasshoppers.




Jude was having a lot of fun on this hike. I think he smiled for about 30 minutes without stopping! Of course, that's probably because his dad was doing such a good job of keeping him entertained.






As we were leaving the island, I thought the water looked so smooth and glass-like, and I had a new appreciation for the interesting natural phenomenon that is the Great Salt Lake.

The shoreline kept getting smaller as the lake got bigger and reflected the sky.

My eyes were going crazy when I looked at the lake because I couldn't tell where the horizon was. It just looked like sky out there. The only way you could tell where the water was, was by the waterfowl floating on top of it.

If you haven't been to Antelope Island, you should go! I always thought the Great Salt Lake would be too stinky to even get near it, but the smell is just salty, like the ocean. People tell me the brine shrimp are totally disgusting and they would NEVER swim in the lake. Well, I really want to feel the unique buoyancy of the salty water there, plus the state park has really nice showers for when you're done swimming. So. . . we're planning to go back when it's really hot outside, and I'm going to swim in this amazing lake! Let me know if you want to come!