Polar Express Pics

Aunt Susan with Tay and Austyn

On the motor home as they watch The Polar Express movie

ADORABLE!

Worn out!

Polar Express

We are going to the Polar Express tonight!!! Taydem is beside herself and she doesn't even know what the Polar Express is. All she cares about is riding on a ChooChoo train. My Aunt Susan and Uncle Rob are the sweetest and most thoughtful people and have bought a train car all to ourselves! So there will be about 20 of us all going together. We are taking the motor home again so we can also all ride together to Palestine. What a wonderful way to start out our Christmas this year. I will take tons of pictures and share with you next week!

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Day 3- My First Love

Tyson Strong was my first love. I was in love with him it seemed like forever. Or I guess I just had a major crush on him. We FINALLY started going out when I was a sophomore and he a junior. I think I made him jealous enough that he couldn't take it any longer!! He was and still is good friends with my older brothers so it just always seemed right with us. I adored his family (and still do) and my family adored him. We were the typical "small town" high school sweethearts. EVERYONE thought we would marry one day!! Prom, football games, concerts, dates, baskeball games, holidays, vacations...we did everything together. And of course with good times we had bad times as well. We were young and stupid as they say and broke up with each other over and over. He followed me through college and eventually our love came to a stop with him being unfaithful numerous times. Again, we were young. I can look back now and say that. I still think about him often simply because I care about him and want him to find happiness. He has never married and seems to just go through the motions of the day. Anyone that knows him, knows he is hard headed!!  We still see each other every now and then at weddings or out at the lake every summer. I always think, "What if?" But I now know that God had a plan for me and it wasn't with Tyson.

Tyson (left) and his brother Trevor. I stole it from Trevor's wife's facbook page!

Day 2- Meaning behind my blog name

To be honest I really didn't put much thought in our blog name. I started this blog right when we moved back to Longview. I wanted a way for our friends and family back in Mexia to keep up with our busy lives. My cousin Chelsea has a blog and I LOVELOVELOVE reading hers, so I asked her to help set up mine. So....I thought---What's the "BUZZ" on the Barker's today? There ya go! Simply simple!

Day 1- Introduce Myself

This picture is pretty recent. It was taken at my sister's wedding back in August!

I was born Devin Elizabeth Anthony on October 9th, 1980 to two of the best role models in this world, Clark and Vicki Anthony. I have 2 older brothers, Dustin and Darin, who are both married to wonderful ladies, Molly and Chrissy. I have 4 nephews and 1 niece. I also have the bestest sister in the world who is married to her love bug, Eric...did I mention she's also my best friend? We were raised in a loving christian home and we were taught that God and family always comes first. If you don't have these two, you have nothing. I have always loved to sing and sang my first solo when I was 8 at our church. I still continue to sing and I just recently recorded a solo on our church Christmas album! (I get the cd tonight) I started playing sports competively when I was in 3rd grade---Little Dribblers! I fell in love with basketball. I began playing volleyball in 7th grade and realized later on it was more of a passion. I went to Tatum schools from K-12 grade. Not very many people can say this. I had the most amazing years as a child and up until I gradated in 1999! My friends are still close today and our kids are now playing together. I went on to play volleyball and sing in my college choir at a small junior college close to home. From there I moved to Huntsville and graduated from Sam Houston State in 2003. I got my BBA in Business Administration and then got certified to be a high school teacher. My first job interview was at Mexia High School, summer of 2005. At the time I never knew that one interview would change my life forever. The man that interviewed me was Leven Barker. He was the girls athletic director at Mexia and was quiet a few years older than me and was a single dad. Leven became my husband 8 months later and....yup....I got the job!! We got pregnant 5 months after we said "I do" and I gave birth to the most precious gift EVER- Taydem Elizabeth Barker on August 22, 2007. We lived in Mexia until Taydem was 11 months old and then Leven got the perfect job (in my eyes at least, ha!). He was hired to be the head volleyball coach at Pine Tree High School! So we packed up our things and headed BACK to East Texas-my home. It took a long, long....long time, but Leven will finally admit he is happy here. Trever is now 16 and is a very good looking young man. Smart, charming, athletic and kind hearted. Taydem is now 3 and is beautiful, inside and out! She has the best personality, loving, sweet and of course kind hearted like her "Bubba." Leven and I have been married for 4 1/2 years. Wow. Leven would say he would've never guessed it. Marriage is not easy and we continue to work on it every day. I love him more and more as we grow closer together and as the days pass. We surround ourselves with family and friends and that always makes life easier. Now if only we can have ONE MORE CHILD!

15 facts about Devin

1. I bite my nails.....every day!

2. I love candy

3. Just got an iphone and yes, I'm addicted

4. I love changing my hair-color, cut, etc.

5. I love love love reality TV

6. I have had 5 seizures in my life

7. I sucked my thumb until 3rd grade

8. I was homecoming queen

9. I am soooooo not a girlie-girl. Let's see... I may shave my legs once a week! ha

10. I coach club volleyball

11. I have seen 3 engagement rings

12. I love the dentist

13. Favorite snack is chips and salsa

14. I have worn contacts since I was 15

15. Got lost at a christmas parade when I was 7! I thought my parents left me so I left my group and started walking down the streets looking for them---ALONE! Thank the Lord above some friends of my parents saw me and picked me up.

30 Day Challenge

This is something I pulled off a fellow photographer friend's blog I follow. Hopefully I can do this!! December 1st will be a good day to start it! 
Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3-Your first love
Day 4-Your parents
Day 5-Your favorite recipes
Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7-Favorite movies
Day 8-A place you've traveled to
Day 9-A picture of your friends
Day 10-Something you're afraid of
Day 11-Favorite tv shows
Day 12-What you believe
Day 13-Goals
Day 14-A picture you love
Day 15-Bible verse
Day 16-Dream house
Day 17-Something you're looking forward to
Day 18-Something you regret
Day 19-Something you miss
Day 20-Nicknames
Day 21-Picture of yourself
Day 22-What's in your makeup bag
Day 23-Favorite vacation
Day 24-Something you've learned
Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26-Picture of your family
Day 27-Pets
Day 28-Something that stresses you out
Day 29-3 Wishes
Day 30-a picture

Food, Football, Family and Friends

Wow, I can hardly keep my eyes open as I type. We had a busy "FUN" Thanksgiving holiday. Thursday morning we got up and headed to my Meme's for tons and tons of food, visiting with the family and of course I think football was on every TV in the house. My poor Meme wasn't feeling good at all that day. Let me remind you about my Meme. She's 87 and still doesn't take medication. Now my Papaw on the other hand pops about 20 pills a day. What I'm trying to tell you...my Meme is doing quiet while for herself! But the day before Thanksgiving she just wasn't thinking straight and was using a hand blender and some meat got stuck in the blades. Instead of TURNING the blender OFF first, she stuck her finger up in the blender to unclog the meat. And you can only imagine what happended when the meat become unclogged! Yup...My aunt said my Meme's finger looked like a curly fry. She had to get15 stiches. Poor thing. They gave her some pain killers but she became really sick off the meds. We all felt so sorry for her. And she hated that she felt bad especially since we were all at her house! We hung around all day and finally headed to The Barker house around 7.

Friday morning was spent putting Christmas decorations out!! I got everything out and put up except for the Christmas tree. I'm excited this year for Christmas because Taydem actually understands it all. She still doesn't like Santa but we are working on that. Danin and I went to the movies that afternoon and saw "Love and Other Drugs." Pretty good...especially since Jake Ggllenhaal is in it and is NAKED (well it shows his butt a few times, ha) !! He is soooo cute to me. That night Leven and I went to the boats with some "new" friends of ours, Cara and Aric. We had a ball. I actually won $130 playing BlackJack and of course we danced for a few hours. We got back to our house around 1 and started playing spades. We didn't finish until 5:30 AM!! I was worn out that next day. Thank goodness Taydem spent the night with my parents that night.

 Saturday we headed to my parents around 3 to catch the bus (my dad and uncle bought a motorhome). We were ALL going to the Tatum Eagle football playoff game. Yes, we still follow those Tatum Eagles! Once we got there, we feasted on BBQ, dips, and desserts until game time. The Eagles won 49-7 and are advancing to the next round.