Here Comes Santa Clause

For our ward party, Julianna was introduced to Santa for the first time. I am not so sure that she was too impressed. After talking to Daddy about the whole affair of Jesus' birthday, I think that she is warming up to the idea of presents. She may even warm up to a fat jolly stranger in a red suit with a long flowing beard of white. I am grateful that at this time of year we focus on the important things in life (or at least we should). Happiness overflows as I think of Heavenly Father sending His only begotten Son to share with us, and to allow for the atonement to take place. I am so thankful for my family especially at this time of year. We had a lovely time with Ryan's side of the family tonight. We had great food and greater company. I am very full of good things, not only of yummy food, but of happy feelings at this time when we celebrate His birth. Merry Christmas.

This is the Place October 31, 2009

For Halloween this year, Jubean, Mommy, Laura, and Whitney went to This is the Place. We wore our costumes for the event. The place was all decked out for Halloween, with scary ghosts and goblins, witches, and plastic spiders. Our first activity was facepainting. Even Laura enjoyed herself. The gals all turned out really cute.

We Love USU

Memories

These pictures are from the Labor Day Parade. So fun, and lots of candy!Today I have been organizing and sorting about 1000 prints or more. As I was doing this, I had to look up some of the dates from the pictures stored on our computer. Playing on the computer I had my music from playlist.com, and the screensaver had a montage of pictures. While I was admiring the pictures with the cute melodies, suddenly a picture of Ryan's burnt foot came up. At first I thought it was amusing, then I felt overwhelmed with love for my sweetheart for saving us and our home and sacrificing a part of himself. He is such a wonderful man. I love you, baby.

A B C D

While being very productive on the computer, I hear a sweet little voice in the bathtub singing. The song selection for today? The ABCDEFG song. That is as far as the song usually goes. Today the song was altered a bit ABCDEFG want to watch the monkey show. What is a monkey show? Curious George of course. I loved these books as a child, and now they have made it into a cute (though sometimes annoying) show. Two years old and already a songwriter? Well of course.

Fifth Anniversary

Yesterday Ryan and I celebrated 5 wonderful years together, however, we made a few mistakes. Here is a list of our mistakes, so hopefully you can avoid frustation/heartache/swearing:
#1 Don't work extra hours on special days. Emily worked her regularly scheduled shift, plus 3 extra hours (she was a bit tired).
#2 Don't be on call the night before special days, because you may get called out to a drunken trailer fight (Ryan) (No, he was not the drunkard, he was on call for the ambulance)
#3 If you are going to a nice restaurant, do not take any small children (Julianna had to wear a pretty dress, then once we got there wanted to take the dress off so it did not get messy. She then crawled over and under the table, and kicked off her shoes, yelling at the top of her lungs, "SHOES" when they fell, until one of her parents picked them up.
#4 If you insist on bringing your child, please remember your diaper bag. Juli went number 2, and the smell was not pretty.
#5 When the waitress comes over to ask if you know what you want, even if it is 30 seconds after you arrived and sat down, order something anyway. If you do not order, you may be forgotten for almost 30 minutes and then be so hungry and frustrated, you will just leave without paying for the free bread and water.
#6 When you go to leave, do not correct the hostess when she says, "Thanks so much for coming in, I hope you enjoyed the food." No need to tell her that you did not receive an opportunity to order any food, and that your child is being awful. Do not politely say that the waitress must have been really busy on this slower weekday night, and she forgot that we even existed.
#7 Do not educate your child about different animals and what they "say", because you may be seated in a booth next to a lovely landscape painting with cows painted in. This is unless of course you really enjoy your little one yelling at the top of her lungs, "COWS", or "MOOOOO".
All of this can be resolved for about $4 an hour, and a nice baby sitter that will play with your child, and maybe even help tidy up a messy bedroom.

This story does have a happy ending. We saved money on going out to eat, and got to have the best part for free, hot bread and garlic butter or honey butter. I went down to pay our babysitter for another job, and her sweet mom, on hearing about our night told us that they would have watched Juju for free, and gave us some rotisserie chicken, Jello salad and some rolls. I told her that we did not need anymore rolls, since we had plenty of bread for one night. Also, I think I have one of the best families in the world, and am so grateful for all I have. Ryan here's to 5 more years ( or how bout forever?) I love you baby.

Ju Ju and Her Shoes

Recently Julianna only wants to wear what she wants to wear. As far as this goes with shoes, she wants to wear open-toed shoes (flip-flops, sandals) and certainly not a shoe in which a sock needs to be warn. She also always wants to wear a dress, preferably a pink one. I guess we all know who really is in charge at our house!

This is the Place

This is the place alright, we had a ball here. It was KSL days at this park, so I invited Amy and Joni for a day of fun. We got in at a cheaper rate, and they gave out free coupons. There are several historic homes, buildings and crafts. It is even educational. We rode around a pond on a miniature train, made homemade dolls, got to ride on a larger "train" (one that does not need to go on a track), and many other things. I wish we had gone there earlier in the day! We were all tired by the end, but I want to go back soon! Pretty cheap entertainment.

We found that though animals may be fun in books, or perhaps far away, but large animals upclose can be a bit intimidating. Mommy got a really nice hug though. Horses also can make some interesting, and loud sounds.
Here we are sitting on the train. CHO CHO! This was great when we were hot and tired. The park is very large, with lots of things to see, and we were often busy running around. The twins even agreed it is a better value than Lagoon. Can you even believe that one?

Where's Juli?

There have been times that for a few minutes I do not know exactly where my child is. Well the other day she was playing in her room, and I was doing some Mommy thing, like laundry and I realized that she was being awfully quiet. Often being quiet can be cause for concern, as that is when little ones can be in the most trouble, anyway, I found where she was and I thought, "Did I put her down for a nap?" No I did not, but she actually climbed onto her piano, and then into her crib and entertained herself until falling asleep. Oh how nice you say, even puts herself to bed. This has never happened before, and I doubt will happen again. Juli does not take naps all the time, nor are they long, but it was nice while it lasted. Sweet dreams my little sweet one!

Home Depot Saturday

On some Saturdays, Home Depot has a free workshop where kids can make some sort of wood project. When we went it was a miniature wheelbarrow planter. Ju ju, Laura, and Grandpa all had fun hammering and sanding away. All parties were involved. What a great way to bond with family, and with tools.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

Ju Ju loves to go for walks with her mommy and daddy. We try to go for walks anytime Ryan has a rare moment when he is not at his internship or doing something for school. We are trying hard to be patient and are so thankful that we have a hardworking Daddy to do well in school. Ju ju loves to go to the park and "wing" and go down the slide. She would likely do this all day if she could. Often the first word out of her mouth in the morning is swing. She is getting so busy and fun!

Catch up

Well I do not always place things on my blog like I should, but here is a catchup. It works with scrapbooking, because it seems that it is just that; hurrying to compile your life in a book, and there is always more to be done.We find Ju ju in some funny places, where she cannot always get out from. We sometimes hear a small whine which growes louder and more desperate the longer she is left where she gets herself into. She loves climbing and sneaking into various places. These 2 pictures are from March.

These next pictures are from GTU where my sisters and I got to be models for the day and were on the show modeling clothing for those on a budget. It was good times for all of us, and we got "paid" with food from Panda Express, lady finger desert that was featured and made on the show, and lovely chocolates. It was fun doing likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience with my sisters, and my nice sister-in-law, Lauren burned it onto a DVD for later viewing.

Home Improvement

Well, I was at one of my favorite stores (I know Ryan would say since I like to spend money so much they must all be my favorite.) and what did I find on clearance, but purple curtains for a princess who does not like to sleep in. I was hoping with it dark that she would remain slumbering for a bit longer, but so far it has helped only a small amount. Well I like any wife like to keep Ryan busy, and thought it would be a really simple project (is it ever as simple as we think?) Ju-ju did learn a brand new word though, and no it is not that word, it was shoot. I am glad she did not learn any other words from the experience, because you never can tell how fast they will learn things or when they will show others all of the things they have learned recently. Now any time she sees her new window treatments, she says "Da Da shoot."

Us Girls

We wanted to get a picture of Julianna in her pretty dress before she grew out of it. Unfortunately, she was not too happy to sit and pose, but would rather hold the camera, so Mommy got to be in the picture too. I am so grateful for my pretty little girl. She brings so much joy and fun to my life. She is my little friend, and I don't need to impress her, but she makes me want to be a better Mom and person as well.

Cookie Dough

Do you like cookies, cakes, or
desserts of any of all kinds?
We do too! Julianna is a good
helper with mixing up batters.
She is also a great helper at
helping to eat all of the treats,

so that Mommy and Daddy do not do this:

(Gorge!!!)

Do you Remember?

Do you remeber

when you could

fit a nice big black

olive on every finger

(as well as each thumb?) Olives don't

fit so well on my

fingers anymore, so it

was fun to remember

with Julianna. I even

got Ryan to cut up the

olives for the enchiladas!

Hunting

In our household, we all love shopping for bargains. Ryan just likes to do it in a different way. He "shops" for an entire years worth of meat at a time. Ryan looks in the mountains for our food. After a few different hunting trips, he was able to find an elk last Saturday. We now I am told have enough meat to last us a whole year or more. He had some great help from Joel and Clayton, which was so kind. I told them they should have simply roped the animal and led it down the mountain, but no they had to do it their way with alot of blood, sweat, and even possibly tears. It is a bargain, as we found the other day at the store where they charge quite a bit for steaks and. I am glad that elk hunting is not something done on even a yearly basis , however. I am also grateful for places that cut up and wrap meat in neat little packages!

Party With Grandpa

After Ry, Clay, and Pa went huntin for an elusive elk, Ryan decided we would have a Pizza Party at our house. Pa was so excited about the game that he decided he got to wear the coveted Princess hat to everyone's enjoyment, especially Ju!

In Your Face, Costco!

Well, I was really disappointed when my favorite store did not have my favorite food, Margarita pizza. I told the cashier this too, and how I had come in for at least 5 weeks to get it. Anyway, so I decided to make it myself with homemade crust, fresh basil, fresh mozerrela and all. It actually turned out pretty good!

Ju's Homeade Pants

I found a pattern for making baby yoga pants out of old t-shirts. I was so excited to use stuff we already had since my "bug" is growing so quickly on me. The shirt had come with the X-Men movies Ryan got for Christmas 3 years ago.
I was really proud of myself, even though as Ry pointed out she has some room to grow into them. (Better that way then the other, I say.)