Merry Christmas!

We had a good Christmas! We are so very blessed! I'm so grateful for all of our family and friends, and for what a wonderful life we have! I'm especially grateful for my little family, and my sweet husband! Christmas is so much fun with little kids around. They were so excited and loved all thier gifts! What a wonderful time of year! .......Now for all the clean up! :)

Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas!

I will try to post pictures soon!

Our Cutie!

Isn't he Darling!!!

WINTER WONDERLAND!

For the sake of our Family in Arizona...it is a winter wonderland here! Everyone who is here...

knows this! And we are all trying not to get into car accidents when we go out in it! There is a ton of snow, and just when we think it will be over, it snows some more! But it is BEAUTIFUL!!! And the kids are having fun playing in it! I'm just glad that Jared has a snow blower, and is keeping our path clear! I just hate driving in it!

The Gingerbread House!

Making A Ginger Bread house with Grandma!!

Because we went to Arizona this year, Joshua missed the schools, "Grandparents Day". They missed making Gingerbread houses as the activity for it, and so Grandma came over to make one at our house instead!

Me and Breanne made one also (because she wasn't to be left out of all the fun and candy!) It turned out to be really fun! We used Grahm Cracker though! And We had a hard time making "peaks" on our houses, but flat roofs are just as yummy! Thanks Linda, for a fun time with the kids! Joshua loved it!

And now the kids are eating bits and pieces off until Christmas, after which they will be able to go at the whole thing!

Setting up the Christmas Tree!

The kids and I, set up the Christmas tree finally! I love getting out all the holiday decor, and turning on the radio to listen to Christmas music! It really is "begining to look a lot like Christmas!" And oh what fun it is! The kids are especially loving the candy canes that we hand on the tree, and then eat occasionally through the season!

Chad and Janice invited us up to Snow Bird to share in their time share experience. This was a pretty tree that was in the front entrance, and we got a quick family picture! Merry Christmas everyone! And thank you Chad and Janice, for a fun time at Snow Bird. We wish we could have come for longer.

Thanksgiving with other family!

After we had dinner with Jared's family, we went to my mom's house for some more festivities! My sister bought a pinata for the kids! It was pretty funny, because it was so unusual! But was all agreed, that they should make it a tradition, and bring one again next year! The other tradition that we were actually able to do, was to watch this crazy show from the 80's (called "The Babysitter") that we would watch with my cousins every year on Thanksgiving growing up. It is halarious! And we were all quoting it, and everything! That was really fun! Plus it was fun to have everyone there! Usually we are missing someone, but this year, everyone came! So it was a really good Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving With Jardine's

We had a special treat this year of Seth and Caroline coming to visit for Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun! We had a good visit! The kids all played so well together, and the adults had fun laughing and talking! Joshua and Luke played a lot, and all of the little girl cousins played well together, but the biggest surprise, and the funnest part of the whole week (for me anyway) was Luke and ELI! Eli loved Luke! And with his little Eli voice he would call for him, and defend him. One time, Ella pushed Luke, so Eli went up to Ella and while pushing her, said, "Don't push Lute!" (I know I miss spelled Lute, but that is kinda how Eli sounded.) It was so fun to watch Eli with his big cousin Luke! Good Thanksgiving! Good food, and better company!

On Friday, just the girls all went out for

lunch! It was fun! We had a good time

together!

Joshua's Wall-e Birthday!

Joshua had a really fun Robot (Wall-e) party this year! We had 15 kids there! And it was a lot of fun. The cake turned out awesome! Joshua doesn't actually turn 6 until December 22, but we celebrate early so that we can avoid it being crazy around Christmas time! It works out really well!

BASKETBALL!

So, I went to the ward's, ladies, basketball team practice tonight! It was awesome! I was so glad that I went! I can't wait until next Thursday! I wasn't as horrible as I thought I would be, and it was so much fun to get all that excersice in. Every one did a great job! We will be awesome come game time!!!

Almost ONE!

We celebrated Scott's first birthday a month early! Just because his birthday is right around the craziness of Christmas time, and all. We've done this with Joshua too, and it has worked out well, over the last couple of years. So even though he is not quite 1 year old, he had a great birthday party! I was a lot of fun. I decorated with "1's". And made his cake a "1". And everybody came. He got a lot of cute clothes and toys! Thank you to everyone, for all their cute gifts! Happy Birthday Scott boy! We love you!

Look who's walking!

Scott took his first steps on Saturday night! He isn't quite walking all on his own yet, but he is well on his way! He is super cute!

My Army of ROBOTS!

Joshua is going to have a robot (Wall-e) party! And so I made these robots as the invitations. They "print" out the information. (which is roled up on a long piece of paper inside the bot.) They turned out really cute. It should be a fun party!

Breanne's Dance Recital!

Breanne's Dance Recital went well. She loved all the attention! She bowed in the middle of the stage, until the curtains were closed! She has a lot of fun doing dance, and this time around was even funner because her cousin Niamh did it with her. They both did a great job!

OUR BIG NEWS!!!

JARED IS FINALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL!

Jared defended his thesis on Friday! He got his Master's Degree in Computer Science from BYU. It is such a great accomplishment, and I am so proud of him! Thank you to Linda, who baby-sat the kids so that I could go with him, and watch him do his presentation. He did a great job! And now there is one less thing that he has to think about. No more school. We had everybody come over that night and had dinner. Jared did BBQ spared ribs and BBQ chicken in the dutch ovens. And everybody brought sides. It was very good, and it was a fun celebration. you can't really see any of the decore in this picture, but I had it all decorated with "Congratulations" signs. It was a really great day! We have been looking forward to it for a long time. CONGRATULATIONS JARED! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! AND I LOVE YOU!

The LOOT!

Here's the kids enjoying their "loot"! (When I was a kid, it seemed that the best part of Halloween was when you got home, and surveyed your nights work.)

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year! Jared was the headless horsemen, who then has a pumpkin head. I was a princess with Breanne. Joshua was a doctor, Eli was a dracula, and Scott was Super Baby! It was fun to get dressed up. And it was awesome that the weather was so great! Plus daylight saving hadn't been done yet so it was still light out when we started. It was a good Halloween, but I'm glad that it is over because my kids always get spooked around Halloween time, and we have more "come-into-Mom's-bed-because-I'm-scared" during the night. So I'm glad that it is over, so that we can (hopefully) get over being scared. (At least until next year!)

SOME FUN "MOM" QUOTES

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?"
--Milton Berle

"Having a toddler is like having a bowling alley installed in your head."
--Marin Mull

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at her parents every time around -- and why her parents will always wave back."
--William D. Tammeus

"You can learn many things from having children. How much patience you have, for instance."
--Franlin P. Jones

"A baby makes love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankrolls smaller, homes happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."
--Author unknown

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."
--Lin Yutang

Thank you to Janice, who gave me this sweet little quote book about parenthood. I cry almost every time I read through it.

By Small and Simple Things....

So my sister suggested a mothering book to read, and my mom got it for me for mothers day. It is a really good book called, "Mothering with spiritual power." By Debra Sansing Woods. It takes scriptures and likens' them to motherhood. The whole book is great, but the one concept that has continually jumped out to me, and the one that I thought I could share with all you other busy mom's is this:
Remembering the By Small-And-Simple-Things Philosophy
"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."
-Alma 37:6
The chapter goes on to explain how to apply this concept in mothering. And now instead of getting frustrated with the messy kitchen, and thinking "this is overwhelming, and to much." I think...."I will just clean this part of the counter, or just sweep the floor...etc." I try to apply it whenever I feel overwhelmed. Just to take it one step at a time. And it really works, eventually everything does get done. But it keeps me from going crazy at the forefront.
The book is much more in depth, but I just thought I'd try to explain this concept of thinking. It has helped me, maybe it will help you.
I sure look up to all of you other moms out there. It is really nice to know that everyone is experiencing similar things being moms, and I always find strength in reading your blogs, and hearing your stories!
Love Julie!

Almost Walking!

I can't believe that Scott is almost walking! Here he is using the toy as support. It is not to many more days now before he is going full on! Crazy how fast they grow! He is doing so well. He is so cute!

This was the cake that I entered for the Cake Contest for the ward party. The party was really fun. I couldn't believe how awesome people's costumes were! I especially loved the "Bacon and Eggs" (A young couple in the ward... and the wife is pregnant, so she was the egg, and cut out around her tummy was the yolk. I forgot my camera, or I would have pictures.) I also loved the "Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweep guy" (sorry that I don't know his name.) But they looked almost just like they walked off the movie set! And there was an "Iron Man" guy, who looked so cool. He said that he spent 2 months putting together this thing that looked just like the real thing. Amazing! People are so creative!

Halloween!

Our ward held a Halloween party, so we get a preview of everyone's costumes. Eli is so cute, he won an award at the party! And he is only wearing his church close, with a black cape, and spiky hair. Maybe it helped that just before we got there, he had been sucking on a blue sucker, so it made his mouth all blue, and really added to the effect.