Come Sail Away With Us!

Baby Shower #2

2012-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

The sweet sisters that I serve with in the Primary wanted to through me a baby shower. I belong to an older ward and not many new babys are being born there. So when one is on its way, the sisters get all giddy and want to have a party.

This time however there are four of us who are due in the same month! Blessing day will be a busy one!

Don't you just love that cake!

O Christmas Tree!

2012-02-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;

.... but what happened to the ornaments that decorated the bottom half of the tree?

Oh. I guess Juliana decided "her" Christmas Tree needed some decorating.

Christmas 2011

2012-02-13T22:32:00.000-08:00

We headed to California for Christmas this year and the whole family was traveling there as well. So we decided to stay the entire week to be with them. One of my sister decided to create an itinerary for Christmas week. She is very detailed- oriented. We must be related. So here is the run down of what we did.

We arrived in Cali Saturday, Christmas Eve to attend a Family Christmas Eve Dinner/Talent show. Way fun!! My nephew was the first to volunteer to sing a song and was so good that everyone clapped for him. My cousin asked, "who wants to go next?" and Juliana shot up her hand way up high and she ran to "center stage". She not knowing what she was going to do, way to go mom for thinking ahead. So I mentioned that she would dance to a song that my mother would play on the piano. Since Juliana loves dancing I thought this was a good idea.

I just didn't realize she was going to freeze up in front of everyone. So my adorable nephew ran up to help her out. I caught the end of the performance on video.

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a delicious Christmas breakfast and later opened gifts. We then we to church and came home and enjoyed being with family for a Christmas feast. My sister wanted to make Christmas cookies with the kiddos and here is Juliana making her cookie.

Monday morning we headed to Malibu Beach to take Family Photos and later we headed to my cousins on my Dad's side for a family get together. Love them!

Pictures to come soon!

Tuesday we headed to Knotts Berry Farm.

Wednesday we headed to Travel Town to see all the trains.

We later met up with my cousins at the beach.

Thursday, we headed to the Huntington Library

and later my family threw me a Baby Shower. So Fun!

Friday we went to the El Capitan Theater to see the Muppets. Juliana really loved it!

Saturday, we celebrated Clell's birthday with cake and ice-cream and a whole lot of good food! and a game of football of course.

We headed home that night and barely made it back by midnight to see the fireworks at the Las Vegas Strip.

J and little brother

2012-02-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

I think J is excited about the new baby coming. What do you think?

J: Momma, can I tickle your tummy?
She proceeds to tickle and thinks she is tickling the baby.

J: Momma, can I talk to baby?
Me: Ok sweetie
J: Baby. COME OUT!

J: Momma, I am a big girl now, so I can hold baby when he comes. Ok Momma. OK!?!

J and I at the store buying stuff for baby.
J: Momma, this is sooooooo cute!
J: Oh! Look at this momma!!! This is cute for brother! Look at my finger!
and points to the item

Me: What should we name the baby?
J: Brother!

J: Momma, I want to kiss baby.
Muah!

We all can't wait to meet you little guy!

Almost there!

2012-02-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

I went to go see my OBGYN and everything looks good. :)

Stats:
-Baby's heart rate is 174. Perfect according to Doc.
-Baby weighs about 5 lbs 7 oz right now. So according to Dr, if he comes right on time he will weigh more than what Juliana weighed, which was 6 lbs 1 oz.
-Baby's head is down, but bounces back when doc touched his head. Meaning he is still not in ready position to come out.
-Fluids is at an 8; good. (6-7 is worry some and 5 is automatic delivery.)
-Mommy is 1.5cm dilated. Which is a good sign since we are trying to do a vaginal delivery after I had a c-section with my first. If I wasn't dilated by 38 weeks it would have been an automated c-section.
-Mommy has gained more weight than I liked to document at this time. I can not wait to go to the gym and start doing serious workouts instead of all the walking I do 3 times a week and minimal weights I do with my husband. I also can not wait for all the stares I get to go away one I'm at the gym. One time there was this old man who came up to me and said, "Are you sure you're suppose to be doing this?" "Yes sir, it is absolutely safe and doctor said ok, its help me from getting leg cramps at night and so forth."
-I also noticed I dropped 2 weeks ago. Not only I realized it but the tellers at the bank noticed it too. I go there about 2-3 times a weeks so they know me there well.

Starting next week I'll be going twice a week plus ultrasound each visit to check my fluids, since I am considered high risk, because of age. At least I get to "see" my baby each visit!

I still get nervous every time I go for an exam. I worry that they will say something is wrong or I am not getting enough fluids. But so far, the baby is doing fine. The only challenging part is getting the baby out when the time comes. I don't want to do another c-section plus insurance will not cover unless it is medically necessary, and doc said that I can go vaginal IF everything looks good. Meaning check the size of baby, if doc will be available when I go to hospital, if not it is an automatic c-section and so forth. So many risk during the delivery, I have a feeling that a c-section will likely happen. If so, ok. Just as long baby is fine.

Can you believe we still do NOT have a name yet!!!! eek!

Side note: My 3 year old took this photo. Mommy just tweaked it a little. Team work!

Our first Gingerbread House

2011-12-21T22:42:00.001-08:00

Juliana and I have been reading the Gingerbread Man lately and when we told her we were going to make a Gingerbread House she was sooooo excited. She jumped up and down for joy. Love seeing that! So we went to the store and bought an already made Gingerbread House and just added the decorations. I actually put on the frosting and she added MOST of the decorations. Not ALL the decorations made it on to the Gingerbread House, some of them were in her tummy.

Enjoying the snow in November

2011-12-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

Sledding with Daddy

Building snowman with Grandma

Bundling up to ride with Grandpa and daddy.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 7 year Anniversary to us!

Instead of leaving our child with the grandparents for a few days and heading off to somewhere fun for our anniversary, like we did last year, we decided to take a family trip and head south to beautiful San Diego. Love this place! We decided to go during Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Day at sea World.

The following day we headed to the San Diego Zoo.

I think we'll do this again next year since we didn't have to deal with crowds!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

2011-11-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

By the look of this picture you'd think we visited the Happiest Place on Earth. Well, we did! This past weekened our family took a trip to California to visit Disneyland. It rained that day, but it did clear up that we got to see the parade.

Went on rides.

Her first Roller Coaster ride.

This video is dark and blurry. She is sitting at the end with daddy and Aunt Gail in front of her. Per Clell, she really enjoyed the beginning of the ride and was raising her hands and cheering but towards the end she was grabbing on the bars.

Visited a Princess Castle up close.

Seeing a real life Princess was priceless. Her favorite was meeting Snow White. She froze when she saw her and had her mouth open the whole time!! She just could not believe her eyes.

She also met Sleeping Beauty & Cinderella. (I am waiting on pictures from my sister that she took because Clell didn't take any!!!)

When it was time to go Jules took one loooong last look at the Castle.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

This was a busy Halloween. By the time Halloween was officially here, J had gone to 3different party's!

First off she had a Halloween Party at preschool. Picture coming soon from teacher.

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early to the Horse Ranch for a Halloween Party there.

And later that night we headed down to the Worthin Circle for a church Halloween Block Party.

And finally Halloween, Trick Or Treating Time!

Half Way There!!

2011-10-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

I am exactly half-way along in this thing and have been amazed at what my body can do. According to my doctor, the baby is right on track with height, weight, heartbeat. Everything thus far looks good. I am soooo thankful for that. We had a little bit of a scare at the beginning. Getting a call on my birthday saying that my progesterone level was too low and need to start coming in weekly for a blood work and take meds to bring it up was not what I wanted to hear. I started googling of what that exactly meant and what I found was not promising. Basically just waiting it out to see if meds worked was all I could do. And pray. I was thankful everything turned out ok.

I am also thankful that I never got sick. Only once,(unlike our first baby). However my main symptom was fatigue. I was VERY fatigue. I felt so bad leaving the dirty dishes on the counter, laundry piling up, trash on the floor, yard work left undone. I would look at it all and just think, I am so gosh darn tired to do anything about it. Maybe tomorrow. I felt like I was abandoning my family by not doing my part. But hey, I am making another human being in here so cut me some slack.

-I just hit my 10 lb gain mark, baby boy is the size of a banana and ...
still only weighs less than a pound. So where has the rest gone? Don't ask.

-Even as I write this, the little guy is kicking. I started feeling the baby first kick around 17 weeks. Boy. He has so much energy. I really think he will be a soccor player or maybe an NFL field goal kicker. He just doesn't stop.

-Its embarssing to say that I have almost out grown my siser's maternity clothes that she sent me. Size xs maternity clothes that is.

-I am back to going to the gym almost everyday now that my energy is back. Just not at 5:30am!

Back to Zion's

2011-10-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Early this month we went back to Zion's.

This time Grandma & Grandpa came along.

We came up and close with a squirrel.

Enjoyed a delicious treat from Grandpa.

And went for a dip in the pool with Daddy.

Carving pumpkins

2011-10-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

Its October and we are carving our first pumpkin. I know it is early but I was just so excited to see Juliana get really excited when we saw so many pumpkins at the market that I couldn't resist from buying one. She was uber excited when we brought one home and couldn't wait till Daddy came home so we can carve our first pumpkin.

She chose this face for the pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!

Hello summer!

2011-10-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

June was the beginning of a hot summer. Juliana put on this attire, all by herself, and we enjoyed a Popsicle to help cool us off.

That month, the circus was in town!

Juliana was awe struck! So many animals. So many performors. Oh my! I don't think she blinked at all that night.

side note: I think I am all caught up with my posting! No more cold winter postings or hot summer postings, let's move on to Fall!

May Happenings 2011

2011-10-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

In May we took weekened trip to California, which happened to be the same weekened as Mother's day. So we took my mother and my Aunt out to dinner at a Cuban Resturant that my sister recommended. Juliana had a grand ol time dancing to the Cuban music. When does she not like dancing?

We also headed to the beach of course. It was a wee bit cold but always fun to be with family. Juliana was excited to go to the beach but once we arrive, she is so scared of the ocean. She needs someone, like daddy, to hold her and protect her from the massive ocean.

She did enjoy playing in the sand though.

Azucena Teolinda Rubio Nicola (2/18/12 - 3/2/11)

2011-09-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just 2 days after celebrating my grandmother's 99th birthday, she was admitted to the ICU. 24 hours later my family made the decision to pull the plug. The following day she was moved to hospice care, then later slipped into a coma. On March 2, 2011, she was surrounded by a room full of loved ones when she finally past peacefully.

The matriarch of my family, my sweet grandmother, lived a very long and full life. If you knew my grandmother this is nothing short of a miracle. She's done alot for my family. She taught us to love and respect others, she gave us daily home cooked meals, took care of me & my 4 siblings while my parents ran their business & did it all w/just one leg!

All my grandparents are now gone, but the legacy they've left behind is one to be honored & celebrated.

Celebrating my Grandmother's 99th Birthday

2011-09-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

February 18th, my grandmother turned 99 years old. My whole family (well most of us) came together Sunday, February 20th at my mom's to celebrate it Italian style! Italy is where her ancestors are from.

Plenty of delicious food...

Family photos...

Why is my mother laughing so hard?

One word. Juliana.

The girl just could not keep from acting her age! So she quickly was booted off so we can take a decent photo.

Juliana loved taking her great grandmothers hand and sing "row row row your boat"

This photo is beyond precious.

January Happenings 2011- Part 2

2011-09-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

One morning in the month of January, we woke up to some snow! Juliana was very excited about that.

She changed into her clothes and did not have time to do her hair.

Later that month, when it was nice and sunny outside, we took a stroll to the park.

January Happenings 2011- Part 1

2011-09-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

I realized that I never posted any January happenings this year! One of the things we did that month was take a trip to the cabin to play in the snow!! And lots of it!

Go Utes!

2011-09-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Early this month we took a quick trip to california to cheer our Utes!

Go UTES!

They played against UCS. It was a really close game but in the end UCS won. Boo.

Another stop we made while in California was going to Travel Town. I remember I use to go here when I was young but really didn't remember much about it, only the train ride.

So, of course we started with a train ride around the park.

We than explored the park and looked at all the old trains.

This was her favorite train.

Family photo shoot.

July Happenings 2011

2011-09-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the things we did this past July.

Spent time with the cousins.

Went fishing.

Did some exploring.

Went four wheeling with the grandparents and stopped to take family photos....

I quickly took this photo when we came back from the cabin. I was about 6 weeks along. And look! My tummy already popped!

We are having.....

2011-09-28T10:58:00.001-07:00

Its 7:ooam monday morning. My husband already left for work. What? 7:00 AM? Yes. He scheduled an early appointment so he could make it to the Doctors appt with me to see what we were having. He was very very anxious.

Its 8:00am. I am hurrying up my daughter so we can leave out the door and drop her off so I can meet my husband at 8:30am, waaaay up north.

8:05am. Phone rings. Hello? What? Your kidding..... Hung up the phone. I than called my husband and told him that they just canceled. NOOOOOO!

Its now Wednesday. Our appt is now earlier then the other day. This time we did not get a phone call from the Doctors. We go in. Everything looks fine. The ultrasound tech is taking longer to tell what we are having then expected. Not that anything was wrong. But just showing us the arms, legs, head, heartbeat, and finally…. It’s a BOY!

Labor Day Weekend Trip to Zion's

2011-09-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

This year for Labor Day we decided to head up to Zion's for some fun family time. What a gorgeous place it was.

One thing that we found hysterical was the fact that Juliana was more excited about going on the "bus" then taking in the beautiful scenery.

Our first trail that we really wanted to hike was the beautiful Emerald Pool. It was only 1.2 miles and considered "easy" so we felt this would be good to go on with our 3 year old. And so our adventure to Emerald Pool begins. So far so good.

Oh, oh. As you notice, I took a picture of Juliana from this side of the bridge. Well, little did we know at the time that we were actually suppose to be heading on the trail going on the opposite direction. Opps!

So our adventure going in the wrong direction has begun.

It was beautiful though, but boy was it hot and the hike kind of steep. Hmmmmm, we should be approaching the waterfall soon, I hope.

Wow, good thing clell stopped and asked how much further it was to the end. But the response we got was pretty shocking. The couple looked at us and then at each other and looked at the very top of the mountian and said, "well quite a bit I'm afraid". Say what! They then explained to us this was the path that lead to ..... Angels Landing! (A very difficult and challenging trail for those not afraid of height) and they went on to explain that the turned for Emerald Pool was left at the bridge not right.

After that long hike it was refreshing to find a nice cool spot to relax and soak our feet along the stream.

Big Bend Trail is where we found a deer, oh so close, eating acorns.

We stayed at the Cabin in Panguitch Lake for the night and spent the day four wheeling and walking around and exploring the Lake that is now slowly losing water because of the dam breaking. So sad. It looks more like a beach with all that explosed sand.

The next day, we are back at Zion's...

Say Cheese!

2011-09-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

This was so hard to do on such a WINDY DAY!

Especially for a 2 year old!

All she wanted to do was run around and play. Can you imagine that? A 2 year old. At the park. A playground to the right. Big open green grass all around with tress she can climb on?

Unheard of.

So what do we do? We grabbed her, held her tight and told her to smile.

We even forced it by tickling her.

Did I mention how windy it was? Seriously, it was so hard to keep your hair in place for longer then 2 seconds.

While our typical terrible two year old is off running amuck with Grandma and Grandpa, we ... have a little peace and quiet.

I love this guy!

One more try with a book....

Figures. The only time she is still is with her thumb in her mouth.

Thank you Tami Huntsman for your beautiful photography and patience!

a little side note: I keep referring to my daughter as a two year old because she was at the time.... 5 months ago. I am trying to catch up on my blogging before the year ends. Wish me luck!

Escape from the Desert Heat!

2011-08-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to go the cabin in Panguitch to escape the record heat in Las Vegas. I am talking about 110 deg vs 60's up at the cabin. Yes. That is what I call a getaway
mini-vacation.

I love this photo of the "four" of us on the swing.

photo courtesy of The Life of a Piecer.

The only problem I had was not packing enough warm clothes! I also left behind my daughter's sweater and jacket that I had in my hand 5 minutes before we left to the cabin. So we made due with what we had at the cabin.

photo courtesy of The Life of a Piecer.

Here is a video of Daddy and Juliana having fun on the swing.

note: none of my photos didn't turn out so clear, so I used my MIL photos from her blog. Thanks!

Pear Tree

2011-08-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

Who says you can't grow fruit out here in the desert? Just look what I harvested this week.

Yup! An abundance of Pears!

This is not including the bags of fruit we have in our fridge right now. Nor the rest that haven't been picked yet.

I guess we had an overload of pears on our tree because this is what I found when I came back home from my trip to California last weekend. A broken branch from the weight of all that fruit!

I will be picking the rest sometime next week. There is just no room to store them!

I am just curious what type of pears these are? I have some guesses and USA Pears has a great website about them.

But I DO know what I am going to make with them. My all time favorite salad....

Spinach Pear and Almond Salad!

photo courtesy of Key Ingredients.

Yum!! You can find this delicious recipe at Key Ingredients website.

Curious Juliana and her cousin Gavin

2011-08-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Wonder what this button does?

Water! Water!

Sure feels good when it is 100+ deg outside!

Here are couple of vids featuring there reaction. So funny!

Horse play at the ranch

2011-08-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

Horse play was alittle different last Saturday. Instead of just riding the horses, brushing the rabbits and goats and filling up the water buckets in the horses stall, the owner decided why not add alittle more fun at the ranch and paint the Horses! What? Yeah. We painted the horses. Well actually it was just one horse we painted. Poor guy. So this is how it went down.

Kids in line waiting patiently to paint the horse. Yes even Juliana was little obedient for this task.

Dip your hands in paint and GO FOR IT!

Come on, really get into it!

The final result. Poor horse.

Say cheese!

Look up Juliana!

I suppose the horse can't stay like that forever so... it's Clean up time!

Thats right, get all wet now!

Trust me, all the paint did eventually come off. Wonder what we are doing next week?

Happy Father's day!

2011-06-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

From,
Ju-nana!

Here is a little something that Juliana will be giving to her daddy this coming Father's day. Its an idea I found from Pinterest. I love Pinterest! Great place to organize all my finds from the Internet.

Note: "Ju-nana" is how Juliana currently pronounces her name.

Fashionista

2011-06-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

Juliana insisted on wearing this attire when we went out for lunch today. Daddy was losing his patience when J kept forgetting something else like... "oh! my purse!" and then "Oh! my glasses!" and then "Oh! wait daddy, my piggy!"

We finally made it to the car and luckily I had my camera to take 2 quick pics of J heading out in this ensemble. And that thing on her forehead is a letter B sticker. She would get upset every time we took it off. So we left it how it was.

Little cowgirl

2011-05-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

My J is my little cowgirl at heart.

Happy 3rd Bday J!

2011-05-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

We celebrated J's birthday by taking her out to dinner and ordering her favorite food, fries and ice cream. Afterwards we took her to her to see her first movie in the theaters. We saw "HOP". I guess J took it to heart because all she kept doing was "hopping" around the theaters. She wouldn't sit still, and she was dancing to all the songs that were played. After the movies we walked down to a bake shop and had some cake.

Happy Birthday Sweatheart! Mommy and Daddy loves you "Berry" much!

Why mama?

2011-05-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

I knew it was bound to happen. J is at that point now where she is constantly asking... why? why? why? after I tell her to do something. Really? This is going to be fun....

Above is a pic of J and I. I really don't like the way I look in photos but after reading my cousin's blog yesturday about how she wished she had a photo of just her and her late mother, she decided that now she would include herself in all the pics with her kids so they will always have a pic of their mother with them. I thought that I would do the same. So every now and then I'll add one of me. eek!

Oh deer.

2011-05-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

J loves Bambi and when she saw this deer at Grandma and Grandpa's house last month she was so excited. She even gave it a hug. I just thought that was hilarious. Just wanted to share.

Happy Easter 2011

2011-05-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

Poor Juliana was sick with the fever during Easter weekend, so we kept things low key. We missed the Easter Egg Hunt at the Horse Ranch but that didn't stop her from having fun!

Saturday afternoon we took Juliana over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Stratton. They surprised Juliana with a Grand Easter Egg Hunt! There were so many eggs everywhere filled with so many goodies. Juliana made sure that no one, I mean no one not even mommy could eat her candies.

The following day was Easter. Grandma & Grandpa Stratton came over for a Easter feast. The food was YUMMY!!!! Later Mom and Dad surprised J with some Easter gifts. She really enjoyed the bowling ball game the most.

My lil helper

2011-04-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Its hard to get her away from the sink. She absolutly loves washing the dishes. But I think she enjoys playing with the water the most.

Sunday morning

2011-04-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning and we are FINALLY ready to go to church, or so I thought. I grabbed my purse and called Juliana and told her we were ready to leave. Well, J ran into her room and a few seconds later came out like this.

Apparently J felt she needed to add some more accessories to her outfit. A princess wand, crown, and a change of shoes, into her princess ones, and she was ready to go.

yeah.

Run Away with Cirque du Soleil - 5k Run

2011-03-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I ran my first 5k race at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. It was actually pretty fun! There was music...

Juliana and I wore a blue cap so we could be in a photo with a group of other people in blue caps. We were suppose to be a big water droplet. I can't wait to see the result of that photo.

Clell took a picture of the huge cloth that was drapped over us.

and of course some of the Cirque du Soleil cast were there! J called them monsters.

Juliana loved playing with the bubbles best of all.

All and all I was very proud of my results. My best time while training was 32 mintutes. My goal was to at least have thirty minutes or better.

And my results were....

I came in 377 out of 827
Chip Time: 30:34.5!!
Gun Time: 31:39.3
Pace: 9:50

Juliana's new talent

2011-02-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

I bought these books last year and we have been reading from it every now and then. One day I noticed that as I was grabbing a book J would say what the book was and hand it to me. WOW!

So Juliana has started reading, or just recognizing the words, a few months ago and I am just now sharing her new talent with you.

Daddy's our hero

2011-02-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

What can I say about my daughter, J. She is a crack up. She is talking a lot more which means her personality is really come out. I need to find a way to start jotting down what comes out of this 2 year olds mouth.

This is what happened two nights ago. We had an incident where J stuck her leg through her bed side rails and could not get it back out. It was really jammed in there. And she was crying the whole time. I just couldn't help her and so my husband came and told me to put butter all over her knee and with a screw driver he unscrewed the siderails and twisted the rails upright and gently pushed her leg out free. He saved the day!

Well last night after we said our prayers, J grabbed her stuffed kitty and stuck one leg through the side rails and ran and called "Daddy, HURRY! HURRY! COME ON!" So my husband came back in her room and J lead him to kitty and said "Look Daddy. Kitty's hurt."

We both started laughing and my husband pulled kitty's leg out through the rail and he saved the day again.

Left my heart in San Francisco

2011-02-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

For our 6 year Anniversary, Clell and I decided to take a trip somewhere fun and exciting and somewhere that we've never been. Since we only have one income in our house we really couldn't splurge on a trip to say Fiji or New Zealand. Plus it had to be a quick short weekend trip because Clell can not be away from work that long. (The downside of owning a business). So we decided we'd set a budget on how much we were willing to spend for a flight and we went to southwest.com and wherever southwest was flying within our budget(anywhere in the US) that's where we'd go. San Francisco won!

I am soooooo glad we went because we fell in love with the place.

We flew in Thursday Evening and stayed at a hotel near the airport. We were debating for a long time if we should stay in the city but parking was ridiculously expensive. So we ended up near the airport and rented a car for the entire weekend.

Plus, we loved the fact that we had breakfast served to us at our door each morning.

We decided to spend one day in the city and one day on the other side of the bay and go exploring.

Friday.
We got into our car, drove into the city, and went and did some touristy things. We first visited the Japanese Tea Gardens.

We then toured the Fine Arts Museums and enjoyed a light delicious lunch there.

We then headed down to Fisherman's Wharf.

We than decided to get something to eat and as we were looking around and deciding what to get my husband started to call the alcatraz tour place and see if there was any tickets available. I kept telling him that it would be hopeless because you need to get them at least a week in advance. At that moment he got through to someone and he looked at me and said if I still wanted to go. "I said yeah but", than he told the other person on phone he'd take the tickets, he than purchased it on the phone, hung up and grabbed me and said we have to run if we want to go catch the last trip to the Island. Say what? So we ran, got in line to pick up our tickets and just as we arrived someone said the tickets were sold out for the day. Boy were we lucky! So on to Alcatraz we went.

We ended the night by dining at a chinese resturant and than hopping on different trolley cars around the city. My cousin recommended that we hang on the pole to really experience the ride. I of course had to do it and my husband held on tight to me sitted safely inside.

Saturday.
The next day we took our rented car and traveled south to Half Moon Bay. Beautiful.

We then headed up north along the coast and explored the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Beautiful beach town, Sausalito.

Now this was my kind of town. I was born to live here.

It was lunch time when we got here and so we looked around for something to eat. Someone had recommended this hamburger place in town. We found a sign that read "Hamburger" and wondered if this was the place. So we ate there and boy was it delicious! Big, fat juicy hamburgers made fresh. Best of all, across the street was a park where we enjoyed our lunch.

After Saulsalito, we headed up north to explore some locations that my cousin again recommend.

We explored an old lighthouse.

Found old military bunkers.

I just can not explain how thankful and blessed we were to have such beautiful weather while we were there. It really made our trip more pleasant. This was one thing we were very worried about when we decided to go to San Fransico in November.

Our last stop, China Beach.

I mean what I say that we truely left our hearts in San Francisco.

Halloween 2010

2011-01-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday, October 30, our church had a Halloween Block Party. It was lots of fun and since 90% of the neighbors that lived in this block were related or members of our ward they gladly hosted a Party on their street. We ate outdoors, we set up stations on different location along the streen so all the kids could walk along the sidewalk and get candy. So much fun!!

I made pumpkin spice cupcake with homemade buttercream frosting.

Yes... they were that good!

The following day was Halloween and Clell couldn't wait to take our daughter trick-o-treating!

My little Cowgirl

2011-01-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy y'all!

As you can tell from my hairstyle it is October. Almost Halloween! Today I am on my way to go on a horseback ride.

Check out my cowboy boots!

WooHoo!

I love dancing in these cowboy boots!

Redrock with the Christiansen's

2011-01-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

My brother and his family came to Las Vegas to visit us this past October. So we took advantage of the beautiful day and went on a hike to Red Rock.

We later threw all the kiddos in the bath after a long day from being outside.

Juliana was very excited to have her cousins here and more excited that one of them would share a room with her that she decided to sleep on the floor with her cousin Mikayla.

Their visit was too short as always. Until next time.

September Happenings 2010

2011-01-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I have posted anything on my blog. I have taken many pictures but just have not had anytime to post them. Now that the holidays are over and the hustle and bustle that comes with it are out of the way and all the Christmas decorations are neatly stored in its place, January is now here and I feel like making a fresh new start. One of my goals is to not slack on my blog but keep it current. Starting with finishing up posts for the year 2010, hopefully I can get this done in the next few days. So here it goes. Starting with the month of September.

September is always beautiful up in the cabin and that is just where we headed at the start of the month, in order to get away from the Las Vegas heat.

September 11th I attended my cousin's wedding in beautiful San Diego. Below are some pictures of the event. All these photos were taken from my cousin's photographer. Here pics were alot nicer than the ones I took.

This is a photo I took of little miss Juliana taking in the beautiful view of the lights.

Later this month, I caught a glimpse of what Juliana was doing with my lipstick. I laughed so hard when I saw her that I had to take pictures.

And there you have it. The month of September is done. Now onto October....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-23T23:09:00.001-08:00

Our little chef

2010-11-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

I heard alot of clatter coming from Juliana's room yesturday and was curious what she was doing and this is what I found.

She was busy making "Chopped Pretzels" for dinner. Our little chef. Now if only she knew how to make Lasagna.

Note: still trying to upload video.

Waffles for dinner?

2010-10-08T19:58:00.001-07:00

Tonight Juliana and I decided to have some waffles for dinner. Why? Well because daddy is away on a hunting trip with grandpa and isn't here to tell us that it isn't on his diet. Besides, J really loves waffles and she needs to eat more. Just wish is was more veggies!

Juliana loves helping mommy out.

The background noise is Strawberry Shortcake, one of J's favorite movies.

Like I said, she LOVES waffles!

Enjoying the rain

2010-10-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

It had been a long hot summer here in Las Vegas and we were so ready for the fall weather to come. Well on Saturday afternoon it finally cooled down. It not only cooled down but it rained like cats and dogs. Boy, was it pouring! But I loved it. And so did my little girl. She heard the rain outside that staring out the window just wasn't interesting and fun anymore. So she opened the back door and ran outside and had a ball in the rain.

My little neat and orderly two year old.

2010-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

I told my daughter to go color while I was cleaning the kitchen and when I came into the living room this is what I found.

Bliss

2010-10-02T17:08:00.001-07:00

In August, our famiy went for a nice long walk in Red Rock. We then decided to go eat at Cafe Rio and then next door for ice-cream.

This was a good day!

Quality time with some friends

2010-10-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Getting dressed.

2010-10-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Juliana loves putting on clothes, all at once!

"I am ready to go Momma!"

Her dance move as of August 2010 along with a little singing. Btw, yes, that is country music you hear in the background. She loves it.

July adventures part 2

2010-10-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Fishing at Panguitch Lake...

Nice fish Clell!

And more fishing...

clowning around in the stream...

Off to find more fish...

Ok, I think I am done with the fishing.... Now lets visit with the rest of group!

Here are the 2 kiddos with Grandpa.

Grandpa wanted to take the kids for a ride, translation: going for ice-cream! This was Juliana's first time going and so we put her helmet on...

and off they went...

It was nice out so we decided to go for a little hike behind the cabin...

And that concludes another fun weekend at the cabin.

J's new dance move

2010-10-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Back in July, I found Juliana dancing to her music in her room. This was her dance move back then, just going in circle's with her thumb in her mouth.

Is there any advice on how to help J get rid of the thumb sucking habit? Chili doesn't work because she likes it.

Her new dance move as of October is jumping around the entire room. Maybe I'll show that video when I get caught up on all these post!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

2010-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for another late post, but I wanted to share this.

Clell's two sisters came for a visit with their kids from Arizona and Houston, Tx. I give huge kuddos to my SIL's who drove all the way here with all their kids without their hubby's, just Grandma to help them out.

While they were here, Tammy wanted to celebrate Natalie's 1st Birthday. She is an absolute doll btw!

We started off by taking pictures of the grand kids at Red Rock Canyon.

Kids will be kids and getting all of them together and smile for the camera ,at the same time, on a hot summer day in Vegas was an adventure in itself. These are the shots I captured from my camera.

I think this was a cute candid shot of J and her cousin Ellie.

We decided to let the kids loose for a little bit before we went back in the car. J loved climbing the Red Rocks. Her daddy would be so proud as he LOVES climbing them too!

We later went back to Grandma's and had homemade ice-cream and cupcakes! Mmmmmmm!

Here is a picture with Grandma and Grandpa and all their grandkids.

Make believe...

2010-10-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Juliana loves playing make believe with her dolls and stuff animals. I was in the other room and decided to check up on J and this is what I found.

She had laid out blankets for all her dolls and decieded they all needed a nap, even herself. Too bad she didn't actually go through with it.

Notice the little baby doll has her own little stuff animal to sleep with? I guess J figured the baby needed it.

July adventures part 1

2010-10-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting around to posting stuff that has happened this summer with our family.

Sometime in July, my sister and her family made a quick visit to our house from Utah and stayed the night and left the next morning to California. We enjoyed their company so much so that right after they left that Friday morning my husband suggested we go as well, just for the weekend. Yes! So I quickly packed everything we needed and left within that hour. So glad we went because we had the best time!!!

Here we are at the beach...

That is my four year niece, Mikayla. Say hi!

Juliana remembered so well that the ocean was a big scary monster, so she stayed away from it and safely played in the sand right next to mommy and daddy.

And here is a picture of my sister with her family.

Other than the beach we also went out to dinner with the family, watched movie while grandma babysat and just hung out with the family until we left that Sunday morning. Very short mini vaca but so much fun! Until next time!

Horses4Heros, Inc.

2010-09-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today, Juliana and I went to visit a horse ranch in north Las Vegas called Horses4Heros, Inc. They are one of my husband's clients and the owner had invited us to come over and bring our daughter along to enjoy the horses and other animals. So today we went. Juliana had a ball!!! She absolutely loved all the animals! I was so impressed with her when she enthusiastically got on the horse and was riding it with ease. She was totally taking everything in and savoring every moment with the horse. Here is a video of her riding.

A great thing about this place is how they educate the kids on how to ride the horses. Proper way to sit and what to say when you want them to go and stop. This is what Juliana learned on her first ride.

Another great thing about this place is teaching the kids on how to care for these animals. So we helped brush the bunnies...

Even when they hopped back inside, J was telling them to "come out! ...come on!"

She did well in brushing the goats hair.

Here is another video...

Visiting the pig pen was fun too, until the pig started nibbling Juliana's arm! She started crying and so we went back to the other animals and even went for one last ride on the horses. That cured her quick.

Until next time!

Sorry about the videos!!! They are not loading correctly so I will have to reload them later. Hopefully it will work.

Desert Shore Lake

2010-08-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today Juliana and I decided to go to the lake to visit the ducks. It is just 2 miles away from our house so we decided to make a quick stop.

We saw some cute little sail boats that had sailed past us.

We soon had another visitor.

Juliana wasn't so fond of it and she moved safely back from.

The next American Idol

2010-07-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Meet the next American Idol.

Oncore! Oncore!

A little fashionista

2010-07-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

I guess my daughter was feeling that something was missing with her outfit. The top and skirt was just to boring for her.

She decided to grab her ME socks and pull them up to her knees and put on a pair of black shoes.

Here she is jumping for joy when I took her picture of her outfit. I guess she felt she looked really good!

What a cutie.

A neat freak?

2010-07-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Instead of shoes scattered all over the floor, this is what we sometimes find in our household.

Neatly and orderly in its place. To bad she doesn't do this with her clothes and toys. Just shoes.

Juliana's BFF

2010-07-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I told Juliana it was time to go to church and to hurry up because we were late. So she quickly ran to her room because she just had to get something before we left. Her BFF's of course.

I guess she figured they can all fit in my bag.

I had to sadly tell her that we couldn't take them with us and they had to stay home. Of course she was very upset. But when she came home she found them on the couch and gave them all a big hug....

And life was good again.

First words.

2010-07-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

I know this is extremely late post but I just wanted to jot down Juliana's first words she learned by the time she was two years old. Some of these words will bring back memories to me in years to come. So here they are.

Daddy - which was probably your first word.
Papa
Doggy - almost every animal was "doggy".
Bottle
Shoes
Kitty - favorite animal
Plane - was always excited to see a plane go by.
Birdie - favorite thing to look out the window.
Up - we tried so hard to teach you the word down whenever you wanted to get down from our bed but all you kept saying was up.
Baby - looking at baby books was exciting to you.
A
One
Kick - you would start kicking your feet while saying this word. You learned this from watching Signing Time videos.
"Whats that"
"Thank you"
Bye
Open
Socks
Clell
Lana - this is what you called me instead of mommy. It wasn't until after you were two did you start calling me mama.
Open
Cinderella - You love this movie alot and when you put on pretty dresses I told you that you look like Cinderella and you would then get very excited and start twirling around in your pretty dress.
Two
Fine
Three
Banana - You would eat this all the time
Apple - Another one of you favorite fruit.
Oh yes! - I do not know where you got this from but this would crack me up everytime.
No - luckily you didn't start saying this quite often until after you were two.
Yummy - you would put boths hands on your cheeks and say "yummy"

HaPpY bIrThDaY tO.....

2010-07-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

ME!

Like mother, like daughter

2010-05-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I heard this from my husband while I was in the other room.

"Juliana!!!! Mommy is NOT going to like this!"

Not like what? Oh no, that doesn't sound good. So I immediately stopped what I was doing and ran into the bedroom to find my daughter with this on her face.

She went into my stuff and got the mascara out and started to put it on her eyes. Augh!!! She of course thought it was fun.

She has seen me do this a few times and I guess she just wanted to do things mommy does.

My little girl is growing up so fast.

Sweet Corn. Yummy!

2010-05-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

This makes me really happy. Seeing my 2 year old picky eater enjoying some yummy corn.

After she was done with her corn she threw it down in the floor and screamed "MORE PLEEEEEEEAAASSSEEEE!!!!"

Note: there was not one single kernal on that corn! :)

So I glady gave her more.

Our poor fruit trees

2010-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

What in the world!

Yeah, this is what I saw when I woke up early morning as I opened up my curtains. It was so windy the previous night that our neighbors shed blew over our wall.

Luckily only one branch was harmed during this incident.

However we did loose alot of fruits. :(

Our dwarf peach tree survived though. :)

Happy Birthday Jules!

2010-05-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

We had an early birthday celebration dinner for J because the following morning my sister, Jules and I headed off to Utah to meet the new addition to the family, Max. I didn't have my camera to document this birthday with the in laws but let me tell you that every gift J would open she would go off and start playing with it. She was in awe with every single one of them. So it did take a awhile for her to finish opening up all her gifts. The birthday menu included our favorite Honey Walnut Shrimp and Pear Walnut Salad for dinner and a delicious Red Velvet Birthday cake. Mmmmm.

The following day, which was J's birthday, we drove to Utah and I was very happy that my daughter did really well in the car, both ways!!!! Thank your Jules! When we arrived, my sisters wanted to celebrate J's birthday at Chucky Cheese. As so as we entered the place, Jules ran up to the stage and was in awe with the band.

Even when it was time to eat the kids kept getting distracted by the performance. Too cute!

Here is a photo of the gang.

This was absolutely hilarious! A photo of J driving and her passengers just not enjoying the ride. My sister Shelly has far more better picture which I will post as soon as I get it.

More photos of J driving around.

Birthday cake time!

While in Utah we also made a trip to the Aquarium. I am pretty sure J had fun here.

Sunday was Baby Max's blessing and here is a photo shoot of all my mother's grand kids. This classic btw.

We decided to pop in a movie and that seemed to calm all the kids down for us to take decent pictures.

Here is J and cousins Mckayla and Max. Say cheese!

Laundry day

2010-04-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is Juliana helping mommy with the laundry.

She absolutley loves helping out.

Dolly's playpen

2010-04-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw this morning.

I think this might be a little too small for you my dear.

Hard at Work

2010-04-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to do some much needed yard work yesterday and was surprised with what I saw a few feet away from. I quickly grabbed my camera and captured J imitating mommy.

She put on some gloves.

observed mommy and making sure she was doing it right.

and went straight to work.

Instead of whistling while working, J likes to sing out loud instead.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

Huston Trip

2010-04-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we finally made the trip out to Houston, Tx. Since Juliana was going to turn 2 pretty soon we thought we should make the trip out there and not have to worry about paying for an extra ticket.

One of the things we first did was visit the mall at the Woodlands. They have this awesome play area where the kids can run around in a kid proof friendly forest. Juliana loved it and so did her cousin Nate.

We later took a Trolley ride around the park and stopped for some ice cream but unfortunately I did not take any pictures there. Which is a tragedy because it was such a beautiful place!

Here are some photos that I stole from the net.

side note: Wish we lived here. I am so in love with this place! Everywhere we went was so GREEN! Trees everywhere! Lakes and streams can be found everywhere as well. Just lovely.

We stayed at Clell's sisters house, who were very gracious host, (thanks Nannette and Joe!) and they have rabbits in their backyard. Juliana really, I mean really loved the rabbits!

We also went to the zoo while we were there. Not surprised that J. loved the goats.

Saturday morning we went to an Easter Egg hunt in the neighborhood. I think Clell was super excited for this event.

He helped J find some eggs and helped eat the goody's inside as well.

Soon after the Easter Egg Hunt we headed over to the lake where Joe and Nannette own a piece of property with an adorable lake cottage where we spent the night at. We took a boat trip out to the island, which they own as well. J and Nate were excited for the ride.

Once we got in the boat J was a little skeptical of the stability of the the boat...

No need to worry J, daddy is at the helm

But once she realized how cool this was and saw the kids sticking their hands in the water, why of course J just had to join in. And she LOVED this part of the ride.

note: No, I am NOT pregnant. It may look like it in this photo, it was just a really bad angle.

That Easter Sunday the Easter Bunny made a visit to the cottage and delivered baskets full of goody's to the kids and we later had a little Easter egg hunt there as well.

Thanks Frost family for having us over!! We really enjoyed our stay and so wish we could go back.

Portrait Time!

2010-03-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year again! This morning I took Juliana to JcPenny to have her pictures taken. Gotta love those $3.99 specials! I was so pleased she actually did good today! The last time we took pictures was for Christmas and it was such a horrible experience! She would not stop crying and screaming and just did not want to be there at all. Only one photo came out ok. But today was a different story! She was so excited to be in front of the camera and was clapping, smiling and dancing! I can't believe I lost sleep over this and worrying it would be like last time. So here are her photos. Enjoy!

Can you believe she is almost 2!

Here are photos in her new Easter dress that I made! I can't believe she ended up wearing it because it wasn't even finished! I was literally still sewing the dress minutes before we had to start getting ready to go. I had her try it on and it was so darn cute so I took it with us the JcPenny. I still have to sew the pockets and add the roses on the front. I'll show the final piece on my other website when I am done.

Mommy and Daddy love you!

Afternoon nap

2010-03-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is what I found when I went in to check up on Juliana from her afternoon nap.

Her stroller was originally next to her crib shown below.

I am just wondering how she was able to carry that thing over her crib without me hearing it?

Happy Birthday Eli and Adeyln!

2010-03-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the BIG day for Eli and Adelyn We all came to celebrate the twins 2 year birthday. There was lots of food, games and fun!

Even my grandmother, who turned 98 in February, had fun at the party. Happy Birthday to you Grandma!

There was a bouncer at the party! To bad J. would NOT dare to go in. Maybe next time.

And of course, everyone LOVED hitting the pinata!

Here is the birthday girl, Adelyn, giving it a swing.

And birthday boy, Eli, giving it a go...

Now its big sister Mikayla's turn to take a swing at it but first must analyze where to hit this thing so the candy will come out.

Here goes nothing!

Nothing!

Maybe Juliana?

Not a chance!

Well someone smacked it open and everyone dove in for candy!

Now it is cake time!

Family picture time.

Later that night, I found Eli with great grandma munching on some cookies. He was a very content little boy.

We had a blast. So sad it was way to short. Until next time!

Santa Anita Race Track

2010-03-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

In the month of January we took a trip to California to celebrate my niece and nephew's 2nd birthday. We were there for only a couple of days but did so much! So I will slipt this post into 2 parts.

Saturday we spent to the day at the Santa Anita Race Track. This was surprisingly a lot of fun. The weather was absolutly wonderful, typical california weather. The first thing we had to do was take a picture with the horse.

Juliana, please put your arms down!

I guess not...

Juliana decided she rather run around the circular green area, because why not? It was so pretty!

So we all did... several times!

Before the first race began we got to check out the horses before they went out to the track.

By the way, when you go to the track, everyone must wear hats. I guess J doesn't follow the rules!

Here is J with her Aunt Gina.

Juliana really loved the horses. Especially when the horses raced to the finished line, that is where we were at, and everyone around started screaming and cheering for their horse to win. Juliana really got into it.

Here is a photo of a man riding in a buggy.

What a loooong day. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Lets go to the Park!

2010-03-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

One of Juliana's favorite places in the whole wide world is the park!

As you can see, she just can't go anywhere without her friends.

Making sure her bear is all buckled up.

Because we never know if they are going to be left behind.

She loves the slides!

A ghost in our house!

2010-02-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

I believe we have a ghost in our house!?! We have been seeing this a lot lately. Sometimes the ghost is white with green polka dots, other times it is plain white and today it is pink. Why it is Miss Juliana of course! Here she is in action!

Christmas 2009

2010-02-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

I know I am a little late posting this but it is better late than never!

This past Christmas, we went to the Cabin to celebrate Christmas. Boy was it cold and lots of snow there! Sure felt like Christmas! I think the best part of it was watching Juliana enjoy the Holiday. Here are some few activitys we did at the Cabin.

Christmas morning, and we are trying to get Juliana to wear a silly raindeer headband that mommy got her.

Its time to open presents! I only got two shots of her opening presents. I had to help her open them.

I believe her favorite one was the one with a little kitty. She was so surprised and was trying to open up the box so bad that she was pulling our hands to help her open it faster! It was funny! To bad I didn't take snap shots of her excitement. But here she is with her new friend.

Later that day, or maybe it was the following day, we went for a ride on the snowmobiles. This was absolutley fun! Having the entire mountian top all to ourselves was awesome!

Juliana spent most of her time indoors so Clell and I wanted to take her out for a little ride on the sled.

She was NOT happy about that and so we went back inside.

Here is our Christmas Tree that Clell's parents cut down for us. I love it! I think it was the best one yet!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Juliana's hideaway

2010-01-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

To my surprise this is what I saw in the cupboards this morning...

We often find Juliana hidden away in this cupboard and just sitting in there with the door closed and making cute little noises. I often wonder why she likes hanging out in there. It is dark and not really comfortable. But she likes it and now she takes her friends with her into her own little hideaway.

Juliana meets NCIS theme song.

2010-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my husband decided to download all seasons of NCIS so we can watch them. We have only seen a few episodes and pretty much only saw them when we would go to his parents house. So that is when Clell and I got hooked on the show. So now we have all the episodes and have sinced finished 2 seasons worth of shows in a few weeks. We really don't have a life.. But the part that I wanted to share is a tid bit about Juliana and NCIS.

Juliana LOOOOOOOVES this song!!!

Now, everytime the music comes on, she will literally drop what she has in her hands and start dancing! It is soooooooo funny! She started doing this since the first time she heard it and now she goes all out and really starts grooving to the music. I finally got around to filming her last night and I apoligize that it is too dark. But I just had to share this.

Note: You probably need night vision goggles to see this.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Festival at the Spring Preserves

2009-12-22T22:47:00.001-08:00
Last weekened we went to the Spring Preserves here in town to see the Christmas Lights and enjoy the festivities. We started by having dinner at Wolfgang Puck which had a wonderful view of the Christmas festivities as well as the Las Vegas strip.

We then walked around the Preserves to look at the lights, eat some popcorn, drink hot cider, decorate christmas cookies and visit with some of Santa's Raindeers! We did not however go near Santa to take some pictures because we all know what happened last time....

Here is a picture of J walking her stroller which she rather do than be in it. As for me, I rather be in it.

Here are some snap shots of the Christmas Lights...

On our way to Santa's shop to decorate cookies and make ornaments.

She really enjoyed her christmas cookie!

And lastly, we met santa's raindeers and tried to get Juliana to sit on one. But she would NOT have it! NO WAY was her response. So we just walked next to one.

Ward Christmas Party

2009-12-05T23:22:00.000-08:00
Tonight our family went to a Christmas Party at our church. There was a little program along with singing, eating and enjoying everyone's company. It was lots of fun.

Juliana loved running off and exploring all the Christmas decor.

She especially loved the lights of course.

Here we are waiting in line to meet Santa.

And finally, here is this year's photo with Santa.

Happy Holiday!

Mom's house makeover

2009-11-29T22:39:00.000-08:00
This post is mainly for Shelley and Joe who are anxious to see what has been going down at my mother's place for the past couple of months. It all started with my mother wanting a new roof on the house that turned into a total makeover to the front part of the house. So here are the pictures guys....

Sorry I do not have any before pictures to post along with the updated look on the house.

The outside.

New roof and took out all those windows!

Adding sprinkler system to the yard.

repaired the driveway and front steps.

Living room.

They took out all those windows! New rug too.

Brand new front door. I Love it!

Notice the crown molding on the wall? Lovely touch.

The Front/Study room.

All the windows are removed from both walls and now only has one window in the room. Love this. It feels so much more cozier.

The fan is finally up and running

Also, we are going to remove the bookcases here and John is going to built in a wall to wall bookcase with a desk in the middle. Just like at Annabelle's which looks sooooo nice!

Grandma's room.

This is the only picture that came out where you could see the flooring that they installed. They took out the wallpaper and painted blue.

The front bathroom.

Repainted the room to a darker blue and later will remove and install new flooring.

Amazing job John and crew! Everything looks so clean, crisp and amazing. Very well done.

Shelley, are you impressed?

Mom's room is next.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-29T21:22:00.001-08:00
This past weekend our family drove to So. Cal for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun seeing the family! We always have a blast when we are together and it tends to get loud meaning everyone has something to say. Stories about work, about church, about family, about anything new going on in our lives and of course when it comes to football. So good to catch up on things. Time just went by to fast and it was hard coming back home.

We started off leaving early in the morning so we can beat the traffic. The ride there turned out really well. Juliana was soooooo good! She slept half way there, she didn't cry at all and not fussy but just looking out the window and looking at the cars go by. Couldn't ask for anything better!

When we got there, Clell and I enjoyed the fact that everyone there wanted Juliana's attention which was fine by us. This just meant more alone time for us. We took advantage and watched a movie and went out to eat. One of the places we did go to was this Asian restaurant in Arcadia that is suppose to have the best Dumplings. I thought it was good but not thee best. The cucumbers were good though.

Thanksgiving dinner however.... was delicious!

One of the best things about living in So. Cal. is the weather. So we took advantage of that and watch a couple of movies outdoors.

After dinner and a movie everyone was looking through the ads one last time before making their run to the "black Friday" sales. I, however, was glad to get my holiday shopping done early and enjoyed sleeping in Friday morning!

Saturday however, I was up in the crack of down so my sister and I could attend the LA Temple and be back in time to enjoy the rest of the day. Not to say the Temple wasn't enjoyable but a privileged and enjoyable to go to and do some work for my mother side of the family.

I just love the Temple!

Did I mention we love football? Saturday was a big rival game between Utah vs. BYU and UCLA vs. USC. Our family, meaning Clell, J and I, are big Utah and UCLA fans.

Clell erased the BY in BYU on the chalkboard. Hee, hee, hee! Sorry Annabelle and Joseph. Hee, hee, hee!

Go Utes!

Unfortunately, we got killed. J is frustrated with the results.

We could not leave without taking J to her favorite place. The park!

She loves to slides!

We had such a great time and hope to be back in January for the twins birthday. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to everyone!

ONE!!!

2009-11-16T16:20:00.000-08:00
Today I was teaching Juliana the number 1 and some other words. She knows how to say "one" but today she started using her finger to show "one" and saying "one" at the same time. I was so excited when she did this! So when she did this I started cheering and clapping over her accomplishment. I did this every time she did it (about 4 times in a row) and I think I must have exaggerated a little. So after awhile of learning some other stuff I came back and pointed to the number 1 and asked her what it was and instead of pointing a finger in the air and saying "one" she just looked at me and did nothing. So then I slowly pointed my finger in the air and slowly said "one" and then all of a sudden she started cheering and clapping! I did it again and asked her, hoping she remembered about "one". So after waiting for a response from her and got nothing I said "one" and she started cheering and clapping again. Oh Boy. It looked like she was waiting for me to say "one" so she can start cheering and clapping for Mom. This was to funny!!

Happy 18 months Juliana!

2009-11-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything about J's progress. She has really grown up so fast and it just amazes me that time really does fly by. So I thought I better post some of what Jules has done...

She calls my husband by his first name, she rarely says "dad".
She doesn't say mommy yet.
She loves music! She doesn't have a favorite yet but anything that with rhythm she starts moving to the groove!
She loves to dance.
She loves to sing.
She could now opens doors.
She loves getting into my purse and playing with my wallet. She doesn't care for the cash just the cards.
She gets so excited when the door bell rings. One time someone knocked and we didn't hear it and J ran across the room and pointed at the door. She is our watch dog.
She is mt big helper! She helps me with laundry, with sweeping the floor. When I fill the bucket to mop the floor she will run and grab the mop for me.
When I say its time to go and get your "shoes" she'll say "shoes, shoes, shoes" and will go get it and put them on and wait for me at the front door.
While I am reading or studying my lesson for Sunday, she will sit right next to me grab a paper and start "reading".
When she goes in her her room, she'll sit next to her pile of books and start "reading". Her favorite is her ABC book. She'll start singing A B C D .... ( she just knows how to say the letter A right now).
She loves watching "Signing Time" and doing the sign language. She can sign flower, dance, outside and jump.
Her favorite word is doggy. Whenever she hears any sounds from any animal she'll yell Doggy!!!
When she sees an airplane she says "plane!"
She loves cuddly with Clell and I in the morning. We love this too!
She is still a picky eater. We are working on this!!!!
If it has a zipper, she'll zip and unzip it.
She can put on her shoes and on the right foot too! She loves doing this. She'll even put on my shoes too.
She tries to put on clothes by putting everything on her head or around her neck.
She loves talking on the phone. She'll grab anything and pretend she is chatting with someone on the other end. She'll even start laughing as if the other person on the other line said something funny.
She loves giving hugs and kisses.
She loves examining my face.
She loves sharing her food and toys.
Whenever I try to discipline her by saying "no" she just starts to laugh out loud and think I am playing a game with her.
She loves playing chase with me around the couch. She'll run so fast that on every turn she'll bump into the other couch every time and laugh and get up and start chasing me again.
Her best friends are her stuff animals. She loves hanging out with them. When we go to the store or any place else she'll grab her stuff animal and take them along with us. On occasion she'll give them a huge hug and kiss.
She absolutely loves kids. She'll just walk right up to one and start chattering with them.

Another big step for Jules today was that it was her first day at Nursery! She just ran right in there and started playing with the kids. I so wish I was a fly on the wall so I can see her interact with them.

Sorry this list is so long and probably have given up reading half way through but I just wanted to jot down how much she has achieved by her 18 months.

Today I took some pictures of her and to see how much she has grown. Notice the dress she is wearing? I made this awhile back. I think she rocks this outfit!

Slides

2009-10-06T19:50:00.000-07:00
One thing Juliana is not scared of are the slides. She LOVES them! We went to the park this morning for a Mommy and Me group and Juliana found the slides. She ran to the biggest slide she found and climbed up the stairs and slid down the slide all by herself. She practically flew off at the bottom but I was there to catch her. I thought this would scare her and she would start to cry but no she just started laughing historically and ran to the steps again.

Silly girl.

Here is a video of her going down the slide.

If you listen closely, you can hear her huffing and puffing from running up the steps to get to the top of the slide. That is how excited she was!