Because I went to BYU...

I'm not all into sports or anything, but these people had some good things to say about the BYU honor code so I wanted to share.

I do have other things to post about, and I will get to them soon!

Bedtime blues

So Julianna has been REALLY scared at bedtime lately. This hasn't happened in a few years, at least. I asked her why she was so scared, and she said, "There's monsters in my room." So I told her I would kill the monsters and then she would be okay, but this didn't work. So for the last few nights, I've had to stay by her bed and tickle her back until she falls asleep. But of course I can't keep doing this!

Last night before their bedtime I was telling Joel about this new fear of Julianna's, and Blake overheard our conversation. He said, "Oh, monsters? Julianna, I told you I was just kidding." He really said it like this. So it sounds like Blake planted this fear of monsters in Julianna's head, probably through whispers while we're downstairs. Thanks, Blake. He continued to tell Julianna that there are no monsters, but so far, she won't believe him. And I guess that means I will continue to tickle her back until I figure out what will work. Any ideas?

Recent happenings

Julianna lost her second tooth on Friday night. I finally pulled it by folding a paper towel and laying it over the tooth--as recommended by the dentist on the little field trip we took with our preschool. It worked well! Not too many tears, but I'm sure glad it's out. You'll also notice she has her hand over her ear--well she just learned how to make a funny noise with her hand over her ear. We got the best video of her doing it but it's too big to put on here. She thinks she's pretty funny that she can do it. I just hope she's not hurting her ear!

Thanks to some sewing expertise from Cindel, I made new curtains for our sliding glass door. I had saved some khaki panels I bought on clearance from Walmart a long time ago, and sewed the new fabric I bought over the panels to make them energy-saving and thick. I love them! You can see part of the old curtain on the right. When Joel was with the scouts on Friday night, I stayed up late sewing the rest. They are finished now and look great.

Something else Cindel helped me create--a new pillow cover. This is the first of 6 pillow covers I will make with old fabric I've never used! So glad I kept it all in the hopes that I'd sew one day. I am using the old curtains from our sliding door to make some as well. I'm so glad Cindel took the time to show me how to put thread on a bobbin, put in in the machine, and thread the machine--I pretty much know how to do it now. So there's no end to what I can make!

Well, not the best picture...this was the kids and Olive, Cindel's baby, when they were playing under the table. Blake really likes to cross his eyes right now--so fun, right? Olive had fun exploring our house and watching the kids play in the backyard.

This picture is a little better...at least Blake's not crossing his eyes! Well, that's what we've been up to!

Another reader in the house?

Tonight after dinner Julianna and I went over her spelling words for the week. She is now getting to where she can sound out her words on her own without my help (the 3-syllable words are a challenge, though). She REALLY liked reading her spelling words tonight, and I almost saw that look in her eye that says, READING IS FUN! So after the spelling words I told them it was time to read our Book of Mormon verses (Joel was still at mutual). And she said, "Mommy, I want to do it." So she went to get the scriptures and tried to find the place we are at, and when it was her turn to read, instead of me reading a few words at a time and her repeating, she wanted to look at each word and try to read it by herself. It happened to be a long verse, but she didn't want to stop until she finished it. This was a HUGE first for her--the first time she has ever shown a desire to read something on her own, and I'm glad the first book she showed interest in was the Book of Mormon! I am hoping that this interest in reading will only continue to grow and that before long she will be reading all her books instead of just looking at the pictures! I have a feeling that by the time she is 8 in December, she will be a reader! And then getting her own set of scriptures for her baptism will be a gift she will use! I am excited to see what happens this year.

Just because...

This is what Blake does when I ask him to do a nice smile.

Julianna actually has a wiggly tooth! Much better than having it yanked out by mistake in the bathtub, like her first lost tooth in November! This one won't last much longer.

They love this little "laptop" and play all the games together, when they're not fighting!

We headed to Orange County on New Year's Day to open presents with Joel's family. They got spoiled rotten! Such nice presents that they really love. It was a fun day. Then Briana came to our house and went to church the next day and we celebrated her birthday before she went into the army reserves on Jan. 4th.

Just busy again with school, preschool, doing crafts, new calling, and staying healthy (the kids were sick most of the winter break, and right when school got back, I got sick!) So I took some pictures today so I could have something to put up here, since it has been a while. Nothing big to report right now. But pictures are always fun, right?

Christmas in Utah

We waited in line to see the Christus statue in the Visitor's center. Julianna especially liked it.

The lights at Temple Square. It was so cold! The lights were beautiful.

Will and Blake in their cool (and very warm) Spiderman masks/gloves from Grandma on the train to Salt Lake. We decided to take the train from Sandy to Salt Lake to make it more fun for the kids. They loved it.

Grandpa with Will and our kids on Christmas morning.

Santa's cookies, made by Julianna, Blake, Will, and Lily.

One more day until Christmas!

Best buddies, Will and Blake.

All the cousins/grandkids on Christmas Eve (except August who was asleep) in their new pajamas.

The big cousins making their cookies for Santa.

Playing in the snow in the backyard.


We had such a fun trip to Utah for Christmas. It was great to be with the whole family at my parent's new house, and to see Rhonda and Jordan, and Shannon and Mike and their baby, Luke for a day. Our new nieces and nephew are so adorable! It was fun to see the babies play, and the older cousins entertained themselves pretty much the whole time. We all just had a good time hanging out, playing Rockband, ping pong, watching movies, eating good food, having guys time/girls time, and relaxing. Hope you all had a nice Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Julianna's 7th Birthday

Julianna singing in the school Christmas program with the regular 1st grade class. She's in the second row, middle, in a blue shirt right below the boy with his head turned.

Blowing out her candles. She really liked doing this and did not hesitate at all.

Her presents that she requested: "Lots of Strawberry Shortcakes." Well, we got her 3--there just wasn't enough variety at Walmart!

Holding up her 7 fingers. It was cute--she looked at her fingers to count to make sure she got 7. I guess she hadn't thought about it yet!

At the SD Zoo on Dec. 4th, at the polar bear exhibit. This picture was one she requested--she said, "You should take my picture here!" So she stood there and made sure I did it.


Well, Julianna is now 7 years old! She was so excited for her birthday this year. Once it gets close to Blake's birthday in November, we start telling them the order of things: First, Blake's birthday, then Thanksgiving, then Julianna's birthday, then Christmas. Well, Julianna's birthday couldn't come soon enough. Since we went to the zoo before her birthday, she was upset that we didn't have cake and presents for her when we got home. Luckily she had gotten a package from Grandma Maxwell with a gift that she got to open that night--a fun laptop that she really likes. Another funny thing on our zoo day--when we got to Temecula on the way there, I had to stop for the bathroom (yes, I'm lame). We happened to drive by a Bob's Big Boy restaurant with the big statue out front. She was so intrigued by this and said, "I want to touch that boy!" I didn't want to stop--I just wanted to get to the zoo. But Joel reminded me this was her birthday thing, so we turned around and let her and Blake get out to touch the Bob's Big Boy statue. And on the rest of the drive, she kept asking about Bob's Big boy. So we told her that after the zoo, we would eat there for dinner, and we did. I'm always going to remember that. Then the next day, Sunday, she knew the kids were going to sing to her in Primary, and again she thought she'd be coming home to cake and presents since people were singing her a birthday song. So we made it to her birthday, finally! I got to bring treats into her school class, which was fun. Then we did her presents first, which Blake had to put under the Christmas tree. After she opened them, she told us she didn't want to take the toys out of the package. It wasn't until yesterday after school that she was holding the boxes and said, "Okay, I want to take the toys out now." Blake was so excited to play with the Strawberry Shortcake toys! Much more than Julianna was. Anyway, I think she had a fun birthday. This morning she asked, "Am I done being 6?" She is getting so big and smart! Her red hair certainly attracts a lot of attention. Especially at zoos and amusement parks. She got stopped so many times at the zoo that she asked, "Why does everyone like my hair?" It was cute. We love Julianna!