Our Halloween week....

Halloween was really fun this year but I thought that we were going to miss it. On Tuesday Juliana woke up with a low fever and I wasn't all that worried. But she was dragging then she started saying that her stomach hurt. I asked her if she wanted to go lie down and take a nap (I thought she was just being dramatic and this normally will snap her out of it) and she said that she did. She lay down and slept for over 2 hours. She woke up with a very high fever (104.6) and I got a little nervous. I call her doctor’s office and left a message. I gave her some medicine and by the time her doctor called back her temp had gone down a few degrees but she was just lethargic on the floor. He doctor told me to come down right away. As soon as I hung up the phone she started throwing up all over the carpet and her blanket. So I just stripped her down got us both re-dressed and grabbed a puke bowl and jumped in the car. She threw up once in the doctor’s office but, that was it. Her fever went down and she was fine. While in the doctor’s office I had said that I was really sad because our church was doing a Halloween party the next day and now she was going to miss it. The doctor said that she thought it was just a 24 hr bug and as long as she was feeling good the next day that she would be fine to go. So we were very happy and she had a blast at our wards Trunk-or-treat. It really was fun. And it kicked off our Halloween!!!!! Here are a few pictures. We went as a family of Robots and I made all of our costumes. I think that the costume was much cuter on Juliana than on Mike and me. But, it worked for us to.
Here she is at the Trunk-or-Treat!!!! She was very proud to be a robot. I think she looked so cute.
Here she is again...there were so many activities that he just got so excited and wanted to do everything. I think she tired everything but the cake walk.

Mike is trying to show her how to Mini Golf. She did pretty good.

Here she is trying it on her own. She thinks she is a big girl.

Here we are together. I never get pictures with her because I am always the one behind the camera (and truth be told I don't like having my picture taken).

Juliana and Daddy playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

This is Thursday at our Library's story time. She is with her best friend. They have so much fun together. Her Robot costume was in need of some repair so she wore her last years Gold Fish costume for the day.

This is us on Halloween night. We took Juliana to the Police station where they had bags of candy for the kids and pizza and games. It was fun. Then we went over to our friends house to have a party. It was lots of fun and I felt like we really got into the Halloween spirit.

The Great Pumpkin

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays just because it is fun and creative. I love it. So, this year I really wanted to do some fun stuff for Halloween. But, as always time has gotten away from me and now we are on the home stretch...well, I actually got my act together and we went to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, Alabama. It was fun. We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and we got 2 pumpkins. Juliana got to pick her own and of course she picked a little one and then Mike picked a bigger one that was almost the perfect pumpkin (I say almost because I like one's with a long stem and this one doesn't and because I really wanted a white one but alas we ended up with 2 orange pumpkins). It really was a lot of fun and something that I hope we take time for each year. The next night we decorated our pumpkins and had a lot of fun doing it. We had seen these little sets of parts (they almost looked like Mr. Potato Head parts) that would make your pumpkin into different animals. So we got that for Juliana and then we got stuff to carve the other one. It was a really good family activity and I think that they turned out really cute.

Juliana is so excited about her little pumpkin!!!!

I thought they were so cute...you can see that both of them are proud of there pumpkins.

I just love this little girl!!!! Isn't she cute....

It was so hard to get her to pose for this picture. She really didn't like the sun in her eyes. But I think she looks so sweet!!!

Once again Juliana does not like the sun in her eyes and she was protesting this picture!!!!

She did a lot better with her Daddy!!! I think he held her arms down a little. LOL. I couldn't get away with that but she loves her Daddy so much!

As sad as it is, this is the best we got out of the family pictures!!!! She has a lot of fight in her. That darn sun was very bright and I had sunglasses on.

Juliana's Piggy pumpkin...it even had a curry tail. I had to talk her out of taking it with us every where we went.

She wanted a cat pumpkin so I just used a stencil out of the carving book we got. I think it turned out pretty cute!!!!

I am so excited!!!!!

Bitter Sweet...

Well, today has been very bitter sweet for me. This morning my Grandmother passed away. She was my only remaining grandparent and although it really was her time to go, it was still sad. But, I am very happy that she is with my Grandpa now and that she isn't in any pain. She was able to pass quietly and peacefully in her sleep. I wish that I could have been closer with her but I really did love her and I am glad that she is in peace.

Here she and my grandfathers are in their wedding picture.
And here they are in a picture of their 60th wedding anniversary taken 10 years ago.

Well, maybe this will help to give this day (9/11) a new meaning to me.

I love you Grandma.

THE BIG 29!!!!!!

So today is my 29th birthday!!!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!! I am here in Alabama and I am feeling a little home sick but, I am determined to have a good birthday. I woke up this morning early for some reason and I started my day by watching "Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog" just to make me laugh and to start off my day cheerful. And I got myself Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries for breakfast (I am such a child it is sad) and I told Mike that I want desert crepes for dinner (what is better than crepes filled with Nutella, strawberries and whipped cream????) He said that he would take care of the cake. Juliana got me an Itunes gift card (per my request and Mike got me a GPS so that I am not afraid to leave the house...I really have the worst possible sense of directions and every time we leave the house Mike asks if I know where we are or if I could get home and the answer is always NO!!!! So this should help to get me out and about more. Anyway, Mike started school on Monday so, when he gets home I hope we can have a relaxing rest of the weekend and that we can take advantage of all the birthday club offers I sign us up for Red Robin, Cold Stone, Arbys, and Baskin Robins all give you free stuff for your birthday. And because Mike and my birthdays are only one week apart...yes Mikes birthday is next Friday, it makes it really fun because we can go out for free. Good stuff....so we can go to Red Robin and each get a free Burger and then go to Cold Stone and each get a free signature creation. I am very excited!!!!!

So we arrived here last Wednesday (so we have been here for about a week and a half) and then we just got Internet a few days ago. It has been a long week and a half. It feels like a lot more. But, we got her safe and sound. And hopefully within the next 2 weeks I can have everything unpacked and we can have a couch. Right now we are living without a couch...we are using camping chairs. LOL. But, I want to get a good deal and something that I actually like. I haven't ever had a new couch before. In the past they have all been given to us. So, I am very excited to get one that is NEW!!!!! We did however get a washer and dryer and a microwave. Wow!!!! It is great. Our apartment feels huge to me....of course that might have something to do with the fact that our last apartment couldn't have been more than 700 sq. ft. and this one is somewhere between 1000-1100 sq. ft. and is less than half the price we were paying before. I like our apartment a lot (except for the kitchen which has hardly any storage...but it does have a dishwasher which is so wonderful I can't even put my joy about that into words). However, moving to the south bring a whole new problem....La Cucaracha or in other words the cockroach!!!!! Oh my goodness they are so gross and I don't know how you can ever get use to them. Seriously the scare me to death...I actually cried when I saw one of them. Really I am that scared. But, I am really working on it. In my mind I tell myself (so if I am wrong please let me stay diluted because I need some kind of hope to an end) that soon they will be out of my house and I will only see them once and a while if the door gets left open for to long.

Well, I really hope that I can get back in the swing of things soon. And be posting more regularly too.

We are still alive....

Wow....I can't believe how long it has been since I last blogged. Sorry about that. And I am sorry to say that it won't be getting any better this month. We are about to move!!!!!!

My week is crazy. My Dad will fly in tomorrow morning and Mike is taking Wednesday and Thursday off. Wednesday we will finish up our packing (we have pretty much everything but our kitchen and our everyday items packed and sitting in our storage unit. Then Thursday we will pack the truck. Friday I will clean the apartment from top to bottom and then Saturday the landlord will to the walk through and then my Dad and Mike will be off. They should get to Birmingham on the 12th and Juliana and I will be flying in on the 13th. And my Dad will fly out on the 14th. And Mike will start school on the 19th. It has been crazy. And it just seem that this week and next will be the peak of our craziness. Anyway, I feel bad that I haven't been keeping thinks more up to date here but, really I have been so busy.

So, I am proud and a little embarrassed (ok actually a lot embarrassed) to say as of last Monday July 28th was it...I finished up my associates degree. I have been working so hard to get it all done and I did it. I have been working on it for about 11 years...that is so pathetic but it is a very big accomplishment for me and I am going to walk at the Weber State graduation in December. I just feel like I need to. So between getting things ready to move and school I haven't been able to be around like I wanted but, I hope that September I will start to find my new grove and I will be on here and my FHE board a lot more. (Sorry girls that I haven't gotten my FHE board going yet...I promise it will be one of the first things I work on.)

I hope all of you are having a great summer...next time I post I will be living in Alabama...Wow!!!!! This is just to strange.

Old Red Barn Company Quilt Giveaway!!!!

OK, I can't even tell you just how long I have been waiting for this. Old Red Barn Company is giving away the most beautiful quilt ever and I want it. I have been waiting for this give away and it is now here and I just have to win. And even thought I don't want anyone else to win, I am posting about it here.



All of you have to go check it out and see all of the wonderful products that she sells. And on the off chance that you see this quilt and say oh, that looks like Natalie I have to win it for her then by all means enter the contest and when you win send it to me!!!! Just Kidding (kind of). Good luck to all of you but, if you do win it and you heard about it from me, you owe me so big!!!!

Happy Birthday Nicole!!!!

Well, today is my beautiful sister Nicole's 30th birthday!!!!! And I wanted to let everyone know just what a great sister she is. So, here is a list of 30 things that I love about her.

1. She is 13 months and 13 days older than me.
2. She is a great Mom.
3. She is always the first person I want to call when something happens big or small.
4. She is one of my biggest supporters.
5. She talks me down from stupidity.
6. She is a great listener.
7. She is my best friend.
8. She just gets me.
9. We have inside jokes that no one else could ever possible get.
10. She is the only other person I know that will burst into song when answering questions.
11. She introduced me to Twilight.
12. I can tell her things that I would never admit to anyone else.
13. She is very creative.
14. She is one of the most talented people I know.
15. She has a beautiful singing voice.
16. If she leaves herself a message on her own phone, when she listens to the message later she thinks it is from me.
17. She is beautiful.
18. She is very kind and would just die inside if she ever thought that she hurt your feelings (even if you deserved it.)
19. I know that she will always tell me the truth if I ask her to.
20. She is smart.
21. On my last birthday when I was really homesick and down she sent me a bouquet of chocolate dipped strawberries to cheer me up.
22. She has an amazing heart and is very generous with her time, talents, and self.
23. She will talk on the phone with me for hours and help me get my house work done over the phone.
24. She has a lot of self confidence and has no fear in starting new projects and trying new things.
25. We never run out of things to talk to.
26. Even when I talk to her every day I miss her like crazy.
27. When she tells me stories I always know how she will have reacted to a situation because I would have reacted in the exact same way.
28. Neither of us can keep a surprise very well (we use to tell each other what we were getting for Christmas because we just couldn't keep it to ourselves).
29. She let me beat her number of my space friends.
30. She really is one of the best people I know and I love her very much!!!!!!

Nicole, if you are reading this I love you...and I really hope that you are having a wonderful birthday.

And for all of you that aren't Nicole that are reading this, please do me a favor and pop over to her blog really quick and wish her a happy birthday...even if you haven't met her.

Our 4th of July...

Our 4th of July was nothing big...just some low key family time and a great BBQ. We had a laid back morning and took our time getting ready...although Juliana wanted an American Flag so bad that all we heard the whole morning were her requests for one. So, off we went in quest of an American Flag for her. It took us a few stores to find one (I guess that is why you shouldn't wait until the day of to get things like that). I really wish that we would have gotten a picture of her with it, because it was a bigger flag than we had expected to get her but she was thrilled with it. Mike took her to that park for a while to play and she had a lot of fun.

Juliana playing on the slides!!!! She was having a lot of fun.

Later that night we drove back to San Rafael with Karley and Kendra and her family. We parked in our church parking lot and waited for the Marin County Fair fireworks to start and watched them from the parking lot. We really had a pretty good day.
Mike and Juliana waiting for the fireworks to start. I love Juliana snuggles...she is so sweet.
A family picture in the dark...not our best picture...but not our worst either.
Mike and Juliana watching the fireworks.

Our week!!!

Well, we have had a good week. My favorite part is Juliana's new hair cut!!!! I just love it. And she seems to really like it too. In fact she wants to show it off to everyone. This morning she asked me if she could go to Daddy's work and show the "ladies" her new hair. It is a lot of fun and no work at all for me. So, what more could I ask for.
I am just amazed at how old she looks in this picture. Wow, she really is growing up.
This is the view from the back, she has a little part of her hair that flips up and it looks oh so cute.

Doesn't she look happy...I think it is because I was letting her wast time instead of getting ready for bed. LOL.
Is is pre-hair cut...she went over to her friends house last Friday for a little "swimming". It looks like they are having a tea party in the pool.
She really had a good time despite the cool temp of the pool.
This is Juliana's plant that she planted at school last Friday. She is very proud of it. It is wheat...well wheat grass I guess. It was so easy and she is just so proud that it makes me want to do more stuff like this with her. She beams each time she sees it and every morning she asks me if she can see it.
It really is getting tall. I don't know what I am going to do with it soon. Any suggestions???

We hope that all of you had a great week too.

A few nights out!!!!

Well, I have been very lucky this past week because I have been able to get out (kid free-pure enjoyment...no school or anything) 3 times in one week. Last Wednesday, we had a girls night out at the Cerrito theater for there 2 for 1 night at the moves. My cousins (Kendra, Karley, Kalyn and Karley's friend Celia) and I went to see Baby Mama. It was a lot of fun. Kalyn smuggled in Taco truck and it was so good. Kalyn smuggled out after the movie faster than we could snap a picture. I really don't have many more of these girls nights out left before I move so I am really hoping to cram a few more in before we move.

After the movie we went and picked up Karley's daughter Alayna who had been babysitting over at Kendra's house and we headed for some wonderful desert at Naia's. I was my first time at this gelato shop. Wow was it great!!!!! It was so much fun!!!! I really enjoyed myself. And we got some great pic's in.
They had the most amazing flavors...tons of them and you could taste test as many as you wanted before you ordered.

More flavors...all of them looked good except that banana...I think that looked really bad. Yuck!!!!
Doesn't that look really good!!!
Alayna and Kendra enjoying themselves.
Karley and I...this really isn't a good picture of me at all. LOL

Then on Saturday, Alayna watched Juliana for us and Mike and I got to go on a date...it had been a long time since we had gone out on a real date. We went to pick up my Wedding ring that was being fixed and we did a little shopping and then we watched the new Indiana Jones movie. It was a lot of fun. I was so glad to get a little time out with just Mike and I.

And to top it off, last night Mike sent me off on my own to get out of the house for a bit and I went to see Maid of Honor. I enjoy going to movies by myself because it gives me a chance to just be by myself. I never get time with just me. So it was a wonderfully relaxing night for me.

Anyway, I have felt so blessed the last week to get a lot of time to rest and relax. It has been great and very needed.

Thanks Mike for being so supportive.

Photography....

So, I have always wanted to be able to take beautiful pictures. But, for some reason they just never have turned out that great. Well, I have become determined to learn the art of photography. So, until I am able to take a class in it you will all have to bare with me as I work on it. My sister Jenny sent me her old camera and I have notice that it has made a big difference. I have now told Mike that when I graduate from college (notice I said when, not if...now that is a big step) with my bachelors degree that I want a really nice camera. So, until then I am going to work with what I have. The other thing that I am working with is my Mother's Day gift which is Photoshop Elements that I have wanted for years. I am very excited to figure this program out. It is so much fun. And now with my classes over for the next 2 weeks I am going to try and learn as much as I can. Anyway, here are some of my recent pictures of "Nature" that I have taken on Juliana and my outings...one is even from today!!!!!
These flowers I found at the San Francisco zoo on Juliana's birthday!!! I thought they were one of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen. I need to find out what they are. They look so delicate and almost tissue paper like.

This is the friendliest duck I have ever met. He wanted is picture taken. I am not kidding when I say that either. He would swim up to us and stop and look at the camera until I would snap a picture of him then he would swim into another pose and stop again and pose. it was really funny. We didn't even have food to feed him.
Here he is again working the camera!!!
Juliana helped me take this one!!! She loved these flowers and would pick them and stuff them into her pockets. I tried to get a picture of her pockets full of them but they didn't turn out.
These leaves were perfect. Juliana wanted to pick them (she has a weird obsession with leaves, rocks and sticks). I told her that we don't pick leaves off of trees we can only pick up the leaves that have already fallen to the ground but she wasn't satisfied. So I had to promise her that I would take a few pictures of them. That made her happy...and when I pulled them up on the computer I thought is was a very lovely picture.
And last but not least, I saw this beautiful rose on the way to the park today. It was so pretty and just at it's peak in my book and I just had to photograph it.

Anyway, sorry that you have too look at all of these boring pictures but I needed to post about something. LOL.

I really will come back for a real post about what is going on later today or tomorrow!!!!