Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas 2009

We had such a great time spending Christmas with the Cromwell's this year. We all gathered on Christmas Eve and had a wonderful Steak dinner, a Christmas Eve program and our Special Delivery from Santa! (Our Christmas Pj's) The next morning came early and the kids were excited to see what Santa had brought them this year. Julia was shy as she crept the stairs and into the living room. I don't think she quite knew what to make of all of it. But once she realized she could actually open the presents she was ready to go. Like any 2 yr old, she wanted to play with everything she opened instead of opening the rest of her gifts. Our stay was short but well enjoyed. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by Family!! Julia loved playing with all her cousins....she kept saying to me "play with friends, mommy, play with friends."
A few days later we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Mott's to finish the Christmas celebration. The second go around Julia was ready for the gifts and tore right into them. It was exciting to see her light up each time she opened a gift! Thanks to both sets of Grandparents for making Christmas so magical for Julia. We enjoyed every minute of it!!

Temple Square

Last night we took a trip up to Salt Lake to go see the lights on Temple Square. Note to self: Never go on a Sunday night this late in the month of December!! It was pandemonium, as Layne would say! So many people but worth it. Julia was more interested in seeing all the water falls and fountains than the lights and kept wanting to get out and touch the water. Oh well, the mind of a 2 year old. It was cold but it didn't seem to bother her. She kept saying she wanted to see baby Jesus so mission accomplished. Went inside for our potty break and they had all the pictures of Christ around the visitors center. She kept telling me she saw Jesus and what he was doing in each picture. She kept looking at the one with Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane and was telling me 'Jesus praying.' So poignant, when that is the reason why Jesus was born!! It was wonderful to be a part of all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. To experience once again Christmas through the eyes of a child. May I always remember to do that!

My little Helper

We spent all day yesterday making all kinds of goodies for our neighbors and home teachers. It was a long day but the results where so yummy! I said to Julia we were going to make some treats and she grabs the nearest chair to pull over to the counter to help me! This happens each time we make anything, she is always there to help stir or eat the batter. I hope this can become a Christmas Tradition for us. I always remember my grandma and mom making certain treats for the holidays and remembering what they would make each year. Just the smell of Chex Mix will bring back such great memories from Christmases past! Love to reminisce about Christmas and Family traditions!

Decorating the Tree

Julia loves to help me do anything new and/or exciting. We put up the Christmas tree a few weeks ago and she couldn't keep her hands off of it. She loved to see the lights and tinsel. She even helped put up the ornaments on the bottom. She loves to sit underneath the tree and just touch the ornaments within reach. Each day so looks at the tree and says hi or something to or about the Mickey and Minnie ornaments hanging up. She loves to tell you we have 2 Little Drummer Boys too. Oh, to see Christmas through her eyes.....so exciting and new. She loves to sing Jingle Bells! Usually each day while she goes down for her nap you can hear her singing it. She asks to listen to Josh Groban's Drummer Boy in the car over and over again. We have recorded Christmas Specials off the TV for her to watch and she just loves the "Grinch" and Mickey and Minnie Mouse story , Gift of the Magi. We even saw Santa today riding through the neighbor hood on a big fire truck she ran to the balcony and was just so beside herself with excitement. Christmas morning should be a blast!

Snow Day!

A little bit of a storm blew through on Sunday night and Julia was watching out the window. She kept saying "snowing, go outside play!" Well I said we would have to wait until the sun came out to go play in the snow. Well, Daddy was quick to remind her that she could go play outside today when he left for work . So after I wiped the sleep from my eyes we bundled up to go play at 8:30 am. Nice and early! Good thing we went out when we did because the dusting of snow we did get didn't last long. It was fun to watch her experience something new. I'm sure more SNOW DAYS are to come.

Unattended

This is why I can't leave Julia alone for 2 minutes....not even to go to the bathroom!!!

She kept saying "crack eggs".....I let her help when we make cookies. And this isn't her 1st offense either. I will open the fridge and see little bites out of the strawberries and the apples.

AAHHH, what to do, what to do!!

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Early Christmas

Well to be fair I wanted to include both sets of Grandparents in our Elf Dances this year! I thought they turned out great. Hope you like them!!! Happy (early) Holidays!!

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Pumpkins and Trunk or Treat

The other day I bought a pumpkin so we could carve it to have one at the house. Julia was so excited and wanted to dig in and help me. She did rather well helping me pull out all the gushy, slimy insides. She was excited to see the final product. She likes to see it all lit up and turn out all the lights to see it glow. I love to see her reactions! I think she even used the word SPOOKY! To cute:)

Julia has been excited to dress up and go trunk to trunk collecting candy. We had a ward party last weekend and last night we went to my work Trunk or Treat. It was so cold but Julia didn't mind once she started getting her candy. She had a fun time last night. She was pointing at everyone asking what they were dressed up as. And she was focused on keeping her candy close and eating her pumpkin cookie. She sure did make a cute little witch this year. Thanks to mom and Amy for the help with her costume! We may hit the streets yet again Saturday night, but it depends on how cold it will be! Funny thing is she now wakes up every morning and says she wants Candy. I have to continually remind her that Candy is not for breakfast.

Fall

I love this time of year! I love to see the fall colors up in the moutains and everything changing! I love the cooler temperatures and the snow capped moutains! The holidays are upon us and I'm looking forward to them. So much to do but so worth it! I love to see Julia experiencing her world around her. She probably doesn't remember much of last years Trick or Treating , Thanksgiving, or even Santa and presents. But this year should be fun to see her experience them all over again!

Every day life with a 2 Year old

Julia working hard at the computer. Monkey see, Monkey do.....I guess. She loves to come in and type on the key board and move the mouse around. Her new thing is to come into the computer room and ask to look at "pic-ers" on the computer. We will sit and watch little videos and look through pictures we have taken.

AAAHHH.....Potty Training. Its a battle each day with its good and bad. She is doing quite well and I am surprised. We've been doing it for almost 3 weeks and she hasn't had an accident while out n about and does well staying dry at nap times. We started off with rewards like candy and stickers but have weened her off of that and now she goes in and does her business. Some days you have to remind her to go all day long and other days she stays on top of it. I'm proud of her...hope she can keep up the good work!!

This is Julia playing "airplane" with me. Loves to have me lay down and do this for quite awhile. I usually have to say my back hurts for her to give me a break. She still loves to dance when her shows come on...Diego, Dora, and George. She is so totally into Finding Nemo right now....Mermaid has taken the backseat apparently. She talks about them all day long and will sit and watch the movie over and over. The other day we went to visit Grandma Mott at work and they have a fish tank. She loves to show Grandma Nemo and Dori......Then the same day we went to visit Amy after work and they have a fish tank too.....of course she is just talking at the top her lungs....DORI, DORI...NEMO, NEMO.....oh boy. Anyway, her latest obsession!

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Potty Success!

Well we started potty training Julia on the 2nd of October. Wow I didn't realize how exhausting it was. The first day was rough and I actually fell asleep that night around 8:30pm...I was beat. Julia had the concept down but still was having accidents...but you can't blame her she just started this new process to retrain her brain! So anyway by Monday she had the peeing down and will now tell us when she has to go pee-pee and she has stayed dry for the past few days. We go in and help her and then she insists we leave until she is done. "Go, Mommy or Go, Daddy." is our que to leave her to do her business. Well I thought and I have heard that #2 comes later and takes forever for them to get that part down. We even got her a bath time Little Mermaid doll and put it up high so she could see it but it was out of reach until she went #2. And we asked my sister in Alabama to be the voice of Ariel on the phone so she could even TALK to the Little Mermaid. So we had a few accidents over the last few days BUT TODAY WAS THE DAY!!!! She said she had to go pee-pee and so I left after the insistent, GO MOMMY and then came back in to check on her.......SUCCESS!!! I was so surprised because it was so unexpected! We gave her doll and made a special phone call to Ariel. She did awesome and I hope she can keep it up. Such silly little things we get excited about but this is a milestone...a never go back moment....having your baby learning to go potty!

Fashion Show

Julia got some really cute outfits from Grandma Cromwell for her birthday in August but its been to hot to wear them. But today....aaahhh the cool weather hit and we did a little fashion
show and got some cute pictures. She put the tu-tu on and wanted to dance around all day! She is so funny sometimes!

Click....Take a Pic

I was playing with Julia on the floor and my back started to hurt so I said I had to sit up in the chair. Julia comes walking over to me and says, "sick, mommy?" Ok, Ok, mommy?" I said I was ok and then she let me be. So she tends to have a little OCD and took all of her little stuffed animals and lined them all up. She then proceeds to tell me her Bunny is sick, Bear is sick. So I told her to give them hugs and kisses. She bent over and kissed all of the animals in the line. Next proceeded to pick up a few and rock them while saying, "Rock, Rock." She said Mingo (flamingo) and Dino (alligator) were still sick so I said she needed to give them a hug to feel better. The look on her face when she picked them up was so priceless....she seemed to feel their pain (whatever pain that might have been). She was so concerned for them. I told her she was being a 'good mommy' taking care of all the animals. So once they were all taken care of it was time for the photo shoot. If any of you out there have seen 'Go Diego Go' they have a part of the show where a camera comes out to take pictures of the animals. So Julia kept saying Click, Mommy?? At first I was what are you saying....then it clicked (pardon the pun). She was imitating Diego. She kept saying Click...take a pic mommy....she would put all the animals on the stool and then lay down with them on the floor and then wanted to sit with the animals. It was quite the ordeal but she was really have a good time. Its so neat to see her imitate or say those things that you continually say and do for her. How impressionable our kids really are. Below are some pictures of the animal photo shoot!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Nature Walk

For FHE the other night Layne had an activity planned to go outside with a paper bag and have Julia collect things in 'nature.' Then she could bring them inside and feel their texture and smell them etc. Well it was FHE meltdown as usual with Julia so he went the next night with Julia. They came inside and she was touching all her stuff she found and putting each one up to her nose and smelling them with a big inhale and then a big exhale with an added AAHHHHH effect at the end! It was so funny. Well the next day after Julia's nap she got her shoes on and we went out to collect more stuff. She wanted to find more'nature' as she calls it....we got inside and she made me sit at the table and pull all her stuff out and with the same over emphasis smelled everything and ended with a big AAHHH! I was laughing so hard. I got a few pictures to capture the moment.

Busy September

Well I'm trying to keep up with everything going on and its been a little hectic and crazy! An update on the Cromwell's! Layne has been at this new job for almost a month now. He is still learning and training in a sense. He said to really feel comfortable it will take about 2-3 months. He is adjusting well and is still studying to take his insurance exams. He has to go into work earlier than is old job and so that made it difficult to contain Julia in the mornings while I work. So with some hemming and hawing I also changed my work schedule. Because I changed my schedule around I also had to pick up an additional 5 hours. NOT FUN... is all I have to say. I still work a split shift and only work a few hours in the mornings and work more at night when Layne gets home. Poor guy....its tough to come home after a long day and deal with a 2 year old all by yourself at the worst part of her day.....(Cranky and Hyper)....to say the least. I appreciate his willingness to watch her when he comes home after a long day!

I was able to complete my temple goal this month and Layne has allowed me to have some "me" time for a few Saturdays this month as well! Its been nice to get a break and be able to shop or complete a project without being interrupted every 2 seconds! Layne gets the "Father of the Month" award.....hands down! THANK YOU! I am glad it is cooling down and getting to feel more like fall....I got out my Halloween decorations all ready and it feels more like fall. The leaves are starting to change in the mountains....Love this time of year!

Layne had his 10th annual PPA tournament with his good group of high school friends over Labor Day Weekend. Layne put together a little video, shirts were made, smack talk and a great competition ensued. Layne pointed out before he left that no one had predicted him to win anything this year and he came home with the Overall Champion trophy and the Bowling trophy! I wasn't surprised, I knew he would win something. And he has been overall Champ now back to back and 3 times total....a feat no one else has done so far....Way To GO!!! Layne is also excited about his 49er's this year...started off 2-0 so far in regular season and he has refused to wash his 49er's shirt until they lose....OH BOY! So he is excited to see his team take on Brett and the Vikings this week.....should be interesting!

Julia.....well what can I say about Julia!!! She is a ball of energy the minute she wakes up at 7:30am every morning until she hits the pillow at 8:00pm at night. She honestly wears me out. I only get a break if she takes her nap and I usually tend to doze off myself....I love nap time!!! Her latest thing is to watch "Mermaid", "Tinkbell" or "Cinella" everyday and sometimes more than once a day. She loves "Little Mermaid" the best and she can actually quote along with the movie and loves to sing along with Ariel. (As I type this Mermaid is playing. ) She loves to watch her "shows" as she calls them and play with "ta-doh" (play-doh) while she watches. She is a pretty good eater for the most part but is in a rut with her favorite foods. I guess its in the genes because she asks to eat chips and salsa everyday and usually for breakfast but we usually can hold off until lunch. She loves her fruit and chicken fingers and snacks (fruit snacks) as she calls them. She is becoming more independant and wants to try things on her own and gets mad if we try and help. She talks so much more. A usual conversation lately goes something like this:
Julia: " Hi, mommy, whatca doing?"
Me: "Hi, Julia, I'm eating breakfast. What are you doing?"
Julia: "Oh, yes." Ok. Something to that effect. She is also really big into already asking, "what's that." Until you answer her and its over and over again.

Next big thing for Julia will be next weekend. We are going to attempt potty training with her because she is the habit of pulling off her diaper now and usually when its messy. Fingers crossed...I hope this goes smoothly...we keep everyone posted with updates! Should be exciting!
I am excited to see Julia go through the Holiday season. She is at such a fun age. The other day as we were out walking I thought to myself "How can I keep her this small and little." She is so fun and I hate to see her grow up to fast. I cherish everyday with her. Its always something new for her each day...learning about the world around her. Its fasinating to watch.

GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!!

On September 5th (last weekend) after work my sister and I drove up north to visit the Logan temple. It was a busy day with lots of weddings taking place. Logan temple sits atop a big hill and it looks very similar to the Manti Temple. Great day, great company and a great trip to the Temple.

Then this weekend we left to head down to Monticello Friday night. We drove most of the night and got a room for a few hours to get up early to go to the Monticello Temple Saturday morning. You need to make appointments to attend Monticello because it only has one endowment room. It was the smallest temple we have been to but no less beautiful. We all got up and went to the 6 am session on Saturday. We beat the rush and actually stayed awake through it all. Everyone kept asking where we were from and we actually met a couple in the parking lot who has the same goal this year. They were just starting out and Monticello was their first stop and come to find out they were from our neck of the woods in Highland. Small world!!

It was our last temple trip and we were all able to go together. 13 Temples in 9 months!! At first I didn't think we would be able to get it all done. Everyone had different schedules but if we all couldn't go together we did go with one other person. We set the time and followed through. Just with anything in life you have to make up your mind to JUST DO IT!!! It has been a great experience to be able to go to the temple each month and to see all the UTAH temples. I'm grateful for the work and service I was able to preform and hope to continue to get to the temple each month!! By attending the temple it brings added peace, comfort, and blessings to my complicated and overly scheduled life. Things just seem to work out a little more easily when we make the time to put temple attendance as a priority in our lives. What a wonderful experience it was to go to each temple and to see each of their unique qualities. I'm glad I was able to achieve at least one goal I set this year, and I'm glad I was able to go with my family!!

Flashback Friday

I missed last week. Its been crazy around here lately but I found some cute ones of Julia. 2 years ago we brought Julia home from the hospital on opening day of Cougar Football. It was a great day. Layne insisted we bring her home in her cougar gear. She will probably look back at those pictures and say "Mom and Dad what were you thinking?" but hopefully we have another sports fanatic/cougar fan in the making!! Fast forward, 2 years later and she is ready for another Cougar football season!! She is pretty good at yelling.....GO COUGARS, and TOUCHDOWN!! Layne makes sure she is wearing her BYU gear each week for good luck!! Here's to another great season!! RISE AND SHOUT THE COUGARS ARE OUT!!!!

BYU!!!


BAD CALL REF!

TOUCH DOWN COUGARS!!!

Temple Goal for August

On Sunday, August 23rd, we got to attend the Oquirrh Mountain dedication. Its been awhile since I have been to one and it was a great experience. Nice, quiet and peaceful. And then to add to my temple goal for the year I got to attend a session on Saturday. We didn't need to make an appointment to attend a session but we walked in and had to receive a tag for the time we wanted to go to. So we found out that it was the Spanish session, which made things really interesting. The ONE session that we attend is the ONLY spanish speaking session all day. Oh Boy!! I think there were only about 10 people out of the 35 that actually knew Spanish. It was my first time having to use headphones to listen in English. Needless to say it was an adventure. Afterwards we went outside to get pictures and the view from atop the hill that the temple sits on is amazing. You can see the whole entire Salt Lake Valley...starting from the point of the mountain all the way to SLC. It was an interesting day yet good day!! Only 2 more temples to go and my goal will be complete!!