What we've been up to!

We manage to keep ourselves going a million miles a minute, but, our new family goal (mainly mine) is to slow down and stay home as much as possible! However, we have been having a lot of fun this year! Here are just a few things we've been up to!

Brianna's front tooth got knocked out! What a cute smile!

Maylie had a blast playing basketball this year!

She is a good little hustler on the court!

Brian randomly got to come back to the U.S. for a couple of days for training! We had so much fun hanging out with him! Sure love you Bri!

I have also joined a new company called HAVVN (like Haven)! It is just my own little business that I am doing a little bit because their products are chemical free and totally saved my skin! I will have to blog all about it later! But, here is my good friend Christie Hepworth who got me involved with Havvn (who has also been my cohort in crime for many other crazy things like the midnight Twilight DVD releases at Walmart, or when we set up a fun run for our friend who had leukemia, and we're not even going to go into any details about how I got the nick name "Skidz!")!

Well, have a good day everyone!

Love, Jules

Birthday Blowout 2011!

When I was in college, I took a family history course. I love history!!! Anyway, looking throughout our genealogy, most families have a baby every 2 years, it is part of the natural cycle of life. Well, we are no different than our forefathers in this case... our first 3 kids were all born 2 years apart! Thus, the BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT! We are severely caked out by the end, but, it is great! The girls have so much fun planning what they want for their party theme and so forth. It's a tradition for me to decorate the dining room table the night before their birthday, and a new tradition we started this year was breakfast in bed!!!!! My girls take full advantage of their special day!!! Here are just a few pics from the birthday fun! I also like to include a few highlights about what each kid is up to and what makes them special!!!!

Maylie...8...Maylie is such a sweetheart. She is one of the tallest kids in her class! She has long blond hair and pure blue eyes that sparkle! She is in the 2nd grade. At the beginning of the year, I was having a hard time getting her to read, so she started going to the library after school everyday! She soon fell in love with reading. One day I went to pick her up and she wouldn't even look up from her book, she said,"I just love this!" She is now reading at a 5th grade level!!! I'm so proud of her! She also does ballet jazz class and a hip hop/ tap class with Brianna! She just finished up her basketball season, she absolutely LoVEs basketball! She made 16 points one game and she is a super good defender (they always have her guard the toughest boys... way to go May!) She is very helpful around the house and her friends call her May May! We love you May!

Brianna...6...Brianna is my little Sophie helper. Brie wakes up in the morning and her day pretty much revolves around Sophie! She is a great big sister! She has my eye color, blue-green and long blond hair and a killer smile! She recently lost her two bottom teeth and thanks to Maylie (she knocked it out :) Brianna just lost her top front tooth. She looks so cute with a big hole in her teeth! She is learning how to read and loves going to school. She also does ballet jazz and hip hop/tap. She is a good little dancer! Brianna loves to exercise and be healthy! My favorite quote from Brianna; I said to Ryan, wow, Ry, you look HOT! (as in cute), Brianna says, "Ya Dad, you do look sweaty!" It was so cute! Love you Briez!

Ashlie...4...Ashlie is so fun and cute! She is a little teaser! She has a super petite little body. Her eyes are the same color as mine and Briez and has medium blond hair! She is taking a ballet class. She loves it and does very good! Ashlie also goes to preschool with Miss Candace and Grandma Colleen! She loves going to school and playing with her friends! All little kids love playing with Ashlie, she is so nice to everyone! She also plays very well by herself (since she is home all day with no big sisters around :) She always plays with her dolls and makes up stories, it is so cute to listen to her! When we read scriptures, Ashlie likes to say, "and it came to pass" it is such a fun way to keep her involved with the reading. She says it so cute, and she gets mad if we say it on accident (she is a smarty, and pays attention!) Man, we just love this cute "little rascal"! (that's what Papa calls her:)

Sophie...5 months... Well, Sophie is our only kid that doesn't have a birthday this time of year, but, I figured I should write about her too! Wow, she is such a fun baby! Ryan and I are always fighting over who gets to hold her. Don't get me started with the kids, they go crazy over her! Sophie has a very sweet temperament. She still has chocolate colored hair, her head is getting bigger though, so the top is thinning and she has rubbed off a little in the back and it is about 4 inches long around the bottom! So, I suppose, in essence, we have a genuine mullet! But, it looks so cute on her! She has sparkly blue eyes! She loves blowing bubbles, making cooing noises and smiling! She can grab toys and her toes. She will smile at anyone that looks at her! She eats and sleeps well, luckily!!! As I am typing this, she is sitting in a swing by me and it is hard not to look at her, she smiles and laughs and talks at me! Soooooo cute!!!!!!! She is big for one of my kids, but, compared to her boy cousins that are her same age, she looks super petite! What a cutie, we feel so blessed to have her in our home! We Love you Sophie Baby!!!!

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Family Pics!

Since Brian and Natalie were here from Japan for Grandma Scotts funeral, we decided to do a photo shoot! Mostly impromptu and in a church gym I thought they turned out great thanks to my friend Christie! Check out her photography website at www.simplemephotography.com, she is awesome! I just wish that I could reach in these pictures and change my hair though! Lol! Why I decided to put it in a ponytail... who knows! Oh, well, everything else looks great! Help me decide which family picture to put on my Family Room wall, and say whether you think black and white or colored! Thanks for your opinion!

Picture A:

Picture B:

cute grandkids!

Family pictures are always so much fun! Okay, so now back to my New Year's Resolution of getting organized! (seeing how this is my third blog post in the last 20 hours, I need to get going!!!!!:) It is a great way to kill time however, when nursing the baby! So, I guess I'm still on track with a pat on the back for multi-tasking :)!

Love, Jules

Grandma Scott and Family Time!

My Grandma, Clara Scott, passed away December 27th, 2010. She was such a joy to me and my family! We will miss her, but I am very excited for her to be with my Grandpa again! The last few months, she would say, "I wish that Grandpa would come get me, already!" I have so many wonderful memories of my Grandma, I just want to list a few of my favorite things about her that pop into my head!

1. She loves Pepsi, 1-6 cans a day and she lived to be almost 88!

2. I could get her down to 1 Pepsi a day if she knew she was going to have an Orange Dream Machine from Jamba Juice!

3. She loved toast with plenty of butter on it!

4. When I was little she would sit on the other side of the counter in the kitchen and use a step stool for a seat and the cutting board for her table to eat so she could serve us kids! I have adopted this tradition and even had the cabinet people come in and add a cutting board in my new house!

5. When I was young, she would mix chocolate milk (my favorite treat) in glass cups and I loved the way it tinked when she stirred it! And she always put in plenty of chocolate...unlike my mom! lol!

6. When staying at Grandma's house, we always woke up to the smell of the best tasting hashbrowns in the world and bacon!

7. In the daytime at Grandma's we would roll up and down her grass hills in the front of her house with our cousins, watch the movie "Savanna Smiles", and drink Shasta!

8. After dinner at Grandma's house, we would have icecream in a cone almost every time!

9. I would always have my Grandma tell me about her pregnancies and raising her kids. And about when she fell in love with my Grandpa!

10. When Grandma would come stay with us in her old age, my girls loved to help her by getting her pop and holding her hand to guide her. They were helping Grandma, but I think that by doing so Grandma was helping us!

11. Grandma always dyed her hair red from the time she was a teenager, maybe that's why I like to put a little red in my hair now and then!

12. I would say, Grandma we have all of these things to do (errands, etc..) I'd say, "Does that sound like fun?" Grandma says, "well?..." So, I asked Grandma what she thought would be fun, she said, "getting my nails done and drinking a Jamba." Grandma always had beautiful nails!

13. Grandma would pray out loud at night and I spent many times listening and shedding a tear. She would pray for every grandchild and "their babies." She was always thinking of others!

14. We took many family vacations with Grandma and Grandpa Scott; Florida, New York, Nauvoo, Omaha, San Diego, British Columbia. We always loved having them along. Except that they always wanted to eat at McDonald's! After a few times, I would just sit in the car and wait! (usually because my mom was frustrated that I wouldn't eat McDonalds for the tenth time in a row and make me stay in the car instead of listening to me whine!).

15. My Grandpa Scott died right before my 16th birthday... I remember my Grandma giving him one last kiss before they closed his casket, it was such a tender moment and I decided I wanted that kind of love for myself someday (luckily I found Ryan!)

16. I have so many more memories I can't possibly list them all. I just loved my Grandma and I will cherish her memory forever! Love you Grandma!

Love, Jules

Now, the best part of Grandma's passing was getting together with the family. It was a really wonderful time for everyone to come because it was over Christmas break. My Brother Brian and his family even got to come over from Japan, which was a little miracle itself! We had so much fun with them and Brad and Shanna! We will be holding onto these memories with them for the next three years until we will see them again (unless if I talk Ryan into taking me to Japan!!!) Grandma's funeral service was beautiful and it was a wonderful day, except that it was stinking freezing!

Christina, Kim, Julie, Melody! This is me with my cousins that are all the same age as me. Our Mom's were all sisters and all prego the same time! I will try to dig up some pictures of us when we were little! I love all of these guys to pieces!

My cousin Kim came over before they had some family pictures and I did her hair and makeup (thanks for not talking back to me Kim :) This is her adorable son Emmett! She also has Branson (6), and Eli (4). She's having the boys, and I'm having the girls!

I have some gorgeous pictures of my Grandma and Grandpa that I will have to add later! Grandma always had nice legs!

My cousin Shawn and Kim's Eli.

A little Christmas action at Grandma Colleens, she always makes everything fun!

Like Father, Like Son.

Sophie reunited with her Aunt Natalie (reunited from Heaven,... ya... I went there:)

Nathan and Uncle Ry bonded major! They were such good buddies and will be forever! Man, I am already missing those guys!

Ryan's cousin Jaclyn Hone married Isaiah, it was a gorgeous reception at the Loft! We have this cute picture of all of the babies born.. Way to go Sophie, you are the only girl, you will have so much fun running around with these boys! JimBob (E.J.'s Dad) holding Gage, John (Ray's Dad) holding Jake, Brad holding Kylan, Ryan holding Sophie! Sophie is the oldest of these, they were all born within 2 months, and Ryan's other cousin Eric had a boy (Jack) during that time as well! So fun!

Well, that is all for now! Life is good! I am getting the organizing bug, so I better take advantage of it... I have not done very good since Sophie was born, life has been pretty crazy, but good. Hopefully, things will be more normal (ya right!)

Love, Jules

Just a little Christmas fun!

We had such a wo

nderful Christmas break! We spent time at Annie and Papa Arfmann's house in Salmon! The kids had a great time with their cousins and we made many great memories! It was such a fun and special Christmas!

I surprised Ryan with a Benelli supernova shot gun for Christmas! He was pleasantly shocked, I wrapped it in pink paper and said it was for the girls, he had no clue... it was great! (I'm terrible at surprises, so I was pleased with myself for pulling this one off!)

Don't shoot your eye out honey!

We went sledding at Dump Hill! It was great! We would hook the sleds onto the back of the 4-wheeler to get pulled up the road, then fly down! The kids were loving it! WE will for sure do this again!

This is my cute sister-in-law Lori, she is 34 weeks pregnant with a boy! But, still living it up!

Me and my other cute sister-in-law Hollie!

The girls (Ryan) got DSI's for Christmas! They had a lot of fun playing them. (All I can say is that I'm glad the newness of them is wearing off and the girls can go to the bathroom and eat without them!)

Ryan surprised me with a new hot pink Columbia! I love it!!!! Thanks Honey!

The girls went skiing with Ryan, here they are pooped at the lodge! They are quite the little skiers, though!

Lauren and Sophie!

My cute little smile bug! She is such a fun baby! Tonight she is sleeping in the crib for the first time! She is growing up!

Bo and Brie, best buds forever!

Ashlie, Preslie, and Ava... loving the new barbie house. (the one with the elevator!!!! All of my dreams are finally coming true!!!) Jessica Doggett had one of these when we were growing up, I always wanted one ;) Thanks Santa!

Savanna and Maylie! They are both turning 8 next month and are getting baptized together in March! It will be so special! They had so much fun together! Maylie also got to get her ears pierced, (I felt like I was giving her a tattoo or something... I had no idea that it would totally stress me out, these things are permanent you know!!!)

Thanks to Annie and Papa, we had a wonderful Christmas! Such great memories made with all of our Arfmann cousins! So, this is all for now, but, we had a whole lot going on over Christmas break! Wow! So, I have a few more posts coming! WE don't want to miss a thing! Love ya! Jules