Merry Christmas! Blessing Pictures!

Merry Christmas! Love, the Arfmann's

Christmas Miracle!

I received this email from my sister-in-law Natalie this morning about the Provo Tabernacle burning down. As I read the article and looked at the devastating pictures and losses, my heart was sad for that beautiful building and what it stood for (also the million dollars worth of electrical equipment!) that were destroyed. The last picture shown was of these firemen that found this picture of Christ. I think the picture says a million words, itself. So, I will leave you with my testimony that Jesus is the Christ and He lives today! What a miracle to show unto the world this Christmas season that He lives! Merry Christmas! Love, Jules

Winter Dance Recital!

The girls have taken dance this year from a studio called Infinity Dance. Luckily, it is in the same building that our old dance class was in (We miss you Miss Nancy!) and I can see it from my front window! Three different dance classes in a day is a doosie, but, we love it! This first semester the girls learned ballet and modern dance which has been really fun. Maylie and Brie also did a hiphop/tap class which they have absolutely loved. You've got to see their moves! Too cute! Don't worry though Dad, Maylie still has basketball practice tonight, they still want to be sporty too!!

I haven't had a chance to see if the videos are post-worthy. But, I thought I would put up the pictures, they were little beauties up there dancing and we really had a special time. They especially loved it when Grandma Colleen brought them each a red rose! Thanks Grandma! Have a great day! Love, Jules

Blessings

Today our little Sophie was blessed by her Dad. It was such a special day to have family and friends around. Sophie looked so adorable in her little blessing dress. I was going to buy her a new one, but, I just loved Ashlie's so much that I decided they should share and I'm glad I did, because it was absolutely perfect for Sophie! It was so cute when Ryan was finished blessing her, he lifted her up and you could hear the whole congregation go, "oh, awe". It made my day! The blessing was beautiful and she was a good little baby all day. We just love her to pieces! She has a real sweet spirit about her and she is so pretty (biased?... yes, but it's true!) Since all of the Arfmann's were together, we snapped a couple of family photo's and I think they turned out pretty cute! Thanks to everyone for coming and spending this special day with us! The only thing that would have made it better, were if Brian and Natalie and their family could have come (they live in Japan, so I guess it's okay that they couldn't make it :) The official blessing pictures weren't quite ready, so check back for the pictures of the dress, it is so cute and fluffy!

Chace, Amy, and Sadie (Chaces girlfriend)

Annie and Sophie

Papa and Sophie

Grandma and Grandpa Call and Sophie

Sophie (2.5 mo.) and cousin Landon (4.5 mo.) We couldn't resist taking lots of pictures of these two cuties!

So, now the next thing on our list is CHriStmAs!!! I just checked my weekly calendar for this upcoming week and surprisingly it is blank as of right now! Not like the crazy previous weeks!!! I'm sure it will fill up with all sorts of fun stuff fast, after all, I do love a blank canvas! (you know, like, the empty drawer that becomes the junk drawer, or the empty shelf that becomes the jewelry, tag, change drop off)

Well, I just hope everyone takes time to enjoy this wonderful time of year. I keep thinking back to when I was a kid and how I loved feeling the spirit of Christmas! I hope that I can do as good of a job as my mom did at bringing that special feeling to our families Christmas activities! We are so grateful for the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. This year, we have seen his hand in our lives many times and in many ways. We feel so blessed to have the gospel and such wonderful family and friends (if you are reading this, consider yourself hugged ;). Merry Christmas! Love, Jules

This is the life!

This little baby just makes my day EVERYDAY! She is such a fun baby! She is now 2 months old and is smiling and cooing, I love it! The girls (and DAD) are absolutely smitten with Sophie, it has been fun to watch them take care of her every need! They even have changed a few diapers!

This picture was taken when Sophie was 6 weeks old. Poor thing, she puts up with all of us dressing her up and fussing over her, 24-7!

I always love the crying pictures... "EnoUGh aLREady!!!" It makes my milk come in just looking at it!!!! :)

This was from Halloween. Oddly enough, it was the nicest Halloween we've had in a long time. However, since then, the weather has not been this nasty this early in the season since 1983! But, who's keeping track anyway!!!! The Hones brought over this awesome trailer for the girls to ride around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating! They had an absolute blast!

This was my attempt at last minute decorating!

Danika and I! I am so excited for Danika, she is having her baby any day now! And, she doesn't know what she is having (she already has 3 girls, who knows!!) However, I already have bought her Nike onesies just in case it is a boy!!!

Sister Love! Sister Power!

Sister Love! Sister Power! We had the funnest girls' weekend in Park City! Amy, me, Lori, and Hollie, and Erlene (photographer). We shopped and did glitter toes and laughed a lot!!!

Ryan and Jayson were sweet husbands and Dads and took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese, The Dinosaur Museum, and swimming! They were voted Dad's of the year by all of the girls!

Thanksgiving plans got crunched and smashed by the snow storm and closed roads. We were going to go to Island Park and stay in a condo for the week with my parents, but instead, we stayed home. It actually ended up being such a wonderful week! We went iceskating, sledding, 4-wheeling, and had a great time!

So, we were trying to take a nice family picture on the ice, brought the baby out and everything, and this teenager is standing right behind Ryan making a faCE!!!! So immature, but, it was totally funny when we went to look at the pictures. I faded her out as much as I could! I should post the original though, because it is so funny!!! The girls loved iceskating!

We had a delicious feast at my Mom's for Thanksgiving! The Hones and Infangers were in town, so they all came too! Ryan was in heaven having his cousins around! The girls had a blast with their cousins!

Well, that's all for now!!! Like I said for my title, "This is the Life!" Not that it is perfect all of the time, but, we for sure try to think of it that way (it makes the bad days go by faster!) Love you all! Have an awesome weekend! Love, Jules

Sophie's First Month!

Time goes by so quickly sometimes! I can't believe that we've had little Sophie around for a whole month~ sometimes it feels like she's always been here too, it's kinda weird! She is so precious and so fun! The girls, of course, can't get enough of her! If I need something done, I tell them they can hold Sophie after they do it... works like a charm. Sophie is also our new alarm clock for Maylie and Brianna in the morning. I just bring her into their room and they pop right out of bed to give her hugs, it is so cute! We sure love our little Sophie Rose, she is a good baby and has all of us wrapped around her finger! I wish that I could say that I just stayed home all month with the baby, but, that is not the case with four kids! Life has carried on as normal (a little crazy, but good). Luckily, Ryan is a great help with the kids, thanks Ry! Here are some pictures of Sophie and everything else we've been up to lately!

Ryan and I went to a murder mystery party, it was so fun. Ryan was a wealthy banker and I was an antiques dealer. (I love wearing wigs!)

Shanna and Brad and Landon came to visit us! Landon is exactly 2 months older than Sophie. He is so cute! I mean handsome!

Ryan is good at cozying up with the girls and relaxing!

We decorated a trailer down at Snake River Landing for Trick or Treat Street! It was really fun for the kids to help their Dad hand out candy and Jamba coupons!

Our friend Launie was Belle, it was like going to Disneyland when they got their picture with her.

Well, I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! My family was out trick or treating while I made this post, handed out candy, and nursed Sophie. Good times... good times... life is grand!!!!!!! Love, Jules

Sophie Rose!

We'd like to welcome the newest member of the Arfmann clan: Sophie Rose!!!!!!

She was born last Thursday at Madison Memorial. We feel so blessed to have such a sweet and healthy baby in our home! She weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz, and was 18 inches long. She also has a good healthy chunk of black hair!!!! I am going to give her her first bath tomorrow and I can't wait to see how puffy and fluffy her hair will be! She has big eyes and when she is awake she is very alert. She is a good nurser, and seems to like her sisters hugging and kissing her 24/7!

My c-section went well, I will spare you the video footage, but, it was pretty cool to re-watch the video that Ryan took when they pulled her out! My cousin Rachelle was the Surgeon Assistant for my surgery and it was really fun to have her there.

Maylie is such a great sister and helper!

Brianna is the Sophie monitor! She is very helpful too!

Ashlie wasn't sure about Sophie at first, but now, they are best buds!

I guess that I better go check on little Sophie Rose (we chose Rose because I have a great Aunt named Norma Rose and Ryan's Great Grandmother's name was Eliza Rose... so we have heritage and cuteness!)

My mom took the girls to watch at her house while we were in the hospital, which was a huge help and Ryan's Mom came and made our house all cozy and clean and cooked meals for us! We feel so blessed to have such great families! Luckily, Ryan was able to stay at the hospital with me and is such a great and helpful Daddy for me and the girls! I love you Ry!

I hope everyone has a great week! Love, Jules

Nesting!!!!

Well, baby number 4 is almost here and at our house, you can tell someone is nesting!!!! (That someone being me!) I'm taking full advantage of these instincts and getting as much stuff done as I can! The nursery is ready to go, the fridge and freezer are cleaned out, and the only thing left to do is get the car seat installed! We are getting pretty excited around here! We are pretty sure that we are going to name the baby Sophie Rose (I haven't got the vinyl lettering done or anything yet, so it still might change!) It's funny because the girls and I have been referring to the baby as Sophie for about 4 months now and Ryan wasn't so sure. Now that he has warmed up to the name and started calling the baby Sophie, I'm getting nervous! (Probably because we called Ashlie "Olivia" until 2 days before she was born, then switched!)

I've had to have a few ultrasounds because the baby was measuring big, small, big, and come to find out, for a while there she was cross-wise (good thing I have c-sections). But, now she has flipped to head down, so everything is looking more normal. It was fun to see how healthy she was, you could even see her hair on the ultrasound! She was so cute!

Just thought that I would post some of our final pictures of summer! Fall is here! Luckily, we have had beautiful weather the last 2 weeks!

Our family went with the Hones to Palisades Reservoir. It was beautiful and the kids had a blast, we even stopped to get square ice cream on our way home (one of my favorite memories as a kid!)

The Eastern Idaho State Fair! Luckily, there are no pictures of me scarfing my baked potato or my Brown Cow milkshake (my 2 favorite things!) The kids had a great time riding a few rides and checking out the animals. Luckily, we didn't end up bringing home a new chocolate cockerspaniel, that the kids named "Cocoa". I don't know if I could handle a new dog and a baby!

The girls have also started a new year of dance at Infinity Dance Studio, which has been so great so far! I can see the studio from my house, so it is easy to cart kids back and forth! They are loving it! Ashlie does ballet, jazz. Maylie and Brianna are doing a Jazz, ballet class and a hiphop/ tap class. They all have had so much fun!

Last week, Ryan had Jamba meetings in California, so he took a few extra days to hit the waves with one of his old missionary companions, Tyler. They had a blast and Ryan is getting better and better at surfing. He's my little surfer dude! I was supposed to go with him, but, I wasn't so sure how I would feel traveling at 36-37 weeks! So, I stayed home and got the nursery ready instead! We all missed Ryan a lot!

Oh baby, check out that gnarly wave!!!!!

Well, I guess that is about all for now! I've been up since 5 am this morning because I couldn't sleep (mother natures way of getting you ready to be up all night with a little one, I guess). I got my Jamba Books entered for the day and blogged and ate a banana, so, I suppose I will have a great day until I crash! I have to wake the girls up for school in 10 minutes (They start school at 8!) Then, we are going to Twin Falls for the weekend, Ryan is going to help at the store and the girls and I get to hang out with Shanna and her cute little Landon (he is getting blessed on Sunday). Hopefully, I don't have a baby in Twin Falls, but, I guess it's okay if I do! Have a great week! I'm hoping to be able to post as soon as I have the baby, so keep checking in! I'm scheduled for a c-section next Thursday!!!!!!!! Love, Jules