A Very Merry WHITE Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas season.  Arek finished up another successful semester of school.  He now only has 1 year left before he has his masters degree in civil engineering.  He's been working like crazy on his thesis paper and model, and probably will be able to defend in the spring, a full semester before he graduates.  We are so proud of him, and are so excited to be done with school. 

Arek's sister and her family have come home for a visit over Christmas.  Their little girl, Lilly, is just a few months younger than Julie so we drove down to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend time with them.  They have had so much fun together.  Hardly a tiff or squabble between them (until Christmas day when there were a few sharing arguments over new toys) and they played hard from the moment they woke up, to the time we made them go to sleep.  SO glad these two little girls love each other so much.  Here is some of what they have done together the past week: 

Once the grade schools got out for their Christmas break, we took the girls over to the playground for some outdoor time.

 

 Our family at the Christmas lights.  Julie LOVED all the animals

 Running back to the car with Grandpa and Uncle Tiffer

Tea Party Time!

1. Pour

2. Stir

3. Enjoy

 

Although we had nearly a foot of snow at our home on Christmas morning, Grandma and Grandpa didn't have very much until the day after Christmas.  Julie spent so much time riding on a sled behind the 4 wheeler, and finally convinced Lilly to ride with her.  Her Grandpa, Dad, and Uncle Todd took turns driving them all around the front and back yards

 Can you tell my little girl loves to get her "thrills"?  I don't think she stopped smiling from beginning to end

Merry Christmas!

Belated Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year, complete with Halloween party hosted at our own apartment.  Arek and I decided to dress as Shrek and Fiona and I worked for several weeks on Arek's and my costumes.  I think they turned out pretty good.  Unfortunately the picture of just the two of us turned out super blurry.  But we got a good one of us with Julie, who loved wearing the same Snow White costume that I wore when I was her age.  

Aren't we adorable?  :)

 
He'll hate me for spilling the beans, but I have to brag about Arek's fantastic job at the detail work on my dress.  That's right... after I sewed the gold trim around my waist and neckline, Arek glitter-glued the amazing flower/swirl pattern onto the front and back of my dress. It turned out so well, and made the dress look just like Fiona's.    

Julie with her best friend, Gracie, at our party before the girls went to bed

The night after our Halloween party was our ward trunk or treat.  Julie had a blast and got tons of candy, both that night and on actual Halloween.  They definitely learn fast how to work the candy system!  Here she is again in as her cute "Snow White princess" as she called her costume

Julie LOVED her pumpkins this year.  Here are the two she got to help carve. 

And here are the three Arek and I carved while she was sleeping

Hope you all had wonderful Halloweens!

Long Story Short

So it has been ages since I have blogged, so hopefully I can sum up what's happened with as few pictures as possible, but it's been a busy few months so keep scrolling... there's most likely more.

BIG news - Baby #2 is over halfway here.

We are due February 28, 2013, which means we are 21 weeks along. 

Here I am at 16 weeks:

Here I was at 16 weeks with Julie... It was amazing to see

how much sooner I "popped" this time:

And here I am at 20 weeks:

LOVE this week cuz we got to see our little GIRL :)  Yep.  Julie is gettting a younger sister.  We are all super excited for another girl to join our family.  It still amazes me how much they can see and know from the ultrasound.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

 Baby Girl's profile, with hand by her face.   During Julie's ultrasound she was moving so much that they couldn't get a good profile picture.  So we were really excited that this little girl wasn't moving quite so much.

3D pic "1, with hand trying to block her face from the camera

 3D pic #2... Look at that pointed chin!  :)  Can definitely tell already that she's related! 

Brigham City Temple Walk-Though

We loved being able to take Julie through the new Brigham City Temple.  One of her favorite places to go in Logan is to the Temple, so she loved being able to go inside this one.  She especially loved all the chandeliers, and also the fountain outside the front of the temple.  Here are some shots we got before leaving

Birthdays

I turned the ripe old age of 24 (which is exciting to our family because it means you use a full box of candles) and 3 days later Julie turned 2.  I can't believe Julie is so big!  She's been looking like a 2-year-old for several months now, but it is crazy that she is officially a toddler.  SO exciting for her.  We had pretty low-key birthdays, but did celebrate with cake and ice cream.  Arek made my cake

and I made Julie's. 

Julie's first big owie

This week Julie had the misfortune to pinch her big toe under our full 5-gallon bucket of flour (about 35-40 pounds worth of flour).  Here is her toe later that evening.  It looks much worse now, but I will spare you those yucky photos.  Sadly for Julie, the nail is coming off and is quite painful for her.  She is one tough girl, though, because anytime we ask her about it she says, "I'm fine". 

North Logan Pumpkin Walk

We LOVE the pumpkin walk.  One of the main reasons is because it's free and family-friendly.  Julie loved it this year.  The theme was "Let the Games Begin".  Here are some of our favorite of the exhibits:

 Julie having a blast running along the path, looking at the pumpkins and displays

 AWESOME game: Utah State vs. U of U.  We were there.  We didn't think Julie would be ok the enitre game (especially since we had to be there 2 hours early to get seats) but with some walking breaks and snow-cone bribes, she did amazing. 

 Clue.  LOVE it  :)

 The list of the "Clue" suspects

 These were either bee pumpkins or ant pumpkins... either way, Julie loved them

 Wizard chess

 Hunger games #1 - The Reaping

 Hunger Games #2 - Tributes of District 12

 Hunger Games #3 - Shooting the apple

 Hunger Games #4 - Victors

 And at the end they have these super fun cardboard cut-outs.  Julie really got into them this year.  There are a LOT

 Ariel

 Snow White

 Cinderella

 Mr. Incredible - LOVE the face

 The Genie

 Jesse and Buzz (aka Julie and Dad)

 Pooh Bear

 By the last one she thought it was cooler to stand ABOVE the mickey instead of looking out of his face

Later that evening we went to the USU vs. Arizona State hockey game.  It was so much fun.  Julie loved cheering.  Her new favorite expression is "Go Aggies!" which she exclaimed anytime people started clapping and cheering. Cutest thing ever!  Hopefully we can take her to another game or two this season