Julia's Baptism Day

Julia's baptism day was pretty relaxing. We decided not to do a meal afterwards, but to just do desserts, which at first I was upset about, but in the end I was grateful. I baked cookies all morning and finished cleaning. We took our time getting ready for the day, and Eldon and I both got a nap! We took Julia to an early dinner while Lisa watched Emma and Andrew for us. We had a nice, calm meal with Julia and Grandma and Grandpa Hult, who happened to come to the same restaurant as us around the same time and they were able to eat with us also. Julia looked beautiful in her white dress.

There were a couple mishaps at the baptism, but one of them wasn't my fault:) I accidentally asked my sister and my sister in law to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, but no talk on baptism without realizing it. OOPS! My poor sister winged her talk, and did a great job. She is such a trooper! The other mishap was when we went to the room with the font in it there was only about 12 inches of water in the font. We had to wait about 10 minutes to fill the font full enough for the baptism. That was a little chaotic with so many little kids waiting.

We felt very blessed to share this day with Julia. She is such a sweet, obedient girl. I'm grateful to have her for a daughter.

Family Party

Julia's actual birthday was on a Sunday so we had my family over for dinner Sunday evening. When the cousins came over we did a few of the activities that we had done with Julia's friends at her birthday party. Here is Julia showing the box of mini donuts.

Everyone made a mini flower pot.

The flower pots looked good enough to eat, thought Max!

I frosted mini cupcakes in the shape of an 8 for Julia's family party.

Julia's 8th B-day!

Julia had a miniature birthday party this year. Everything was small. The cakes were small, the girls made mini flower pots, we did a treasure hunt and the clues were hidden on small things and the treasure contained mini trinkets. Then we sent the girls home a box of mini donuts. I even had the store put helium in mini balloons, but the didn't stay inflated very long:(
Julia loves mini everything! It was a fun party, but mom is glad it is over!



The girls had a great time eating their mini cake off their mini plates with mini spoons and drinking their chocolate shakes out of mini cups with mini straws. I even folded mini napkins. It was so cute!

More of Andrew's Birthday

We took Andrew to Jumpin Jacks for his birthday. Some of his cousins came with us and others met us there. All the kids had a great time jumping and sliding! My kids were worn out by the end of the night.



Frontwards or backwards, from the biggest to the smallest, Andrew loved them all!

Andrew is 3!

My baby boy turned 3 on Thursday. I can't believe he is already 3. I don't remember much from when Andrew was an infant. I think we were in survival mode that first year. Here are some things I love about Andrew:
He gives the best bear hugs.
He has a great smile and beautiful dimples.
He is Emma's best friend, and Julia's little buddy.
He loves basketball and any other type of ball he sees.
His big dark green eyes.
The sweet way he says, "I love you, mommy!"
He is a gum addict.
The cute cowlick in his hairline that makes it look like his hair is always styled.
His favorite shows: Backyardigans, Dora, and Diego.
He likes to be clean.
He always has to be in the front in the tub.
So many more reasons to love this little man.
Andrew - 3 years

2 years

1 year

About 3 months

In the hospital

Can you say OCD?

We have a little neat freak on our hands. Andrew is not one of those little boys who likes to play in the mud. He doesn't even like to play in our sandbox because he hates the feel of dirty hands. He taught himself at a very early age how to push a stool up to the sink and wash his hands with soap and water. Now he has started to clean Emma also.


You can't see this picture very well, but it was taken just after Andrew and Emma had eaten cheetos, a snack which Andrew usually declines because he doesn't like his hands to get all orange and messy.

He's concentrating so hard on cleaning his hands he can't take two seconds to look at the camera. He would die if he knew he had cheeto crumbs on his nose!

Opening more gifts

Of course, after the Nativity we opened more gifts. Julia had asked Santa for an American Girl Doll a little too late. Luckily, Grandma was able to find a mini one for her.

Emma got another princess castle set, and about popped a blood vessel trying to pick it up for me to get a picture.

Andrew's big toy from Grandma and Grandpa was a Diego train set. It ended up being the hit of the day. We got it set up when we got home and the train ran for about 5 hours straight.

We had a very nice Christmas and felt very blessed for many reasons.