Julia is 1!

My little Ju Ju is one years old! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She loves to watch her big sisters and tries her hardest to keep up with them. Julia has been cruising the furniture for a while now but took her first real steps last week. She says Momma, Dadda, and Hi Dad. She waves bye, bye and loves to mimic a cow. Moooo! Julia's does pretty good with most table food but her favorites right now are hotdogs, yogurt, goldfish, oatmeal, pizza and any kind of bread. Julia loves to be outside and cries if she sees the door open but doesn't get to go out too. She has become very attached to her blankets. Not just any blanket, only the crocheted ones that her Great Grandma Sofie has made for her. She cuddles with those blankets all the time and has to have one to sleep with at night. We all just love our little Ju Ju and I am enjoying watching her grow and change everyday.

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl! You are so loved!

Life is moving pretty fast

After Greg came home life started moving in a really fast pace and it has yet to slow down! Maybe it's just adjusting to running a household of 5 that makes me feel like I never have anytime? Or the fact that I have a million projects I'm either doing or plan on doing? Well whatever the case is I don't have much time to myself and therefore blogging has fallen very last on my list of things to do. So I need to sum up the past few months and get all caught up.
Halloween was pretty good. Greg had already started working down in Price, UT so me and the girls spent it with my parents and Amber. Eva was a Princess, Layla little Red Ridding Hood and Julia & I were witches.

Eva was brave and the only one to go through the haunted house (with me) that was set up at one of the houses in the neighborhood. Layla was crack'n my Mom and I up because she would go get her candy and then run back down to my mom yelling "Grandma, Grandma." I guess she was really playing the part of little Red going to Grandmother's house.



We bought our first home and moved in the week of Thanksgiving. I love our home and we are working hard to make it just how we want it. I will post pics of the before and afters very soon.

The previous owner and a major green thumb as you can see. Our next project is to scale back on the landscaping. This summer it was kinda pretty with all the green plants, flowers and trees but right now everything is brown and over grown. Yuck!

Eva had her 5th Birthday this year. I can't believe she is getting so big. 5 going on 16!LOL She had a Hello Kitty party with just our family and her cousins Nathan and Ryan.

Christmas came and we went to Burley to spend it with Greg's family. It was fun to have all the Brothers and Sisters together for the holidays. We had a fun time.


Santa may have spoiled the girls a little but I think living a year without their Daddy made them more than deserving of it :)


Little Layla had her 3rd Birthday in January. She had a Tinker Bell party with lots of family there to celebrate. She loved it.

Now we are just trying to adjust to our new lives. Trying to make friends and see where we fit in our new town.

Eva is such a sweetheart and a wonderful big sister. I couldn't ask for a better helper. She loves her sisters so much and tries so hard to help them. She loves putting Layla down for her naps. She will have Layla go potty, read her a story, sing her a song and tuck her in. It is the sweetest thing and a big help while I'm putting Julia down for her nap. I don't know what I'd do without my Eva. She is in preschool and doing really well. She is a social butterfly and already has lots of friends. Eva is also very silly and her favorite thing to do is pull pranks on us. She loves to jump out and scare us or tell me there's a spider on the wall....stuff like that. She can always bring a smile to my face.


Layla has these big blue eyes, Greg and I love them. We now call her the little owl because her eyes are just so big. She has the cutest personality and makes us laugh all the time. When Layla wants something to eat she will say, "Make it big" which means she wants a lot of it. And when she takes a bath she likes the tub to be very full so she will say, "Make it deep." So when she's eating cheese (her favorite food) she will say, "Make it big and make it deep!" I guess she just wants to cover all grounds so I know to give her lots. Layla is a little ham for sure and is always doing funny dances or saying silly things to make us laugh.

Julia is definitely the baby of the family. Everyone is always watching out for Ju Ju. She is a pretty happy baby and is learning and growing so much. She is 10 months now and has 2 bottom teeth with 4 coming in on the top. She crawls and is pulling herself up to standing so I know walking is right around the corner. She says Momma and Dadda and has already learned to hold a phone up to to her ear and say what sounds like, "Hi Dad." Her sisters play with her a lot and Eva can get her laughing the hardest. She is a joy to have and just another blessing to our family.

Greg is happy to be home and loves spending time with all his girls. He has a good job as a Geologist in the BLM but plans to work his way up so I know living in Price is just a stepping stone. He has made some friends here who like to ride dirt bikes so he is enjoying doing some manly things again. I little escape from all the pink he is surrounded with.

As for me.....what can I say? The life of a stay at home Mom isn't too glamours. I run around taking care of the girls and doing lots of house projects. I am making friends which I am so thankful for. I don't know what I'd do without a social life!
I cut my hair and It's the shortest I've ever had it. I really like it, a fun change for now.

I"m also really into Green Smoothies right now and drink at least one everyday.

So that's the happenings around here. We are just living life and loving it. I still can not tell you how happy I am to have my family back together. Now my next post will be pics of my new house I promise!

Some changes coming our way.

It's been awhile but I've been so busy lately and so tired that by the end of the night all I want to do is watch a little t.v. and then go to bed. So what's been going on? Well thankfully Greg is home and we made it through that long year.

Now that he's home it's time for some changes. Greg accepted a job as a Geologist for the BLM in Price, UT. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I am so excited for Greg to have a normal 9-5 job, not to mention the great benefits and security having a government job. On the other hand it sucks because we have to move to Price. It's still far from my family, farther from Greg's family and it's a super small town. We went down there twice house hunting and I was very disappointed with the selection. Thankfully we did find a house and should be in about the middle of November. For right now me and girls are still here in Pocatello while Greg is living out of a hotel in Price. Just my luck, Greg comes back from Iraq only to leave us a few weeks later. But at least it's not for too long.
So besides getting ready to move I'm just busy taking care of these 3 little girls by myself...like usual. Eva started preschool again and is loving it. Although this will be her last month there and I know she is super sad to move away from her best friend Halle.


I couldn't ask for a better helper! Eva is so sweet and loving towards both her sisters. She tires so hard to keep the younger two happy and willing gives Layla any toy she wants without hesitation. Sometimes I tell Eva she doesn't have to give (whatever it is) to Layla if she still wants it but Eva always says, "it's alright Mom I don't mind." She defiantly got this from Greg. :)



Layla is still being a little 2 year old. She is so sweet and funny one moment and beyond sassy the next. She has started to imagine with little toys and it is so cute. I can't always understand what she is saying but I hear her telling her toys, "you're alright." or "I'll be right back OK?" She also loves to snuggle when she watches movies or is getting tired. She'll come sit by me or Eva and say, "snuggle me." I love it.




Julia just hit the 6 month mark on the 18th. She is a chub just like her sisters were and I think it's so cute. She is a pretty happy baby and is hitting her milestones on track. She babbles a lot, has rolled front to back and back to front and has started sitting up all by herself. She is a joy to have and really completes our family of girls.



I recently had the girls pictures taken and as you can see I have so much fun dolling these little girls up! So that's what's up around here. Hopefully my next post will be pics of our house!

Who needs sand when you have rice?

I bought Eva and Layla a sand & water table as a gift when Julia was born. I got it all ready for them and even ordered pink and purple sand online. They have used the table a lot this spring and summer but I have had one complaint. I never realized how messy sand is! The girls would have it stuck all over them which would lead to it being brought in the house. They would also carry it in buckets around the yard and before I knew it the sand was gone and I would have to order more. Then I discovered something much better.....Rice! Not only did I decided to put rice in the table but I found a way to dye it different colors using food coloring. The girls had so much fun helping me make all the colored rice.
Eva and Layla mixing up the rice. They are both in my aprons which made me think maybe my next project will be to sew them matching ones. :)


After we mixed all the colors we put them on pans and placed them in the sun to dry.


Then I got the table all set up. Here is the water side with Ariel all ready for a swim.


And here is all the rice complete with sand toys and buried treasure.


Layla was so excited she couldn't wait to start playing.



Eva and Layla played out there for so long their legs were getting tired so Eva when and got a stool for Layla and a beanbag chair for herself. She's such a good big sister.


So the colored rice is a huge hit. I highly recommend it cause It's cleaner, cheaper and a fun little project to do with the girls.