Julius Through The Years

I like to reminisce at birthday time because it's amazing how easy it is to forget all the stages he's been through! I went through all our pictures and put together a slide show for our little family to watch...Julius Through the Years...two years to be exact. I thought I'd post some of my favorites.

At the Hospital

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

7 Months

8 Months

10 Months

13 Months

14 Months

15 Months

16 Months

Now...24 Months

Julius' 2nd Birthday

Julius turned 2 on August 26th!

Orange Julius for breakfast

Julius is becoming quite the little athlete. His favorite thing right now is just about any kind of ball. He absolutely loves it when dad takes him out in the front yard to "hit" golf balls...so we thought it would be fun to take him to play miniature golf. And it was. He really liked it.

I put him down for a nap after golf and came back in his room for something and found him in his crib like this...cuddled up with the lion that is bigger than him.

He loves being outside and sports, so I figured a a party at the park was a good idea.

The birthday boy!

He recently discovered frisbee and loves it. Funny. And he turned it into a solo sport. He doesn't like to play with anyone. He just throws the "frisee" and gets it himself.

His "bouncy ball" cake. I totally ripped off the idea from Martha Stewart...not the recipe...just the decorations...simplified a bit, hers was a little more complex of course. But I think it turned out cute. I used the most delicious carrot cake recipe that I got from my sister's mother-in-law.

The presents:

A football from mom and dad.

A new movie from Jeff and Casey Jensen and girls.

A BYU hat from mom and dad.

A soccer bag from Aunt Emily, Uncle James and kids.

A motorcycle from Grandma Kathy.

{He loves motorcycles...such a little boy I have!}

I just think he's the cutest...don't you?

He also got two BYU t-shirts from mom and dad. {I think my excitement for football season came out in our gifts for Julius! But he loved it all.}

And he got a cool stripling warrior Book of Mormon action figure from Aunt Emily and Uncle Justin.

I couldn't help myself...I had to sit him down with all his gifts and snap a picture. I think it's because it was tradition in my family. Every birthday or Christmas we have a picture sitting there with all of our loot!

Bedtime. He traded the lion for the football.

And I love it when he's smiling when I put him in bed...that's a good day.

Visitors

We love visitors! And we have been lucky to have lots and lots of them throughout the summer. My entire family was here at one point or another in July which was great...then we had a few other short visits from friends and family.

{So if you're ever in town...we'd love to have you!}

When Ken's sister got married, his Aunt Petra came to town for the wedding. We got to have her stay with us for a night.

Ben, my brother-in-law, was the only one in my family who couldn't be here for our reunion. He was in St. George a few weeks later with his family and also made it up to Provo for a night.

Our good friends Noah and Tiffany moved to California last year. Noah and Kirra, who is Julius' age, were in town for a bit. We made sure to get the two kids together.

Isn't she a doll?

When they were babies, Tiffany and I were always out and about with them together. I can't even believe how many people thought they were twins! But they do look related don't they?

Brother-in-law Ben and their two girls Kate and Leah came back in August for a family wedding. (My sister Jenny stayed home with the two boys because baby number 5 is due soon)

At the reception Julius really really wanted to dance. Here are a couple pictures of him with cousin Leah.

Leah, Me, Kate

And last but not least we had the best two days with my brother-in-law Shannon who was in town for business at the beginning of September.

{Note the splint on Julius' arm...he took a fall off a chair and cracked the bone...more pictures to come...}

Random Things In August

I thought this was cute. Julius on the laptop and Jada on the cell.

Our friends called us to go to this place called "Jump On It" with them. I've heard of a few places like this around here but hadn't ever taken Julius. It's just a bunch of big trampolines all fitted together. There's an area for big kids/adults and one for little kids. It was totally fun and totally free for the little ones!

He was a little hesitant at first.

Once he got the hang of it he loved it.

On the way out the door they spotted this. {His friends Breanne and Sophie...or Sophie and Breanne?? who are just adorable!}

Pregnancy Update

So I'm about 25 weeks in these pictures...which are all basically the same picture...but I haven't been very good about taking pictures of myself. Lots of Julius...not a lot of me. So this is all I have right now. Really there isn't much of an update. Things are still good...I feel good...baby girl is good! My list of things to get done before she comes keeps growing...