Happy Anniversary

Five years ago I married the most handsome guy the world has ever seen. And tonight we went out for a nice little dinner and remembered all sorts of funny things from when we were dating and earlier in our marriage. I remember thinking he was too cute to not be stuck up. Lucky for me, Alyson made me go with her to say hi to him and I quickly realized what a nice guy and what a catch he really was. We were friends for almost a year before we started dating. And dating Julio was so much fun! We've had even more fun since we've been married and I've realized many times since then how lucky I am. Julio, you are my best friend, the most talented and motivated artist I know, a great spiritual leader for our family, the hardest worker, a loving and attentive father, a great example for our children, my perfect match, the funnerest person ever, rediculously smart, and the hottest guy I know! I don't know what I did to deserve you but I'm thankful and I'll keep you. Happy Anniversary Babe!

A Time of Miracles

As many of you know, my husband has been searching for work for the last few months. He's had several good interviews and several responses to the effect that companies are cutting back on the number of people they're hiring. It has definitely been a test of my faith. I am fortunate to have a husband who fixes computers, designs websites and logos and business cards, and knows how to network computers together as well as the 2d and 3d animation he's been studying. Because he has so many talents and skills we've been able to survive on side jobs that have often miraculously come his way. The other day I was driving home thinking about how blessed we've been to be able to survive so far and how worried I felt about paying this next month's bills. I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for all he's already done. I said "I know you've already given us so many miracles but we need one more." A few minutes after I got home, yet another person called looking for Julio to do some work for him and it will work out to be a little more that what we need. I don't tell this to get anyone's sympathy because I don't feel like it's a trial anymore. I want anyone who reads this to know that God answers prayers and looks out for our needs. I know it. He has blessed us time after time. We have seen so many miracles these last few months that it's been truly humbling. And what a blessing to have it happen at Christmas time. I hope we all remember at this time of year that the reason we're all going crazy shopping and running to parties and wrapping presents is because a little more than 2000 years ago God blessed us to have His Son among us. We can't bake Him a birthday cake or wrap a present for Him. All we can do is give the gift of loving others. I think that's why we give gifts, donate for those less fortunate, and gather together with friends and family. And isn't it amazing that this time of year seems to bring out the best in most of us? I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you will be as blessed as we have been.

Alma 7
"9 But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying—^aRepent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God ^bcometh upon the face of the earth.

10 And behold, he shall be ^aborn of Mary, at ^bJerusalem which is the ^cland of our forefathers, she being a ^dvirgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and ^econceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities."

Toddler Antics

My children crack me up. This morning Eliana had a friend come over to play. Since both my kids feel a need to pull out every toy and throw them on the floor before breakfast I suggested to her that she clean up her room before her friend arrives. To my surprise, when I got out of the shower I looked in the room and all the toys were gone from the floor. "Wow" I thought "She did it!" About a half an hour later, Tavian went to climb in his crib and this is what we found.
She had thrown half of the toys in his crib and the other half were shoved behind the door. I had to laugh.
And yesterday Tavian made me laugh too. While we were outside I decided to mow the lawn. (We have a push lawn mower so no loud noises or fast blades that could cut fingers off or send rocks flying at children's heads. It's nice for me because Julio is often so busy he can't do it and I don't want to leave the kids in the house for an hour while I mow). Tavian likes to "help" me push it around the yard and usually I'll push the outer parts of the handle while he pushes the inner parts of the handle. Well, apparently he decided he's big enough to do it on his own because after crossing the yard twice, he wanted to do the third row without me touching the lawnmower. He tried with all his might and the thing didn't budge an inch. So I stepped in and started pushing with him. He got mad and pushed my hands away so I let him try again. After a while I stepped in again to push with him and this time he got so mad he stormed off into the house and refused to come out to play. I laughed so hard my sides hurt. He has to do everything on his own lately, which means I find chairs scooted over to the shelves or sink and anything I do for him like pull up his pants, he has to slide them down and pull them up again himself.

I've been tagged!

Chances are that if you're reading this you've been tagged. Okay so let me think if there are 7 random or weird facts about me...

1. I have been to more than half of the states in the US but only really lived in AZ.

2. I love reading a good story, so much so that when I get really involved in a book I don't cook, I don't sleep and I don't know what my kids are doing.

3. I have the worst memory in the world, except when it comes to movies, where I can remember things in ridiculous detail (a completely useless talent).

4. I am the cheapest person in the world. I can make a homemade pepperoni pizza for about $2.

5. My favorite pastimes are sewing, doing yardwork, and cooking.

6. I am a firm believer in the power of procrastination. I've been known to put off finishing chores for days. (I was tagged days ago and put it off for this long.)

7. I love all those dances most people hate like the macarena, the chicken dance, YMCA, line dances, etc.
I think I only blog with 7 people so if you're reading this and want to do it I tag you.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving also.

Another Pregnancy Update

Well I'm as big as a house and still have 3 months to go. The baby is great, growing right on schedule as far as size is concerned. When they did an ultrasound a few weeks ago the ultrasound lady said it looks like a girl but because the legs are crossed she can't tell for sure. So we really don't know yet but we will. Tavian was an emergency c-section because he was so large (9lbs5oz) he couldn't get out the other way so they said they'll do an ultrasound on this one a week or two before the due date to see if it's a big baby too and if so we'll c-section this one too. So I got one more chance to find out before the baby's born. We're doing well. I'm too bulky to do some things now but working on staying in shape and make room for another baby. In other news Julio has been doing design work and websites and tutoring and of course searching every day for a job. He's finally got an offer for a job starting in December and hopefully will find something in his field soon after that. This is a tough economy to be looking for work but we both know the Lord has always blessed us to meet our needs and will do it again.

Pictures from Halloween

This is one of the only pictures of Tavian I got in his Halloween costume because he fell asleep 15 minutes after the ward Halloween party started and the ones from Halloween night didn't turn out. He refuse to wear his hood but he was Winnie the Pooh which he loved.
Here's princess Eliana. She had enough fun to make up for what Tavian missed, getting her face painted, doing the cakewalk, fishing for treats, running around with the other princesses and of course trunk or treating.

I thought this picture was so cute. Eliana and I had a talk about modesty this week because she likes to get undressed or wear her pants so low her belly hangs out. So here she is making sure her shorts are high enough. It was hard not to laugh because she was trying to pull them even higher so her belly wouldn't hang out. What a good girl huh?

Happy Birthday Tavian!

My little Bubba is not a baby anymore! Tavian turned two on Tuesday. It was such a good day for him and so nice that we all were able to be together. He's such a big part of our family I can't remember what it was like before him. He has the softest touch and the sweetest most sharing personality I've ever seen. He has a constant smile on his face and is always pushing himself to do more and better. This last Sunday I offered my hand to help him out of the car and he almost took it, then with a determined look on his face pushed my hand away, said "Take away me momma" and got himself out. I love my little Tavie! We all worked together to make it a special day for him.
Eliana and I got up first thing in the morning and blew up a whole bunch of balloons. The above picture is Tavian right after he woke up. He has such a fun loving nature and with all the squeals you'd think we had just given him the best most amazing gift ever.
Grandma and Grandpa came in the afternoon with lunch and presents. Here's Tavian opening up one from Mom and Daddy. He had so many presents he got distracted by the first ones and didn't want to open the last ones. That was great for Eliana though because she "helped" him by opening the last one.
Eliana loved Tavian's gifts as much as he did and the two of them made noise the rest of the day on all Tavie's new toys. These are music playing maracas. He also got a keyboard and a play guitar so you can imagine the joyful noises that exuded from our home!
Even Grandpa took a turn jamming on the new keyboard.
Tavian didn't want to blow out the candle himself so we all helped him with that. This was my first attempt at a character cake so I am pretty proud of it.
And here's proof on Bubba's face that he enjoyed the cake. He and Grandpa are great buddies. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for helping make Bubba's day a special one.

Ben and kids

For those of you who know my brother Ben, this is him with his kids, Alex and Landon from this last month when Mom and Dad visited him. We don't get to see him very often so it's nice to know he's well.

Fish Fumbles

Eliana had a goldfish that died a couple weeks ago. It was so sad for her that I got the kids some more goldfish about a week ago. They were so excited Tavian was practically screaming "Fishies! Fishies!" and Eliana was very particular about which fishes she got and she had to carry it herself to the front of the store and paid for it with her own coins. We came home and I let them put rocks and seashells in the tank. We named them and then Eliana took pictures of the fishies. Here's one (cropped of course).Our one goldfish lived for a year in a one gallon tank so I figured 4 goldfish would be fine in a 10 gallon tank. All but one died so I bought 3 more and they all died leaving just the one again. Some lady at Petco told me that you need 10 gallons of water per goldfish. It must be true because the same thing happened a year ago when I bought the 10 gallon tank. I was so bugged when the goldfish kept dying that I put the one goldfish in a one gallon tank and it lived there for a year. I thought I had a bully fish, but apparently not because several goldfish have died this time too and just one is alive. In other words, even though you can buy the fish for 12 cents each you have to spend a small fortune on the tank and equipment to go with it if you want more than one goldfish. Crazy huh? Thanks for letting me share.

Correction to Previous Post

This is where the Leon Mexico Mission is and where my bro will be serving.

View Larger Map

Jonathan's Mission Call

Jonathan received his mission call to the Leon, Mexico Mission. It's on the peninsula on the west side of Mexico. We're so excited for him! That means of course that he has to learn spanish, which makes me laugh because he can't put two words together to make sense in spanish. Julio and I were laughing to tears one time because he was pretending to speak spanish by just putting a bunch of words together. I've put a map of Leon on the blog if you're curious where it is. CONGRATULATIONS JONATHAN!! I'm so proud of my big little bro!

View Larger Map

Congratulations Julio!

We made it! Julio graduated tonight with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts and Animation. Doesn't he look handsome? I'm so proud of him. He's worked so hard to achieve this and now it's finally here. He'll probably end up sleeping for a week now to catch up on what he's missed out on the last several weeks.













We took a moment to pose for pictures. Thank goodness the ceremony was only an hour. You can tell from Bubba's face that was about as much as he could handle.

















Here's Julio with his family. His brother David (left) and Mom (middle) drove all the way from California to be here. We are so glad to have them here! And Julio's older brother Phil is on the right with his family.

We went to dinner at Macayo's afterwards. I am stuffed and likely to remain so for a while. Too much good food.












And of course Eliana the ham cheering her daddy on and making sure I get it on film.

Julio Graduates Next Week!!

MySpace Countdowns

Happy Birthday Uncle Jon & Grandpa!

We went up to Payson this last weekend because Uncle Jon turned 20 and was ordained on Sunday and Grandpa turned __. Grandpa wasn't there on Saturday because he was taking Alex and Landon to visit Ben, their dad. The kids were so excited to pick out a cake and sing "Happy Birthday". They both are still singing periodically through the day "Happy Birthday Unca Gon" (Tavian can't pronounce his j's yet).

Grandpa opening his presents. The plastic bag is standard wrap for Gartner men.

Can't wait to see that face on a mission!

Jon and Matt, Cardinal fans to the core!

The kids loved playing outside in the cool weather. I just wish they would have smiled bigger! j/k

Rainy Night

Last night it rained like crazy for about half an hour and then stopped. The kids were a little squirrelly so I asked them if they wanted to go outside and watch the rain. Of course it was only moments before watching became splashing. We all went out and got soaked!
The weather was nice and warm and lightning was pretty far away so I figured why not let them have fun for a little bit. I don't think I've ever heard so many delighted squeals from the kids.
And this is a dress I made for Eliana that I thought turned out cute. I love WalMart craft dept because it makes sewing cheaper than buying second hand. Notice her body language. Eliana was doing a hairflip for me. What a ham!

Weekend in Payson

This last weekend we went up to my parents' house in Payson to give Julio some quiet and a chance to really focus on his homework. It was fun for us too!Eliana caught up on a whole bunch of rest. In fact both the kids ran around outside so much that they slept real good every night.
Tavian's on the right. He's chillin with his cousins Landon and Alex. They were all so excited to be around each other. They loved it! We don't get to see them that often, but they go up to Grandma and Grandpa's quite a lot, so they showed Eliana and Tavian all the fun stuff to do.
I helped mow the back yard. Mom and Dad have a fun lawnmower to drive. Notice that I now look like I'm getting fat. In another month or so it will probably be obvious that I'm pregnant and I won't get so many awkward looks like "Do I ask?" We watched movies, went to the park, went on walks, and had dinner outside a few times because the weather is so nice there. It was nice to visit and take a break from part of the everyday stresses that come with being at home.

Pregnancy Update

How's my pregnancy? Just fine. Nothing really exciting to report. I'm past the sick part so I've been catching up on all the cleaning I got behind on the last three months. I was telling Mom this and she said I'm nesting. I think it's way too early for that. I'm almost four months along. They won't even check for the gender of the baby for another month.
Oh and I have my appetite back plus some. I snack all day. It's nice to be able to eat cheese again (for those who don't know, cheese is to me what chocolate is to most girls). I have my next appointment in a week.
Also I've started getting up in the middle of the night or waking up really early and not being able to go back to sleep. It seems kind of early for that too but I haven't been reading my What to Expect book as faithfully as I did the first time. I skim through each chapter for review. I think it's really true that with each child you get more lax. With Eliana I read the book every day and after she was born I always had a diaper bag loaded with diapers, wipes, clothes, blankies, pacifiers, etc. With Tavian I just make sure I have a diaper, wipes, and something to clean messes shoved in my purse. This one might be lucky if I have a diaper for him (hahaha)!

It's finally cool enough to go outside and not burn your feet! This is one of my favorite times of year because it's not so hot that water doesn't cool you down and not too cold for water playtime.

I asked Eliana to smile and she said no she wanted to make a different face. She comes by it honestly. I was a little poser too.

What a handsome boy Tavian is!

Quilt 1

Also I'm making some crib size quilts and want to get some input on these two layouts. They are both works in progress right now. I'm going to try and sell them, so any ideas or improvements would be appreciated. I thought I would make a yellow pillow with a heart or some shape quilted on the front to match with each one.

Quilt 2

Julio's Latest Work

This is how I usually see Julio, nothing but a profile at his computer working hard.
This is of course how I like to see him, but this week I got to see the fruits of some of his labor. He's been working so hard and has just finished a new animation that I think is awesome! He's going to post it on his website www.greydominion.com . It's for a class but also for a friend who has a website selling fight gear. The logo is a gorilla and he animated it in 3D. Check it out if you get a chance. Because this is midterm week Julio has all sorts of assignments that will probably appear on his website in about a week. I just wanted to take a chance to brag on my man because I think he's so talented!

Craft Time

This weekend we got crafty because of a great sale at Michael's. It's amazing how good kids are when they have something new to keep their attention. Here's Eliana, princess of the mermaid kingdom (she got the title from Dora the Explorer) with her crown...

And here's prince Tavian, the Frog Prince (apparently the upside down prince). His crown lasted about an hour before it got it's first tear.

A day or so later we painted these little bags. Both my kids love having something to hold their "treasures" which are usually rocks, leaves, uneaten fruit snacks or broken crayon bits.
Eliana has also taken up calling me Rabbit, she's Winnie the Pooh, Tavian is Piglet, and Dad is Tigger. It got me thinking how fitting the names are for each of us. Dad's the fun one that bounces in for a little fun then leaves, Tavian is the littlest one, Eliana is just like Pooh Bear, but then why am I like Rabbit? He's not much fun. He's always cleaning and worrying and telling everyone else what not to do. Hmmm. Should I be worried or does that mean I'm being a good Mom? I'm not sure.