Great Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was AWESOME! It was a Judy Family Reunion this year and it was my favorite one ever. Perhaps I am more fully integrated into the family than I ever was previously, maybe the reunion was just better, maybe I LOVED watching my kids play so marvelously with cousins they don't get to see all the time. Whatever the case, I loved being with everyone! Everybody planned big and worked hard to make it a success and I am very grateful for all the work that was involved. Since many of my blog readers were there, I'll just post some of my favorite photos from the weekend instead of writing a description. What a great Thanksgiving!

Sedona Again!

We had an awesome little family trip last weekend. We went up to Sedona to enjoy the perfect weather, the stunning natural beauty, and some good ol' family bonding. On our way up we went to Out of Africa, a wild animal park just south of Sedona. It was so much fun and Spencer and I loved it as much as the kids. Our favorite part was the safari that we took into the animals enclosure. There we got to see zebras, ostrich, a camel, and a giraffe right next to the bus we were in. The camel and the giraffe were even gentle enough that we were able to feed them carrots and pet them. It was amazing. The giraffe was so cool. It had a gigantically long tongue which it would wrap around the carrots and pull them into it's mouth. I loved the safari. We also enjoyed the Tiger Splash show where the caretakers basically played with the Bengal tigers face to face like they would a domestic cat (except on a much larger scale, of course).
After Out of Africa, we got to the resort in Sedona. I got some groceries with Jade and then we made dinner in our suite... subs, Sun chips, and peach salsa. By then it was bed time for the kids.
Saturday was spent having an egg and sausage breakfast and then slowly getting ready for our day. We went on a lovely hike amongst the magnificent red rocks and luscious evergreens. We then went out to eat for lunch and did a little thrift store shopping. I got the kids some souvenir beanie babies... a unicorn for Jade, and a big and little chameleon for Braden... which also provided some entertainment in the suite. That afternoon we made worms in pudding dirt cups which the kids thought was so cool. I went swimming for awhile with Braden while Jade took a nap and Spencer worked on homework. We also rented Wall.e and watched it together in the evening. Braden really liked it, but Jade was somewhat bored during parts of it.
Sunday was when we needed to checkout. So we packed up our stuff and headed off to church. After church we traveled back home to The Valley. The ride back was not as good as the ride up. Braden had eaten one of those delicious chocolate covered donuts with all the sprinkles as desert for lunch right after church. Actually, we only gave him half. Unfortunately combined with the mountain roads and looking through his binoculars on the way home, that half a donut had a bad reaction. He barfed all over himself and on his seat. Luckily, there was a turn off right as he puked, so we could pull over and take care of business. He didn't have any other episodes after that, but he did constantly ask us for more snacks. We told him he had to wait for his stomach to settle. We got to hear, "I'm so much better. Now can I have a snack?" about every 5 minutes until finally Spencer gave Braden a landmark that he had to wait for... the I-17 stack. That helped.
We had a lot of fun on our vacation and we really appreciate my mom and dad letting us use the resort. While we were there we found another couple of things that we would like to explore sometime. It looks like in another year or so we'll have to go back to Sedona again!

Petting the BIG snake

Tiger Splash

Don't get between this girl and her shoes

On the safari

Not shy zebras enjoying a "cookie" (vitamin biscuit thing)

Just a couple o' ostrich chillin' on the safari

The giraffe we fed
Hiking

Up where I was too lazy to go

Why Do I Write So Much?

I finally took the plunge. I had been admiring my friends cute blogs and finally decided to change mine up a little. I guess I figured it was time since it's been a year and a half since the sites conception. Chelsea referred me to the Cutest Blog on the Block website and it was really easy. The reason it took me so long to do this, is because I had this crazy idea that I would lose my posts somehow if I made a mistake. So, more to ease my mind than anything else, I saved all the text to all my posts in a word document before I made the switch. It took awhile. This post makes 147 total posts. Why do I write so much?

Jacob and Joni!

I have several fun things I could blog about tonight, but first things first. I am so excited to pass on the news that my little (I mean younger) brother, Jacob, has finally found the girl for him! Those who know him know that Jacob has had a lot of fun and has learned a lot from dating , but he was getting pretty sick of the whole scene. He has really just wanted to find someone to share eternity with. Since I know that starting a family creates the ultimate laboratory for learning and brings great joy and growth, I really wanted him to be able to find what he was looking for. Well he finally has and her name is Joni Gurney. I really like her and I look forward to getting to know her better. From my limited interactions with her I would describe her as slightly reserved but not shy at all. She's definitely proven capable of matching (if not exceeding) Jacob's silliness. She seems like a very chill person, up for whatever comes her way. She works as a massage therapist for a chiropractic company. In all she just seems like a genuine person who's got her stuff together. The most endearing thing about Joni is how into Jacob she is. They are at the point where someone will be talking to them and during the conversation you can see their eyes glaze over as they just start staring at one another. Then they'll start their own little private conversation like the world around them doesn't exist. There is no doubt that they love each other and it's quite adorable. Anyway, they made things official on Wednesday night when Jacob proposed on the Mesa Temple grounds. They will be married on March 7 2009 in that same temple. Congratulations Jacob and Joni!

A Wonderful Mother

Finally... a new post! And this, my friends is a substantial and very exciting one. I've been waiting to post this for several weeks. I am excited and happy to announce that my little sister, Chelsea is pregnant. She and Darin are expecting their little fur ball sometime around June 27 2009. They thought it wise to hold off on telling the world until their first doctor's appointment which was today and everything is looking great. I am so excited to be an aunt. When I was pregnant, I had all sorts of day dreams about my unborn children and motherhood. Now I am day dreaming about aunt hood. I see myself making blankets and babysitting and spoiling that child rotten. I don't know if this will actually happen, but I'm excited to learn the ropes of aunt-ness. I'm also really excited for my kids to have a true cousin. In a few years, we can do cousin sleepovers! Fun! When we say cousin now, my kids usually think we are talking about Daddy's cousins or their kids. So it will be neat for them to finally understand what a cousin actually is. The due date is ironically 5 days after my best friend, Brooke's due date for their little one. Actually I know about 7 women expecting babies around that time frame. It is kinda making me think, "why am I not pregnant?" But that is a whole different post for a different day. In all I am just really happy for my little sister and I know she will be a wonderful mother.

(If you know Chelsea and want to keep up on things with her, she has started a blog which I have now added to the list on the left.)

Such a Joy!

This post is about my sweet little daughter. There is no particular thing that prompted this. There are just so many things that she does that I want to remember. Jade is my little snuggle bug. She is very affectionate to me and other people she loves. She loves to hug, but I think she likes to kiss even more. She comes up to us and starts kissing us repeatedly. Then she says, "Say too many kisses!" Then we say, "Too many kisses!" and she stops. She then starts the game over. On the opposite side, she is very good at blowing people off at her discretion. This is especially true when she is confronted with facial hair. She makes it pretty obvious where her feelings stand on this issue. She has really gained a personality over the last year. She is extremely "girly" and loves dresses, shoes, bows, and make-up. I don't let her wear make-up at this point, of course, but she treasures her lip balm and calls it her make-up. After I put it on her, she pokes her lips out and struts around the house tilting her head from side to side and holding her hands out at her sides. She told me she wants to paint her fingernails for her birthday party (it's a little ways off). Her favorite colors are pink and red. I think this is a pretty good choice. I mean, what's not to love about these two colors? One word: Starbursts! Pink and red are definitely the best flavors. However, I digress.
Jade loves to talk. If given the opportunity, she would have a conversation that lasted all day. She likes to use little cutesy sounding words (cup-y, teeny tiny, "Little Daddy" etc) although Spencer and I have never spoken to her that way. It's funny. I have really treasured our time while Braden is at preschool. It's fun to hear her opinions and listen to her ideas about life. She often will say something and then ask, "Right?". She seems really interested in learning about social behaviors. Probably not consciously, but she likes to know the proper response to situations. Jade is probably the most distracted and messiest eater that I know. She's 2 and a half but still gets food all over herself and the floor when she eats. Eating is more of a social time for her. I usually have her help me clean up in hopes that it will encourage her to hold over like she's been taught. So far, there are few results. I'm hoping she gets it down before dating age.
She loves everyone in the family but especially Braden. They've created this game where she says enthusiastically, "My Braden-y!" and then hugs him really tight for a long time. He often requests this game by saying, "Jadelynn, say my Braden-y and hug me forever." She's always happy to oblige, proof that despite their intense differences, they really can't live without each other. Basically, I can't imagine our family without Jade. She holds a special place and purpose, and she's such a joy.

"Ibol"

Braden has been eager to learn to read and write. Today he wanted to spell "eyeball" with his refrigerator letters. I helped him break up the sounds just a little and he chose the letters he thought would spell it. Phonetically, he did a pretty good job... "ibol"