Oil Painting

I started this oil painting a few years ago. It has been a tough painting and so I have slacked. There have been days where I have been so frustrated with it, but I feel that I have pulled through and got it to where I am satisfied with it. I painted this picture from a photograph that was taken on the day of our wedding. As you can probably tell that it was a beautiful morning that day. Soon I will get it framed and hung up in our house.

Look What I Inherited!

This piano was my grandma's when my mom was a little girl. My grandma gave it to my mom probably before I was born. Just last month, I inherited it. My dad loaded it into his truck with some help from some strong men and brought it up to my house. Then he unloaded it with some help from some more strong men which included my husband, brother and brother-in-law. What a ton of work. This piano is a beast, but I love it in my home. It is great being able to play the piano again even though I am not very good. Kelli sure loves it too. This month has been especially fun because I have been able to play Christmas songs.

My Little Princess is 4!

On Saturday, Kelli turned 4! I can't believe how fast time flies. She is growing up so fast. Well, this year she wanted to have a princess party. The last time she had a party, she was 2 years old so we figured it would be a good idea to throw her a party. She has been so excited for the last month that it has driven me insane. She keeps asking me how many sleeps until her birthday. If the answer was more than one, she would get all upset.

Finally the big day came which I had worked hard preparing for, for the last week. Since the party theme was a princess party, I thought it would be a cute idea to draw a frog and play "kiss the frog." Instead of "pin the tail on the donkey," it would be "kiss the frog." So I drew a frog and a bunch of lips. We blind folded them, spun them around and had them stick their paper lips on the frog. This is Prince Naveen from "The Princess and the Frog."



Here is how our home looked before the party started. Not that great of a picture, but you get the idea. Once the guests arrived, they put on princess skirts, crowns and jewelry. They looked so cute.


To add to the party theme, Kelli wanted a pink castle cake. I am not a cake maker, decorator, or stacker. So I did the best I could. It took me all day to make, because Carson was very upset. Probably because I wasn't paying very much attention to him. I would have decorated the cake more, but I was tired of decorating and making frosting. Which brings up another thought. I have never made frosting before. I know, kind of lame. I was impressed when I made it, because it tasted really good. Kelli loved watching me put the food coloring into the frosting and watching it turn colors. Here is my masterpiece.


After the kids played "kiss the frog," they started to decorate wands. I found the cutest glitter foam paper stuff and some glittery foam stickers. Then I bought some wooden dowels and cut them into equal pieces. I cut the foam paper into hearts or diamonds. Once the kids decorated their hearts or diamonds, I wrapped ribbon around the dowels and glued on their heart or diamond. They looked pretty awesome. This kind of gives you and idea of what they looked like.



After the wand making, it was time to sing happy birthday and eat cake and ice cream.


Then open up presents.


So, one of the gifts that Chris and I gave Kelli was a pillow pet. Have any of you seen them advertised. Kelli has been wanting one since she first saw them advertised on tv which was several months ago. Kelli was pretty excited when she got the bumblebee from us. Then at her party, one of her friends gave her the unicorn. They seem to be the top gift this year. When Chris and I were at the store picking out her birthday gifts, there were 3 other kids that flipped out when they saw us carrying around. They would shout to their mom that they wanted one and then they would start singing the song. It was pretty crazy.


Thanks to all of you who gave Kelli such wonderful gifts and brought your kids to her party. She had a blast and enjoyed having her friends there.

The whole bunch squeezed tightly on the couch. I just love this picture!

3 Months Old

I can't believe how fast time flies. Carson is already 3 months old. He turned 3 months on the 1st of this month. It makes me sad how I already put away all his 0-3 month clothes and how the 3-6 month clothes fit him so well. My little boy is growing up so fast.

Carson has now found his thumb which I can't keep out of his mouth. He is such a mamma's boy. He loves when I hold him which is probably his favorite thing. Carson constantly stares at me. I'll turn my head for a few seconds and look back at him and he is still staring at me. Then I smile at him which he immediately responds to by smiling back. And he has a smile that makes me melt. He also has a cry that is the saddest cry I have ever heard. He is a healthy baby which I am so grateful for and he is an awesome sleeper. Carson sleeps from about 9:30 pm to 6:00 am without waking up, but he eats every 2 hours during the day and he's a cat napper, but he won't go to sleep unless his mommy is holding him. But I don't mind, because I know he won't be a little baby for long. I am just so grateful to have him in my life.

Happy Halloween!

This is my first Halloween taking 2 kids trick-or-treating. I dressed up Carson as well and carried him around while Kelli joyfully ran from house to house ringing doorbells. She loved it and she got loaded with candy. Here are my cute trick-or-treaters.


Kelli always tries to be funny with every picture I take of her.

We also carved a pumpkin. This year Kelli seemed to really enjoy it. Last year she watched Dora while Chris and I carved the pumpkins. I asked her what she wanted me to carve into the pumpkin and she told me that she wanted a spider.

Skirts

My husband was out of town this week on a business trip, so my mom came to my house to hang out. My mom and I decided to make skirts. It was such a blast. We even had enough fabric for Kelli. She was pretty excited. Here is the finishing touch.

Carson's Baby Blessing

Yesterday was Carson's Baby blessing. My whole family came and most of Chris' family was there as well. It was such a blast and a wonderful day! I am so grateful for family!

For some reason I couldn't turn this picture around


First smile caught on camera.


Our family.

My Little Preschooler

Kelli is in preschool and I just can't believe it. I remember when she was born, I thought it will be a long time before she goes to school. Yeah right. Time flies by so fast. Now I can't believe I'm a mom with a kid in school. Kelli absolutely loves preschool. She started school at the 1st part of September, but it has taken me a while to get this post up.


She loves her princess backpack.

Labor Day Weekend

I have been a little slow with putting up more posts. Over Labor Day weekend, we went camping with Chris' side of the family. His mom's family has a huge family reunion each year on Labor Day weekend. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. Picture a huge meadow with trailers and tents parked around the whole thing. It is such a fun reunion. They always have a huge horseshoe tournament which is always so much fun to play in. There is a raffle for the kids and adults, yummy food, games, fishing and so much more.

I didn't get very many pictures but this one is super cute. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a baby boy 1 week after Carson was born. I loved how both of their eyes were opened. This is a picture of Chris mom with her 4 grand kids.


After a fun weekend, my family and I went to my parents home. Chris loves trail cams and so we went up the mountains to check the trail cam pictures. I took some pictures along the way.

Kelli, the Big Sister

First I have to ask, "Where's Carson?" Kelli loves taking care of her little brother. I put Carson on the floor while I got ready for the day. Kelli entertained him the whole time while she carefully placed all her stuffed animals around him. I just died laughing. I thought this was pretty cute.

2 Weeks

I have been trying to update my blog for the past 3 days and I keep having trouble with the internet. It makes me really upset. Carson turned 2 weeks old on Sunday. I can't believe it. He is growing like a weed because he is an eating machine. I took him to his 2 week appointment yesterday and he is now 8 lbs. He was 7 lbs 5 oz when he was born. I'm glad he is growing because I know he is healthy, but is makes me sad at the same time. I love the newborn stage. Carson is such a cuddler. I could just sit and hold him all day if it was possible. Here are some pictures I took throughout the past 2 weeks.


I just love this picture of him. Chris actually got him to smile, but of course I missed the shot.


Kelli loves her little brother. She is so good with him.



My grandma came to visit. It was wonderful to see her. She is my last grandparent on my side of the family.


Here are some other pictures I took of Carson.

Welcome Carson Todd Judd

Over the weekend, our son came into the world. He was born Sunday morning August 1st at 2:22 am. He weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz and 21 in long. Everything went well and Carson is doing very well. We are so excited and we feel so blessed to have him in our lives.

Our Family


My Favorite Guys

Hangin Out at Home

Update

I haven't really had a whole lot to post lately. I am 39 weeks pregnant and wishing that this little guy would get here. Everything is going well. Some days I feel like sleeping the whole day while other days I feel like going for a run. Sometimes I actually do run, hoping that it will speed up the process of him getting here. Of course I don't run far because it's quite uncomfortable, but the feeling of running is great. On Thursday, I felt like I had a ton of energy. After teaching yoga in the morning and shopping at the grocery store, Kelli and I washed our car and cleaned it out. We spent several hours cleaning the car. Kelli enjoyed spraying off the car while I soaped it off or spraying me as well. We scrubbed the dirty floor mats and got everything on the inside nice and clean. I just love having a clean car and Kelli does an amazing job helping me clean.


Kelli is a blast. I love the age she is at. She can spend hours playing with her toys. She has such an imagination. Lately she has been obsessed with telling me stories of when she was a little girl. It makes me laugh. She'll say to me, "Mom, when I was a little girl.....this and this happened." She'll go off on some big story and spend several minutes talking about it.

Well, Happy 24th of July to everyone! I love that I can live in Utah and celebrate this holiday. Utah is beautiful and I am very grateful that the pioneers came here and established a wonderful place to live.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Over the weekend, we celebrated Chris' birthday. He turned 27! For his birthday cake, he wanted me to make peach cobbler. It is amazing peach cobbler. It tastes so good. Friday was his birthday, so we went out to eat that night. Unfortunately we spent a lot of our time over the weekend preparing talks because we got asked to speak in church on Sunday. But it was still a great weekend. I just love celebrating birthdays.

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July weekend was a lot of fun. I got to see my whole family. It was great! Everyone gathered in the wonderful town of Gunnison for a weekend of festivities. On the 3rd, we went to the parade. All the cousins had a blast gathering as much candy as they could, waving at the people on the floats trying to persuade them for more candy, and loving the pageant girls dressed up like princesses.


Then they enjoyed the carnival and especially the train ride.


After the carnival and parade, we all went to Yuba for an afternoon of boating and hanging out on the beach.

Thanks everyone for such a fun weekend. It was great to see all of you.

5 Years!

Friday was mine and Christopher's 5th year anniversary. I can't believe it has been 5 years. Time sure flies. We spent our anniversary shopping at REI and Sportsman's Warehouse. It was a blast! We got each other rain jackets and hiking socks. After wards, we went out to eat and got milk shakes. I just love shakes! It was so much fun to hang out just the 2 of us. I just love that I have been able to spend 5 years with Chris and I look forward to many more years together. Happy Anniversary!