My Celebrity Look-a-Likes

Surprisingly to me none of these matches are the one I usually get pegged for. I even used an older (less chubby) picture too!

Yesterday afternoon Michael Anne and I headed down to Provo to the Bean Life Science Museum. She always has a great time there. I love it because it is nice and cool, it's a great place to teacher scientific names and things about the animals and where they live, and it's free! After finding all the animals on the sheet they give the little kids we spent some time exploring other things and then headed outside to look for ducks.

We found some ducks and even some ducklings down below the Bell Tower. Some kids were wading in the cool water so we decided to take our shoes off and have some fun too. The water was so refreshing and freezing cold which was a nice treat on a 100+ degree day!!!

I love this picture, isn't she beautiful!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July

I hope you all had a nice holiday. This holiday, along with Thanksgiving, is one of my favorites. Sitting out on our porch overlooking the valley reminded me a lot of sitting on the front lawn of Fort Clayton and watching the fireworks display beyond the canal.
Nothing beats the 4th of July on a military base, especially overseas!
I am so grateful for our service men and women, past and present. Especially my brothers and their families, THANK YOU ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Love, Julie

Funny Things I thought My Family Owned...

This morning I was looking at Ann's blog. Along with a hilarious photo of naked protesting butts was a picture of her husband, Brian, and their little boy, Colin, arriving home after a day out. The caption to this photo went like this..."Home again, home again jiggedy jig." This sent me into a flurry of nostalgia as every time we arrived home my mother would make us all laugh by singing "Home again, home again rigga jig jig!" I now do this with my own family and I was totally surprised to hear a variation of this familiar song from someone else!! I had always thought that this was my mom's own song.

"In the mist of my mind" by Al Sprague to see more of his work visit http://www.panamaart.com/servlet/StoreFront
The house in this painting is just like the one I grew up in at 516 Walter Reed, Fort Clayton, Panama. Ah, the memories!

Since I left the security of my parent's home bound for college so many years ago I have been surprised to learn that so many things I once thought were unique to my family aren't! It is always a funny, yet shocking moment when one of these things hits me. So I thought I'd share a few more with you.

"Hey, what are we doing in that book?"

The first time this happened was when I was in college. Hillary will remember this moment as it occured in her dorm room. She was taking this art appriciation class in which she had to memorize what seemed like hundreds of famous paintings and their artists. I was flipping throught her 6 inch thick book when I came across a picture of my mother and me!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How in the world could that picture of my mother and I in the garden, the picture that hung in my room for so many years, since before I could remember, be here in this textbook? Most of you may know this painting and I thought I did, it was me and my mom, right? Wrong. It was The Two Sisters by Auguste Renoir. I don't care who they really are, they are still my mom and me!

"Hey, they're singing our song!"

Another funny moment came when I was attending a BYU football game. The Cougars had just scored a touchdown and in keeping with Cougar tradition we all jumped to our feet and began singing the fight song chorus...which until that point I was unfamiliar with...or so I thought. To my total shock and surprise the entire stadium began singing my mom's wake up song! "Rise and shout the Cougars are out..." WHAT? Every morning from the dawn of my birth my mother had woken me up to this fun little ditty. How in the world did all of these people know her song? I was baffled! Incidentally, I now sing this to Michael Anne every morning too! Now Michael shouts "Go Cougars, Woot Woot!!!" on command, she is quite the BYU fan! I always tell her that SHE is my Alma Mater's daughter.

Chorus: Rise and shout, the Cougars are out along the trail to fame and glory. Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out As you unfold your victr'y story. On you go to vanquish the foe for Alma Mater's sons and daughters. As we join in song, in praise of you, our faith is strong. We'll raise our colors high in the blue And cheer our Cougars of BYU.

"The "Holy War"

5 Years in Review...Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

I love you Derek!!! Thanks for all the happy memories. I have enjoyed our lives together and I am looking forward to the rest of forever together! Thank you to all of our friends and families for helping us through. We love an appreciate you so much.

Another Attempt to Dress Herself

This morning Michael came running into our room asking for her Sunday shoes to go with this lovely outfit she had put together! I am always amazed at her sense of style, especially since sometimes she has a total freak out if she isn't matching from head to toe!!

Our little Princess

Isn't she beautiful! Grandma Church couldn't imagine a little girl without dress up clothes, and now we can't either! She has so much fun and dresses up in her "wedding dress" and then she asks us to marry her. The wedding consists of dancing and singing (usually - "I know you" from Sleeping Beauty) and then we kiss and she runs off to get our baby. Then we feed the baby and play house. It is quite fun!!