Validation

So I have always had a thing for doodling, especially when I was in school. Now when I don't have a kid in my hands at church, I doodle there too. Christian always teases me and says that I am not paying attention... I explain to him that it actually helps me concentrate and focus on the speaker... he just laughs and thinks I am crazy. Well I saw this article online today and I am SO excited for him to read it, I just thought I'd post it for everyone else to read.

By HealthDay - Fri Feb 27, 8:48 PM PST
- FRIDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) -- You might look like you're not paying attention when you doodle, but science says otherwise. Researchers in the United Kingdom found that test subjects who doodled while listening to a recorded message had a 29 percent better recall of the message's details than those who didn't doodle. The findings were published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.
"If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream," study researcher Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, said in a news release issued by the journal's publisher. "Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task."

For the whole article click on the following link.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/takenotedoodlingcanhelpmemory.html

So let's all get our doodle on!

Quotable Quotes...

Me: Eliana your eyes are so beautiful tonight... they are so brown and pretty.

Eliana: They are not beautiful, they are handsome. I don't want brown eyes, I wish I had pink eyes.

The other day while in the car

Julia: ahhhhaahhahhabbaabba

Eliana: Cut it off

Julia: ahhahhh babababa

Eliana: Cut it off Julia!

Me: What are you talking about Eliana?

Eliana: I want Julia to be quiet...

So Eliana combined cut it out and knock it off.

I'm ONE!!!

Yesterday was Julia's first birthday! I can't even believe my baby is one!! It was pretty low key, we had a party with just us and my Mom who is here visiting from Maine. I had this fabulous idea awhile ago to do a cool cake and have her eat it in my studio as part of her birthday celebration. Lucky for me, my good pal Amelia knows how to make really cool cakes! She did an AMAZING job on this cake! Thanks so much Amelia! You rock! The first thing she did is pull out the candle and chew on it a bit... Not really her idea of a tasty treat! Oops Mom, Knocked the cake off.... That's okay.... we just flipped over and popped it back on the stand.... "What is this goo anyway..... "Eliana was more than happy to help her, but Julia had had enough! Eliana was

also very gracious to help Julia open her presents!

We got her a drum and she LOVES it!!!

Overall it was a very fun evening and Julia had fun... as much as a one year old has fun on their birthday I guess! She's just so darn cute and we are so in love with our little girl! Happy Birthday Baby Jewels!

Chester the Cheetah

Guess who Chester REALLY is.... that's right, Christian got to dress up as a 7 foot cheetah!

There is a big Native American pow wow and rodeo in town this weekend. There was a parade on Saturday morning and Christian was in charge of it. He had the privilege (l0l) of being Chester the Cheetah. He had to walk in that costume for about 2 miles!!! When he took it off he was SOAKING wet, pretty gross! Eliana had fun passing out chips to the parade onlookers for a little bit until they got too rowdy and then she sat in the truck.
We had a small crew since this was the first year Frito participated in the parade.

Grandma's Here!

My mom is here from Maine to visit for a couple of weeks and we are having lots of fun! Eliana is having fun dressing her up, painting with her, etc. etc. :)

Even Julia got in on brushing Grandma's hair.

Cinderella

Eliana has discovered vacuuming and loves it! I love it too!

Peek-A-Boo

Julia is 11 months old... actually next week, 2/24 she'll be 1!! Crazy how fast time flies! Julia LOVES to play peek-a-boo! She is so cute!

She also LOVES books!
She sure is a cutie!

Zullo Family

Our good friends from Utah, Brian and Tierra Zullo came to visit us. Christian and Brian worked together for 2 years and we lived in the Seattle area with them for the summer of 2007. At that time Eliana and Makayla were 2 1/2 and became best friends. They played a lot when we both lived in Utah and miss each other a ton. They have SO much fun together! Makayla has always had that green "Jamaica" dress that Eliana is wearing in the picture. Eliana LOVES it and always wears it when they get together. Makayla brought it with her and gave it to Eliana which made Eliana VERY happy! She wears it just about EVERY day!

Eliana got stung by a bee at the park! Playing Bocci Ball! (and yes, Christian and I did win ;)
Christian loves to do this to our babies... why? ? ? It always makes me nervous!

We did a little photo shoot of Makayla and Ethan while they were here. Check back soon to my photography blog, I am going to post more there.
It was such a great weekend. It is rare to find a family where everyone is close friends! Thanks guys for coming! We had a TON of fun!

Phoenix Zoo

On January 19th, MLK day, we all went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was lots of fun! Eliana got to ride on the carousel and enjoyed grooming the goats. Julia just enjoying the ride.

White Family Grandkids

All of Christian's parents grandkids were in town except Brent's 3 girls who are in TX. We did a little photo shoot...... fun stuff!!

Christmas Eve...12/27/08

Christian's extended family always gets together on Christmas eve. Because many of his cousins weren't going to be there until after Christmas eve, we had the Danish Christmas Eve on 12/27 at the Christensen's home. This year we did a nativity with the kids and it was so much fun. Eliana was Mary and did an exceptional job! (I was a little worried) They even had great costumes that Jenolyn had made for a ward party. The cousins also did a gift exchange with each other. Grandpa and Bedste

Kirsten drew Eliana's name and got her a couple of My Little Pony, ponies which she loves!

The kids waiting for their turn on "stage." Notice how Eliana has her head on Jarin's shoulder, how cute! (as a sidenote, the other day Eliana was talking about when she grows up and has kids, she told me she was going to marry Jarin, I had to explain that we can't marry our cousins! LOL)

I love her expression... I can see Mary having a similar expression.

Julia with her Grandpa.