Julie Anne Jones

My beautiful girl Julia was born seven years ago today. I love Julia. Next to Peter, she is my best friend. I remember being younger and telling my mom every detail of every day. Julia does that with me now sometimes and I love it. I love to go places with her. Shortly after Marti was born, Julia and I went to Kohls to pick out a new shirt for me to wear to the blessing. Martie slept through the whole thing but Julia and I had so much fun. I think we were there for about two hours. I just kept trying on different shirts trying to find one that looked good, and Julia would dance in the aisles and tell me which one looked the best. It was so fun. I love to go anywhere with just the two of us. I see so much of the little me in her. She wants to be in charge, she loves to be around people, she can walk up to anyone and introduce herself and ask if someone wants to be her friend, yet at the same time she is completely her own person- and I love the person she is.

Anyway, she has had some fun things going on as her birthday has approached.
Yesterday, she got to go be an extra in a movie with Peter. Nathan is funding a movie called, "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" and Peter spent the day at the airport with Julia and Grandma Linda. The movie comes out next spring and each of them should be in about four different scenes. I spoke with Peter during the day and he said that they didn't do much during the nine hours they were there. I asked Julia if she was bored or if it was fun to which she replied, "It was great I met a girl names Brianna and we played all day." She can make a friend with anyone anywhere. Pter wasn't able to take many pictures but here is a picture of the two of them together.
Today, we had some friends from our old Riverton house come visit. Heather, Lellia, and Gracie came to visit from California. We love to have them visit. So, today we pulled out the slip and slide and the kids all played on it with Mason, Alora, and Abbey. Here are some pictures.
We also did Julia's cake today. Since she was getting an "American Girl" doll for her birthday, she wanted an American theme. So, her cake was an American flag. A combination of dificulty finding the candles, and the desire for an American theme, led us to the genius idea of using sparklers instead of candles. Julia was a bit nervous at first but ultimately I think she found it fairly cool. And afer cake, Julia finally got the American Girl Julie doll that she has been saving for since Christmas. Grandma Julie and Grandpa Terry gave her a chunk of money that she combined with what she got from Peter and me as well as some money that she had earned. Here is a picture of her with her Julie doll and her Grandma Julie.
When all of that was done we went to a primary activity where the primary kids learned games they could play without any supplies if they ever had to evacuate and that brought us to the end of the day.

And now my beautiful girl is asleep in her room with her sister that I hope will be her best friend as well. It is funny because I almost miss her as soon as I put her to sleep each night yet I am grateful for the time that it gives me to reevaluate how I am going to be a better mom for her tomorrow.