I'm a big girl NOW!

Picture compliments of: www.ashleytaylorphotography.blogspot.com

Yes it is true, she is a big girl now. The BIG 2! Her birthday ended up being on Thanksgiving this year and it couldn't have been more appropriate. Because we are oh, so ever thankful for this little girl. We get sassy, sweet, stubborn, and silly all in this happy little package we call Jocelyn. Honestly what would we do without her?

She is ALL girl! she loves her babies, and pretty skirts that twirl, bracelets, cleaning (she cleans everything! I love it. :)), and her daddy. But yet she has this crazy little tomboy side where she rolls in dirt, carries around sticks, and will stands-up to any little boy who thinks they might get the upper hand on her. So watch out she's not quiet as innocent as she looks.

She has learned to crawl out of her crib much to our dismay, but we have found that if we give her a very stern look (aka: death stare) then she'll stay in her bed. But we didn't discover this until about an hour of trying to get her to stay in her crib. She'd crawl out, I'd put her back in, she'd crawl out, I'd put her BACK in...again, and again, and again. It was very "Super Nanny-ish".

She has also learned that she doesn't like to stay in her diaper after she goes potty in it. So she takes it off and brings it to you. She doesn't care where she's at, where you're at, or that sometime it would be a lot easier just to leave it on! So maybe she'll just hurry up and potty train herself, right?

Oh, our little Jocelyn!!!! We love her so! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our little girl!

Christian Quote:


Christian: "Why is Jocelyn still the same?"

Me: "What do you mean, still the same?

Christian: "It's her birthday she's two now. Why isn't she talking like she's big?"

EXTREME MAKEOVER...

...COUPLES EDITION

before...

after...

It's that time of year again...

FaMilY PicTuRe tiMe!

Do we all remember last years picture?

Christian would not give us a decent smile if his life depended on it. Our little Sonic the hedgehog. And I think we ruined my poor sister-in-law forever, from taking pictures, well at least our pictures. But we LOVE her and can't thank her enough for taking our pictures. WE LOVE YOU AUB!



Well this is what we got this year

We got a SASSY little Jocelyn instead of a crazy little Sonic the hedgehog. Oh, well you win some you lose some. I do love this picture, even though Jocelyn is being so naughty and bonking her brother on the head. Those are my kids!!! I wouldn't change them for the world!


Thank you so much Ashley for taking our pictures. I seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, them and can’t even begin to explain how amazing you are as a photographer and person. I just LOVE YOU!!!!! Thanks for being SO great and knowing how to calm down a stressed-out, crazy, Mom :)


Check out more of our photo shoot and Ashley’s gorgeous photography at http://ashleytaylorphotography.blogspot.com/. She is A-MA-ZING!!!!

This is SO funny, and SO true!

Thanks Brooke for sending it to me. Loved it!

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk?

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, people!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will hey judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leaves the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

I don't know about you, but I think in English. I've never had the courage to ask other people what language they think in.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, or Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

It really ticks me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get mad at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

WHAT! Shu's have a yard!

Oh, that's right baby! We've got a yard. I can hardly believe it. In fact, hold on while I go outside and feel the beautiful, green, luscious grass between my toes....LOVE IT! So here's a little taste for ya.

Before...

and after......
Imagine a cute little bridge in that dirt spot and a craftsman style lamp post by it! Cute you say? SO DO I, SO DO I! So yeah, I guess it's official now, we are not white trash. :) Well I guess we kinda are, we still have a gravel drive way. Next year my darlings, next year.......
oh and next year we'll plant trees and bushes, and flowers, and lots of other goodies. We just need to figure out what the deer will, and will NOT eat. That's one downfall of living in the canyon. But that's okay I'll take it, there are SO many other bonuses like this one...

SO MUCH too BLOG...SO little TIME!

We have been having WAY too much fun. This summer has been such a blast. Not that we did anything BIG and EXCITING, but we just power packed it with lots of fun little stuff. It's the small things in life that really count, right? Well there is so much I want to blog about and so many pictures I want to share. So hang on to your seats...here's Shu Family Life...at a glance. SHALL WE...? WARNING: This might possible be really boring and long to anyone that isn't me.


Activity #1-August 8th

Celebrated Jed's Dad's Birthday by doing what he does best...work. We spent the day working on clearing the cabin lot of all the dead logs, by sending them through a very LOUD wood chipper.

Here's Jed looking very manly, showing those logs whose BOSS!

The Kids couldn't get enough of the 4-wheeler and pile of wood chips, I mean come on nothing says FUN like a huge pile of wood chips and some cups, right?

ACTIVITY#2 -August 10th-17th

Jed took a much needed "male bonding" trip with his Uncle and cousins for A WEEK. They went to the High Uintas on a back packing trip. He loved it, even if they did get snowed on and all his stuff got wet. He came home, stinky, hairy, but REFRESHED. Sadly he didn't take any pictures.

What did me and the kids do while the hubby was gone? PLAYED! I didn't want to sit home and mope, knowing that would just make the time go slower, so we had sleepovers every night. Once with Jed's cousin's wife, and my good friend, Angie, and the rest of the time I had some of my Young Women over. It was a blast. I kinda felt like I was in college again.

WE went to the Zoo. Sorry lots of pictures here, but I was under strict instructions to take LOTS of pictures and video of Jocelyn since this was here first visit to the zoo and Jed was going to miss it.

Look at all the fun cousins my kids get to hang-out with. We love 'em!

Jocelyn loved these cute, little monkeys. P.S. If I look hot and sweaty, it's because I was!

AWWW! The cute baby Giraffe, I HAD to take a picture of him/her.

She's cute...that's all.

She LOVED the little cats. I had to drag her from this place.

We took a train ride. Cute little cousins!

Jocelyn sharing a little "cheese" with her aunt Chissy.


She is SO crazy. She got bored in line so thought this would be a good idea, except that her chubby little fingers could barely reach over the pole. But yet somehow she managed.

What a handsome little fella......

Christian took this picture, impressed? I am. This is me and Bethany (one of my cute Young Woman)baking cookies for the fourth time that week. They are SO good! And if I am going to be truly honest, then I must admit, it was more like Bethany baking cookies and me eating cookies.

I made this skirt for Jocelyn. With help from Angie P. (as part of our sleepover activities :)), and my Mom. It is SO cute, and she loves it. I am making her a Christmas one kinda like this too. It is so fun, and empowering!


Even after all that fun, we still missed Jed like CRAZY! The kids helped make this sign. Christian even wrote out the bottom line all by himself. He was so excited for Jed to see his special sign, but Jed wasn't getting home until after the kids were already in bed. So christian told me, "When I wake up I'm going to ask Daddy if he saw his sign, because if he did then that means he's home." I guess he didn't catch on that if he could ask him if he saw the sign, then that would mean he was home. Kids are cute.

Activity #3- Christian started his 2nd year of Pre-School!

He was SO excited to go back to school. All summer he talked about going back to school, to see his friends and his teachers. He loves his teachers SO much and cried hysterically the day he found out that they won't move on to Kindergarten with him. "But I need them Mom, they know all the good songs. I can't go to school without them." Oh, my little Christian.



Activity #4-Sleeping with daddy!



Jed was up sleeping with Christian and I was putting Jocelyn to bed, but she was adamant about giving Jed and Christian kisses before bed so I took her to them and then she wouldn't leave. She clung to her daddy like her life depended on it, and so they all fell asleep together.

They truly LOVE their daddy! I love seeing stuff like this, it brings everything back into perspective.

Activity #5-Onion Days!

We did it all this year! We had Jed's 10 yr class reunion which Jed was in charge of. Went to the Carnival, fireworks, band concert, parade, picnic in the park, pig wrestling, and amongst all those festivities we had our 7 year anniversary! I forgot the camera for most of the activities so here's what I did get to document.



The Parade...

Jocie loved it...of course, she LOVES everything.

Christian hated all the loud noises...of course, he always does. This kid has the most sensitive hearing...EVER.

My hottie husband...of course!

Christian wrestled a pig as the HULK...

This was his team. A team full of girls he didn't know what to think about that.

Then he spotted the team behind him and he KNEW that there MUST have been a mistake.

I forgot to take pictures of him actually trying to "wrestle" the pig because I was too into it. OOPS! He was cute and was very careful to not get too muddy, and he covered his ears because the pig was too loud and he knew the buzzer was going to go off.

They didn't get nearly muddy enough!


After they wrestled they got squirted off by the fireman. He that was so COOL

Activity#6

AW! We really DO love each other! Don't we? We got to sneak away together for a 3 day Park City getaway. It was so nice! We went to the Draper temple, got massages, ate delicious food, played Frisbee golf in the gorgeous mountains, went swimming, went to the movies, went shopping, and had so much fun!!! But isn't it sad that this was one of the only pictures we took. I'm a slacker...I know this.

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE, thanks goes out to G-MA Sharon, and G-PA Karl for watching are precious little ones. YOU GUYS ARE LIFE SAVERS, once again! Oh, and Jed, THANKS for 7 amazing years of pure BLISS with my very bestfriend. LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!

Well now, that WAS REALLY long. Sooooo sorry, but hey you were warned. :)

P.S. This post was dedicated to SHARRON STRINGHAM. Happy now? :)

Christian Quotes...

#1

Heather: " Why are you so handsome?"

Christian: "Because you're so beautiful."

#2

Christian: "Dad, the bad weeds grew flowers. I know why they did that, to make us happy."

#3

Heather: " Christian, be nice and eat your eggs."

Christian: "Mom, you gave me bad eggs, and they make me mean."

Camping is a...

JOY! Especially when you are with the most wonderful people you know. Yah, that's right I am talking about... family. We have been blessed with two party animal families, and that means two amazing family reunions. This year they happened to be back to back. HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY!



Event- Shuler Reunion up Payson Canyon for a WEEK!


Time was spent-eating, playing cards, steal the flag, singing around the camp fire, eating s'mores, Payson Lake, Grotto waterfall showers, fishing, kick the can, water balloon launching, bike rides, talking, laughing, getting dirty and basically having the time of our lives.


Highlights-

Event-Goodrich annual trip to the Unitas


Time was spent-eating(of course!), playing nerz, riding four-wheelers, playing nerz, riding four-wheelers, shooting guns (yes, we might be a redneck), playing in the water, golfing, playing Settlers of Catan, playing Settlers of Catan, playing Settlers of Catan (ya, we played a lot!), Provo waterfalls, had a blast!

Highlights-

Mourning the loss of a friend...

Mr. Caterpillar Goulashes you were loved by a 2 year old boy, loved like only a 2 year old boy could love. He loved you so much that he cried the day you wouldn't fit on his 4 year old feet anymore. He loved you for two short, happy years. Thank you. You were always there with a smile on your face through the good times, bad times, sunny times, and of course the RAINY times. Thank you for bringing a smile to our little boys face and to the passer byers who saw the two of you clunking down the paths of another one of Christian's little adventures. It is sad to say goodbye but so happy to see the love that one small boy has given to one small pair of boots.

The happiness begins on April 8th 2006, Easter Sunday.

Christian's sad that his new boots got dirty...if he only new what these boots were made of. If he only knew that there would be so much more dirt, and mud cleaned from these boots.

The sad and dreaded day of "the growing out" of the beloved boots. July 19th 2008.

The before and after. WOW! That's a whole lot of love! Christian will miss you so! But don't worry there is a sassy pigtailed little girl that just might need to squeeze a little bit more love out of you with a whole new pair of chubby little feet.

And shall we end this with a Christian Quote? Sure!

Christian: "I love you Mom. You make my heart happy."