JiuJitsu

JC has really enjoyed his Jujitsu class. It has fun watching him learn and progress and have fun while doing it.

The Sempai (the Sensei's senior adult student and junior class instructor) says he is one of the best kickers in the class. It is because he took Karate while in Arkansas.

We took some video of him in a sparring match. As you can see he is quite talented.

This one is with the best student in the class. JC gave him a run for his money.


This one is against the Sempai.

Olivia Segui

Olivia!!! Isn't she beautiful!

Christmas season

We are having so much fun, I can't seem to find enough time to stop and write about it! Julia had a wonderful birthday with her two bestest friends over for a small party. She got lots of fun presents and just loved the attention and fun of celebrating a birthday. She also grew at least an inch in the month of November. I will post pictures of her birthday when I get them developed.
Thanksgiving was a time of peace and gratitude. We were grateful to spend the holiday with Chris' mom and ourselves reflecting on the blessings that we are enjoying. Plus we stuffed ourselves silly!! Julia and Ethan were excited to have another holiday to celebrate too. I was able to find some nice Thanksgiving decorations for the house at 90% off!!! Woohoo, so our home was festive and fun in fall colors to match our own yard's beautiful fall colors. The kids enjoyed playing outside for the last few days of fall before it started getting too cold in the beginning of December.

We have had a wonderful Christmas season so far. We put the tree and other decorations up on December 1st and Julia and Ethan had so much fun watching the sparkling lights and magic of Christmas unfold around them. They spread the ornaments very carefully on the tree, all on one branch, of course, and then we managed to disperse them in a more balance manner later on with their help to make sure that the tree didn't fall over. :) We put up our stockings and lights around the house too. Ethan loves to plug in the lights every morning and they ask every day if it is Christmas time yet. I keep telling them that Christmas time is for lots of days and we have to wait 25 days until Santa comes. They don't like to wait and I almost wonder if they actually believe that Christmas time is a real event or not, how do you explain time to a 3 year old?! :) They are being so very patient and are loving counting down the days with their advent calendars. Ethan will be most sad when he realizes that there won't be any more chocolate days.
We had a nice Family Home Evening last week and taught Julia and Ethan the real meaning of Christmas again and every night when they look outside the first star they see is the "New Star." It is precious.
Our little town of Lincoln had Santa come to visit tonight with a parade and a chance to sit on his lap. We were able to go to that and got to be right at the beginning of the line. Ethan went right up to Santa and said, Hi. Santa asked him his name and he told him and then he was asked what he wanted for Christmas. He said a race track and then Santa asked him what else he wanted and he said a Barbie for Julia. It was so sweet that he wouldn't ask for more for himself but for his sister. Julia got real shy right before it was our turn but in the end talked to Santa and told him what she wanted. I think I got some great photos and I will post them asap. We then walked around the square and enjoyed the lights and our town. We love living here with everyone so friendly and nice. This is such a wonderful place to raise a family. I feel very blessed! We went to dinner at our local cafe which is dirt cheap and delicious with everything made from scratch! Our day started out like most Saturdays and we went out to the mountains to what we call The huntin' land. Yes we are in Arkansas! It is a remote 160 acres of wooded land in the middle of the Ozark mountains. There are some great cabins up there and wonderful friends. We go and play in the woods and love being able to enjoy nature and visit with our friends. Julia's best friend is Augusta and her parents own the land, so Julia and Augusta romp around the camp and have a blast. Ethan loves the big boy time as he gets to hang out with Chris and Garry and ride a tractor or in the truck or roam the creek or woods.
We receive compliments all the time about how well behaved our children are and how beautiful they are and we just say thank you and agree whole heartedly, Julia and Ethan are a joy.
JC is doing well in Utah as far as I can see and hear. He is doing well in school and loves his teacher and has lots of friends in his class. He is enjoying Juitsu (sp?) and the individual attention he is getting. We miss him terribly, and are so glad he is happy.
We have a new niece, Olivia Segui that was born December 5, 2008. She was 6lbs 110z and 20 inches long. We are so excited to welcome her into the family!! We were able to go up to Springfield this week and visit and see her! Ethan and Julia both loved to see how small she is. They can't wait to be able to hold her. We plan on getting in lots of holding when we go up during the Christmas holidays.
We look forward to the rest of the season and reflecting on our Savior and his birth. We are so grateful for His gospel in our lives. May everyone that reads this know of His love for each of us and remember His sacrifice for us.

Merry Christmas!!!!

JC's school photo

Here is JC's school photo! He is such a handsome boy! I love you JC!

Halloween!

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins and getting dressed up for Halloween. We went trunk or treating on Wednesday with our ward, they had a blast with a haunted tunnel, a pinata, face painting, other games and of course getting candy. Everyone commented on our pumpkins that we brought with us to decorate our "trunk." Tonight we are going around our town square to Trick or Treat as there aren't any houses close to us. Tomorrow night we are going up to Springfield to visit Beth's parents and we are going to go to their ward's Trunk or Treat too, so we will have lots and lots of candy!!

Halloween Fun!

We had so much fun decorating our Haunted Halloween Houses, it is always crazy with all that candy, and that is what so fun about it all! JC is going to be the grim reaper, Julia will be a fairy princess and Ethan will be Batman, they can't wait for the day when they get to wear their costumes!

Future Rock Stars!

JC brought home some fun music that he is learning at school and Julia and Ethan were rocking out to it, they were too cute to not take a picture of, so I thought I would post it up for everyone! Ethan wanted to wear his swimsuit on his head, so that is what is on his head!

Fun photos

Here is the latest!

This is our new home!

This was taken in April 2008.

Julia's dance class photo!

Julia and Ethan were in the small town of Willard's Fourth of July parade for our church! They loved being in it, but when it was done were very sad that they didn't get to watch the parade.
Julia and Ethan figured out how to ride their new bikes in one day!! They are unstoppable now!

This is our front yard!

Blowing out the candles for his 3rd birthday! June 29, 2008

I am excited to share all that is going on here. Everyone has done so well with the transition of moving and getting to know each other. I will start out with introducing my husband Chris Erbe to anyone that doesn't know we got married July 12th of this year. We moved from Springfield to Lincoln, AR while the children were out with their Dad and Kathryn. They had a nice summer with them and came home to our new home here. JC had about 2 weeks before school started to get settled and comfortable and was ready for school. He attends Lincoln Elementary and his teacher is Mrs Winningham. He rotates through different classes and teachers throughout the day so doesn't see her much. He likes school and has made lots of acquaintances. He has a classmate right next door that he enjoys playing with. Julia has done fabulously here, she loves being outside and playing on the new swingset that Chris' grandparents purchased for us, thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Ethan has grown two inches in a month. He loves playing on the swings and in the sandbox! Julia and Ethan are taking a tumbling class and love it! Ethan can do sommersaults like a pro and is learning how to make those long legs of his stretch out and balance. Julia has almost perfected the cartwheel and both of them love to hang on the bar. JC has started martial arts and is looking forward to learning more. Cub scouts is starting up again now too and he is very excited for that as well.
We have loved going to the lake with our new friends Garry and Tina and their daughters Eb and Augusta. Augusta is Julia's best friend. They are two peas in a pod. Ethan is doing really well in the water now and will swim a little in the lake now which is great. We have enjoyed going to family barbecues, hanging out at new friends houses and going out for breakfast on Saturday mornings! We have a great ward that is brand new with a large primary. The children enjoy it very much. Ethan is the best behaved child in nursery and he loves to go to class.
We all enjoyed celebrating our wedding with an open house in Springfield with Beth's friends and family and then a fancy ring ceremony and reception here in Arkansas. The kids were absolutely beautiful all dressed up and JC as the ring bearer, Julia as the flower girl and Ethan as the leader of the procession.

8 Month recap!

It has been a great 8 months! We have all gone through a lot of change and fun.

The beginning of the year started with the children meeting Chris, and everyone seemed to hit it off well. Chris took us off-roading in the huntin' lands of Arkansas. Our friends have some land out in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful creek and tons of trees in the Ozark Mountains, to our Utah friends they are hills, and just as beautiful as the mountains in Utah. JC, Julia and Ethan all had a lot of fun exploring and enjoying being outside on a rare warm day in February.



Easter was cold, but fun when we participated in the Willard, MO annual easter egg hunt. All three children got a ton of eggs with lots of candy and toys.


Julia had fun with these glasses from the Easter Bunny.


Can you believe that JC is 9 years old!! He had a great birthday this year with lots of presents and parties.



JC enjoyed cub scouts and art lessons and his best friend Brayden. He still loves everything about animals and has practiced so that he draws them very well. He also really enjoys creating airplanes and rockets with his legos.
Julia had so much fun with her dance lessons and spending time on the farm. Her coordination is improving and she loves putting on her makeup and dressing up. She found a new friend in Arkansas, her name is Augusta and they have so much fun being girls together. They will play for hours and hours.
Ethan has gone from a toddler to a strong and sturdy 3 year old. He loves sports and can kick a ball farther than me and throw one farther than me too! He is also 2 inches taller than JC or Julia were at his age! He loved playing with his cousin Julie everyday on the farm. He loves playing with his trains and tracks.

More photos!

Hello! We are all doing well. The children are growing up so fast! We are enjoying a very dry winter, no snow yet! And it is very very cold, but still finding fun things to do and having lots of friends to play with. I have managed to put some more photos together. JC loves to create art and Julia loves to play the piano, lessons are in her near future, maybe when she is 5. Ethan loves trains to almost an obsession. He loves cars and trucks too!

Photos of the finished house