Great Speeches

I don't really have much to blog about today. Nothing too exciting happened this week. The ward camp out got canceled, so no great stories from that. I spent the week cleaning more and more. We went to DI once and I already have another car load. It was a good productive week, but nothing really blog worthy.

Today Devin and I did have the great opportunity to speak in church though. The topic was "Freedom." I have never had the chance to speak on that subject before. I felt a little inadequate. I love U.S. history, but do not consider myself an expert in any way shape or form. All week long I wondered what I could possibly say about freedom. As I reflected on why I love being an American, what I love about this country and its history, and how that relates to the gospel several speeches came to mind. After reading through them I couldn't help but think about how inspired these men were. These speeches move me as much as anything Elder Maxwell ever wrote. I had so much fun reading famous speeches from U.S. history. It was as much fun as reading the conference Ensign. I am currently looking for a really good book that contains a good collection of the best speeches from U.S. history.

Anyway, since it is the 4th of July this week, I thought I'd share these speeches with you. Enjoy! They are SOOOO amazing! And if you'd like to comment here is the great question of the week, "What do you love the most about being an American?" Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Patrick Henry

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
March 23, 1775
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html

Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Lincoln/gettysburg.html


Martin Luther King, Jr.
I Have A Dream
August 28, 1963
http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

California

I can't believe that it has been over a week since we got back from California and I still haven't blogged about our trip. It is a good thing we have Sunday afternoons to catch up on life.

We went out to California to visit my grandparents. It has always been the highlight of the summer to go out and visit them. It was quite the shock going from the 70 and 80 degree weather to the high 90s. I guess we brought the heat back with us. While we there we spent most of the time visiting with family. My family is so great. I love getting the chance to visit with my aunt and uncle, grandparents, cousins, and extended Upton family. They are so much fun!!!

Devin had fun succoring the grapes in the vineyard with my grandpa and aunt. Seeing I am "great with child" I was not allowed to go out and help with the succoring. I would sit at the top of the vineyard and listen to them having tons of fun. I was also there to monitor that they would stop every once and a while for a water break. One day when they were out there working Devin yells up to me, "Julie bring the camera quick!" This could only mean one thing, rattlesnake. I got down close to where they were and Devin asked for me to bring the camera to him. I told him if there was a rattlesnake he'd have to come get the camera because I wasn't going to go near it. I didn't even want to see it before it was dead as a doornail. He came and got the camera from me and got a few great pictures. Then my grandpa killed it and stuffed it down a hole. It was surprising because the snake was actually up in the vine. He was just there hanging out. I was squirmy the rest of the day. The snake sighting made me feel not so bad that I wasn't helping succor the grapes.

The rest of the trip was pretty mellow. I went to Quilt Guild with my grandma. My mom worked on scanning pictures for family history. We visited and ate TONS of really great food. We also went down to one of the new county buildings. They have put up lots of photos from the community. Some are old pictures of the mines and logging trucks. Others are just to represent current local stuff. Long story short, of all of the farmers in the county my grandpa's picture got picked to put up on the wall. We told him he should sign it. But he just smiled. It is a great picture of him on his tractor. Way to go Grandpa!

We had a great time. It always goes by too quickly. I guess that means we'll just have to go again. The shocking truth was the thought as we were getting on the plane that the next time we go out to California, we will have a little baby with us. Won't that make life a little bit different. :) I can't wait. I hope she will love California as much as we do.

The Update

Several people have asked me how the cleaning organizing project is coming. It is coming along quite nicely. It would be even nicer if it was done. I have included pictures of the current state of this project. If you go back to my original blog pictuers you can really see how far things have come. So far the highlights have been 1. How grateful we are that Shopko has their bookshelves on sale because we are up to 5 bookshelves now. 2. The really nice guy at Office Depot for giving us a sweet deal on our filing cabinets. 3. Laughing at the things I've found. The best being a bird nest that my husband refuses to part with. 4. How great Devin has been at sorting though things. We currently have 3 piles in our living room. One for DI. One to be sold on Ebay. And one that goes to the dumpster. So things are coming along nicely. Summer School ends next week so I will have a few more boxes to bring home, just little stuff. We'll see how close we can get to being finished by the end of the month. If the pictures work right, the first picture is our living room. Then we go up the stairs, don't you love all of the empty crates and baskets. (What do I do with those????) Then we go into the room that had all of my stuff and then the room that had all of Devin's stuff. Enjoy!

Baby SOS

This evening Devin and I went and did some serious baby window shopping. We went to look at baby stuff so we could start to get a ballpark of how much stuff costs and such. After some time in Target and Babies R Us I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the baby stuff and how much it all costs. We know that there are a few essential things, such as a car seat, but what else do you REALLY have to have? I've never done this baby thing before and I'm a little lost of what is essential and what is fluff. So I figured I'd throw a few questions out to all the experienced moms out there. HELP!!!! Please share your advice! Here are my top three burning questions at the moment. (Don't worry, I'll have more later.)

1. Car Seat-- What makes it good? What have you liked/not liked? Good brands?

2. Stroller-- I run, I'd like to get a jogging stroller. Do I get two separate strollers or just the jogger? Where do you even use a stroller? How often do you use a stroller? What makes a stroller good?

3. What are the absolute necessary things to buy? What could you not live without?

Any other baby advice is always welcome. I look forward to all the wisdom that will be shared.

Anna's Friend

Now that school is out and we know that we are having a girl, I get to start doing some baby shopping. We have bought a crib and a changing table, but until I get the two rooms upstairs cleaned up they are just sitting in their boxes. As I was out doing some errands the other day I thought I'd pop into the Hallmark store and look at their Ty stuffed animals. Of all the things I need and want to get for our baby, I really wanted to get a cute stuffed animal. I found a really cute giraffe and I was almost going to get it, but the face wasn't quite right. (I know I spend way to much time picking out stuffed animals.) I looked around on the shelf some more and found a cute little bunny. As a kid I had a little bunny. I loved my bunny. I still have my bunny. I picked it up, it was so soft and so cute, and NOT PINK!!!! It seemed very appropriate that my little girl should have a bunny just like I had a bunny. So for now I have this cute little bunny sitting on my dresser reminding me of our cute little girl that is on her way.

Brent's Belated Birthday

My nephew Brent recently turned 7. We decided instead of giving him another toy, we'd give him some of our time. We gave him a coupon for "A Free Afternoon With Devin and Julie." He could pick any activity to do and after we'd go to lunch. His birthday was a month ago and we finally had time to take him out. Brent decided to go mini golfing at Trafalga. (I made sure to remind Devin before we went that we were to set a good example of how to behave during mini golf. And that at not point, no matter what happened in the game we were not to throw our club. Yes, he has done that before.) Brent had never been before and we were really excited to go on the the new Glow-In-The-Dark indoor course. They have just remodeled their indoor course and I must say it looks FANTASTIC!!! We had lots of fun. We went to Wendy's after for lunch. It was a great afternoon. I hope Brent had as much fun was we did. Oh, and Devin didn't throw his club.

Kami's Blessing

A week ago we made the first of many trips up to Idaho. Between a baby blessing and multiple weddings we are going to Idaho a lot. I guess we are trying to make up for the fact that I had never been to Idaho before I met Devin.
We went up for our newest little niece's baby blessing. We had a great time. It was a very relaxing weekend. Unlike some of those times when you try to cram too much fun into too little time. We stayed at Kyle and Kat's house. Their girls are so cute. It is such a change for me, since I have had all nephews for so long. (With the recent addition of Sadie last year, but still 7 boys is a lot of boy) Devin had lots of fun reading stories to Ashley and Kaitlyn while I got to hold little Kami. After holding Kami as much as I could I got really baby hungry. I didn't mind passing her off to someone else who wanted a turn holding her because I kept thinking, "In four months I get one of my own to hold all the time."
We also got to go do a session in the newly dedicated Rexburg temple. It was so great to go with Devin's family. It was a great weekend. We all just hung out mostly and had a great time.
The funniest part of the trip was probably what we came home with and luckily what we did not come home with. Ashley and Kaitlyn's cat had had kittens recently. Kyle kept asking over and over if we wanted a cat. "No Way!" "Absolutely Not!" "Not a Chance in HECK!" After spending such a fun weekend with them, I told Kyle if they move to Utah so we can see them more often I'd take a kitten. Which means we didn't take a kitten home. So what did we bring home? Come on, guess? We went to Idaho, so .... we brought home lots of potatoes. They are really big and really good. So if anyone has any good recipe ideas for red potatoes let me know.

It's a . . .

GIRL!!!!

We will post pictures and more details later.

Yeah for a girl!!!!

Anna Beth Baldwin is offically on her way.

Family History I Am Blogging It

Now that I am a "stay at home mom" I get to participate in fun things that I never had the chance to because I was working. Every week my mom and sister get together and do family history. They find all sorts of stories, pictures, and tons of cool stuff. Now I get to be part of Family History day. Guess what we did today? We created a Family History Blog. I think it is a fantastic idea. It is such a fun way to share family pictures and stories. So if your a Henderson, or just want to read the cool stories and see the cool pictures visit familyhistoryiambloggingit.blogspot.com .