Jullien Turns 21 Today!

My little boy man is 21 today, and is celebrating in Paris right now. He left on a two month trip to work/model with his agencies in Europe. He traveled to Germany and Spain already and is now in Paris and will end up in London before heading back to New York. So unfortunately I'm not able to celebrate this momentous occasion with him.

Jullien has always been my tenacious kid. He was born two weeks early and when he was not quite a year old we moved from California to Utah to be close to my family. Just as we arrived he became very sick and listless. We rushed him to the ER and it turned out he had pneumonia. It was really scary and we weren't sure if he was going to pull through; little did I know way back then...I had a little fighter on my hands (in more ways than one!) Luckily he came through it with only slight lingering lung weakness that appears whenever he gets the cold or flu (it drops straight to his lungs.)

Jullien was always a skinny, lanky kid but had a huge attitude to compensate. He would stand up to anyone who came at him or his brothers, his friends, or someone who was getting picked on. This served him well in sports. He was really talented at football, baseball, basketball, surfing and volleyballl. He had a never quit, never let anyone get you down or tell you that you can't do something attitude. He would push through any obstacle like a bulldozer. No one was going to hold him back from something he wanted or wanted to achieve.

During his Senior year he started at safety but was moved up to linebacker for Edison High School. He didn't look like your typical linebacker, but he hit like a freight train. No one could ever understand how he had so much strength. During one of Edison's practices, Jullien kept getting by one of the huge lineman and sacking the quarterback. The coaches began to yell at the kid for being unable to stop Jullien. After about the third or fourth time of getting beat, the 250+ lb kid charged Jullien after the play was over hitting him from behind and knocking him to the ground. Jullien...all 130 lbs of him went crazy on the kid, flipping him over and ended up on top of him punching him. They finally had to pull Jullien off the kid. He definitely earned the respect of the players and coaches and proved that the size of the player doesn't necessarily matter, it's what's on the inside that's important. I think that's when the coaches decided to move him from safety up to linebacker.

Jullien has applied that same perseverance to everything he does. I can honestly say that I admire his fearlessness; his ability to charge at an obstacle and conquer whatever is in front of him. I've been so blessed to have such a wonderful son who has not only a big personality but an even bigger heart!! So today on his 21st birthday...I've posted 21 pictures of my boy throughout the years. I want him to know how proud I am of him and how much I love him. Happy Birthday Jujy!! I love you and am so blessed call myself your mom.
Never stop chasing your dreams!!

 YOU"RE 21 WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edison vs. Servite

Yesterday the Freshman had their big game against the power house private school Servite. It was one of those back and forth games, they scored, then we did. It basically came down to whoever had the ball last, would win the game.

In the 4th quarter we were down 13-14. We drove all the way to the 3rd yard line. It was first and goal with 40 seconds left in the game. The crowd was screaming and cheering...we were going to win the hard fought battle. The quarterback knelt down behind the center, waiting to take the snap, shouting, "Hut, hut!" The ball was hiked...slipping in between the quarterback and centers hands. It fell at a Servite lineman's feet. Everyone scrambled, pushing shoving, trying to land on top of the loose ball. Whoever came up with that ball would win the game.

And the winner is................................

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Servite!?????!

Can you believe it? We had that game won, there wasn't a question. Everyone in the stands and on the sidelines were ready to celebrate a HUGE victory. It was the biggest let down, the only scenario that possibly could have made us lose the game, a fumble...happened. I'm still upset, can you tell? The poor boys were devastated. Next week we play another powerhouse private school and USC Quarterback Matt Barkley's Alma Mater......MATER DEI. I hope things turn out better then!!

Varsity plays tonight and they're the underdogs. The games sold out and it's going to be a tough one. Hope we can pull it off. GO EDISON!!

New York Fashion Week-Dazed & Confused

Jullien just left today to head back to New York for Fashion Week auditions. He's been home for almost 2 1/2 weeks (except when he left for 2 days to shoot a Jil Sanders Lookbook). I guess the last week of Aug. is model vacation time. His agent told him to NOT GET TAN! Ya good one, you try and keep a 17 year old, Orange County surfer out of the sun. He looks really good tan though...but his agent has him down as caucasian (which he is only 1/2) so he can get pretty golden in the summertime. Hopefully the Fashion Show bookers like his tan look too!

Typical Orange County Surf Day~Jullien lovin it!

He just had his first magazine come out in the U.K. It's a huge magazine over there~"Dazed & Confused". He was pretty excited, he had three of the four pages from the photo shoot. So of course I went on Ebay and got a copy of it for 18.99!YIKES! Here's the pics:

photos: Terry Tsiolis for DAZED & CONFUSED MAGAZINE
stylist: Nicola Formichetti



Agency: RED MODEL MANAGEMENT (click link)

It's funny how life can take a completely opposite turn than what you had planned. He went from a First Team All Sunset League Football Linebacker, being looked at by colleges...to a model pretty much over night! How different can you get? He likes modeling, but says that the hardest part is being away from his girlfriend of a year and a half. I will definitely be sad if they break up, she's an awesome girl, but I know it will be hard for them to stay together.

Thought I would share some pics of the "regular" Jullien.

Jullien & Chelsea

Pep Rally before rival game against Fountain Valley

Jullien #9 (green & gold)-Just before sacking Mater Dei QB MATT BARKLEY (Now the 1st True Freshman to start this year at USC)

Handling the double team

Edison's 09' Powerhouse Linebacker's (#9 Jullien Herrera, #35 Jordan Zumwalt, #26 Matt Reza)- WE BEAT MATER DEI!

Us with my tall model boy! Just a regular kid plucked out of an ordinary life, headed for the BIG TIME.

P.S. He has a Details Magazine coming out soon...stay tuned for pics.

HUGE WIN-Edison vs. Mater Dei

#9 Playing Linebacker

Last week our whole family was sick. I missed a whole week of work and Jullien kept trying to go to school but couldn't make it most of the week. We had a HUGE game against Mater Dei (the private school that Matt Leinart (USC & NFL QB) went to. The current Mater Dei quarterback, Matt Barkley won the Gatorade player of the year and has a full ride scholarship to USC. We haven't beaten them since 2005, not to mention the public school (us) vs. private school (them) issue (recruiting). Now that I've given you a little background, here's how it all went down.

The day of the game, Jullien couldn't breathe AT ALL! The team REALLY needed him and he was going to be playing linebacker more than safety to pressure Barkley. So I rushed him to the doctor at 2:15 and they had to immediately give him a breathing treatment. They checked his oxygen level and said it was still way too low. They had to give him another treatment and his levels were still too low. We sat and waited while she checked different fingers. Finally his levels went up enough to leave and she said he would need to use an inhaler before the game also. I asked if he thought he could play and he said, "I'm playing no matter what mom!"

Getting Double Teamed

Jullien made a key tackle to stop their drive on 3rd down

He played INCREDIBLE...every time he came off the field he would throw up and then go back out and make another tackle. During half time he was so out of it he fell asleep and they had to wake him up when it was time to go back out. We had a bunch of our key players hurt and our quarterback, Matt Viles was sick too.

Jullien tipped a pass and we intercepted

WE WON 24-14!! Everyone stepped up and played with so much heart, it was a HUGE WIN!!

WAY TO GO CHARGERS!

Perfect Ending to a Perfect Game