Moments with the Murphy's

A LOVEly day!

2012-02-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Our Valentines Day was simple but very nice and fun! I have to say that I'm not a fan of the holiday falling mid-week because it puts a little damper on spending it with your sweetheart....at least when you have lots of little kids:)
Our Valentines Day was enhanced with these little cuties this year...if you look close, you can see their heart-shaped hair bows.

This year I did our Valentines Gifts a little different. Chris and I usually do gifts for each other and gets the kids a little something special. BUT for months I've been having very strong feelings that I needed to get our 72 hour kits put together. I wanted to do it for Christmas but time really didn't permit so I set the goal that this would be our valentines day presents. In my opinion there was not a better way to show that you love someone then to keep them safe and protected so thus months of work began.

I put together very extensive backpacks for our everyone in our family with no expenses spared. I hope that these feelings don't mean that we'll need to actually use them but I wanted to make sure that we'd have everything we'd need....including a small stove, 3 tube tents, emergency blankets and warm fuzzy blankets in each backpack, radiation pills, emergency radio and a source of power....just to name a few.

For FHE on Monday we were going to go over emergency procedures with the kids but it got put to the backburner when all of us made the most beautiful long-stemmed, huge, chocolate covered strawberries for a bunch of the doctors Chris visits. We (as in mostly me, the kids lasted about 10 minutes and I was at it for about 3 hours) made 8 varieties and packaged them beautifuly! I always am excited to start these projects and half way through am angry we didn't just go and buy the finished product. May Chris's commissions increase with this gesture:)

On Valentines Day we did a simple dinner that I'll probably do from here on forward because it was easy and fun. We did heart-shaped pizza, green salad in a heart-shaped bowl, heart shaped ice cream sandwiches, and pink lemonade.

Before we put the kids to bed we talked about what we loved about each other.

After the kids went to bed it was Chris and my time...I love after the kids go to bed:)

where did january go?????

2012-02-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

I wish I could reflect back on this last month and figure out what we were up too but it went by too quick. If I actually taken some pictures that sometimes helps me to recall events but I didn't do that either:)

So some of the simple things I can recall.....

Landon constantly told me he was too tired to do anything: preschool, wake up in the morning, clean up, eat dinner, you name it! I actually believe him though. I think he's going through a growth spurt and he really is very tired. He's getting SO tall and easily can pass for a year older then he really is. Landon also got to play with grandpa a couple times this past month and when I'd tell him grandpa was coming Landon would say "tickle monsters coming." Needless to say I think tickle monsters efforts were to wear out Landon but unfortunately I saw a lot of Landon treating grandpa as a trampoline and wearing him out.

Jaden is doing awesome in school and I love to hear about his days. Him and I love to play games together and I'm so grateful he's advanced from games like "candy land" because I wasn't always a very willing participate. Our favorite game to play together at the moment is "blokus jr." I'm so glad he's finally getting into games we both can enjoy. Last year I worked in Jaden's classroom for 1/2 a week and really did not enjoy it. I don't know what is different about this year and I was a little worried when she told me she'd need me for 1 1/2 hours a week but I really enjoy going. I feel like I know all the children in the classroom really well and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on at school. Unfortunately the teacher has decided to no longer do "daily 5" where I volunteered so next week is my last week to go there. I'm a little sad but it does simplify my life so I guess it's a trade-off.

Yesterday the girls turned 9 months. Everyone told me this is the point it gets easier but I felt with each month they've gotten harder and crankier. They each now have two teeth and I think the teeth have been a cause of some of their crankiness. The both LOVE to go out and on the morning we don't go to the gym they are usually unhappy! They love the daycare and the other day when I went to pick them up Eli was surrounded by 5 little girls who were probably about 2 1/2 and the were all playing with her. She was beaming. When the girls saw me they told me they were babysitting my baby. I'm not sure if it's the twin factor or the fact they are girls but they get much more attention then the boys ever did and I think that is why they love to go to the gym daycare. They are entertained by sweet little girls the whole time and they love to crawl around and explore all the toys.

Here's some cute pics of these cute little girls that are getting into everything...Alisha decided to eat a sheet of stamps yesterday that she pulled out of a closed drawer. I scolded her telling her it was like eating money. I'm sure I got through to her:) Let the child proofing begin!

Getting Old!

2012-01-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

On Monday I got a year old and the girls got a month older. I turned.....32....I hate to even acknowledge I'm that old. Eliza is modeling my present...a new (used) piano. I've never even thought about getting a piano and then a week before my birthday I told Chris that was what I wanted on the spur of the moment. So far our whole family has enjoyed my birthday present:)

This past month Alisha has grown up so much. She's gotten to be a much better sitter (not good enough that I let her model the piano). She army crawls and loves to rock back n' forth on her knees and hands. She has very good fine motor skills and can hold her own bottle, clap, and do lots of little things with her hands.

Eliza got her first tooth about a week ago. She is started to crawl with a dominate side that sometimes flips her over as she goes towards her destination. She cruises in her walker. She is definately the better sleeper out of the two girls and seems to require more sleep then Alisha does.

These girls are a lot of fun and love to explore one another. There may be a little ear pulling, eye pocking, head resting on each other but they sure do love each other.

Other happenings during the break

2012-01-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

We went to leo's place. The boys loves the food, climbing gym, and the games!

The girls experienced their first little ride ever. These pictures were taken before we put the quarter in. After that was a little crazy. I may have yelled at Chris to grab a baby....I was holding onto them from the back and lets just say they almost flew out. This ride may have to wait until they are two.

Alisha loves doing tricks with daddy!

Landon is now a sunbeam and not very happy about it. He didn't want me to leave him but of course when I left he did just fine...the donut may have helped.

We've went swimming a couple time during the break and on Friday we had friends join us. We've sure missed them:)

Merry Merry Christmas

2011-12-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we went to Happy Feet Two. I was worried about the girls because it was during their nap but they loved the music and danced to a lot of it and both fell asleep towards the end. The boys loved the endless popcorn and landon even fell asleep too! We love to go to the movies around Christmas time.

After the movies we went to my grandmas house for dinner and it was yummy!

After dinner we did the nativity. Jaden was so amazingly good! Usually he's a little loud and I've never seen such an angel...although he did not play an angel but a Shepard:)

Then we watched a movie about our savior. Again, Jaden watched so intently and didn't make a peep. Landon...he was a little hyper!

After the movie we went and opened Christmas PJs from grandma and grandpa. The boys are always excited to see what pj's they'll get...I loved this tradition growing up. After that my grandma gave the boys cars 2 and I've NEVER seen them so excited! It was the funniest thing ever....apparently we didn't need to spend a bunch of money on gifts...we just needed to buy them a movie. They both started jumping up and down and ran and gave my grandma a hug. Landon had to show everyone there his movie. It was so cute!

Merry Christmas Grandma Murphy

2011-12-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Grandma Murphy couldn't be here with us for Christmas and I know she would have loved to.

So we broke a couple of rules today. About a week ago grandma sent some money for us to find toys for the kids for Christmas from her. I turned to my favorite store Amazon and a few days later their gifts arrived.

Since Christmas eve and Christmas day can be a little crazy we wanted to make sure the boys had a separate time to open the presents from her so they didn't get lost in all the shuffle.

We sat them down today and asked them if they wanted to open them up today. We were a little surprised when Jaden informed us that we were breaking the rules and that they can't open them until Christmas. We told him that since they were from Grandma Murphy he could but we weren't going to make him...it was his choice.

He finally decided it was OK BUT we couldn't tell grandma that they opened them and we couldn't tell her thank you for them until Christmas so she wouldn't know. HONEST???? I'm not quite sure but once he came up with this plan he was excited to open them.

We didn't have the girls open their since they aren't getting much for Christmas anyways:)

So here's my side-ways videos from my phone....I didn't realize I needed to turn my phone a certain direction. Both boys are a little camera shy but they've been playing with their presents for over an hour.

Here's Landon opening his play dough potato head. At speech Mr potato head has been a favorite and it's been a great learning tool for him to learn the body parts and their functions...nose is for smelling, ect. As I played this with Landon I realized this one also allows us to review his colors as I ask him what color he wants to make the hair, nose, ect.

Jaden got a Cars 2, 3d art thingy. We've had to look up a couple of numbers off the cars 2 characters so he could make sure he puts the right number with the character.

Then they got a present to share...a game. They love playing games together and this one is simple enough for both of them to enjoy together.

As I uploaded these videos Jaden came proudly to show me his potato head, all the body parts are play dough...apparently the gifts are interchangeable.

Merry Christmas Grandma Murphy and we hope you have a wonderful day! The boys will call you on Christmas and pretend they had just opened your presents:)

Some other randomness

2011-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

As I clean off pictures off my phone I have a few to post ..

This is my adventure of taking 6 kids, 6 and under to Walmart for a couple of items I needed for our ward party. As bribery we started at the candy aisle. They had to make a decision of ONE thing of candy. A vote was taken on all the potential candidates.

This beautiful lady in her carseat. I actually think one of the kids took this picture because I don't remember taking it. My vote is that it's Eli

Little miss Alisha loves it when I clap, dance, and sing to her loudly! I decided that I needed to get it on camera although this is a very failed attempt. I've decided that these efforts shouldn't be done alone since I'm not able to clap and video tape very well. Alisha has been working so hard on clapping herself and randomly succeeds at it and gets so excited when she does. One of these days my arms won't be too full that I can't capture these moments better.

The gift of Giving!

2011-12-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

This year as I look at all our wonderful blessings I realize how much we have and how it's a gift that we can share either by our time or our resources....we all can in some way.

I want my children to recognize our blessings too and it's exciting that they are getting old enough to have more of an understanding of these things.

At our gym they had a huge giving tree and I wanted to bring the boys back to pick one off the tree something that we could get it for another child. Finally on Monday I called to make sure they were still doing it before I took the boys over to pick one and unfornately it was the final day and everything was chosen.

Quickly coming up with plan B I called the local shelter to see if they had some toys that they had on the wish list of some of their residents and she did. She told me over the phone that they had a little boy that really wanted a truck that pulls a horse trailer and some horses...so we set off to cal ranch.

The boys had fun finding a toy that met the description and it helped them understand that not everyone can afford to go and buy what they want. They enjoyed this exerience.

Today Landon and I took it over to the shelter and Landon was so proud to hand over this special toy.

I hope we can all give this holiday season in some capacity!

Book Fair & Polar Express

2011-12-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night Jadens school did a book fair at barnes and noble and it was the same night as "Polar Express". All the kids wore their pjs and while they were listening to the story they received bells to ring and afterwards got hot chocolate and a cookie.

Jaden was so excited to pick out a chapter book and he's already wore it out and working towards earning another one.

While we were there I had to change Alisha's diaper so I took her in the restroom. When I came back Chris was laughing and said a lady came up to him and said "you won't believe this but I just saw a baby in the bathroom that looks just like her." Chris quickly told her that it was her sister. These girls get us attention where ever we go.

Breakfast with Elfy

2011-12-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

The day after we got our elf on the shelf he came back from the north pole with breakfast. It wasn't our most healthy breakfast but who doesn't love powered covered donuts dipped in hot chocolate. The boys knew they were going to like this whole elf thing.

Happy 7 months

2011-12-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Jaden got really excited and said "mom, the babies are 7 months today." I had no idea he was keeping track but I was excited he knew that.

I really am so blessed to have such good babies that for the most part are content and can go with the flow of two older siblings and all of their activities.

Alisha is the sweetest little thing. I don't think Chris nor my personality would be described as sweet so I'm not sure where this little angel came from. She loves to lay on her belly and I just rub her back....I often think she's fallen asleep but she just so content she just lays there.

With both girls if I give them little kisses and nuzzles they'll close their eyes and sometimes fall asleep. The look of contentment is so adorable and that is my favorite time with them.

Eli is as full of energy as ever. She scoots on her belly and I'm sure we'll see her crawling shortly. She definitely requires more attention and I'm so grateful for Landon who loves to give it to both of them. Last night was our ward Christmas Party and I was one of the ones in charge of it. While we were decorating there was a little 1 year old girl that was pushing the girls in their stroller and Eli was loving it. She squealed in delight and was very disappointed when the little girl moved onto something else.

Just yesterday I was so excited for the things I'll get to do with these little girls as they get older. I know I'll miss my little babies but I can't wait to take them shopping and do girly things with them. Wow, how the times flies and thankfully we are enjoying almost every minute of it:)

December Eve

2011-11-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I was at Jenna's and she mentioned she was doing "elf on the shelf" with her family this year. I had never heard of it. After she explained it to me I knew this was a tradition I wanted my family to have so I headed to Target to get our own 'elf on the shelf.'

It being December Eve I thought it'd be a fun night to bring the elf to our home.

Close to bedtime the doorbell rang and on our porch was 3 packages. They boys were so excited and Landon found the one with his name (its kind of exciting that he's learning his letters) and immediately opened his. Jaden was more hestitant and I had to tell him it was ok before he'd open his. Inside the boys found pajamas and slippers from Santa so they could wear them during the Christmas Holiday.

Before they could open the third package they had to take their bath. When they were done they put on their new pjs and opened the 3rd package. Inside they found the "elf on the shelf" and we all read the story together.

If you aren't familiar with the 'elf on the shelf' you get to name him...the boys named our "Elfy". Each day Elfy will watch the kids and each night he'll go back to Santa and report what he saw. If you touch Elfy he won't be able to report the good things you do each day. Each morning Elfy will return and you may find him in silly locations.

I'm going to try to do a daily blog entry of Elfy and what he's up to that day!

I hope this become a fun tradition that remind the boys and girls to be on their best behavior.

Trim The Tree

2011-11-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we pulled out our Christmas Decorations. We didn't actually trim the tree since we love the convenience of an artificial tree. The boys did almost put the entire thing together themself and it was a wonderful thing. I can't wait until I can't send them to the roof to string Christmas lights...until then we won't have any:)

They had so much fun pulling each thing out of the box and the memories that each item contained. We have a couple of annoying Christmas Toys that we've received from past Christmas that they think are the greatest.

The girls napped for most of our decorating but woke up at the end and watched us from their walkers.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

2011-11-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

Chris has been working at his new job since March. We were pretty confident that it was a really good fit and that he'd do very well at it.

Chris has almost always worked in sales therefore his paychecks haven't always been consistant. Some months are a feast and other are a famine...it's the nature of the beast. He does have a base but that alone would not provide for our family even kind of. We rely on his commissions.

Each month since Chris has started each month is better then the next and they expect to hit a national record this month.

Chris isn't doing this alone. He has one of the hardest working bosses he's ever worked for and the two of them have made huge ground and gotten attention nationwide. Thus his boss is being promoted shortly leaving an opening in management.

Chris is SALES! He does really well with it. He's made wonderful relationships with the doctors he works with and he continues to make more and more...the free food may help!

We knew there was the possibility he'd be approached with the management position and we weren't sure it was something he'd want. He's already making more then his boss.

Well today his bosses boss came into town and sat him down to talk about it. The salary isn't very good and the bonus potential isn't either. The only motivator in moving in this direction is that it is a stepping stone that must be taken to move up in the company.

Chris's boss and his family have sacrifed for only 1 1/2 years and now he's on his way to a huge base (about 1 1/2 times what Chris will earn this year) and huge bonuses.

The salary Chris would earn plus bonus will be about equal to what Chris earned at yellowbook (keep in mind we only had two kids then) BUT so much less then I think he can earn at the rate he's going.

It'd be hard to live off that amount. We are fortunate and have eliminated almost all debts and can almost call ourselves debt free except for our house. WE could do it but it'd stink and Chris boss works HARD! He works 80 hours a week sometimes.

PLUS, Chris may never get promoted. Everyone wants to move up. It's management, not as much sales where Chris is successful!

So what would you do? Does anyone have a crystal ball? I really was looking forward to his future paychecks...especially the ones after this month. To some what he'd receive in management would seem like a lot and others would wonder how we were able to live:)

If you see us eating Ramen you know that's the direction he went:)

Swimming and Kitties!

2011-11-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we did Brunch and swimming with my family since my brother was up for thanksgiving.

When cousins are up they can't get enough of each other and there are some major meltdowns when we leave.

Chris usually heads to my parents on Saturdays for football games with my dad and takes the boys with him. When Landon would come home he'd be raving about grandmas kitties! I was a little confused since my parents do not like cats. I asked Chris what he was talking about and Chris told me some strays had adopted my parents since my mom couldn't stand to see them starve. Needless to say Landon loves to go and see the kitties. He chases theme EVERYWHERE and pulls their tails. While we were there on Saturday he grabbed one and threw it on the tramp. The poor things don't even fight back.

Our Thanksgiving Turkeys!

2011-11-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous thanksgiving this year...it was easy breezy lemon squeezy as Jaden would say.

The Hendricks side of the family all came to Idaho to celebrate and we are a BIG group. Because of the size we moved it from my grandmas large home to a nearby church and I was worried it wouldn't feel like thanksgiving but it was fabulous and so convenient.

I think I'm going to start the tradition of making my kids turkey shirts. I didn't get very good pictures but the boys thought they were awesome and the girls loved chewing on their ribbon!

Thanksgiving weekend we also experienced quadruplets. Not really but my cousin Jake and his family stayed with us and they have twins 5 months older then the girls so we had lots of babies! Growing up Jake and I always played together and he was a little bit of the trouble maker and I was always the one saying "should we be doing this?" If his twins are at all like him (they are boys) we are in for some really adventures! Both his and our older kids had so much fun together and had some late night staying up and playing! I also love his wife...yay...which makes it even funner.

On thanksgiving day we had a wonderful feast....it's fun when there's lots of people because there is a big variety of dishes and lots of yummy choices. This is the first thanksgiving my boys discovered olives on their fingers and they thought that was a lot of fun. After dinner we all had plenty of room to play and hang out. Most of the men went outside and played football and the kids played on wiggle cars, hide n' seek, basketball...they truely were in heaven.

The girls were so good. I was walking pushing them and someone said "how did you do that". I had no idea they had both fallen asleep. I hurried and pushed them to a quiet corner so they could get a little rest. They aren't always perfect and they have their moments but I am so lucky they are overall happy little girls.

Here's a picture of my mom and her beautiful sisters and mom. They are the ones that created this huge family called the Hendricks:) We had a wonderful day and we hope that the tradition can continue although each year as the family grows we acknowledge that it probably won't.

Mi Familia

2011-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't done as good as I hoped with all the things I'm thankful for. One thing I've noticed though is that those thoughts are always on my mind lately. I'm often writing blog posts about what I'm thankful for in my head and I'm just not taking the time to get them down.

On the top of my thankful list is definately my family. Although there is a lot of us, we are all there for each other and love to do things with one another. I'm so grateful that my kids are getting to create the kinds of friendships I created with my cousins growing up and it a blessing to live close to most of my siblings.

I'm so grateful for my little ones and the joy they bring to my life.

Having girls has been so much fun (two at once has been a little bit of work). Although they are identical there is something distinct and unique about each one and we often comment how much Eli looks like me. Here's a picture of me when I was about 1 and one Jenna took of Eli the other day.

I'm thinking the reason I think she look more like me then Alisha is the chubby cheeks and her expressions:):):) It's fun have a mini-me or two!!!!

The most wonderful thing about this upcoming week is that I get to spend lots of time with one of those things I'm most thankful for...my family and lots of extended family too. I have the best aunt, uncles, and cousins and this will probably be the last time they all do such a big thanksgiving because we've grown so much!

thankful....

2011-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

I'm so aweful to write down all the things I'm thankful for and this time of year is such a good time to really think about those things...I'm going to try to write down a few things each week of all the good and wonderful things I'm surrounded with.

I'm going to start with Jaden's teacher (not because it's what I'm most thankful for but because she's fresh on my mind).

At Jaden's school you choose what type of classroom setting you want your children in the prior May. There is a program at his school called Spectrum that lumps 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders together with highly involved parents....you have to be involved for your children to be in the this program. I was too worried about making that kind of committement having just had the girls and thinking my life may be over so I chose traditional.

During the summer I started stressing about this decision and that I took an opportunity away from Jaden. I felt horrible. When everyone returned working at the school again I called and asked if there was ANY possibility of getting Jaden in one of the classes....they kind of chuckled. Needless to say he entered a traditional first grade classroom.

It just tells me that things work out the way they are supposed to. His teacher is new teaching at his school this year and although I have very little to compare her too I don't think he could have gotten anyone more wonderful. I have never seen such an excitement for what he's doing at school and he's so motivated to make good decisions and he's excited about what he's learning.

Fortunately, the girls didn't take away all my abilities and I get to volunteer in his class room for 1 1/2 hours each week. (I'm thankful for you watching my children, Jenna). I get to witness how amazing she is. She has some really tough kids in her class and she handles them so wonderfully.

Jaden does not like to do his homework and Chris keeps asking me if I'm sure he's doing well at school because we witness a horrible attitute at home when it comes to his school work. I told Chris I'm witnesses Jaden's work at school first hand and he is one of the top of his class and his "I can't" and "it's too hard" is all for show. His teacher brings out the best in him and hopefully I can learn some of her tricks to bring out the best in him at home so that homework will be a pleasant experience.

So today, I'm thankful that my son is in such good hands for a good part of his day!

1/2 birthday x's 2

2011-11-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

These lovely girls turned 6 months on Wednesday. They are so much fun and we can not believe how quickly time flies.

Trick or Treat

2011-11-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy halloween and I'm not too sad to see if over!

I've failed at taking very many pictures of all the fun Jaden and Landon had but hopefully they'll remember what spoiled little boys they are.

Last Saturday was our Ward Trunk or Treat and I have to say that those are pretty fun and easy (that is because I'm not in charge). After some really good chili I headed to the car, turned it on, put the girls in their carseats, and hung out as I got to see all the little kids cute costumes.

On Sunday (again no pictures but I did steal these lovely shots from facebook) my sister and sister-in law threw a halloween party that was to die for. I was rather inpressed with their discusting, yet deliciou- foods:)

We ended our celebrations with Trick or Treating on Monday. After being unable to find dry ice anywhere in town we didn't get to enjoy our traditional root beer but the boys did have a lot of fun collecting and eating candy from the neighbors.

Flying by the seat of my pants

2011-10-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I feel like I don't quiet have it together right now. Usually I have a plan, everything is organized, everything gets done early, and lately I feel like I'm squishing everything in to make it all work out.

For example, we always have the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch. We seriously have had no time to go this year and we keep saying were going to go and it would never work out.

I kept thinking I'd just buy a bunch of pumpkins at the grocery store for decoration and a couple to carve and I'd always forget.

On Saturday night Chris and I were out on a date and we were doing errands (because we just can't seem to get caught up) and we were at Walmart and I had to run to the car so I told Chris to make sure he bought Pumpkins and we'd grab them outside when we left. As we were leaving I reminded him to stop and grab the pumpkins and he had forgot to buy them.

On Sunday in desperation we decided that since our pumpkins patch was an honor system that we could buy pumpkins on Sunday at the pumpkin patch (yes, we were justifying). As we pulled up Jaden said "we can't buy pumpkins, we can only look because it's Sunday." Taking a deep breath we told him he was right and the boys went into the free maze and looked at the pumpkins they'd come back and purchase today.

Come today, Chris is out of town and I did not want to take all four kids to the pumpkin patch in the wind...especially since the girls just got better.

Then a miracle...a text message from a friend that asked if I wanted some pumpkins. I immediately called her and she told me that she had purchased 8 pumpkins and people were tripping over them when they came over (she lives in an apartments) This friend is a giver and I often feel like I take advantage of this so I told her I'd only take them if I could buy them from her.

An hour later we had 6 pumpkins (plus we had the two my kids picked from my parents house).

Out of the 6 I let the boys choose a pumpkin to carve tonight for FHE.

They drew their picture on the pumpkin and I cut. Jaden first created his pumpkin on the computer and did his best to draw the same thing on his pumpkin. Landon's was scribbles so I cut on the outside of the scribbles so he has a random hole in his. They had a lot of fun.

So it all worked out...the boys got to enjoy the pumpkin patch and we got pumpkins today without a complete meltdown of me:)

Fire Safety Awareness

2011-10-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

We just started attending a multiples group and for this months activity we all went to Fire Awareness at the first station. This wasn't an activity for the girls but the boys loved it.

They had a trailer that had a simulated fire and the boys had to get on their hands and knees and find their way out of the smoke. After two attempts at this Landon still had to be rescued but I give him credit for trying since he's usually a chicken. They both earned their fire man hats and wore them while they explored all the big trucks.

There are two sets of triplets in the group and it helped me realize that twins really aren't that bad. Both sets of triplets were two and running in completely different directions....I watched in awe how all the other parents just stepped in when the parents hands were full with two and there was still another one running around. Their strollers were a little crazy too!

Harvest fun at Grandma and Grandpas

2011-10-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

My parents loves to spoil their grandkids and buy them lots of fun things so they always want to visit (not so much fun when Landon asks to go there about 10 times a day).

This car was one of their recent purchases and the kids had so much fun playing on it when they went to a harvest party at their house. At one point Matt and I couldn't find Landon or Easton so we went in different directions to find them. I told Matt "they wouldn't be over there...it's just the hill and they'd never go down it". Well, that's where they were, at the bottom trying to push the car back to the top with big smiles on their faces. Landon (he thinks it's his car) ventured down the hill a couple more times only to be in some big trouble!

After some car riding fun and dinner the kids go to pick a pumpkin out of my parents garden. Since they were too big to carry they had to roll them...that definately warranted a few chuckles!

Angry Birds...

2011-10-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

To say Jaden isn't obssessed with Angry Birds would be a lie. He loves them so much so we knew it was a definate that he was one for Halloween and since I always try to do a theme with my boys Landon got to go along for the ride....something he wasn't too excited about at first.

Jaden's school halloween carnival was on October 14th and I am amazed at the parent support in making it amazing! This year they had unlimited punch passes which was much easier. The boys enjoyed a hot dog dinner, bouncy houses, train rides, and lots of games...they were very disappointed to see them night end (Landon almost fell asleep).

I knew the girls would get a lot of attention but I was SHOCKED at how all the kids went crazy over the boys costumes. I thought that it would actually be a popular costume this year but I only saw 1 other angry bird and it was more of a shirt costume. Girls and Boys both would flip around when they'd see the boys and point, yell "angry birds" and "awesome costume" and "sweet"....ect! Jaden loved the attention and Landon hid behind my leg.

It was a fun night and a great kick off to halloween!

We are a pEAr (pair)

2011-10-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year the girls are a pear (a pair). I'd been trying to find the perfect halloween costume...especially since I was so excited to finally have a girl(s). I looked all over the internet and all the ideas for twins were the same and I wanted to be more original. Then literally pears popped into my mind and to even make it better...the word pear had both an E and an A for their names.

They first debuted their outfits at Jaden's school halloween carnival. Anytime I take them out; especially in their side-by-side stroller they are crowd stoppers. The unfortunate part was the many thought they were "peas in a pod", which was one of the many twin ideas, and I just would smile.

I thought these outfits were especially fitting because these two little girls adore each other and I'm sure they'll be a pair through out life. If they are next to each other, they are holding hands.

Right after we got home from the carnival the girls were sick for a week...they had to do that together too! Up until that week I felt like that twin thing was ok and not too overwelming but it shattered my reality when they went from waking up once a night to every half hour...they didn't even do that when they were first born. One evening I was up with Alisha for 2 hours and right when I went and laid her down Eli woke up for two hours. They still aren't back to the "waking up once a night" but it has improved and slowly my sanity is too!

They have now outgrown sharing a crib and it broke my heart to seperate them but besides the fact they can't hold hands they are much more comfortable. Eli is loving the extra space and is all over the place. I think Alisha misses Eli though...she seems to be my one that wakes up. I love these girls!

Some of our weeks happenings!

2011-10-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Our week has definately been interesting. We went from temps in the high 60's to a lot of snow. Jaden and Landon also were out of school on Thursday and Friday so we needed some activities to fill our days. On Thursday we went swimming on then on Friday Gracie and Easton came over.

The original plan was all the kids to go outside and play in the snow and they did...for about 10 minutes. Gracie stayed outside and played forever and made this masterpiece. I was so proud of her that I told her she could take my camera and take pictures but to also make sure she got some of my boys (since I didn't want to go out in the cold). She took a lot of pictures (they are hilarious but way to many to post) but none were of my boys...Landon was evening sporting a santa clause hat so that picture would have been fun:):):)

The kids also got paid to kill flys. Our house is infested since our doors are open ALL the time. That kept them busy for a while because they wanted the nickel I'd pay them for each one they killed. 60 cents later Gracie then paid Jaden to come outside and play with her...I told Jaden I was very disappointed that she had to pay him to play with her.

Today the boys built a "Monster Machine" at the build and grow workshop that Lowe's has every other week. Jaden was very proud and insisted I take a picture. He LOVES to build there projects and memorizes the upcoming ones and dates to make sure he doesn't miss one.

The girls managed to get themselves in yet another pickle....it's usually Eli's fault.

Landon spent the week chasing our neighbors cat...he's obsessed. I've apologized to my neighbors and told them I wished maybe there cat would give him a little scratch so he'd leave it alone and they told me they saw their cat attack Landon and it didn't faze him. He is improving so much with his language skills and it's funny to hear the things he'll say. When all the kids were killing flys Easton was holding a fly swatter and I told him that I saw a fly...pointing at Landon. Landon then said "there's a fly on my nose" and I said "no, you are the fly." He replied, "no, mommies the fly." Such silly and simple words but I love hearing and understanding them.

We went to an army surplus store. They had a lot of different display items and they boys thought it was really neat. Jaden kept saying how Landon looked so much better in the picture because he was wearing camo. We didn't plan that:)

This picture is through my dirtly windshield on my phone with the sun blaring so the quality is poor but I get a kick out of the kids Jaden's gives rides from school on his bike. Since the girls are too small for the bike trailer and I'm too nervous to let Jaden go by himself we always follow him in the car. He usually has a friend on the back and it's a very SLOW drive home.

Today Jaden wanted to go to Kmart with his "fly killing quarters" to play the claw machines. I HATE those things and I will never let him play them because I told him that you NEVER win. On his third quarter he earned a TINY eraser and put me in my place...he was so excited! Now I guess I have to let him play them.

After I bathed the girls tonight I was getting them in their pj's and they were holding hands. They almost ALWAYS hold hands and I love it. I was talking to another mother of twins who are 3 months older then the girls and she says they are just now noticing each other. The girls have been aware of each other from day one and I love that bond!

Ah...too cute!

2011-10-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

You are probably bored of my random posts but I have to post this because Chris has been out of town since Saturday visiting his mom in Washington and I know he'd love this.

Landon loves to steal hats. So I bought him his own hats BUT he doesn't like his hats....only those that are someone elses. He especially loves Chris's old icky hats and he loves to wear them backwards.

Today I'm wearing a hat. Landon took it off my head while I was folding laundry. When I went to pick up Alisha this is what I found....he's so funny!

Oh...the reality

2011-10-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the gym....I go to the gym almost every day.

Have I lost any weight since the twins were born...NO! Have I eaten any sugar or processed foods for a month...NO! BUT still I get to hold onto all the baby weight plus what was there before. I think my little friend the mirena may be partially to blame but were aren't getting rid of her just yet because the consequences could be worse:)

But this post isn't about complaining; it's about the reality that my days don't completely consist of adorable little babies and two handsome perfect little boys.

Here's the positives of my gyms adventures because I really have a lot of positives. Today I first dropped Landon, Alisha, and Eli off at the gym daycare. We are greeted with "it's the twins (they are so NICE!)" and then "wow, we don't know how you do it getting here for the 8:30am class". Seriously, they make me feel so good. I hesitated to even get a gym membership because I was a little worried the greeting would be more like "it's the twins" (muttered sarcastically under their breaths).

Then as I entered my class the cutest (I'm guessing 80 year old) woman came over and asked me if I could look at the zipper on her jacket (probably 10 years old). The part to pull it had broken off but "it's a perfectly good jacket" she said. I looked and anazlyed it and told her I could see a tiny hole she might be able to thread something through. She said "oh my old eyes just couldn't see it". Then two seconds later she literally folded in half. She is probably the most limber person I've ever seen. There are two OLDER ladies that come to this REALLY hard class and they keep up. I love watching them...they are seriously amazing.

Like any day at the gym I sweat a ton and get a red face. Today my face felt very hot and I looked in the mirror and it looked purple. Needless to say at the end of class the second older lady took one look at me and said "wow, you got a good workout."

When I was done I headed to pick up my kids and all the daycare ladies (there's like 6 of them) were raving about my children and commenting on the good workout I must have gotten:):):) Then two seconds later the 1st older lady ran into the daycare to show me she could now see the small hole...she was so excited.

Yes...this is my reality (sweaty, red faced, makeup-less) but I gotta say that all these people make my day at the gym fun and entertaining and uplifting...who cares about the stubborn weight that won't come off. And the other exciting this that I can finally now do it the whole stomach workout. I blamed the twins for my inability for a long time and decided they could no longer be my scape goat....today I did it and it didn't kill me.

5 months

2011-10-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

This morning I realized I was late in taking some pictures of them at 5 months so I had a total of 5 minutes to take some before I had to take jaden to school. Eli always makes a mess of her outfit within 5 minutes either with drool or spit up (today it was a blowout) so I wanted to get them taken first thing. They really are the cutest little things ever and the pictures do not do them justice.

On Sunday Jaden and I looked through my baby book and Jaden (he's starting to notice appearances and I'm working really hard with him on using kind words to describe people) told me I was a bigger baby:):):) I think these little girls are taking after me and they look a lot like my baby pictures.

I just love getting to know them better and knowing their personalities...they are both unique.

Alisha doesn't appear to be nearly as strong or loud as Eli. At first I thought maybe she just going to be about a month behind Eli on everything but I think that is more her personality. She's more content to observe and doesn't have a big desire to try new things. She has a very sweet smile and can get very loud with her babbling but she doesn't do it often. Her face lights up when you smile at her.

Eli is a loud and determined as they come. I have a feeling she'll be a very determined little girl and let nothing stop her. The boys think she's so fun to play with because she responds loudly to them. She loves to play with paper and she's drooling a ton (Alisha isn't yet so I think Eli may cut teeth first.)

These girls are going to do amazing things:):):)

Four children do live here....

2011-09-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Up until today you'd walk in my house and assume I only had two children since I've failed to add pictures of the girls to my walls (their bedroom is decorated with their pictures but I've failed to add any anywhere else in the house). The only clue would be baby toys and some of them are in double so the person would maybe be clued in their were two babies!

This is our memory picture frame. I of course added 1 of each of them so sadly their presense is still minimal:) I realized I should have printed one of the two of them together.

But as I look at these FOUR children it scares me. Four children is a lot of responsibility and I hope I do a good job! In a way I think it simplified my life a little having two the same age since their activities and stages will be the same. I feel like I'm juggling so much with the boys schedules and I can't imagine how much more complicated it could be as they got older if the girls weren't the same age...I'm thinking positive TWIN thoughts:):):)

Oh Yummy!

2011-09-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Both girls have started putting their blankies in their mouths...they like to suck on them.

Today I noticed that Eli's head band was missing and then noticed she'd pulled it to her mouth and was sucking on it.

And this is cute Alisha....she's usually checking out all the trouble her sister gets into. She likes to observe:)

From Gracies Len's

2011-09-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

Gracie got ahold of my phone and this is what I got....most were self portraits:):):)

Now that's something to smile about:)

A little bit of a pickle

2011-09-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Before I was able to snap pictures Eli rolled over onto Alisha and the only thing she could do was lay her head on Alisha.

So once I got my camera Eli figured out how to push herself away from Alisha.

Then Alisha had had it....."Eli, get away from me, I don't want to be your pillow"

As she's now pushing her away.......

Eli now decided she better get away and Alisha has changed her mind...."come back Eli".

These little girls are so strong. About a month ago I came back to the gym daycare after a workout and was shocked to see Eli in one of these...I totally thought she was too young. So we came home and tried it again and she loves it. Alisha isn't totally strong enough on her own and I usually squish a blanket in with her if it's for more then 5 minutes.

All Smiles

2011-09-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

I love these girls smiles. They are most happy in the morning but they are almost always pretty happy little girls...I just want to squeeze them:)

Fun at the Fair

2011-09-18T19:23:00.001-07:00

Chris and I love the fair...we love the one in Washington much better but we use the blackfoot fair to fill that void:)

Last Friday night Chris and I went together but felt bad about leaving the boys out so I took them (Chris took the girls to watch the game) to the fair. We had a BLAST!

It was so good to be with just the boys. We first went to the animals and bought some food to feed them. I couldn't believe how much the boys loved it. Landon really worked hard on his animal names.

Afterwards we went to rides and games and I worried about Landon but he did really well with them.

I then let them choose a treat...they chose the biggest sno cone I've ever seen. It was funny to watch them eat it.

Then Jaden did "walking on water". Landon was so upset he didn't get to do it...he was VERY tired by this point. It was so fun to watch Jaden in the ball. Chris and I had noticed it the day before and decided Jaden had to do it.

Bus Ride

2011-09-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

I was such a nervous mom to send Landon on the bus for preschool. I thought for sure he'd hate it and that I'd need to take him to preschool, so for his first day we decided that daddy would ride with him.

He now LOVES the bus and is so upset when I pick him up on Tuesday and Thursdays for speech because he wants to ride the bus home.

This kid is surprising me....in a good way:):):)

Where is my mind...

2011-09-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

No, that's not a dish towel...it's a baby blanket. I plead sleep deprivation:)

WE Remember

2011-09-11T21:55:00.001-07:00

That because of that day and other events in our history our country has fought and continues to fight for freedom.

The freedom that allowed my children to have an ordinary Sunday where they didn't have to worry!

10 yrs ago today I was a newly wed on my 3rd day of a new job driving to it....a few reports were coming over the radio but nothing was clear so I wasn't worried nor did I realize what the rest of the day would entail.

I can truely say I exercised poor work ethic that day as I craved information and had to keep checking the internet. As the day progressed so did my shock.

That evening we spent with our friends glued to the TV. I remember the thing that I struggled with the most is that there were probably many survivors they'd never get to because it'd be too late. I couldn't imagine the worry they must be experiencing.

May we never forget and may we always remember to share with our children that day so they can appreciate the freedom we have.

Four months

2011-09-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

I adore these little girls. They are truely so much fun and wonderful babies! They are such attention getters and every where we go were are stopped. I was shopping in the mall a week ago with the two of them and I literally couldn't walk more then 5 steps without getting stopped. I can always hear little girls saying "mommy..look" and running over. They often respond to the attention by cooing and smiling.

They both roll to their tummies now. They both, on the same day, decided they didn't like their binkies anymore and decided they prefer their fingers and thumbs...super cute but a habit that I know will be hard to break.

I've worried that having two of them that I'm not able to give them the attention they need but I'm also finding that they give each other so much. I love to lay them on the floor and watch them explore and gravitate to one another. The push off with their feet and move around the room and its funny to see where they end up.

I often see one of them reaching to the other one when she's sad. Their bond has been so fascinating for me to witness and I will be very interested to see if they have the connection of almost feeling each other feelings I often hear about with identical twins. Today at church I was holding Eli and someone else was holding Alisha and they both just stared at each other and cooed. It really seemed like they were holding a conversation.

A couple Sundays ago Alisha was crying at church (I need to mention that I have such amazing help at church and I think I need at least quadruplets to meet the demand of all my helpers) and the person holding her took her into the bathroom and held her up to the mirror and she immediately calmed down. I love it when others share these stories with me because it helps me realize I'm not imagining this bond they have.

They are VERY healthy and at their 4 month appointment a couple of days ago I was worried the doctor would tell me I was over feeding them because they are growing to fast and are maybe a little chunky:) To my surprise he was so pleased with where they are and kept smiling at everything they did.
Alisha is such a sweetie. She loves to be cuddled and her smile is so sweet...she's so precious. She's not as strong and Eli and seems more content to just chill and look around. She does have a scowl though and sometimes looks really grumpy.

Eli is a hoot. I always assume I get all the attention because they twins but last Sunday I was holding her at church and a guy visiting kept staring and when we got within talking range he kept talking to her and couldn't get over how cute she was....he didn't know there was two of them:) Shortly after that in Sunday School she was cooing so loud that everyone kept watching her and not listening to the lesson. She's a much louder cooer then Alisha. She's usually moving her legs, tummy, arms. and is strong from all that movement.

I'm excited for all that is to come but terrified too. I'm realizing that the more active they become the more difficult it is BUT the older they get the more fun I'm having with them.

I LOVE YOU TWO SO MUCH!!!! How did I get so blessed!

Back to School

2011-09-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

These two boys have had a really busy week...so has mom!
In preparation for Jaden entering first grade and eating lunch at school we did a "mock school cafeteria". Yes Britt...I totally stole your idea and I love stealing ideas so all your ideas will be mine soon:)

They had to use lunch tickets to purchase their lunch. On the menu was tomato soup, cheese zombies, grapes, carrots, rice crispy treats and chocolate milk.

I was really nervous for Jaden to start first grade. He has very few kids in his class that he knew and I always imagine the worst. His teacher is new to the school this year but I think she's going to be a gem. I love the picture below of her bending down to Jaden's level and talking to him while he waited in line his first day of school. She seems to sincerely love what she does and she came highly recommended from the school she came from.

Jaden has loved having 3 recesses and lunch and on fridays they get a "Friday Fling" if they are good through out the week....he thought it was so much fun.

And talking about nervous, I was very nervous for this shy guy to enter preschool. I even talked about his Speech Therapist and whether he was socially ready...his therapist has been bringing in another little boy during part of his sessions to help with his social interactions and she told me that it's made such a difference and told me he needed to go...I just needed reinforement:)

Landon has started making friends in our neighborhood and plays daily with different neighbor boys so I was getting less and less worried.

Thursday was his first day and he was not happy about it. He wouldn't look at anyone and was upset when I left. When I went to pick him up he was a changed boy and his teacher told me that as soon as I left he was fine.

On Friday he was still a little nervous but picked his letter and found the match on the rug and sat down by himself.

On Tuesday he'll start riding a bus..Chris is going to go with him for his first time.

So here's crossing my fingers for a year full of learning and new experiences.

Running is F-U-N

2011-09-04T17:45:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday the boys did a fun run. Last year Jaden got distracted at the water table and he decided this year he needed a plan....he needed someone to run along side him with water so he wouldn't have to stop. Thankfully for us there was no water table this year; thus no distractions. Although he didn't win he was gracious to all those in front of him and proud of himself for not walking. Landon....walked most of it:):):)

Beforehand the boys got to enjoy bouncy houses.

Meet Landina

2011-09-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

Having little girls in the home has brought out Landon's feminine side....I'm hoping this is only temporary.

He loves to try on all their headbands and tells me they are his.

When we went to the store to buy him new shoes since every pair I buy and bring home are too narrow he only wanted pink sparkly ones or Dora ones...a lady overhearing us found the whole thing rather comical. We settled on a pair of shoes still too narrow since I was losing the argument but at least they fit and bought us a little bit of time in hopes that he outgrows this girly faze.

This is how we roll...

2011-09-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

My kids aren't super close together in age but when you all the sudden throw in multiples it sounds a little crazy when you have four kids 5 and under. Jaden is now six so it doesn't sound as bad but we sure get a lot of stares.

To make this shopping trip successful it entailed a sleeping Eli, a mommy constantly smiling at Alisha, a touchpad with angry birds for Jaden, and endless chocolate for Landon out of mommy's pocket.

I came to a realization the other day that one of the things that helps being a mom of multiples is strollers and unfortunately to really be effective you need them all...it's worth the money if you can afford it.

The tandem stroller- This has been essential this last week as I've went to and from taking Jaden and Landon to school, in stores, all while keep the babies in their car seats. The beauty of this stroller is that it's one of only a couple of stroller that can hold two infant car seats. This is a pain to push though and I often bump into everything. As the girls outgrow their car seats this stroller will become extinct.

The double umbrella- The beauty of this stroller is that you can stuff it in any crevice of the car and it's light weight. It fits through most door frames, lets the girls interact a little more, and because of their age a necessity that it reclines. Considering it's an umbrella stroller it pushes relatively easy and I even fell more in love with it at the Doctors office the other day because I felt like it gave me an extra hand.

The BOB- This baby can go and push through anything and in a pinch I was able to push all four of my kids in it. If you want to go on walks or jogging or over grass or anything like that this baby can do it. I can put one infant car seat in it and thats great if I have a sleeping baby. The downside....this thing takes up a lot of space in the car and there are a lot of door frames that can't accommodate it.

Although I have more strollers then I can stand...because I hate stuff....I realize that all of them serve a different purpose and help me function much better.

And target...I thank you for having what I feel like is the best shopping cart for my family. I'm often left having Jaden push the stroller while I push the cart and Landon. Yes, your cart leaves me little room for purchasing items but you'd be surprised how much stuff I can throw on top of my children:)

Some of the fun!!!

2011-08-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

We've been having a fun summer and I'm so sad to see it coming to an end.

My brother and his family went to Jackson Hole for vacation...they live about 7 hours from here so we don't get to see them often. Anyways, they invited us up yesterday to come and hang out with them since our kids love eachother. My sister Jenna and her husband happened to be running a relay over the tetons that was going to end at Teton Village (right outside Jackson Hole) so my parents were up there with her kids so we all got together. We had a picnic, went swimming, rolled down hills, had birthday cake to celebrate Dianna's birthday, went into the town square and took the kids to the candy store....we were going to do the alpine slides but Jaden was too nervous to go on the chair lift to get to the top and to be honest, I was kind of scared to let him:) On the way home we got square ice cream cones...I think my kids were a little sugared out!

Last weekend we went to Utah for a family reunion. Chris and I took the twins and went up a day early...my parents took our boys! I'm realizing I do not have any pictures but it was nice to get away and have some time to shop:) and get together with Chris best friend and his wife.

On Friday night we went to an adult dinner full of babies!!! My cousin and his wife had twin boys 24 weeks before the girls. We had to line them...in one picture is my cousin Jill's baby. Their twins were hilarous. I don't think I've ever seen a more active baby and they have two. At one point they put them in the stroller to contain them and their legs started flailing...it was seriouly so funny...maybe not for mom and dad:):):)

On Saturday we went to 7 peaks. Sadly there is so much family that I didn't get to hang out with because we stayed in the kiddy area but my boys had a blast and were definately tired out. Not so much that we didn't take them out to dinner and shopping afterwards.

On Sunday we went to Temple Square and met up with Chris's sister and her son Anthony. The boys loved throwing coins in the fountains. Jaden loved all the touch screens that allowed him to tour the inside of the Salt Lake Temple.

And this is a random day of finger painting. While they were in the middle of this painting projects I have two gals stop by and shortly thereafter the boys came in with paint on their noses and in funny places. Lets just says I'm grateful this paint is easy to clean up.

A couple of mondays ago we went golfing as a family. Sadly my camera died after I took this picture so I couldn't get any real action shots. Jaden is starting to get really good and Landon spend a good amount of the time rolling down the hills...I felt a little bad for those around us.

Discovery

2011-08-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

Today I set the girls down quickly to get something and came back and saw them poking and exploring each other. It was so cute; of course once I came in the room they weren't as interested in each other anymore so I didn't capture them at their cutest.

This reminded when they were about two weeks old, they were in their room and I could hear them crying. Apparently they were starving because they could smell milk on each other and were sucking each others faces. I still wish I had captured that on camera but that was the furthest thing on my mind when I realized how hungry they were:)

A quarter of a year

2011-08-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my little babies are three months old. They are 1/4 of the way through their first year. Where does the time go???

They are still wonderful babies...except for the last two days; I'm hoping this doesn't continue. When I go and get them out of their cribs in the morning they are all smiles and so happy to see me. They coo all the time...I don't recall my boys doing this much.

They really are so much fun. The love me to hold them around their bellies and I think this is because that's how I'm able to carry both of them around the house....so they really aren't snugglers. They are VERY healthy as you can see from their pictures and everything thinks they are older then they are; a very good sign for twins since they usually run on the smaller side and are a little behind.

We love you little girls!

And this is a picture of sweet little Alisha, she fell asleep while I am blogging. Isn't she precious?

Despite my BEST efforts

2011-08-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

I really would love to be that person that can grow anything, eat out of their garden, and have fresh everything on hand at all times.

I've TRIED so hard.....

We've lived in our home for 3 years this summer. Obviously our first summer any thoughts of a garden or anything else was pushed to the side so we worked and made it happen our 2nd year. We also wanted fruit so we planted a dwarf peach tree...these take a couple of years to yield fruit so it requires patience. In addition to this I planted strawberries that year to and let them create shoots...this also requires patience since they don't produce strawberries while they are doing this. This summer my peach tree died...I'm not sure why but I sadly pulled it out of the ground.

SO....fast forward to this year. I planned ahead and planted my own starts in a little greenhouse in April; tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and flowers. One big wind storm later (we have a number of these) my poor green house tipped over and I was only able to recover a few small things including my pumpkins. Fast forward a couple of months...I had just had the babies and decided I wanted to plant some raspberry starts and forgot about them for a couple of days and they were too dried out to plant. Fast forward another month; I had a girl come over to do some weeding for me since I have a good size garden and a ton of flower beds. After she left I went out to check my newly weeded garden to discover I no longer had strawberries or pumpkins.

So now...I don't have peaches, raspberries, or strawberries.

So last night I was very envious of another. We went over to our friends for FHE. This last year they've put together an amazing garden and little farm. The boys got to collect eggs from their chickens, chase their rabbits (they were going to kill two that evening to eat), milk their goat, pick raspberries, onions, and peas.

I'm not sure I'd ever have the energy for all of that but wouldn't it be so healthy and fun to be able to walk out your back door and get everything you need for dinner. They even make their own cheese out of their goat milk. My boys really enjoyed it and I think it'd teach such a good work ethic if each child had a responsibility. Someday maybe...at my rate I'd take one step forward and go back two:)

A Helper

2011-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

I told the boys as soon as I mowed the backyard we could pull out the pool. They were so excited and wanted to fill it up as fast as possible so Jaden kept telling me he'd use the hose to fill it up and that I needed to fill up a cup and bring it out with water. In frustration I kept telling him that wouldn't be any faster and wouldn't do any good....BUT he convinced Landon to do it. Poor little Landon has been walking in and out of the house with his little cup of water. Hmmmm....they may finish filling a pool a whole second faster with Landon's help. I love these little moments:):):)

In the background you'll see egg shells. They've also been enjoying egg racing....I've had to limit them to one egg a day:)

Fun at the pool!

2011-07-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Our family loves to swim but it's definately gotten harder to do with the girls so we have to wait until daddy is around to go.

On Monday night we went as a family. Jaden really praticed his tricks and splashes...sorry fellow swimmers. Landon is working on getting braver and going to the deep end without help. He gets really nervous when he can no longer touch but we hope we can help him gain confidence so that soon we can take the girls too. Then it'll free up both us us to each hold a baby.

The girls and I hung out at the pool side. They were a hit. Almost every one had to stop and ask about them. It's so much fun having little girls.

Love this....

2011-07-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

The boys have been doing more fighting then not lately. It's been a little frustrating but you can imagine the smile on my face when they were watching cartoon together and I found them sitting like this.....

Efficiency at it's best...or worst!

2011-07-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this post with a little bit of of background. About 4 months ago Chris started a new job...a huge blessing with the two new additions. This blessing has also meant much longer hours (less travelling though) and hasn't allowed Chris very much time to buy cars for the dealership...needless to say it's suffered little bit. I had been to a couple of live auctions but wasn't sure how all the online stuff worked so over the past couple months I've done a couple of online bids and they've ended up being some of our best buys (Chris tells me I have good instinct). So with the two new additions I needed a van that met our needs better. Since our van had bucket seats in the middle the boys couldn't get through and would have to go through the front to get to the back. In addition to this problem Landon has to sit in the back and this isn't a problem if Jaden is there but if he's not I have to climb to the back to buckle him in his booster. I also have disliked only being able to haul 1 extra child...there are times I need to haul two and I just can't do it. So for the past two weeks I've been searching, doing proxy bids, losing, and not finding a van that would fit our needs....plus we needed it to fit our budget since we are paying cash (not dealership cash but personal cash). Yesterday afternoon I felt like I should check at 3pm and I found a van and realized the Live auction was happening in Florida that very moment...I WON! I felt like on my own search I learned a lot so now to today.....

This morning Chris said he saved a couple of cars for the SLC auction today and asked me to check it out...since I had much better luck with the live auction yesterday I knew that I needed to get on at 9am and I had many other tasks to complete so here is my multi-tasking efforts.

1. Dressing Eliza as I'm waiting for the cars to come up that I want to bid on.
2. My breakfast, slimfast.
3. The phone bill I prepared for Chris so he can get reimbursed at work.
4. My sticky notes of the cars & how much I'm going to bid.
5. The actual live auction...my computer honks at me when the cars on my watchlist come up.
6. Landons clothes that I need to put on him in between bids.
7. A content Alisha who is next to get dressed.

6. Landon pulls the cushions off at least 3 times a day...lets just say it drives me crazy! Anyways, this morning I decided that I needed to take the opportunity to vacuum out the couch since he reminds me about 3 times a day how gross it is.

7. A stripped down boy so I can get his clothes on quickly.

And I wrote this post all while I was waiting for my cars to come up!

Our 4th of July Activites

2011-07-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July Festivities began last Saturday Night at a party in a cul de sac in our neighborhood. I was so busy chatting that I took only 1 picture. I wish I would have been more diligent because my boys were all smiles & loved playing with their friends. Landon's face was covered in all the treats...cotton candy, ice cream, Popsicles, hot dogs, and popcorn. Landon did great at butting in lines and since his momma was busy chatting she wouldn't discover his sin until it was over:) Jaden was more patient and if the line was too long would go & play with his friends. At 10pm they did the big fireworks so me & the girls headed home while the boys stayed to watch.

On Monday we headed to the Rexburg parade. It was a beautiful day and the boys loved to catch the candy. Landon would quickly pop what he caught into his mouth.

After the Parade we headed to my parents for food, swimming, & mini-fireworks.

Not wanting to brave the crowds by the water....I get so nervous with little kids....we found an empty field, picked up some KFC, & watched the melaluca fireworks from the back of the van. The boys were loving it!
And of course the girls celebrated the same way the boys did but in a much more mellow manner. The little sweeties slept through most of the day. I'm so glad they are good enough that they don't stop us from going & having a little bit of fun!

I'm so glad we take a day each year to celebrate out independence. In the melaluca firework show they had excerpts from Past Presidents and WOW...it was some powerful stuff. I wish I could feel those chills with our politicians today. What a great country we live in & what a fun day to get to celebrate.

happiness is.....

2011-07-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

playing and wrestling with little cousins. I have so many pictures to go through from our family reunion with my siblings that I haven't even began to blog or document it.

So...I'm just going to do a few at a time & try not to overwelm myself. We spent a night in Teton Village (right outside Jackson hole) and it's absolutely gorgeous up there. We love the hotel and all the kids did fabulous! I was very anxious when I knew the dates & how little the girls would be.

We did family pictures that morning (I'm trying to steal them off the photographers website with no success). I have a complaint about ALL our family pictures. We did family pictures over six years ago & I was pregnant with Jaden...then we did them again over 3 years ago and I was pregnant with Landon. in these I just gave birth to twins...REALLY! I gave my mom a hard time about it:):):)

After the pictures we let the kids run around and it made me smile. Here's some pictures of some of their fun with their cousins...I'm so grateful for their cousins!

2 months

2011-07-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Time travels so fast yet at the same time it seems like these little girls have been part of our family for a long time....we just love them!

Eli loves to eat and is much more active then Alisha. Alisha is almost always mellow & sweet and she's still a lot smaller then Eli. About two weeks ago Eli rolled over but I don't think it's a skill she's mastered but that she kicked her legs and the momentum and weight pulled her over.

They sometimes love tummy time & sometimes hate it. Alisha typically lays her head on the ground and is content. Eli grunts and tries pulling her head up so she can look around.

About a week ago I decided that I wanted to see how they did bathing together. Both girls typically would lay still in the bath water and relax. When put together they kick and flail...grab each others arms & legs. It's so fun to watch. They both also turn their heads so one eye is under water and look around with their eye open. It's a little creepy looking. I'm not sure why they react to bath time this way when they are together but I'd imagine it feels a little bit like the womb. I had Jaden watch one baby while I went to get the other one to put in the bath and his reaction to the kicking & flailing was "I could watch this all day." It really is adorable.

We love you little girls! I'm excited for all the adventures to come!

6 years ago today.....

2011-06-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

I was in the hospital and had just delivered a beautiful, 8 lbs 9 oz, 22 inches long baby boy. I told Chris I wanted to re-live that moment over and over because it was so amazing (I have since said this about all my childrens births and am so sad that they are all over).

Jaden made me a mother so we of course had lots of celebrating....I'm very tired and am kind of glad we are all done with the celebrating!

On Sunday we celebrated with a family party at my parents. Some of Jaden's best friends are his cousins and they had a lot of fun playing crochet, jumping on the tramp, running around, and playing in the ditch in a boat they made out of a sand box top...kids are so funny! We also gave him his presents from us and he got golf clubs that match Chris's (in the Jr. size) so that the two of them can go golfing together. They are going on Saturday and Jaden is EXCITED!

About a week ago Jaden told me that he wanted a special breakfast for his birthday. I started inquiring what would he would consider special. He mentioned pop tarts (we never eat these kinds of foods for breakfast) and I was relieved because Landon has speech on Tuesday at 8:30am and it takes about every minute of my time getting everyone ready and there on time. I thought I would also add chocolate milk and a gogurt. When Jaden woke up and saw his breakfast he said "mom, there isn't one healthy thing for breakfast. Next year you need to make me waffles (I make whole-wheat) with whipped cream and a candle on top and a piece of celery on the side." I love his desire be healthy. He ate his breakfast anyways and I was relieved I didn't have to find something else since I didn't have time.

He also woke up asking me if I could tell that he was now taller.

During Landon's speech Jaden and I almost always go on a walk for the 45 minutes. We did this today and we both love to do it. The girls are in the stroller sleeping and Jaden and I spend the whole time walking and talking. We always go into Mountain View hospital for him to get a drink half way through and I'm really starting to enjoy this special time together. He always sets the pace & where we should walk too. I'm glad we got to do this on his birthday.

Later in the day Jaden celebrated with his friends. It was a little crazy with so many little ones but a lot of fun. I get a kick out of Jadens friends and some of the things they say. We did a Shark, Water themed party and they spent most of the time playing in the water but we also played shark bite & broke a pinata.

After Chris got home we took Jaden to dinner. He loves to go out and eat and he was sure to remind let everyone know that he was now six. Him and Landon enjoyed chocolate ice cream for dessert and they even saved some on their faces for later. They came home and we lit fireworks since Jaden LOVES to do this. Have two boys close in age is a lot of fun...especially for doing boys things. They ended the firework show wrestling.

We love you Jaden and hope you had a special day!!!!

a wonderful day...........

2011-06-19T20:58:00.001-07:00

I had to keep reminding myself that it was fathers day & not mothers day because I kept thinking it was my special day.

I should have Chris write this post because I'm sure he has some tender feelings from this day.

Our little girls were blessed today & each given a beautiful blessing by Chris. We've had an amazing weekend with family (all my siblings & their families are here) but I knew it would take too much time to blog & I wanted to get these tender thought down before they were a distant memory.

Alisha was blessed first. She cried a little bit at the beginning but then quickly calmed down as the blessing began. I wish I could have recorded each one.

Eliza was calm the whole time & even grabbed my brother Travis's finger during the blessing. He thought that was really neat.

Although each blessing was completely different there were two things in both of them that caught my attention. The first being that Chris blessed them to follow my example...this didn't touch me because I'm a perfect example BUT was a reminder to me that I needed to be the best example to all my children that I could possibly be. They've been entrusted to my care (see why it feels a little bit like mothers day). The second thing was the bond they were blessed with, with each other. I can't even imagine how amazing this'll be for each of them. I hope & pray they'll be each others best friend & that they'll be a strength to one another.

Chris has been gone for two weeks including the weekend & I haven't felt like I had a lot of time to really snuggle the girls. After taking a short nap with them I held & smelled them for a couple of hours. It was a dream.

Right after the blessing everyone came over for lunch. With the twins there are now 17 grandchildren & they all LOVE each other. During lunch the girls were tuckered out & took a nap but Alisha did wake up at the end to join the party. Our family loves spending time together & we had a great time.

Once everyone left we took a moment to celebrate fathers day with daddy! The boys were excited to give daddy their gift. It was golf clubs, a bag of tees that said he was "tee-rific" and a golf pass. Since Chris and my dad golf together my dad also got a bag of tees with the same saying and a game of golf.

Although we didn't spend the whole day focused on fatherhood I am so grateful for the fathers in my life & the examples that they are to me & my children. I'm grateful that Chris provides for our family & for the father that he is. My own dad for his unselfishness & his willingness to do anything for his children.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful day too!

Oh Beautiful Girls!

2011-06-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

We are blessing our little sweeties this Sunday and I really wanted to get some pictures of them beforehand. Chris is worried that he'll get up there and use the wrong name since he struggles telling them apart....the funny this is that none of the men would know the difference. My grandpa has said "you only need to see one." Chris has been gone for two weeks & they sure have grown; Eliza is an eater and I think it'll help him know which one she is:)

When daddy's out of town....

2011-06-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

and Mommy's has just finished bathing two babies & is in the middle of feeding them....

and big brother is enjoying a bubble bath.....

little brother jumps out of the bath tub to..........

jump on the tramp NAKED with two high chair trays (from the shed) and his toy lawn mower.

Last Day of School

2011-06-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

Jaden finished his kindergarten year last friday. I'm so grateful he had such a great year with good friends & parent support. This last month I've been MIA at his school so I've been a little sad that I haven't captured the end of his year that well.

Jaden LOVED science & math this year.

Jaden DID NOT LOVE handwriting & coloring....it showed.

I'm so proud that Jaden got almost all 3's (highest you can get). At mid-terms I noticed he had raised his 2 in art to a 3 and I asked his teacher why she was so generous. Jaden dislikes it that much that he scribbles. His teacher told me that he was working really hard on it & that he got a 3 for his efforts...what a nice teacher.

On his last report card he had 3's on everything except his name. Sad yes...he's written his name forever but REFUSED to write is name with a lower case a. He is a stubborn boy. He also scored a 3 on the state test.

I can't believe how much he's grown from his first day of school to now. When he applies himself he is a sponge and so incredibly smart.

I'm proud of you buddy and love you so much! Keep working hard and you can do anything in life that you want to.

Funny story about his class photo. On picture day he did NOT want to wear his church pants. After battling with him for a couple of minutes I told him he didn't have to wear them because he'd be on the back row. He came home and said "mom, you were right." I laughed when I noticed he was the only boy on the back row. Girls are so tall at this age. At the beginning of the year a couple of the moms asked me if I held him back because he was so tall. I told them that he was actually one of the youngest in his class....I'm crossing my fingers that it gives him some sports advantages:)

One Month!

2011-06-01T19:53:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow marks one month for the girls. I'm so grateful for how well this first month has went. The boys ADORE their sisters....sometimes too much! Jaden calls them cuties all the time and is always talking to them. Landon loves to play with them and have them kiss his owies. Landon wants to help with them so much but I've really tried to have him help but also have the girls be safe. Yesterday they were on my bed and I was moving them one at a time to their crib. I didn't notice that Landon stayed behind and when I went back to get Eliza Landon was carrying her to me. He somehow got her off my high bed. I as nicely as possible thanked him for trying to help but reminded him that he couldn't hold the babies without mommies help....inside I was suffering a heart attack and saying a prayer of thanks that Eliza hadn't tumbled to the ground.

Chris still has a hard time telling them apart. He thinks that Eliza cries all the time & that Alisha never does. If I were to compare the two Eliza is definately the cryer but she unfortunately gets the blame all the time because Chris can't tell who is who:):):) I have fun with Chris sometimes when he guesses the right name & tell him he was wrong again.

Alisha is mostly always content and is so sweet. I love to shower her with kisses.

Eliza has such bright and sparkly eyes and I love to gaze into them. She's my better nurser so we have a lot of bonding time.

Tonight Chris had bishopric meetings so I had to bathe & get all 4 kids to bed. I bathed Eliza first and she was so content that I had to take pictures. I like to add lavender oil to the water and she was just so happy that I let her stay in extra long even though I had a lot of other kids to get clean. Alisha was next and didn't cry but didn't look as happy...she looked a little grumpy. Once I bundled her up in her towel she was just as content:):):) It's nice to have mellow baths with the girls because once the boys hopped in their was splashing and lots of loud noise....the bathtub usually has a bunch of mud at the bottom too:)

Lucky for us we had a family of two boys close in age to my boys move in two doors down (BTW, always I'm always recruiting for good neighbors with lots of kids) and they were over playing tonight. Chris came & grabbed me and told me I had to watch what they were doing. They were in the basement playing a game on the wii where they had to touch their noses, eyes, ect. When I looked down I saw all the boys in unison following the instructions...I ran for the camera only to be caught and the moment was over. It was cute!

This BOY!

2011-05-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

My little Landon is quite the character. Apparently he's getting a little bored around our home because this is his new favorite toy...a toy we bought when Jaden was 1. But it's not the basketball portion of it he likes; he likes to wear it. I informed him if he kept this up it would be his halloween costume:)

I worry about this kid. He still is very delayed in speaking even though he now attends weekly speech lessons. His therapist does think part of the problem is that he's so shy & she struggles to make a lot of progress with him for this reason so starting next month Landon will have lessons twice a week. I also was at a hearing clinic yesterday having Eliza's hearing checked since she didn't pass the one in the hospital & asked them if I could have Landon's hearing checked (we did this a year ago but I just want to double check & rule everything out.)They can do it with a referral so I'll have to start working on that:)

I have come to really appreciate something through this TINY trial and that is how blessed I am that my kids are healthy & we really don't have a lot of issues we have to address. At his speech & language clinic most of the children have severe disabilities. Some of the things I see break my heart. Many of the kids are dropped off by a transport service & I'm grateful I get to take Landon & talk to his therapist after each lesson. There are a couple of other moms that sit in the waiting room too & their attitudes are so wonderful despite some of the challenges that they face. I'm drawn to one mom in particular; she has identical 4 year old boys that I believe have MD. They are the cutest, well adjusted little boys I have ever seen and I just want to squeeze them. On top of that because many children are dropped off by transport she helps watch them in the waiting room while they wait for their appointment....some of them have severe behavior problems and it can get really loud.

Jaden waits in the waiting room with me (the girls too). I really appreciate that Jaden doesn't seem to notice that some of these kids have challenges. One day he was staring at a little boy with down syndrome & I didn't know what to do. He then informed me he wanted an Ipad like he had (he and his mom were doing learning game on it.) I was so relieved that it was jealousy he was experiencing. I like my kids to be exposed to this so they can learn compassion, to never judge others, & that we can be friends with everyone. Jaden is too....he's made a couple of friends while we wait.

Too funny!

2011-05-19T07:49:00.001-07:00

I always put the girls to bed like this....

And find them like this.

I'm not sure if Alisha is pushing Eli over or of Eli moves & Alisha wants to be next to her. It gives me something to smile about every 2 1/2 hours I have to get up to feed them during the middle of the night:)

We've grown

2011-05-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

Oh, these cuties are so much fun! I may regret these words (especially putting them in writing) but having twins has been easier then I expected. Either I made the expectations of them too great or I've just been blessed to have really good babies! I'm not saying it's easy but just easier then I expected:)

Eliza is the higher maintenance of the two & likes to be held. She also notices when Alisha is missing & I just love that about her.

Alisha is almost always a very mellow and sweet baby. She's easier to calm down when she is upset & I just love to snuggle her little body.

Overall we've gotten into a routine...the only thing that would make it better is warmer weather & the girls to be a little bit bigger so we can go out more:) I can tell that poor Landon is feeling a little couped up. We've done some mini bike rides...me pushing the stroller with the girls & lots of wrestling. Either my boys have become even more boyish since we had the girls or they've always been this way & I never noticed until now. They love to wrestle & make lots of noise. Landon loves to play different super heroes & exercise his LOUD powers on the girls. The plus side is that they can sleep through almost anything.

Today was the girls two week appointment & they are growing like crazy. I'm usually not one to ask a lot of questions & make the doctor double check everything but I sure did today since I'm not totally sure why the girls were different sizes. So I made him check Eliza's heart really well (in twin-to-twin the dominate baby can have heart issues; we don'tknow if it was twin-to-twin) and look at Alisha's coloring & one of her eyes has been getting goobers. Yes, these sound so silly but I just like to be re-assured they are healthy:) I haven't been a great picture taker since my arms are almost always full but here's some fun ones that make me smile.

Chris and I have been getting really creative with getting the girls around the house. Since we have two full sets of stairs we really feel the need to improvise & take them as little as possible. That means we get very creative when it come to transporting the girls...often done in twos:):):) Today I told myself that it was ok to go up & down the stairs twice as much because its good exercise and boy do I need it. Telling myself that & doing it are two different things:)

We go out very little but when we do it takes a litte bit more work then usual. We try to go between naps, feedings, & diaper changes but sometimes it doesn't always work out perfect. When they start walking life will be a little bit easier but right now I'm lugging two car seats & hoping for some very tone arms...today I used Eliza as my weights because she wouldn't stop crying while I was working out. She was happy & my arms felt the burn!

Mothers Day!

2011-05-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Mothers day definitely takes on a new meaning when you are blessed with two precious angels in the same week.

Chris and I keep talking about what an amazing experience it is to have a child be born & we were both a little sad to realize we probably won't go through the experience again.

As we've reflected back on this week we realize how incredibly blessed we are. We are so fortunate to have two healthy little babies despite so many possibilities of thinks that could go wrong. Statistically our girls had a lot of strikes against them. The two-vessel umbilical cord is only a 5% chance for twins...they both had this. Then to find out little Alisha had a valementous cord insertion which is only an 8% chance in their twin type & to recognize a stillborn baby was very probable with this condition. We are so humbled to be so blessed!

On Friday Jaden had a mothers day program at school that I just couldn't miss. Many thought I was crazy to already be out & about but I just had to be there & it was so adorable. Unfortunately being a little spacey I forgot the video camera & my regular camera but I did these cute pictures that Jaden drew on "Kid Pic". They also did a silhouette of each child to give to their mothers. Last night when I told Jaden how much it looked like him he informed me that it looked like Abraham Lincoln:):):)

Chris likes to take the boys to "Lowes Build & Grow" workshops. Yesterday they did a mothers day project & it was so cute to see them get their aprons and goggles on & to see their excitement to go build something. Jaden built his completely all by himself & was so proud of it. One of these days I'll actually capture pictures of their excitement...it truly puts a smile on my face.

Today I had to have a picture of all my little ones together...I keep forgetting to take pictures. Since Chris was at the church I braved letting both boys hold one baby for the occasion. They were both so proud...me, I was a little nervous & didn't require them to pose for a perfect picture but snapped it as quickly as I could.
I just love all 4 of them and I'm grateful to be their mom!

Two little cuties!

2011-05-05T19:22:00.001-07:00

I've been very bad to return phone calls since our life has been a little crazy so I thought I'd add a quick update & a picture of the girls together....unfortunately my picture taking has been few & far between so sadly I have very few.

We were released yesterday from the hospital & they are both doing great. We had a follow up visit today because of Jandice & they both were great. Here's a picture of them at the doctors office. They look exactly the same but appear to be about a month apart.

Last night was a little rough for Alicia but Eliza did so wonderful. Eliza really reaches out for Alicia and loves to touch her while she sleeps. A lot of times they either turn to each other in the same position or mimic the exact same position. Seconds after I took this picture they both spit out their pacifiers at the exact same time.

Our Miracles!

2011-05-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Eliza was re-weighed this morning & there must have been a problem with the scale yesterday. She actually weighs 6 lbs 5 oz which is considerably bigger then Alisha. This may be due to twin-to-twin transfusion OR Alisha's umbilical cord issue. In a way I'm grateful (I had growth ultrasounds every two weeks with the perinatologists) that it wasn't detected because I believe they would have had me have the girls a lot earlier. They are healthy & should be out of the NICU by noon today if they can maintain their temperature.

The girls will be staying in the NICU tonight as a precaution so I thought I'd take a quick moment to share some photos & jot down some of my experiences today.

First off...they are both healthy & beautiful. We recognize how blessed we truely are and I feel wonderful.

We checked in the hospital at 7 am. I was at almost at 4cm and was very insistant I not have pitocin because of complications from it with both boys. I was worried that this would force a c-section so they broke Alisha's water & we waited to see what happened. Just prior to this they did an ultrasound and it appeared that Eliza had turned slightly sideways.We knew that Alisha would not need a c-section, but there was still a chance that Eliza would need a c-section.

Between the anti-naseau medication & epidural I spent much of the day sleeping...I was a little loopy. At around 2pm I was at a 7 & my nurse told me they'd take me to the surgical suite once I was an 8; this is a precaution of an emergency c-section is necessary.

Shortly after she noticed that Alisha's heart rate was dropping & that can be an indication she'd dropped into the birth canal. Upon checking she said I only had a ridge left & they rushed me into surgery & called my doctor. At this point I was throwing up a lot & she kept telling me to try to breath through it because I was pushing Alisha out from the pressure.

Getting wheeled to the surgical suite really quickly. I was on oxygen most of the day to help the babies heart rates...mostly Alisha's.

I only could have two people in the OR so my mom had to stay in the hall. Jenna was the picture taker & took 400+ pictures. It's gonna take some serious time going through all of them:) Chris was the daddy:):):) Thankfully Dr. Leavitt arrived just in time & told Chris he could deliver the babies. Here's their preparation stance.It only took 1 contraction to get Alisha out. I got to hold her for about 3 seconds before she was passed through to the NICU.

Eliza was much higher but with a couple of pushes we got her low enough to get her into position & break her water. 5 minutes later she was born at 4:47pm. Again, I held her for a quick moment & she was passed on through to the NICU. Chris headed to the NICU & I finished up.

One additional blessing that was discovered after my Dr. analyzed the placenta was that Alisha's umbilical cord was attached to the sac, not the placenta (there is a medical term but I don't remember it.) This could have caused some serious complications through out my pregnancy.

This is right after I delivered both girls. I felt so good minus that shakes.
So finally I got a report on the girls & here are the stats.

Alisha Murphy: 4 lbs. 14 oz, 18.5 inches long
Eliza Murphy: 5 lbs. 2 oz, 20.5 inches long

At this point I had to wait a couple hours for the epidural to wear off before I could go see the girls so Jenna went back & forth bringing me pictures of the girls. Here was bath-time. Eliza seems to be more mellow and Alisha more sassy!

A happy bath taker Eliza.

An unhappy Alisha.

Two very happy brothers peaking through the NICU windows.
First time seeing Alisha

First time holding Eliza.
I can't wait for when we can put them together & take some pictures. Because of the size difference we can tell them apart but all their features are the same including a chin dimple. I'm now off to feed both babies:):):)

Easter Celebrations plus a little teeth cleaning

2011-04-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Usually Jaden has went to my dentist to get his teeth cleaned but since Landon is now the age of 3 & I have two to take to the dentist I decided it was time to take them to a kids dentist. I have to say that more playing went on then teeth cleaning. Since it was Landons first visit they did a "Happy Visit" which consisted of looking at his teeth for about 1 minute....I hope his teeth are really ok. Even though he was supposed to be happy he cried. Jaden is used to the drill, hopped onto the table, made his requests, & couldn't have been happier. Since they are a kids dentist there were video games, a movie theatre, car racing track, & a big thomas the train set (Landon's favorite.) After I saw how much they loved all the dentist extras I may just be tempted to sneak them back another day just to play:):):)

Ever year we take the kids to the tautphaus park easter egg hunt & we couldn't miss this year. We also added Gracie & Easton to our family:) They were in different groups so Chris & I separated so that all the kids could go at the same time. They all did very well but it was a little crazy & Jaden ended up getting separated from everyone. The smart kid went to the car & waited for us. Whew!!!

All last week I really made an effort to help my kids understand the REAL reason we celebrate Easter. There's so many fun activities BUT that's the fluff & I wanted to make sure Jaden knew the difference. So daily I'd quiz him on why we celebrated Easter and to help both boys have an even better understanding we chose to do their Easter baskets on Saturday vs Sunday so that they knew Sunday was the day to think about our Savior and the true meaning of Easter. So after the Easter Egg Hunt we came home & surprised the boys with a trampoline and their baskets. It was such a beautiful afternoon & everyone was in such good spirits!

Both boys were so happy & pleasant Easter Sunday. Our home had such a nice, restful feeling before church and I didn't regret doing all the activities prior to actual Easter. Plus, Chris is gone to meetings on Sundays so we were able to include him on all the fun on Saturday. After Church we enjoyed a big family dinner & a small Easter egg hunt BUT not before the kids could tell grandpa why we celebrate Easter...good thing I'd been prepping my boys all week:)

TWIN UPDATE:

Are you sick of these....I kind of am:) It's time to get them out of my belly! Last Thursday the Nurse was going to schedule me for this Friday. Because I had some concerns about being induced I asked her if I could wait until my Monday appointment to talk to my OBGYN about risks or whether it'd need to be a c-section. Assuming that it was a go on Friday either way...I just didn't know how it'd go I told everyone I was having them this Friday.

On Monday when I went in my OBGYN wants to do it this coming Monday. I'm dilated to a 3 and they may come before then but that is the scheduled date & so far it looks like I can deliver them and that is the plan. In addition on my ultrasound the tech picked up hair on both girls....both boys had a good amount of hair so I was very hopeful that my girls wouldn't be bald:) Here's crossing my fingers for the beautiful dark hair that both my boys had a babies. It's kind of strange that they are both blondes now.

The Boys!!!!!

2011-04-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

After a funny morning of listening to my boys talking I decided I needed to document it.

When we first got bunk beds over a year ago it was a treat for Jaden to sleep on the top bunk...he had to earn the privilege so you can imagine my surprise when we moved the boys together & Jaden no longer cared to sleep on the top bunk; it was a little bit of a problem. After we'd put the boys to bed Jaden would sneak to the floor & Chris would have to lift him to the top bunk. Jaden doesn't always communicate his feeling & frustrations well & finally I sat him down & asked him why he didn't want to sleep on his bed. Prior to this his excuses were so silly but this time he finally opened up & told me he was scared the top bed would fall off and crash to the floor...I could tell this was truly a fear of his. Of course I want my children to feel safe so I immediately went to work taking the two beds apart, moving furniture & pictures so that there would now be two beds in a bedroom that was already so small. This was two days ago & Jaden is waking up so much happier & perkier & both boys are seeming to enjoy the new bed arrangement.

So for the last two mornings Jaden has woken up early & popped into bed with me. This morning (this was 5 minutes before I was waking up) he came & we had a sweet little talk. I asked him if he was ready for me to have these babies. His honest reply was "mom, I don't want you to have them because I won't get to spend time with you". I thought he thought I was going to have them right now and I told him I meant more like next week. He still was worried and I reassured him I'd always make time for him and that he was a great big brother.

With the big brother responsibility I've been really trying to teach him to help around the house & I reminded him that when Landon woke up he needed to clean his room, make his bed (this is a new responsibility since it was two high for him to make before), and get dressed. He told me he'd be very quiet and set to work.

Yesterday Jaden suddenly took an interest in reading. He's so funny & decides to take interest in things on his own time. After reading lots of books last night he kept telling me which kind I needed to buy so he could read better (I already forgot the name but I'll have to ask him again so I can purchase him some).

So this morning I could hear him cleaning and all the sudden I heard him talking to Landon who had just woke up. His words were something like this..."Landon, I'm going to read lots of books to you. How about I teach you to read also." Then I heard him sit on Landon's bed and start having him repeat words like "I, am, the, little, robot, ect" and pointing to them in the book. I could hear Landon repeating each word carefully. It was so cute & tender! As an added bonus I heard him say "Landon, I'll show you how to make your bed." and I could hear them working together. Their blankets are turned the wrong direction & they certainly aren't show room perfect but I couldn't help smile when I saw both their beds.

When I saw Jaden's outfit I noticed his shirt was getting to be a belly shirt. Both my boys are getting SOOOOO tall and I encouraged Jaden to go and change it because it was getting small. He insisted it fit just fine because it wasn't tight. True but when he moves his arms his belly button pokes out. Deciding not to pick a battle about it I told him that this was the last time he could wear the shirt....I feel bad for his classmates today that will get a couple of belly button views:):):)

When Jaden is happy & helpful it is so wonderful! I wish I could keep this attitude around at all times. He isn't really a messy kid but Landon is and he's been good to help me pick up all the toys on the floor since it's getting harder for me to clean them.

Last week I took the boys to the store to pick out an easter egg kit. Every day Landon would bring it to me so that we could make eggs. Finally last night we pulled it out & the boys got to work. With this kit you put the eggs in a bag, drop different colors of die, swish it around, take the egg out & sprinkle with glitter. They had so much fun with their different color creations. Jaden has become very protective of the eggs since Landon has broken a couple.

TWIN UPDATE:

When I meet with the perinatologists out of Utah it's usually a different doctor every time so I'm never sure what they'll suggest. I do get the feeling they are careful with their suggestions since everything has a risk.

On Monday my OBGYN seemed to think that I'll make it to 36 weeks which he said would be really good (that's next friday.)

Yesterday when I met with the perinatologist he mentioned a study done in Britain of monochorionic twins (shared placenta). The study suggested that past 36 weeks there is a higher still born rate. A different perinatologist mentioned this to me about a month ago. He said that at 36 weeks their could be respiratory problems. I think he wanted to educate me to make the decision on when to have these babies. He said he'd make a note to my obgyn so that on Monday we could discuss and make a decision.

Chris has been out of town the last couple of days & flights into Idaho Falls aren't plentiful so I've been really careful not to do too much so that I won't have contractions. I've had small ones for a while but nothing that would put me into labor. I really would like to not have to be induced or have a c-section but he gets home today so I'm going to weed my many flower gardens (I may only get one done) and start getting my body to think about having these babies. I was at a 1 on monday...with my boys that didn't happen until about 40 weeks (my body holds onto babies:):):)).

So in my estimate I'll have these babies by next Friday at 36 weeks or if I come earlier on my own. I think on Monday my OBGYN and I will have a plan.

This picture is me at 34 1/2 weeks. I hesitate to post because I've put on 45 lbs & it was the end of the day...I look TIRED! Everyone tells me I haven't put on weight in my face but looking at this picture I completely disagree or maybe I'll blame it on the angle. I know at some point in life I'll want to see a picture of me with twins so I thought I better take one. I may take it down in humiliation:):):)

Efficiency

2011-04-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love to be efficient with my time. As a matter of fact I love to see if I can find a more efficient way to do something that I already figured out the most efficient way to do it. That said....I realized this twin thing is another way to be efficient in the long run. One pregnancy results in two children, they'll be on the same schedule (yes, for the moment it'll be crazy but in the long run if you think about it, I'll be saving time), just to name a few!

I've always wanted twins but NEVER thought they'd be in my future. In addition to this I wanted them to be girls & identical. Obviously we don't pray for "wishes" because that's what they are. This journey for me has been crazy & overwelming as I've realized my wish has come true. The week before I found out I was having twins I teased Chris that I was going to find out next week that we were having twins....again, I never expected it to really happen. Chris responded "Kimri, to be honest, I really don't want twins". He's since changed his mind:):):) When I found out and was blabbing to my doctor in complete shock I told him how much I wanted twins & how Chris didn't & his response was "you know who the lords listening too." hehehe, I now hold that over Chris's head since he was scared to have girls & hoped they'd be boys & how he didn't want them to be identical since he was worried about them having their own identity!

Jenna (my sister's) husbands mom is an identical twin & I always thought she'd get the twins I always wanted. Since I've studied more about twins I realize that identical are not genetic & a complete fluke! WOW!!!!! Heavenly father is in complete control!

Now all my excitement aside, I'm getting extremely scared. Yes, I wanted this but can I handle this. With everyone of my childrens births I felts overwelmed right before they were born. I know the countdown is on & that I have very little time before these girls join our family. It hit me last night & I've realized I need to pack my bag & make the arrangements to be away from my boys. I wish I had a crystal ball to know what day & how it'll go. Both girls are currently head down & although I've tried to be open-minded about how they'll have to be delivered I'm getting excited at the possibility of not having to have a c-section and getting to deliver them.

Before the shower below I had another baby shower that was a complete surprise so I have no pictures to share but it was amazing, the food, the decorations, the generous gifts...all of it!

This shower was full of family & friends & hosted by Jenna & my mom. It was fun to see everyone...some I haven't seen in a while. These girls were definately spoiled & I appreciate everything everyone has given. I really felt silly on my third pregnancy to be so spoiled but it was fun too! And I should mention we've gotten fun packages from friends in Washington too and some of those packages have included something for the boys...so thoughtful!!!!

Spring Break!

2011-04-03T10:29:00.001-07:00

This week really should have been called Winter Break since it snowed on Monday. Since I really can't travel at this point we were home bound. Before the week began I crossed my fingers for beautiful weather so our days could be full of parks & picnics BUT the weather played a different role & we tried to find an activity to go out and do each day. Sometimes it was something as simple as McDonalds & Pizza Hut but we did do a couple of things this week that were fun.

>

On Thursdays a gymnastics place here in town has a two-hour open gym that you can take the kids to. Unfortunately, during a regular week the time is right when I pick up Jaden from school and during Landon's speech so it was a treat for the boys to get to go this week. I really thought it'd be an activity for Landon since he does tricks & somersaults all day long but Jaden thought it was the greatest thing & keeps begging to go back. If it didn't end after two hours I know they would have stayed all day. On Saturday Chris had to work at the dealership so during Saturday conference the boys and I went to the fish hatchery with grandma & grandpa at Henry's Lake. They are spawning right now so there were lots of fish. They had a fountain that sprayed water up & the fish loved to jump into it. Jaden couldn't stop laughing at the fish jumping into the air. Afterwards we were treated to hard ice cream...my favorite!!!!! During priesthood we met my old college roommate and her two kids for dinner. Usually I don't do the whole sit-down-dinner thing with my kids but rather opt for place with play lands so that they can go get their wiggles out while I sit back and eat. Jaden doesn't play with girls as much anymore but really enjoyed her little girl Ella (she's two days older then Landon). He and her had fork wars...probably a little unfair for Ella. Landon does what Jaden does & decided he too needed a fork war with Ella. This was more of an equal match:) This would be one of the many reasons that we don't eat at restaurants with the kids. They got a balloon when we were done eating! Although my boys can be wild it was still fun. It's kind of hard to get back on a schedule next week but it's good too! One of the special privileges Jaden got this week was to sleep in the basement and watch movies each night. This is usually reserved for Friday night ONLY so that was probably his favorite part of the week...it's nice when some of the simplest things are a treat.

St patricks Day & other fun things!

2011-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

My posts lately are getting crammed full of different things since I'm no longer a super faithful blogger! I chalk it up to being pregnant & forgetting to take pictures.

So this post may be full of some of the randomness at our home.

We took the boys to Utah last week for a quick last minute mini-vacay before I can't travel anymore & of course...no pictures except for them swimming in the tub. That'd be because the camera was right there. When we got home Jaden said his favorite part was Ikea....he can be my new shopping buddy since his daddy HATES that store.

I was going to try to go to Utah this weekend BUT at the doctors today I'm measuring 40 weeks pregnant (for a singleton) so it's probably not a good idea. I'm a little worried my body is going to think it needs to start contracting...my doctor too! So today I got my first steroid shot & I get to go back for another one tomorrow. The good news is I'm not contracting but the bad news is I'm getting so large. I keep thinking I need to take a picture to document but I do find it a little depressing. So maybe I will at some point or maybe I won't....depends on the day probably!

A week and a half ago Jaden's cousin Wyatt came to visit since his mommy just had a little baby girl. With her & Jenna's there'll be my two girls & two girl cousins in the same grade. Won't family gatherings be so much fun for all the cousins. Anyways, Jaden loves Wyatt & they got to go fishing with grandpa. Look what they caught...very pixelly picture since it was taken on a phone. On St Patricks Day I was in charge of our RS Birthday Party Dinner so I did the actual day as simple as possible. The boys got green muffins, green apples, & green milk for breakfast. For lunch they got bread with green peanut butter, green apples, green punch, & raisins. As long as it was green, the boys were happy!!!!

We couldn't forget Jaden's annual green party. We held it this Monday when life wasn't so crazy. We cut down his guest list this year but all of them enjoyed green food, a game of lucky, playing with green play-do, and searching for treasure.

Dr Suess & Baby Shower

2011-03-06T18:04:00.001-08:00

On Friday Jaden's school celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday by dressing up. Jaden was "cat in the hat." It's so fun when he gets excited about something & he really had fun dressing up. I kept meowing at him all day:)
This is a baby shower I had in february that was so much fun. I'm realizing that I may not want anymore pictures taken of me since I'm not looking too hot:) I got some really fun outfits, lots of diapers & wipes and then two of these....aren't they the most creative things ever? I'm sure they will be very handy. Thanks ladies for a fun day!!!!
I had another Perintologist appointment on Friday & EVERYTHING looks great. The girls are even measuring full size where they should be. What a blessing....I'm totally amazed how things were looking worrisome & now there really aren't any concerns. They even pushed my next appointment out three weeks (this doesn't include my obgyn appointments). I'm thinking I may actually these babies full-term (for twins anyways.) I was in doubt for awhile.

Miscalculation or Miracle????

2011-02-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

As many of you are aware I've had frequent appointments with the perintologists out of Utah. On Friday was one of those appointments & the good news was that the doctor was happy with the size of the babies but the bad news was that one amniotic sac was measuring at 4cm and the other at 7 cm. As the Doctor put it we were seeing the start of twin to twin transfusion. This can be a very serious disease that could have drastically changed my care & the health of the babies. Although I've never been alarmed or too nervous I have tried to be prepared for anything. As a result he said he needed to see my on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week to check the fluids again to see if they had gotten any worse.

The perintologists only come down once in a while so an ultrasound tech here does all the measurements & then transmits that data to Utah. The Doctor will then come on camera to talk to me about the results. Every time I go in it's been a different tech that has taken my measurements.

Yesterday I could tell right away that I had a tech that was confident in what he was doing, whereas on Friday I could tell my tech was getting nervous as the Dr kept instructing him to check different things.

When everything came back as NORMAL I assumed that on friday the measurements had been done incorrectly.

Late last night Chris came home from bishopric meeting & mentioned that to the 2nd counselor (an anesthesiologist) exclaimed that it was a miracle. I assumed that a mistake on friday was made but maybe it wasn't. In addition, another lady I know that had identical twins about 20 years ago with tears in her eyes told me that I need to remember who has ultimate control. So today I'm grateful for healthy babies & the miracle that they are. I do know that there may be more hiccups along the way but I think I need to acknowledge & be grateful for all the good. I personally have had a great pregnancy without any problems to my health and with twins my risks increased.

So today I'm grateful!!!! I am still trying to be prepared for anything because I know that things can change at any time....I'm grateful for each week that I'm able to carry these babies & with each week I know they are stronger & healthier.

"LOVE" day!

2011-02-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

I feel like valentines day just snuck up on me. I felt like I was doing a lot of last minute scrambling but it all ended up great & wonderful!

Last Monday (over a week ago) when I was at my Doctors appointment my stomach was measuring at 36 weeks (yikes & completely shocking) and I've really felt it this week. So that's my excuse if this day was less then perfect:):):)

Backing up, the Saturday before Valentines Day we were treated to dinner by my parents. My love/hate relationship with food has been difficult this pregnancy so I was excited when I made a good choice at the restuarant and was very happy with my meal. That said, half way through I lost it all to throwing up but the positive is that it was a HUGE meal and I got to start all over again:) Thanks mom & dad...you guys are the best!

On Valentines Day we decided to invite all the little cousins over so that their parents could go out. This was in trade so that Chris and I could go out last night (two dates in less then a week is a real treat). What a blessing it is for my kids to have so many cousins around; as I watched their interractions I was so grateful for the forever friendships they'll always have. For their party they got heart-shaped hamburgers & rice crispy treats. For an activity they made their parents chocolate dipped strawberries that were delicious!>

Last night I made filet-minon with lobster & cheese cake. I'm not going to lie, by the time we sat down to dinner I was miserable. I was tired & my back was in a lot of pain...I'm a little scared as this pregnancy progresses. Chris encouraged me to go & lay down but it's not often we have time without the kids & I wanted to do a little baby shopping so we did....it was quick but fun to look at little girly things. We did have Jaden take 1 pictures of us together but I was closing my eyes so we have nothing to show of our night except our plates of food:)

And we DECIDED almost 100% on names for the babies! About 2 weeks ago we were showing Jaden the bedding or something in two's (can't remember what) when he replied, is that one for Alecia & that one for Elly. He kept talking about how "We" decided these names. We were confused and didn't think much of it until yesterday when Jaden called them by these names again. Again we asked him where he came up with these names. He then said that in January him & Landon decided that that was their names....I'm going to doubt that Landon really contributed & am guessing that Jaden had a dream about their conversation. Anyways, as Chris and I pondered this we did start to like the names. We do have a niece named Ella although in my family almost every name is taken so we don't have a lot to work with....and thought Eliza (Chris has been voting for this name anyways) would be better & we could call her Elly for short. Today I was playing with spelling and kind of would rather spell Eliza as Elyssa but Chris said that would be said like Allyssa...do you agree???? I also thought we could spell Alecia like Alycia and maybe (this may be too close to Elly) call her Ally for short. They are identical twins after all...would close nicknames be too weird:):):)

Happy, Happy, Birthday Landon!!!!

2011-02-12T16:42:00.001-08:00

Our cute little boy had his 3rd birthday on Wednesday. All the sudden it seems like he's growing up and becoming indepedent. He's doing well socially & doesn't get shy nearly as often. He's starting to make little friends, and he's turning into a big mess maker....that said he is good to entertain himself so I try not to get too frustrated with the messes he creates:)

Landon loves playlands...especially since our winters here provide ZERO opportunities to go to parks. So we thought birthday lunch at McDonalds was a must. Both him & Jaden had chocolate milk staches. Funny Boys!

That nights we invited all the cousins over for pizza & cake! He got lots of trains for his birthday & could hardly be rounded up to blow out his candles. He's so funny with his trains & will try to carry a bunch at once sometimes getting himself into a bind. On his birthday night he left all the kids so that he could play his new trains in peace.

Sometimes when we leave in the car he has his arms full of trains & we have to carry them every where we go. Jaden was always one to pick up a different like each month. Landon so far is sticking to his trains and he has a hard time sharing. Yesterday I was so proud of him when a little friend came over to play & he let him play with his trains.

One Saturday a month we give our dealership employee the day off. Today was that day & I had some paperwork I really wanted to get done & organized...I've been negleting the poor place & it really does need a womans eye once in a while...we just notice more things. I told Jaden before we left that he could earn some money today wiping down the cars. He wasn't too excited about being in the cold & I thought for sure he'd pass on the opportunity to make some money. Once we got there he was a fantastic little helper & did a really good job. He said he'd be willing to do this whenever we need him too. Hopefully we can teach him a good ethic through little opportunities like this.

Speaking of the dealership...we have a couple of cars we've been sitting on for a while that we'd be willing to give at our cost to friends or family. They are nothing fancy but if you want a great deal on an inexpensive car, please let us know. We have all repairs done by a fantastic mechanic...we don't cut corners so you know we haven't put a bandaid on a problem...we do our best to offer our customers the best quality at a very fair price....in this case at cost:):):)

~January~

2011-02-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick recap of January....I'm kind of glad this cold month is over:)

On New Years Day we enjoyed "all you can eat" pizza at Craigos. I definately took advantage of eating for 3. We went there to celebrate mine & Easton's Birthday.

Afterwards a sledding party. Jaden doesn't love the cold but Landon for the most part does. It's fun to see him venture outside.

Jaden also did Ice Skating Lessons. His real goal was to learn to ice skate & be able to play ice hockey. He's actually good at it but really didn't enjoy it. There were days I was dragging him there. I think this will be another sport we check off of his list of possibilities. I'm waiting to find that one sport he enjoys & excels at.

Jaden also had a school singing program. He doesn't enjoy singing....I'm making it sound like he doesn't like anything. So I definately went to the program with a knot in my stomach. He had his moments of pure enjoyment & other times when he wasn't even paying attention. They had some fun dancing numbers that were hilarious & he did seem to get into those...maybe dancing is in his future???? I don't think Chris would agree.

Twin Update!

2011-02-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have heard that we had a few crazy things going on so I thought I'd write a quick post about what's going with the girls.

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call saying the Dr.'s from Salt Lake wouldn't be coming down this go round but that they could do the appointment video conference. So yesterday I had this appointment....I checked into the hospital for this appointment.

The ultrasound tech seemed to struggle getting good measurements because they were moving so much (this didn't surprise me since my stomach is constantly being kicked). Once the Dr. came on there was some concerns because they were measuring about 20% apart. He didn't like not being able to confirm and check things on his own and felt they were identical but wasn't able to tell definately so he told me he needed me to come down to Utah within a day or two.

So a couple hours later my mom & I headed to Utah for my appointment this morning. After a very thorough visit it's been determined that they are identical and they DO share a placenta. He said the shared placenta can be a large concern because of twin-to-twin transfusion. One is currently measuring at 1lb7oz and the other is 1lb3 oz....both a little over a week behind. The smaller size is probably a result of the two vessel umbilical cords.

So there is nothing alarming or super scary at this point BUT there are a lot risks. I now will have an ultrasound every other week and at 30 weeks a weekly non-stress test. This is to monitor their growth. If there does become a huge problem there is a surgical procedure in LA they do with a lazer to split the shared vessels....this would be a last resort.

Thankfully there's nothing to be worried about at this point & there's nothing to do but monitor them. I'm so grateful that I don't have to go on bedrest and can have normal activity. I've been working on their nursery & am getting excited:):):)

In no particular order

2011-01-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

In an effort to catch up...here's lots of pictures without any words. I'm almost ALL caught up! Yay!!!!!

Were still here

2011-01-10T10:27:00.001-08:00

I'm usually a much better blogger & blame it on the fact that I lost my photoshop disk & my computer crashed & had to have everything re-loaded. Having faith I'd find it I kept looking & waiting & finally gave in to ordering it over the internet two weeks ago. Well, if I had paid close attention I would have realized I ordered the mac version therefore I still can't put my picture collages together from Christmas nor finish my 2010 book....it's funny how lost & behind I feel without it so I may forgot ordering over the internet & go to office depot. So hopefully pretty soon I'll have lots of pictures to share from our wonderful Christmas holiday! Here's our family on Christmas eve; I'm always behind the camera & so this is a rare moment that we are all together. The boys are in their christmas pj's. Today I had my 20 weeks appointment. As I pulled up to the office I started feeling a little anxious for my 2 1/2 hour appointment. The good news is that all the organs appear to be great & functioning correctly. They did find one concern in both babies. They should have a 3 vessel umbilical cord & both of them have a 2 vessel umbilical cord. This may or may not be anything.

Usually if there's a problem they'd find something in addition to this wrong. But because it's twins & because they don't know if they are identical my visits just doubled (they were already more frequent with twins) & I'm being referred to high risk twin doctors that come from SLC every 3 weeks.

If the babies are identical they want to watch twin-to-twin tranfusion really carefully with this cord issue. The placenta is located at the back & it will be unlikely that they'll be able to tell if there are one or two placentas until they are born.

If you are interested in understanding this better (I don't totally know what it means) here is a link I found about it plus pictures. http://www.obfocus.com/high-risk/birthdefects/single%20umbilical%20artery.htm It can sound alarming but keep in mind they didn't find anything else wrong so we aren't worried at this point. I have an ultrasound appointment with the high-risk Dr.'s in 3 weeks where they'll evaluate the rest of my care for the pregnancy & double check that everything else appears to be function correctly.

Here's a picture the tech got of the babies together...she was so excited! I think the girls are adorable.

And last of all here are my little hunters. I'm not a huge fan of kids playing with guns but we have a hunting wii game that the boys love. I've been integrating in their brains that we hunt animals for food & if we shoot one we have to eat it. The guys in my family hunt so I'm trying to let them know that is the only time they can play with guns. Now, I'm crossing my fingers they never actually shoot something because I don't like to eat elk or deer meat & as I'm preaching it, we have to eat it:)

The babies are.......

2010-12-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today I had a doctors appointment & kept having a small sliver of hope that they would have to do an ultrasound to find heartbeats & that just maybe I could tell what sex they were.

Of course, the Dr. found the heartbeats within a second and there was no need for an ultrasound. As I was leaving he asked in passing "are you going to do a sneak peak for Christmas?" I didn't know he did those...of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So tonight we gathered family & had cake. It's a two layer cake & the possibilies were a white layer for "they couldn't tell". Two Blue layers for boys or two pink for girls, or one of each.

And one more interesting thing. I know I told many of you that they weren't identical. This was an assumption on my part because there are two sacs. I was told by my cousins wife a couple of weeks ago that wasn't true (she just had twins) & then the Dr. told me this today & told me not to rule out identical babies because we don't know if I dropped two eggs (if I had taken fertility drugs this would have been the likely case) or if my egg split. So these babies just might be identical.......unless below shows you a blue layer & pink layer:):):)

The NAUGHTY side!

2010-12-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

After we put the Christmas stockings up Jaden immediately determined that one side was the good side & one side was the bad side & he rearranged them accordingly.

Jaden & Chris have personalities that conflict a little bit & they get frustrated with each other easily. Jaden has made these frustrations known by making Chris be on the naughty side since they stockings have been up.

Yesterday I went to lunch (Chris came home to watch the kids) & when I came home Chris pointed out that everyone was on the good side but him. As a side note Jaden & I have never been on the naughty side & Landon moves back & forth....it depends on whether they are best friends that day or are struggling to get along. Chris & I couldn't stop laughing over this & we asked him why daddy never gets to be on the good side. Jaden said that daddy gets mad at him all the time...I reminded him that mom gets mad too but he said I only sometimes get mad so it's ok. I should also mention that I brainwash Jaden about 5 times a day with "I'm the best mommy in the whole wide world" or when he asks me why I did something for him it's because "I'm the best mommy in the whole world." I gotta remind him how lucky he is:):):)

Lucky for Chris, Jaden said that if daddy helps him build something today he'll move him to the good side!

Landon.....a big boy!

2010-12-10T09:19:00.000-08:00

Landon had the opportunity to attend a toddler lab this semester. It's a lab for 18mo-3 year olds put on by BYUI students. Unfortunately they won't hold it this next semester because they don't want their students driving on the roads in the winter. I didn't take pictures because the observing area is behind a one sided window but the students took tons & told us they were giving them to us at the end of the semester. I didn't realize it'd be in dvd format so I'm unable to pull the pictures off to post. They did print a couple from their printer & gave them to us...thus the poor quality scans below:)

He attended once a week for an hour & 15 minutes and it ended up being such a wonderful thing for him. He's overcome so much hestitation and shyness & he really enjoyed going each week. I remember a year and a half ago when I was completely overwelmed with my clingy boy & worried he'd never be independent. Mentally it was a challenge to have him there constantly, not be able to leave him, have to carry him everyone, no one wanted to take it him...it was really hard.

The activities were amazing & different every week. Some weeks they'd have a water station, sand station, & foam station. They had us leave an extra set of clothes because they told us they probably would get dirty. They had singing time & snack time too. It's crazy to me to think that Landon will be old enough to attend pre-school next fall.

His class & teachers. It was a great student/teacher ratio

He loved the water station & wasn't afraid to get wet!

This was a picture they took on his first day so that they could put it by his coat hook. He was so scared:)

Thanksgiving Week!

2010-11-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

What a week of so many blessings!!!!!

I'm a big believer in a thanksgiving feast made from scratch...even if it isn't very good. My mom gave me the assignment of a pie of which I told her I was making two pies & two sides because she didn't need to cook the entire meal. Last year I made a pie & failed miserably at it so I tried again, researched recipes & they were super yummy!

All the food was delicious and for some reason being pregnant I have a hard time eating what I cook so its fabulous when there are so many dishes that others made to choose from. I'm a little fearful that I may have put on some weight.

I think Jaden is enjoying his thanksgiving feast!
Landon likes eating off my plate...for some reason it just tastes so much better:) Ignore my pale pasty face; I need some sun!

We were expecting many more but bad roads prevented those from out of state from making it....we missed you!After dinner we hung out, visited, ate more food, the kids played in the snow....Chris said he loves just hanging out not having to go anywhere.

To keep up with tradition at midnight we hit the black friday sales. There wasn't anything major on my list I had to get & thought about bailing but I love traditions. Unfortunately, my body didn't do so well & resulted in several near fainting spells where I had to sit on the floor in the middle of walmart throwing up in a a bag. To most I'm sure I looked like I was having an anxiety attack. One kind lady gave me tissues since throwing up causes my eyes to tear up really bad. I was a mess but finished the trip successfully!

Tonight we went to dinner at outback. Not only was it delicious but I found the babysitter of all babysitters. THIS IS BIG! Since Landon has been so shy we haven't done a ton of babysitters but as he's improved we've been getting them more often. After trying to get her to babysit on three different occasions & her being unavailable I gave it one last chance or realized I was going to have to find a different one...I really want to have a consistent babysitter. She was AMAZING!

Here's a picture of the two crafts they made & the pretzel treat they made. In addition she wrote a thank you note and the recipe down.

And there's more....I am usually disappointed when I get home & my home isn't as clean as I left it. For this reason I left the toy room a mess.....well it's now clean. My friends, I won't share her name because I always want her available to me. I can truly say that finding an awesome babysitter is a huge blessing I should definitely acknowledge, especially this week. AND thanks mom & dad for taking us to dinner; you spoiling us is a blessing too!!!

Moments not to be forgotten!

2010-11-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

Today me & the boys are staying home from church because Landon has a nasty sounding cough...he appears to be 100% though. Since Chris is in the bishopric I couldn't send Jaden with him so we are hanging out in a warm house.

I realize I've been a slacker with any type of journaling and I realize how quickly I forgot things I don't want to forget. I want to make sure they are written somewhere so that I can still have that memory long after I've forgotten it:)

I still re-read my post about finding out I was having twins because it allows me to relive those feelings & emotions. I'm already forgetting that intial feeling and I want to etch it in my brain.

So here's some random things I want to remember but won't if they aren't written....in no order!

-This week I got to witness the birth of little Harper. Jenna did it natural (amazing!) & you would have thought she had an epidural until she was dilated to a 9 & couldn't get to a 10. Harper wasn't making it easy on her but after some crazy moves on Jenna's part she finally arrived. What a beautiful baby! And HEALTHY too!
-Later I took the boys to see Harper. My boys haven't been by a baby forever. I wasn't sure how'd they'd react or if they even be interested. I was amazed at the love they both showed her. Landon held her so tenderly & touched her ears, mouth, nose, everything. I think he was in awe of such a tiny little one. After breaking up a little tug-of-war between my boys I reminded them that I was having two babies & they could each have one:)
-Gracie came to the hospital with my mom & I could see the nervousness etched in her face. Her world had changed & I could tell she didn't know how to take it. She was planning on sleeping at Grandma's because Jaden had a school night but the only comfort she could find was with Jaden. It was so sweet. Her & Jaden are growing apart as their interests are changing so much but deep down they are each others best friend. When I told Gracie she could come & sleep with Jaden she was a changed girl. He was her comfort & they skipped away holding hands. I'm amazed that a 5 year old could provide so much comfort when no one else could. BTW, Gracie can't stop holding Harper....the initial shock just had to wear off!
-I feel like I need to document some of my pregnancy so here's little bit of that. Yesterday I was very sick & couldn't keep anything down BUT I have days where I have nearly no nausea. I told Chris that I think my pregnancies begin to run together & I feel like I haven't ever felt good and it gets discouraging. This has been my best pregnancy with morning sickness but I still get discouraged & wish I could do everything. Food is an enemy too. I have to eat all the time...for whatever reason it helps. In most cases nothing sounds good so I'm gagging something down just so I don't start throwing up. There is a positive though...as long as I'm sick I know I'm still pregnant. I do wish my body despided food while I wasn't pregnant....that would be an excellent diet.
-Today I was cooking brussel sprouts in Balsamic vinegar. I'm mentioning this because the smell of the vinegar made Jaden so sick. He could hardly breath & kept asking me what that smell was. He kept begging me to stop cooking...I kind of thought it was funny. I don't think I'll be getting him to try that dish any time soon.
-Right now as I right the boys are in Jaden duvet cover walking around as one. They are having a blast & think they are so funny. I'm so glad my boys are becoming such good friends. They do fight too....hopefully it'll pass!
-Last week we asked Jaden if he was ready for Landon to move into his room. We thought this next week would be good to create a schedule since Jaden doesn't have school & a late night wouldn't be a problem. Jaden informed us that Landon wasn't moving into his room until he turned 3. Although I've told this to Jaden on many other occassions when Jaden begged us to let Landon move in, he now is using it against us. Let's hope these babies don't come too early so that once Landon turns 3 they have a good little while to get used to it.

I'm sure my pregnancy brain is forgetting so much but I thought I better jot what little was there:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The gift of giving!

2010-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

First of all, this is an excellent month to recognize our many blessings! Although I'm sure I won't take the time to do a daily gratitude post (I probably should) I did want to mention a project my sister has been working so hard on & how it's a good time to dig deep to help another in need.

In her blog she talks about it here. It's a little 1 yr old girl in Georgia that has cancer. There are several online auctions here. Although many of the items are specific to the area there are some great things that aren't so be sure to look or just donate. I wish I knew what I was having because there are some cute baby items. They have two more auctions after this one so be sure to keep checking back.

As I'm reflecting on giving to others I remember something a co-worker said to me that hit me hard one day. We had a giving tree at work and as she looked at the tree tears came to eyes at some of the items on the tree....a coat for a young child. She said that she had lots of credit card debt & spends money when she shouldn't but this is a time that it doesn't matter what it cost, she needed to give. Not that I'm suggesting we go into debt to give but I'm sure all of us can afford to give just a little...some maybe more.

HaLloWeeN fun

2010-11-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

I'm realizing that halloween is a BIG holiday...lots of activities!

Here's some of what we've been up to.

Jaden saw spook houses at Sam's club one day & couldn't stop talking about wanting to do one. Not wanting to buy each boy a kit I told him they were too expensive. Jaden told me I didn't need to buy one & told me to buy chocolate graham crackers & halloween candy. Smart boy!!!

At school they did a halloween party & parade. It was so fun to see all the kindergartners going down the hall & getting high 5's from all the older kids. It's so fun to go to Jaden's school and get to know all the little kids. We also went to our ward trunk or treat. The boys were in heaven getting so much candy in one spot. And of course we went Trick or Treating. It's so fun going around and seeing all the fun costumes. The boys walked a long ways...we were tired by the end of the night.

2+2=4

2010-10-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

/First off, I've been keeping a secret:)

Today I can't contain this secret anymore. We decided about 5 months ago we were ready to try for another little one.....so the trying began. 3 months later we found out we were expecting.

To back up prior to this I've told Chris forever I wanted twins. It's become a joke in our home because we didn't see twins in our future as a possibility since I've never had to go on fertility drugs & to our knowledge they don't run in our family.

So today I had a nice visit with the Dr. Afterwards I headed to the lab & then to ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. I've actually been nervous this pregnancy that things were different. I usually am deathly ill & this pregnancy I've been sick but more that of a regular pregnancy. I've been REALLY tired though & anti-social.

Within 1 second of the ultrasound the tech asked me if I was on fertility drugs. I immediately exclaimed "no, am I pregnant with twins." With a smile on her face she quickly confirmed & showed both little babies.

A thousand emotions came over me....I was babbling. Excitement, scared for two babies, all the sudden I'm high risk, were just a few of them. I made her double check everything to make sure they were both healthy...I become terrified that there would be something wrong.

The Dr. re-entered the picture at this news. I kept asking him how???? He said although the odds are low (2%) that I could get pregnant with twins without fertility drugs or having them run in the family.

The WHOLE office then crowded the halls. It really was BIG news! They all crowded around as I called Chris which by the way I was already planning on teasing him I was having twins so I knew he wouldn't believe me. I had to have the Dr. tell him. SHOCK!!!

Everyone still thinks I'm playing a big joke because that's what I do. But it's true....and it still doesn't feel real.

So today I found out I'll be going from a mom of two kids to four. I don't think reality has set in yet.

Fall is Here!!!

2010-10-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't know it with the weather we've been having but Fall is here and so are all the activities that make life busy. I realize that without my camera (which I haven't used it near as much as I should) I wouldn't remember any of it. As I go through the pictures it reminds me of everything I need to still journal about so here I go.

A couple of weeks ago Chris was travelling with work & Jaden was having a tough time...you'd think he'd be used to it by now. He happened to have that Thursday & Friday off from school that week so we headed to see daddy! The boys spent the majority of their time swimming.

As I've mentioned many times Jaden is ALWAYS thinking of new ideas. Here is his lunch that he insisted he build one day. I had to make sure the veggies & cheese were cut perfect so that he could build his house. The roof is crackers...he gobbled the whole thing up.

This year was the first year his school did a carnival. I am so amazed at the parent involvement at his school. It was a huge event & very well attended. As they talk about all the budget cuts & how they are cutting aids in the classroom I've seen parents step up & fill the void. Jaden's classroom ran out of spots for parents volunteers & there were some parents that didn't get to participate because there is so much involvement. I've been going to Jaden classroom on Thursdays to do centers & have loved being involved & getting to know the children in the classroom. The kids in his class are great & have great parents...what a blessing!

This is becoming a fun tradition. We tried to plant pumpkins in our garden this year & I planted them too early & they froze. When I went to buy more seeds the stores were all out. I can't say I'm too sad because we have so much fun going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. They also had train ride, a corn maze, & unlimited suckers!!!

Last night for FHE the boys got to carve their pumpkins. They were so excited. We also had great harvest pumpkin & chocolate chip bread for dessert...yummy!

Time sure is travelling fast but I'm excited as the holidays are approaching!!!

This Boy!

2010-09-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! This boys mind exhausts me. It NEVER stops.

For the past 3 weeks our homes has been filled with Chain Reactions (I was going to upload one to show from my phone & can't figure it out.) Because of the mess they were creating I had to create a rule that he couldn't build another one until his last one was put away. These chains reach from one point of the room to another, sometimes off of table, & sometime they land in bucket of water.

The chain reactions & his other ideas are constantly in his thoughts....he even dreams about them & wakes up & tell me about it.

Some of the funny or not so funny things that he does.

-Jaden loves cars...it works out well that we own a dealership. Chris wrecked his car a month ago & we decided to replace it with a toyota prius; a very practical choice since Chris lives in his car & it gets 46 mpg. Jaden wasn't very happy about it because he thinks it's very ugly & refused for some time to ride in it. One day he decided to take the look of it in his own hands & build a front air scoop (I didn't know what these were until a month ago...you see them on race cars). So with a big rock in hand he went to work on the hood of the car. When I went outside I was VERY angry at the many scratches on the hood. He informed me he was working on building a front air scoop. This was one of those not so funny moments. If we see a prius on the road he's always very quick to tell us how ugly it is.

-Jaden loves to be the dealership & he usually is really good so he can often go when I or Chris work. Today Chris & I were there while a couple of people were looking at a car. We do try to keep Jaden away from the customers but he snuck around us & went & announced to the potential customers that "this car has nice tires." Thankfully they were looking at a car that he thought was "cool" or else I'd be afraid what he'd say.

-Today Jaden built 4 centers for me & Landon to do. They do these in kindergarten...they have science centers, listen centers, ect. Today his centers included BINGO (he got the idea from Kotter's b-day party); he created is own bingo cards. I was so impressed.

-This isn't a funny moment but one I LOVE...he always runs out of school with a huge smile & hug. I have yet to do a carpool because I want to see his face coming out of school. I'm sure I'll get over it soon:)

Sometimes his energy & mind overwhelms me but I'm grateful he uses his mind so much. I hope that as a parent I can steer him to do great things with it...I know he can be & do anything he wants. Currently he wants to be a race car driver...I definately will work on steering that in a different direction.

SPINNING!!!

2010-09-08T13:07:00.001-07:00

Somebody is overcoming all their fears of strangers & guess who got to join the gym again. After 3 weeks of absolutely no excercise I wasn't feeling to swell.

I need A LOT of variety. The summer was great with all the outdoor things to do plus I've really enjoyed my eliptical but I needed change or else I knew I would quit. Chris & I decided to try a week guest pass to see how Landon did in child care. We left him for 20 min, then 30 min the next day, ect...you get the point & it worked.

Today I got a full spinning class in & he hardly noticed I was gone. What a wonderful feeling!!!

And the other great thing is that I've never done spinning because of my fear of "bike butt". I decided it was now or never since I've been riding my bike all summer I should be somewhat broken in. There was pain but we did a lot of hills which gave my rear some relief...not my legs though.

As much as I love my little guy...absence does make the heart grow fonder!

We've been busy!

2010-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

We've been busy with many different activities but what has consumed most of our time is moving our dealership. We made the decision to turn to a traditional dealership vs. a car buying service so be sure to visit our new location at 705 N Holmes in Idaho Falls. We have much to still do like purchase a lot of inventory but we did get everything done with the state so...YIPPEE! One check mark on a whole list of check marks:)

Here's some of the fun...

A back-to-school treasure hunt by grandma.

A fun run. Jaden was so funny when we caught him at the water table & not running half way through the race he said "mom, my feet forgot to run." He's an easily distracted boy! Landon insisted on staying in my arms the whole time & I had an arm ache for a week. This kid is losing his naps. He still gets tired though so I usually set him on the couch watching Handy Manny at around 2:30 pm. Often this is the result. Aren't his chubby cheeks so cute!
This kids also loves to cook pretend food. I often get to experience & pretend to eat his creations!
Look whose a kindergartener now. What fun his first week of school was. I loved dropping him off & seeing his adorable face come out of the school when it ended. He's been bursting with excitement for school. I'm crossing my fingers that he remains excited to learn. He's been telling me for weeks he's got to go to school so that he can get some work done. He's so lucky to already have a bunch of friends that he knows in his class.
On Saturday we went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Jaden begged all day today to go back. The both loves RIDES & GAMES so they were both in heaven. Mom & Dad...not so much!

What a CUTIE!

2010-08-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

This boy just makes my heart burst! Although his attachment issues have been draining at times he has such a special spirit and a tender heart.

So some of the adorable things I love about him.

HIS DIMPLES....those are the most adorable things ever.

He now enjoys nursery. After almost a year of being able to go we were able to leave him on his own a month and a half ago. It really makes for a much more spiritual sunday for me. Today, he seemed clingly & I always spend a few minutes to help him feel comfortable & to trust me that I'll come back (if you have a child like him, never sneak away, creating trust has made all the difference.) All the sudden he pointed at the door & yelled "go". I took his command to heart & was grateful my little guy didn't need me anymore.

He loves riding his trike & also tries to venture on this bike that's just a little too big. He LOVE being outside & I think winter will be really hard on him...maybe he'll take up a winter sport to help:)

He always ask me if I'm ok. He really is caring & loving.

He's becoming more aggressive...I'm not sure this is a positive but after being so clingy I worried he wouldn't be like a typical boy. He is; he now beats up on Jaden & doesn't put up with big brother stuff.

He still loves to snuggle. My mom still calls him a baby & I remind her that he's two & two year old aren't babies anymore....it's because he does love to cuddle & is a little more mellow. Mellow is good when you have a very UN-mellow 5 year old. It helps balance out the household a little bit.

I love you Landon!

Trail Mix

2010-08-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jaden was eating trail mix. He & his friend starting fighting over the m&m's & I was trying to teach them that you don't look but grab a handful & what you get is what you get. Unfortanately by this point most of the m&m's were picked out & what they got was a lot of nuts.

Jaden learned from this & did the cutest thing last night. I think it shows patience & self-control. He ate all the nuts first & saved the m&m's for last. Love you bud!

Post to come about Landon shortly! Some how I don't post about him as much but he's SOOOOO cute & I need to get some of that on my blog. His dimples are heart melting & he now how an adorable angry voice...I know that's not a good thing but it is so cute it makes me laugh.

Recipe HELP!

2010-08-03T08:06:00.001-07:00

In this post I mentioned my system for working on my food storage. I've been spending hours combing through recipes that use items that are non-perishable. There are fabulouse websites but most contain many items that are perishable.

So...I'm hoping there are a few recipes or websites that you can share. I want my recipes to be pretty healthy. I'm finding many of the meals I'm putting together are similar & am hoping for some variety.

I'm happy to share what I already have. My simplest meals are sloppy joes (using TVP) & spaghetti (using whole wheat noodles) to some more complicated casseroles & soups.

If you have a recipes that contains one or two items that are perishable like cheese, that's ok. I figure that can be omitted if we truely did need to use our food storage.

The FUN never stops!

2010-08-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have so many fun activities to post from this last week. I'm sure I'll miss many things but I'm doing my best to keep up.

Yesterday we all went to bear world. Since I was driving the car (Chris was at a baptism) I didn't get any shots of actually looking at the bears but my whole car load had their faces pressed to the glass.

If you haven't been to bear world it's a must if you are in this area. They have a mini-amusement park that is perfect for smaller children. The boys ran from one ride to another & Landon got to go on all of them. He was actually braver then Jaden on a couple. Their faces are priceless on some of the rides. Bear World also has a petting zoo. Jaden got to pet a deer & they got to look at chickens & their eggs. Awesome teaching moments about animals.

After bear world we ate at Craigo's & then Jaden & Chris went golfing with the guys. I wish I had pictures because Chris said Jaden did awesome & was so much fun.

We again had another evening of fireworks. My kids can't get enough of those fireworks from Wyoming.

My Grandpa would be Proud!

2010-08-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot about these pictures from this last week.

Taylor is a girl that my grandpa taught how to ride. She's now offering riding lessons & I couldn't decide if it was something that Jaden would enjoy & could actually do. Taylor offered for a small fee to bring all the grandkids over to give it a try.

Jaden told me over & over he did not want to go so you can imagine my surprise when he insisted that he could ride all by himself. After Taylor riding with him for about 5 minutes he was off all by himself & did awesome.

When I now ask Jaden if he wants to take "riding lessons" he tells me he doesn't need lessons because he already knows how to ride a horse. I think we'll probably sign him up if Taylor can fit him on her schedule....if not for lessons, just to ride:)

Jackson Hole {pictureless}

2010-07-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I forgot my camera on a really fun trip...but I did want to write down some of the memories before they erase from my mind forever:) My sister took many pictures that I will at some point steal from her so until then enjoy words.

My whole family, grandkids & all went to Jackson hole for a couple of days. One word describes that place...beautiful!

As we were driving there Jaden informed us that this room was different then other rooms we stayed at & we asked him why, he said "fresh air." I thought that was so funny to observe. It really does have lots of fresh air & if I was a dreamer I would say one day I would be able to buy one of their million dollar cabins so that my kids could enjoy all the fresh air they could ever want.

We love to stay in Teton Village. It's at the base of a ski mountain & the views are breathtaking, they have a fun little park with a small spray park in the middle. There are hiking trails, lots of para-gliders coming off the mountain, a small wading pond....lots of nature.

We stayed here & I over indulged on all the spa products in the room. I smelled like sage...YUM! We also took a ride up the tram which is by far the grandkids favorite thing to do. Every time the tram would swing they'd cheer in delight. Of course the top had breathtaking views & we got to witness para-gliders jumping off the side of the mountain.

We did lots of swimming which is always my favorite. Jaden has turned into a little fish & loves to swim also.

We ate lots of food too! Also a favorite!

Thanks to my wonderful mom & dad for a fun trip and all they do. The fun is not over as we have a fun-filled day planned for today also....I think we are spoiled!

A realization

2010-07-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Chris told me on Saturday that he finally gets it. He finally understands why I have such fond memories of spending time with cousins & why it's so important to me for my kids to have that too.

That realization came driving from Rexburg to home Saturday night after a very full day of cousin fun. Our kids were truely in heaven & I think it's hard to find a bond that cousins have.

In fact, our shy little Landon didn't care that he didn't know his cousins from Atlanta very well...they were his best friends. In fact, such good friends that he didn't hestitate to wrestle & jump on all of them....THUS resulting in stitches for a very deep gash to the head today. After a very sickening doctor visit with him strapped to a papoose board, numbing shots, & stitches we met back with all his friends at the zoo today:):):)

Here's some of the fun we've had this far & there is much more to come.

Utah FUN!

2010-07-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah this weekend for my cousin Cameron's mission farewell.

Since our boys aren't fans of travelling we decided to spend the night & make it fun for them.

On Sunday night we took them to temple square. The loved all the water features & we had to check out every one. It was a beautiful & HOT night.
The next day we took the boys to a wave pool. I wasn't sure if it would be too big for them but I always loved them growing up & wanted to try. Jaden was a little daredevil & kept swimming into the thick of it without a tube...which is a no no. So I ventured out to the big waves with him & we had so much fun. Landon & Chris hung out in the shallow end; Landon loved having the waves knock him back. Overall, very successful & we'll do it again:)