Temple Christmas lights

Sadly this is the first year we have taken our kids to see the Temple Christmas lights. They really did enjoy it and had lots of good questions. The weather was also simply wonderful. Pizza before and hot chocolate and Krispy Kremes afterwards! (Kind of a tradition of my family ) Don't worry we did plenty of walking around to help burn the extra calories!!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken for Christmas cards and for Jaylee's 9 month photo shoot (that was of course 1 month late!)

(too funny, she didn't like having her feet on the grass!)

Organized Choas Strikes again!

If everything is under control, you're going to slow!

- Mario Andretti

Oh why do I do this to myself!! It's like once everything seems organized and somewhat under control in my life I can't take it so I create huge projects. I create most of my own busyness. The day after Halloween I decide to pull a home make-over throughout the house. We put in a tile back splash in the kitchen, added wainscoating to cabinets, painted cabinets, added new hinges and pulls, aged cabinets, had neighbor build custom bench in kitchen around table, repainted 3 rooms, add a ton of hidden shelving throughout the house to give more storage, made 2 large 8x10 frames, redecorated and moved around furniture. All within 30 days. Have I lost it??

Before . . .

After . . .

When I get the rest of my house cleaned up I will post the after pictures of it! To be continued . . .

Thankful at Thanksgiving

These are the only pictures I have from Thanksgiving. Joshua and Logan at school dressed as Indians doing a parade. They were so darn cute! The previous day they made pizza boats and dressed as Pilgrims at a feast. Oh to be in kindergarten again! NOT! Although I am really enjoying being a part of my little kids lives and taken a break from all the stress of what grown ups deal with. Kids are so innocent and pure . . . got to love it!

Our family is extra thankful at this time of year for all of the many blessings we have been blessed with. I think some days we take it for granted. Not so much the big stuff, but the small stuff that has made the biggest differences in our lives. We have been blessed to live in such a great country where we enjoy so many freedoms a lot of people don't have. We are thankful to be members of our church and to be surrounded by so many people who have the same high standards that we do. We have been blessed with good health. We have a great extended family that we live close enough to that we can go visit just about whenever we want, that has been a huge blessing for many different reasons. All of these things do not cost money, but they are all PRICELESS in every sense!

Snow Fall

Ryan has had a pretty hectic month at work so he decided to take some time off and what better place to get away than the cabin. I am usually not a big fan of going up too many times during the winter because it is sooo dang cold, but it is nice to snuggle up next to the fire and read books or watch movies and sip on home made hot chocolate and just take it easy! But this trip turned out to be extra special because we were there for the first snow fall of the winter!

I am not quite sure what it is but there is just something about fresh white snow that gives me such a warm peaceful feeling!

So much to Blog . . . so little time!

Oh now where to start! This last month has been quite crazy. It seems the month of October just flew by. My goal when I started this blog was to post about every other week and it appears I have been slacken. Shame on me! I promise to do better . . . well maybe!

Now is it just me or is there more parties, gatherings, outings for Halloween than there is at Christmas?? For 2 weeks straight it seems like we had something fun going on just about every day. Here are a couple of the events that took place for our crazy household.

Pumpkin Farm-

This picture is out of place but was part of the Hinze Adult Halloween party. (Heather, Becky, Melina and me)

Logan was a transformer and Joshua was black spiderman

So every Halloween my parents cul-de-sac gathers outside for homemade soup, grilled cheese, salads, home made root beer, cornbread and goodies. If its cold enough we even do bon fires, but haven't had a lot of luck the last 5 years or so! After we take cousin pictures and stuff our bellies we trick-or treat around the neighborhood (I feel safer knowing that I have known the people we go to for almost 30 years!) This picture was taken in front of a home that goes all out on the decor. All the kids rushed over to put their heads through the hole devise to get their picture taken. So cute right?? Well after the picture was taken I couldn't figure out why Joshua wasn't following. Then I hear "I'm stuck!" and by golly yes he was. I could not get him out. While Joshua is so brave , but a little worried I start to panic and am ready to find a hack saw to get him out if I have to. The owners come out with oil to grease his head and after about 25 minutes we free him from the hole. (wish I had a picture of the 4 men in took to lift him up in a position that finally freed him!)

Jaylee was the cutest little lady bug although she didn't care too much for the hat or for the pictures!

Our good friends the Hinzes have an adult Halloween party every year and this was the first year I was able to talk Ryan into getting dressed up and take work off to go. I think he even enjoyed it more than me when all was said and done! Next year we decided we are going to be more creative than just store bought Pirates!

Sisters on Halloween night. Jenny what are you suppose to be????

Random:

Jaylee (just turned 10 months) has a strong need to empty everything. Ex. empty out garbage, pull the clean laundry from the baskets, empty diaper bags, pull every pot and pan and tupperware from cabinets etc. This girl doesn't sit still! Whats even cuter is when I catch her in the act and she starts going in turbo speed because she knows I am about to pull her away! too funny!

Jaylee turned toddler overnight!

So when the boys started school back in August (Jaylee just tuning 7 months) I thought I would have at least a month of very easy, just lay there and enjoy kind of moments with Jaylee before she started getting mobile and therefore into things. This little girl had other plans . . .

Literally the first day of school for the boys she decides its time to do some growing up and hit some milestones of her own. She sat up all by herself!

That very same day when I went to get her from her morning nap I find this!

So that night Ryan moves her crib mattress to the lowest setting

So wow, what a lot to take in. But, she's not done . . . the next day she decides she wants to crawl.



and to top it off within the same week she learns to hold her own bottle


What will she do next . . . drive a car?!?! oh wait,

Late Night Treats

"Inside me lives a skinny women crying to get out. BUT, I can usually shut her up with cookies" -unknown


All I can say is that I have a major sweet tooth. My absolute favorite time of the day is when my kids are all in bed asleep, house and kitchen all cleaned up, pj's on, face washed and I finally get to sit down to watch a tv show that I recorded earlier on the DVR. To top it off I feel like I deserve a treat every night at the end of day. (don't all mothers!!) There is just nothing better! YUMMY! So here is a new treat I made that I thought turned out really well and looked good too so I took a picture of it! (recipe on picky palet blog) Now i can't figure out why I can't loose these last 12 pregnancy pounds??

Boys Start Kindergarten! ALL DAY!!

The boys were so excited to fill up their sponge bob and transformer lunchboxes and take them to school. Everyday when I ask them what they did at school today they reply,
"um we had lunch at school" it's the highlight of there day!

Well the day came. Isn't this the day I have kept telling everyone would be the happiest day in my life since the boys were 2 ??!! So why was it sooo hard?

I look back now and I can't believe I had such a hard time although totally understandable. The boys have been in school for 3 weeks now and are doing great. I think a lot of the reason moms have such a hard time is because we are in denial. Denial that are babies are growing up. They are becoming more and more independent and that scares us!! Don't they need us to wipe their bums, help them wash their hands, open doors for them, show them where to go, don't they need us there to remind them to pay attention, how are they going to eat lunch by themselves, who 's going to make them eat, clean them up, what if they get lost and are scared, do they know enough????????????? The whole week before school and during the entire first week this is all I could think about!!

Twin's 5th Birthday Parties

"Never Put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow"
-Mark Twain

I have come to accept that this is kind of my life motto. Not necessarily on purpose, but it just happens. Life happens. So I am finally getting around to posting new happenings in our crazy household. Here are pics from Joshua and Logan's 5th birthday parties (yes, that is plural. Couldn't narrow it down so we threw 2! One for friends and ward members and One for family! Yes I am crazy and I tell myself every year this will be the last time I do 2 parties, but what the heck I keep doing it!)

Boys got new helmets and goggles for their quads. They loved them!

Boys with the lifeguard on duty (aka grandma Ethington!)

Boys wanted spider man cupcakes. After spending 15 minutes and only got

2 decorated with the web effect, the rest just got a spider!

Joshua and Logan turn 5

My first borns turned 5 years old. This birthday has been a little sad for me. They seem to not be my little babies anymore. They have grown to be very independent "big boys". What a crazy 5 years it has been. At times very frustrating, but wouldn't change it for the world. Having twin boys (note: very active twin boys) has taught me so many things, but among the most is Patience. They have grown to become little people, and has been fascinating to watch.

Since I am not a huge journal person, and I just started blogging as an alternative, I want to write a little bit about their birth story/ adventure.
Ryan and I had been trying to get pregnant for about 11 months and so when the test said pregnant we almost didn't believe it. We found out on our 2nd year anniversary. What a great gift that was! about 8 weeks into the pregnancy I started to have some signs that I might be miscarrying. I went to the doctor right away. I took my mom with me because I didn't think I could handle the disappointment in Ryan's eye or show him my disappointment (I totally regret that now for lots of different reasons.) The whole way there I just kept telling my mom "well at least I know I can get pregnant and we will just try again." I think I was more okay with it then my mom. So here is where my life changes forever . . . The doctor does an ultrasound to see what is going on with me. At 8 weeks babies on a ultrasound look nothing more like a bean in a sac and because this was my first pregnancy I wasn't even sure what was on the screen. He is looking at what seemed to be one baby and said everything looked fine, but continued to scope my uterus with the doppler thingy to see what was causing some of my symptoms. All of a sudden I hear the Doctor say "well now that explains it" and I am thinking "oh what now" he says you are having twins! What!!! no you are kidding right??!! Tears come strolling down and what turned out to be a day where I thought I had lost the baby, I come out of the Doctors office carrying 2!

The next couple of months go by pretty quickly and I am literally beaming with excitement (that and nausea). My belly was growing rather rapidly. I think I was in maternity at 4 months (and this was a first pregnancy!)
At exactly 6 months along I had a doctors appointment which I was going to about every other week (twins are considered high risk, and well now I know why.) I almost cancelled this particular one but rearranged some things to go ahead and make it. I even felt compelled to make Ryan quit working for the day to come with me (what a blessing that was). I was having a ultrasound done like any other normal appointment when the tech asks me if I had been feeling any contractions. No, what do those feel like anyways? Am I uncomfortable all the time? Yes, but I am carrying twins and I am the size as if I was carrying one full term baby. She says rather nervously that she is going to get the doctor right away. Tears come flying down the cheeks. Who just runs out of the room like that leaving us dumbfounded. The doctor returns and tells us there is a room and team of specialists waiting for us at the hospital and to leave now (an ambulance would have taken too long) He briefly explains that I am 90% effaced and there isn't much holding these babies in. Panic starts!!!! All sorts of things are going through my head and I literally can't calm down.

I am checked in and given a shot of steroids in the butt to help the babies lungs develop and given an IV to slow down or to stop the labor because apparently I am having contractions one right after another and I can't even tell. The medicine makes me extremely sick and my muscles extremely relaxed to where I can't even see straight. My eyes would hurt to focus which meant no reading or even much tv. This is where I laid flat for the next 4 weeks, knowing that everyday they stayed in there it would be 2 less days in the NICU and a better shot at having a normal life. I wasn't allowed to get out of bed and had to eat laying down. If it wasn't for all my friends and family who visited quite frequently I probably would have gone insane. Ryan also stayed every night there in those terrible pull out chairs for a bed but one night where he went home to work in the middle of the night to catch up on some rings. Now that is one dedicated husband and daddy!!

One of the nurses that I became friends with told me that the doctors had told the nurses when I checked in that they didn't think I would have made it through the weekend the way I was progressing. On a count down calendar I had in my room I would put a big "X" on the days so I could see the progress knowing that my babies were getting healthier by the day. Four extremely long weeks go by and I make it to week "28". This was a HUGE milestone. Babies born after this time have a 90% chance of survival with out many complications short or long term. When I first checked in at 24 weeks I was told if my babies were born soon they would have a 60% chance of making it and most likely have long term disabilities. Everyone was celebrating this milestone with me, but right away set a new one to 32 weeks. This would get us out of the danger zone almost completely. Five days later my water breaks and the contractions couldn't be stopped. I was dilated to an 8 when they said there was nothing they could do now and we would have to have an emergency c-section right away (both babies were breach).

At 5:13 Joshua was born weighing 2 pounds 10 ounces 16 inches long. Because I was in labor during the c-section one of my contractions pushed Logan up high into my ribs and the doctor was having a hard time getting him out. He made a quick decision and cut me not only just horizontally, but now vertically as well. Logan was born at 5:16 and weighed 2 pounds 12 ounces also 16 inches in length. They showed me Logan for a brief second but they were both taken away to be intabated and hook up to their ventilator right away. In fact I wasn't able to see them for 6 hours later and only briefly on the way up to my room where I had to recover from the surgery. The boys progressed almost at exactly the same rate. They were off there ventilators after 24 hours and did very well just on a c-pap with oxygen. After about 4 weeks they were able to breathe well without the c-pap and needed just the oxygen. 2 weeks after that they were doing well and breathing completely without any help. There stay there was 7 weeks long. It was so hard to leave them down there. After about a week I had to check out and I has to start "visiting" . We went down there twice a day and stayed for hours. Every time I looked at them I felt so blessed that they were doing so well. It was amazing that I wasn't a wreck. I kept looking at these 2 pounds babies thinking " there is no way they are ok" but the nurses and doctors just kept telling us all the time how well they were doing and that they just had to stay here to get bigger and learn to eat. It just didn't make since to me how a baby born 3 months early could be just fine. They were just so delicately small.

When I was on the hospital bed rest for the 4 1/2 weeks I just kept thinking, these boys better be little angels, they owe me big time for going through this. Oh how that changed! The day they were born and seeing them so little and fragile looking I never had a thought like that again. It turned to "how could I let my body fail these sweet and innocent little bodies, these little spirits". I promised our heavenly father right then and there that I would take care of these boys and make him proud. I also promised my boys to be the best mom that I could be to them and to always take care and be there for them.

I believe we went through this and other trials to learn from them and to become better people. I have never taken the blessing of being a mother for granted and I hope that I never will. It is such a precious gift. I love these little boys!!

Happy Birthday Sons!