Merry Christmas!

I am blogging from my in-laws house near Gainsville, Texas where we are having lots of fun! I haven't seen most of Ben's family for over a year so it has been nice to see them again. I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We have so much to be grateful this holiday season since we have our two little miracles now and we are very grateful to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings we have received this year. Thank you to all of our friends and family and we love you all!!

On Our Way...

We are on our way to Texas...almost. We are leaving at 6:00 tomarrow morning for the airport so it's not long now. I am still a little nervous about flying with the kids but I've done all I can to prepare so I'm crossing my fingers. My wonderful cousin Josh is going to drive us there so that we don't have to leave our car for so long plus we have so much *@&% that trying to park long term parking and then haul everything to the terminal...no thank you! We are excited to see Ben's family since the only ones that have seen the babies are his parents, I just hope the babes are on their best behavior;D! I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thank you for being our friends!

Christmas Cards

I am trying to get Christmas cards out this year so if you read this blog and would like a Christmas card but don't think I'll send you one, give me your address and I'll send one out...it may be after Christmas but you will get one! (BTW, they are really cute!!!)
P.S. You can either email me your address or leave it in the comment section and I will delete it after I copy it down!

Snow

It has finally snowed enough to stick for more than a couple of hours so I finally count it as the babies first snow. I put some in my hand and was making them touch it but they weren't too impressed. I keep debating if we should buy a little sled and take them on a hill across from our house but I don't think I want them out in the cold. I'm also going to post a cute little pic I took of them tonight before bed, they look a little out of it!

Our New House (almost)

Things are going well in our quest to buy a house. Our offer was accepted and after a couple of counters, etc we are to the stage that we are getting an appraisal and inspection. They did the inspection today so Ben and I went over and just kind of hung out for a bit. It felt kind of weird but they don't care so I guess we don't either. They had put up a sold sign and pulled the listing from the internet so I suppose we're almost there. I am going to post some pictures so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

What you see when you walk in the front door, on the left there is a "Home Teacher" room. Past the stairs on the right is a half bath and straight ahead is the family/dining/kitchen.

The kitchen-kinda small but since I don't like to cook I guess it will work! There is a dining area adjoining the kitchen and than a small area that I think we will use as an office/play area.

Walking up the stairs:

Loft area at the top of the stairs which we will use for tv room/playroom.Small hall upstairs, on the right is the kids' bathroom, straight ahead will be their room and to the left the utility room (which is huge!).

Master bathroom. Straight ahead is the huge closet and to the left is the tub and then toilet.The toilet, kinda situated weird but gives a little privacy I guess.

Our backyard which will be fenced and sodded (is that a word?) as soon as the weather clears up. In the background you can see the "clubhouse" and pool.

Ben just reminded me I was a dork and didn't take any pics of the exterior of the house, oops!

Wal-mart

Well, I have finally severed the last tie I had with Wal-Mart. I cashed out my 401K/Profit Sharing so we could have a down payment for a house. I know, you're thinking what a horrible time to sell and yes, it wasn't ideal but I have lost quite a bit in just the last couple of months so maybe it's good to pull it out now, before I lose anymore. It sucks because I will incur all those taxes and penalties but hey, I guess you can think of it like free money anyways. They didn't have to give me a retirement account but I sure did put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that money. It did make me kind of sad to sell it seeing how I put in almost 13 years with the company and I do kind of miss Wal-Mart (I know, I'm crazy) but I think I got out at a good time, things just weren't quite the same when I left as when I started. So to all you diligent Wal-Mart Associates out there...keep pluggin away and thanks for what you do to make our lives easier!!

Househunting

Ben and I have been sort of looking for a house since our lease is up the first part of March. Well, guess what...we found it, the house for us. We put in an offer and it was accepted and so now we are just going back and forth on a close date but it looks to be mid-January. I know, I can't believe it either. We found a good deal and are getting a lot of house for the money. It's not quite as close to civilization but not as far out as Kuna (no offense to the Kunaites, is that right?). I don't really have any pics of it because I forgot to take the camera when we went and looked. We are pretty excited but also sort of dreading it because do you know how many times I have had to move? I am not excited to pack again but at least it will only be like a 10-15 move versus a 14 hour move. It is a 2200+ sq. ft. house so it should work for us for awhile, it's brand new, never been lived in and is in a neighborhood with a pool (we can see it out our back window). I think the only bad thing is that it is a new neighborhood so we will have to put up with construction but luckily we will have a privacy fence so hopefully that will help. Well, wish us luck and anyone that wants to come out and help us move is more than welcome ;D!!
P.S. I have a pic of the house on my phone but I couldn't get it onto the computer so maybe we'll do a driveby and take a pic

Christmas Pics

Tonight Ben and I got the kids dressed up and tried to take pictures so we can send out Christmas cards. I have a new appreciation for Kiddie Kandid because Holy Cow it was a trial. They did not want to cooperate and kept crawling over to be held instead of posing. I had a little scene set up with "snow" and they pulled that apart immediately. I told Ben maybe we will put them in their outfits for church on Sunday and try again when we get home. Here's a warning for you...your Christmas cards may be late! If you have any hints on getting them to cooperate, would love to hear them! Oh and I forgot to tell you, the cat kept trying to get in the picture, silly girl.

So much happens!

We had so much happen on our little vacay that I didn't put it all in my last post! Anthony and Emily are growing by leaps and bounds, I wish they would slow down just a little so I could really enjoy each stage! I am soo grateful though that they are both so healthy and that we don't have any problems! Anthony finally has two more teeth getting ready to break free and thankfully this time we are not having quite the moodiness we did before. Emily has yet another one and is still leading the pack with 6 and at least one more ready to come through. Just before we left for Rexburg, Anthony had decided to stand on his own and now he does it all the time. Emily started standing on her own while we there, which kind of suprised me because she is usually a couple of weeks behind her brother. I had bought this cute hippo push toy last year on clearance with the intention of giving it to them for their birthday but they have been pushing anything and everything around so I opened it early and Anthony loves to push it all over the place, he is even getting so he can turn it around. I don't think it will be long before he is walking. Emily doesn't like it as much, she is just as happy on her knees pushing a box around. They both conquered stairs while we were staying with Great-Grandma but they can only go up and not down. Definitely something we will have to work on since most of the houses we have been looking at to buy have stairs, thank heavens for baby gates! Something funny just happened so I have to share! Ben was cold so he went and put on a hooded sweatshirt, when he came out he still had the hood on and Emily started screaming and would not go to him, even when he took it off. She does the same thing to me when I wear a hat...she doesn't like hats apparently and has a fit until they're gone! Well, I guess that 's enough of the munchkins for now! Have a great Sabbath day.

Sorry the videos a little shaky, I was holding Emily while doing it!

Finally, back in the blogging world!

I haven't posted forever ! We went to Rexburg the weekend before Thanksgiving and had a great time at my cousin Jerik's wedding. Well, I did anyways, the kids had a pretty rough day and didn't make it to the reception so I felt bad because lots of people wanted to see them. They had a ball though in the morning playing with Auntie Linda, thanks a ton! We had a pretty laid back week, didn't really make too many plans like we usually do. We did get to go play with Aunt Wheez and the triplets which was fun (and of course I got no pictures). I went to Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols which was so great, I haven't been in like 5 years but it is so nice to be uplifted. Ben came over on Wednesday and I felt bad because when he first got there, the kids didn't want anything to do with him, it took them a bit to warm up. We had Thanksgiving at Great-Grandma's house and spent the day with a lot of the family so it was a great day. We did miss Grandpa Nef though, it seemed kind of empty to not have him there. We stayed until Sunday when we drove home. I am sooo glad to live near family again, I made some wonderful friends who feel like family while we were away but it is nice to be "home" again. I guess this is all for now, hopefully I'll think of some great words of wisdom to impart one of these days!

Yikes

Well, the kids are progressing like crazy, Emily finally had another tooth break free so she has 5 now and Anthony still just has 2 with no signs of anymore. Anthony stood up on his own for like a whole minute today, guess what's next...hopefully not for awhile but I'm afraid he is going to be walking anytime. That's about all that's going on, the kids and I are leaving to go to Rexburg tomarrow for my cousin's wedding and then Ben will come over the day before Thanksgiving so if I don't post for a bit that's why. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Family Tag

Family Tag
1. How many people are in your family? 4
2. When did you get married? August 6,
3. Are your children boys or girls? 1 boy, 1 girl
4. What do you do for fun as a family? Well, since they're only 9 months old we just sort of hang around the house and play together or go on walks. They love to be chased so we do a lot of that!
5. Is your family complete, or are you planning on having more children? Ummm, not sure I should answer this one! At this point in time I would say we are complete, no burning desire that we have any more waiting. Also, with what we went through to get A & E we are just grateful we were gifted with them (not sure I want to go through all of that again)!!

I tag.....Kate, Darla, Mandy, and Traci

Happy Birthday Trav

Today would have been my brother Travis's 31st birthday so I just wanted to recognize his birthday even though he is not with us anymore. Even though it's been 5 years since his passing, I know that he is watching over us and still loves us. Thank you Trav for taking such good care of our babies until they were ready to join our family. I love and miss you always!

My Sweet Hubby

My husband can be so sweet sometimes! He was a little late coming home the other day and I was getting a little annoyed because the kids were very fussy but when he got home he had picked up flowers for me! I asked him if he was having an affair with his secretary and after reminding me he didn't have one he told me he got them because he loved me. Isn't that sweet?

Tagged!

6 Unspectacular Quirks (Only 6!)I was tagged by Linda. The rules are, write down 6 quirks then tag 6 more people.

1. I am oddly fascinated by the supernatural...even though I don't believe in it! I love to watch shows about ghosts, vampires, witches, etc.

2. I read very fast but have a terrible memory so I can read books over and over and over (which is nice sometimes but makes it hard to talk about them with other people).

3. I am a very picky eater and like pretty bland, dull food (I don't even salt food when cooking, my friends have learned if they come over they have to grab the salt shaker themselves!) Now...having said that I will try different things at least once, I just don't usually choose to eat them again.

4. All of my hangers have to be white, Ben has snuck a few colored ones in but they can't be on my side of the closet. The babies also have all white hangers.

5. Even though I have two babies who don't always sleep through the night, I still have insomnia. Many nights I won't go to bed until 12 or 1 and still have to wake up with the kids at 6:30...thank goodness for nap time!

6. My pantry has to be stocked in a certain way and all the cans have to be turned out (comes from all those years stocking shelves at Wal-Mart).

So I now tag: Kate, Mandy, Darla, and Traci ( I can't wait to see which 6 you choose, ha, ha).

What an election...

I am not really a politically active person, I know just enough to argue with my Democrat husband (yes, I'm Republican, sort of) but I really tried to research each candidate this year so I could make a sound decision. I have a confession...I really didn't feel good about any of them. It was sometimes hard to know what their beliefs were because there was so much mud-slinging going on ( at least here in Idaho) so who knew how to really vote. I did vote however and didn't necessarily stick to party lines with all of the candidates but voted for who, with my limited research, I believed would do the best. I kept telling Ben that if only we could combine some of McCain's ideas with some of Obama's ideas and put them into one person we could have one awesome candidate. I really am hoping that Obama is able to make some of the changes that he has proposed and that our wonderful country can somehow become unified again, I just hope it doesn't take another tragedy for that to happen. Anyhow, this has been my political rant and if you don't like it...good thing it's my blog, huh ;D!!

Grrrr, stupid daylight savings time

Before I had kids, daylight savings time was a mere inconvience, it meant occasionally being late for church when we forgot to reset the clock but now....I could scream! I have the kids on a pretty regimented (but not rigid) schedule now and it is all gone to pot. The poor things were confused because they woke up at their regular time of 6:30, only now it was 5:30 and mom and dad really didn't want to get up. They usually have their first bottle at 7:00 so I gave it at 6:30 since it was really 7:30. Anyways, I'm sure you can guess where all this is going...total confusion and frustration for the poor babies. Naps today were a joke and so we had two very crabby children who were more than happy to go to bed tonight. Hopefully we can work it out so that we are back on schedule in the next few days and they will be their bright happy selves! Oh, yea, if you have any hints on how to survive this horrible event, let me know, thanks!!!!

Horror...

I guess I have a lot to say today! Ben was giving the babies their bath tonight and Anthony was standing up (as he usually does) and Emily was sitting behing him. I went in to check on them and Anthony was waving at me when Emily leans over and licks him on the butt!!! What the heck?! They put everything in their mouths so apparently this is no different. I think Ben is going to have to be more careful and keep them a little more separated in the bathtub from now on. Oh, yea and I forgot to tell you that right after Emily did that, Anthony tooted, yes, in her face! Do I dread the days to come? Oh, yea!

Happy Birthday Ben

Yes, Ben is a halloween baby (fits doesn't it, jk honey;D). We took him lunch and a balloon at work yesterday and then had a piece of his cake. I just wanted to give a special recognition of my dear honey's bday since he works so hard to provide us with a good living. Thanks Chuck and I love you!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Okay, so I'm a little late but good things are worth waiting for right? We had a pretty good halloween, I wasn't going to buy costumes for the kids since they wouldn't hardly wear them but Ben really thought they needed to dress up and I'm glad he insisted because they were really cute! I had wanted to get them the same costume but Ben said they should be different so we ended up with a tiger and a pumpkin. I didn't realize that costumes went so quick, I had kind of looked at the beginning of September and there wasn't really much left for little ones then so I'm glad we were able to find what we did. We went to the church for trunk or treat and a chili cookoff for which Ben had made some chili. Ben kind of took the kids around for candy and then we just dumped the candy he got into our candy bowl and rehanded it out. I had left a couple of bags at home in case we had kids come to our house and I'm glad I did because we had tons of kids, we ran out about 30 min after we got home. Apparently some people don't know that when the porch light and all the lights in the house are off you don't go there because we still had people ringing the doorbell. There is a window next to the door so they could see us sitting there so we had to tell them, sorry, no candy. One guy commented that maybe we didn't celebrate halloween...never mind the pumpkins sitting in the windows! Anyways, usually we love to watch scary movies the whole month before halloween but that practice was somewhat curtailed due to the fact that I didn't think the kids should watch them. We were going to watch after the kids went to bed but there wasn't even anything good on (except Ghosthunters Live and Ben doesn't like that). I hope everyone out there had a great night and enjoyed their halloween!

Pictures

We don't have much going on right now so I thought I would post some pictures just to put something new up!

In the monkey pen:

Emily's reaction to green beans

Anthony stuck under the chair

Two mischievous kids:

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa M

My parents were here for the weekend and the kids had so much fun playing with them (and receiving unlimited attention:D)! I can't believe how big they are getting...Emily now has 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom), and Anthony finally has 2 on bottom. Anthony crawls everywhere, especially where he shouldn't, and Emily has finally decided that crawling is fun as well. Anthony can also stand by himself for several seconds (I really don't want him to walk yet!) I hadn't posted for awhile so I just wanted to put this up and will post again soon!

Going for a walk:

Our pretty girl:

Emily looks mad but she is really telling daddy to come out here!

Our Silly Sally

Emily has decided that she is going to pursue comedy as her life's ambition, I know this because she told me, ha, ha! Yesterday when Ben had her in Priesthood, a little girl, about one years old, was toddling around and then fell down. Emily apparently decided that this was the funniest thing ever and was laughing like a crazy woman. Emily has a very contagious laugh and so she had all the men around laughing except this poor little girl that had to be taken out because she was screaming. When Ben told his mother this story (according to him) she said, "oh, she takes after her mother, laughing at the misfortune of others". I took offense, of course, until today when I realized it was true! Emily had been playing with the diaper bag and tipped it over. She then decided to crawl over it and it tipped back up, dumping her on her head. She was stuck in this position and I was laughing and laughing until Ben came and rescued her. Later, we were at the store looking for a Halloween costume and Emily started laughing at this girl standing next to us. The girl wasn't doing anything but standing there but apparently Emily thought she was hilarious. Anyways, she has become a "Silly Sally" and it makes my heart happy to know that she can find such joy in life, now if only her brother would laugh a little more.....

A Great Visit

We have had a great visit with Ben's parents this week, the babies have had lots of fun playing with them and so have we! They sent us out to dinner last night and gave the kids a bath and put them to bed. When we got home an hour and a half later, they asked us why we were home so early (we have no life apparently) and told us we needed to be gone longer to make all their hard work worth it. I guess things didn't go quite as expected with bedtime but Anthony and Emily are used to dad or mom putting them down. Tonight they took us to one of my favorite places to eat which just opened yesterday in Meridian. It was Souper!Salad and is a salad, soup, and pasta bar. They had a few in Albuquerque so while we were trying to get pregnant and after I was pregnant we would go there after many of my appointments. If you come to Meridian you simply must eat there! We are sad to see Milt and Sandy leave but hope that they have had fun and we can't wait to see them in Texas at Christmas!

A New Me

Okay, so lately I have been feeling homely, dowdy, and just plain ugly with a capital U-G-L-Y! I think part of the reason is I'm carrying around extra weight and part of the reason was I was having bad, bad hair! I don't know about you but if I am having bad hair then I feel like crap! So today I went and got my haircut from this guy in Boise that my aunt had recommended to me, Tim Carrey. I had someone pictured and when I got there he was not at all what I pictured! He is over 6 ft tall and built like a football player, he's a big guy! He sat me down and we talked and then he said, we are going to make you feel like a sexy mama...I loved him already!!! He totally made me feel attractive and it didn't feel totally insincere and like he was just saying it because I was paying him. By the time he was done with me, I felt like a million bucks! I don't know that I'm going to be able to get my hair as good as he did but I feel like it is something that will work for me even if I leave it curly. I asked him when I need to come back and he said the minute I feel undesirable (his exact words) that I was to call him and he would get me right in! So I'm going to post a couple of pics which aren't the best because I took them myself but hopefully you'll get the idea. If anyone wants to come to Boise and get treated like a million bucks, let me know and I'll hook you up!!! :D

What A Weekend

All I can say is what a crazy weekend! Ben's parents came to stay with us for a few days this last week, they got here on Wednesday and then went to Utah on Friday but are coming back for a few more days today. It's great that they could come because they haven't seen the babies since they were itty bitty and the kids are having so much fun with them! Anthony, Emily, and I watched conference on Saturday, well as much as two 8 month olds can, and played while daddy was out running around. He came home and told me that he had found this Honda Pilot that seemed like a good deal and was waiting to hear what they would give for his truck as a trade-in. They gave us the call and a great deal for a trade-in so we packed the kids up at 5:30 and went to look at the car. At 8:30 we left for home with a new car!! Yep, we got a new car. We have been talking about it for awhile because the Camry just really doesn't have enough room but I didn't think we would be doing anything this soon. It's a really nice Pilot though, it's silver, has about 40,000 miles on it, cargo room, and should last us for several years to come! If you would have told me on Sat morning that I would be going home in a new car that day, I would have said you are crazy but it happened! We watched all the sessions of conference on Sunday and what a great. uplifting day. I think they were all talking to me. It is still kind of weird to not see President Hinkley there, I kept expecting him to get up and address the Saints. Well, I'll post more later, better go spend some time with the fam!

Kiddie Kandids Revisited

We went to Kiddie Kandids yesterday because we decided that it had been about 5 months since the last pics and the kids have changed soooo much (plus they were running a great deal)! Anthony and Emily did pretty well, by the end they had decided enough was enough and no more smiles. Our kids are just so dang cute, I don't know how we got so lucky!

Emmy Crawls!

Ben is out of town this week and Emily started crawling yesterday so he keeps calling and asking me to post a video so he can see. I finally got one (not too great but it works) so here you are honey!!!!

8 Months Old Today

Oh, my, were has the time gone? Can you believe these little stinkers are already 8 months old? They have done so much since I posted like a week ago so here are a few things...Emily cut a tooth, hopefully it's here to stay but we'll have to see. We really thought that Anthony was teething hard core (and he may well be) but then yesterday, Emily had my finger in her mouth and lo and behold, something sharp! She has been doing so well, lots of drooling and gnawing but not much fussing so yea! And yea that she finally beat brother at something! Anthony crawls everywhere and gets into everything so we went and got a baby corral which he tolerates for awhile. He also pulls himself up on everything, no "cruising" yet but he'll get there, yikes! Our sleep situation has not been great, they like to wake up at 3, 4, 5 and Ben usually feels sorry for them and brings them to bed so we have to work on self soothing again. Ben is gone again this week, he is doing training in Washington DC so I guess it's a good time to work on sleep! Anthony also started clicking his tongue yesterday and today started covering his face and playing peekaboo. So many changes in so little time! I have been doing pretty well with my exercising, it may be challenging this week while Ben is gone since I have to wait till the kids are asleep and by then it's usually 8, not the best time to exercise but you do what you have to! I suppose that's all we have for the moment so happy reading!

Videos

I promised a video of Anthony crawling and I think I finally got an okay one! I am also going to post a vid of Anthony and Emmy's first bath together (sorry about the private parts) because they are so darn cute!

The start of a brand new me!

I need everybodies help! I have got to lose some weight and I have horrible will power so here's what I need you to do...take a couple of seconds every now and then and text, email, or comment and remind me to get on the treadmill! I have a goal of 30 min on the treadmill every night except Sunday. I set this goal a couple of weeks ago and it took me about a week to get going but have done pretty well since then. I think I just need to be nagged to death. I am trying to feel better about myself and if I can lose some weight I think it will help tremendously. I got new glasses a few weeks ago and need to take a pic because they are way different than anything I have ever had but I like them, Ben actually picked them out for me. Well, better go but if you could nag me that would be great!

We have a crawler!

Anthony has started crawling!! He actually started the day after my last post and has been going strong ever since. He crawls kind of funny, Ben calls it the pirate crawl. He crawls with one leg straight out (like he has a peg leg) but that doesn't stop him from moving pretty fast. His favorite thing is to crawl to his sister and pull her hair. I need to go to BabiesRUs and buy a baby fence/corral so I can keep him out of the kitchen, we can't install locks on the drawers or cabinets so I will just keep him out all together! I keep trying to get a video of it but whenever I start, he stops crawling! The kids have been having trouble sleeping again, it's driving me crazy. Anthony has been waking up at 4:00 and I will usually let him cry for about 45 min before giving up and putting him in bed with me just so I can get some sleep ( I know, bad mom). Emily woke up at 6:00 this morning and decided that she was done sleeping and I really wanted another hour at least but oh, well. Anthony has also decided that he needs to be swaddled (at least on the top half) to take his naps the crazy kid and so Ben asked me if we were going to be swaddling until he was 18 and I said sure, I'll just buy a mummy bag! I keep telling Anthony that he is a big boy and doesn't need to be wrapped but apparently he feels differently right now. That is about all we having going on, we're finally over our colds but I think that Anthony is starting the teething thing again (yuck). I'll post a video of Anthony as soon as I can get a good one!

Twilight

Okay, so I'm sure you have all heard of the Twilight series of books by now and that many of you have read them. I wasn't sure if I was going to read them or not because I thought, yea, I need to get hooked on just one more thing! My mother-in-law had read the first book for her book club and told me that I would love it but I still held off. My aunt asked me to read the first one and tell her if she should also read it so I caved and guess what...I'm hooked! It was a pretty fast and easy read and took a little bit to get into but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down, you know how I am with the sci-fi/fantasy stuff. Now I am going to have to go and probably buy the next book because I checked at the library and they have 3 copies of the second book with about 60 holds. I think that it would be forever until I got to check it out and it will probably be just as easy to go and buy the next one. Ben heard one guy at church a couple of weeks ago commenting that if the sisters in the ward read their scriptures half as much as they read those vampire books our ward would be in great shape. Maybe I had better set a goal that if I read 15 min of scriptures, I can read 15 of vampire books!

Happenings

Not much has been going on, the babies are finally getting over their colds, and I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel from the cold I caught from them. Anthony is getting pretty mobile, I don't know if you could call what he does crawling but he can get around. Emily is still content to either sit in one place or roll onto her stomach and screech until you go and put her back up. They are really becoming interested in the cat, heaven help her. They think that she is sooo funny, anytime she meows they laugh and laugh. She does pretty well with them too. I have been feeding them cereal and fruit or veggies about 3 times a day and they love it. They have taken to everything so far, even prunes. We haven't given them peas yet which I have heard is the real test. I try and grind up fruit and stuff in the baby food grinder and it seems to work pretty well. They have really started picking on each other, Anthony loves to either maneuver himself into Emily' s lap or pull her hair until her face is in his lap. Ben and I have decided that they will probably both do things to the other but that Anthony will be the one to get caught.

We took them over to this big, really nice park across the street the other day but they didn't seem to impressed with the swings or the slide yet, I guess they will have to get a little bigger.

I guess that's about all we've been doing so hopefully we'll do something absolutely marvelous soon so we can write about our brilliant children:)!

Time Out

This weekend my mom and my aunt Louise came down to visit us and go to Time Out for Women. For those who don't know what that is, it is a conference put together by members of my church to help uplift and edify the women of the LDS church. It was a wonderful experience and very fun. It was nice to be able to leave for a day and hear wonderful messages. There were many different topics but there really seemed to be one central theme: that our Heavenly Father loves us and wants up to be happy and blessed. There were several different speakers and musical numbers and it was really fun, there was humor mixed in with the spiritual aspect. One experience that was given by one of the speakers was when she and several friends got together and decided that they could demand a standing ovation from the group at any time, all they had to do was stand up and say I need a standing ovation. She told about how special and appreciated that made each of the friends feel. She explained how they continue it to this day and even use their computers to do it via email and instant message. She then challenged us to do the same thing in our families. I haven't yet explained or demanded it of Ben but who knows, maybe if the time is right I will. I really appreciate experiences like this that give me the opportunity to be reminded of the importance of my faith and to be reminded that I am a daughter of God, who loves me! After the conference we went to the mall, where I spent money I probably shouldn't have but it was on the kids and the items were on sale so I don't feel too guilty. After our visit to the mall we went to dinner at Olive Garden. I haven't been to Olive Garden since the day I found out I was having twins so it was really fun. Ben stayed with the kids all day and it was nice to know that they have a great dad that could do it! They have been fussy because they caught a cold and have noses that are running like faucets but he said they were pretty good. It was nice to spend the day away but I did miss my little rugrats and was glad to get home to them (even though Anthony was asleep when I got home). I just wanted to share this fun day with you and hope that someday in the future you all get to have an experience like this!

P.S. Here is a link in case you want to check it out: http://deseretbook.com/time-out/

Labor Day Weekend

We went to Rexburg to see my family since Ben had extra days off and had lots of fun. We left Friday after Ben got off work and a trip that normally would take about 5 hours took 6 1/2 because there had been a fire in the median on the freeway. We finally got there about 10:30 and put the kids to bed, then ended up putting them in bed with us, because they kept waking up crying. I know, not good for the sleep training but you do what you have to. On Saturday, my friend Linda called me in the morning to see if I wanted to go see Momma Mia with her, and luckily Ben and my mom agreed to watch the kids so I could. We had so much fun, I love ABBA so I sang along to all of the songs in the movie (there were only 2 other people there). Later that afternoon/evening Ben took me to Outback for my belated birthday dinner and then we stopped by to see my aunt, and then drove by our old house in Ririe. I sure do miss that house and it doesn't look much different from when we were there, needs a paint job though! On Sunday we went to church and then later that evening, all (well, most) of my aunts, uncles came over to my Grandma's where we had a bbq with hamburgers and then my uncle cooked Dutch Oven Potatoes (yummy!). On Monday my brother decided to go fishing with his family so we took a spur of the moment drive and went and had a picnic at Teardrop Lake. It was very pretty and a balmy 45 degrees!! We weren't exactly prepared for that cold of weather so we spent a lot of time in the car. It was really cool though because when we got there there was a mist just above the lake, I tried to take pics but you couldn't see it too well. We took our time coming home today and stopped to visit my friend Rob in Jerome on the way home. All in all, a great weekend!

Ben, Anthony, and Emily trying to stay warm!

Teardrop Lake (you can sort of see the mist)

Grandma Nef with Emily and Anthony

Another Year Older

Well, today was my birthday (and no, I won't tell you how old) and I decided a few years ago that I was not going to have birthdays anymore so it was just kind of an ordinary day. Ben had planned on taking me (and the kids) out to dinner but Anthony was not having a good day so we decided to wait until another day. All right, enough about me, let's get to the good stuff! Anthony and Emily are getting so big!! I don't think that I like it much, I want them to stay little forever, I'm sure every mom feels the same way. They can sit up by themselves and are sooo close to crawling, I'm dreading it. They are doing pretty well with sleeping, we have a setback every now and then but overall they are pretty good. They still get up once a night for a bottle but I usually just stay up until midnight and feed it to them at that time. We are going to Rexburg for the weekend so we should have lots of fun seeing our family and friends again, I think Ben is going to take me out then when we have someone to watch the kids (hint, hint, mom!). Our lives are pretty dull so I'll add a video on so you can see our cute kids!

Update on Holly

Just wanted to thank everyone for your prayers. Ben's sister Holly is doing better, she was moved out of ICU today but they're not sure when she will be released. They did find out that her heart stopped due to a decrease in her blood sugar (it was almost 0) so it wasn't anything to do with her heart like we feared. Thank you for your concern and love!

Holly

Just wondered if everyone could please join us in prayer for my sister-in-law Holly. Her heart stopped and her husband found her dead and did CPR until it started beating again. Thank goodness he is a nurse and knows just what to do. We don't have many details yet but she is stable and doing pretty well in the ICU right now. Thank you for all your prayers.

Houston, We Had a Problem

I jinxed myself a little bit by tooting my horn with the sleep thing. They do pretty well at night but we are working on naps and getting them to figure out that it is okay to lay down and that they can stay down for awhile. They can be sooo tired but then when I lay them down, they are wide awake. Hmmm, sounds familiar! We were having a problem at night that they would wake up and when I would go check on them they would have their legs stuck in the rails (especially Emily's little roly poly legs), the poor things. I had taken the bumper pads out because "they" said that when babies start moving around in the crib, you should take them out. Well, the bumpers are back in, so far no more stuck legs, now I just worry that they will lay against the bumper and smother themselves. I know, you can't be paranoid and be a parent or you will never get any peace in your life. Anthony is starting to get into the stage where he doesn't want me to leave him, I had a babysitter come over yesterday so I could go to the eye doctor and he screamed when I was getting ready to leave. Tonight I had Enrichment and he cried when I was leaving even though Ben was still home. Emily is okay so far, she just smiles whenever I tell her goodbye. Last Saturday I was out running around and stopped at Other Mothers (a second hand baby store) and they happened to have two Peg-Perego high chairs for $50 each. These high chairs are usually around $200 each so I thought we did pretty good. Anthony and Emily look so little in them but it makes it much easier to feed them their cereal and hopefully they will hold up until we don't need them anymore. That is about all that is happening in our little world at the moment so I guess I'll end with that.

Anthony & Emily in their new chairs

Hallelujah!!!!

My Angels!

Okay, so I am really hoping I don't totally jinx myself by saying this but I think we finally have the sleep thing figured out! For the past couple of days when I have put them down for naps and bed there has been minimal crying and they have slept for at least 45 min for naps. I can't believe we finally have some semblance of a schedule in our lives! They also seem much more content since they have been sleeping longer. We still have to do a night feed but that is a small price to pay for me, maybe in a couple of weeks I'll try to wean them off of that. Now, if only I could sleep, life would be perfect!

Car Seats

Anthony and Emily are big enough now that we have to start thinking about upgrading our car seats, they are almost too big for their infant seats. Anybody have any suggestions on what kind is best? We can't afford to pay a ton since we have to buy two, but I would like to pay a little more for something that is going to last several years. If you know a good website that tells the best ones, let me know that too. You can either email me or post your suggestions under the comments field at the bottom of the post under anonymous if you don't want to register. Thanks a ton for your input!

Emily's Heart

When we went to the doctor on the 4th, she had detected a bit of a murmer when she was listening to Emily's heart. She said she didn't think that it was going to be anything major but that we should go to a Cardiologist just to be sure. I had an appointment scheduled for the 20th but they called this morning at 9:00 and said they had a cancellation and if we could be there at 11:00 we could have that appt. I rushed to get ready, messed up their naps but made it at 11:10 (we had a blowout as we were walking out the door or we may have been on time). I hadn't planned on taking Anthony with me but since it was short notice he ended up going as well. Anyways, getting back to Emily...they did an ultrasound of her heart and she was such a good girl while they were doing it! She was trying to "help" the tech who was doing the ultrasound but was being pretty still while on the table. Anthony on the other hand, oy vey! He was crying and carrying on until I put his carseat on the table with Emily, I think he was worried about what they were doing to her, or just mad that he wasn't part of the fun. After the ultrasound, they took us to an exam room where we waited for the doctor and when she came in, of course she fell in love with the babies! She listened to Emily's heart and told me that we have a great doctor because you could barely hear the murmer. Emily has a VSD (here is a link: http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/ventricular-septal-defect) which is basically a small hole in the heart. Emily's hole is probably no bigger than the tip of a pencil and the doctor said that it should not limit her in any way and that it may even heal itself. She will be able to live an active, normal life with no limitations. We have to go back in 2 years to have it checked and in the meantime our pediatrician can sort of keep an eye (or ear) on it. I know that I hadn't mentioned anything earlier about this but I didn't want to say anything until we knew more. Hope everyone is well!

Our Anniversary

Yesterday was Ben and I's anniversary, I can hardly believe it's been 9 years. Some times it feels like it can't hardly have been that long while other times it feels like we've been together forever! We had arranged for a couple in our ward to watch the kids for us, they have twin grandsons that are about 2 so I figured that they could probably handle it, so that we could go out to dinner. We were supposed to drop the kids off at 6:00 but I ended up going and picking Ben up at work so it was about 6:15 when we took them over. We gave a few instructions then took off and went to Jakers for dinner. It was nice being able to dress up and go somewhere, sit down, and not worry about if the kids were going to cry or worry about getting lots of stares because we are out with two babies. Usually when we "eat out" we just get take out and eat at home. After dinner we stopped at Hallmark so I could buy a card and then went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond so that we could buy our gift to each other...bed sheets. I know, pretty bad when your life has gotten down to buying sheets for each other for an anniversary but hey, we need them. We went and picked up the kids around 8:00 and were told that they did just great, not a lot of crying so hopefully that's true and it's good news to us that we can leave them with someone for a little while and not worry about the babies screaming the whole time we're gone. So that was the excitement that was our Anniversary. I'm going to post a picture on here that my mother-in-law just sent to me that was taken last Christmas when I was nice and fat since most of my friends and family didn't get to see it. It was about a month before Anthony and Emily made their appearance into the world so I was actually even bigger than this at the end!

Our BIG Babies!

We had our 6 month appt today (even though we're just a little over) and I wanted to share their measurements with you.

Emily: weighs 17lbs, 10 ozs (80th percentile), is 26 1/8 in tall (70th perc.), and her poor little head is only in the 30th percentile.

Anthony: weighs 17lbs, 4 ozs (50th perc.), is 27 in tall (75th perc), and his head is in the 75th percentile.

Now, in Emily's defense they do chart girls and boys differently but as you can see she is kind of a chunk!! As good as they are growing, we are to start giving them more cereal and mixing fruit with it to help their poor little bums, they need a bit of "ruffage". They are getting pretty heavy and I will admit that it is harder for me to carry them both, when they are in their car seat, forget about it! I am also going to start some sleep training with them, which means letting them cry themselves to sleep. It will be hard but I think in the long run, it will be the most healthy thing for them since they are not getting enough sleep as it is. They both roll over very well (one way) and it won't be long before they go all the way around. Emily also seems to be getting close to crawling, she really scoots backwards and moves a lot. This is the good news from the Rogers' house, I'll post again soon!