May 26, 2009: Memorial Day, the boys are two months old!

Yesterday the boys turned 2 months old, and they took their first dip in a swimming pool. It was too cold to try to put them in all the way, so we just dipped their little toes in. Then we took them up to the jetted tub for some real swimming lessons. I would have gotten more pictures, but we dropped the camera into the tub. I told Craig, "I already said you could have a new camera, you didn't have to try and break the old one." Luckily our camera still works. At least well enough for me to get some photos off of it.
The usual norm on Memorial Day is to visit my brother's grave, but this year we decided to take the first, slightly chilly, dip into my parents pool. It was a fun party. My brother and his wife came, along with my two little nephews. And my Grandparents, on my mom's side, showed up as well- I even got to sneak in an extra hot dog. It was a good day!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112762&id=765058202&l=edd43910d6

May 23, 2009: A Day Out With Thomas up in Heber City

Today Craig and I headed up to Heber to attend "A Day Out With Thomas." I keep calling it "A Day Without Thomas," which has a slightly different meaning. That's what pregnancy and having two month old twins does to you.
We took my nephew to this last year. Since he is an avid Thomas fan we thought he would be thrilled with the life sized Thomas pulling an actual train. What we didn't know was that its not cool unless you can ride it. But he at least enjoyed the toys. He enjoyed them so much he cried when we told him it was time to go, and we had to drag him out kicking and screaming.
This year it was the overpriced Thomas waterfall train set that got him all worked up. I kept asking him if we could go get pictures with Thomas and he would say, "Tricia Focus! You need to FOCUS!" Luckily he got happy when his other cousins showed up. And I finally got my pictures.
The twins enjoyed our little outing too. We bought them over sized conductor hats and made them pose for a lot of pictures. And as always we got a lot of attention from strangers. Having twins makes it a lot easier to get people to take pictures for you .
While in Heber we went to Colby and Lola Dunn's wedding reception. Craig and Colby served a mission in Japan together. They became instant friends, and we've been trying to maintain that friendship. Perhaps they'll call us once they find out that they are boring married people, and are in need of other boring married people to hang out with.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112762&id=765058202&l=edd43910d6

May 22, 2009: Meet Danny Zuko

We have a new member of the family! His name: Danny Zuko, His family: Turdidae, His Species? We're guessing Sparrow. Heck we dont' even know if he is indeed a he. Danny joined our family when Craig found two of his dead brothers while mowing the lawn. Not wanting Danny to meet the same fate we adopted him and have managed to keep him alive for three days now. Apparently Danny hasn't heard of the saying "Don't poop where you eat, sleep, drink, etc. "

May 19,2009: The Baby Boy's Blessings

Apparently there is Stake Conference on the Sunday we chose to bless the boys. Even though we called the bishop, asked the Bishop, told him we were sending out invites and needed to know for sure, we still ended up planning a blessing on the same day as Stake conference. I know some of you have already made travel plans, no need to fear, I have talked with the stake president and they decided to reschedule Stake Conference(I threatened to make him help resend out all the invites, cook dinner, do laundry and feed two 2 month old babies). Sound unbelievable? OK it is. But I was tempted. The boys will be blessed after Stake Conference. Probably around 12:30 or so. There will still be a luncheon afterward. I will be sending out updated invites, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

May 18, 2009: "Miss Saigon" at The Pioneer Theatre

On Saturday I finally got the privilege of seeing "Miss Saigon," a musical based on the opera "Madam Butterfly." My loving husband got me tickets, to this once in a lifetime event, for our anniversary. I hope those of you that have wanted the chance to see this musical masterpiece took it. This play will probably not be done in Utah again,-- unless, perhaps, The Egyptian Theatre up in Park City picks it up-- not only because of expenses, but also because of sexual themes and crude language. To me it is no more offensive than Les Miserables, which is consequently written by the same composer and lyricist, but people seem to be a little less forgiving when it comes to Miss Saigon. Perhaps it has to do with the controversy of the Viet Nam War, or maybe its just that Miss Saigon has less heroic tragic themes. Who knows? I, myself, love it. I think it is pure genuis. The score is powerful and moving, and the story is beautifully tragic. To me the men behind this musical captured the tragedy that is the Viet Nam war, but do not insult those who sacrificed. I could probably talk about it for hours, but I won't because some may find it boring. Just know if you get a chance to see this show I highly reccomend that you do.

May 16, 2009: The Adventures of the Stratton Family Part I

Yesterday Craig and took a little walk up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful. We started from Canyon Glen park, so the walk wasn't too far. It was a great way to end a very long, and very hard, week at work.

I'm trying to get out and walk everyday, so I can enjoy the gorgeous weather we're having and so I can get some exercise. The little walk made both of us want to go camping, and it made me want to go to Colorado. For some reason the smell of campfire reminds me of Colorado and our family trips to Durango.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112762&id=765058202&l=edd43910d6

May 14, 2009: Hi Ho Hi Ho this week went by so slow

Winding down to the end of my second week of work. Only two more to go and than its just the easy breezy summer program for me.

Craig scanned the photos from Mothers Day at Grandma Andreason's home. I put them in my Mother's Day facebook album. I'll include the link on this post just know that its a repeat. Craig was way jealous of Kathy's camera. It was a very nice camera. The pictures look fuzzy here, and in the album, because they are scans, but they really did turn out nice. Since my husband finally admitted to having a hobby, I decided we could invest in a nice camera for him. He does take nice pictures. He took our Sister in Law's bridals and Wal-Mart almost wouldn't let her Dad have them because they were professional. And he has awesome photo editing skills.

We're finally getting our dishwasher hooked up! Woo Hoo!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111536&id=765058202&l=74e2aadf95

May 12, 2009: I can do hard things!

I finally completed all my Thank you's, sent out the birth announcements and the invites for the blessings. I feel like I just ran a marathon!

To top it all off, this is my second week back to work, and I've been driving Craig's car, which is a stick. I've only peeled out and stalled once and both were in parking lots. Thanks to Brady and Craig's patience with me I can now drive a manual car. Except up hill. I haven't tried that yet.

This week the boys got to meet their Great Uncle Kent and Aunt Kathy. It was so fun to get together with them, and the boys seemed to charm their way into their hearts. It's official, our boys are just darn cute!

P.S. At the bottom of each blog post I put a link to my facebook albums, which match the picture that goes with the blog post. If that was confusing than you are indeed human. Anyway. . .the basic point is: copy and paste the link at the bottom of each post to view more pics.

Note: Sometimes pics go with the picture, and not necessarily the post.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112223&id=765058202&l=d3770a110f

May 10, 2009: Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had the most wonderful weekend. Craig, the boys and I went up to the Homestead in Midway and it was incredible! I've never been so satisfied with a place I stayed. Well the place in Mesquite was incredible, but their pool wasn't heated and that was the whole reason we stayed there. The Homestead had an indoor and outdoor pool, and both were heated. And believe you me I got some good swimming in. It was grand! I forgot how much I love swimming.

I highly recommend staying at this place if you can. It is reasonably priced and its beautiful up there. They have a crater that is filled by a natural hot spring. You can go swimming and scuba diving in it, its really cool. Craig and I just looked at took pictures for this trip, but we're thinking one day we'll go scuba diving or at least swimming. They had a lot of fun things to offer up there and the price for everything seemed pretty reasonable. The spa seemed expensive, but to be honest I don't really know how high those kind of things run.

After the homestead we went to the Park City outlets. The boys got their first swimsuits and mom and Dad got a couple new clothing items.

We came home Saturday night and got all the mothers day gifts together. The whole weekend was wonderful, and I'm so grateful to my boys and to my husband for thinking of me. I LOVE them all very much! Being their mother and his wife is the best thing I've ever done! I almost feel like I should give them a weekend away for letting me have the privilege.


Mothers Day Weekend Photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111536&id=765058202&l=74e2aadf95

May 07, 2009: OK. . .OK. . .I'll start a blog already

Yes I finally caved and started a blog. This way those of you without facebook look into the adventures of Craig, Tricia, Hyrum and Henry Stratton.

News of the week. Hyrum and Henry turned 6 weeks old yesterday . We went and got some adroble pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids in the mall(The pic above is not from this photo session). My boys sure know how to work the camera, and how to tug at momma's heart strings. I wanted to buy all of them. I'm sure I will eventually. The pictures were supposed to be their month old pictures, but it took two weeks for us to finally get them done. Its amazing how fast one month can become a month and a half.

Today we're going to help my Dad celebrate his birthday. Your 30th birthday is a big mile marker ;) Actually he's 62 years young. And trust me he doesn't look, or act, close to his age. My Dad just loves his two new little boys, and they love their grandpa. They'll love him even more when they realize how much he spoils them. I tried to convince my Dad to open his pool for his birthday, but I don't think its going to happen. That's the third time this year my swimming plans have been foiled.

Picture catch up. Starting with our 1 year anniversary


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