To Be Continued. . .

. . .is now continued

For Craig's Birthday. . .

. . .we invited some friends over for a pool party that Saturday. We enjoyed a gourmet hot dog bar and some red velvet cake. Craig got some new clothes for work, and some other fun stuff. I think he really enjoyed his birthday this year. It was fun to celebrate with friends and family.




For the Fourth of July. . .

Craig and I took the boys down to Provo to check out some of the Freedom Festival stuff. Then Craig had to go to work.





I then went to my parents house and joined everyone for a pool party and a BBQ. My mom's side of the family was there. We all had so much fun. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to spend time with them.





For Little M's birthday. . .

. . .I was a slacker. I asked my mom to help me come up with a party because I wanted to celebrate, but I was too tired to plan it. Little M hasn't shown huge interest in anything particular. He really seems to like Thomas and trains though. We kind of did a things that go party. Mostly it was just food and family since he's 2 and won't really remember.

Little M loves marshmallows so, instead of a cake, we had a chocolate fountain. That way he could enjoy yummy chocolate dipped marshmallows. And we could all enjoy a chocolate fountain ;).



My mom bought him this little mini cake so we could sing happy birthday and he could blow out the candle. Little H dropped it on the floor the night before, and, after I fixed it, Little M kept sneaking frosting here and there.




We sang happy birthday about ten times. And then I tried to get Little M interested in his presents. He wasn't too impressed with anything.



Our friends did give him this tool belt that he liked. He tried to climb into the pool with it, and all his other clothes too, and when I went to take it off he screamed at me. This was my solution.



Along with the tool belt he got some new clothes to wear and some fun books from his nursery leader. Have I mentioned she's amazing!

I felt bad that his party wasn't more exciting. I also felt bad for my mom's efforts and the fact that no one came. Labor Day weekend is a tough time to have a birthday. I was glad that our neighbors came. They are such good friends. And Little M really did enjoy himself. He even got into the pool for a bit.



We're trying to make Little M a patchwork afghan for his birthday. If anyone would like to contribute a crocheted square we'd love it. It can be any size, any color, any pattern. It was a my hopes that we could make a trip down south and have a little birthday party/meet the new baby party with everyone down there. And then we could possibly do more with the afghan down there. But unfortunately it looks like my recent 4 day stay at the B&B of American Fork Hospital is the closest thing we'll be getting to "getting away" for a while.

Hopefully that concludes all my "to be continued" posts.

The Great Outdoors

We have had a lot of fun this summer getting out and about and enjoying the great outdoors. What was not so much fun was all the fires. I swear it was hotter sometimes because of them. Even though we couldn't venture far because of gas money and our tires we still had a lot of fun.



One place we really enjoyed was Salem Ponds. We had a nice little picnic lunch there one Sunday.







Being summer we found we had a few weddings to attend. One was for a friend of mine from childhood. I think this was a first for me. The first time I attended a wedding reception for good friend, that I grew up with. I guess I didn't have many childhood friends. Her reception was at a golf course down by Utah Lake.



We also enjoyed a fun trip to the Mt. Timpanogos temple in July. The Provo was closed for cleaning that month, so we drove to American Fork so I could get my monthly temple visit in. Craig kindly watched the boys. After I was done we walked around the temple grounds with the boys. Big H was so upset that he couldn't go inside so only Little H and Little M would pose for a picture.



One of our other ventures found us feeding the ducks down by Utah Lake-- I like this little spot right where the river meets the lake. We stopped by after dropping Craig off at work one day.




Of course, as everyone knows, this summer brought a lot of fires. At the beginning of summer there were several burning all over the state. The effects were seen at our house. There was ash everywhere,



and outside was tinted with a weird sepia like light. It was kind of weird. I tried to capture the moment on camera. I didn't do a great job though.



After our, above mentioned, picnic at Salem Ponds we came home to find smoke billowing out of our local canyon. We drove up to try and get a good picture of it. The smoke looked so thick from far back I could have sworn the fire was just around the corner. The further we drove into the less thick it seemed. And we never got to a spot where we could get a really good picture of the effect.



We also enjoyed taking the boys to a fun sports camp this summer.




And we joined my parents for their wards Book of Mormon activity. The boys loved the play battle scene area.




We've enjoyed ourselves a pretty full summer of fun. I can't believe it's already over.


Did I Forget to Mention. . .

Craig started a new job back in June. Here he is with his certificate saying he passed training. He now works at Teleperformance providing tech support for Verizon. He talks on the phone with people when they are having trouble with their service. So far he really enjoys it.



My brother graduated from POST. I was so happy for him. I hope he finds a job soon because he'll make a great cop.

Father's Day

So I was pathetic and did not pull off a decent Father's Day. I felt bad because Craig did such a great job on Mother's Day. I tried really hard to whoop my butt into shape all week, but no matter what I just felt swamped and overwhelmed. I seriously did bare minimum, and even that was a struggle. A lot of my time was spent in bed. I tried to think of something fun and exciting to do for Craig, but whatever energy I could find was wiped out by the stress of having to spend money.

I did manage to get him and the boys some fun superhero shirts. I try to get the boys some cute Father's Day shirts every year. This year we chose superheroes because the boys are obsessed and because I was hoping we may be able to finally see The Avengers movie for Father's Day.



This next part is total nerd of me, so hang in there. So there are DC Comics and Marvel Comics-- and other various one's I do not know about. I know, I'm a weird girl that actually knows this stuff. I grew up on DC comic characters-- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. My brother and I would put on our Superman capes and jump off the top bunk, in an attempt to fly. My Dad would read us the Batman Comic strip every Sunday and I think Wonder Woman is in my childhood memories somewhere. Anyway. . .I'm more of a Justice League girl-- Superman, Batman, Green Lantern. But there isn't a cool Justice League movie out right now-- though I keep hoping maybe someday-- so that led me to try and find Avengers shirts. The Avengers are Marvel comics, and I'm sure most people know what characters are included on their team. Well The Avengers characters don't have cool symbols to go on shirts. And all the shirts that feature Avenger superheroes are kind of ugly. The best we could find was a Captain America shirt for Craig. I grabbed that, and a Superman shirt in his size. I decided we'd check out the little boys department and see what we had more options with, Avengers or Justice League. Well neither one won, so we ended up with a combo of both. We have Superman, Batman, Spiderman,-- another Marvel Comics character-- and Captain America-- or Super Star's as he is called in our house :).

The boys love their shirts. In fact they had to give them to Craig the night we bought them because they were so excited-- which happened to be 4 days before Father's Day. When Craig wears his they have to get theirs. And when they wear their shirts Craig has to wear his. It's super cute!

For the Grandpa's we printed off these pictures.



So the Grandpa's got a picture, Craig got a shirt and, thanks to my family, we all enjoyed a nice meal.

Oh, and thanks to our nursery leader! Who had some more cute things planned for Father's Day. I thought, "I need to at least have the boys give their gifts and cards to Dad when we get home."






Yeah I didn't even do that. He got them a couple days later. Seriously, I was pathetically wiped out till Monday.

I really do feel bad that I did absolutely nothing for Father's Day. But hey, I still managed to make a long post about it.

Our Sick Week. . .or Two

Red, swollen eyes; coughing till you cry; fever, aches and pains; runny noses and even some vomiting. This was all included in our sick week.

We had a fun month trying to figure out if the kids were sick or not. The family doctor thought Baby M might have Fifths Disease. I don't know if this was the over all cause of our problems. In fact, I don't know if he actually had it or not. His cheeks would be red for a week, and then they looked fine. Then they would be red the next week.

*Fifths Disease tends to give children red cheeks, giving them the appearance of a cheek that has been slapped. This brings about its other name, Slap Cheek.



This month has also been filled with fun ailments such as rashes, diarrhea and slight fevers. Are these all factors to the illness we fought this week? I do not know.

It started with Baby M and a cough. I wasn't sure if it was a cough to worry about, so I just gave him medicine here and there and waited to see what happened.

Then one morning Big H woke up crying. He would cry every time he coughed. I brought him upstairs to lay down with me.

Then the next day Little H woke up crying. Same symptoms as Big H the day before.

Then the next two days found the twins both with red, swollen eyes. Baby M's eyes never swelled, or got red, they just produced little eye boogers.



The week went on and the boys all seemed to be getting better when, suddenly, Big H came down with a high fever. He just laid on the couch and didn't move. I was really worried about him. My Dad gave him a blessing, and he seemed to get a little better. The next night, however, found him waking up from nap time feeling all sorts of awful. He was so tired, but no matter how I held him, or what position he was in, he would moan and cry. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I called my mom and asked if she would help me take him to an insta-care-- Craig was at work. On the way my mom had to stop and get gas, and Big H just moaned and cried in the back seat. He'd arch his back and cry, "Mommy, Mommy!"

It broke my heart.

Finally we arrived at the insta-care. Craig was able to meet us there. The nurse was so sweet. She could tell he just didn't feel good, and she brought him some medicine. He was diagnosed with what was thought to be, probably, the flu.

Craig stayed home with the boys the next day while I worked. They seemed to be feeling better when I got home.

The next day I was home with the boys. Big H woke up crying, "I want medicine!"

I quickly dealt out doses to him. After which he began to say, "I want my Henrum!"

Little H was still asleep.

When Little H woke up, he came upstairs and laid down, in a big heap, on the kitchen floor. Big H brought him a blanket and patted his head. I then handed him his medicine. Big H took it from me and gave it to Little H. It was really sweet.

We have since recovered. Though whenever Big H gets a little tickle in his throat he says, "I want medicine"

"I think you just need a drink Honey."

P.S. The vomiting incident occurred because Big H tends to over stuff his mouth with food. Combine this action with a cough and. . .well. . .you get the picture.

In other fun, sick, news. Our little Baby M always keeps us guessing. From, "Is this another rash?" to "Should I be concerned about these red, pimple-like, things?"

One issue, he has had for a while, is a herniated belly button. It's usually no concern, and kids just grow out of it, but lately it has been poking out further. So we will be taking him to the Doctor again. Hopefully its still nothing serious.




On another note, a completely different note, here are some stories I want to write down before I forget.

Sometimes the twins won't go to sleep till one in the morning. When we open their door to tell them to go to sleep they quickly lay down and try not to move. Little H has even started fake snoring.

The boys invented a new game on the downstairs couch. They climb up on the arm and jump off. They call it, "To the rescue!" And they shout that as they jump off.

Little H has a pair of superman pajamas-- and Big H has some Batman ones. I brought them upstairs and he was so excited, and, I swear, he said something along the lines of, "With this I can fly."
He was so disappointed when I put them on and he couldn't fly.
"Hey I not flying."
I swear to you, that is what he said. It was kind of hard to get a "for sure" though.

The other day Baby M got out a bib because he saw me cooking lunch. When I didn't put him in his chair he got another bib. I gave it to Little H and said, "Take this to Big H."
He then said, "Henrum, its breakfast time!"
And wondered down stairs to find him.

We were at the mall setting up our new phones. Craig had the twins and I had Baby M. We were in the food court and I was waiting for him to finish his ice cream. A lady walked by and asked, "How old is he?"
"18 months."
"He's a beautiful baby."
She then waved and said, "Hi!"
Baby M caught right on. He waved his cute little wave and even blew kisses. He smiled and flirted with that woman, making sure she knew he was indeed cute.

While we were out the other day we needed gas, so I pulled into a gas station. Big H said, "Hey what are you doing?"
"I'm getting gas."
"No gas. Get drinks."

And now for a story about Craig.

Craig had a good interview with Standard Optical on Saturday. We are hoping and praying that we hear good news come Thursday. Its sounds like everything went really well and we really could use this job. So, wish him luck!

Valentine's Day!

Big H

Little H

Baby M

We had a pretty awesome Valentine's Day. I was at work ,thinking about something nice I could do for Craig,-- since I didn't get him anything for our anniversary-- when, while on break, I'm told that my husband is out in the Cafeteria. I walk out there to find Craig, with the boys, a bunch of balloons and some roses-- made out of feathers. Everyone at work was exclaiming how lucky I was; I felt great because I never get surprised like that; and, of course, seeing all my boys at work was a wonderful treat!



On the way home I stopped to pick up Craig's present. Though my thoughts seemed kind of lame when compared to his wonderful gesture. Still he enjoyed his gift.



The boys also got pinwheels from their nursery leader-- along with conversation hearts, which Craig and I ate.



We ended the evening with another counseling session, and heart shaped pizza's at my parents.

We also made cookies, and frosted them. And I bought the boys some Justice League Valentines that never got delivered. I also made the boys' Valentine to send out, but they still haven't been sent.

We had a pretty awesome day I would say!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Where do we go from here?
This isn't where we intended to be.
We had it all
You believed in me
I believed in you

Certainties disappear
What do we do for our dream to survive
How do we keep our passions alive
As we used to do?

Deep in my hear I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me

Why are you at my side?
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how
Nothing has changed.

Deep in my hear I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me
You must love me

-Evita

From the motion picture Evita
Lyrics written by Tim Rice