Labor Day Fun

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend Jordan and I were still having a blast in California. Since we missed our kids and wanted to have some fun together, we took off to Galveston Monday morning and spent the day playing on the beach. It's about an hour and 15 minutes away from home, the water is warm, and as seen in the picture below, you can drive your car right up to the water. It's very convenient when you have lots of little people and their things! Not the greatest pic of me but hey, I was helping Hannah build a moat! You can see all six of the kiddos in this pic working away.
Our finished product, after being knocked a bit by two toddlers!
Two by two. These two do EVERYTHING together. If one of them is off by themselves for long, the other will go find them. They are inseparable. Here's a cute pic of them just taking it all in together.
The four older kids working on their own sand projects:
Matthew boy, proud of his writing-in-the-sand skills.
It was a great day! One interesting thing about our beaches here is the water is more like a murky lake. On the up-side, it is warm and calm. On the down-side, you don't hear the lovely crashing-wave sound or feel a lot of the salty air blowing through the air. It is safer for the littles though. Fun had by all!

I'm Back!

It has been over a year since I have written! I figured it is high time I scrub off the rust and sweep out the cobwebs. I have wanted to write for a long time but have been a bit overwhelmed about how to begin. I guess now is as good a time as ever, so here I go. Here is a bit about our fun little getaway to beautiful San Francisco, CA last week. Jordan needed to go for a work thing and I got to go with him this time. It was SO FUN! Part of the reason I don't blog is because I a) have a hard time getting the pictures in the correct order and b)I tend to do things like delete the words I write and have to end up starting over. Frustrating! I am so un-tech savvy, it drives me nuts!! Anywho, here are some pics of our wonderful trip! Enjoying a zippy boat ride around the San Francisco Bay.
Delish clam chowder in a San Fran sourdough bread bowl. Oh my, it was good!!

Here is Jordan, attempting skim boarding for the first time. He did fall and soak his jacket but he had a great time doing it!
Soaking in the beauty of the ocean. Having grown up in Oregon, close to the coast, I have missed it TERRIBLY! Sometimes I ache for sound of the waves, the smell, even the cold of the air. It was SO refreshing to be back at my beloved Pacific Ocean. We made a stop at the beach every day of out trip.
We got to attend the LDS Oakland Temple. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was special for us both as my parents were married there and Jordan's became engaged there. Truly one of the loveliest temples I have been to.
Me and my Sweetheart in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was all SO beautiful and amazing!! Another wonderful part of our trip was meeting up with my brother Jared and his wonderful family. They moved to CA in June. I would add pictures but then I will mess the order all up! I am so glad I got to go with him. It was really, really good to get away together.

I can't wait!

On June 26th we are moving into our new home! We have been renting here in Cypress, TX (a nice suburb of Houston) for the past 6 months and just purchased a home in the same subdivision we are in. We are SO looking forward to owning again and being able to do what we want with the house. We bought a home that was built in 1994 and needs a bit of updating but is in great shape. It's a cute little house (2850 sq ft- small compared to our last home) surrounded by big pine trees. I will post pictures after we get in. I am hoping to get some painting done before we move in and have been spending WAY too much time stewing over what color scheme I want. I love color and don't mind being bold in my colors but want to love it and not get tired of it, ya know? Right now the office is a great shade of red which I love but the rest of the house can use some paint- it's all very neutral or some funky faux designs. Not that there's anything at all wrong with neutral but some of it is a little too dark for my liking.

Maybe because we are moving three minutes away from where we are or maybe because this will be our third move in a year and a half I can't bring myself to pack. I think I have packed all of 5 boxes. I find I just want to enjoy my kids being home from school and play with them rather than busting it and getting a ton of packing done. We'll see how that works out!

So the kids got out of school last Wedesday. So far we have packed it in pretty good:

-A trip to the Houston Children's museum- known as one of the best in the country. SUPER fun!

-Swimming at the local community pool

-splash park (just yesterday)

-gymnastics and tumbling classes

-continued music lessons for the older kids

-neighborhood block party

-ice-cream sundaes with the neighbors in the new neighborhood on the last day of school

-one birthday party for a neighbor boy

-walks/bike-rides through neighborhood

-bead crafts while the babies are napping

-lots of reading with the kids

-helping Peter cook the best banana bread I have ever had!

-summer planning sessions with the kids (helping chart out what Peter wants to accomplish for scouts and Faith in God and helping Leah with her Faith in God)

Not bad for being out of school for less than a week! Now I suppose I should get packing...

Catching up a bit, again...

So in in my last post I promised pictures of the babies' 1st birthday. It's been awhile but here they are! A gal in my ward is starting a photography business and took these for me. I thought she did a great job, especially for a beginner! The babies did well, Lizzie hamming it up as usual. Emms is more serene and serious about such things. We sure are enjoying them being 1. So much fun! They are not walking yet but standing alone. They clap for themselves after standing. They think they are pretty awesome! Anyway, here are their birthday pictures. Enjoy!

The top two are Elizabeth, the black and white below is Emmeline.

This is Lizzie. One of the unique things she does is crinkle up her nose when she smiles. Although they are technically identical we can tell them apart. Can you?
Pretty Emmie.
Solemn-faced Lizzie

I Can't Believe they are 1!

I am tired and need to go to bed but just need to write a bit about my last year. How my life has changed in 1 short year!

Today is my girls' birthday. Can it be? Are they really already 1? I remember right after they were born feeling so sad that I just knew it would go too fast. And it certainly has. I knew this day would come faster than it has with any of my other kids, just because life is moving so fast for us now with all our business. My heart is just full today as I think of the blessing these precious little ones have been in my life. I just love them so much and can't imagine NOT having these two.

This has been a year of personal growth for me for sure. Taking care of one baby is hard. Taking care of two is really hard. No one came to stay with me after they were born (although Jordan was home for several weeks which helped a ton). Other than that is has been all me except for short little breaks here and there. My kids all came home for the summer when the babies were 6 weeks old so just like that I had six kids at home. It was a hard summer! I have never been so tired, so emotionally stretched, so focused on being the best mom I can be to all these little people in my home. I have often had people say to me, "You are done, right?" or Better you than me!" or "Wow, you really have your hands full!" To them all I say, yes, I do have my hands full of 6 wonderful children and yup, better me than you! I love that I have 6 kids! Those who know me well know I have always wanted a big family. I wanted 12 growing up! That has surely changed! But I love that I will have lots of grandchildren and that my life will be full of family. To be truthful I do feel overwhelmed a lot, I am really tired most of the time, my house never looks the way I want to, daily showers have gone by the wayside, there are behaivors in every one of my children I would like to see go, I have put on some pounds in the last year as a "coping" mechanism, and there are many, MANY projects that are just going to have to wait. I don't really have hobbies. There are many things I would like to do, I just don't have the time or energy to put into them at the moment. But if you were to ask me if it's worth it, I would say absolutely and would I do it again? YES! So very worth it.

So a little more info about the babies. They are so funny to watch. They are like little puppies, following each other around, getting into trouble together, fighting over coveted things like the remote or the phone. They move together. One can be on the other side of the house and they find each other. It's so, so adorable. Even though they can't talk they communicate. In the morning when they wake up they are so happy to see each other. They often just sit and grin at each other and last week Emmie put her head in Lizzie's lap for a long time (we have them separated at the moment in an attempt to help them sleep better). They are both pulling themselves up on everything but aren't walking yet. Fine by me! Life will instantly get much busier once they walk.

One of the things I have treasured most about this year has been nursing my twins. It is a special experience. Most of the time I nurse them both at the same time. They just sit and stare either at me or at each other. They hold hands or try to poke each other in the eye. It really is just precious and I feel so grateful it has worked out to nurse them so long. That was one of my biggest concerns about having twins. Nursing is really important to me and I so wanted it to work out!

I realize I have written a novel. I should stop now! As Jordan is out of town until tomorrow we are waiting until Saturday to have their party. So I will post pictures after that.

I made it! I made it through the first year of life with twins. I will forever be grateful that the Lord saw fit to send these two to my home. They are wonderful. Happy birthday my sweet baby girls!

Fun with IVideo on a Sunday Afternoon

The kids and I are having fun learning to use the video editing software on my (Jordan's) new macbook. Enjoy this short, poorly-edited but fun and spazzy video featuring me, Peter, Leah and Hannah!



P.S. - made while Andrea was napping, of course- otherwise there would have been much eye-rolling! :)

My Sweet Valentine

I am pretty sure I married the most thoughtful man alive.
When I met Jordan that was one of the first things that attracted me to him. He was serving as Elder's Quorum President in our ward and he often made deliveries of golden brownies to all kinds of people in the ward. He tried to think about the needs of people without them telling him outright and made sure those needs were met. This kindness, generosity, and thoughtfulness has been shown time and time again throughout our almost 13 years of marriage. Let me name a few of my most memorable gifts from him:

Coming home from work, hugely pregnant with Peter. I walk into the room and find nicely laid out on the bed a lovely dress, nylons and a card asking me out

to the BYU homecoming dance. I didn't know it until he snuck out but he was hiding in the closet watching my reaction.

A few years ago I got one of the most wonderful gifts- Jordan burned CD's of lots of different songs that mean something to us. Songs from when we were dating, songs about our kids, about our future, etc. He burned two CD's worth of songs and wrote me a beautiful letter with details about why he picked each song. I will always treasure that gift.

There are the COUNTLESS times when Jordan will come home with some kind of treat for me (he knows the way to my heart is through treats! He knows all my favorites!). The many times he lets me sleep even though he is just as tired as I am. The times he spends hours trying to prepare the perfect breakfast for me. The times he calls me just to say hello (several times a day!). The times he stays up to make sure the whites get into the drier. The many homemade cards he and the kids have made together for me. Although we have had our share of rocky times and I can't say our life is just perfect I can say I have NEVER doubted that my husband loves me and would do anything, yes, anything, to make me happy. I know this with certainty. He is my best friend, my confidant, my love. I am grateful to have him by my side as we make our way through this difficult life. Our children are blessed to have him for a father. He loves them so much and would do anything for them. He goofs off with them a lot and is good at making them laugh. He tries to speak to each child in their own language by doing the things they want to do. He is constantly trying to be better. If he falters or gets angry with the kids he is quick to try to fix it and do better tomorrow. I am so grateful I have a good man by my side. I love you Jordan and am so blessed to have you in my life.