Gender Reveal!

I literally have no idea how people wait to find out the gender of their babies! I can barely wait long enough not to go to Fetal Photo and find out a couple weeks earlier!
But I made it to 20 weeks and waited somewhat patiently.

The night before our Dr appointment I had one of those dreams that seem SO real! I dreamt I was having identical twin GIRLS.
I called Russ who was already at work and told him that I just knew they were going to be girls. My mothers instinct!
He told me I was probably right.
I got Lila and myself all ready and was planning on meeting Russ at the appointment.
As I got in the car, Russ called me and said he couldn't go. I of course thought he was joking, and he told me he was super sick to his stomach and had already left work early.
Worst wife award here- I told him I was going anyway and I would meet him at home. I couldn't wait another minute!
I got to the appointment and he was downstairs in the their lobby bathroom sick :( Poor guy still made an effort and drove to our Dr office.
I went up to my appointment and we just text back and forth his status. For the first time ever, I walked right in to the appointment. Since there were 2 babies, they always require extra time for the appointment so she just started looking at everything else, in hopes russ would make it!
She asked if I wanted to know the genders, and just then, Russ summoned up the energy to come upstairs and find out just in time.
She went over baby A.....BOY!
I literally couldn't even believe it. It didn't even feel like she was talking to me because I was so sure it was a girl!
She started on baby B and I thought, how fun, a boy and a girl!. Baby B- BOY!

TWO BOYS!!
Never.Ever.Ever.Ever. crossed my mind that I would be having 2 boys!!!!
I made her double check and give me a percentage on how sure she was it was 2 boys!
She said 99% sure- that was pretty sure I thought.
I think I was almost as much shocked that it was 2 boys as I was learning there were 2 of them in the first place!

After the shock wore off, I was so excited and even more anxious now that I knew.

I couldn't find the actual files to this picture so I had to pull it off from the ol trusty Instagram.

Such a fun day, and poor Russ was able to go home and be sick at home after that.

Sick, but happy to have 2 little hunting buddies to come!

 

Big Sister- she just comes for the suckers.

 

 

Christmas 2014

I love the holidays!
I love them even more with kids.
Parties, Christmas music, family time, baking, shopping, lights...its all so fun.
I just realized that I have a dilemma with the holidays. I hate celebrating Christmas without having Thanksgiving first, but I hate that the build up to Christmas is to short and goes too fast!
For Lilas first Christmas, I took her to Fotofly to have her pictures taken with "Santa" which was really Russ dressed up. I wanted to do that again, but Russ or my sister couldn't come, so I went by myself with Lila and dressed the part.
She is the most photogenic little girl...until you get her behind a professional. From the very moment she was born she does NOT like to cooperate with a professional photographer, even with us right there with her.
It was still fun to dress up and get a grumpy face to remember 2014 by :)

They had a plate of cookies that was a prop for photos. They were really cookies and had me hold them out to her to see if we could get a good shot. By the time she finished getting her cookies she beat an all time record by a child in that studio and grabbed SEVEN cookies in one hand. I was proud.

 

Russ and I made caramel apples for our neighbors, and I made hot cocoa packets for friends and misc gifts!

Lila and I also made a gingerbread house one night, although it was mostly me and a bunch of kid handled leftover candy.

 

 

 

We started celebrating Christmas with my side of the family a week early.

That way my brother can be in town to celebrate with us, and be back home to do their own family Christmas morning in Idaho.

 

 

My awesome parents gave us this amazing bike attachment for the twins.

 

My crazy sisters and the Christmas miracle of getting that vest zipped up over 2 babies.

 

 

My favorite part of the night was when I overheard my nephew reading to Lila, "Twas the night before Christmas, and all through house, the kids were sleeping, hoping they had been good! But don't worry little girl, you've been good."

 

Russ's family does their big Christmas party on Christmas Eve.

They have a big dinner, nativity and talent show.

Lila was a lamb. And her talent was knowing where the garbage can was and throwing things away.

 

After the talent show, Russ's mom continues her Swedish tradtion of Santa Lucia and comes out with a crown of lit candles and hands out gifts.

 

 

I love that tradition.

We headed home after all of us opened our Christmas jammies. I had asked for a nice silk robe to wear after giving birth to the twins. Russ did a good job of picking it out.

Lila went to bed and we waited for Santa to come :)

 

*CHRISTMAS MORNING*

He came! And he brought lila a toy kitchen! She has loved that thing and plays on it daily!

A new tea party set!

 

I think it was a success.

 

 

After, we head back to the Nelsons...my favorite part...in our PAJAMAS!

I love not having to hurry and get ready and spend part of your Christmas in the bathroom and fighting a child to get dressed. Nope, brush your teeth, and you're out the door!

 

We spent most of the day there, and headed back to my parents to wish them a merry Christmas and sit by the fire...and take selfies.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2014

We rotate Thanksgiving every other year with each family.
Its nice not to have to worry about cutting one family short, and trying to eat at both places.
2014 was the year of the Nelsons.
Russ has a big family- 8 kids total, but this was a quiet thanksgiving at his parents which was still really nice.
One of his siblings and his wife was in Italy for a much deserved getaway, so we got the enjoy their cute kids while they were away, along with his youngest brother.

I made my traditional rolls while Russ and Lila watched the parade.

 

Its crazy how much Lila has changed.

Russ's parents have a really great place. It sits on 9 (I think ) acres in a beautiful litte town against the mountains. Their house has very much a rustic farm house feel, and is so warm and inviting.

The top play room floor has a slide that comes down just outside of the kitchen with a pile of blankets at the bottom to cushion the landing :)

Lila up in the playroom waiting for dinner:

 

 

 

Because they do live on a farm with lots of fun animals, there are almost always kittens!

Or crazy cat Griffin is from their barn, and if those cats are anything like her, they are a tad on crazy side.

 

 

 

Russ showing Lila is elk he shot a few years back. Im grateful to my inlaws for keeping it at their house so I don't have to keep it in mine :)

 

 

I love the tradition the family has to go around during dinner and say what you are thankful for. Its slightly embarrassing that I am the only one that cried, but I have so much to be thankful for, and there is something about just saying it aloud in front of those you love.

 

 

 

In just a few shorts we were about to meet our 2 new additions to the family!

30th Birthday!

I cant believe I am a whole year behind on blogging. It is almost my 31st birthday!

My 30th...its a funny thing. I remember being in my teens and thinking 30 seems so old. I don't know how it got here so fast, but it did.

My amazing high school friends had a dinner for me a week before my birthday (sadly I have no pictures) and it was fun as always being with them.

My adorable husband knows how dearly I love these caramel apples.

The eve of my 30th birthday he told me not to look in the kitchen.

I knew he was making something for my birthday but I had no idea what. I ended up going to bed and when I came down he had HANDMADE these delicious caramel apples and cupcakes, and placed them in the shape of a #30.

 

 

Do they not look professional!? For his first time, I think he nailed it.

He may have made a mistake though, because I will want these yearly now :)

 

He also left a gift card to my favorite restaurant from Lila.

We were supposed to meet Russ at his work for a lunch date, but it didn't work out last minute so I thought it was sweet of him to think of this.

We had a super low key day. I cleaned our room (BORING) and had a very quiet and fun date with just Lila and I at Wild Zucchini.

 

When I got home, my sister in law stopped by with a  gift and hung out until Russ got home.

He took me to dinner and it was a perfect way to end the day.

Im grateful for everyone to did so much to make my day so special. It was great, and if I have to turn a decade older, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

The picture I posted a few post back (below) was actually taken on my birthday I just discovered.

So these 2 little babes were this big by then!

St George- Girls Trip

Novemeber- 2014

To wrap up my 30th birthday traveling, a few days after I returned home from Seattle, my friend Annie and I had planned a trip to St George.

We planned this for a couple of reasons:

1- We both were turning 30 in Novemeber

2- I was about to have twins and knew we wouldn't be doing a girls trip for awhile.

3- We both have husbands that had just spent all of Fall hunting, and wanted to reward ourselves :)

We left with our 2 baby girls to drive down for a weekend of relaxing, and shopping.

I bought Lila a movie for her tablet and she and Annies baby were both so good on our 4 hour drive South.

 

 

Annie and I have been friends since elementary school. She is the kind of friend that you can 100% be yourself and not ever have to feel like you need to be entertained or do the entertaining. We can talk about anything, share anything and have been there for each other through some hard and amazing times!

Its so fun to have our own little girls now to share in our fun times together.

We stayed at her husbands work condo that they offered us.

 

We got in late, so we just bathed our girls, put them to bed and stayed up chatting and watching a movie.

The next morning we made breakfast and headed for the shops!

 

She can take about as much shopping as me.

I am weird... I like to shop, I like to have new things, browse, and be with my girls, but I only have so much time before I am done.

Annie, on the otherhand, is like my sisters and Moms and literally with close down the shops!!

Towards the end, I actually sat in the car with the babies while Annie finished haha!

 

 

We have another friend named Natalie that we went to high school with. I love Natalie!

In high school, we shared a love of Taco Time and the tv show Friends.

I remember watching episode after episode of friends and taking turns scratching each others backs and sometimes taking breaks to head to Taco Time for a crisp meat :)

She moved to St George with her husband and has 2 adorable little boys and is now a school teacher. She met up with us for some shopping, played with Lila, and hung out with my while Annie was still going strong!

 

We went to Swig for a drink and I got Lila a water. She was playing with her straw and suddenly I felt my lap getting wet and noticed she had punctured her straw through her cup!

I tried to unroll the window but it was locked. I was trying to yell to annie as she was driving to unlock the window so my lap didn't have a tiny little waterfall of water coming out! We had a good laugh and pulled over. As I went to stand up, I had forgotten in all the chaos that my cell phone was in my lap- out dropped my wet cell phone on to the pavement and cracking into a million little pieces.

 

We went to the Pizza factory for dinner that night. Friends, girls weekend, and pizza. Cant get any better :)

The next day we drove home. Lila is such a light sleeper but she had just had too much fun.

I got to hold her through part of lunch and I was ok with that, I love snuggles from her, which are few and far between.



Thanks for the fun girls weekend Annie. I commend you for your shopping endurance. :)

 

Seattle

Being a stay at home Mom is a hard adjustment. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but that doesn't mean its not hard.

I have worked a long time, and continued working 2 days a week after I had lila, all the way up until the twins were born.

I am on a website for "Moms of Multiples" and someone just asked how to enjoy the day to day of being a stay at home Mom. I of course read through all of the comments, and one of the comments that stuck out to me was a mom who said she enjoys taking time to write on her blog and at the same time using it as a journal. I felt instant guilt and motivation to get to the computer. I loved blogging before and turned all of my blogs into books, which really is my only journal. I feel bad that my babies are already SIX months old tomorrow and I haven't written anything down :( I hope I can remember as I embark on this journey of getting my blog back up to date. I am almost a whole year behind now. Turns out having twins and a toddler is BUSY.

Lila Is upstairs talking in her bed (she supposed to be napping) and I just put the twins in their swings so here it goes.

I wasn't kidding When I said I wanted to get as much traveling in as possible before these babies came!

I flew home from Hilton Head Island on a Monday and had a few days with my cute Lila girl, while  Russ stayed the whole week working and I flew out to see a friend in Seattle just an hour after Russ landed in SLC. I looks swollen and tired, but it is what it is.

I drove the car and was lucky enough to meet him in the airport as he flew in so I could give him a kiss and the keys!

When I was planning all of this, it seemed like a great idea, but when it came time to it I was so sad to leave Lila for another weekend and I had really missed Russ!

As soon as I was on the plane, I was excited again and wanted to make the best of my time.

One of my great friends lives in Seattle and had a fun weekend planned for us! We had to cram it all in as I only had a short weekend!

She met me at the airport to pick me up and took me back to her apartment. She lives right off of a beautiful lake, with an amazing view from her balcony.

 

We met up with her nice boyfriend and went to a beautiful dinner overlooking the bay and downtown Seattle.

 

The next day we decided to drive to a cute little town called Leavenworth. We thought it might be snowy through the pass,  and Em wasn't confident in her car so we rented a really nice SUV and rode in style! Of course, the weather was perfect and not a drop of snow or rain, but we were comfortable anyway :)

We got in to town and stopped to eat our hearts out a cute little pub.

 

It was cold and packed, but so fun to walk the streets, visit a few shops and be with one of my BFF's.

Em is one of those kinds of people that it is nearly impossible not to have a great time, laugh and be silly and just feel super young to be around without a care in the world. Its so refreshing.

 

We had heard about black licorice (yuck!) ice cream that dyes your tongue and teeth black, why not?

 

Ok, ok, I couldn't jump very high, but I tried. Im carrying 2 extra peeps in there!

 

That night, we got home in just time to head to our art class!

A few years ago, Em and I decided to get artsy and sign up for an oil painting class. Every week we would have a girls night, eat candy, laugh and attend an oil painting class.

As a gift for my birthday, she signed us up for a painting class in Seattle. It was so much fun!

The next day I had to fly back home. I was sad to leave my friend but excited to see my little family waiting for me back home.

We headed downtown for lunch and took a ride on the Ferris wheel overlooking Seattle.

 

Em works right down town. Her office overlooks Pikes Place and the whole market. We went and looked at her big time office and a few other tourist spots!

 

I am so grateful for amazing friends.

She made me feel so special and spoiled me on this trip for my 30th birthday.

Love you Em!