{Thankful}

This year I am thankful for so many things. Spending time with family and grandparents in Thatcher is such a blessing to us. Being so close to them and watching them with my girls brings me so much joy.
We had a great Thanksgiving at my grandpa's house this year. With 60+ relatives to enjoy. Some highlights were...

*G-no (aunt Janiel) taking my girls down the zip line. Since I am too preggo to do anything.....(zip line built by my grandpa and cousins...it was a hit!)





*Tractor rides, also another grandpa toy. The kiddos loved this!




*Dress-ups. Isn't it fun having a girl who loves to be in dress ups? I bought a brand new shirt for her to wear and she wore it for all of 2 minutes.


*Creative cousins and aunts....here is my aunt and grandpa crossing the finish line at the Udall marathon....it was a mile. YAY!


This is my cousin Jill's hubby in some awesome shorts....couldn't resist sharing these!


*Swinging! They loved swingng.

And can I just say that we are OFFICIALLY POTTY TRAINED!!! Let's say it again.....MY GIRLS ARE POTTY TRAINED!!! whoo hoo!!!!! Only 2 accidents the whole time we were there and they wore panties on the drive too! YAY! Can you tell I'm excited?


*Holiday Traditions...saying what we are thankful for as we place ornaments on the tree. The girls are now old enough to get this tradition and it was so sweet to hear what they were thankful for. Audree is thankful for her wings(of course) and the temple. Olivia said that she was thankful for her sissy first and then talked about the babies in the tummy. I almost cried it was so sweet.






Mr. Curtis my other nephew got the stomach bug....we missed you Curtis!



Other hightlights
*Learning a new game with the Davis family....fun!
*Going to see 'Twilight' with my sisters, mom and mother-in-law....I am officially re-obsessed. Reading New moon right now....
*All the lovely rain that fell...ahhhh
*Singing christmas carols with my family around my mom's piano.


What a great thanksgiving...I hope you all had a super one too! Thanks for reading!

A few moments from November

It was such an insane week with 5 photoshoots, finding out about the babies and totally feeling preggo and huge! Just sorting through files and had a share a few pics of my cutie pies...they are getting so big these days. I just love O's scrunched nose here.




I was working on something ( can't remember what) and found the girls all set up in the living room with a picnic....having a friend around is so aweseome!


This is Audree ASLEEP at 12 at night as I went to check on her to turn off the fan. This is the 2nd time she had this basket in bed with her with all her teddy bears. She doesn't climb out she just brings stuff up through the slats. One night we found her trying to reach the dress-ups from her crib and by the time I got in there she had a hat and a tutu already on. Funny little girl....always going. You should watch her eat her food!


This was last night as Doug was in the shower. The girls found his shirts and put them on...a little big but what fun night shirts huh!

Details...and journaling

Since I print my blog, I wanted to write down my feelings about this upcoming adventure. If you have talked to me on the phone you have probably have heard all of this. So just skip it if you already know. Well.....let's just say, I am shocked, overwhelmed, excited, feel so blessed, and not that surprised. Ever since I became preggo with my 1st set, I always thought Heavenly Father might give us another set. And I always said I wanted another set of twins. It has been so neat to watch my girls and the bond that they have, I think 2 babies 1 pregnancy is sweet too! I was excited to have a singleton this time and wanted to experiance how it felt to just take of one baby. Doug teased me this whole pregnancy that we were going to have another set and about 5% of me believed him. I have had braxton hicks contractions early and the babies would be kicking all over the place, and I am GINORMOUS so it made me wonder.

To answer a few questions there are no twins in my family....except for my mom's uncle that has a set. The reason why it took so long to find out that there are 2 in there is because I haven't had much prenatal care. With Doug's business starting this year, we had to get our own insurance that starts at the end of this month. So we will be getting care from now on. I got the ultrasound at a clinic and paid $80.00 to find out the gender. She put the wand on my belly and I saw one baby, a divinding membrane, and another part that looked like another baby. She said, "Um....I think there's 2 in here." I have seen enough ultrasounds to know that that's excatly what was going on. Doug and I just burst into tears. We then found out the boy first and he cried even harder. How fun to have a cute little man in this mix of crazy girls.

Other fun things, the girls have said this whole time, a boy and a girl. Audree has always said a boy, and Olivia has always said a girl. On the morning of the ultrasound we told O that there might be just a boy in there. She insited saying "And a girl too."

So now onto the future. Having had twins before I know that this is high risk. I need to keep these babies in there until at least 36 weeks. I will probably be on moderated bedrest, I will have countless appoitments at the end and what the HECK and I going to do with 4 kids under 3!! HA! I guess we won't be going out much! I am going to need some help from friends and family, and I hope that I don't burden anyone too much.

We have so much to be grateful for. We have a 3 bedroom house and not a 2 bedroom. We have a mini-van, 2 baby carseats, 2 swings, double strollers, 2 cribs and a whole lotta love to go around. There might be some hard times, but think of all the fun! BRING IT ON! WHOO HOO!

Oh and I think we will wait until these kiddos are 3 or 4 before we try again...Doug keeps calling me his fertile mertle.

We found out.....and.......

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE IT!!! ANOTHER SET OF TWINS!!!! A BOY & A GIRL! YAY! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? I AM NOT JOKING EITHER! CHECK OUT THE PICS!




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EXCITING!

Just 2 more days before we find out if there is 1 or 2 babies in my belly and if it's a boy or a girl!
(My guess one baby girl...) we shall see!

Some blog love for my Dougie.....his hunt

Warning.....dead animals in these pics...nothing too gruesome.









These are the pictures that our friend Lee took with his camera while hunting. I have the good cameras with me.


The Mesa crew....Eric, Doug, Lee(Eric's dad) and Miguel(friend) Doug's brother's Ryan and Jeff came with their boys as well. And My bro-in-law Clifton came with his brother.


Doug with his elk this year...it's at the butcher now...I hope my preggo stomache can handle the meat...


To drain the elk and keep it cool and away from other animals, they hoist it up in the tree.


One last shot...what a proud day! My manly man Doug!


When I married him I knew he liked to hunt, I just didn't think he would keep it up. I'm glad he has his hobbies though...it sure makes him happy!

Awesome Resource for us Preschool Moms

www.notimeforflashcards.blogspot.com
(How the heck do I add this as a link?)

This cute lady blogs about everything she does for her kid. And she sings the songs for you! FUN HUH! I am totally doing this next year....Cool! I feel like such a teacher for loving it so much! Tee hee!

Halloween Festivites 2008

We had a great celebrating Halloween. It started on Thursday with our ward Trunk or Treat. I am on the activities committee and Doug did a great job watching the girls. Anyone recognize this outfit? This is my senior prom dress that used to be at my waist.....yeah...now it is Empire waist! HA!




Here is our cute neighbor friend Blakey boy....what a cute costume huh?!


And our other good friends Sage and Syd.....sweet little girls!


Halloween day....I made sure to have the girls ready in enough time before the sunset...here are some cute pics on the side of our house.

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TADA! My little princess's! Thanks to cousin Courtney who gave us these awesome dress ups! I didn't have to buy costumes this year just a $5.00 crown...sweet!

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It is so fun having family close by...here they are with their cousins....Collin and Abigail...we hang out with them alot!
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They got to wear makeup this year...aren't they just the cutest(if I do say so myself) My little girls are growing up!">

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Punkin pickin.....down at the Punkin Patch

Tonight we went to Mother Nature's Farm for a little family time. Since the beginning of Oct. I have said, lets go get a pumpkin...and here we are 3 days before Halloween and just getting ours. The place was not to far and the girls had a good time. They got to go on a hay ride, pick their own pumpkin and decorate it, pet the goats and sheep (Their fav) and just enjoy being together as a family.

Here are some pics from our evening....




Our sis-in -law Ali came with us...so did cutie pie Collin.




I just adore the sun in the trees for this one...


Here she is in one of her moods.....have you ever noticed the birthmark on her forehead before? I bet not?
And don't you love the UNI-BROW....thanks Dad!







Lovely Photographer Child Syndrome at it's best.....

Week in Thatcher

The girls and I had a great time in Thatcher with the Grandma's. Doug got his Elk...(YIPPEE) and was able to come and be with us from Wed-Fri. We stayed in town because I had already planned some photos shoots. (Check out the photoblog in a few weeks for some awesome Thatcher families at the coolest location.)

Dressing up and playing with G-ma's toys....



The girls watched "MULAN" like 40 times on this trip so the sword fighting was a must....



A get together with some H.S. friends...I love these girls! Next time no kids though...we hardly got to chat with all our babies running around...and with Grandma Carpenter telling everyone what to do.


Here is how they entertained themselves at the end....sliding down the stairs...


Me, Rebekah(Mother of 4) & Celissa(Mother of 3 almost 4) Can you believe these awesome gals?


We also went to the Fairgrounds to feed the ducks and have a picnic lunchables lunch (didn't bring my camera)...I need to take more pics when I am there....

One more story...Olivia climbs out of her crib (We have a crib tent at home...we probably should transition to big kid beds...)
She climbed out at 4 in the morning walked around the pitch black house and came upstairs to where Doug and I were sleeping. Scary! I'm just glad she didn't get hurt!

When the husband's away....the girls will play!

We are going on Day 4 with no Daddy in the house and things are going pretty good. I am tired but we have been having fun! Day 1 Livvy came down with the stomach bug....ugh! Thankfully it was 24 hours and she was better on Friday. Here are the girls ony Friday fingerpainting....FUN HUH! We don't do this very often so it was a real treat for them.






On Sat. we went to the Zoo with the cousins and it was hot! But we were only there a little while and then that evening was my nephew Colin's 1st b-day party. I wish I had some pics of that...he is so cute!


Off to spend some time with Grandma in Thatcher tomorrow while we wait for doug to come home....thanks for reading!

Can you guess what's going on in our house?

That's right! Dougie is going Hunting for 1 week! I hope he "Catches" one so I can have meat for the next year. Green Chile Burros and steak...YUM!! Wish me luck on keeping my sanity....if anyone wants to come watch a chick flick on Friday let me know!

Big Girls...Try to get Potty Trained.....

My Sister in law Ali reminded me that I only have 5 months to get these girls out of diapers before the next one comes. So....it is the time for the dreaded potty training. They have been ready for awhile, but I haven't been. We have been trying for a week and as long as I remind them to go every 30min to 1 hour or so they go no problem. If they get distracted they have accidents. And we tried to potty train at my sister-in-laws house the other day....there were many accidents.
Someone who has done this before tell me what to do? Are there any books I should read? Any awesome tips that anyone has? HELP a PREGO girl out!




Here are the girls playing in a box.....didn't we all do this? This is from my new dishwasher....exciting huh!! And I also got a new microwave that goes over the stove instead of on the counter.


A & O have been saying some cute things lately...O told me the other day that I was being REDICULOUS! HA!
And A told me that she was "Too sick" to put away her dress ups......nice one.....they sure grow up quick!