The end to an end

Well, I just couldn't resist posting about this. As this is a record for my posterity, I am sure they will enjoy reading about my loves and obsessions. And this is definately a love!

Saw it and LOVED it! I thought it was done amazingly well, and was incredibly emotional. There are always disappointments when a book goes to a movie. So I always try to enjoy the movie for what it is and it wasn't hard with this one.

For me, what draws me into this story so much is the good vs. evil theme. And I especially enjoy seeing good win!


They make this incredible story come to life and I just love them! I will miss seeing them on the screen together. They have grown into wonderful actors and appear to be lovely adults.


Our know-it-all Hermoine! I had to add this picture here because I think she is stunning. There are few people who could wear this haircut and look as beautiful as her. I would hope I could be as "brilliant" witch as she is.


Alas, the boy who lived...and did so quite well, I thought.


Thanks Harry Potter for allowing me to excape reality and jump into your world of fantasy and adventure! It has been a fun ride. I look forward to sharing it with my kids when they are a bit older.

So, go see the end if you haven't already. It is pretty magical.

And Jandi, I completey agree with you that life seems a little boring after watching it. :)

Grandma and Grandpa's Part 1

The first of July we drove over to Idaho to visit Kevin's family. We left at three in the morning with the thought that the kids might sleep for the first part of the drive. However, we quickly learned that the twins don't like to sleep in the car. Ty was so excited to see all the "big trucks" on the road. They were good though. We drove for almost five hours and then stopped for breakfast. All three kiddos welcomed this stop. Then a good three hours later we were in Boise, where we stopped and visited with our friends Luke and Jill Randall. They were so nice to let us invade their house for the afternoon and evening. It was a great break for our kids to get out and play. It was wonderful getting the chance to catch up with them.
We left around 8:30 to finish our drive to Rigby. This was the hardest part of the drive since we were all tired from the day and the kids were fighting going to sleep. But once they all fell asleep it was nice and when we got to Kev's parents house they went right to bed. We survived our trip there!

All of Kevin's brothers were in town as well. So the kids had a blast playing with thier cousins. It is so fun to see them interact and get to know each other. The twins have a cousin the same age as them and seeing all three two year olds together was a hoot. Ty and Gracie spent their time jumping in the bouncy house, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, playing on the swing set, and in the playhouse, running and playing with thier cousins, admiring Granpa's tractor and playing Grammy's piano. They played hard and went right down for their naps and slept great at night.

On the fourth of July we went to the neighborhood breakfast, then to the Menan festivities for lunch, after that to a family bar-b-que and then we came home and watched the fireworks on tv. We did our own fireworks the night before and learned that the twins still don't like the sound of fireworks. Maybe next year!

Throughout the weekend Kevin, his dad and brothers Bryan and Jeff played their own little golf tournament. 3 days of golf, 3 different courses. Bryan started out in the lead, Kev took over the next game and then barely won at the end of the tournament. I know Kev looks forward to golfing with his dad and brothers and had a great time with them.

There are tons of pictures and I won't narrate them all. But you can see that we had a good time.










































After Kevin's brothers left we took some time and hung out with our awesome friends that we miss so much. We floated down the river, played games and got to go out on a couple dates. Kev did some more golfing and I got to have my Cafe Rio. As fun as it is to see them, I am not sure why I don't take pictures to document these memories! Anyway, we had a blast catching up and miss living by them.

It was a great week spent in Idaho and appreciate Kevin's parents for having us.

June Pictures

Oh how we want summer to be here! June is hard because it just isn't that warm yet and we are ready to go outside and play. Luckily we have had a few teaser days to get us ready for better weather.

In the mean time while we are waiting for summer to arrive, we are still busy doing fun things in the house.

Ty and Gracie love their little brother to pieces. "Baby Zac" or "Zac-ee" is very good to tolerate their sometimes not so gentle loves.


Playdough time! This is a new activity for them and they enjoy using cookie cutters to make different shapes.


My sweet baby boy!


We've been working on lots of tummy time despite the fact that he doesn't love it.


The other day an icecream truck drove down our street, so of course we had to get a treat! Ty loves trucks right now and had so much fun getting ice cream from one!


So, this is how we found them sleeping one night. They are practically in their closet.


Gracie and Ty love to feed thier piggies! Whenever they see change it has to go in their banks.


Bumbo chair! Zac started sitting in his bumbo recently, the twins enjoy seeing him in it.


More tummy time! Gotta work on rolling over.

4 Months!

My little guy is 4 months today! I can't believe it! Why must the time when they're this little go so fast?

I am in awe when I look at Zac, I am not sure why. Maybe it is because he is a single baby and it is completely different from having twins. Maybe it is because he is the sweetest baby ever or because I am trying to cherish every moment because I know the time goes so fast. Maybe it is because his older siblings are two and take every ounce of my patience that when I hold him I feel such peace. Maybe it is because he is so patient, and loves to look up at me and smile. Maybe it is his amazingly sweet spirit that reminds me he is the greatest gift from heaven. There are alot of things it could be but none more than love.

I am in awe because I look at my baby and I have this overwhelming feeling of love...pure love.

And how could you not love him...







I certainly do!

Growing Pains

My twinners aren't babies anymore...they are toddlers. They still feel like babies to me, maybe they will always feel that way because they are MY babies. But the fact is they are growing up and getting big. And getting big meant getting new beds.

Ty was climbing out of his crib like crazy, and naptime became a hassle because he would climb out and climb in Gracie's crib. Oh the stinker! Zac was getting too big for the bassinet so it worked out because he needed a crib. Time for some bed changes!

Kev and I had the bed conversation numerous times since the beginning of the year. We knew we would have to do it, we just weren't sure whether we wanted them to go to a twin bed or a toddler bed.

After much debating and looking at all the options we decided to go with twin beds. Actually our pediatrician recommended we just start with the mattresses on the ground. So that's what we have done.

They got to pick out their own bedding, Toy Story for Ty and Repunzel for Gracie. The first few nights of course were hilarious. Lots of jumping on the beds. But it has been about a month now and Ty has really gotten the hang of it. Gracie however, doesn't really know what to do with her freedom. She doesn't quite get it and frequently winds up in her crib for the night.

It has been extremely hard for me because my once excellent sleepers have started getting up way earlier since being out of the cribs. We are still adjusting and hopefully it will only get better!

No more crib!


First night with the new beds...consisted of two little monkeys jumping on the bed!


They love to throw everything off their beds.


I found them asleep numerous places since switching to beds. Ty is such a good boy, he must have fallen asleep praying.


And of course we constantly find Gracie asleep on Ty's bed!


In other "growing pain" news, I have taken away the paci except for bedtime! This was a huge, daunting task for me to think about while pregnant and then with a newborn. But I decided it wasn't going to get any easier, so we did it. And we have all survived! The first few days Ty had major withdrawls!...seriously it was like an addiction for him. But now they willingly give me their paci in the morning and call it their "night night pi" They have always called it their "pi" although I am not sure why. We have endured some more screaming that may have been settled with a paci but I am proud us especially of Kev for not giving in.

Again though, no more pacis just means that my babies aren't babies anymore!

My sweet Zac

Oh, I have so many posts to catch up on and yet I don't seem to have the energy to do it once I get the kids in bed. Lack of energy plus lack of motivation equals lack of posts.

Anyway, so nearly a month ago now we went ahead and had the procedure done on Zac to help his breathing. His epiglottis was floppy causing his airway to be covered which resulted in his loud, noisy, squeaky breathing. We were hoping that he could grow out of this which most babies do, but my little guy was just working so hard to breathe. His acid reflux was bad which just caused everything to be worse. We felt like he wasn't really thriving more like getting by.

I talked to our ENT and of course he heard him again on the phone and we just decided that the benefits outweighed the risks and we would do the surgery. It just so happened that he had operating time that Friday morning and so two days later we took our Zac in for surgery. The surgery went really well. They went down his throat and made two cuts on each side of the epiglottis where the extra tissue was. So there was no incision, which was nice. It was quick and quite simple. Zac of course didn't feel anything as he was out.

The hardest part was afterward seeing him on a breathing tube. They had to restraint his arms so he wouldn't pull the tube out. They mostly just kept him comfortable for the rest of the day and we couldn't even hear him if he did cry because of the tube.
Kevin and I just stayed with him while recovering in the ICU. We were in the exact same room as we had been back in February. Then at three in the morning they took the tube out and at about 7 in the morning Kevin fed him a bottle which he drank so fast. Within 24 hours of his surgery he was doing great. I fed him again later in the morning and he did awesome. They took all the tubes and monitors off of him and he continued to do well. So when we saw our ENT at 1 in the afternoon I asked him if we could go home and he said yes! Yay!

So it was an only one night hospital stay and Zac was doing great. And the best part was Zac was so so quiet! The ENT had said he may sound worse the first day because of the swelling but seriously he sounded awesome! We were so happy! Kev thinks he smiles and coos so much more now. His chest isn't contracting like it use to, he isn't having to use all his energy to breathe. Our ENT fixed our little guy! Well, he still has a little noise, but now he has a much better chance of growing out of it. Yay!

I never felt nervous once we decided to do the procedure. Kevin and I had been praying for a direction as to whether or not we should do it or not. And I really feel like we were guided and were able to make the correct decision for our son. I have a strong testimony of prayer and I know we will get answers, He is just waiting for us to ask. We feel so blessed to have Zac in our lives and the opportunity to be his parents.

Zac is such a sweetie. It is so fun to see him smile and hear him laugh. He has brought such joy to our home already.







I just love my little boy! He has my heart!

Playdate PDX

This last week the kids and I spent the week in Portland with my sister and got to see my Dad for a couple days. It was a good week to head down since Kevin was very busy with work and wasn't home too much.

The kids did great and seemed to enjoy our little break in routine and had fun with their Auntie and Grandpa. Of course it seems the more kids you have the less pictures there are. This seems to be the case as of lately, I need to do better about pulling the camera out. Poor Zac will have far less pics than the twins.

Anyway, my sis and I took the kids to this great place called Portland PDX. They got to run, jump, play and slide. They had a blast and I actually got some smiles for pictures.













I decided the Pacific Northwest needs lots of places like this, since it rains so much and our kids can't burn energy outside.