True Love

Isaac and I met each other 16 years ago and have been married for 12 years. He swears it was love at first sight, and while it took me longer to be convinced, we have been best friends for a long time. When we first got married our love was new and exciting and fun. People told us our love would change and grow, but I wasn't sure I wanted it to because it seemed so perfect already. However, over the years our love has become deeper and more lasting, and still perfect. (Don't get me wrong, we've had rough patches, disagreements, and - gasp- we've gone to bed angry! ) We've had many adventures together, including the 5 children that we are blessed with, which means many sleepless nights. In the beginning I thought true love was romantic dinners, flowers every Friday, and lying out on a blanket looking at stars. It's not, it's a kiss on the cheek and a closed door because he's taking care of the baby so I can sleep!

9 Months!

My little twin baby boys are 9 months old today. They have been a lot of work, but so much fun! I read somewhere that twins are twice the work, but double the joy. I believe it. Last night I was feeding them their dinner and they both stopped eating and turned and looked at each other and just stared. I couldn't tell if they were happy to see each other, or mad to be sharing their food. Whatever it was, it was the best staring contest I've ever witnessed.

Joshua has two teeth that sprouted on the same day. I think he stole one of Joseph's because he is still toothless. Joshua also is an expert crawler now which means I've once again discovered my house isn't as child proof as I thought (and why is dirt a more appealing food than actual food?). Joseph has the army crawl down and is on the very verge of crawling. It's been interesting watching them develop. They do everything their own way on their own time. For instance, Joshua never did army crawl, he just got up on all fours and rocked for about a month before he finally figured out how to go forward, while Joseph has been rolling, inchworming (he does a beautiful downward facing dog), sliding on his face, and now scooting on his belly to get around. He just started rocking on all fours two days ago. They both started out differently, but will eventually get to the same place. It's been fascinating.

Perspective

We've stayed home for Christmas ever since Trevor was 3. It just became too much trouble getting everyone and everything packed and ready. Then we often go to see family for the New Year. Well, this time, the family we visited was full of tension and drama, and it was a little stressful to be there. We ended up having to leave early so Isaac could officiate at a funeral for a dear lady in our ward at church. In the car trip home, and while sitting for the service I thought a lot about what is really important in our lives. There are lots of hurt feelings and resentment over things that in 30 years probably won't matter. I saw the face of the widower who had to say goodbye to his wife of 40 years and was hit with a big dose of perspective.

Christman Explosion

A few weeks ago we joined another couple for our weekly date and they drove us to a house where, as she described it, Christmas exploded. They explained that the owner of this house starts decorating his house in October, and it is amazing. Lights, characters, snowmen playing soldiers in a game of football, and a flashing arrow directing traffic through his driveway. Awesome. Well, I too began Christmas preparation in October and had about 98% of it finished just after Thanksgiving. A few errands here and there last week and I declared myself ready for Christmas. I wanted to avoid the chaos and stress of last minute shopping. Well, yesterday afternoon my husband showed up with a few lists for families who needed some help with Christmas. So despite my careful planning, I found myself out doing last minute shopping - and it was wonderful! Our ward at church has been so generous this year, you wouldn't believe we are in economic hard times. Besides the piles of donated gifts, there were also many money donations that we were able to use last night. We came home with more piles of gifts to wrap, and Isaac and I stayed up way too late wrapping them. When we were done, we looked around, and indeed we had a Christmas explosion at our house too!

The Hunt

The ONLY picture of all 7 of us!

Miss Mia

Lucas (aka Wyld Plum)


Trevor the tree hunter

The Frosty twins ( Joshua blue, Joseph yellow)

Oh Christmas Tree!

Every year but two, since we've been married, we've gone up in the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. It's our tradition. This year was no exception despite having two little babies to take out into the cold Wyoming winter. Thankfully, the freezing temperatures let up for the Saturday we went, so it was a lovely day and a wonderful time. Our tree is now up and decorated and smelling like Christmas time. The babies won't leave it alone so the ornaments and lights are slowly making their way farther up the tree. Lucas keeps taking his ornaments off to sneak off and play with them, while Mia and Trevor are try to make him understand they are not toys, just decorations. I love it. I love it all. The chaos and noise, the secret planning and gift wrapping kid style. I love the calm of night after the babes are all sleeping and the lights are off except those on the tree. I love that during the darkest time of year we celebrate our Savior's birth with service and love and light! Lots of light!

Just Us

I'm always sad when a vacation is over and it's time to get back into real life again. This Thanksgiving was about as perfect as it could have been. It was the first time we have ever had Thanksgiving dinner with just our little family. Everything was calm, and relaxed with no pressure to impress or please anyone. I do love big family gatherings, but for this year, we really needed to just be us.