Welcome, Welcome Monday Morning

 

 I seriously just told Natalie and Eli that if they would sit still and watch TV for 5 minutes, I'd give them a cookie.  Then, I turned the sound WAY up to keep them locked on to the movie.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  The fine artwork doesn't stop on this wall.  It continues on the microwave, fridge, boys bedroom walls, mirrors, and door frame.  Nice.  It's hard enough to get the kids off to school on time but adding these two little 'monsters' into the mix makes everything extra fun.  I am very grateful to be pregnant, and for me, morning sickness is a good sign of a healthy pregnancy, so I'm trying to weather this as best I can- but for the record let me just say, "this STINKS".  Literally.  Everything stinks. 

MY HERO

Where do I start?  Two hours after posting my last post, I noticed lower back pain and cramping.  I thought I was just tired so I took a nap and tried to relax.  All the next day the cramping came and went, but for some reason, it didn't seem to make me worried.  It wasn't until I began spotting and the bleeding that I realized I was miscarrying.  Is that a word?  It wasn't my first but it was still awful.  However, I feel so wrapped up in the Spirit's healing power.  I feel so comforted and blessed to have been able to have children and that I can have more.  My biggest blessing right now is my husband.  WHAT A MAN!  He spent several days basically waiting on me hand and foot.  He did ALL the laundry, including folding it and hanging it up.  He made meals, cleaned the kitchen (over and over), and gave luvies to crying kids.  There is nothing more incredible in this world than a man who knows how to be a DADDY.  He did all this while worrying about work and all the stuff he needed to get done there.  Even though he is under a time crunch, he took time off so I could stay down.  Speaking of work, he works with the most incredible people.  When his co-workers found out what happened, they petitioned HR to give him bereavement leave.  He was given 2 paid days off.   We feel so blessed by the support of those friends around us.

We were lucky to have a nice break for our anniversary.  (It was last month, but this was the first chance we had to celebrate it.)  Our parents took our kids for a night (thank you, thank you, THANK YOU)  and we had an incredible two days to fall in love with each other again.  We had so much fun together.  We saw "Brave" which was AWESOME by the way, went for drives, and got Jason a new bow for his violin.  We then spent time playing music together yesterday while the kids played musical chairs.  Jason is still my best friend and the best part of my life!  He is my hero!  He will change diapers, cook if I don't feel like it, makes cookies almost as good as my mom's, and can organize better than anyone I know. 

While spending so much time in bed-which was a very scary reminiscence of being anemic for all those months a few years ago-I had lots of random thoughts to occupy me.

1. There is an ant colony just outside my laundry room window.  Those ants seem determined to make an ant hill out of my laundry basket.  Are they lazy ants?  They don't want to have to burrow their own hill in the dirt?  They just use the tunnels in the folds of the laundry.  The problem is, it's my goal to see the bottom of the laundry basket every day, even if that mean dumping out all the laundry and then putting it all back.  
2. Rocks.  I dreamed about rocks more than once.  Does anyone want some rocks for landscaping?  Anyone, anyone?
3. I'm a mean mom.  I'm a good mom.  It went back and forth over the last week.  I guess that means I'm a normal mom.  Huh.  I guess I wanted to be wonder woman.
4. My kids are growing up.  They did an awesome job playing together quietly for 3 days.  They made their own lunches and learned how to clean up.  I guess I'm not the only one to learn from this experience.  I hope the education sticks.
5. There are some really weird birds around my neighborhood that make really weird sounds.
6. I missed playing my piano.  I think I take it for granted too often that I even have one.  It relaxes me.

It's time for me to jump back in to real life.  Natalie is naked screaming about her shortened bath and the house is a mess.  I love being a stay at home mom!

Well.  I have about a hundred and fifty-seven blog posts that I need to do.  I don't think I'll ever catch up so I'm going to condense the major points and give it to you straight.  Over the past five years, I think Jason and I have become the King and Queen of life's curve balls.  Our newest and biggest curve ball is that in February our home is going to become a little more crowded.  The world would have me feel anxious and probably guilty for having another child when we're not exactly sure what is going to happen and where we'll be in a year but we feel grateful and joyous to be able to add to our family.  (and a little anxious too, not gonna lie- p.s., how does one survive morning sickness with kids, I forgot?)  Speaking of the kids, they are super excited.  So excited that Jane announced over the pulpit in primary our news.

Father's day.  I failed Father's Day this year.  I developed a sinus infection during the day and that mixed with morning sickness did not make for the most relaxing father's day for Jason.  While he didn't get a nap, I'm ashamed to say that I did.  He changed diapers, helped with the kids, kept Natalie occupied during sacrament meeting, and helped clean the house and do the dishes after dinner.  I DID, however, manage to cook him breakfast, with his new waffle iron, no less.  Jason is seriously the most amazing man.  He is humble and takes every opportunity to let me know he loves me.  One of my favorite things about him is that he is always willing to apologize.  (Even when something is not his fault, just to keep me from feeling bad.)  I think it takes a courageous person to be willing to repent and better oneself.  And Speaking of Jason.  We celebrated 12 years of marriage last month.  Holy cow life is zipping by.  I'm glad to say that we still love doing things together and I still laugh at all of his dumb jokes.

Doesn't he look handsome?  He's been working out.

We've been working hard in the yard trying to get it ready for a sprinkler system.  This yard is full of a ridiculous amount of rocks.  I'm not kidding.  The previous owners had what seems to be a dump truck full of golf ball sized rocks dumped in the front yard.  Seriously.  I am not exaggerating.  After weeks of trying to get rid of them, Jason used the mini bobcat we had to scraped the top 8 inches off the front lawn and piled it up in one big pile.  I think we might just dump it all behind the retaining wall we just built.   I am now accepting donations of flowers and shrubs.  I will pay you in rocks.


We took our own family pictures last month too.  I was going to have my amazing cousin do it (cause I like her stuff) but she had a baby instead SO I took my own.  My stupid hair didn't work and they're blurry.  Whatev.  I got it recorded and we'll redo them later.  Someday.  So here they are, but just so you know, I'm not too proud of them.  (They are unedited of course. )

The reward for "co-operating". 

Posts of the twins' blessing and our trip to AZ to come!!

Family Outings

We took the kids to temple square for family night at hit the spots that we don't normally visit.  Like the south visitors center.  The kids really liked the temple cutout model that shows where things are in the temple and how its all set up.  They loved the fountains too, of course.  I liked that we had the tabernacle all to ourselves for about 5 minutes.

We also took a random walk to up Bridal Veil Falls one evening. 

BAPTISM

Poor Janey's tummy was pretty upset, she was so nervous.  But they both did beautifully!

Jason suggested in the morning of the baptism that we try to relax.  We wanted the day to be fun and happy.  It was an emotional wonderful day.  Jason gave a talk on baptism that made me tear up and I got to do a spotlight on the girls.  Here are some of the things I said:

Elizabeth Marilynn:  Is named after my grandmothers.  She is very dependable and has a silly giggle that gets others laughing.  She is good at the wii and can beat anyone in bowling.  She loves to ride her bike, make books, and play with friends.  She is a good singer, is super smart, takes good care of Janey, and is good at art.

Jane Catherine:  Is named after my aunt and her grandma.  Jane used to entertain us all with the funny things she would say.  She now is very creative at making up stories and likes to write them down.  She is turning into a bookworm, to my delight, and likes to read anything that is a chapter book.  She is very empathetic and sensitive to others needs and feelings.

Their dad confirmed them after the blessing.  In the circle were:  both Grandpas, Richard, Ron, David T, and James,and Great Grandp T.  We were so grateful to all who made an effort to be there!

Don't mind Natalie's hair.  That's what it looks like if I leave it alone.  Obviously, her hair was WAY down on the priority list that morning.

I was so glad that Jason took these snapshots of all the kids before we left.  And yes, that is our newly tilled backyard behind the kids.

Jane and Liz spent a lot of time later in the day writing their feelings and experiences down in their new journals (thanks Ron and Kristen!) They enjoyed that more birthday gifts were brought and LOVED having so many of their favorite people in the same place. We are SO PROUD of them and what beautiful girls -inside and out-they are becoming.

*This post dedicated to KEWS CAMERA.  Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU for having great customer service, staying open late so I could still pick up my camera, and getting it done early so that I could have it for the baptism.  There would be no pictures with out your expertise and incredible attitudes.

IT'S GREAT TO BE 8

 Jane and Liz are 8!  We have LOVED having each of them a part of our family.  They are both such good examples and take good care of each other.  I can't believe how much they have matured this year.  I have really enjoyed having them at home with me so I could watch their progress in school and in spiritual things.

 We had a really fun day which started off with a scavenger hunt in the morning.  Jason and I hid their presents all around the house with clues.  The girls had fun running around screaming as they found each new package.  (I made the mistake of hiding one in the drawer where the wii remotes and games go.  They found that one before they should have.)  Daddy was able to stay a little late that morning and have breakfast with us.  Then we pulled out the video we took of the girls when they were newborns in the hospital.  There's about an hour of footage and I couldn't stop watching it, even though I got a serious headache and nauseous stomach from the moving camera.  They were such pretty little babies!  We always enjoy pulling out the video on their birthday. 

Grandma Tregaskis came over and took the girls to lunch.  When they got home, they decided to play with friends for a few hours.  We then packed everyone up (after a traditional birthday meltdown accompanied by our two toddlers screaming accompaniments-this particular meltdown was because of birthday cake) and headed to the BYU games center for bowling. 

The first 5 frames were perfect family bliss.  Seriously, you could have taken a snapshot at any moment and gone, "Awwwww.  How SWEET.  Aren't they just perfect?"  Then, they ran around the center pretending to play the arcade games.  We called them as their turns came up.  By the ninth frame, however, the golden moments were completely gone.  Eli was hungry and MAD.  He had a HOLE IN HIS SOCK.  And he wanted to shoot the guns in an arcade game that some guy was playing.  Time to go.

I took the first four who were done out to the car but had to wait for Jason because he had the keys.  Lige screamed the entire 5 minutes that we waited. All the BYU students looked at the kids with pity and at me with confusion.  I was very happy to see Jason coming down those steps with the key.  Inside the car we had a binky and MOVIES.   On the way home we stopped for a birthday cake from Harmons and pizza.  It was a glorious day.  More on why I love my girls SO MUCH in their baptism post.

Natalie loves bowling.

Birthday girl.

NOTHER one birthday girl.

Right after this picture he fist pumped and yelled "I got a STRIKE!"

Someone eat me please.

The rule was to stay behind the silver line if it wasn't your turn to bowl.

Sweet sisters

I think the girls were trying to get one of each color of balls.

The winner.  (But I must say that Jas and I shared our turns with Natalie and Eli.  We'll see you in the rematch, Ben)

Waiting for Daddy and Ben to finish their games.  While I took this, several co-eds walked by and seemed horrified that I was completely ignoring the screaming baby sitting next to the 3 kids in the photo.  One even stopped and asked if I wanted her to take a picture so we could ALL be in it.  I already got one of the crying kid, thanks.   See:

No one likes to leave the BYU games center. 

Our hero!