Aunts & Uncles

My kids are so lucky to have such fabulous aunts & uncles. Emily's husband, Jeff, is currently in his first year of law school. This has required A LOT of studying time. He is one of the most dedicated students I know. But recently, Jeff has wanted to spend time with the boys. One day in March (when I was going crazy, I'm sure) I was telling Emily about everything I needed to get done and that I didn't know how it was going to happen with kids underfoot all day! We ended the phone call and about two minutes later she called back and said, "Jeff wants to take the boys on a hike." Seriously? So I ran them over and they were gone for a good 2 hours. Here's the evidence:



Jeff also helped Cameron with a book report. The report was to be done on a children's book. Cam chose "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig." (Kind of opposite of The 3 Little Pigs story.) He needed some artwork so he called Uncle Jeff! Look at the "sketches" he did and then the finished product. Doesn't it look like clip-art? Well, it's not. It's hand drawn! Amazing!



Then one Friday, Spence and I had planned to go on a date. We were going to eat at a restaurant just minutes from our house with some friends from our ward. We decided not to hire a babysitter but to leave Cam in charge...as we knew we were only going to be gone an hour or so and we'd be close enough to home that if there was an emergency, we'd be able to get there quickly. Then Callie called..."It's such a nice day outside that Mike & I want to take your kids to a park." Seriously? So they ended up with the Big 3 (we took the twins) for a couple of hours while we went on a more relaxed date. Here is the evidence:





One last story: Emily called one day to see what we were up to. I was on my way out the door with all 5 kids to run some errands. She said, "Would the boys like to go on a walk/bike ride instead?" So we loaded up the bikes and I dropped them off with her. She pushed Miley in her stroller while Cam & Gavin rode bikes and Owen pushed his scooter along. They went on a lovely and lengthy walk/ride for a couple of hours while I ran the errands with just the babies! They had such a good time and were super tired that night! Here is the evidence:





Don't you wish your kids' aunts and uncles were this great?

Stalwart Women

This post was supposed to be all about my mom's birthday since we recently celebrated it. But I can't write about my mom without writing about her mom. My Grandma Marie was such an instrumental part of my life that I cannot believe that I haven't written much about her on this blog. She was a Leap-Year baby so she only got to celebrate her birthday on the exact day she was born once every four years. She married her high school sweetheart in 1933. They raised 7 children...4 boys and 3 girls, my mom being the youngest. When my mom was born, Grandma was 42 years old! Mom was born on the first day of Spring and Grandma wanted to name her Spring Melody. She loved spring and loved to see the first johnny-jump-ups of the season. Grandma was often humming a tune, making cookies, or doing a crossword puzzle. I was lucky enough to live next door to my grandparents while growing up and their home had an open-door policy. She walked either through the field or up and down the street every night, regardless of the weather. Grandma had a strong testimony of the Gospel and showed it daily through the way she lived. Grandma was very close to her sisters, Dot & Naida, Dee, Ella, & Verna. Because of her example my mom and her sisters (and sisters-in-law) have great relationships and now my sisters and I work towards having the same bond. Grandma Marie was such a great example.

Anyway, my mom decided she wanted to come to Utah to celebrate her birthday. She mentioned it to one of her sisters and before you knew it, it had turned into a sister weekend. My mom drove Sue's car with Karen in the backseat! They got to our house on Friday afternoon, March 18th. Emily, Jeff, & Miley and Callie & Mike came over to visit with the aunts for a while. I had made Grandma Marie's Famous Chocolate Cake so we sang "Happy Birthday" and let mom blow out the candles. Then Aunts Sue & Karen went to spend the evening with Karen's son, Shane. We had dinner and the boys entertained Granny. The next morning mom & I went to pick up my Bountiful Basket. It was just a few minutes from Shane's house so we stopped there on our way home. We then met Callie, Emily, and Miley at Zupa's for lunch. Aunts Sue & Karen thought that sounded good too so they ate lunch with Shane's wife, Sara, and his daughter Lauren just one table over. We were glad they were there because they held babies & took a few pictures of us! Mom then treated herself & her daughters to a pedicure...always a treat! It's a little difficult going places with 3 babies but we made it work and the babies were all very good. Sue & Karen picked up our mother after her pedicure and they headed back to Idaho. It was a quick trip but fun-filled and we're glad we got to celebrate mom's birthday with her.












So the title of this post is "Stalwart Women" because I truly believe I am surrounded by women who are strong in every aspect of their lives...physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc. My Aunt Karen raised 5 kids. She is now in her 70s but continues to go to the gym every day. She has cooking classes with her granddaughters every week. She served a mission with her husband. And she was a nurse and present at my mom's birth! Someday I hope to be like her.

My Aunt Sue raised 8 kids. She has served in many callings for the Church, Relief Society President, Stake callings, and served a mission with her husband to Scotland. She is a short lady but very fiesty! (In a good way.) She has always been a good example. During this visit I asked her how she ever stayed caught up on the laundry with 8 kids (because I struggle with this.) She taught her kids to work and someday I hope to be like her.

My sister Callie lived with us for over 2 years. Recently she's been working on nutrition and weight loss and has succeeded! She is like a second mom to my kids and they look forward to Aunt Callie's visits now. She became one of my very best friends during the time she lived with us and we were able to tell each other everything. She is HILARIOUS and has an infectious personality. Someday I hope to be like her.

My sister Emily and I have just recently become close friends. Until her baby girl was born, Emily worked a lot and didn't have a lot of "down" time where she could just come hang out. Since Miley's birth, that has changed and now we try to see each other as often as we can. She has helped me a lot in different ways...from watching kids during doctor's appointments to folding my laundry and everything in between. When she comes to my house, she is always willing to help me with any project I have going on. She is one of the most organized and clean people I know. Someday I hope to be like her.

My sister-in-law No'el is fabulous. She has such a love for life and it is obvious in how she lives. She recently took a tour group to Europe and was the tour guide! She is very intelligent and enjoys learning. She works from her home as a school teacher for an online academy and is able to balance work, family, and activities like a pro. She waited for my brother while he served his mission and they bring out the best in each other. She is so easy-going and fun to be around. Someday I hope to be like her.

My mom and I are very good friends. We talk every day, at least once. She knows pretty much everything that I struggle with, everything I worry about, everything I'm proud of. She always has a listening ear and offers good advice (when asked for it.) She is fabulous on the piano and we share that love of music. She takes everything in stride and doesn't get too bent out of shape over much. She's has taught me a lot about being a wife and mother! She is patient, loveable, kind, and nice. Someday I hope to be like her!

Good grief, while I'm at it, why not mention my mother-in-law, Tisa? When I was single, I was a little nervous about my future relationship with my in-laws. I'd heard such horror stories and just figured that no one got along with their spouses family. This is not the case with my MIL & I. From the minute we met, I felt a genuine connection with her. She's easy to talk to and always willing to help out. She and my father-in-law lived in Hawaii for 6 years. The distance was difficult. We are glad they moved back to Utah and are able to watch their grandkids grow up. She & Dave were recently called to be service missionaries. They'll be great!

Spencer only has one sister, Kate. Although we haven't always been close, we're working on it. She loves our kids and is always interested in them. She lives in Seattle so we don't see her often. We enjoyed her most recent visit and hope to see her again soon.

I'm sure there are others I should write about...and I will eventually. But that's all for now.

The Truth...

I think I may put on a facade that having twins + 3 other rambunctious boys is easy. The truth is that IT IS HARD!!! It seems that most of my posts are about the good times, the easy times, the times I want to remember. But there are many, many things about our life that I haven't recorded that make it seem like it's been a breeze since the babies came.

Earlier this week I was talking to my cousin, Ashley (who is one of my favorite people because she is so down-to-earth and real). She said, "I don't think I've ever heard you say one negative thing about having two babies! You're just always so positive and sometimes I think, if Natalie can do this with TWO, I can do it with ONE." Here's where I could tell you all about the hard times and rattle on and on about the negatives of having twins...but I won't. Instead I'll tell you that I completely believe that it's all about ATTITUDE! I've sort of adopted the "fake-it-til-you-make-it" attitude and I often pretend that I don't need help, I have everything under control, and I'm ready to take on more. And sometimes I really don't need help, I really do have things under control, and I really do feel like I could take on more. But those times are few and far between. In reality, most of the time I have at least 3 loads of laundry that need to be washed, dried, and/or folded. Most of the time I have dishes that need to be washed, floors that need to be swept, and beds that need to be made. And most of the time I feel like I'm just barely holding it all together.

Growing up, my mom had a quote that hung on her wall that said,
"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow,
for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my babies, and babies don't keep."

So if you show up at my house (unannounced) and you aren't invited past the front door, it's not because I don't like you...it's because I've spent the entire day holding or rocking one baby after the other and my house looks like a bomb went off! And if you do get invited past the front door, it's because I know that you understand me and that you won't judge.

How's that for the truth?

***By the way, this post was not written to get sympathy from anyone. Just needed to get a few things off my chest. Thanks for listening.***

Charity

Spencer teaches Elder's Quorum once a month. The lesson he gets to teach this Sunday is titled "Charity". I have a favorite quote about Charity that my cousin, Rachel, gave me a few years back. I pulled it up for Spencer to possibly use in his lesson and wanted to post it on my blog too. It's that good! (And don't be surprised if I share it in Relief Society too.)

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."
~Marvin J. Ashton

A Visit from Friends

We love when our friends visit but, too often, I get so involved in catching up, I forget to take pictures. (And since I blog off the pictures I've taken, I often forget to mention when we've had visitors.) Luckily, when Adrienne and her boys, Caden & Cohen, visited February 10-16th, she brought along her camera and was kind enough to share the pics. Adrienne and I became good friends when we both lived in Idaho Falls. A couple of months after we moved to Utah, she got married and moved to Arizona! We visited them last year during Spring Break and get to see their family every few months, since her in-laws live in Utah. She and a friend decided to load all of their kids and drive to Utah to visit friends and family. We were on the list!!!

Caden turned 5 while they were here and we were invited to the birthday party...however, Harrison & Madi were both under-the-weather and we didn't get to go. :( We did get to go for ice cream the next day though. There was a little ice cream shop in Idaho Falls called Leatherby's that became our favorite. It went out of business in Idaho but they have a location in Utah, so that's where we went. Seriously, if you haven't tried Leatherby's, you should. Here's their website. And here are the pics from the night:





We had a great time! Let's do it again SOON!!!

6-months old

Harrison and Madison are officially six months old. The adjustment to having two new babies at our house has been easier than originally anticipated. Everyone in our house has finally settled into a "groove" and things just work out, somehow. We go through a lot of diapers and laundry and it seems that my house is never completely clean but these babies bring such a joy to our family, it doesn't really matter. Because, at the end of the day, we have 5 beautiful children and couldn't be happier!

Harrison was born one minute before Madison and is appropriately bigger than she is. His dad calls him "Han", as in Han Solo from Star Wars. Owen calls him "Harry", even though we'd prefer he didn't. Gavin loves to make him smile by dancing or jumping in front of his face. Cameron likes to take him downstairs to "play with the boys" on occasion. Harrison has one adorable dimple in his right cheek. When he smiles, it takes up his entire face! His hair is growing in blonder than any of our other boys and with a tint of red, like his sister. His eyes are blue! He loves being on his tummy and can roll from front to back and almost back to front. He has figured out how to move already and will push/pull himself around his play mat to get where he wants to be. He HATES eating anything other than breast milk but is forced, daily, into eating a few bites of cereal. He will almost tolerate oatmeal but detests rice. He sort of liked carrots the other day but dislikes squash, green beans, bananas, pears. I'm sure that will all change eventually. Harrison can laugh and coo and makes me smile. I do not know what I'd do without him. I love the quiet times when I can just sit and hold him, without being needed by Madi or any of his brothers. I often thank him for coming to us.





Madison has the entire family wrapped around her little finger. Her brothers cannot get enough of her. A couple of weeks ago, Spencer was playing with her and was throwing her in the air and catching her. She GIGGLED this high pitched giggle. Spencer kept saying, "Did you hear that?" as he'd attempt to make her do it again. If you have 4 boys, a high pitched giggle is a rarity in your house and it is SO exciting! She has many nicknames: Madi, Mads, Madi Jayne, Lady, Princess, Sister, etc. I have been astounded by how our laundry pile of reds/pinks/purples has grown since she joined our family. I used to only have to do a specific load of reds/pinks/purples maybe every 10 days or so. That is no longer the case! We have been overwhelmed by "GIRL" colors and I love it! Madi loves to eat. She loves rice & oatmeal cereal, carrots, green beans, squash, bananas, pears, etc. She is to the point where she wants anything I'm eating too. So she occasionally gets a little taste of grown-up food (bread, pizza crust, mashed potato). Recently, I was drinking water through a straw and she wanted some...bad! So I let her try it and she loved it. So we got her a sippy cup with a straw. She thinks she's so big when she sits in her Bumbo and holds on to it's two handles and drinks water like a big girl. She loves being on her tummy, like her brother, so rolling hasn't been very important to her. But she can roll from back to front and she has started sitting up a little better every day.





Han & Madi have a special relationship already. Whenever they are sitting next to each other in their Bumbos or laying by each other on the ground, Madi reaches over and grabs Harrison's hand. Maybe any baby would do that but I think it's adorable. I hope it's the foundation of a lifetime friendship. I hope they will be the best of friends and that they will help each other make good choices as they grow up. I am so grateful that we were blessed with these twins!





And a comparison of how they've grown from birth to 6-months:


Oh, how we love them!

Catch-up :(

I have been a crappy blogger lately. And I don't like that. I don't like when I post numerous back-dated posts in one day, just to catch up. I don't like when I take pictures but never put them on the blog. Or when I forget to take pictures of special moments. I don't like when I write a blog post in my head but take weeks to actually type it out. I'm making a valiant effort to change. Starting NOW. So, although I hate doing the backtrack thing, here are a few important and/or random things that have happened at our house recently.

One Sunday morning when we arrived at church, the ward music specialist caught me in the foyer. She asked if our boys would be willing to do a musical number in the near future. I said I'd check with them but I was sure they would say yes. And they did. We were scheduled to sing the last week of January until someone realized that week was Ward Conference. We were asked to push it back to February 27th. I had been debating between a few Primary songs that the boys could sing without much practice but nothing "felt" right. Then one night when I was up with one of the babies, a song came to my mind and I knew it would be a great song to teach them. It was called "A Young Boy Prayed" by Janice Kapp Perry. It teaches that because Joseph Smith prayed and received an answer, we can pray and know that we'll also receive an answer. Although it was only vaguely familiar to me, my mom had the music and it was scanned to me within the day. (Ahhh...the power of technology.) I started playing the song on the piano and typed out the words for Cameron & Gavin to read and then began teaching the words of the chorus to Owen. Whenever we were in the car, we'd sing the chorus. I'd sing a line and they'd sing it back, over and over and over again. Then we learned the 1st verse. Then I had the idea to have Cam learn the 2nd verse and Gavin learn the 3rd verse. These boys are SMART and I knew they could do it. We practiced as often as we could, mostly when Spencer was at work. Then one Monday night the boys decided they'd like to sing it to their dad for FHE. ***A little background info is needed at this point: Our Primary has been trying to help the Primary children recognize when they are feeling the Spirit. The kids are encouraged to write down moments that happen when they've felt the Spirit and they are printed in our monthly newsletter.*** Back to the story. So we all gathered around the piano and Spence sat in front of the boys. They sang their little hearts out and when the song was over Cam said, "Mom, I'd like to write this moment down and give it to the Primary because I can feel the Spirit right now." Gavin agreed and immediately went and phonetically wrote "I can feel the Spirit when I sing with my brothers." Tender moments!

The Saturday before they were to sing, I took the boys to the church to practice with the microphone. Just as we were finishing up Owen said, "I don't want to do this anymore." And he was serious! I was so relieved when Sunday finally came and all 3 boys stood up to the mic and sang so well. We were also very grateful for the family support that day as Aunts Sylvia, Callie, Emily, and Uncle Jeff & Miley came to our meeting. (And Granny Jane & Grandpa Rick joined us via cell phone.) I know this was just the first of many performances for my boys and I was thrilled that it was such a positive one.

I should have taken a picture of the boys that day but I didn't. I did, however, take a picture of their adorable little sister:

I have been participating in a monthly book club with some ladies from my ward. I have enjoyed each book we've read and have LOVED the discussions we have regarding the books. At our most recent gathering we started talking about the importance of strengthening your relationships. It was then and there that I decided Spencer and I needed to go on a date without the babies! If only we could find someone brave enough to babysit all 5 children at one time. Enter our fabulous home teacher, Chris Metzger. We put the babies to bed by 8 pm on Saturday (March 5th) and he came and entertained the kids. We went to dinner. That's all. But it was SOOOOO nice to be alone. To talk without being interrupted. And yes, we even held hands because neither of us had to carry a carseat! And when we got home ALL the boys were awake, including Harrison. But everyone was happy and well taken care of. We may even do it again sometime!

Earlier that day, we visited Grandma Tisa & Grandpa Dave. Grandma has been under-the-weather for a bit and hadn't seen the kids and was missing them. So we took a little drive and stayed for a couple of hours. Shortly after we got home there was a knock at the door and my Grandpa Don & his wife, Gloria, were there. They hadn't seen the babies since their blessing. We had a nice visit.

Monday night Callie cut Chopper's hair. Chopper (Spencer's brother) is one of the greatest people in the world! He has such an infectious smile and makes everyone feel at ease immediately. He had long hair...like, past-his-shoulders-long. He's the lead singer in a band and it fit him! However, he decided he was ready for a change so he asked Callie if she'd help him out. She was happy to oblige. But when he said he wanted more of a "missionary" hair cut, I nearly fell off my chair! I wish I had taken a "before" shot. (Here's a link to his wife's photo blog of some recent pics she took of him and the band, if you're interested.) Anyway. Here's the "after." Can you even believe? I think it's fab...

Tonight Uncle Jeff & Aunt Emily showed up at our door. This is highly unusual since we generally only see Jeff on the weekends. Jeff is so dedicated to his school work right now and spends hours studying. Emily had wanted to see Cameron. See, today at school they were having a special event called "Grands & Goodies." Students were supposed to invite someone who was "grand" in their life to share a "goodie" and look through the books at the book fair. I'd asked Em if she could go and she said she could but then when I talked to Cam about it he said it "didn't matter if she couldn't make it." I understood this to mean that it wouldn't matter so I told Emily not to bother...I was wrong. So she came over tonight to let him know how much she cared. Then Jeff added to her words by carving him a wand like Harry Potter. He did this in about 5 minutes and also made one for Owen & Gavin!


We are so grateful to those of you who support us in everything we do. Whether you're a relative, a ward member, an old friend, or someone who knows us through our blog...we feel your love! Now I'm mostly caught up. Six-month pictures of the babies in the next post.