tenley is really into wearing these pants as a hat and she has my biking jersey on. she is so funny. but as much as i hide those pants she finds them and puts them on....as a hat of course.
Quincy is the perfect poser. when she hears the camera she comes running with a cheesy smile!
last week the young women in our church baby sat for free for the whole church! the young women wanted to do some service and they know that babysitting is the best service in the world!
so i dropped the girls off at the church and hoped that spence would be done in time to join me for a bike ride. luckily he was done by 7pm so we hit up the texas wide open spaces and went on a great ride. i was really excited to be exploring texas, to be with spence, and to be biking!
it was a great night.
Field trip!
last saturday spence had to work, my friend jenn whose hubby is doing a GI residency had to work as well, so we went on a field trip together up to Waco. we went in her mini van. this is a pic of the kids, you can't see kate or Quincy in the back, but the girls loved being with her kids and loved being able to watch a show while we drove.
oh how i desperately want a mini van.....
while at waco we went to a community emergency preparedness activity. they had face painting and coloring for the kids. jenn and i got a lot of info about how to be prepared for an emergency...lets just say if something horrible happened we would be in trouble since the closest family is 14hrs away. we have some work to do.
and then to finish the day we had an ice cream social with our neighborhood. saturdays are hard when spence has to work, but i feel really lucky to have met other great women that i can share the day with!
because it was our anniversary on saturday, spence had a guy cover him and take call so we could go party and explore a little bit of texas. so we headed to the big city...WACO! waco might have a bad rap with previous religious fanatics, but it is a really pretty town with rivers, and parks, and is a lot bigger than temple. we hit up the children museum since it was raining cats and dogs outside.
this place was huge and had all sorts of fun things for the kids. we spent 2hrs there and could have stayed longer. this is the weather station, where you stand by a green screen and can do the weather forecast.
there is a wild west room, where you can dress up and learn about the wild west.
they have two huge rooms full of bikes, and trikes for the kids to ride and learn about stop signs. the girls loved it!
there is a beautiful tea party room....i think this was the girls favorite, you could put on silly hats, and scarfs and then drink tea with all your friends.
spence was even able to act out BIG and play a huge piano.
this was a water section where the kids good damn up the water and race rubber duckies! Q loved it! a couple times i had to lower her leg down because she was trying to climb in!
and of course the cutest bums in all of texas!
later we hit up the train park. we packed a pic nic for the girls and spence and i got sushi!
we had a blast exploring with the girls.
tenley even got to practice the train!
we had a great anniversary, and it was so fun exploring more of texas.
i hope i am not the only mother out there that has those days where you are already exhausted and grumpy and the worst part is you look at the clock and its only 8:30am. but then i have days where i think, this is great, i could have 3 more sets of twins and be just fine. these kids are amazing! motherhood has its challenges, but i never realized i would experience such emotional roller coasters. sometimes i want to smoother the girls with kisses, and then there are times, when i am more of a referee than a mom.
i also find myself super excited to talk to people. i have gone running a couple times with some new friends and i am chatty kathy.(so much i might be kicked from the group for excess chatter) but its because i realize i haven't talked to an adult(even spence) since sunday and its now friday...i surprise myself sometimes that i can even do adult things like read chapter books, write in my journal/blog, focus at the grocery store long enough to not forget all my coupons, listen when other people are talking. life is busy.
but i can't complain, and i'm not complaining it is just really weird that someday's as a mom are easy as apple pie, and then other days each girl is having melt down after melt down.
spence has had a really busy rotation. he is now on day 24 of 31, and he finally is reaching a point where he is tired.( i don't know how he does it, i would have freaked out on day 3) he has been leaving at 6am and getting home past 9, or like last night 11pm. he doesn't have time to eat lunch, and forget about eating dinner. its like he has visitation rights and just pops in every other weekend. which i know breaks his heart to not be able to see the girls. so i definitely know that staying home with the twins isn't a big deal. in fact its the easier end of the deal, but i think my vocabulary now consists mostly of: stop, no, share, sit, wait, stop, stop, please. but the days are long and the years are short. meaning they grow up so fast. i can no longer caring both babies at the same time, which is sad because they are so grown up, and sad because sometimes they both want to be carried. i have been reading the book, " i am a mother" for probably the past 7months(it is a good book and i'm sure most people would have it read in 1day but )....one of my favorite quotes is this.
"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
for babies grow up, I've learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."
and i'm not really worried about cobwebs, but i do have to remind myself sometimes that the 8min mile can wait, that the killer wardrobe can wait, that having my hair done/combed/curled can wait,
that going back to school can wait, that being something other than a mom can wait. because i waited 29 years to be a mom, i don't want to miss it. and even if 4/7 days are so exhausting and lonely, i want to look back and say that i made it through the marathon of motherhood.
reminding me, that as hard as the days are, and as fun and exciting as other things may be, now is the time and season for me to be a mom, and to be the best mom i can be.
i made some homemade play dough this time with kool-aid and it was a hit!
the girls played with it for over 45min! and the best part is that you can store it in the fridge to use again and again!
we also got a special surprise from Pappy in the mail! he wrote the twins each a little letter telling them to be good and that he will come visit soon.
you would think that this piece of paper was made of gold because both girls, especially tenley wouldn't let it out of her sight. they ate with it, went potty with it, read it over and over, and traded each other letters and kept talking about pappy all day. the only way i could have them go to bed without it was to put it on the fridge and save it for tomorrow. these girls are really attached to their pappy, and it was so thoughtful of him to write them each a note! thanks paps.
the downtown fire dept was having a kid walk through and meet the fire fighters. so i loaded the girls up and we headed downtown. i didn't get any pictures of the amazing fire station because both girls had major panic attacks and melt downs of sheer panic because they were so scared.
i don't know what it is, but they are so nervous and scared of fire trucks. so we literally lasted 2minutes at the station. luckily one of our friends got us a fire hat and dropped it off.
they are proud of their fire fighter hats, so i'm hoping next time we will be able to visit the fire station without panic.
actually sitting still long enough so i can get a picture!
today spence and i get to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. so of course that means its time to take a walk down memory lane. i can't believe its been only 6 1/2 years since i met spence, we had a great time getting to know each other, dating, getting married, and now raising the twins together. i remember when i met him i was 25yrs old and i thought he was way to wild and crazy for me, i would never be able to keep up. no that i'm reaching 32yrs old, i have had to resort to drinking diet coke to keep up with him. over the years we have had a lot of fun together, and the fun has really just begun, because we have a lifetime and eternity together!
this is us back when we were dating in the old (stolen) honda. this picture is fun because it seems like we were always going somewhere fun, and we were lucky enough to spend a lot of our dates with his super fun sister kristy.
so here is to the dating years....
kings peak
i knew he loved me when i threw up all over...be pretending it wasn't a big deal
we got engaged!
literally sealed the deal.
married in the salt lake temple. i know everyone says their wedding day was the happiest day of their life, but honestly it was a great day! one i had looked forward to my whole life.
1st year of marriage....what did we do?
finally went on our honeymoon to cancun, after spence graduated from BYU. our original honeymoon was postponed due to a hurricane.
we backed up and moved to Arizona for med school.
we spent our first anniversary in the beautiful teton mountains and yellowstone.
our 2nd year of marriage....
we spent our anniversary in havasupai, still one of spence's favorite places! i thought i was going to die of heat exhaustion...little did we know i was 4wks pregnant with the twins!
a quick spring break trip to san diego
of course the biggest thing that happened our 2nd year of marriage, we found out the shocking news that we were having twins!!
it was the hardest year as i literally spent 5months in bed, spence became the house wife and husband. i really had to relay on spence for everything during those months, everything. it made our marriage stronger, and our friendship better,
and helped us realize how special it is to become parents.
me huge, pregnant, uncomfortable, but loving every minute.
(if we ever get pregnant again i would love to be able to
know what it feels like to be pregnant and stand up)
Q T Bugs one month old!
our 3rd year of marriage....
we spent our anniversary sending justin off to serve a mission. (he comes later this month!)
went to mexico with some friends.
spence did his 3rd year clinical rotations, and i stayed at home with the girls trying to get them to sleep (so i could sleep)
did my first triathlon in Page UT with Jo, 6months after having twins. i still don't know how i did that. it took forever to re-learn how to walk, and run, and swim.
the twins started to learn all sorts of new things....eating solids, crawling, talking, walking, playing...
went home to utah for a miracle wedding of the century!
moved back home to utah for the year while spence traveled the country living in a new place every 30 days. funny to think all our stuff can fit in one trailer 16ft by 7ft. at least we can say we diffidently aren't hoarders.
learned all sorts of fun stuff from our PAPPY. like walking, eating with utensils, climbing stairs, and using our manners, playing with fritz!
our 4th year of marriage
even though 6 of the 12months in our 4th year of marriage we spent apart. it was still a great year. i lived with my parents in elk ridge and spence traveled from colorado to detroit, to south bend indiana, to seatle, to texas, and finally back with us to utah. spence came home about every 30days for a short weekend and when he was here we partied!!
we watched signing time....still the twins and my favorite show to watch. we learned to sign really well, making communication so much easier!!
we missed our papa a lot.
and he missed us too!
finally graduated med school.....it was CRAZY! school is never easy.
i love this pic because it shows how crazy life is..:)
i was able to accomplish one of my life long desires and sponsored a running race. the shamrock shimmy. it will happen again this year date tba, making it an annual event! so glad to have started a non-profit organization raising money for high school scholarships. and spence supported me through all the hard work and long days of organizing such a big event.
i went back to work at the OBGYN's office and was able to save money to send us on our graduation cruise and vacation of a life time. (enjoyed working again too! it was so great to have a break from being a mom, and putting on the hat of a medical assistant again)
and of course the twiners turned 2! still can't believe they are 2 years old!
they are so cute and so fun. honestly the best parts of both spence and me have been mixed together to make these sweet amazing girls. we are so lucky to have them.
and of course we have moved again, this time to texas. this is the good-bye picture of my amazing family that awaits us in Utah...only 3more years and we'll be back (fingers crossed)
we have done a lot over the past 5years. so many good exciting memories! we have accomplished great things together, and we are still working to accomplish much more.
life isn't as spontaneous as it was when we were dating, but i can honestly say that the best part of my day, and the girls day, is when we here the garage door open, because we know spence is finally home. life is just better when he is around!
i always dreamed of falling in love and getting married....sometimes i can't believe that all of this has really happened. but it has! i am so grateful that i met spence and somehow we have been able to keep falling in love everyday since we met.
so here is to all the memories and to many many more!
and since spence and i have never really been able to "be about gifts" (because we are poor, no really, we are poorer than a freshman in college who's financial aid didn't come through)
so this is what we got for our anniversary! i wanted to do a traditional wedding gift which for 5 years is: Wood, representing strength and a solidified relationship, and silverware, representing connectedness.
but instead we got
a new vacuum from walmart! the hand-me down we had from DJ and Brandon Meis finally blew up. literally the back panel just blew off one day. and i have to say it works pretty good for 49.99. so instead of getting a gift that represents strenght, we got a gift that will suck up all the crap!:) which is even better right!!?
happy anniversary babe! i can't wait to see what our 5th year of marriage brings!
we were married in August 2007. We have twin girls who keep us busy and our hearts filled with joy. we just moved from Arizona to Utah and now to Texas. what an adventure we are having!
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