turning 30=put-put

yup, this year was the big one. i'm now in a whole new age bracket 30and older!

but who is counting right??

spence and i decided it was about time to venture into the unknown crazy world of babysitters!!! ah, so we got our first babysitters.

(yes sitters' pural because with 2little babies 2sitters are needed)

i was so nervous even calling the girls to watch the babies, let alone actually leaving them for the night. but both babies were already asleep when we left, and we were only gone 2hrs.

we wanted to play it safe our first time out.

enough about babysitters....so i planned our date, i took spence to a place here in phoenix called coasters and castles.

its basically a total fun zone of small rollercoasters, mini golf, go carts and arcade.

we spent our time doing put-put, i was horrible!!! seriously horrible i averaged a par 6 while spence averaged par 2. so i had a hard time not pouting because i was getting my trash kicked. after a couple holes spence started using his left hand...but he still is a master golfer.

the golfer himself in action....or sword fighting

we hit up the arcade and spence did this crazy virtual reality game, it was pretty cool.

in all it was a great night out....too short though:) and i had a great birthday.

in birthday tradition here are the 3 major things of this year...or more...it was a big year.

1. had 2babies!! blessed 2babies!! and absolutely love 2babies everyday!!!

2. survived the last year of major bookwork med. school, boards part-one, and some killer rotations....you might say that is what spence has done, but i survived it all too.

3. did my first triathlon in over 20months, and didn't need medical attention

at the end of the race.

4. witnessed my parents getting married...that was huge!!

5. i love Spencer even more this year than last...if that is possible, oh how i love him.

6. lost 78lbs....seriously i should have entered the biggest loser, but yes i still have some junk in the trunk and junk in the gutt, to get rid off....its a life long battle.blah.

7. made some wonderful friends here in AZ, it only took me 2yrs to get out of my comfort zone, but i found some real life long friends here.

8. had to say good-bye to my cat....that wasn't a good thing this year...but it happened and i miss her completely.

9. went through the temple with spencer's little bro justin who is now serving a mission in Cali.

10. my testimony of my Savior grew even more, as i witnessed his love for me, and his promise that my 2babies would come to this world for me to be their lucky mom,

and they would be safe and healthy.

Amanda, so brave

this, as many of you know is my amazing sister Amanda, she is one of my best friends and i look up to her so so much. not only have we shared everything together, growing up as the closest of friends, sharing a triple decker bed, borrowing clothes, telling stories, we have shared everything together. in fact we have even shared the amazing highs and lows of high risk twin pregnancy. she was on bed rest just like i was, but unfortunately she delivered her twin girls early at 27wks 4days. her girls are miracle babies being born so early and weighting 1lbs 5oz, and 1lb 13oz. so tiny and fighting for their lives for 3months in the NICU. (and never once during that time did i see Amanda break down or act scared, she was so courageous through the whole thing, she is amazing.) she was willing to do what ever it took just to have the chance to be a mom.

Amanda has always wanted to be a mom. even as kids her and jo always played the mom and i was the baby. Amanda is one of those mom's you see that can handle anything without a care in the world....she always has herself and the kids together no matter what. in fact i owe her so much for literally TEACHING me how to be a mom of twins. people told me oh it just comes natural, you will know exactly what to do. well truth be told when our babies arrived i didn't know exactly what to do, i was a dear in the head lights and was so scared to take care such a tiny baby, let alone two of them. Amanda came into town and reassured me, and made me feel like i could some how pull it together....Thanks Roo.

So i could go on and on about how special and important Amanda is to me and the rest of the world. there are so many wonderful qualities about her like: her reaction to any news you have is always super fun and sincere (you can always count on Amanda to scream and jump up and down for the littlest accomplishment, but she does it cause she is so happy for everyone), she has the best most contagious laugh, she is so giving, she'll literally give you the shirt off her back if you need it, and she is the most loving, patient mom, she taught the her girls sign language and could communicate with them fully before they could even talk. so amazing. and oh how her girls love her and think she is the coolest!

So my best friend and sister got hit with probably the worst news you could ever be told. in october as she was preparing for IVF to welcome a little baby this spring she was told she had cervical cancer. This was a huge shock as she has had yearly papsmears all normal, she went from normal to cancer in 12months. Typically they find irregular cells that they can treat with different in-office procedures but the cancer cells they found were level 5. they were rapidly growing and spreading and now into her uterus. the shock, the hurt, the disbelief. she was hoping to be told yeah your pregnant!! not, you have cancer and need a hysterectomy. she consulted with several doctors, prayed and cried, but the ultimate decision...well she didn't have any options, she needed a hysterectomy or the cancer would keep spreading and then who knows what. so nov. 16th Amanda had the surgery, she is recovery well...physically. but emotionally what can you say, what can you do....nothing.

but once again Amanda is managing the end of this stage inf life as well as possible. people tell her things like, well at least you got the cancer out. but to be honest Amanda would fight cancer, lose her hair and more if she could be pregnant one last time. she would have given anything for one more chance, and that chance was taken away with the blink of an eye.

i post this because many of you know or follow Amanda's blog (kempkuties.blogspot.com), and i wanted to share a glimpse of her story to help the rest of us remember how precious it is to be a mom. the overwhelming duties and responsibilities of being a mom can be overbearing. but oh to be a mom, to have a little baby in your arms and to see them looking up at you with so much love is priceless, and worth all the sacrifice.

Amanda is so brave, and so amazing. i wish i could do something for her, but i know the only thing i can do is love her, and love the babies i have twice as much in behalf of her. Amanda has said many times, that she is just thankful to have the girls she has and that she will love them endlessly, but also a part of her will always ache and wonder what it would have been like to have another.

Aren't these pictures amazing! Amanda is so beautiful and her girls share her smile and caring spirit.

so to my dear Amanda, i love you! thanks for all that you have done for me. seriously where would i be without all your love, your encouragement, your help and your understanding...

i can't believe how brave you have been through all of this, and i wish i could help ease your heartache, and above all i'm so sorry you have had to go through all of this. i love you, and my babies love you as if you were their own. hang in there like you have been, and some how you will be blessed for all this, somehow.

babies, babies and more babies

while i was in utah for the BIG wedding and thanksgiving, the twins were the best entertainment for everyone. it was so fun to be around everyone and have them dote on the girls,

and the girls loved showing off their new tricks and seeing so many cute faces!

utah was definitely colder than arizona....i brought the jog stroller thinking we could still run/walk outside. what was i thinking...it snowed several times, and one morning it was 7degrees when we left the house!!

mother taylor couldn't get enough to the twins. she was so helpful and very attentive to the twins every need, and whimper.

JoJo let us stay in her basement and made sure that we had everything we needed and more. she helped with dinner and bath time almost every night....so so helpful after working 10hr and helping her own little family, she still found time for us.

even aunt pam grabbed a baby every minute she could.

and of course their second mom amanda loved the babes and kept the girls smiling all week!!

she even took the babes the first night i was there so i could catch up on some sleep.:)

pappy hugged and hugged little Q! she loved him and his whiskers.

and of course we took our favorite toy with us the jump up!!! Q and T could spend hours in this!

(don't mind the different colored socks...who's her mom anyway??)

drinking and drinking!! still working on eating baby food. Tenley got 2 teeth while we were gone, but she still loves her bottle more than food!!

and the best double duty grandma...she has done this before, who would have thought she would be a lucky grandma of 2 sets of twin girls wild!!

both the babes and i had a great time while in utah.

(we missed spence and he missed us too, but he was super busy with clinical so time

flew by for him)

it seems to take me about a wk to stop being homesick once i leave....its just so nice to be around so many friends and family!!

unfortunately most of the trips photo's got deleted:(

but i'll never forget Jaime's girls riding Tenley like a horse,

and putting princess crowns on her head!!

thanks to all the friends and family who made time for us while we were in utah

....see y'all in may! (i might have to sneak a trip out there before than)

Just Married!!

Well, they did it! my parents tied the knot!! on November 15, 2010 my parents got married!!!

(it was a very special day, and their original wedding day 42yrs ago)

after 15years of being apart my parents are no longer single.

I was able to attend their wedding, thanks jo for driving 9hrs and picking me up!! my whole family was their (except Jason who couldn't get out of work in NY) to celebrate!!

it was a really exciting and emotional day for all of us.

to be honest i never, ever, ever imagined this day would happen, i've always just wanted my parents to be happy whether that was married, divorced or married again:)

(the husbands and kristie were there too,

this pic was taken before the rossers got there and only with the girls were in the photo shoot,sorry boys)

Jo did a great job of planning a bridal shower, wedding, honeymoon getaway, and return party!!

lets just say they were dancing!! i've never seen either of them so completely happy

...we made a mix tape full of all the stuff they use to listen to: Kenny Rogers, Ronny Milsap, AirSupply...

you know all the good classic love songs.

the happy couple reading the shutterfly book Jo collaborated for them with all of our family memories, tributes and pictures.

i was so glad that i could be there to witness the happy and unique occasion. it isn't every day that you get to see your mom and dad get married and share in their excitement.

to the happy couple, i wish you many years of joy and happiness. thanks for all you have done for spence and i, and the twins. we are so lucky to have parents like you.

its so nice to see the both of you completely happy....and happy together.

page, triathlon!

some well needed kisses to grandma and pappa!

so about 2wks after having the twins, i registered for a triathlon and knew Jo would be crazy enough to do it with me. we found a race half way between both of us in Page, AZ.

this is the first time in 7yrs Jo hasn't been recovering from pregnancy (remind you she did St. George marathon when Taylor was 3 1/2months old!! Crazy) and this was the first time i was actually recovering from 6months of not moving, twin pregnancy and c-section.

training was hard, but a good hard. since i wasn't able to do anything for such along time, i found that when i was finally able to actually start walking i didn't want to take it for granted. so way back in june i started walking, then amanda and dad and jo made/helped me start run/walking. it really wasn't until august that i could run 2miles consecutively. and of course i was praying for 12min miles, but when i first started i was at 16min so i was gradually getting better.

i still remember coming home from the hospital and telling spence that my goal was to run the 10k for the 4th of july. he kindly said, "babe, you might want to re-think that, that's only 2 1/2months away and 6miles is kinda far." i thought, "how rude, oh i'll show him, 6miles is nothing when you've run 26.2." but he obviously new what 6months of only walking to the bathroom about 12steps, would do to my body. its crazy to think how i had to re-learn walking, sitting, standing, (and how the 1st month my feet killed because they finally had to hold me up, who knew you could get sore feet/toes)

and now the goal is to do a sit-up....ooch! obviously i'm still regaining my body and muscles. my legs that use to be so strong are slowly making a re-appearance into the mirror, slowly. seriously the human body is amazing, and spence reminds me all the time when i'm frustrated how far i really have come and that's what is important. and i am so thankful.

this is us before the race and all the rain...and before i realized i forgot my goggles, towels and breakfast...who am i??!!!

so jo and i both trained as well as we could. she works like a maniac managing the office and has 4little ones and a husband who travels at least once a month for work. she is amazing...i wish i could be her:)

this was the first time i ever had to schedule my workouts...it was great though. the babes would come with me on our morning runs, spence would rush home at least once a week so i could go to spin class, and on saturdays i'd kill myself biking up the huge hill on 59th ave by thunderbird park.(cami and amy you both feel me there, honestly i almost tipped over several times cause i was barely moving.)

we both set finishing goals and really wanted to just do our best. jo really wanted to beat me and i really didn't want her to.:) but she did.

so the race was freezing, it down poured the whole time especially on the bike. the swim was crazy cause we both were freezing but we made it out ok. T1 was horrible you had to run up the boat ramp that was super steep bear foot and freezing....so it put me in a bad mood.

then on to the bike it was wet and cold, and i was worried that the roads would be slippery and i didn't want to crash so on most of the turns i was a little whimpy but did better than i thought i ave 17mph which is great esp cause the first 7miles were up hill. jo did great too, she beat her best time on the bike by 4min!

then T2 wasn't too bad, i was soaking wet and cold and took way to long to change my shoes...it was weird i wasn't in this killer competitive mode that i usually get in when i race. the weather really bummed me out. the run was good i ran it in 30min which is pretty good considering that's what i had trained at, but i also just swam 1/2mile, biked 13miles and then was able to run.

here is jo and i. jo with her 4kids, and my twins, seriously i could barely hold them up i was so so so tired. i don't know how all these years she's been able to run a marathon and then have energy to play with her kids. after the tri all i wanted to do was take a nap...

so we did it! it was great to see the fam for a quick weekend. and i honestly beat my goal time by 5min and jo beat hers by 5min too. but i just thought how much faster i could have gone if i would have really pushed it and simply got over the rain...so next time i'm gonna really push it.

jo rocked it, she totally passed me on the run, oh how i tried to keep up with her. telling my legs to go, go, go but i couldn't go any faster. she had the 3rd over all fastest run time! and beat me by 2min! and had PR's in all three events. i some how took 3rd in my age group that only had 9people but that still counts right?!

it was fun, i'm glad we did it, and i'm so glad that i have a physical body that can do all the crazy things i ask of it, so thankful.

thankful to spence too for all his support and encouragement.

didn't get a lot of race pics as the camera battery was dead....bummer!