My Twinners

Nate and Drew were being cute tonight. They rarely dress alike, which is a good thing.
(I get confused throughout the day, especially from the back). They are identical, but do have some differences, mostly in their personalities. Drew is bold and likes to fly by the seat of his pants, wherever his curiosity leads him. Nate is soft spoken and more deliberate, and will, usually, follow Drew to the ends of the earth.

They are hilarious! They are best friends; they never hate each other for more than 30 seconds. They have gotten in trouble in ways my other children never dreamed. They feed off each others energy and can't leave each other alone. (Lately, they slap each other in the face and yell "Who's your daddy?" over and over and they like it. They also like to bite each other's teeth. We are actively trying to put a stop to both of these.)




I never dreamed that I would have twins; they do not run in the family. Identical twins are a freak of nature, not genetic, anyhow. I can't imagine my life without them. Nate and Drew bring fun wherever they go, and many times a trip to the emergency room!

Blogging

I am not a great journal keeper. I write in my official journal 4 or 5 times a year and many times in random notebooks or on the calendar. So, I started this blogging thing after being prompted many times by my dear friend Jen, and now I am convinced of how great it is. It is much more fun to journal with pictures depicting the event or my feelings. And I am on the computer every day so it is handy and doesn't get misplaced.

I was feeling funny this evening about posting too often. But I realized, DUH, this is my online record of my life. If I feel like posting, darn it, I should post. I get caught up, often, in pleasing others and making sure they are happy. But this should not be one of those times. I am such a nerd!

The Best Part Of Being A Mom

The best part of being a mom is to see my children loving each other. Timmy held Zanna today for at least an hour. They both had a wonderful time cooing, smiling and cuddling. They were such a delight to watch. It made my heart smile!

Sparklingly Clean and Pure

At the beginning of this month Sara was baptised and Susanna was blessed. It was a big weekend full of lots of emotions. It was fun to have tons of family and some friends over to celebrate with us. It also brought a lot of contemplation and feelings. I can't believe how fast children grow.


It was wonderful to see Sara excited to make covenants with the Lord and to be sparklingly clean and new. She feels so grown up and has a great desire to do good and to help those around her. She was given several gifts by friends and family to help her remember her special day. She treasures them and keeps them displayed in her room so she can see them.


On Susanna's blessing day, I had all of us girls wear white. It was so sweet to get to take the sacrament and know that I could renew my own covenants and be as pure as my sweet little girls. What a wonderful gift! They all looked so beautiful. I am such a girly-girl so I made Susanna and Laney dresses so they could be fancy like Sara who was wearing dress my mom had bought her.

I still have a hard time believing that I have three girls. We thought we had a pattern going, three boys then a girl, three more boys then a girl but we were surprised to have another girl come next. My sister Jessi has three girls and my sister Dandi had three boys, so we thought that in our family you must have to have three of one sex to have one of the other. Dandi broke the pattern two months before Susanna was born by having her fourth darling boy. She said she did it so I didn't have to follow the pattern any more. Now we have half as many girls as boys. Thanks Dandi, what a great sister you are!

Aspen Grove Trip

We had an amazing vacation in Utah this last week. We drove to Salt Lake on Thursday the 10th (Wow, was that a long car ride!) stopping at Hoover Dam and the St. George Temple on the way.



























Friday we took the kids to Temple Square and the Conference Center. They were fascinated by everything but especially the fountains, waterfalls and the garden on the roof of the Conf. Center. We discovered that Laney is terrified of elevators. She had to be held tightly every time. No one got too wet from the fountains and everyone stayed together, which is incredible for our crew. Sam photographed every beautiful thing we saw so we will remember the whole experience in great detail.













Friday afternoon we visited my friend Kim. We had banana splits and the kids got to unwind. They had lots of fun playing air hockey, banging around on a drum set, playing an electronic piano and checking out the pond and fishies. It was great to see her lovely home and visit for a few hours.

We then went back to the hotel. We splurged a bit and got a two-room suite at the Marriott Residence Inn. It had a full kitchen and family room as well as two bedrooms. It was so much more comfortable than cramming us all into a regular room. So Richard and the kids, all but Laney and Susanna, went swimming while I baked a couple of frozen pizzas. It was a great day, but it flew by too quickly.













Saturday we drove down to Provo and visited Richard's grandmother. She is 94 years old. She was so sweet with the kids. It was good for them to see her again, it had been two years since we had last seen her. It was nice to see Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Randy too. Grandma wasn't feeling her best so we just got a picture in front of her house.

Then we were off to Provo Canyon to settle in for a week at Aspen Grove, a family camp run by BYU. This was our third time to go there. The Elys have made it a tradition to go every other year as a family "reunion", even though we all live with in 20 minutes of each other. It is our kids favorite place in the world, hiding away in the mountains but with church, comfort and lots of activities. The kids divided up into age groups and did all sorts of fun things, while the parents had time to go to institute-type classes, do pottery, painting, hiking or play sports (tennis, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, badminton, miniature golf, shuffle board, swimming, ropes course etc.)
Sam and Richard both did the high ropes course. I was super proud of both of them. It's like walking in the top of the trees.
The kids were in their groups for several hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, they had a blast playing games, swimming, climbing the rock wall,


playing on the playgrounds or in the cowboy town, hiking and doing crafts and such. Richard and I were able then to have fun together as well. It was nice to get a break from cooking since our meals were provided.
















On Wednesday Richard took Josh and Tim and hiked up Mount Timpanogos. They got to Emerald Lake, near the top (The peak has an elevation of 11,749 feet). A round trip of about twelve hours for them. They had a lot of fun seeing a herd of 35 or so mountain goats, a deer, four waterfalls, the lake, several snow fields and lot of wild flowers.














The kids also learned songs in their groups and performed them on stage the last night.

Friday morning we left for home but ended up having to have a cracked radiator replaced in Provo. We made it home late Friday night having only one potty stop and two gas stops. It was a wonderful vacation! Now we are recovering with a post trip vacation at home for a few days.

Richard goes back to work on Tuesday.

A new talent for Sam

Sam has become quite a good photographer. He got his first camera for Christmas this last year. He is learning how to use all the special functions and has a natural gift for placement and lighting. He shot almost 400 photos on our trip to Utah this last week. I thought I would share some of his best. We are so proud of him.