Portland trip Fall '13

Last fall we went to Portland for a long weekend to see Nate's sister Karen. It was a blast!!! I had the clever (which really was not so clever) idea to drive through the night to maximize our days. Driving through the night works when you are not a sleep deprived parent with 5 month old twins. Anyway, here is a picture from our drive to Portland! 

I was SUPER excited when Ollie and Gwyn set foot, okay I mean car seat, on another states land. This was the first time they had ever left California. It was sprinkling (common for Portland), but I didn't care, we needed an immediate picture of their grand arrival to Karen's house. 

We had a good set-up here. We brought a pack-n-play, and Karen had one, both in the family room. And then downstairs we had two that we borrowed from her friends so that we didn't have to haul them up and down. 

We didn't know what to expect on our first big road trip with the kids. But we learned a lot and had a great time. 

One thing I REALLY wanted to do in Portland was go to the pumpkin patch. This pumpkin patch was awesome. It had rows and rows of pumpkins, but we had to take a tractor hay-ride (which was way fun) to get to it the pumpkins. And of course when we got there, it started to rain so everyone quickly picked a pumpkin and we were off again back to the main entrance of the pumpkin patch. I would love to go here again when the twins are older because I think they would totally dig it. But I have to say it was fun putting them in the bjorns and toting them around wherever we went. 

We got to enjoy quality time with the twins 4 Portland cousins.

We definitely had fun relaxing. It was one of the rainiest rainstorms they have had in a long time, EVEN for Portland. It poured almost our whole trip. 

Oliver loved playing with his cousins and being in a new saucer (he LOVES saucers, although has pretty much outgrown them by now). 

The next two pictures are from visiting my cousin and his family in Washington. The drive to them was scary with the down pour, but we got there safely and enjoyed dinner and hanging out together. 

We did get in an outing or two to actual downtown Portland. Here is a picture of me at a burger joint called Little Big Burger. Nate's sister knows all the tasty places to eat lunch, and later we got dessert to take home from Salt & Straw. 

Well this was a long overdue post. But I wanted to blog about some of our adventures in twin-land. Eventually I will get to our Thanksgiving trip, our cozy Christmas with my mom, Chris and in-laws, and the twins big birthday bash this past April. 

Goodbye October

Well October is over in an hour. It's been an extremely fun start to fall around here. This is one of my favorite times of year and I'm simply estatic. The colors and scents, the weather and holidays...it's all upon us and excited isn't the right word. I am so happy to be having a lot of "firsts" with my children.  Their first Halloween was today... In September we went on their first out of state road trip. We went to their first football game half time and first pumpkin patch. It has been so much fun.

Today I went to the pumpkin patch around the corner and met with newborn playgroup. We had a great time and took some fun pictures. This evening we did costumes for our $3 burrito at Chipotle. At the past they did it for free but not this year. We also visited my mom and went to a get together from at a sister from church.  It was a very fun afternoon/evening. But I'm really fine now with Halloween being over. November and December are two wonderful months and I'm so excited for all the new and exciting things I'll be doing with my children. Their first Thanksgivnng and Christmas! I'm also excited for family walks and hikes. Dinners at my moms and more get togethers with friends... It's going to be great!!!

Twins you ROCK!!!

The twins were so kind today! After a tough night last night, today the three of us went to the store, came home and did dishes, three loads of laundry and picked up a few rooms in the house!!! I think they felt bad for waking me up three times last night.... so grateful for a productive day today!
Yesterday the three of us were gone from 10-4 or so, not allowing me to get much done at home... but we did have a lot of fun visiting teaching, seeing another friend and seeing mom. A very nice day :)
Last weekend was totally fun but really hectic!! The main event was going to San Fran to see the America's World Cup (sailboat races). But they sadly cancelled the races after we waited a couple hours! We made the most of it hanging out with other friends from our ward who we met up with in San Fran.
We also got to see the twins cousins Stevie Saturday night. He is the cutest!!

Happy 4 months Oliver & Gwyneth!

The twins are coming into their own individual personalities. A lot has changed from two to three months.  Around two months old Gwyneth has started to interact more and do some mimicking. Gwyneth will copy me when I stick my tongue out. She interacts through giggling and smiling at us. She has good tracking with her eyes, following me as I walk across the room. 

Oliver has shown other strengths. He physically is getting so strong and big. A couple weeks after Gwyneth started smiling Oliver joined in on the fun. 

Oliver had some worrisome spots a weeks ago that the doctor was unable to figure out but she felt it wasn't anything serious. They took Oliver's blood to check platelets and what not, but everything came back in healthy ranges.  The spots have since gone away, thankfully.

Oliver has recently gotten into nibbling his blankets! It's very cute. This week he has started to become more chatty and smiling more. He is so adorable and we just love watching him grow. A couple weekends ago at 16 weeks Gwyneth rolled from her stomach to back about 5 times in a row! 

Today the twins are 4 months old. Two days ago Oliver rolled over from his stomach to back a few times! He has yet to do it for his daddy though. 

Oliver and Gwyneth are just constant magic in my life. I want to spend every second with them. I love taking care of them. They are my world. I've been so happy in my marriage and have felt like the luckiest girl. But when my twins came I felt a sense of completeness I didn't know was possible. I felt like this family is forever and Oliver and Gwyneth are the perfect additions to our family and that we are an eternal, beautiful family. 

April 7th, 2013, a day to remember forever :)

Our sweet babies were born on Sunday, April 7th, 2013.  Oliver was 18 inches and 5 pounds 9 ounces and Gwyneth was 18.5 inches and 5 pounds 8 ounces.

This was an amazing and wonderful day! I was so happy to welcome our sweet babies into the world. This has to be one of the best days of my life. 

Our visitors that day were my mom, Nate's parents and my brother Chris.

~Here are some pictures from the day were born~

Here is my handsome Oliver. He brings so much joy to my life and loves to be snuggled. 

Here is my lovely and sweet Gwyneth. She spoils me with her smiles. 

And here is a recent photo of my mom with the twins on their blessing day, June 9th, 2013. 

More pics to come in the next blog!

quick end of 2012 summary

Well it has been awhile since blogging. After the tragic passing of my Dad last August, I simply lost interest in some things. A few weeks after his passing I learned I was pregnant. Although uberly excited about it, a part of me was not as happy as I thought I would be. It took till half way through my pregnancy for the pain to ease up a bit over the passing of my Dad. It still hurts every day of course but I know that my new role is to be a great mother… And this role needed lots of my attention.

In the fall 2012 at our first ultrasound the doctor said something like “looks like there are two in there”.  Neither Nathan nor I said anything at first but just looked at each other. I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly so I asked the doctor after a long pause if he said there were two, of which he confirmed. Wow!

In December we were pleased to find out it was going to be a boy and a girl!

Here are a few never seen before shots of my preggo belly! I remember after taking the first one thinking I looked SO PREGNANT. Ha, I really had no idea how huge my belly was really going to get! :)

Life is delicate. I am thankful every day for the father I had. I know not everyone is lucky to have such a supportive, caring, devoted father in their life.

I miss my dad, my life is forever changed not having him in it.