Summer

Since it has been ridiculously hot here this summer, we have been in the water A LOT! We have enjoyed friend's community pools, our little pool in the backyard, splash parks, streams and more. Here are some of the pics I have remembered to take.

Yeah Summer!!

The slip and slide

This is the first thing Drew does when he comes outside. He's crazy. Who needs a swimsuit?

Splash park

Little petting zoo at Bellview Park.

Riding the train. I couldn't fathom getting in and out with this huge stomach

Picnic

After Drew came home from a run we found Mel like this. So funny.

This woman loves shoes

And here she is watching her favorite show, Clifford. She has to have her babies.

True Love

Can I just say that I love this man. Everyday I just think, man he is so great. Today this is when I thought it. I can't paint my toenails anymore, due to an extremely big belly... So here is my man taking care of it for me.

Grandma Betty

Well it's been a pretty emotional few weeks. I suppose I am writing this because it's therapeutic.My grandma, who I was very close to just passed away yesterday. It has just been such a strange experience. She was just fine in May. She had given me her car because she just bought a brand new super nice sporty car. She was cruizin around town, hanging out with friends, basically doing just fine.
She had taken a fall in her garage and that's when it all started. She bruised her ribs and was in the hospital, and basically it was just a downward spiral from there. She lived in Wisconsin, and suddenly told my mom that she needed to find a place for her out here. We knew she wasn't doing all that well when she said that, because she has lived on her own in the same house for 50 years after her husband died young. So my mom went out there to help her and bring her back here. She set up an assisted living home for her that was close by. We were all so excited to have her close by and be able to see her more often. Unfortunately the day that she got here she had to go to the hospital because of a low oxygen level. We weren't really sure what was going on. It turns out she had pneumonia and it got bad real fast. When I went to see her for the first time at the hospital it was hard for me to see her like that, and then it just became torture seeing her. It's hard going from no health problems to this. It was shocking. And to see someone you love in so much pain is just heart breaking. And being pregnant has not helped. Yesterday it was decided to take her off the oxygen because it was barely keeping her alive, and she didn't want that. It didn't take very long and she went peacefully.
It is definitely a relief after seeing her that way, but it is just hard that she's gone. But I will say I would choose a long healthy life and then pass quickly, than to be in and out of the hospital for years. I don't know when it will really sink in. I can't really even explain the feeling I have. When something like this happens it brings you right back to what you say you believe and what you would say to someone who has lost someone. I think most people believe in an after life, and I think that's because our spirits just somehow know that that is true. We may differ in what we think it will be like, but I don't doubt that she is happy and really is in a better place. Someone (who doesn't believe in God) once said to me that religion is really just to help make us feel better. And I know what she was trying to say, but I thought yep I think that's exactly right. God knows that when we believe and have faith in Him that we can cope in this life.  I really could just let myself cry and cry and cry and be so depressed about this, but because of the hope I have I don't have to be in despair.
Now if I can only live like my grandma did. She was the sweetest woman ever, the absolute best mom and grandma you could have, and so selfless. She never made anything about herself. She paid for my college, and much much more. She was never looking for any recognition for all she did for us. In fact after she gave me her car for free (which she could have gotten a few thousand dollars for), I sent her a gift card, (and I was a little embarrassed about it because it was not comparable to a car) she was upset with me for spending my money "like that." She was always worried whenever anyone spent anything on her, even though she spoils us rotten. It has made me realize life is fragile and that I want to love like she did and to look back on my life and know I was a good person. Thank you grandma for being such a great example to us all.
I think I would classify her as "salt of the Earth." I am so glad she was my grandma, and that we had so many wonderful years. I will always miss her dearly, but am trying to be grateful for all the time we did have.
A while ago we decided that one of the babies would share the same middle name as my grandma. I am so glad I was able to tell her when she was healthy and understood. I hope our kids will be able to share in the love and appreciation that we have for her. 

How Old Are We?

So we have gone from having a Honda Accord and a Hyundai Sonata to a Honda Odyssey and a Buick Century. Now don't get me wrong I am SOOO grateful for these new cars. But it is just so funny to me that we have a Buick and a van. I mean how did we grow up so fast? Oh yeah maybe going from a family of three to a family of five changes things real fast.
My sweet sweet grandma gave us her Buick Century, which is in great shape. It replaced "Blade" our Sonata. The $700 car we bought in Provo. It lasted us 3 years, and we put no money into it, but oh my it was a junker. Drew was sad to see it go. And my amazing in-laws traded cars with us so now we have a van, which is also in great shape. I am getting used to having a van. It's like driving a bus really. It will be soooo nice to have with three kids and a dog. Now we are completely ready for the babies to come. Well.... you know what I mean.

 The window has a sun shade (which I put on poorly) So that's why the window looks weird.

30 Weeks

Well I am now 30 weeks. I need to make it at least another 5 weeks. It's crazy that I really have no idea how much longer I have. Most twins are delivered between 35 and 36 weeks. But you can go all the way until 38 weeks. Now if you look at this picture you can tell that I pretty much look full term. Well that's because I have a total of 6 pounds 10 oz of baby inside of me. Baby A is 3 lbs, and Baby B is 3 lbs 10 oz. Baby B is the chunker. She is 67th percentile in weight right now. Baby A is about 19th percentile. It is just fine that they are different, but I do feel a little bit bad for Baby A, and for me. My doctor said if I made it to about 37 weeks they would probably be about 7 1/2 pounds and 6 1/2 pounds. Which would be awesome!! Two healthy babies. And that really is what I ultimately want. But then I think hold on that is almost 14 pounds of baby. Can my body actually hold that? I just imagine Kate (from Kate plus 8) all saran wrapped and huge. But I guess she had 4 more babies than I do. I am happy that they are doing well, and I think a big reason is because I have gained a significant amount of weight already. This is where I have the two voices... the "mom" voice saying great job keep up the weight gain. And then the "woman" voice saying oh my goodness your body is going to be a disaster. I don't know if I will be able to avoid stretch marks this time around, but that's ok. I just keep telling myself I really won't care a year from now, and hopefully all the weight will be gone. It's just hard right now. I just look at JLo and think I can do it too right? She had twins. And I am sure I will be able to afford a super expensive trainer too:) Ok maybe not, but I know I can do it. I am feeling ok. I have a hard time breathing if I am reclined at all and I am super sore in the pelvic area, but other than that it's not too bad. It is going to get a lot worse here pretty soon so I don't want to complain too much. This too shall pass right? I keep thinking it's better to have one hard pregnancy than two pregnancies. I really do feel that way. I just don't love being pregnant. Love the reward though. And luckily I am not pushing out a 14 pound baby, just two smaller ones. Luckily they are both head down, so hopefully they have made their choice and are going to stay there. Now if you could just not see me the entire month of July because I will be in hiding. Just kidding...... kind of.... not really.

Nesting Much??

In case you haven't heard of nesting, here is the Wikipedia definition. And I will say this is exactly true for me.
 "In human females, the nesting instinct often occurs around the fifth month of pregnancy[1][4], but can occur as late as the eighth, or not at all[citation needed]. It may be strongest just before the onset of labor.[1][5][6] It is commonly characterized by a strong urge to clean and organize one's home and is one reason why couples who are expecting a baby often reorganize, arrange, and clean the house and surroundings." 
  And if you know me well you know that I like to clean, organize, and decorate normally so when I am pregnant it just gets a bit out of control. So here are some of the things that I have been busy with.

Here is Melanie's new room downstairs. There is a door to her room, but I wanted to separate the small hallway to the bathroom and her room with curtains.

We now have three cribs. Is that crazy or what? Luckily we have not paid for a single one. Which makes it better somehow.

I love this little book shelf/sling that I made. Mel loves it too. She is so good at picking out a book and putting it back so nice and neat. And I switch the selection out when I am tired of reading the same ones.

Here is the babies room. The picture frames will have their baby pictures in there.  I thought the room would be crammed, but it actually seems bigger to me somehow.

I painted this crib to match. It was a really nice white before, but I knew it would bug me if they didn't match.

The dresser got moved into the closet. Thank goodness it is a big closet, to store lots of different things.

This is the new office/craft area. And I actually kind of like it better. Maybe because now I can see everything  when I am working on something. Notice Sawyer's Kennel as a little table. Kind of weird I know.

Here is the other side of the room. Finally some organization with the toys. Thank you Ikea.

Here is the the reversible car seat I made. It doesn't match the other one, but I am ok with that. In fact I didn't want them to match. I have to be able to tell them apart somehow in those seats.

Here is the other side.

Baby Shower Weekend!

This weekend I was lucky enough to get two baby showers. Friday night I had a baby shower with my friends from church and Saturday morning I had a shower with family and friends. I chose a hard weekend for a lot of people, but it was still very fun, and I got a lot of great things! I was against ever dressing the babes the same, but everything that I got that was matching was so stinking cute, and I can't wait to see them in it and to take lots of pictures of course! Thanks everyone who came, I am now ready to get all the little things done, and get these babies here!

This is the first shower at Jandi's house. It was crazy cute

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This was the craft table where you could make the babies some bracelets of clips.

The finished products.

Fresh flowers form Olivia's garden!

Party Favors. So cute

The wonderful ladies who threw the shower. Left to right... (Tammy, Kim, Olivia, me. and Jandi)

This is the shower my friends Emily and Andrea threw for me. And somehow I forgot to take a picture with them. But this is a picture of my mom, my sister, and my niece Kyla.

They did the theme "She's ready to POP!" There was some delicious popcorn:)

Pink Lemonade popcorn! Isn't that crazy. Love it.

Party favors. "Thanks for poppin in!"