Thanksgiving Celebration

Wow it has been a busy few days. I got a little over eager to re-arrange rooms. We now have a Boys Club and Girls club! I moved a couple dressers between room and a book case or two, not to mention practically all of Toys R Us! Well I am sure they don't have that many toys but let me tell you I have no idea where to put it all and be organized! Needless to say with an 8 month pregnant belly I was in a bit of pain in all the wrong areas! So I took it easy Wednesday and just tried to do the little stuff like find a place for all the stuff the twins will destroy like Barbies, Polly Pockets, and Littlest Pet Shop...and the newest twin invention of Polly Pet Shop!

Thursday we had Dinner at my house, I got to cook the big T-day Turkey. As I was prepping the turkey and pulling out the neck I couldn't help but wonder if that is what the doctor feels like when trying to assist in birthing a baby. Then we have had washer problems, one of the little socks clogged the drain and we can't get it out, so I went into the garage and Jer has the washer laying down and is reaching in underneath to try and get the sock out...I was beginning to sense a pattern. I have a one tracked mind but I am going out on a limb and saying any woman who is within 5 weeks of delivery is on that same track. Dinner was a success. The 18lb turkey that was supposed to take 4 hours to cook was very well cooked by 3 hours. So it got to soak up it's juices for some time. The turkey didn't taste over cooked so that was good news. When I took the foil off, it looked like a turkey from a horror movie and would never get any beauty prizes that's for sure. Speaking of beauty prizes...my brother-in-law has bragged for a few years about his pie making skills so this year we challenged him. They were excellent and pretty!

We got to hang out and watch the cousins play and laugh, like all holidays should be. It was perfect. Except for those that we love and missed.

Elf Yourself the video

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Yourself

So I am a little cheap and didn't want to download the video. Jeremy put this together and it cracked me up. To see the video click here. I will see if I can embed it later.

Another thing jJackson is up to...

I forgot another thing the girls told me that Jackson was doing. They told me he was taking his medicine, (we are fighting colds and fevers...it's a regular war zone over here.) I asked where he gets his medicine, they said in his kitchen. I asked if his kitchen was in my tummy they confirmed. I told you it was a penthouse suite!

PG update

PG=pregnancy FYI


So I am officially 34 weeks. Things are going pretty good. I try not to think of Labor and Delivery, I am always afraid this one will be the bad experience! With a little less than 6 weeks left I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable and the pains that go with that. I am still forever grateful that I have healthy pregnancies and my pains are normal, nothing to cause concern to me or our little baby.


The real reason I was posting was to share a couple things the twins say about baby Jackson. We took Haylie, Hannah and Lauren to my last appointment and told them that they will get to hear the heartbeat. They thought it was pretty neat, not like Logan though. Lauren just looked at me with lots of concern I took it as "what the heck is that?" Then Jeremy said no she hears COMPETITION! I think he was more correct.


Since the appointment on more than one occasion one of the girls will lean against my ever expanding tummy and say I heard his "heartbeef." They may be right and I will give birth to a cow! Hannah will tell me what Jackson is doing. Yesterday he went for a walk in my tummy. He has taken a bath in there with pretend soap. Today he is getting ready for Christmas. It is quite funny, they really don't get it. I know for some babies in utero they get cramped and I realize the twins created a penthouse "sweet" for the siblings who followed them. Seriously though I don't think he has as much room as they think. I asked how big they thought he was in there and Hannah held up two fingers and held them about 1.5 inches apart. Haylie was probably a bit closer with both arms opened wide. So would you like to see the penthouse suite:

The doctor asked if my stomach was bigger than with my other pregnancies. Umm? hum? I am not sure, but it it does look like a good size watermelon is in my shirt! I do have to give him props he is very attentive when it comes to the size of this baby, he is going to try and "Stir things up" at 38 weeks (4 more weeks yeah-baby!) give the exit door cooperates and doesn't put me or the baby at risk. Yeah for caring and compassionate doctors! Lots of gratitude in our home! And with that here is another good cartoon for me!

A family day

It seemed for a while we were doing all kinds of fun family stuff. We still do but just not exciting enough to blog about. Yesterday was different. We took a trip to the Sacramento. We got to see the Sacramento Temple to see Reflections of Christ

We took advantage of the fall colors and took some family photos too.

Then we took some pictures of the kids and tried for a good family picture.

This was done with a timer and I realized at the last minute I had hair in my face and decided to flick it out of the way...at least that's my excuse!

After we took drove a little further to Apple Hill. The kids each got to choose something extra. Miranda and Hannah chose a pony ride.

Miranda was right at home and enjoyed every minute. Hannah left a little to be desired with a forced smile at the beginning but by the end she was having a good time.

Lauren enjoyed watching the girls go round and round and would sneak a lick of the grime on the surrounding fence, ugh! Logan chose a Carmel Apple, smart man! Although we could have just got him some soft caramel and a spoon.Haylie didn't really seem partial to much so we got her a popsicle which she enjoyed. Jer got an Apple Cider Milkshake and I got a Caramel Apple Milkshake. Sounds a little gross but YUMMMMMMY!

It was a fun and relaxing family day. It was nice to be on our own schedule with not much we had to worry about for time. As always the kids traveled well. I think Hannah slept every time we turned on the car. She came home and had a pretty high fever so that explains the lack of appetite.

Girls Night Out

I have been so excited to see Twilight, I am not going to lie. I really enjoyed it. I partly wished I hadn't read the book first, then the book gets to fill in the gaps instead of noticing missing parts. I went in with very low expectations, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed if I expected bad. It was pretty good, especially since they didn't expect it to make too much money. The special effects were cheesy but hopefully with the next one they can do better since the investment will be worth it.

So on to the night. I made dinner for 7 great friends. I choose the only real meal shared in the book that happened to be the only real date too. I made ravioli's then added breadsticks and salad. I also served Pepsi, as I don't like coke. Dinner was good the conversation was fun. I let everyone take candy from our ginormous Halloween stash for movie theater snacks. As we were leaving my friend April asked "you have the tickets right" I replied "yep except Heather has her own" do you see where this is going? We wanted to leave about 1.5 hours early so we got to sit together. We pulled up to the theater about 1 hour before the movie started. There was hardly any parking in the nearby garage. It was my lucky night I found a spot. We get out of the car and I go to hand everyone there tickets, then realize I took only my wallet to the school craft faire and left it in the stroller...not the one in the car but the one I leave at home! Stupid, Idiot, Lame....These were all words that went through my mind with the mental word lashing I was giving my self. Luckily my friend Tara decided to drive home with me to get the tickets. If she hadn't I probably would have cried for all the prep I did to make everything work out timing wise. We laughed a lot, but when you are with her it is kind of a given. Great story teller, reminds me of Lucille Ball with her facial expressions! We made good time, we got the tickets and were back with in half an hour. Tara gracefully passed tickets off to Jen on the curb in front of the theater so she could run in and give the tickets to the rest of the group who were waiting in line. We got a way better parking spot. We made it! Come to find out the worker lady at Cinemark/Century Theatre held up the line until the tickets were there for our group. It was awesome and made me feel less guilty. (A little plug for the theater go to CineMark theaters!)

Backing up a little I planned this dinner thing and fully intended to let Jeremy relax while I did it all, since I am the one always coming up with these ideas. He was the perfect hired hand. He did all the last minute prep...which was everything since it was one of those 15 minute dinners, while I got to socialize. I did help a bit but he really went above and beyond my expectations. Then he fed the kids, helped clear the dishes while we continued to chat away. When I go back home from the movie, it was all cleaned up. It was awesome. I feel so lucky to have him as my partner, best friend, and example. He made it such a nice and relaxing evening. If only I hadn't forgot the tickets at hope it would have been the easiest girl's night in/out ever.

We are flexible...

I went to wake Lauren up from her 15 minute nap to go get Logan. The Doctor has asked about her being unusually flexible.

I would have to say her flexibility is extremely good. I was shocked that not only was she sleeping soundly I had a hard time waking her up. It could have been the lack of oxygen making it to her lungs from sleeping in this position!

A Busy Day

We had a fun yet busy day yesterday, I will just share the extra exciting stuff. Miranda had a play date with a friend. They did sugar cookies. Her friend's mom took some pictures and sent them to me. This is how I train my daughter to behave at the homes of others. See how sweet and neat she is surrounded by flour...


I am so proud. Then I opened up this photo:

Miranda started it but both girls got equally floured! They had a blast and the mom still said she can come over anytime.

While Miranda was playing Paula Deen, the new Betty Crocker in my book, we went to a park and were met by a friend:

OK it really wasn't that big but it was at least three inches long! It must have decided that the little munchkins were having fun on the playground and Mr. T wanted to join in the fun. UGH! Brittany i wish you were there...but be proud I didn't scream and pack up the kids. Instead I embraced technology and took a picture with my cell phone. That means I had to get pretty close.



With that Lauren would like to add a special service message. "We were unharmed, and continued to play...just not in the bushes. It was lots of fun! Check you all lata!"

My Furious Five

..or fearsome five...furocious five...FABULOUS FIVE! I guess you get the picture. It was one of those rare moments where I was able to get all fivekids willing (mostly) to take a picture together, where they were all at least looking at the camera and MOSTLY smiling. So what if half ar in pajamas, 80% have bed head and there is a few runny noses. They are still dang cute. Besides its my life wrapped up in one photo!
Hannah is on the left, she was the least willing to be in the picture but still she gave a smirk and was not whining. I took individual pictures too. Lauren while opinionated and laud is appearantly fickle too and wanted to be in all the pictures. I had to tell the girls to run quickly and snap a picture before Lauren got in the shot. She has an arm here and a foot there. Ha-ha!

A day in our life...

It seems Jeremy and I can agree about 2 weeks ago we lost control of the volume in our house. The kids have learned one noise level, near or far, inside or out, the level is FULL BLAST! It seems conversations at the dinner table are extremely loud. Jeremy and I used to be able to hold conversations, the kids have caught on extremely well and all talk at once. This may sound like a complaint and by the end of a meal it probably is. I love these kiddos and all their noise, the fun things they are interested in that make no sense to me at all. At times it gets to be too much but I know how blessed we are. Hannah is becoming quite the singer with Haylie close behind. I find them singing more and more of those one liners repeated over and over. Today Haylie and Hannah were sitting on the couch singing from their library books. Songs which of course had nothing to do with their books or each other! After about 15 minutes of this "noise" Jeremy quietly asked me to film it. So here is a little video of the girls singing. Hannah is by far the louder one and you can hear her singing I am a Child of God and If the Savior Stood Beside Me amongst other words.


At one point you hear Haylie say "Stop it Hannah I'm trying to sing!"

The Week of 31

Last week I turned 31 in years and weeks. I am officially 31 weeks along (now 31 and 4/7) That means only 59 days to go until I will probably cry or laugh that my due date is coming and going with no baby. Hopefully reverse psychology works and I will have a 12/30 baby. Any-hoo I thought the cartoon for this week was kind of lame so I thought I would take a picture of my large and in charge belly. Here is me a 31 weeks after swallowing a 4lb pumpkin:

Stay tuned next month to what I look like after eating a 6 lb Turkey!

Family Home Evening: Patriotism.

As we are getting ready to vote tomorrow..(not me, mine has probably already been counted vote by mail wa-hoo!) Jeremy and I always try to have our own post-family home evening and discuss what is on the ballot and how to vote, make sure we are both understanding what the candidates stand for or the propositions etc. This year I thought with as much as the kids are hearing, yes elementary school kids are coming home saying I would vote for Barak Obama. Miranda's reason was that he has a daughter, Sasha the same age as her.

So I thought we could talk about Patriotism. It was linked to Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. This can be found in the Book of Mormon Alma 46. It is a great story about a man known as Captain Moroni. He was a righteous man. There was another man named Amalickiah. He wanted to be king and gathered people to follow him using "flattering words." Moroni was angry and "rent his coat" and on it he wrote "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children"

It seemed the perfect way to liken the scripture story to the elections. We talked of the story and then I shared a more grown up quote from a modern prophet Ezra Taft Benson. It says "Patriotism is more than flag-waving and fireworks. It is how we respond to public issues. If we ask only 'what's in this proposal for me?--What do I get out of it?'--we are not patriotic and we are not good citizens. But if we ask, 'Is this right?--is it good for the ...people?--would it preserve and strengthen our freedom?'--then we deserve to stand in the company of [great patriots]. Patriotism is trying always to give more to the Nation than we receive. It is selfless service."

Although Captain Moroni was "flag-waving" he was fighting for what was right, and willing to give more, his life, than he was given in return. This really hit home for me and this time of year. It was especially great because Miranda gave the lesson and told this scripture story in her own words. She got it, and because she taught it, Logan got it too. It was awesome! I added the quote more for the grown-ups but I did tell the kids while they are too young to vote they are never too young to be good citizens of this blessed land.

I am not sure why, if it is said, or just in pictures or if it has been my interpretation but the Title of Liberty is always yellow in my mind. So for our treat I made "edible Title of Liberties"
As I got to thinking about it I noticed a coincidence. The Prop 8 signs are done with mostly yellow with blue writing on it.
Our sign is a little worn, as I am sure Captain Moroni's coat was too.

I can't believe I forgot....

On Tuesday the 28th of October something monumental happened...Logan lost his first tooth. There was no video or pomp and circumstance, applause or anything like that. Since about the first week of school Logan has been wiggling this tooth, it was a stubborn one. That word comes up a lot in my family...weird! So I was taking a nap on the couch when Logan came in and said how loose his tooth was, Jeremy who was there said something to him and he left. Within a couple minutes he came back tooth in hand. Miranda's teeth were always fun and involved dental floss. Here is a picture of my newest Jack O'Lantern.

Can you feel the rain?

As the end of this election year is coming to a close, I can not lie and say I will miss it. I have shared with many friends that this campaign for Prop 8 has been the hardest thing I have been asked to do since I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While I still feel I have not done much nor enough, I have been emotionally involved, and it is exhausting. Some compare this to the early saints of the Church who left everything behind, as they were threatened with their lives again and again, and move to a new place. Finally ending with the long walk to Salt Lake from Nauvoo, Illinois. These people left everything they could not carry in a small wagon and sometimes handcart. Some walked through snow, lots buried their husbands, many children. Yet they still endured. Some had carried their things almost the whole way only to find out they couldn't bring them over the mountains and had to leave what they cherished most. So I can honestly say this is not THAT hard...for me. This IS the hardest thing I have done so far. While I am aware of many blessing I receive from my Heavenly Father, I am sure I am unaware of those tiny yet valuable moments that He has protected me from hard things.

On to my point. It is raining here, pretty hard at times. I was sitting at my table reading, while Jeremy has headed out to stand in the pouring rain, preparing to get absolutely drenched, yet doing what he has been asked to do, and with a good, willing attitude. I am sure this has not been an easy campaign for anyone, whether it is blogging, participating in public forums, knocking doors, making phone calls or holding or placing signs, it is ALL hard and makes you as an individual vulnerable. I get sidetracked...so Jeremy called to say he was there and people were indeed out there in the rain holding signs. Within about 10 minutes of his call, I looked up from my book and it had stopped raining. At that moment I felt the love of my Heavenly Father. It was one of those small blessings that reminded me that He knows that this is hard and He loves us for doing what we are asked to do, which is protect marriage, the marriage he created when he united Adam and Eve. He is always there to comfort us when we need it. I know how much He loves Jeremy and the other hundreds of people who are doing the same thing. So in a time when rain is much needed I am grateful that He stopped the rain for a time.